He will be addressing members of the public, academics and other stakeholders at the North-West University to get their inputs ahead of his speech on Friday. Mokgoro will, during the delivery of the SOPA, be expected to outline plans for the province and elaborate on how he plans to deal with issues such as high unemployment, corruption, maladministration, and the lack of service delivery. This province has for months made national headlines over governance and service delivery issues. It was placed under administration by President Cyril Ramaphosa last year in May following violent service delivery protests and calls for former premier Supra Mahumapelo to step down.

The province currently has 15 municipalities under administration due to their financial distress, instability, and collapse of services. Coupled with this, four drew much attention over their investment in the now liquidated VBS Bank. The Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, the Mahikeng Local Municipality, Madibeng Local Municipality, and Moretele Local Municipality are amongst some of the municipalities that have been under fire for investing over R300 million in the bank.

The province has recently made headlines over the mentioning of Mokgoro’s name at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry during the testimony of the provincial Community Safety and Transport Management Department’s chief financial officer, Kutlwano Phatudi.

Phatudi last week told the commission that former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo’s office approved the payment of R50 million for the running of the province’s two airports – the Pilanesberg and Mahikeng airports - by SA Express without following proper procurement procedures.

She further told the Commission that on March 16, 2015, the department received an invoice to make the R50m prepayment to the airline, without the amount having been budgeted for and that her former boss, head of the provincial department, Bailey Mahlakoleng, wrote to Mokgoro who was at that time the province’s acting director-general requesting for Mahumapelo’s office to pay the R50m prepayment on behalf of her department.

Mokgoro is, amongst others, expected to address these issues and how he plans to deal with corruption in his province during his tenure.

OFM News