New Limpopo MEC dissolves road agency board

Although Limpopo MEC for public works, roads and infrastructure Tonny Rachoene, has been in office for 40 days, he dissolved the board of directors at the department’s subsidiary, Roads Agency Limpopo (RAL) on Wednesday.

While his political detractors claim his decision was just a matter of “you can’t use another man’s dogs to hunt”, his political associates said the move was an indication that he was bold and up for the task.

“This was a harsh decision. He could have at least given them six months and assessed how they are faring. This is tantamount to purging,” said a member of the Limpopo provincial legislature.

Mixed reactions

The member, who asked to speak on condition of anonymity, said the dissolution of the board was hasty.

Another source said the province needed someone bold enough to take Limpopo ahead.

On Tuesday, the department announced that three RAL board members had resigned. The fourth board member was not yet officially appointed and the remaining four members could not form a quorum.

“We can now officially tell you that RAL board has been dissolved,” said Rachoene.

“We are going to announce an acting board soon. The acting board will run the affairs of the agency until we appoint a new board.”

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Rachoene said the move was warranted. According to the MEC, the board’s sin was that the entity had an overcommitment of projects for R355 million.

He said this overcommitment may be understated by R216 million.

“This is very worrisome given the fact that RAL receives its allocation from the provincial fiscus,” he said.

“One can only conclude that the appointments of these service providers were made despite challenges over budget constraints.

“This, in turn, affected the department and created an impression that it cannot implement road projects in communities.”

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