Opposition vows to monitor North West Roads Agency for misuse

Some opposition parties in the North West have pledged to monitor the establishment of the proposed provincial Roads Agency to ensure it does not become a source of financial misuse by government officials.

Premier Lazarus Mokgosi recently announced plans to create the agency, which will focus on infrastructure development and improving the province’s road network.

Mokgosi says, “When we go for a road agency, we will be able to be in the market as a private sector or as a private entity, we are able to attract the necessary skills and pay what is in the market, not what public service regulates. So, we need to attract real people for us to get the quality of what we are doing. But also we need to emphasize what is called the innovation model and alternative technology, and that has to happen when we’ve got professionals.”

However, the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Justice Dabampe has expressed concern over the potential misuse of the agency.

“We will ensure that the road agency does not become yet another cash cow. It does not become yet another failed project as is the case with NTI and Mmabana in the province. We will ensure that once the agency has been established, it employs people on a permanent basis and will not rely on outsourcing anything,” Dabampe explains.

Freedom Front Plus representative Michal Groenewald says, “By introducing yet another state agency will probably only serve to enrich only black bureaucracy in the North West. The Premier admits the fact that his government has failed the people of the North West, despite numerous promises and plans to the contrary.”

North West | Opposition to keep close eye on roads agency