North West Premier, Bushy Maape has immediately placed the North West MEC for Social Development, Boitumelo Moiloa, and the Head of the Department (HOD), Relebohile Mofokane on special leave for a month.
Moiloa and Mofokane are reported to have been at loggerheads over a security tender that was allegedly awarded irregularly, resulting in Moiloa’s decision to suspend three officials including a senior manager.
The suspended MEC said the department has established prima-facie information, which alleged Mofokane signed off a R133 million security tender, and ignored the Provincial Internal Audit’s warning about some discrepancies in bid documents.
Maape said the suspension of the two was imminent, as it poses a great potential of paralysing service delivery if not attended to urgently.
“Over the past months, I have been coordinating the implementation of directives on the professionalisation of the public service, which includes amongst other things, a system of delegations between Executive Authorities (MECs) and Accounting Officers (HODs).
“Unfortunately, this has not been successful in the North West Department of Social Development leading to a near administrative paralysis, which risked finalisation of the Annual Performance Plan (APP), Departmental Budget for the 2023/24 financial year, and potentially the submission of the Annual Financial Statement (AFS) as well as the Annual Performance Information (API) for 2022/23 financial year.
“This discord has the potential if not managed to paralyse service delivery and harm the poor and vulnerable persons who are serviced by the department. I am compelled and required by the constitution as the person vested with the Executive Authority of the province to intervene on behalf of good governance and for the sake of the poor and the marginalized, whose livelihoods are dependent on the services offered by the department,” Maape said.
He said a member of his Provincial Executive Council (Exco) Kenetswe Mosenogi will step in as an acting MEC for Social Development.
“The North West MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport & Recreation, Kenetswe Mosenogi has been appointed as acting MEC for Social Development, while Obakeng Mongale will be acting Head of Department. We have constituted a team of experienced senior public servants led by the Office of the Premier to assist Mosenogi and Mongale during their acting, with a particular mandate being on managing the very important audit process, which resumes from 1 June 2023,” he said.
