The State of the Province Address (SOPA) delivered by North West Premier, Job Mokgoro today, is nothing other than a compilation of unfulfilled promises from previous years disguised as new plans.

The Premier again regurgitated his plans to conduct lifestyle audits on all Members of the Executive Council by a “reputable service provider”. The Democratic Alliance (DA) requested such an audit, after which the Premier assured the public during a sitting last year, that the audits are underway – a promise he has carried into this year’s SOPA.

The Premier further stated that a Provincial Forensic Investigation Unit will be established to address fraud and corruption. The close to 40 forensic investigations that are still in progress, some of which have been ongoing since 2012, hardly inspires any confidence that such a Unit will succeed.

An amount of R29 million will be set aside for the social relief of distress of 24 000 households. This translates into a meagre amount of R1208 per household per year, which amounts to R100.69 per month.

After the large-scale corruption pertaining to food security during the lockdown in 2020 and the Department of Social Development’s inability to deliver food parcels to the needy, this Department cannot be trusted to even deliver a disgraceful amount of R100 per month.

The people of North West are no longer interested in the promises of better roads, improved health services, more opportunities for the youth and “enhancing the ability of the North West Housing Corporation to execute its mandate of providing housing”.

The Premier undertook to deal with contractors that have failed to deliver in an attempt to address incomplete and deserted housing projects in the province. The DA will closely monitor this process to ensure that guilty cadres are also brought to book rather than being protected.

As per our track record in the Western Cape, the DA is serious about clean governance and will, as per our mandate as an opposition party, remain the Premier’s memory bank of long forgotten promises.

Issued by DA