Honourable Speaker, I rise on behalf of the Democratic Alliance and note that, during Premier Job Mokgoro’s State of the Province Address on Friday, 28 June 2019, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the Auditor-General’s findings that not even one out of 22 municipalities in North West obtained a clean audit.

This is indeed disturbing and it goes without saying that tough action will be required if we are to see municipalities turned around.

The Premier then proceeded to quote Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu who listed political instability as one of the reasons for poor performance in municipalities.

Honourable Speaker, we are of the opinion that the first step towards saving municipalities is to resolve the factionalism within the ANC and that should be the Premier’s first priority.

The Premier spoke of those in our communities who incite violence and cause destruction, but in most cases these trouble makers are part and parcel of the ANC factions.

We have recently witnessed protests within the Ditsobotla Local Municipality, and a hostage situation in Naledi, both rooted in factionalism and both taking its toll on service delivery.

The Ditsobotla Municipal Officials expressed their dissatisfaction with the administrator under the guise of protest action of unemployed youth, while the Naledi Council Meeting turned into a hostage situation because the outgoing Municipal Manager rallied his supporters in an attempt to escape accountability for years of mismanagement.

Honourable Speaker, it has now become a matter of urgency that the instigators are dealt with as they are making the work of the administrators unbearable. As long as due processes are not consented to, the ills of maladministration, incompetence and corruption within municipalities will always be the North West’s story to tell.

Speaker, we can all agree that the North West economy is largely dependent on agriculture and the Premier outlined various programmes that will be assisting youth and emerging farmers to enter the market. It is however alarming that just like in his State of the Province Address in February, not a word has been breathed about rural safety.

Farm attacks and murders have become synonymous with the agricultural industry causing many to opt out. The ripple effect of those leaving the industry should not be underestimated, as many rural communities are completely dependent on jobs provided by farmers.

Speaker, we refer the House to the recent attack in Coligny where two young children were forced to run 2km to the neighbouring farm in order to get help. Their grandfather, Mr Ndarala, had been badly assaulted and robbed.

There has been 184 farm attacks and 20 farm murders since the beginning of this year. This is a serious threat to the provinces’ food security.

With this in mind, as well as ongoing crime and violence in all rural areas, it is incomprehensible that rural safety units have not been prioritised.

Honourable Speaker, safety is unfortunately not the only challenge faced by those in rural North West. The poor condition of roads in the province is causing a total economic meltdown.

People in far-flung areas are completely forgotten and left to their own mercy. Due to the lack of maintenance of roads, essential services such as ambulances and police cannot reach these communities and farmers are unable to transport their produce to the market place.

The impassable roads have been the source of many accidents and damages to vehicles, even causing the death of a policeman on the Vorstershoop road in Kagisano-Molopo in June. If this does not move government into prompt action, nothing will.

Honourable Speaker, Premier Mokgoro spoke at length on the issues of corruption and how it will be rooted out. The fact that there are still ten cases on the court roll awaiting trial since his SOPA in February, hardly inspires confidence in the progress of these matters.

The Honourable Premier further spoke of forensic audits that are in the pipeline, but what about the numerous forensic reports that have never been tabled? If the Premier is serious about moving forward as a province, stock needs to be taken of the extent of corruption by way of releasing the reports. It is also vital that those implicated in these reports be held accountable.

Honourable Speaker, the Premier spoke about the role the NWDC will be playing in economic development that includes supporting small businesses, creating jobs for youth and also mining initiatives.

It is a well-known fact that the NWDC is on the brink of bankruptcy and therefore the Premier will have to be more specific on how all the above stated plans will be executed.

The Premier set deadlines of various projects to be completed within 100, 200 and 300 days respectively. As part of exercising our oversight role, we will be closely monitoring the progress.