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Marikana, Zuma and “white monopoly capitalists” were some of the key issues which came out of North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo’s state of the province address this morning.
Addressing a large crowd at the Taung sports grounds, on which a white tent was erected, he spoke about the need to completely alleviate the high rates of unemployment that currently face the province, one of the highest in the country.
“According to Stats SA, there are about 1.66 million or estimated 475 000 households living in poverty in the province,” Mahumapelo said.
The premier also addressed ways in which to help the community of Marikana, with the introduction of the RDP housing project that was marred by the occupation of illegal occupants.
“The good work we have done in Marikana is marred by acts of illegal occupation of RDP houses by a small section of the community. These completed houses together with infrastructure development jointly delivered by the provincial government and the Rustenburg municipality represent practical steps taken by the government to develop Marikana,” the premier said.
His recent reverence towards President Jacob Zuma has been criticised strongly.
Mahumapelo announced plans to construct a 6m-high bronze statue in honour of President Jacob Zuma in Groot Marico. The Democratic Alliance said that the exorbitant amount of money used on the statue could instead be used for completing the Independent Police Investigative Directorate investigation into the Marikana massacre.
“Since 2016 the directorate has begged Parliament for R5 million to fund the remainder of its Marikana investigation, in line with the Farlam Commission remedial action, yet no funds have been available for this,” the DA’s Joe McGluwa said on Sunday.
Mahumapelo criticised the uneven wealth distribution, particularly among the villages and townships in the North West, blaming “white monopoly capital”.
“The government will no longer feed the greed of white monopoly capital at the expense of black entrepreneurs, the majority of whom live in villages, townships and small dorpies. We will not use public funds to perpetuate the skewed accumulation of wealth and privilege by a section of the society, mainly white and male, who constitute a small number of the population of Bokone-Bophirima,” he said.
Meanwhile on Wednesday the North West provincial government announced that it would be purchasing a R1.1 million vehicle for the premier with public funds, after his current vehicles were experiencing mechanical problems.
“The ministerial handbook allows for provincial governments to purchase a vehicle valued at R1.4 million but Premier Mahumapelo has, in his continued effort to lead by example and encourage members of executive council to exercise cost saving measures when procuring official government vehicles, agreed to the purchasing of a vehicle with a total cost of R1.1 million, thus saving R300 000 of public funds,” spokesperson for the North-West government Brian Setswambung said.
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