By OBAKENG MAJE
The North West Premier, Bushy Maape said the Section 100 intervention has yielded positive results and assisted the province to recover from its slumber. This comes after the Office of the Premier registered an improved audit opinion.
Maape said the audit results for the 2020/21 financial year show a continued positive trajectory after five years of decline and stagnation.
“The Office of the Premier has received unqualified audits following Section 100 intervention in the province. The North West Provincial Government (NWPG) was placed under Section 100 (1) (a) and 100 (1) (b) intervention in terms of the constitution for over four years to address maladministration, non-adherence to supply chain prescripts and poor service delivery among others.
“Since the national intervention, we have made some significant strides in addressing the governance and service delivery challenges facing our province. They include improved alignment of planning between departments to deliver on service delivery priorities,” he said.
In addition, Maape said they have also managed to fill key management positions and this is primarily aimed at improving the capacity to deliver services. He further said, they are happy that a moratorium on the recruitment of staff has also been lifted.
“This is going to enable us to expedite the pronouncements made during the State of the Province Address (SOPA). The functions previously centralised in the Premier Office have been transferred back to their original departments.
“Moreover, wasteful and poorly managed outsourcing contracts were also terminated and officials have been empowered to do the work they were employed for,” he said.
Maape added that, as part of restoring financial controls and governance, they have built capacity across departments to strengthen Supply Chain Management (SCM).
He said the provincial departments have also been re-configured to correlate with national norms and standards.
“Massive reduction of irregular expenditure was achieved and improvement on internal control systems was registered resulting in unqualified audit findings.
“Key services administered by the Office of the Premier include the Youth Advocacy Programme and Skills Training, which contributes to the development and empowerment of youth. The office also provides bursaries for young people from poor backgrounds to access tertiary education through the Victor Thebe Sifora Bursary Scheme,” said Maape.
He said his office has also approved a Fraud Prevention Policy and Implementation plan. Maape said the policy is being implemented through awareness campaigns on a quarterly basis as a control measure to deter any form of fraud and corruption within the government.
“The Office of the Premier also uses the complaints management system to deal with various service delivery complaints across the province through the Provincial Call Centre Toll-Free hotline.
“Through different platforms, collaboration and partnerships we have made significant progress in steering the province in the right direction and strengthening the capacity of government to deliver quality basic services to the people, as well as mending the broken bridges between ourselves, communities and organised labour,” he said.
Maape said his government remains committed to serving the community of North West and strengthening its oversight role in monitoring the implementation of all government plans through provincial departments.
The Guardian 