Pretoria - Former KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize has left behind a good legacy of promoting efficiency, accessibility, good governance, says President Jacob Zuma.
Speaking at the farewell dinner in honour of Dr Mkhize in Durban on Saturday night, President Zuma said when Dr Mkhize vacated the position of Premier; he also left a legacy of building a positive image of the provincial government.
The 53rd national conference of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in Mangaung last December elected Mkhize to serve at the ANC headquarters as Treasurer-General hence he vacated his position.
Zuma said under Mkhize’s leadership the provincial government has maintained visibility and close interaction with the people.
He singled out the former Premier’s flagship Operation Sukuma Sakhe service delivery model which is still popular and a good benchmark for service delivery nationally.
The President said the emphasis on direct communication with the public has resulted in the growing popularity of the government in the province.
“As MEC for Finance and Economic Development and also during his tenure as premier, Dr Mkhize worked hard to promote and market the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
“The positive image of the province has led to many successful international events being hosted in KZN such as the fifth BRICS Leaders Summit, the COP 17 United Nations climate change conference and the International Olympic Committee meeting,” he said.
One of the most important achievements by Dr Mkhize, according to Zuma, was how he laid down the foundation for good financial management for the provincial government.
“Under his leadership, the province has managed to achieve a turnaround of the provincial finances.
“As at 31 March 2009 after his appointment as Premier, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government had an accumulated unauthorised expenditure of 5.3 billion rand and an overdraft of 2.1 billion rand, mainly by the Department of Health and to a lesser extent, Education and Transport,” he said.
To strengthen provincial government finances and reduce the unauthorised expenditure bill, the provincial executive council under the leadership of Premier Mkhize approved a provincial recovery plan which was anchored on cutting down expenditure on goods and services without compromising service delivery.
This included a moratorium on the filling of non-critical vacancies and also on paying bonuses. Zuma said such exercises are always unpopular and never without difficulties, but such measures have yielded results.
They have enabled the province to table surplus budgets since the 2010 MTEF period to date and to reduce the accumulated unauthorised expenditure.
These measures have also resulted in the province having a positive cash balance for five consecutive months. As at 31 August 2013, KwaZulu-Natal had a positive cash balance of R5.8 billion.
“The provincial recovery plan could not have yielded these positive results without the exceptional political leadership and continuous monitoring since inception.
“KwaZulu-Natal was the first, both nationally and provincially, to take the extremely courageous step of implementing such drastic cost containment measures without compromising service delivery.
“The National Treasury subsequently used the KZN recovery plan as a model to be followed by other provinces due to its success,” he said. - SAnews.gov.za
