The North West office of the acting Premier might be summoned to appear before a provincial legislature committee owing to a string of fraud and corruption accusations and cases across ailing departments and municipalities.

The chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee at the Legislature, Job Dliso, told OFM News the committee intends to call the Office of Premier, which is currently being occupied by acting premier, Nono Maloyi, to appear before the committee. Dliso said they want the Office of the Premier to give an update on several cases registered with law enforcement agencies, in which millions of rands were allegedly looted by officials and service providers over several years.

“We have seen several investigations in the province, including forensic investigations from the Office of the Premier, and those cases take long. We will be calling the Office of the Premier to ask how far those matters are.

“We don’t want to see a situation where investigators are paid money to investigate but they take long to make findings. So when matters are given to law enforcement agencies they must act,” Dliso said.

The chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee at the Legislature, Job Dliso. Photo supplied

The legislature is now at recess and the Office of the Premier will appear when the House resumes with its duties and responsibilities. 

OFM News previously reported that a repeat offender, Patrick Shikwane, is implicated in a massive looting of government funds wherein he is accused of spending R2 million on two laptops, R10 million on an Events Management Company that doesn’t have an address, R359,000 on lunch and transport for councillors to attend a one-day ward committee meeting and R299,000 for 60 food parcels.

Reacting to matters of fraud and corruption in the province, Dliso said cases of corruption eat at the morality of residents.

“I think we are not doing justice to our citizens. Monies appropriated in the province either from the national or the provincial level, are supposed to be used for what it is meant for and you are quite right, the morale is down in our communities because there is a lack of service delivery. We don’t have water and also have challenges with roads,” Dliso said.

OFM News previously reported that a senior accounting officer and current MM Lethlhonolo Fourie were suspended following a special council sitting on 29 September.

The district Executive Mayor Matlakala Nondzaba said the council decision is about payments made to companies implicated in the forensic report, on R134 million that was erroneously transferred to the municipality in 2019. The news about taxpayer money being splashed by officials has since caused quite an uproar from all spheres of government, trade unions, and civil movements who called for justice to be served.

OFM News/Lucky Nkuyane