Durban - Former MEC for Public Works and Human Settlement, Peggy Nkonyeni, has been appointed as the new MEC for Transport Community Safety and Liaison.
Nkonyeni takes up the post which was left vacant when Bheki Ntuli died in January.
Announcing the KwaZulu-Natal cabinet reshuffle yesterday, Premier Sihle Zikalala said the move was meant to strengthen the government and ensure it responds to the pressing need to revive the economy and create jobs.
Nkonyeni will be replaced by Jomo Sibiya, who was the chairperson of the Education Portfolio Committee. The two were sworn in to their new portfolios in Pietermaritzburg yesterday.
Zikalala said these changes were necessary to strengthen the government, but the announcement was met with scepticism by opposition parties who said the reshuffle seemed to be for political security rather than service delivery.
In an audio statement, Zikalala said following the death of Ntuli that created a vacancy in the executive council, “in our efforts to ensure that there was no disruption to service delivery, we appointed Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu to act in this (Transport) department. We would like to thank him for his hard work in these two departments.
“On February 26, we delivered the State of the Province Address and we committed ourselves to work faster to ensure that we rebuild our economy and create job opportunities. That meant we needed to strengthen the functioning of the government and we needed leadership that will be hands on and ensure that things are done accordingly,” he said.
Zikalala said after assessing the situation, they decided to make these appointments.
DA provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango said the move was surprising and had undertones of trying to manage ANC factions.
“To replace Ntuli with Nkonyeni, I don't think it’s going to work, there are ranging wars in the taxi industry and I fear Nkonyeni might struggle with that, but we should give her a chance and see how she does,” he said.
He said the appointment of Sibiya seemed to be more about politics than anything else.
“Sibiya is quite powerful in ANC circles and this seems to be more about bringing him closer.”
IFP president and leader of the opposition Velenkosini Hlabisa said they wished those appointed well and hoped they would deliver services for the community.
“Nkonyeni is inheriting a department that is plagued by underspending, billions of rand meant to build roads in communities are returned to the National Treasury unspent while communities suffer, we hope she addresses this,” he said.
He said Sibiya was also inheriting a department that fails to implement projects or fails to complete them on time.
“We hope this also changes.”
Hlabisa said they were, however, concerned about the time it took Zikalala to make an appointment.
The Mercury