Newly appointed Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane announced his 10-member cabinet on Tuesday and gave them a stern warning not to be self-serving careerists.
He said they must move with speed and serve the people of the province who needed basic services and decent jobs.
Mabuyane announced the following MECs: lFinance, environmental affairs, economic development & tourism Mlungisi Mvoko;lAgrarian reform & agriculture Nomakhosazana Meth; lHuman settlements Nonkqubela Peters; lSocial development Sipokazi Mani: lCo-operative governance & traditional affairs Xolile Nqatha; lSport, recreation, arts & culture Fezeka Nkomonye-Bayeni; lEducation Fundile Fade; lHealth Sindiswa Gomba: lPublic works Babalo Madikizela; lRoads & transport Weziwe Tikana.
Addressing the media at the Royal St Andrews Hotel in Port Alfred on Tuesday afternoon, Mabuyane said the executive would be subjected to regular assessment every three months through the directorate of performance monitoring and planning, and those who failed to do what was required of them would be fired. “If we have to change the cabinet within a year, we will do so. If we see that there is some damage and work is not done, we will change it,” said Mabuyane. He said there would be close scrutiny of state funds deemed to have been spent irregularly, fruitlessly or wastefully.
“We must close the tap. Consequence management will be immediate.”
Mabuyane said fighting corruption would be key because “it impedes development”.
The announcement followed extensive engagement with ANC alliance partners, the provincial executive and its deployment committee. Consultations tried to ensure the appointments were not based on interests of individuals but on “systems that won’t collapse”.
“We are fresh from the election and our people are saying our hopes are not necessarily on individual performance but on what the ANC can do.”
The province had one of the highest shows of ANC support at the May 8 polls.
However, ANC votes dropped from 70% in 2014 to 69% this year.
The deployment committee was given clear guidance on fielding six women against four male MECs, and appointing a woman as speaker.
Helen Sauls-August is now the new legislature speaker.
Mabuyane said all those chosen would have to earn their salaries. “What is important is that people must work hard before getting paid.
“People must understand they are not appointed so that they can just receive salaries. They are appointed to work.
“Our people have sent a clear message that they want a decent life. That decent life won’t be brought by social grants but decent jobs.
“We have to work really hard as this sixth administration. Work is being done to revive industrial parks but municipalities must work hard and attract investors to invest in these parks so that jobs can be created,” he said.
Mabuyane said MECs had to be aware that there were no guarantees that they would serve their full term if they did not live up to the expectations of the party.
“We have pressing challenges such as ongoing service delivery protests. We must address this and not push our people to do such things.”
“The problems of gangsters in Nelson Mandela Bay [is a] level of anarchy that reduces our country to a banana republic. It can’t be. We are not a lawless state.”..