Note to Broadcasters: Please find attached soundbites in English and Sesotho by Freddy Sonakile
The DA in the North West is once again disappointed in the long list of empty promises delivered in the State of the Province Address today.
But not all is lost. The DA welcomes the Premier’s announcement of the completion of the Skills Audit Project, but we are eagerly awaiting his response to the findings, which will prove that the audit report was not just another fruitless and wasteful expenditure gathering dust on his desk.
The DA also acknowledges the Premier’s promise to take action against all top management who fail to disclose their financial interests. We will look into this report and keep him to his word.
We support the formation of the NW Development Fund, which will provide economic operations such as airport resuscitation. But we insist that the funds be administered publicly and that their utilisation be subject to real-time audits. As a province, we learned the hard way with the questionable use of COVID funding.
However, Premier Mokgosi seems to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors by promising more than he can deliver.
Today we once again heard about a Smart City. The Premier mentioned that the North West Housing Corporation (NWHC) has been granted the responsibility of developing a Smart City. But the DA warns that the NWHC is currently working under an outdated Act that needs to be revised and reinterpreted to align its mandate with the NDP.
NWHC is already failing to meet its mandate in terms of maintaining and collecting rent on the properties for which it is currently responsible. Adding a new project, such as a Smart City, on top of it may be overly ambitious.
The Premier also mentioned yet another Advisory Committee, the Economic and Investment Advisory Committee. In 2022, then-Premier Maape also launched a Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, but to date, we have not yet seen the report or the implementation plan.
The DA in the North West Provincial Legislature is ready for the new administration. We will scrutinise every promise, every project, and every document to ensure that we hold the ANC-led government of North West accountable.