BLOEMFONTEIN – The Municipal Manager of the Mangaung Metro is in serious hot water with his problems just keep piling on.

During a special council meeting on Tuesday a request to start disciplinary proceedings against him, was approved. The DA in the Mangaung Metro issued the request and it was adopted at the meeting which the EFF did not attend.

A list of 18 allegations has been brought against More, which must now be investigated by an independent investigator according to municipal regulations. This investigator must be appointed within seven days. The findings must be submitted to the Mangaung Council within 30 days.

This is the same municipal manager who received 100% for his KPI evaluation in July 2025 and gave himself a salary increase of R700 000. The civil rights organisation AfriForum has also been demanding that More resign since April this year.

More also received a Certificate of Debt from the Auditor-General in early July naming him as the accounting officer. This means the AG holds More directly personally liable for financial losses caused by his failure to recover state funds. This certificate of debt cannot be transferred from one accounting officer to another.

This is for R2.2 million that the metro paid to contractors who never worked on the projects they were paid for. In his personal capacity, he is liable for the amount, which together with interest now amounts to R2.9 million.

More indicated that he would fight the finding in the Supreme Court.

The 18 allegations by the DA stem from the findings of the Auditor-General on 27 January as well as the city manager’s failure to comply with statutory, governmental and council obligations. Some of the complaints are that the city manager does not answer council members’ questions and therefore does not give them access to the necessary information to do their oversight work.

He is also accused of failing to effectively manage the city’s revenue with no reliable data on water bills, users who do not receive bills according to the auditor general’s findings, resulting in large monetary losses and inaccurate monetary reports.

The city manager is accused of failing to manage illicit, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. This includes irregular expenditure of R323 million, unauthorised expenditure of R1,4 billion and fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R67 million – as indicated by the Auditor-General.

More is further accused of failing to hold officials accountable for these expenses and not taking disciplinary action against them.

The Auditor-General found that there is no effective revenue system, no thorough asset management system and widespread weaknesses in the internal controls that lead to governance failures and financial mismanagement.

National Treasury’s withholding of July’s government funds also laid at the municipal management’s door.

Although the DA requested the suspension of More during the investigation, this was not warranted. He will continue with his duties for now.