Why we reported Northern Cape Premier to the Public Protector - COPE

Today I informed the Public Protector that I will be laying a complaint against the Northern Cape Premier, Hazel Jenkins for R10 million worth of taxpayer's money that COPE believes was abused for the ANC's provincial election campaign. There were fears among the provincial leadership of the ANC that the party was in danger of losing up to 15 councils in May's local government elections, almost half of the provincial total.

I believe that the Premier resolved to act on those fears by transferring public funds totaling R10 million to local councils where the ANC feared it may not get the victory. In February, the Premier announced the following in her state of the province address:

"In our quest to foster and maintain higher standards of basic service delivery to our people, we have identified certain municipalities for urgent assistance in financial terms." The Premier proceeded to announce the names of all the councils where the ANC achieved 55% of the vote or less in the 2009 election.

At the time, COPE called for reasons as to why these councils were selected. Where were the business plans for how the money would be spent? On what basis had the decision been made to transfer R600 000 and above to each of these local councils? Were councils where the ANC support was higher not in urgent need of assistance as well? After years of non-delivery and corruption with no intervention from provincial government, why was there an urgent to throw money at the councils three months before the local elections?

COPE has no doubt this money was used to bankroll the ANC's campaign in each locality. According to the 2009/10 Auditor General's report for local government, less than half of local councils in the Northern Cape actually submit their financial statements. Of those that do, 91% of councils submit statements with material misstatements. Once the province had channelled this money into local government, it would disappear into the ANC campaign kitty without a trace, given the state of financial management at this level.

While the Premier was brazen enough to announce these transfers as a service delivery measure in her state of the province address, the other real culprit is the executive authority over at provincial treasury who made the transfers. Guess who that is? The ANC Chairperson and the man who calls himself El Presidente, John Block. The extent of the fraud, corruption and racketeering charges Block is facing need not be detailed here.

This is not the first complaint we have laid against the Premier for election abuses. In a previous complaint, we provided the answer to a parliamentary question we had asked about her cabinet-meets-the-people programme. It turned out that on the last four consecutive occasions there were by-elections in the province, the Premier used her office budget to haul the entire cabinet to the contested ward on the eve of voting day, supposedly for government purposes. On the fifth occasion, the Premier held the provincial women's day celebration in the contested ward and even punted the ANC's candidate on stage.

We hope that the Provincial Public Protector representative, Mr Botromia Sithole, will have the teeth to see justice done in these complaints. Or better yet, the provincial legislature should support the upcoming motion of no confidence in the Premier for failing to fire Block from the MEC for Finance post.

Statement issued by Fred Wyngaard, COPE Northern Cape Provincial Chairperson, July 20 2011

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