Picture: North West Premier, Lazarus Mokgosi

By OBAKENG MAJE

5 December 2025- The North West Premier, Lazarus Mokgosi said they have successfully hosted the Commemoration of World Aids Day in Tlhabane Township, near Rustenburg recently. Mokgosi said as a province, they strongly support and are fully behind the fight against Aids pandemic.

He further said the Global Aids Strategy 2021–2026, impresses upon them to address health inequalities by ensuring that they strengthen their efforts in equitable access of HIV and TB treatment as well as integrated health services. Mokgosi added that as such over 95% of people living with HIV in the province know their status and those who are on treatment are virally suppressed. 

“Our province is leading the pack in drug-resistant TB management in the country with a success rate of between 84 and 86%. Our efforts in addressing health related backlogs in the province have been given a boost by an allocation of two hundred million rand of additional funding for employment of nurses and doctors. ⁠⁠

“This includes the procurement of 44 ambulances that are expected to be delivered before the end of the year. We also take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) victims by strengthening our capacity in safeguarding the rights of women and children,” he said.

Mokgosi said they equally support the Republic of South Africa (RSA) president, Cyril Ramaphosa’s call in declaring this scourge a national crisis. He said as the province, they maintain that it is through inclusive growth centred on the empowerment of women and the creation of a fairer society that they can defeat this pandemic.

“Expediting provision of services and job creation remain the two most important apex priorities that the province identified as needing our immediate and ongoing intervention. Through deliberate developmental programmes aimed at addressing these challenges the North West Executive Council has approved the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy in May 2025.

“This strategy which is coupled with an implementation plan that provides a clear road map on the provincial efforts to ramp up the economy of the province through infrastructure development initiatives will be launched in February 2026, ahead of the State of the Province Address (SOPA),” said Mokgosi.

He said the latest quarterly labour force survey, which depicts the creation of 42 000 jobs marking a drop of 2% in unemployment figures is indicative of a province hard at work to turn the tide against the scourge of unemployment in the province. Mokgosi said through agriculture which is one of the main economic drivers as encapsulated in the growth strategy, the province has succeeded in increasing both the scale and efficiency of crop production among smallholder and emerging farmers.

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