Two mayors, two speakers, municipal premises barricaded to shut out rivals, frozen bank accounts - and the collapse of service delivery in broken towns.
This is the battered face of local government in the North West, where wrangling over the spoils of office between feuding ANC factions has run some already dirt-poor municipalities into the ground.
And many local government structures in other provinces are little better off.
During his budget vote this week, finance minister Tito Mboweni told parliament "billions of rands" had been spent on local government with little to show for it. He singled out "poor political leadership" as a culprit.
He revealed that 63 municipalities are in financial distress, 40 embroiled in financial and service delivery crises, and 102 more have adopted budgets they cannot finance.
Seventy people were arrested after simmering anger at the failure of local government boiled over in service delivery protests that turned violent in Mangaung this week.
But the tragicomedy of two mayors in crippled towns in the North West speaks loudest about how political looting and feuding over the spoils of office are running local governments, and the towns they preside over, into the ground across SA.
In Boikhutso township in Lichtenburg, the stench of sewage running down the streets greets visitors. A Sunday Times team that went to the area this week found tons of black plastic bags lining streets where refuse has not been collected for months.
The road leading to the CBD of the old farming town is piled high with rubbish on both sides.
The provision of services has ground to a halt as ANC factions fight for control of Ditsobotla local municipality. The town has two mayors, Tsholofelo Moreo and Tebogo Buthelezi, who belong to warring factions.
The council removed Buthelezi by a vote of no confidence on December 10 last year. Moreo was voted in as the new mayor, but Buthelezi went to court and won reinstatement, only to be removed by the ANC caucus through another motion of no confidence, after which Moreo was reinstated.
Buthelezi insisted this week that he is the legitimate mayor, having won all court actions relating to the matter. However, he was last paid his salary three months ago.
"There is nothing that has been done in a proper way, everything is done in an unlawful way. It is irrelevant in terms of my removal," said Buthelezi. Attempts to reach Moreo were unsuccessful.
Boitumelo Metshwarane, 60, a resident of Blydeville, locks herself inside the yard even at midday, fearing a lawless group of young men known as Amahashtag.
On Thursday, Metshwarane had not had water for two days. This is a regular occurrence.
"We are now used to not bathing every day, because we try to save the little water that we have for cooking and using the toilet. We have been hearing that we must wash our hands regularly since the coronavirus came, but how are we supposed to do that?" she said.
The situation is the same in the neighbouring towns of Disaneng in Ratlou municipality and Delareyville in Tswaing municipality, both of which fall under Ngaka Modiri district municipality.
The instability in Tswaing, Ratlou and Ditsobotla was highlighted in a draft oversight report of National Assembly's portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta), which visited several North West municipalities this month.
In Tswaing, mayor Dimakatso Malwane was voted out of office in June last year. She went to court and won reinstatement. She was removed again, by a vote of no confidence, last month and Olaotswe Makalela was elected in her place.
A court is expected to rule on some aspects of the impasse tomorrow.
This week First National Bank suspended Tswaing's bank account because of confusion over which of the two mayors has legitimate access to funds.
The town also has two municipal managers and two municipal speakers.
Malwane told the Sunday Times she is the legitimate mayor of Tswaing.
"We went to court, in 2020, and we won the case. The court dismissed that parallel council, which they established by then. The court order was that those councillors are not allowed to convene council," said Malwane.
She said a meeting that removed her on April 14 this year was in contempt of court.
However, her rival, Makalela, said he remained mayor.
"We have applied for leave of appeal, and leave of appeal grants us status quo until the next court of law will actually put aside the leave of appeal."
He said Malwane had been served with letters of suspension by the ANC in the province.
In Ratlou, mayor Mamoitsadi Phaedi was removed during a virtual council meeting in January. She was replaced by Segametsi Ntladi. Phaedi challenged her removal in court, and won, but lost when the council appealed.
When the committee visited the town, Phaedi and Ntladi both attended the meeting and claimed to be the legitimate mayor.
"The question around the whereabouts of the municipal manager elicited two different responses," reads the report.
''The mayor indicated that [the municipal manager] was on quarantine and the acting mayor indicated that, as far as she knew, the municipal manager was on suspension."
Sources in Ratlou said changes in councils had nothing to do with performance and everything to do with ANC factional politics.
The factions are split between one that supports the interim provincial committee, and the so-called Supranomics, a faction supporting former provincial chair Supra Mahumapelo.
Attempts to reach Phaedi and Ntladi failed.
In Ditsobotla, an administrator was appointed to run the municipality. But the factions have prevented the administrator from entering the municipal premises or getting access to the municipality's bank account.
About Ditsobotla, the report says "the political situation in the municipality is very unstable, with the chief whip claiming that he does not recognise the administration team".
The committee did not receive a presentation from the municipality, with one of the mayors explaining he did not have access to the municipal premises as the rival political faction had invaded his offices. The municipality also has no municipal manager.
In total, six mayors have been removed in the North West in recent months.
North West Cogta MEC Mmoloki Cwaile confirmed the instability in the councils, saying there are groupings that fight over the control of these municipalities through council and court processes.
"As and when this happens, either of the groups remunerate themselves … but it has not happened that the two occupants pay themselves or get paid at the same time.
"We depend on decisions and rulings of the courts to recognise who is legitimate at the particular time," said Cwaile.
The province is divided between those who support party strongman Mahumapelo and those aligned to the provincial interim committee led by Hlomani Chauke.
Cwaile told the Sunday Times the instability affects service delivery, to which "minimal attention is given".
Cwaile said the provincial government has resolved to deploy its senior managers to many of the municipalities "to enable service delivery to continue unaffected".
A visit to the area this week confirmed that residents feel abandoned by the leaders they elected five years ago.
In Boikhutso township rivers of sewage run between houses. Visitors are welcomed by a huge sign warning about "a high crime hotspot, rape and robbery". Less than 2km from the sign is a police station with locked gates. Residents have to travel nearly 15km to the next one.
Ouma Morakeng, 63, of Boikhutso, is raising two disabled young children.
"Our biggest problem is water; everything else we can live without, but not water. As you can see we are without electricity but we are used to it now.
"Sometimes they cut the water when children are supposed to go to school and they are forced to stay at home."
Bafedile Mohutsiwa, 75, of Disaneng in Ratlou, said she has to walk over a kilometre to get water at the nearest tap. In many instances she returns home empty-handed after water is abruptly cut off by the municipality.
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