Share

MECs must leave the offices and go to work

accreditation
Gauteng Premier David Makhura
Gauteng Premier David Makhura

Gauteng Premier David Makhura is demanding a significant shift in his provincial administration’s approach to governance by making it more activist oriented.

Chief among the benchmarks that the premier will be setting for the MECs in his state of the province address will be a challenge “to prioritise an active and regular interaction with communities”, to ensure clean governance and be accountable.

“How do I want my MECs to work? I don’t want MECs who sit in their offices; they must be out there on the ground, in community centres, meeting people and solving problems. That’s what we call activists’ government. We [the premier and his MECs] should spend only one day every week in the office, while the rest of the week should be spent doing groundwork.”

The premier said he would be taking a leaf out of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s book and would create a policy unit in Gauteng.

“I am assembling these monitors and they will be in every department, following up with the MECs on how far they have gone in implementing the goals that we have set ourselves for the next five years. They need to be followed up every day,” said Makhura yesterday.

He committed himself to leading by example: “My work will be a lot more in the communities. You won’t find me in the office. I will have only one day in the office a week to sign documents and sort out things; the rest [of the time], I will be on the ground.”

Makhura’s hands-on approach, which he planned to unveiled in his speech today, included specific tasks for his MECs to accomplish.

Human settlements MEC Lebogang Maile had been entrusted with the mammoth task of re-evaluating the botched Alexandra, Evaton, Winterfeldt and Bekkersdal renewal projects, and to find solutions on how they might be resuscitated or lessons on how to implement such projects.

Makhura said that, in his speech, he would name these renewal projects as being some of “the worst service delivery hot spots that needed revisiting. I will give MEC Maile the task of sorting out, among other things, those four renewal projects.”

He said residents in three of the communities had reached out to him to warn him that if his office did not take them seriously, they would stage protests as the residents of Alexandra had done.

Maile had been given the task regardless of allegations by the DA and the EFF that the MEC’s family and ANC politicians misappropriated about R1.3 billion meant for the Alexandra renewal project.

Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi would, said the premier, be given the task of conducting regular spot checks of underperforming schools, ensuring that township schools that had been identified improved their matric results. Primary schools would also be a priority.

“Let’s not only focus on high schools – I want to see a marked improvement in our primary schools in the next five years. That is why you will hear me proposing that we should start publishing primary school results the same way we do matric results. People tend to look at matric results and forget primary schools, which are the real building blocks.”

Makhura has given Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku the task of resuscitating primary healthcare in the province.

“On health – that’s where our biggest problem is.”

He said he would speak openly and frankly about the province’s health system, which he described as being on its knees.

“We need to lift it. I will give a road map on how we can achieve this,” he said.

“I am going to propose that we focus on primary healthcare, clinics, and regional and district hospitals, not the top hospitals. We need to make this level of healthcare functional because, when that level functions, the burden won’t be shifted upwards. The problem at the moment is that the burden is being shifted to the central hospitals.”

Gauteng would do what it could to help reach the goals set by the president.

“Since Gauteng makes up one third of South Africa’s economy, it ought to be at the forefront of reaching the economic goals set by the president in his state of the nation address,” Makhura said.


We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Do you believe that the various planned marches against load shedding will prompt government to bring solutions and resolve the power crisis?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes
21% - 103 votes
No
79% - 395 votes
Vote