DA accuses North West premier of being MIA ‘while service delivery has collapsed’

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the North West has claimed that the premier of the North West, Job Mokgoro, of being “missing in action while service delivery has collapsed” in the province.

The DA’s provincial leader, Joe McGluwa, said the party is concerned about the collapse of service delivery throughout the North West and Mokgoro’s lack of leadership in addressing these challenges.

“The interventions into 10 provincial departments and 15 municipalities respectively have clearly not changed the dilapidated state of the provincial government and subsequently, the lack of services persist.

“In light of this, we were not surprised when Premier Job Mokgoro cancelled a live interview with 18 community radio stations two days in a row this week,” McGluwa said.

He said Mokgoro was invited to participate in a live interview on service delivery issues and also to respond to the questions of listeners but cancelled at the last minute on Wednesday due to “unforeseen circumstances” and on Thursday night resorted to sending his spokesperson, Vuyisile Ngesi, to “fight his battles”.

“The premier’s seeming unwillingness to answer to the people of North West, is, to all intents and purposes, an admission of the collapsed state of this province and is a display of his reluctance to decisively deal with service delivery issues.

“This is, however, not the only time that the premier is found wanting in his role of taking responsibility. To date, the office of the premier has not tabled its annual report to the portfolio committee in the provincial legislature and were subsequently not permitted to present its second-quarter performance report,” McGluwa said.

He added that Mokgoro is evidently reluctant to account for the provincial government’s failures, which speaks of his administration’s total indifference towards the people of this province.

“The premier owes the people of North West an explanation for the collapse of governance and continued service delivery challenges.

“In our oversight role as an opposition party, the DA will continue to engage the people of North West and offer our credible alternative to the poor governance of the ANC.”

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

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