Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu has abided by the ANC’s National Executive Committee’s directive to reconfigure his cabinet to allow for a 60/40 gender representation.
Ndlovu has announced Leah Mabuza as the new addition to his cabinet, taking over the reigns as MEC for culture, sport and recreation from Fidel Mlombo during a hurriedly sanctioned media briefing on Tuesday, September 4.
Mlombo had been serving in this portfolio since June, shortly after the national general elections of May 29. According to the premier, he voluntarily resigned.
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Mabuza, a National Executive Committee Member of SANCO and Regional Executive Committee Member of the ANC in Nkangala, comes into this position with extensive experience having previously served as the mayor of both a district and local municipality.
Carefully explaining this move to reshuffle his cabinet, Ndlovu told this publication that it had nothing to do with performance, but merely to comply with the ANC’s top structure to have the gender balance in the cabinet.
According to the ANC’s guidelines, where the premier of province is a man, women must account for or have 60% representation in the executive committee, meaning that this province must have a minimum of six women MECs and a maximum of four men MECs.
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“We would like to thank our alliance partners, especially Cosatu for allowing their member to resign from his position as MEC so we can have a female representative in that portfolio. It has not been an easy step to take, but it had to be done and we are happy that our alliance partners made the process much easier for all of us,” said Ndlovu.
