Picture: The acting North West Premier, Nono Maloyi/Facebook
By OBAKENG MAJE
The Democratic Alliance (DA) said the State of the Province Address (SOPA) delivered by the acting North West Premier, Nono Maloyi was lacklustre. Maloyi delivered the speech at the North West Provincial Legislature (NWPL) chamber in Mahikeng on Tuesday.
According to the DA caucus leader in the North West Provincial Legislature (NWPL), Freddy Sonakile, Maloyi was ‘out of touch’ as his speech was not resonating to the people on the ground. He said it is ‘high time’ people of the province remove the ANC-led government from power.
“This was very uninspiring SOPA and not so inspiring speech by the outgoing ANC-led government. I think throughout the speech, Maloyi used the line that, they are the province on the move. He was telling the truth because we are moving towards a new government.
“He was apathetic and he kept on talking about stories that we do not know. Maloyi spoke about job creation and I just wonder which jobs were created because North West is the most province with high rate of unemployment in the country,” Sonakile said.
He further said Maloyi spoke about houses that were built. Sonakile added that, he is startled to see Maloyi boosting about 19 000 houses they built since 2019. Sonakile added that, it is actually an absurd case because that means in a year, they only managed to build 4000 units.
“I think Maloyi was supposed to use that time to apologise to the residents of the North West for the instability created by empty promises they have been making over the years.
“They promised to form a forensic unit in this office, they promised to do life-style audit on all the Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) in North West. However, five years down the line that has never happened,” he said.
Sonakile said the North West Provincial Government (NWPG) allegedly promised to create multi-tenacity building office space, however, government offices are still leased with millions. He said there is nothing that they have achieved, but he thinks that, Maloyi presented the speech just to safe faces because the North West Premier, Bushy Maape could not stand the lies that he had been peddling to the residents over the years.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) spokesperson in North West, Fanon Moema shared the same sentiments. Moema said they anticipated that, they are going to be told lies.
“It is not a coincidence that, Maloyi selectively went on and quoted Guinea-Bissau revolutionary and one of the finest African thought leaders, Amilcar Cabral when he said: “Always bear in mind that, the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head, they fighting to win materials benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward and to guarantee the future of their children.”
“But, we would like to engage him further and say he was supposed to quote Amilcar Cabral when he says, telling no lies and claiming easy victory. The truth be told, the ANC-led government has inherited the infrastructure system that was well-functional from the then homeland, Bophuthatswana government, but collapsed everything found operational,” he said.
Moema said municipalities are paralysed and there is no infrastructure, including in the health department. He said hence Maape seek medical attention from abroad.
The Freedom Front + leader in the NWPL, De Wet Nel said: “I do not think so and the speech was unintelligible. They can see that is election time and now they promise people houses. People should realise that, it takes this government over five years to build these houses.
“There is a promises of houses in the eve of elections, which is ridiculous. These promises were made last year and none of them came to light.”
Meanwhile, South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) provincial spokesperson, Mzukisi Jam said Maloyi has demonstrated how a caring government should deal with communities’ service delivery concerns and responding promptly to address those concerns.
“We appreciate and commend his enthusiasm and appreciation for the need for the government that embarks on an accelerated, effective, and efficient service delivery provision and this is the type of leader our government needs in the province.
“Our communities are impatient and need services now, and as SANCO, we understand their frustrations and support the objectives of the Thuntsha Lerole Programme. Maloyi has led by example in his role as the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements, and Traditional Affairs,” he said.
The Guardian 