Pretoria – The new members of the Executive Council in KwaZulu-Natal have pledged to double their efforts to create a responsive government.
“We fully understand that we are expected to strengthen service delivery in a rather challenging environment. Economic challenges are beginning to inflict a serious crunch in the economy of our country and caused the fiscus to shrink and budgets to be revised downwards,” new Premier Willies Mchunu said.
The members made the pledged during the swearing-in ceremony of new members of the Executive Council on Tuesday.
The ceremony follows five changes made to the KwaZulu-Natal Cabinet on Monday.
Sihle Zikalala has been appointed MEC Economic Development and Tourism, Mxolisi Kaunda has been appointed MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison and Bongi Sithole-Moloi is now in charge of the Sports, Arts and Culture portfolio.
Mthandeni Dlungwane has been tasked with the Education portfolio and Themba Mthembu has been appointed MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development.
Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony, Premier Mchunu said that in the face of challenges, the council will ensure that they cushion members of society against any negative impact of economic challenges.
“The broad principles that should govern our response to the economic challenges should include avoiding the risk of unfairly placing the burden of the downturn on the poor and vulnerable. We will be taking a principled stand to manage expenditure very tightly and direct all resources to priority projects and ensure that service delivery is protected and prioritized.
“This is an approach that will reflect a sense of responsibility and commitment to dealing with triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. We will ensure that operate to the highest standards of good governance and social responsibility,” Premier Mchunu said.
He said there was an urgent need to refrain from wasteful expenditure and to adhere to prudent financial management practices.
The Premier pointed out that the members will build on the solid foundations already laid by their predecessors by putting greater effort in implementing what they have agreed to do in delivering on the electoral mandate as guided by the National Development Plan and the Provincial Growth and Development Plan.
“Without detracting from the priorities identified in the Medium Term Strategic Framework and Provincial Growth and Development Plan, we will have to prioritise the existing priorities in ways that will minimise negative impact on service delivery.” – SAnews.gov.za
