This, after the DA leader Mmusi Maimane visited the province and engaged its residents. The province, currently under administration, last month made national headlines following the release of Statistics South Africa’s second quarterly labour force survey which indicated an almost 50% expanded unemployment rate.

Although the Eastern Cape has recorded the highest unemployment rate at 35.4%, the North West has the highest expanded unemployment rate. This number includes those who have long been seeking employment and has given up. Coupled with this, residents in this province are still at the receiving end of basic services after 16 municipalities were placed under administration due to their financial distress, instability and collapse of services.

Maimane has meanwhile said there is an urgent need for a capable government as service delivery in the province has collapsed and more residents are left unemployed. He added that the money invested in the VBS Bank must be recuperated.

In the latest Auditor-General report, Kimi Makwetu, outlined that the R1.6 billion loss of investments made with the VBS Mutual Bank significantly weakened the financial position of municipalities in this province.

Addressing the media on the 2017/18 local government audit outcomes, Makwetu said many of the municipalities, including those in the North West, suffered from their investment in the now liquidated bank.

He said 13 municipalities in this province have received a disclaimer as the validity of their submitted financial statements was in question.

He highlighted that consistent disregard of recommendations, the lack of commitment, no action and no sense of urgency by accounting officers in many of the municipalities in the province were contributing factors to their poor financial state.

OFM News