‘Culture issues’ is why there’s no Edu MEC
Premier Stanley Mathabatha failed to deliver on his self-imposed promise to appoint a new MEC for the department of education within two weeks.
POLOKWANE – Premier Stanley Mathabatha failed to deliver on his self-imposed promise to appoint a new MEC for the department of education within two weeks.
During a visit to Xitlakati village in Giyani on Friday, Mathabatha said the reason why the province had delayed in the appointment of a new MEC was due to respect to the previous MEC, Thembi Nwendamutswu, who had passed away.
“As Africans, when a person dies you don’t rush to replace that person as if you were waiting for their death to replace them. We needed to wait a bit in her respect before we could move on and appoint another MEC in her place,” he said.
Review spoke to people from different cultures and they said that only the spouse of the person who had passed away mourned them for a specific period. The period of mourning differed from culture to culture and outsiders were not affected by this mourning process.
Asked when the premier would appoint a new MEC, the premier’s spokesperson, Kenneth Mathivha, said: “The premier will inform the media when he appoints a new MEC. The premier has no deadline on appointing a new MEC. As far as we are concerned, the appointing of members of the executive council is the prerogative of the premier, based on the constitution.”
EFF Limpopo convenor, Mike Mathebe, said personal issues prevented the premier from moving forward and appointing a new MEC for the department.
“It is sad to know that the premier’s personal issues take preference above the people’s interests. It is very disappointing that the premier is taking so long to replace the MEC, because this department was until recently under administration and one would think he would move with speed to appoint a new MEC, taking children’s education seriously,” Mathebe said.
DA Limpopo leader, Jacques Smalle, said the premier’s excuse of a new MEC not being appointed due to cultural reasons was misleading. “In the past MEC’s who passed on were replaced within six to seven weeks. An example is when the late Collins Chabane moved to national government and his post as MEC had to be filled.
“The actual reason for the premier’s delay in appointing a new MEC is that he wants to bring in a new person to fill the position, but according to the election rules he is not allowed to bring a new person in within a year of the elections having taken place.
“The elections took place on May 7 last year. When a person needs to be replaced due to death or vacating an office, the second person on the list fills the position, however the premier does not have confidence in the person who is supposed to replace the MEC and therefore the delay,” Smalle said.
“The sad part of it all is that the department is suffering in the process. All the top positions are being acted, which include the MEC, head of department and the chief executive officer of the department. There being no leader creates uncertainty and the result is that the department fails to produce.
