In its reply to the North West Premier Lazarus Mokgotsi’s State of the Province Address (SOPA) today, the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) emphasised that municipal services are the foundation of service delivery to North West residents.
When municipal services collapse, the province becomes dysfunctional and government fails.
Although Mokgotsi has declared 2026 the “year of decisive action to fix local government and transform the economy”, there is little hope that it will realise under an ANC government.
The Premier added that the North West government will launch section 106 investigations into corruption and maladministration in municipalities across the province. Such investigations and consequent reports have, however, produced little to no positive outcomes to date.
A government report on maladministration and corruption in the Madibeng Local Municipality was published as far back as 15 November 2025.
Even though serious irregularities in procurement, duplicate invoicing, irregular appointments and large payments into suspect accounts were exposed, no action has been taken against those responsible.
The Freedom Front Plus insists that the Premier disclose the number and names of people who have had disciplinary steps instituted against them in addition to the number of criminal complaints that have been lodged in response to the Madibeng report.
Mokgotsi also made a big fuss about the billions earmarked for, among other things, water projects in North West.
The Auditor-General (AG), however, reports a loss of confidence in water projects, with qualified findings against 82% of these projects. A total of 56% of the projects were also delayed by up to 32 months before finally being completed.
This state of affairs points to a systemic governance problem: poor planning, poor procurement management, poor contract management and no follow-up maintenance on new infrastructure.
The Freedom Front Plus pointed out that the situation in North West will not improve without targeted action against corruption and lax financial management.
Taxpayers are tired of financing corruption and subsidising defaulters on service accounts.
Repeatedly appointing the same contractors who deliver substandard service and fail to meet their contractual obligations should also come to an end. Billions have been lost on projects that remain incomplete because of these appointments.
It is also crucial to hold officials and politicians accountable for irregularities and corruption in their ranks.
There is no value in compiling and publishing investigative reports if they are not followed by disciplinary, criminal or civil prosecution.
The current state of North West confirms under ANC rule, good governance will remain a pipe dream.
Freedom Front Plus Historical Context: The FF Plus emerged from the political changes following the end of apartheid.
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Fun South African Fact: SA has three capital cities: Pretoria is the Executive Capital, Cape Town the Legislative Capital and Bloemfontein the judicial Capital.
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