/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Democratic Alliance calls for the MEC of Economic Development and
Tourism to either dissolve the dysfunctional Northern Cape Economic
Development, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency or to appoint
additional board members immediately. If he fails to act, we will
subpoena him before the Portfolio Committee.

As we speak, NCEDA has only one board member in the form of a
chairperson. The last invitation to nominate persons to serve on the
board was gazetted in 2010. Since then, a number of board members have
resigned and have not yet been replaced. This violates section 6 of
the Northern Cape Economic Development, Trade and Investment Promotion
Agency Act 4 of 2008, which stipulates that the NCEDA board consists
of five members.

In terms of the Northern Cape Economic Development, Trade and
Investment Promotion Agency Act, the board must act as accounting
authority for the entity. In the absence of a full board, all the
decisions are now being taken by one person, which is the chairperson.

The lack of a full board hampers the Legislature’s ability to conduct
proper oversight and to hold NCEDA accountable. To date, the board has
been unable to present their annual reports for the past two years.
Since October 2014, the committee meetings at the Legislature had to
be postponed twice because the chairperson was unavailable. The
meeting scheduled this week had to be stopped midway through the
proceedings, as the chairperson was unable to present the annual
reports for the 2012/13 and 2013/14 financial years. He reasoned that
he thought that the department of Economic Development and Tourism had
presented the annual reports already to the Legislature. This is a
contradiction, because he had repeatedly boasted that he had
previously presented annual reports to the Legislature. In fact, he
pointed out that he did not recognise the new members in the
Legislature. From his previous experience, he should know that the
department does not present any reports from entities.

The presentation that the chairperson did make, indicates that there
are very serious problems with the management of the Mittah Seperepere
Convention Centre. At the moment, R260 000 is paid per month to the
service provider who manages the centre. The chairperson indicated
that steps were taken to collect revenue due to the province from the
centre, but the service provider was not cooperative. The agency has
taken over the centre in October 2014, but it clearly does not have
the capacity to run the centre properly.

The board is also operating without a supply chain management unit. In
the absence of this crucial unit, the chairperson has assumed
responsibility for bid adjudication and tenders. All contracts with a
worth of R500 000 or less are being adjudicated by the chairperson
and, in one instance, a contract worth R600 000 was adjudicated and
awarded by him. Earlier this week, another tender was advertised and
will likely only be adjudicated by the chairperson.

Treasury Regulations are very clear that contracts must be awarded
either through inviting competitive quotations or by a bid committee.
We cannot allow a situation where the Public Finance Management Act
and Treasury Regulations are being flouted on this scale.

The position of Chief Executive Officer is also left vacant. No acting
CEO has been appointed.

The DA demands that the MEC must either dissolve NCEDA or appoint
additional board members. We has today submitted written questions to
the MEC of Finance to determine when the new boards for NCEDA, the
Northern Cape Tourism Authority and the Northern Cape Gambling Board
will be appointed.

Issued by DA