The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Visser, you are not audible.

Ms C VISSER: ... hon members and all South Africans, at the sitting at this House on 24 November 2020, the DA tabled a motion without notice unopposed about the section 100 intervention in the North West Province evoked in May 2018 by the national government. The motion stated that no significant change could be noted for the period and that the failure of administrators to regularly report on the progress contributed to the poor state of governance that left us all in the dark about the true state of the North West Province. The fact that the tabling of the progress report has not been standard procedure is alarming and casts doubt on the efficiency of this intervention.

The process that was followed towards the invocation of this intervention should also be reviewed. This includes questions on the legality of the Sixth Administration inheriting the intervention of the Fifth Administration. The manner in the way the national intervention has been conducted thus far is

not conducive to the improvement of service delivery or any other constitutional obligation towards the citizens.

Section 42 (4) of the Constitution states that:

The National Council of Provinces represents the provinces and ensure that the provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government. It does this mainly by; participating in the national legislative process and by providing a national forum for public consideration of issues affecting the provinces.

The constitutional role of the NCOP is to provide an effective bridge between provinces and the national government and to contribute to the realisation of the constitutional commitments to co- operative and effective government. The said section 100 (a) and (b) interventions into the 10 departments of the North West provincial government was indeed needed and long before it happened. The signs of the collapse should have been acted upon proactively before the total collapse of not only the provincial government but also preventing the total collapse of all the North West Province municipalities or road infrastructure, school clinic, site insecurity and even the law enforcement agencies. All that is the government inNorth

West Province collapsed. The national executive should have intervened much earlier by taking appropriate steps to realign the North West provincial government ensuring the fulfilment of their constitutional obligations, assuming responsibility for the relevant obligations to the extent, necessary to maintain essential national standards to meet established minimum standards for the rendering of services.

And to maintain economic unity and national security.

During this time, fraud, corruption and criminal ... [Inaudible.] ... were provided with opportune circumstances to widen their footprint all over the North West Province nurtured in every government department. This created and nurtured climate was conducive to develop criminal and corrupt syndicates, gangs, and gangsterism, looting of tax money, infiltration into and inflating tenders in all spheres of governance in the North West Province. The DA takes cognisance of the importance of a viable exit of the section 100 intervention to ensure the North West provincial government is functionally restored and capacitated to the mandates of good governance and delivery of services to its people.

Seventy million rand was already wasted on accommodation and security on this intervention without reaching the set objective within three years. We appreciate the investigations and prosecutions