By OBAKENG MAJE
25 January 2025- The North West Premier, Lazarus Mokgosi said he wishes to express his profound gratitude and stand before this important gathering which is primarily aimed at assisting the municipalities to find solutions to a variety of challenges stifling their constitutional mandate and developmental needs.
Mokgosi said he wanted to out rightly state that the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and in particular Section 152 of the Constitution implores municipalities to provide democratic and accountable government through sustainable provision of goods and services. He further said moreover, the Constitution induces municipalities to commit to good governance practices such as accountability, transparency as well as responsiveness by being development orientated through working with citizens to find sustainable ways to meet their social, economic and material needs as well as improving their quality of life.
“All these serve as a Constitutional imperative for the efficient running of municipalities in that this sphere of government is strategically positioned to reverse the injustices of the past, which among others are as a consequence of separate development and Apartheid spatial planning.
“In the past 30 years we have made significant progress in turning the tide against the skewed allocation of resources in our communities by the Apartheid government. To this end we have increased provision of housing by 46 % and from 1996 to date over 85. 1 % of households in our province live in formal dwellings,” said Mokgosi.
He added that, in addition to this, more than 85.6% residents of North West have access to piped or tap water in their dwellings and the General Household Survey shows that access to improved sanitation is standing at 78.3 % since the advent of democracy. Mokgosi said despite these achievements municipalities are inundated with both political and administrative challenges which have fermented an unpleasant environment, which continues to impede on our efforts to render services to our people.
“Announcing audit outcomes of municipalities in the last financial year, Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke, maintained that municipalities in our province have shown little improvement in their audit outcomes, with none of them receiving a clean audit.
“Of concern is a lack of tangible financial management systems which have led to irregular expenditure, unfunded budget and delays in paying service providers among others,” he said.
Mokgosi said compounding these challenges is a lack of oversight and weak leadership. He said municipalities in Ngaka Modiri Molema Region mirror a similar trajectory. He said none of these municipalities received a clean audit outcome with Ditsobotla and Ratlou Local Municipalities, receiving disclaimers for two consecutive financial years.
“Ditsobotla, Ramotshere Moiloa and Tswaing currently under mandatory intervention in terms of Section 139 (5) of the Constitution read together with Section 139 of the Municipal Finance Management Act. However, there is a glimmer of hope in relation to Ngaka Modiri Molema, Mahikeng and Ramotshere Moiloa.
“I believe that given the systems that have been put in place through various interventions by North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Oageng Molapsi and North West MEC for Treasury, Kenetswe Mosenogi, will move from qualified to unqualified audit opinion,” he said.
The Guardian 