Cape Town – Walking into the new offices of the Western Cape’s Ministry of Economic Opportunities on Long Street in Cape Town’s City Bowl one could be forgiven for thinking it was the headquarters of some new-fangled start-up selling an app that might just hook you into a new world of wealth.
It just doesn’t feel like (crusty, old) government, and the province’s MEC for Economic Opportunity Alan Winde told ANA on Thursday that this is the way he likes it. His style of government is reflected perfectly in the new glass-fronted offices right in the thick of the action on Long Street, Cape Town’s party central for so many locals and tourists.
Keeping channels of communication open has long been a key pillar of Winde’s ministry. Bronwynne Jooste, spokesperson for the ministry, told ANA that since Winde launched the ministry’s Red Tape Reduction Unit in 2011, it had received more than 3 000 cases, with a resolution rate of over 90 percent.
The MEC seems to revel in being available to the public on such platforms as Facebook and Twitter, and is certainly not afraid to engage in real life too. He told ANA that he plans to claim the pavements by going out there and scrubbing them himself one of these days.
Perhaps he will do that before the launch of his ministry’s involvement in the city’s First Thursday’s arts and cultural open house evening. As of February 4, Winde told ANA, people with a burning question for him or one of his team and those who are just plain curious about the art of open politics would be able to turn up and have a chat with one of them.
Winde said he hoped that it would take off and he would be able to ask other officials to join the evening.
African News Agency
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