Mahikeng – North West Premier Lazarus Mokgosi has ignited a firestorm of controversy after advising residents in the province that they should have tlof tlof and make more babies if they want the government to give them more money.
Mokgosi's suggestion aimed to call attention to the budget challenges confronting his sparsely populated province. With only slightly over 3.7 million residents, North West receives far less state funding than more crowded provinces such as Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal despite sharing comparable needs.
Struggling with pressing issues including water scarcity, deficient infrastructure and degraded roadways, Mokgosi argued that the allocated R54 billion falls short of what is required to adequately address the scope of challenges.
Critics swiftly condemned Mokgosi's remarks as reckless and irresponsible. While sympathizing with his desire to acquire more resources, analyists and residents have criticized urging higher birth rates as an ill-advised strategy that disregards societal realities.
“When we were in Cape Town, somebody asked KZN people that because they have polygamous marriages, why is it that Gauteng population is greater than theirs?. They could not answer because they are wondering how one man can marry five or six women…but now the challenge with us as North West is that we must pull up our socks, and fight this issue of having a small population. We must have a drive so that if we can have a target in the next two years we should have increased our population by at least 2-million” Mokgosi said.
Mokgosi’s call for a baby-making spree has been met with widespread criticism as political parties and civil society organisations have branded his comments as insensitive and irresponsible.
“It is not the issue of insufficient budget allocation. In 2021/2022 they failed to spend R100-million, let’s leave the issue of insufficient [budget allocation]; it shows that there is no political willingness from exco to address all issues,” said Justice Dabampe who is EFF's deputy provincial secretary.
umkhonto we Sizwe’s Tebogo Ramashilabele reiterated the same sentiments and said “…lot of money has been returned to treasury as the province failed to use the money for its intentions and purpose. Therefore, the issue of allocation should not be the defence but rather misused of funds.”
On the other hand, DA’s Freddy Sonakile has vowed to hold Mokgosi’s government accountable. “We will scrutinise every promise, every project, and every document to ensure that we hold the Anc-led government of North West accountable,” he said.
Rise Mzansi spokesperson Peter Tlouane was equally scathing in his criticism of the Premier’s remarks. “I don’t know why they like making these lousy excuses,” he said.
