By OBAKENG MAJE
8 July 2025- The Office of the Premier in the North West came out gun blazing and defended the then acting North West Premier, Kenetswe Mosenogi, who allegedly misled the Portfolio Committee on Premier and Finance Office regarding appointments of Heads of Departments. The North West Premier, Lazarus Mokgosi spokesperson, Sello Tatai said they have noted the statement and media reports regarding allegations of misconduct and perjury against then acting North West Premier, Kenetswe Mosenogi on the appointment of Heads of Departments.
Tatai said it is important to clarify the facts. He further said there was no misrepresentation to the committee.
“On 5 June 2025, the accounting officer of the Office of the Premier read a report to the Portfolio Committee on Premier and Finance, which indicated that the administration was awaiting the decision of the Premier/Acting Premier on the appointment of Heads of Departments for Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism, and that of Education.
“In that report, the accounting officer made it abundantly clear that the candidates recommended were unfortunately all males. There was therefore no need to hide anything from the committee. It is also important to declare that even though a decision had already been taken, it first had to go through administrative processes,” he said.
Tatai added that this being the case, Mosenogi could not pronounce on the appointments as decided then, until assurances were made that such administrative processes had been concluded. He said given a proclaimed lack of knowledge about such appointments from the side of the administration, Mosenogi could not possibly proceed to make public pronouncements about such appointments.
“Mosenogi did not make any declarations about the appointments in the committee meeting and as such, cannot be deemed to have misled the committee or perjured herself. She was, however, duty bound to allow administrative processes to be concluded before making any representations to the committee about the HODs’ appointments.
“Mosenogi has publicly acknowledged in the committee meeting the need to improve gender representation and inclusivity in the senior management echelons and that the current statistics are regrettable and must be corrected,” said Tatai.
He said the North West Provincial Government, through the Office of the Premier, has and is still making a commitment to embark on a plan of action to rectify the transformation targets as regards gender, disability and youth for the previously disadvantaged groups. Tatai said the Office of the Premier rejects the claims of misconduct and perjury as unfounded and misleading.
“We remain committed to ethical leadership which includes governance practices such as transparency, accountability as well as adherence to the rule of law,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Premier and Finance, Nathan Oliphant said: “We have requested urgent investigations by the Commission for Gender Equality and the Public Service Commission into alleged non-compliance with recruitment and selection procedures by the Office of the Premier.
“This follows the appointments of Heads of Department (HoDs) for Education and for Economic Development.
During a recent follow-up meeting with the Office of the Premier, Director-General Paul Mogotlhe acknowledged that, while advertisements for the HoD positions—along with the post for the Department of Social Development—encouraged applications from women, persons with disabilities, and marginalised communities, the selection panel ultimately recommended two male candidates for the vacancy in the Dept of Econ Dev, Conservation & Tourism and 2 males and 1 female for the vacancy in the Dept of Education, 2 male Heads of department have since been appointed.”
Oliphant said they have noted with concern the continuing underrepresentation of women in senior roles. He said currently, there are 324 males and only 127 females occupying positions at level 13 and above across provincial departments and entities.
“We express disappointment that the report from the provincial government showed no progress since the previous meeting.
We were misled and the provincial government indicated that no appointments were made in our sitting on 5 June 2025 and subsequent report that 2 men have been appointed for vacancies preferred for female candidates and persons with disability.
“Despite this, the appointments proceeded and did not reflect the advertised criteria. We are calling on both the Commission for Gender Equality and the Public Service Commission to investigate potential bias and discrimination against women, people with disabilities and marginalised communities,” said Oliphant.
The Guardian 