#IMadeMyMark – Party members have their say

MBOMBELA – MBOMBELA – In her acceptance speech as premier-elect of Mpumalanga, Refilwe Mtsweni called on all opposition parties represented in the House to move forward with a clear goal to work together and cast their differences aside. Mtsweni will be officially inaugurated into office at a ceremony to be held in eMalahleni on Monday.

She said, “We debated issues fiercely during the election campaign. That is now behind us. Our ideological differences must not be detrimental to the improvement of the lives of the people. Our debates in this chamber – from now on – must not be characterised by cruelty, demeaning and malicious assertions against one another.”

Proceedings got off to a flying start when EFF provincial chairman, Collen Sedibe objected to taking the swearing-in oath alongside ANC delegates. He cited that the EFF would not take the oath with ‘criminals’. This elicited a few murmurs of dissent from the gallery and a rebuke from Judge President Francis Legodi. In her acceptance speech, the premier-elect gave a synopsis of the ANC’s vision for the province.

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She said,”Our people are demanding that we speed up the pace of service delivery and create more job opportunities through partnerships with the private sector and grow the economy”.

Mtsweni gave assurances that the fight against corruption would be intensified and added, “Our people’s cries against corruption has not fallen on deaf ears. Equally, we are concerned by the fact that corruption robs our people of their future.”

“When the limited public purse, designed to improve the lives of our people, are channelled out of the system and eventually lands in the pockets of unscrupulous individuals, our people become poorer.

“As such, corruption will be declared our number one enemy.”

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Sedibe could not resist a jibe at this and called for a point of order, which was rebuffed by the judge president. Throughout the proceedings, the EFF continued nominating their own members for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, which the ruling party’s candidates won by a margin of 22 votes as the other parties continued abstaining.

Despite this, Busisiwe Sheba was elected the sixth Speaker of the Mpumalanga Legislature and Vusumuzi Mkhatshwa as Deputy Speaker.

Sedibe outlined the EFF’s plans and said, “We will continue to guard the public purse and ensure that those entrusted with the responsibility of managing the finances are held accountable. We will continue to expose and lay fraud and corruption charges against the culprits because stealing the taxpayers money is robbing the people of services.”

“Lastly, we are going to take racism head-on this time. We cannot allow the killing and forceful removal of our people by white farmers. Enough is enough,” he said.

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The DA’s Jane Sithole weighed in on the debate and said, “We believe that the only way to regain support is to stick to our message. While other parties campaigned on racial divisions, we have stuck to our mandate to create one nation, one future and one South Africa for all.”

Sithole said she supported the premier-elect’s drive to root out corruption in the province, adding that the DA is expecting a number of arrests to be effected. The FF+ MPL, Werner Weber, said his party aimed to make the legislature more market-friendly, especially for those in the production sector.

“Everyone who is in production needs to be able to see that the government is on their side. There should be policy security in order for business and the production sector to be certain about government’s approach.”

He mentioned the decaying infrastructure as a priority for producers, and the party’s concern for farmers in particular, who experienced difficulties transporting goods on potholed roads.