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There was yet another twist to the plot on the state of governance in North West as the inter-ministerial committee – who many believed would deliver a scathing report on the state of affairs in the province – delivered a wishy-washy account of its findings.
The committee, spearheaded by Minister in the Presidency Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, mumbled through a series of disjointed revelations during a media briefing on Wednesday which was meant to inform the public about the preliminary findings report presented to Cabinet in a meeting on May 9.
Instead of disclosing the findings contained in the report, Dlamini-Zuma took a detour and focused most of her briefing on the circumstances that led to the formation of the task team and she gave mundane details such as who made up the task team.
Dlamini-Zuma however did disclose that her task team had already spent almost a week in the province during which time they had met with Premier Supra Mahumapelo and other leaders for two days.
Her team also met with diverse stakeholders, including businesspeople, community groups and various professionals before presenting an interim report to Cabinet last week.
It was this particular report which was believed to contain damning allegations of corruption implicating Mahumapelo and his inner circle that influenced Cabinet’s decision to place the entire province under administration.
When questioned by a journalist on whether Mahumapelo – who rallied behind her for the ANC presidency at the party’s conference in December – had driven the province into disarray, Dlamini-Zuma refused to comment.
She said she was there with her government cap on and not that of the party.
“I don’t really want to respond to that question ... I was never backed by government. The conference was an ANC conference and not government. I’m here in my government capacity,” she said.
With that, Dlamini-Zuma steered clear from any further discussions on the embattled Mahumapelo.
Mahumapelo’s hold on the province took many twists and turns last week. He assured the media he would resign, only to renege on the promise and later announced that he would be taking a leave of absence.
Dlamini concluded her brief session by saying that ministers will this week assess the state of affairs in their equivalent departments in the province to determine whether the intervention to be taken should fall under section 100(a) or (b), depending on the state of affairs they encounter.
The main objective of this intervention was to:
• Restore trust and confidence between labour and government;
• Assist the province to upgrade its systems and capabilities to a new normal;
• Ensure compliance with the legislative and regulatory frameworks of government; and
• Stabilise the labour environment, restore sustainable service delivery, restore security of staff and improve financial management.
