Municipalities in the North West province are still rapidly declining, despite the millions of rand spent by the provincial government on appointing administrators tasked with turning these municipalities around.
The FF Plus raised this issue during a meeting of the parliamentary Ad-Hoc Committee that is responsible for overseeing the national government's intervention in the North West.
Various community members and interest groups from the North West were also supposed to provide input to the Committee, but it seems that invitations were issued selectively.
The ANC government appointed the first administrators at fourteen municipalities across the province in 2018 already. Thus far, however, these interventions have failed to yield much, if any, results.
The FF Plus has repeatedly pointed out that these appointments come down to fruitless expenditure and have apparently only created additional ways in which municipal resources can be looted.
The North West Premier, Job Mokgoro, has also admitted on more than one occasion that appointing these administrators has not borne any fruit thus far.
Communities across the province are plagued by the effects of inadequate service delivery, the rapid decay of infrastructure, corruption and maladministration.
The provincial government itself has identified, in its official submissions, that extensive corruption, maladministration, the lack of skilled staff in key positions as well as the poor discipline among councillors and municipal staff are the main causes of municipalities' deterioration.
But despite this, the provincial government has not come up with any sustainable solutions to these problems.
The individuals responsible for the deterioration of towns and infrastructure are also not brought to book.
The legislation specifically implemented to ensure that corrupt politicians and officials are prosecuted as well as the control measures that are aimed at preventing corruption and mismanagement are only applied selectively.
There is simply no political will to address these issues and it is clear that vested interests are put before the wellbeing of North West's people.
The provincial government and municipalities across the province are further paralysed by internal ANC faction fights in what seems to be a battle for control over municipal resources for personal gain.
The ANC's commitment to its policy of cadre deployment – where critical positions are occupied by individuals with ANC ties instead of by qualified, professional municipal officials – only makes matters worse.
The FF Plus has stated many times that removing political appointments from municipal administrations is a prerequisite for successfully restoring service delivery on all levels of government.
It is an absolute shame that the people of the North West must suffer under the ANC government, which obviously puts the interests of a small ANC elite first and turns a blind eye to the decline of our municipalities.
Voters must take note of this and in the upcoming elections, they must initiate the restoration process by removing the ANC from power.
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