The Star reports that North West MEC for Economic, Environment, Conservation and Tourism, Bitsa Lenkopane, is allegedly facing a “political smear campaign” to vacate her office, with accusations having been made of failure to pay workers for the Parks and Tourism Board (NWPTB).

This was after Lenkopane told some members of the provincial standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) to declare their businesses with the Parks and Tourism Board. NWPTB is registered as a state-owned entity reporting to the North West Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism (DEDECT). The board is mandated to manage the 14 protected areas and nature reserves in the province, including the Pilanesberg and Madikwe Game Reserves. It is also mandated to provide hospitality training conducted in two hotel schools. According to sources, some union members, alleged to be in the pockets of politicians, recently staged a protest in Mahikeng and forced the board paymaster not to process the salaries. This was apparently despite Lenkopane’s efforts to make salaries available after she was approached to intervene. In a statement released on 20 February, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) said it was disgusted by the non-payment of salaries and called on Premier Lazarus Mokgosi and Lenkopane to urgently and promptly attend to the matter. The union also pointed out that the board has had five acting chief executives in the short space of less than a year, which demonstrated the crisis confronting the entity. The salaries have since been paid. In a letter to Lenkopane, NWPTB's acting chief executive officer, Jonathan Denga, confirmed that the salaries of all employees were paid on 22 February.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Manyane Manyane at The Star

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