REMARKS BY NORTH WEST PREMIER, PROF TEBOGO JOB MOKGORO, AT THE FAREWELL SITTING OF THE NORTH WEST PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE HELD ON MONDAY, 25 MARCH 2019

Speaker of the North West Provincial Legislature, Hon Susanna Dantjie

Deputy Speaker of the North West Provincial Legislature, Hon Jane Manganye

Members of the Provincial Executive Council

Members of the North West Provincial Legislature

Distinguished guests

Members of the media

Citizens of the North West Province

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning.

Honourable Speaker, one of the most difficult things to do is the ability to say goodbye to those that have been part of your fabric for a considerable amount of time but all things should come to an end; and the democratic cycle process of our electoral system, as , is at that juncture where we bid each other our final goodbyes.

Some of us will most probably be back in this house after the May 08 elections while others will not be part of these benches; owing to the outcomes of the

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forthcoming National and Provincial Elections where we will have received a new electoral mandate from the people of the North West.

I am humbled and privileged to be standing today before this august house for the last time as Premier of the North West Province as the 5th Administration draws to a close; since my election by members of this house as Premier on 22 June last year, much has been achieved in closing the trust gap that had existed between the Provincial Government and the people especially after the upheavals of April 2018 throughout the province.

We would not have achieved some of the milestones had it not been because of the support provided to us by this house, the criticism of members where we were not doing what is expected of us and the ability of members to hold the Executive accountable in the Legislature.

During the State of the Province Address last month, we reported progress but is important to restate that nine months after being elected Premier of the North West Province, I promised to, among others, bridge the trust gap that had manifested itself between government and the people of this province.

I had also committed to provide leadership that seeks to bring hope and renewal amongst our people following unprecedented waves of unrest and violent protests that had gripped the length and breadth of our province towards the end of April last year as well as the beginning of May; where many of our people took to the streets to voice out their frustrations in relation to our inability or unwillingness to deliver basic, quality services as a provincial government, including of course, local government.

In addition, honourable members, the most important task at hand at the time was instilling confidence in a public service that had become fractured, and

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hope to a population that had become despondent, as well as bring stability to a government that had all but lost track of the social contract it had entered into with the electorate from the outcome of the 2014 National and Provincial Elections; that of ensuring that we deliver services meant to improve the lives of the people of the North West.

Madam Speaker, we would do well to remember that the President and Cabinet resolved to intervene in the province – clearly because of the labour and civil unrest that had spread like wildfire throughout the province; our social and health services were on the brink of near collapse and Cabinet invoked Section 100 (1)(a) and 100 (1)(b) of the Constitution in all Provincial Government departments and appointed an Inter-Ministerial Task Team to oversee the implementation of those intervention measures.

We, then, had to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the IMTT, led by Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, on agreed protocols as well as the Standard Operating Procedures on the Section 100 interventions in the identified departments.

Honourable members, the Section 100 intervention was, in the main, informed by the failure to provide administrative leadership and effective oversight to service delivery departments, especially on the part of the Office of the Premier.

As a consequence and as a matter of fact, the entire provincial administration underwent a massive and generalised breakdown in governance, service delivery, accountability and deterioration of labour relations.

Madam Speaker, we can today like we did when I delivered the SOPA, without any fear of contradiction, reiterate to this august house and the

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people of the North West Province that significant progress has been made in steering this province in the right direction and strengthening the capacity of government to deliver quality services to the people, as well as mending the broken bridges between ourselves, communities and organised labour.

The intervention is making advances in addressing the governance and service delivery challenges facing our Province.

Working together, we can do more than what has been achieved already and we are ready to hand over a healthy government to the incoming administration.

Madam Speaker, therefore allow me to congratulate and thank you and the Deputy Speaker for having provided guidance and leadership to this house for the last five years thus maintaining the necessary decorum associated with the business of the North West Provincial Legislature.

Furthermore, the Public Participation of the Legislature has further taken the work of elected public representatives to the masses of our people and for that, we are thankful.

I want to thank my colleagues in the Executive Council for having given me the necessary support to achieve that which I pronounced on upon my election last year and I believe that more can still be achieved by the incoming 6th Administration, as we have managed to lay a foundation for service delivery excellence as well as fiscal discipline in Provincial Government Departments.

To the Members of the Provincial Legislature, I wish to pass my sincere gratitude for your vigilant oversight role that you have over the Executive; hence being able to keep in on our toes on the straight and narrow and holding us accountable for the commitments we continue to make before this house in

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our policy statements and pronouncements in the State of the Province Addresses, Provincial Budget Speech and various Departmental Budget Votes.

To the people of the North West Province, your vote managed to put us here as elected public representatives so that we become implementing agents of all your aspirations in a five year electoral term.

It has been an honour and privilege to have served this province as Premier in the last nine months.

In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I will like to wish all political parties represented in this house all the best in the forthcoming National and Provincial Elections but also urge all South Africans who are eligible and have registered to vote, to do so on May 08, 2019.

I thank you.

ENDS

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