North West Premier Professor Job Mokgoro has reshuffled his cabinet, introducing four new MECs.
The Premier, who was sworn into office in June, announced the changes to the composition of the Provincial Executive Council at a media briefing held on Thursday.
The new MECs and their portfolios are as follows:
- MEC for Department of Culture, Arts and Traditional Affairs – Ontlametse Mochware.
- MEC for Department of Community Safety and Transport Management – Dr Mpho Motlhabane.
- MEC for Department of Education and Sport Development – Sello Lehari.
- MEC for Department of Finance, Economy and Enterprise Development – Wendy Matsemela.
- MEC for Department of Health – Madoda Sambatha.
- MEC for Department of Local Government and Human Settlement – Motlalepula Rosho.
- MEC for Department of Public Works and Roads – Oageng Molapisi.
- MEC for Department of Rural, Environment and Agricultural Development – Desbo Mohono.
- MEC for Department of Social Development – Fenny Gaolaolwe.
- MEC for Department of Tourism – Wendy Nelson.
“Four Members of the Executive Council (MEC) will remain in their respective portfolios, while there are four new Members of the Executive Council. In addition, two Members of the Executive Council are moving from one portfolio to the other,” said the Premier.
Mokgoro said the reshuffle follows his assessment of the performance of the provincial government and engagements with various stakeholders both inside and outside of government.
“This was a necessary exercise to undertake so as to have first-hand experience of how various stakeholders viewed the performance of this 5th Administration in relation to service delivery, informed by the upheaval of early this year, where it was evidently clear that there was an erosion of trust between the electorate in this province and the provincial government.”
Addressing protests and corruption
The Premier said the province is still experiencing protests in various parts “but not at the scale that were witnessed in April 2018 when the entire province came to a halt”.
“You are well aware that we are still under the Section 100 (1) (a) and 100(1) (b) national intervention by national government and we are continuously reporting significant and positive progress made in this regard to Cabinet, the IMTT [Inter-Ministerial Task Team] and the Ad Hoc Committee of the National Council Of Provinces on the Section 100 Interventions in the North West,” said the Premier.
The province has submitted its latest progress report to both the IMTT and Cabinet.
“We continue to work hard to stabilise the provincial administration in line with the national interventions, so as to ensure that our people are able to access quality services as per our electoral promise to them,” said Mokgoro.
The provincial government, he said, remains committed to a clean and corruption-free provincial administration.
The provincial government is now starting to see stability in its financial control systems, more stability in supply chain management.
“We would like to appreciate the law enforcement agencies that are currently busy with various forensic investigations in the province; those are Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation, better known as the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit,” said the Premier.
It is expected that the investigations will assist in clearing the province of corruption. - SAnews.gov.za
