In his State of the Province Address (Sopa) on Friday, premier Job Mokgoro revealed that as part of the concerted effort to root out corruption, the Hawks are investigating 46 cases in the Provincial Government and the SIU is scrutinising 44 cases. Rosho will be expected to give clarity and updates on some of these cases while she will also be expected to allocate funds for different departments with few of them placed under the national administration following allegations of maladministration and mismanagement of funds.

This as 20 senior managers, among others, are facing disciplinary processes across various departments. In a statement, Rosho says the reconfiguration of some of the departments would create a capable administration that will be able to implement the National Development Plan and respond to the existing service delivery challenges.

Premier Mokgoro in his Sopa last week said the Hawks had placed ten cases on the court roll for trial while a further 15 were pending further investigations all of which involves monies amounting to R2,497 billion. Intervention at municipalities across the province with the hopes of curbing irregular and unauthorised expenditure will also be expected to be at top of her budget speech.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties in the province, which include the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) - the official opposition in the province, heavily criticised Mokgoro after he revealed that the SIU and Hawks were hard at work investigating several cases against municipalities and departments. The EFF’s Shakes Botswe said despite 44 cases implicating officials in the province, no action has been taken against them. Instead, they are being rewarded with positions in the provincial legislature. Botswe said Mokgoro’s government has no clear plans on how to tackle the scourge of high unemployment in the province. The DA’s Winston Rabotapi said Mokgoro also failed to give clarity on the issue of 105 schools in the province that are still using pit toilets.

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