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The North West Democratic Alliance noted the announcement by the North West Provincial Government that major audit companies are going to be contracted to assist NW municipalities with their financial administration.

This announcement came after the recent release of the expected but still shocking Auditor General's Report on NW Municipalities finances.

The report highlighted the continued financial and administrative regression of NW municipalities where now only 9 out of 24 municipalities were able to compile and submit financial statements for audit purposes. Not a single one of these 9 municipalities was given a clean audit status by the AG.

The governance levels now prevalent in NW municipalities, with its devastating results on even the diminishing delivery attempts still remaining, reached such a state that it can be described as financial and administrative anarchy. Most NW municipalities have already abdicated their primary responsibilities such as financial administration, planning, project management etc. to expensive consultants, who in many instances were contracted after questionable procurement processes. This happened whilst keeping the deployed incompetent and overpaid personnel, who were appointed on the basis of being capable to fulfil the functions for which they had been appointed, in their offices at the expense of the already overburdened tax payer.

The ANC should accept full responsibility for the collapse of NW municipalities and the de facto condoning of the financial anarchy which snowballed with the escalating ANC factional divisions in the North West. The vicious factional cadre deployment competition resulted in a situation where local government expertise has now almost completely been replaced with incompetent cadres rendering most NW municipalities impotent.

The contracting of major audit companies to assist NW municipalities alongside the compromised administration and an extensive network of contracted expensive consultants will not provide the solution to resolving the NW municipal anarchy. Only a full recognition and acceptance of ownership of the devastating effects of the vicious racist and factional ANC's cadre deployments practices, implemented after the 1997 Mafikeng ANC National Conference as a first step, may start to turn the NW local government crisis around. The next step should be an independent capacity audit during which incompetent and parasitic cadres should be removed from office followed by a clean-up of the tender and procurement systems.

Only then the rot and decay in NW municipalities may be halted and may clean governance return to NW communities.