The North West provincial legislature became a battleground on Friday, with some members questioning whether Premier Job Mokgoro had the power to deliver the State of the Province Address (SOPA). The North West is currently under administration. Two Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) members were kicked out of the house.
The DA raised a point of order, saying Premier Mokgoro has no authority to present SOPA because province is under section 100 1 b. Here’s the Speaker Suzan Dantjie’s response #SABCNews @ikgajane pic.twitter.com/MowGTfQ26D
— SentleengLehihi (@sentleL69) February 21, 2020
One was manhandled by legislator security.
The rest of the EFF members and Democratic Alliance (DA) members walked out.
In the video below, two EFF members are kicked out of the North West SOPA while the rest of the EFF and DA members walk out:
It started out as a standard SOPA with ceremonial frills, but proceedings soon degenerated with MPLs arguing the legitimacy of the Premier to address the house.
Tensions escalated when the two EFF MPLs were dismissed from the house. This led to an altercation with security.
When the dust settled, Mokgoro told the house that his government had budgeted about R900 million for road construction.
“The Department of Public Works and Roads has 13 new capital construction projects worth R900 million that are being implemented. We have been lobbying for an increase in the allocation for the road construction from the national fiscus.”
The Premier said the Special Investigating Unit had successfully concluded investigations into several corruption cases.
“Investigations including the Special Investigating Unit into scholar transport contracts have revealed criminality, including the inflation of kilometres written into service level agreements, pointing to systematic collusion between officials and contractors to defraud government.”
His speech received a lukewarm response from the remaining opposition parties. The Freedom Front Plus’ De Wet Nel says the province is struggling.
“We have to work on our economy. We are struggling as the province, things are bad and it is getting worse. To employ 200 000 EPWP or extended public workers over the next five years, that is not a solution. That is not going to stimulate the economy, it’s only going to hit the taxpayers’ pockets.”
In the video below, the North West Legislature Speaker explains the decision to kick EFF members out of the SOPA:
