By STAFF REPORTER
Action SA is outraged by the comments made by the North West acting Premier, Nono Maloyi on EnCA TV show called Power To Truth with JJ Tabane. According to Action SA chairperson in North West, Kgosi Kwena Mangope, during the interview that took place last week Tuesday, Maloyi allegedly told Tabane and the viewers that the North West Provincial Government (NWPG) has a good story to tell.
However, Mangope alleged that is absurd as far as service delivery is concerned in the province. He alleged that Maloyi could have done well in taking the people of province into his confidence regarding the collapse of road infrastructure, state-owned buildings and the closure of health facilities like the Pholosong Hospital, Mathibestad Hospital, Wesvaal Hospital and Moruleng Hospital amongst others.
“Instead of answering questions honestly, Maloyi displayed arrogance and used the opportunity to play politics. The province is battling with issues related to water provision, crime and sewer spills as highlighted by countless reports issued by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA).
“According to the latest AG’s report, not a single municipality in North West is financially stable. It says municipalities in the province have focused on negative trends. There is a worsening culture of accountability in the province,” he said.
Mangope further said the report adds that, “every municipality in the province had transgressions regarding compliance with finance management”. He added that, even more worrying is that the audit outcomes of North West municipalities have remained largely stagnant over the last five years.
“Action SA would like to place it on record that, Maloyi’s comments on service delivery and the general state of our municipalities is not only misleading, but could not be further from the truth.
“Maloyi, as the North West MEC for Cooperative Governance and Human Settlements responsible for the functioning of municipalities, has repeatedly failed to resolve the issue of service delivery in the municipalities and the situation is even worse now, given that he is now reporting to himself as the acting North West Premier,” said Mangope.
He said the North West Premier, Bushy Maape, has been on sick leave for five months now and no update has been provided on his health yet. Mangope said as a party rooted in accountability and transparency, they have requested Maloyi to give residents an update on Maape’s health twice and he has ignored them.
“Out of the 22 municipalities in the province, Maloyi’s party, the ANC, is in charge of 21 and none of them have achieved a clean audit in the last five years. In fact, the situation is so dire that more than 10 municipalities have been placed under mandatory intervention.
“During the interview, Maloyi also spoke about Operation Thuntsa Lerole and Operation Bulela Metsi being introduced as intervention programs to assist with service delivery, but he could not give clear examples of projects yielding any positive outcomes,” said Mangope.
He said not so long ago, members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), spent a week in the province on an oversight visit and they had nothing positive to say about the state of the province except to point out the perilous state of affairs.
Mangope said their report, released in September 2023, raised serious concerns that corruption was playing a major role in the government’s failure to implement and complete projects meant to improve the lives of the community.
*Meanwhile, the response from the North West Provincial Government (NWPG) response will be incorporated into the article when received.
The Guardian 