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The chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Economic Development, Environment and Tourism in the North West Provincial Legislature, Mpho Khunou demands answers. Photo from X
THE chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Economic Development, Environment and Tourism in the North West Provincial Legislature, Mpho Khunou, is an angry member of the provincial legislature.
This is after the MEC for Economic Development, Environment, and Tourism, Bitsa Lenkopane, along with her head of department Relebohile Mofokane, and the entire Board of the North West Parks and Tourism Board (NWPTB), failed to appear before the committee on Tuesday, 4 February.
Khunou and the committee had invited the MEC and the officials to come and explain themselves over the poor management of the NWPTB.
This was sparked by an internal memo the acting CEO of NWPTB, Charlene Jacobs, sent to staff dated 17 January, in which she said the board might not be able to pay workers their salaries at the end of January.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, the funds that were scheduled to be released by the department have not yet been received. As a result, there will be a delay in the disbursement of salaries,” read parts of the memo.
Additionally, Khunou said, in a media statement released on 6 February, that they were concerned about a number of other issues within the NWPTB.
North West MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism Bitsa Lenkopane is in hot water. Photo from X
“Amongst issues that the department was expected to respond to was the delayed payment of salaries at the entity and uncertainties on whether salaries will be paid at the end of February and March; drastic decline in revenue collection in Parks and Tourism Board, instability at senior management level as illustrated by the numerous resignations of Acting Chief Executive Officers, illegal poaching of rhinos which have not been reported to the Portfolio Committee and other concerning matters within Parks Board and Tourism Board and the Department,” the statement said.
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Khunou first wrote a letter to the MEC, dated 21 January in which he requested Lenkopane to give the committee a report about the situation at NWPTB.
Speaking to Daily Sun, the angry chairman said the MEC ignored their request and only when they were invited to appear before the committee, did the MEC update him on the salaries matter.
“I need to remind the board that failure to appear before the committee is tantamount to contempt of the legislature. The MEC was the chairperson of the same committee before she became the executive member of the government. She used to invite and summon political heads and boards of different entities of the department. What has now changed when we invite her to come and account?
“She told us on 1 February that she was sick, and interestingly, her HoD sent us a sick note on the day when they were supposed to appear. As for the members of the board, none of them came nor offered an apology. What I found strange is that one of the board members called me a day before the meeting, confirming that he will be in attendance and wanted to double-check the time with me. So clearly, they were instructed to snub us.
“We have rescheduled the meeting, and if the same thing happens again, we will summon them as the law allows us. We have serious concerns like the poaching of rhinos that’s not reported to the legislature. The NWPTB collects only 40 of the revenue. We want to know why,” he said.
Attempts to gather comments from the MEC, the department, and the board were unsuccessful.
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