The North West’s permanent delegates to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) have expressed concern over the retention of an unoccupied and dilapidating Mayoral House in Mogwase for a decade by the Moses Kotane Local Municipality.
This emerged during the oversight visit to various sites by the delegation at the municipality,
The delegation, led by the Provincial Whip, Sylvia Sithole, highlighted pressing issues that included mismanagement of resources and infrastructure challenges as part of the NCOP’s flagship Provincial Week programme,
“It is shocking that the municipality continues to retain a depreciating asset that serves no purpose and which adds no value to the community.
Furthermore, the property has not been occupied for over 10 years and yet the municipality is spending valuable resources to maintain it, including spending on security and on electricity, among other things, which could be better used to improve services for residents,” said Sithole.
According to Sithole, the house was originally purchased for R4 million between 2002 and 2004, is now valued at just R1.35 million due to significant defects in the roof and plumbing.
The estimated cost of repairs exceeds R2 million which is equivalent to the municipality’s entire infrastructure maintenance of the budget for a year.
“The delegation expressed concern over the continued retention of the house, which is a financial burden on the municipality, especially as the property continues to deteriorate without any hope of functioning again.
We also noted that the failure to address this issue and present a detailed report to the delegation undermines the municipality’s accountability and the NCOP’s oversight role,” explained Sithole.
The delegation also conducted oversight visits at some of the provinces healthcare centres, schools’ infrastructures, Rustenburg Rapid Transport project, along with the Rustenburg Bulk Water Supply and Water Purification plant.
