North West Premier Mokgosi Found Guilty of Tampering With Municipal Recruitment Process

The North West Provincial Legislature’s Ad Hoc Committee has found Premier Lazarus Mokgosi guilty of interfering with the recruitment of a municipal manager — and the implications stretch far beyond one appointment. This case is a direct window into how political power in South Africa’s provinces can quietly corrupt the institutions meant to serve ordinary people.

The investigation traces back to allegations made by Naledi Local Municipality mayor Clifton J Groep, who told Parliament’s joint portfolio committees that Mokgosi — at the time serving as ANC chief whip in the legislature — instructed a former municipal employee, Thabo Appolus, to alter a report concerning the appointment of Modisenyane Segapo as municipal manager. That alleged instruction, reportedly given in 2023, was serious enough to trigger the formation of a formal ad hoc committee in November 2025. Groep went further, claiming that Mokgosi and other legislature members manipulated audit reports to target political opponents. These are not minor administrative complaints. They are accusations of deliberate institutional sabotage.

Mokgosi pushed back hard.

Appearing before the committee as its final witness, the premier questioned the affidavits submitted by three key figures — municipal employee Thabo Sejake, former employee Thabo Appolus, and former municipal manager Modisenyane Segapo. He challenged the validity of text messages entered as evidence, accused the committee of failing to properly produce proof of the tampering, and claimed the entire process amounted to a political plot against him. He also clashed openly with Senior Advocate Pule Seleka, the evidence leader, accusing him of selectively interrogating witnesses. Whether those objections reflect genuine procedural concerns or a defensive strategy, the committee’s chairperson Nathan Oliphant was unambiguous: the process was conducted independently, impartially, and without fear or favour.

A Court Ruling That Complicates Everything

The political drama does not exist in a legal vacuum. On November 14, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that Segapo’s appointment as municipal manager was constitutionally invalid. The court found the recruitment process riddled with procedural failures — of eight initial applicants, only Segapo and Appolus were shortlisted, and after Appolus withdrew, Segapo became the sole remaining candidate. The council proceeded anyway, despite glaring irregularities. That ruling matters because it simultaneously validates concerns about the recruitment process while raising new questions about Groep’s specific allegation that Mokgosi interfered to block Segapo’s appointment. If the appointment was already procedurally compromised, the picture of who did what — and why — becomes considerably more tangled.

What is not tangled is the potential criminal dimension. The SABC has reported that Mokgosi is among five witnesses who testified before the committee and may have committed perjury. The committee has recommended referring the matter to the National Director of Public Prosecutions. That recommendation, if acted upon, would escalate this from a legislative inquiry into a criminal investigation involving a sitting premier.

The committee will now analyse the full body of evidence before submitting its findings to the Speaker. For young people watching politics in the North West — and across the continent — this case is a reminder that accountability institutions can and do function when pressure is applied. But it also exposes how fragile those institutions remain when powerful individuals treat public office as personal leverage. The findings, when they come, will say as much about the health of South African provincial democracy as they do about Lazarus Mokgosi.