The DA has ridiculed Premier Thandi Modise’s fiery comments on the regressive provincial municipalities, as highlighted by the auditor-general, saying she has failed to take action against officials responsible for poor performance and transgressions.

DA provincial leader Chris Hattingh said the premier, increasingly more vociferous and apparently involved in North West issues since she was relieved of her Luthuli House obligations in December –as former ANC deputy secretary general – had yet to acknowledge the core findings of the AG about governance in the municipalities.

Hattingh said the AG’s findings were that leadership did not set the appropriate tone at the top, a significant increase in irregular expenditure and that key officials lacked the required competencies and skills.

“Modise’s unhappiness about municipalities that are not taking action against those responsible for poor performance and transgressions is an indictment against herself as the premier and ANC leader.

“The implicated officials are almost exclusively ANC cadres deployed into positions way beyond their capacity, qualification and experience levels are protected with the accompanying cadre protection system, allowing them to act almost with impunity,” Hattingh said.

He said Modise’s statement about the lack of a political will to act against officials found guilty of corruption and mismanagement of funds was another indictment against herself in her role as the most senior political official in the province and “perhaps an acknowledgement of the devastating effects of having two competing centres of power within the provincial ANC”.

The premier based some of her statements on several forensic reports touching on another serious facet of the provincial governance crisis and not a single forensic report has been tabled in the North West Provincial Legislature by Modise or her predecessors for more than a decade, he said.

“Unless Premier Thandi Modise is prepared to move from speeches and statements to visible action and a real clean-up of corrupt officials and practices, the government at provincial and municipal level will continue its downward trend.

“A good start would be for the premier to table the stacks of forensic reports and start a capacity audit of government officials, then a fraction of the amounts spent annually on consultants appointed to do the work of incompetent cadres will be sufficient to fund such an audit.”

Provincial government spokesperson, Lesiba Kgwele said: “Only a desperate psychotic demagogue would use last year’s audit findings to criticise Premier Modise on her comments on the findings of a report she has not seen.”

Kgwele said the DA leader’s comments on the 2011-2012 Municipal Finance Audit Outcomes were nothing but cheap politics, usual theatrics to draw attention to himself and a desperate attempt to downplay the call for bold steps to be taken to overcome challenges facing municipalities. “The broadside that Hattingh threw at Premier Modise is part of the DA’s strategy to drive a wedge between the provincial government and municipalities and between the executive council and portfolio committees within the provincial legislature.” 

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