It is this deterioration of infrastructure that instils nostalgia for Lucas Mangope’s Bophuthatswana regime, now seen as the best model of ever to have existed in this province.
With its more than 50% of adults who are economically passive and disengaged due to less economic activities, this is one of the most depressing provinces in the country. And, as could be expected due to this depressing state, the youth are also disengaged from the issues of politics and governance which affect their daily lives. There are also ineffective opposition parties able to confront the ANC’s failure to govern.
By around mid-2023, about seven municipalities had been placed under provincial administration as a result of financial misconduct and their failure to meet constitutional obligations.
Such constitutional measures have not proven to be effective, as many of the municipalities in the North West continue to disregard their constitutional mandate of enhancing provisions of service delivery.
The auditor-general (AG) revealed late last year that the current municipal manager, Lloyd Leoko, was found to have failed his matric and was thus an irregular appointment.
Another troubled North West municipality, Ramotshere Moiloa in Zeerust, appointed Lekgetho Mokgatlhe who, controversially, was at the time of his appointment facing fraud and corruption charges from his previous employment at Dihlabeng local municipality in the Free State.
It is clear from this backdrop that the North West provincial government is not committed to clean, ethical and efficient government at the level of both local and provincial government as they do not seriously deal with the rot emerging in their faces.
They are hell-bent on protecting each other and advancing factional political lines while the poor are left to fend for themselves without basic service delivery.
- Mokgatlhe is a freelance writer, researcher and analyst
Kenneth Mokgatlhe wa Kgwadi
www.sowetanlive.co.za
