Rustenburg – North West premier Supra Mahumapelo must outline his plan of action for the province during his State of the Province Address (Sopa), the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday.
“Mahumapelo must present a credible plan around the education and healthcare challenges, the ongoing drought and poor local government performance to the citizens of North West,” said Joe McGluwa, DA party leader in North West on Monday.
“We need proper sustainable planning in the province. Currently the North West provincial government is only reactive to service delivery crises and relies on the premier’s Setsokotsane programme to come to the rescue. There is currently no effective management and implementation practices in place and the provincial government is only looking at short-term solutions. The Premier must not sell us the programme as a solution to challenges. The programme alone is not enough to address the issues in the province,” he said.
McGluwa said the province is suffering from the drought and all of the problems associated with water scarcity.
“The government’s response was late and inadequate, and measures to mitigate the worst aspects of the hazard were not implemented. We want to know how the agricultural sector in the province will be assisted in terms of immediate support to farmers facing livestock and crop losses coupled to financial ruin,” he said.
McGluwa said Mahumapelo must also talk about plans to assist schools in the province.
“Some schools in the rural areas are without running water and there is a critical shortage of desks, textbooks and good sewage systems in schools in the poor communities,” McGluwa said.
Mahumapelo would deliver the State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Friday, February 26 at the Matlosana Auditorium and is expected to take stock of the provincial government’s service delivery programmes over the past year and unveil plans to boost the province’s economy.
African News Agency
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