During an ad-hoc committee meeting in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on 23 June 2021, the FF Plus took a strong stand against continuing with the seemingly fruitless and expensive attempt at a Section-100 intervention in the North West.
After a period of three years under administration, at an estimated cost of more than R100 million, the people of the North West province are still plagued by poor service delivery on all levels of government.
The province was placed under administration by the national government in 2018 already after service delivery came to a near standstill due to maladministration and corruption under the leadership of the former ANC Premier, Supra Muhamapelo.
Services on provincial level, as well as in most municipalities, have seemingly collapsed under the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment and consequent corruption.
Meanwhile, Mahumapelo has since been re-deployed as an ANC Member of Parliament and was also tasked with heading a political school.
Despite the initial promises of decisive interventions and remedial actions made by the new Premier, Job Mokgoro, there are very few results three years down the line. Maladministration, underspending of budgets and the failure to fill critical positions with competent individuals continue.
The appointed administrators at departments and municipalities are not being held accountable for the ongoing poor service delivery.
In addition, investigations into and the prosecution of corrupt officials and politicians are seemingly selective. Despite clear guidelines that make provision for, among other things, independent audit investigations, the committee has refused the FF Plus’s request to launch an urgent forensic investigation into the financial matters of the JB Marks Municipality. This Municipality recently made headlines for the corrupt practices that came to light there.
The FF Plus stated to the committee that it appears that the only solution to the current crisis of poor service delivery is to dissolve the provincial Legislature and replace it with new members who possess the expertise and political will to serve the people of the North West.
In the upcoming local government elections, voters must stand with the FF Plus and use their votes to ensure that the ANC is removed from power.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Fanie du Toit on FF Plus
