The Democratic Alliance (DA) has accused the African National Congress (ANC) administration in Mangaung of attempting to push through as many as 250 permanent municipal appointments, potentially providing jobs for outgoing ANC councillors and political staff ahead of the local government elections on 4 November.

Werner Pretorius, the DA’s Mangaung mayoral candidate, said that the proposed appointments could move political-office staff and councillors into permanent administrative positions in the municipality.

The DA said it had already obtained the municipality’s approved staffing structures, vacancy information, recruitment registers, and recent organisational amendments through formal enquiries. However, it acknowledged that these documents did not yet establish whether the alleged appointments were taking place.

The party now intends to demand a comprehensive record from the city manager of all appointments, promotions, transfers, and acting appointments made over the preceding six months, together with the legal authority and recruitment procedures used in each case.

Pretorius said the DA was also considering referring the allegations to the Public Protector and other oversight authorities.

The allegations come less than a month before municipal elections in which the ANC is expected to suffer heavy losses.

The DA argued that Mangaung could not afford a politically motivated expansion of its administration given the municipality’s financial difficulties and service-delivery challenges.