Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the North West has urged Premier Job Mokgoro to disband four of its provincial public entities including the North West Gambling Board Board for allegedly failing to drive economic growth and employment in the province.
Jacqueline Theologo - DA North West spokesperson on economic development, environment, conservation and tourism - said the Gambling Board, North West Development Corporation (NDWC), Parks Board and Tourism Board have all allegedly failed to deliver on their respective mandates.
Theologo alleges that that these public entities were evidently “grossly mismanaged’ saying ‘considering the current economic downturn, these entities are responsible for the management and oversight of important economic drivers in the province in support of small, medium and micro-enterprises and tourism.
“Through their mandates, each entity has the mandate to attract investment, spur economic growth which, in turn, creates jobs,” Theologo said.
She said the Gambling Board had overspent its budget on legal services by R4.4 million in the 2018/2019 financial year.
“The NWDC only reached 28% of its target, yet overspent its budget by 16%. The NW Tourism Board only reached 4 out of 16 targets, yet managed to overspent on its budget by 59.7%.
“Bothe the NW Parks Board and the Tourism Board do not have properly constituted serving boards and are managed by acting CEO’s and acting CFO’s,” Theologo said.
She said it was evident that the entities were unable to adhere to basic corporate governance standards saying the shocking state of affairs in those entities showed complete lack of accountability and gross mismanagement.
She said her party will write to the Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism MEC Keneitswe Mosenogi to also disband the North West Development Corporation’s board.
She also said that they would appeal to Mokgoro to conduct an in depth analysis of the viability of entities and to decide their future.
“Most of them remain breeding grounds for corruption and a burden to the provincial fiscus with no benefit to the province. The current instability in the entities will deter much needed investors for our province,” Theologo alleged.