Premier Oscar Mabuyane has deliberately avoided holding his MECs to account, dodging a question about which of his executive have failed to meet their performance targets.
Without full and transparent accountability MECs will become a law unto themselves and poor service delivery will remain the order of the day. Name, shame and remove them, Premier, the people have the right to know!
During a special sitting of the Eastern Cape Legislature yesterday for questions to the Premier, Mabuyane was deliberately vague in his response to a DA question asking which MECs had not met their deliverable requirements in the past two financial years.
Responding in the House, Mabuyane said, “Not all targets were met in period in question by MECs and departments owing to a variety of factors mainly imposed by the covid-19 pandemic during the period in question.”
See response
This is a deliberate dodge and goes against the principles of a transparent and accountable government.
The Premier was also vague regarding the consequences that MECs face should they fail to meet the deliverables.
Another significant concern is that the lifestyle audit process of the executive has still not been completed, despite being commissioned two years ago, in August 2020.
In response to a follow-up question, Premier Mabuyane revealed that two MECs were still concluding the process, although one was no longer a MEC. He also revealed that he was the first to be audited.
A lot can change in two years, and I will be asking follow-up questions to the Premier to determine what processes are in place to ensure the regular monitoring of the executives’ lifestyles going forward.
I will also be submitting questions to the Premier for a breakdown of all key performance indicators for each MEC, over the past two financial years, as well as a breakdown of which of those KPIs were not met.
For a stable government, we need to know that people are being fired from the provincial cabinet for legitimate reasons and not factional battles.
The DA, as a constructive opposition, will continue to fight for an accountable provincial government.
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