Rise Mzansi North West has written to the Public Protector to investigate the alleged abuse of funds in the province, following a report that the provincial government spent a whopping R38 million on a call centre operating out of a prefabricated structure in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality in Vryburg.
The allegations were reported by City Press newspaper over the weekend.
According to the report, a staggering R38 million was used for the construction of the call centre and a further R1.4 million was being spent on monthly operational costs.
Those who raised red flags about the project have dubbed it the country’s most expensive “mkhukhu”.
Mkhukhu is a word used in many South African languages to describe a shack or an informal house built with a metal roof material or mud.
In a statement following the report, Rise Mzansi said it saw this as a complete abuse of public funds and demanded that a full investigation be conducted to look into this mismanagement of funds “by a government that does not care about the wellbeing of its people.”
According to the report, the Mompati District Municipality rewarded a tender for the establishment, operation and maintenance of the call centre facility for a period of 36 months for an amount of R38.753 million in February 2022 to Sandton-based wCyber Solutions.
The project was part of a joint venture with the Greendroplets Project.
Rise Mzansi North-West will write to Public Protector, advocate Kholeka Gcaleka to probe the allegations.
“The people of the North-West have suffered immensely under the leadership of the ANC. We have all been witness to its collapse and their lack of providing economic opportunities to its residents,” the party said in a statement.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
IOL