The North West Province Government has committed to track the implementation of Back to Basics Programme in its 23 municipalities through the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit located in the Office of the Premier. This announcement was made by the North West Premier Supra Ramoeletsi Mahumapelo during the Launch of Back to Basics in the province held at Rustenburg, in an effort to ensure improved performance as far as the delivery of basic services is concerned.
Local government has been a primary site for delivery of services in South Africa. Bokone Bophirima province has in the past years made a tremendous progress in providing the residents with clean, running water, sanitation, electricity, shelter, waste removal and roads.
The launch was attended by Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Andries Nel, Premier of Bokone Bophirima Supra Mahumapel; MEC for Local Government & Human Settlements Collen Maine; MEC For Finance, Enterprise and Economic Development Wendy Nelson; Mayors, Speakers and Municipal managers from different municipalities.
In his address, Premier Supra Mahumapelo says the implementation of Back to Basics Programme is non-negotiable to all municipalities. “We will track the implementation of every aspect of Back to Basics programme. A task team that comprises of my office, national office and all the relevant stakeholders will start working on this in January 2015. We will not wait for five years and depend on the voters to assess our performance. To those that are not coming on board, consequence management will be invoked. Through Back to Basic and the Setsokotsane Programme, which is the service delivery programme in the province, we should radically transform our communities to better the lives of people,” remarked Premier Mahumapelo.
Deputy Minister Andries Nel highlighted the National Development Plan NDP clear objectives on transforming local government and a commitment towards the creation of more functional municipalities as capable machinery at a local level. “To be able to implement the national development plan we need to demonstrate that we can get the basics right” he said.
Deputy Minister Andries Nel, Premier Supra Mahumapelo, MEC Collen Maine as well as Mayors signed a pledge as a commitment to fully implement Back to Basics Programme.
Bokone Bophirima is the third province to launch Back to Basics programme after Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal.
