NATIONAL NEWS - KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube on Sunday dismissed perceptions that her lower position within the ANC in the province renders her weak in government, saying she has the authority to act against any MEC.
As premier, Dube-Ncube — who is not part of the ANC provincial top leadership structure — presides over powerful party provincial figures, including Economic Development MEC, Siboniso Duma, who is the current ANC provincial chairperson.
Opposition parties were of the view that Dube-Ncube would be a weak premier as she was likely to be hesitant to act against her MECs, such as Duma. should they be found wanting as members of the provincial government.
However, Dube-Ncube, who was speaking during a press briefing at Pietermaritzburg’s Elandskop Twelve Apostle Church where she attended a service on Sunday, said she would not hesitate to take action against any MEC — irrespective of their standing in the ANC.
Dube-Ncube, who is currently an additional member of the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC), said:
"I don’t believe it will be difficult for us to make every MEC to be accountable and to account because we do understand clearly the role of governance. We do understand that they are here to discharge their responsibilities as members of the executive council. If they don’t perform, we would not shy away from exposing them, but also from getting them to account."
Apart from Duma, other members of the ANC provincial top five leadership structure, who in terms of the ANC hierarchy are senior to Dube-Ncube, include Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, who is the party’s provincial deputy chairperson and Human Settlement MEC Ntuthuko Mahlaba, who is the party’s provincial treasurer.
However, despite Dube-Ncube having failed to make it onto the ANC top five leadership structure during the recent provincial elective conference, she is currently the most experienced KZN government leader.
Top government positions previously occupied by Dube-Ncube include that of MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC for Economic Development and MEC for Finance.
Since her election last week as premier, Dube-Ncube has been calling all sectors of society to partner with the provincial government in the fight against poverty, unemployment and social ills such as substance abuse.
She reiterated her call during her visit to the Twelve Apostle Church on Sunday.
“We wish to form collaborations with different faiths to demonstrate the desire on the part of government to foster a spirit of partnership between the leaders of different faiths and the government. This arises from our deep conviction that the leaders of different faiths have a very strong contribution to make in the improvement of the lives of the people of our province.
Sunday’s visit to the Twelve Apostle Church was Dube-Ncube’s first public engagement since her election as premier.
Spotlight on Msunduzi
While congregants showered Dube-Ncube with praises, they were also clear that they were not happy with the quality of service that they were receiving from the Msunduzi Municipality — which is currently under administration.
Dube-Ncube later acknowledged that there has been little improvement since the municipality was placed under administration more than three years ago.
We need to make sure that as the government we really play an active role in supporting our municipalities to ensure that they do what is correct. I think what has been happening is that we have not been quite hands-on, we have been quite remote. We have always been hoping that they will recover, but only to realise that once a municipality is in that kind of state, it’s difficult for them to recover on their own.
The provincial government, Dube-Ncube said, would soon be providing additional support to Msunduzi.
“Moving forward, I do believe that we would have to play an active role — working with other sector departments.
“We need to bring in another sector department such as Transport, Human Settlement, Water and other departments. Without support from such sector departments, the municipality on its own would not be able to recover,” she said.
