According to the Provincial Legislature’s media liaison officer, Kebo Letlhogela, the concerns follow a meeting with the office led by Premier Keaobitsa Bushy Maape over the first quarter performance report for the 2022/23 financial year.

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Aaron Motswana, chairperson of the North West Legislature's Portfolio Committee on Premier, Finance, Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, criticised the “inaction of the members of the Office of the Premier that were failing to appear before committees of the legislature to account for their performance and expenditure”.

In addition, “dysfunctional municipalities that continue to increase irregular expenditure and owing huge amounts of monies to Eskom” were also put on the table.

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Motswana says the Department of Community Safety and Transport Management is also struggling with the appointments of service providers for scholar transport. “They say the delay is caused by interference or micromanagement by the Office of the Premier.”

Motswana says his committee needs clarity on how the OOP is dealing with audit findings of municipalities. “In the entire country, the North West Province is the worst performing province when it comes to municipalities. We are the laughing stock of other provinces.

“On other matters, the province is always conducting job summits and after those summits, there is no implementation or any indication when these can benefit our province.”

In his response, Maape said the work summits are important as they create work opportunities.

“We have met with Supreme Chicken in Hartbeesfontein to establish how the company can work with the government to create more job opportunities.”

The Director-General from the Office of the Premier, Mosweu Mogotlhe, informed the committee that the office achieved most of its targets in the first quarter.

“With regards to performance of the municipalities, the Treasury Department of the province is responsible for budgeting and finance and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is responsible for monitoring and valuation. The OOP does not monitor departments on their performance as it’s only the heads of the specific departments that are responsible for their operations,” he adds.

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At the end of the meeting, the Portfolio Committee requested the office to submit a detailed report on its organogram, indicating which positions are vacant and when they will be filled.

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Maape and the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, Lena Miga, have previously been criticised by Motswana for their “lack of action taken” after allegations of collusion and corruption involving properties in other provinces, or so-called cross-border properties.

This is for allegedly not preserving the assets and wealth of the former Bophuthatswana government. Motswana alleged that the government could have lost a massive R4.9 billion - calculated for the period between 2005 and 2009 - due to the non-collection of revenue from at least 98 000 properties.

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