By BAKANG MOKOTO
8 April 2025- The North West Premier, Lazarus Mokgosi said they have invested R25 million in the refurbishment of the Pilanesberg Airport to support the booming tourist numbers in the Bojanala, Sun City and Pilanesberg nodal point. Mokgosi said in addition, the road between Majakaneng and Sun City will be given a facelift of R29 million.
He further said discussions are underway between the provincial government and SANRAL to revamp an additional 40km of this road in preparation of G20 activities. Mokgosi added that, the construction of the D424 road and Visser Street in Mahikeng has commenced.
“The major road works set at a budget of R68m will start from Lonely Park, passing through Embassy and Golf View all the way up to the R49 intersection.
“We have resolved in our last EXCO session to appoint the North West Department of Public Works and Roads to spearhead the establishment of the North West Road Agency,” he said.
Mokgosi said the establishment of an agency dedicated to the road infrastructure will enable better management and maintenance of the provincial road network through innovative models and reforms. He said this will be achieved by building internal capacity of professionals and will strengthen the collaborative engagements with investors for the agency to mobilise finances to increase investment in road infrastructure.
“The North West Provincial Government has set aside a budget of R100m to kick start the Growth Fund, which will attract further collaboration with the private sector to work together to deliver on strategic projects and fund initiatives that create jobs and grow the economy of the province.
“The foundation is laid and the North West Provincial Government service delivery machinery is moving ahead at great speed to radically transform government performance and delivery for the tenure of the current administration,” said Mokgosi.
He said this assertion is not only their boastful claims, but has been confirmed by the Auditor General in the PFMA audit outcomes and in several meetings they have had with the AG since taking office. Mokgosi said they are convinced that with the improvements in the audit outcomes at a provincial level, they can achieve clean audits for all provincial government departments by the end of the term of the 7th administration.
“We currently have two departments which are Provincial Treasury and Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation with clean audits. This achievement is a product of our dedicated and focused monitoring and support to departments in the implementation of post audit action plans across departments.
“The Office of the Premier and Social Development should boast our numbers of clean audits soon. We have concluded the 2024/25 financial year with no new material audit concerns, recording a satisfactory expenditure level of 99.2 %,” he said.
Mokgosi said the preliminary spending report which is still to be subjected to the audit indicates that of R54.3 billion adjusted budget, actual expenditure accounts for R53.8 billion. He said this improved performance will be sustained in the current fiscal year and it remains this government commitment that no funds would be returned to the national coffers as they have the responsibility to provide much needed services to the people through this utilization of limited resources.
“Moreover, the R421 million which was not utilized by the Departments will be rolled over to the new financial year and will be spent on projects already committed by the government.
“At the beginning of the 7th administration, we dedicated this term of office to job creation, in particular opportunities aimed at changing the lives of the youth,” said Mokgosi.
He said this commitment remains a driving inspiration behind government programmes and all development initiatives.
Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Member of Provincial Legislature (MPL), Justice Dabampe said: “We welcome the decision by the North West Provincial Government to support EFF policies on building state capacity and doing away with tenders and outsourcing.
“You will remember that, it has been our battle cry that we must build state capacity and we said through the establishment of the state road agency, such will be realised.”
Dabampe said they will ensure that the state road agency does not become yet another cash cow or a failed project of the ruling party as it is the case with the NTI and Mmabana Foundation. He said they will ensure that permanent people are employed after the establishment of the agency.
“We should not rely on outsourcing because the agency is progressive and will assist as we know our road conditions are bad. There are no roads that are trafficable, especially during the rainy season because tenderpreneurs are just doing it for money without the interests of the people of the province at heart.
“So, this road agency asserts our long call that we have to do away with tenders and build state capacity. This will ensure that everything is done inhouse without outsourcing. There is nothing about the people of the North West without them,” he said.
The Guardian 