Note to Broadcasters: Find linked soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Jacqueline Theologo MPL
The North West Development Corporation (NWDC) continues to fail in its mandate to grow the provincial economy, through support to entrepreneurs and small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to bolster an environment conducive for job creation.
Instead, the NWDC has become a bottomless money pit which recorded a financial loss of R39,415 million in 2019 and a staggering R92,739 million in 2021.
The NWDC’s non-performance is due to a dysfunctional board that has turned the entity into a money laundering scheme where projects are doomed before they even begin.
The NWDC relies on old and outdated projects. For example, the entity was responsible for developing a string of bakeries without ensuring that there is adequate water and electricity supply for the successful operation and sustainability of these businesses. Equipment purchased for these projects are gathering dust. This appears to be the business model of the entity across the board.
The NWDC has become reliant on the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism for bailouts, without any plan to become self-reliant. During the 2020/21 financial year, the NWDC received a bailout of R4 million – not to support businesses in the North West or to develop the economy, but to deal with the financial pressure due to litigation against it.
This entity, like all other state entities and subsidiaries, is cash strapped and failing to deliver on its mandate. The NWDC presentation before the committee on 15 of February 2023 Indicated that 90% of all supported projects are dysfunctional.
The DA is calling on Premier Bushy Maape that the NWDC Board, filled with questionable appointments, be relieved from their duties without any further compensation. This Board has failed to lead the entity effectively.
The former MEC of Economic Development, Environment, Conversation and Tourism, Kenetswe Mosenogi, should also account for the erroneous appointment of Mr Ernest Mojaki as the accounting authority at Signal Development, a subsidiary of NWDC. MEC Mosenogi went ahead and appointed Mr Mojaki despite receiving legal advice that she had no authority to do so. All money, shares or benefits acquired by Mr Mojaki during his term should also be recovered.
We will also request additional information from the Office of the Premier on the process followed in the funding of these projects and where the Public Financial Management Act and Board regulations were flaunted, we will lay criminal charges.