The recently appointed Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are expected to work hard within a short space of time to become quasi experts in their respective fields of deployment.
This according to Premier Stan Mathabatha, who delivered opening remarks on the first day of the induction of MECs at a venue outside Bela-Bela on Tuesday. The initiation concluded yesterday (Wednesday) and Mathabatha emphasised that his expectations is that all MECs must always strive to increase their knowledge base. He stated that their knowledge should not end with issues of their respective departments but the entire work of government.
“It is not acceptable for any MEC to say that I am not an MEC for health and therefore I cannot be expected to know anything about the National Health Insurance. It cannot be acceptable for any MEC to say that I am not deployed at Economic Development, Environment and Tourism hence I cannot be expected to know anything about the Special Economic Zone initiative. I can assure you that the MEC for Social Development will be asked about the construction of a road somewhere in a village and at that you are not allowed to say you don’t know. You may not be an authority on issues of education or social development but you are expected to know what is going on,” Mathabatha explained.
It was reported that the induction led by veteran politician and former Minister Sydney Mufamadi looked into subjects such as state security, government communication, very important person (VIP) protection, mandate of the Auditor-General and Public Finance Management Act among other ethical principles.
Story: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za
