Picture: Sewer spillage in Ipelegeng Township, near Schweizer Reneke/Supplied

By OBAKENG MAJE

The Democratic Alliance in North West said it has noted the National Treasury’s decision to withhold conditional grant funding from nine municipalities in the province. The DA Member of Provincial Legislature (MPL), Freddy Sonakile said, this is a heavy blow to service delivery in the North West.

The affected municipalities are Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, the City of Matlosana, and the Rustenburg, Moses Kotane, JB Marks, Madibeng, Ratlou, Ditsobotla, and Mamusa Local Municipalities, where they will accumulatively lose R460 million in conditional grant funding.

Sonakile further said, Madibeng is the biggest loser with a cut of R145,408 million, followed by Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati at R119,453 million and Rustenburg at R65,341 million. He added that, the JB Marks and Matlosana are also in the top 5 worst affected municipalities losing R59 million and R26 million respectively.

“The ANC-governed municipalities not only fail to invest in infrastructure development and maintenance but when they receive funding, fail to spend the money on projects it is intended for.

“North West suffers a massive infrastructure backlog, National Treasury’s decision, although understandable, will put additional strain on the already limited cash flow of municipalities, who mostly adopted unfunded budgets,” said Sonakile.

He said the decision has been communicated by the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana to the North West MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Nono Maloyi, and regrettably, it will have far-reaching consequences for infrastructure development, maintenance, and service delivery in the province’s worst performing municipalities.

The chairperson of North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Premier, Finance, Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, Aaron Motswana said: “What is disheartening is the loss of funds meant for water by the Dr Ruth District Municipality, whereas local municipalities under it are heavily affected by lack of water.

“The report indicates that R119 453 000 of Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) will be lost by Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati alone. Other struggling local municipalities such as Mamusa, Ditsobotla, and Moses Kotane failed to spend Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG)and there is a lack of service delivery in their areas.”

Motswana said the committee encourages Maloyi to ensure accountability in this regard and provide progress on consequence management to them. He said it is time that failure to spend grants is characterized as treason against the state and communities in their respective constituencies.

“Whilst Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District is advancing spending on water tankering, it fails to spend money directed to construction and upgrading of water and sanitation treatment plants in their category B municipalities to ensure communities receive water.

“The municipalities are owing huge debts to Eskom and losing the Integrated National Electrification Programme(INEP) and Energy Demand Management Grant that would have assisted in managing and mitigating Eskom debt by municipalities. MEC Maloyi must act on this negligence and dereliction of duties,” said Motswana.

Meanwhile, Maloyi spokesperson, Tumelo Maruping said, Maloyi is indeed aware of the letter because Godongwana wrote to him. Maruping said the National Treasury did make municipalities aware in February about this matter.

“Maloyi had an engagement with all the affected municipalities to discuss recovery plans to assist municipalities to commit this money to service deliverables.

“The information Maloyi received was that all municipalities did submit those recovery plans to the National Treasury, however, according to the Minister’s letters, the plan of nine municipalities in the province could not get approved, hence we are in this situation today,” he said.

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Picture: ANC members during Letsema Cleaning Campaign in Kgomotso village/Supplied  

By OBAKENG MAJE

It is all systems go for most churches across the country to host some successful Easter prayers. Ward 20 councillor, Itumeleng Maribe said they have embarked on the Letsema Cleaning Campaign. 

Maribe said they saw it prudent to take this initiative to various churches ahead of Easter weekend. 

“We embarked on this initiative to clean various churches across our area. This will assist the congregants and pastors to host their Easter prayer sermons in a tidy environment. So, we urge them to continue where we left off by keeping their environment clean at all times.

“This initiative was established a few years ago and as the ruling party, it is essential to work hand-in-hand with members of the religious fraternity. They form an integral part of our society as they assist in tackling socio-economic challenges affecting our people,” he said.

Maribe further said, nation building and achieving social cohesion are some of the most important responsibilities of the ruling party. He added that, this initiative is evidence to re-affirm and recommit to the moral vision and the value system of the society.

AME reverend, Boitumelo Mokoto shared the same sentiments. Mokoto said, it is imperative to work together in the quest of promoting these values among people.

“We are very grateful as the church to have ANC members assisting by cleaning our yard. We will continue to keep our environment clean and we need to continue to work together to ensure that we forge ahead in having a structured society,” he said.

Meanwhile, the North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Sello Lehari, requested all road users to buckle up during the Easter holidays. Lehari said he has ordered traffic law enforcement to strictly apply regulations to reduce road fatalities.

“We have activated the North West Easter Traffic Plans at the Alpha Crossing in Brits. The province came fourth with the lowest number of fatalities in the country during the festive period.

“The same plans that brought down the figures must be applied for this Easter long weekend. What helped us as the province is that we started our operations much earlier during the Transport Month in October and had weekly operations since the middle of November 2022,” he said.

He said, even though they have a shorter period this time, relentless and continuous operations will give them the same if not better results. Lehari said, in total, there had been a 21% reduction of road fatalities in the province as a result of the ever-present law enforcement on the roads.

“Though arterial routes such as N4, N12, N14, and N18 carry the bulk of the traffic, there is a growing trend of horrific accidents in rural areas. Montshioa in Mafikeng had five fatalities from speeding vehicles and in Taung on N18 road, where the speed limit for both is 60 kilometres per hour.

“We will of course have a presence on all major routes, but we are not going to ignore local roads as recklessness tends to be more there. Most of the accidents had occurred between midnight and 6am in the morning,” said Lehari.

He said as part of the long-term remedial action, law enforcement will be strengthened with the specialised unit to ensure compliance with the law. Lehari highlighted that, already his department has procured 26 high-performance vehicles as well as those suitable for rough terrain.

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Picture: ANC MP, Sibusiso Kula in court/Facebook 

By REGINALD KANYANE

The ANC Member of Parliament (MP), Sibusiso Kula was granted a R50 000 bail by the North West High Court on Tuesday. This follow his appeal on the Orkney Magistrate’s Court decision to deny him bail.

Kula (34) is accused of killing his wife, Jennifer Motlhomi (32) at their matrimonial house in Kanana Township, near Orkney on 27 November 2022. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson in North West, Henry Mamothame said, Kula’s wife was found murdered in what seemed like a robbery.

“She was found with a stab wound on her back, but the object that was used for her alleged murder has not been recovered. The matter was reported by the medical facility, where she was allegedly transported by the accused to receive medical attention.

“Kula told the police that, he was not present at his home when the incident occurred. However, following thorough investigations by the police, he was linked to the alleged murder and was arrested on 20 January 2023, where he was charged with murder,” Mamothame said.

He further said, the police investigations are still underway and the accused is expected back in court on 17 April 023. Mamothame added that, Judge Andre Peterson ordered Kula to surrender his passports, report twice a day at the nearest police station.

“He was also ordered to provide the investigating officer with his work itinerary and report, if he must move outside his residential jurisdiction. Kula was instructed not to have no direct or indirect contact with his children.

“The investigating officer was further ordered to take the copy of the order to the Orkney clerk of court and have Kula sign it before his release,” he said.

Mamothame said, even though advocate Benny Kalakgosi argued strongly for the state in persuading the court not to grant Kula bail, however, the judgement favoured the accused and the state noted and respect the decision. He said the state will focus on the completion of the investigations in preparation for trial.

Meanwhile, Mamothame said the application has been submitted to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in North West, Dr Rachel Makhari, for the matter to be transferred to a higher court, owing to its serious nature.

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