Cabinet pleased with task team's progress in North West

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Cabinet says it is pleased that visible progress has been made in stabilising the struggling North West provincial departments and that the provision of basic services has been prioritised. 

In August, the North West Departments of Health; Education and Sports Development, and Local Government and Human Settlements were placed under Section 100 (1) (B).

An Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) on the North West, led by Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, was appointed to provide oversight in the implementation of the intervention.

In a statement issued on Thursday following a meeting on Wednesday, Cabinet said it approved the sixth progress report by the IMTT. The intervention, Cabinet said, has cleared over 90% of the accruals to suppliers, enabling the improved supply of medicine and equipment.

“Four of the five operating theatres at Mafikeng hospital have been returned to functionality.  A number of the funded vacant posts in the respective departments have been filled.

“A process to address the backlog infrastructure maintenance has been put in place and the law enforcement agencies continue to make progress in bringing those who were involved in corruption to account,” Cabinet said.

Working with the North West leadership, the appointed administrators continue to make progress in setting in place good governance processes, Cabinet added. 

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) visited the North West in October and have tabled their report endorsing the national government intervention in the province.

There has been endorsement of Section 100(1) intervention by the NCOP, enabling the intervention to be extended beyond the 180-day limit imposed by the Constitution.

President Cyril Ramaphosa established the IMTT following violent protests over service delivery in the province earlier this year. – SAnews.gov.za