By REGINALD KANYANE
South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) in the North West calls on the Premier, Prof Job Mokgoro to conduct a lifestyle audit on public representatives and government officials as part of the ongoing efforts to enhance ethical, accountable and transparent leadership.
SANCO provincial secretary, Packett Seaketso said there are numerous allegations of large scale corruption and looting that is continuously taking place in the province. He said the North West Provincial Government cannot look the other way, but instead has to act swiftly.
“To this end, the asset forfeiture unit should be activated with immediate effect. The Auditor-General (AG) has made adverse findings on almost all the municipalities in the province. Instances of fruitless, unauthorised and irregular expenditure are on the rise and consequence management is to be implemented as a matter of urgency on all the affected municipalities.
“SANCO has never made any pronouncement to support any municipality in the face of looting and maladministration that characterise municipalities. Communities require services from municipalities and not corruption. We have also noted with grade concern the recycling of administrators in municipalities when section 139 of the constitution is implemented,” he said.
Seaketso added that despite this recycling, there is no improvement in the affected municipalities. He said service delivery remains a challenge to the communities and the provincial government should have to seriously review these interventions and consider measures that will bring about visible service delivery improvements.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in North West shared the same sentiments. DA provincial ChiefWhip, Freddy Sonakile said they challenge Mokgoro to snap out of his “great embarrassment” over allegations of corruption among Members of the Executive (MECs) and call for lifestyle audits by a credible service provider.
“The recent media reports on MECs’ failure to account to the North West Provincial Legislature’s respective portfolio committees on the overall misappropriation of funds and tender fraud, is a crying shame, but being “embarrassed” about it, will not suffice.
“It is common knowledge that the factionalism within the ANC compels Mokgoro to wait on the go-ahead of his political party – who has been responsible for 26 years of looting state coffers – to reshuffle his cabinet,” he said.
Sonakile said the least that the Professor can do, is to order a lifestyle audit to save what is left of his stature.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) provincial chairperson, Shakes Botswe said Mokgoro must act decisively as he always ‘preaches’ for good governance. Botswe added that in light of rampant corruption and consistent poor audit outcomes, the audit should be extended to all senior departmental officials and municipal accounting officers.
“We hope that Mokgoro will do the right thing and the lifestyle audit should be carried out on all senior staff in a bid to tackle corruption in government. No doubt that the lifestyle audits will contribute significantly in defeating corruption and the abuse of public resources for private gain,” he said.
Botswe also said that hundreds of millions of rands looted from government coffers would be recovered, and the future tender processes should be open to public scrutiny.
However, Mokgoro said: “I will apply my mind and will provide an opportunity for further consultation before a final decision is reached. There are many components to consider before implementation. So, I will give an update on the decision soon.”
The Guardian 