North West Premier Thandi Modise has vowed to get to the bottom of the issue of the D-Account involving Bapong Ba Mogale, which has been marred by allegation of misappropriation of funds.
Modise told the North West Provincial Legislature’s Standing Committee on Provincial Public Accounts (SCOPA) in Brits today that she will call on all the officials implicated in the matter to appear before SCOPA to have a frank and honest discussion on the matter.
A D-Account is the type of a Community Trust Account which is essentially developmental account in which all mining companies deposit royalties for traditional authorities. Thus, the acronym “D” derives from the word “development.”
Premier Modise said it is better to be thorough and get all sides of the story so that to avoid half-truths, saying that inviting to shed light on what really transpired is the best way to deal with the problem.
“I don’t want to be lied to and that’s why we want to bring everybody on board to get to the bottom of the situation and prevent creating unpleasant situations for all of us. To level allegations against people who are not here without any substantive evidence will not help us.
“I want to assure anybody here that we will not want to spare anybody seen to be defying the legislature. None of the official found with their hands on the till will be spared,” reiterated Premier Modise.
During the meeting SCOPA thanked Premier Modise for always taking a tough stand against corruption and maladministration and vowed to work with the Premier to make sure that those implicated are brought to book.
Scopa also reiterated that their keenness to have the account thoroughly investigated by the Public Protector Adv Thuli Mdonsela as there was suspicious that the account was mismanaged.
Premier Modise said it was unfortunate that the provincial government had to hear about the matter through a third party.
“We cannot be told via a newspaper that there is a problem. It is important not to create unnecessarily negative impressions around the issue,” reiterated the Premier.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Spokesperson
Tel: 018 388 3705
Cell: 083 629 1987
Fax: 018 388 3157
Email: LKgwele@gmail.com
