Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on section 100 Intervention in the North West will visit the province this week to assess progress and the impact of the intervention.
In a statement on Sunday, the committee said central to its visit, is to assess if the intervention has had a direct impact on service delivery and the lives of the people of the province.
Cabinet in May 2018 placed the province under administration following several governance lapses.
According to Section 100 of the Constitution, national government interventions in a provincial administration may take place when a province cannot or does not fulfil an executive obligation in terms of the Constitution or legislation.
“The visit is constitutionally mandated as Section 100 (2) (c) prescribes that if the national executive intervenes in a province, the Council must, ‘while the intervention continues, review the intervention regularly and may make any appropriate recommendations to the national executive’. The visit follows extensive engagements that the committee had with the Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT), National Treasury, the Office of the Auditor-General and law enforcement agencies,” said the Committee.
Some of the issues raised that still needed attention was the high vacancy rate in senior management, especially heads of departments within the province.
“Also, the slow pace of consequence management was raised as a serious issue that had the potential of undermining confidence the people of the province had in the intervention.”
The Committee said another matter of concern was the reported hostility in the intervention team which impacted its ability to implement intervention strategies to turn things around in the province.
“The committee will use this visit to assess if those issues of concern have improved and if the intervention is making an impact on the lives of the people of the North West Province,” the Committee said.
The committee has also raised concerns about the pace of investigations that may lead to prosecution of wrongdoers.
“While we remain cognisant that investigation must be meticulous and sometimes lengthy in efforts to ensure watertight legal processes, we remain concerned that some cases have dragged since 2018 with no set timeframe for conclusion of the investigation,” said China Dodovu, Committee chairperson.
As part of the visit, the committee will interact with the North West Provincial Executive, the IMTT, the National Prosecuting Authority, administrators, labour organisations, Department of Health, and the Department of Basic Education.
The committee will also visit various sites, including Mahikeng hospitals, schools and Madibogo-Pan Bridge and road to assess service delivery.
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