Hon Speaker, the government, be it local provincial or national, is instituted to serve the interests of the citizens. However, gross incompetencies have come to characterise the current government; we see it at all levels of governance, and more often than not those responsible are released with a pat on the back or redeployed into senior positions elsewhere. We also see it at national level and it is much worse at the provincial levels.
Hailing from the North West province, I find it despicable that the North West government has failed to spend R57 million earmarked for sanitation despite the dire shortage of toilets in the province. The ridiculous reason given - that the money not spent was as a result of having to open up tenders for more service providers as current providers had no capacity - is as unacceptable as it is far-fetched. In 2010, the Independent Development Trust and Mvula Trust were granted a three-year contract to install 6 330 toilets, but in 2012 zero toilets has been constructed. Contracts worth a total of R33 million were allocated, but we only get excuses and no toilets have been constructed.
This kind of incompetence and lack of accountability do not make the news any more simply because they are common occurrences. No one is shocked and no one is brought to book. Imagine 33% of households in the province having no toilets or substandard toilets. It goes without saying that achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2014 is a pipe dream in respect of sanitation in the forsaken North West. I thank you.