Note to Editors: Please find the attached soundbite in English by Freddy Sonakile MPL.
The DA notes the changes made by North West Premier Bushy Maape to his Executive Committee. This reshuffle was purely political and without any merit considering that some of the poorest performing MECs have retained their posts.
This reshuffle’s intention is purely to create space for the newly elected ANC party leadership to lucrative positions in government.
We are particularly concerned by the move of MEC Kenetswe Mosenogi from the Department of Economic Development, Conservation and Tourism to Arts and Culture. MEC Mosenogi should have been sent packing as there is nothing notable in her performance during her previous deployment.
However, we do welcome the announcement of Deputy Speaker Viola Motsumi as the new MEC of Education effective from December. We believe her deployment will bring the much-needed energy and vigour to improve education in this province.
We will keep a close eye on the deployment of the NW ANC Provincial Chairperson, Nono Maloyi, to the Cooperative Governance and Human Settlements department. Maloyi has been at the helm of this department before and he still has to answer for some of the incomplete housing projects emanating from his term, including the infamous Mahikeng Unit 3 flats.
We also hope that he will prioritize the Deelpan human settlements issue that his predecessor, Lenah Miga, failed to deal with.
MEC Maloyi must also deal with the mess created by his predecessor of irregular secondments of municipal managers to municipalities. It is going to be interesting to see how he will deal with the 22 nonperforming ANC governed municipalities in North West.
We hope former Arts and Culture MEC Galebakwe Tlhapi, who will now head Economic Development, Conservation and Tourism, will revive the tourism sector, and come up with an economic development plan for the province.
For the past three years the department has been missing in action and continued overseeing several failed provincial state-owned entities.
The DA will continue its oversight role to ensure that those deployed in government do their work and deliver services to the residents.