Newly appointed Premier of the North West, Job Mokgoro, says enough lies have been told about North West provincial government's state of affairs, and "deep reflection" is needed to fix it.
According to Times Select, Mogkoro and senior members of the provincial government met with the National Council of Provinces' ad hoc committee, established to probe the North West's decision to place that province under national administration. The committee was being briefed by the national Treasury and the officer of the auditor-general on Tuesday.
Mogkoro took over from Supra Mahumapelo last week, after the latter was forced to step down.
Reports presented by the two institutions reportedly show that irregular expenditure in the North West rose from R8.6-billion in 2014 when Mahumapelo became premier, to R15.3-billion last year.
Mokgoro reportedly said he needed time to come up with solutions to the problems.
"I am deeply perturbed. At the moment, I can't spell it out ... that I understand these are the issues, these are the problems. I am not saying I don't know what the problems are.
"But I think it's when we reach a certain level of genuineness, of honesty with that kind of deep reflection in the interest of nobody but the 3.8-million people of North West ... that we'll be able to have a frontal attack on the issues that have been highlighted.
"I've not said to you in specific terms, these are the problems, these are the solutions, these are the interventions ... because I don't want to tell you further lies. I think some of us have lied enough and I don't want to do that," he reportedly said.
Mokgoro reportedly said he did not want to present the wrong solutions to the problems facing the province, only to have to come back at a later stage and admit they had not worked, eNCA reported.
"At the risk of oversimplification, we are grappling with complex issues. I would be the last one to understand what the root causes are because the danger is if I say to this house I understand what the causes are, we will all agree that these are the interventions. And when we come back having observed the implementations of these interventions I would feel like one of the most idiotic persons in this world because those interventions would not have worked," he reportedly said.
Mokgoro told Cape Talk 702 that he aimed to improve governance in the province.
He reportedly said he would be working closely with the Treasury to fix procurement in the province.
"So one has to almost micromanage the plan of the departments."