Govan Mbeki Local Municipality — Secunda, Bethal, Evander, Kinross and Leandra — sits on Sasol's doorstep and inside Mpumalanga's Gert Sibande District, alongside Lekwa and Msukaligwa which are already in this archive. Its 2017/18 audit was a disclaimer. By 2020 it owed Eskom R2.72 billion including interest and Rand Water R335 million, collected 63% of what it billed, lost 60% of the electricity it bought, and had recorded R345 million in irregular expenditure.
The provincial section 106 investigation confirmed fraud, corruption, political interference and "gross wrongdoing by councillors and officials". The municipal manager and CFO were suspended in September 2020; Mayor Thandi Ngxonono resigned in October; on 28 October 2020 the province placed the municipality under s139(1)(b) administration. When the Portfolio Committee on Cogta engaged the province and the municipality on 16 February 2021, the presentation included photographs of a twelve-year-old child and an elderly woman left disabled by electrocution from unmaintained municipal infrastructure. The new executive mayor told the committee collections had risen from 61% to 66% and committees had been re-established; members responded that "no progress can be seen".