As the provincial government we reject in the strictest sense of the recent claims that Premier David Mabuza is turning Mpumalanga into a "banana province". These assertions are nothing but a pure fabrication of lies that seek to defame the Premier and the provincial government and thus undermining the service delivery agenda of his administration.
Our view is that these reports are suspicious and dubious and therefore are an orchestrated campaign to discredit the Premier. The dubious agenda is probably intended to ultimately influence that the Premier be re-called. And yes such a plot we believe would have to be executed with the assistance of unscrupulous journalists and media houses. We thus challenge anyone with verifiable proof to bring it forth to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
We further state emphatically that Mr. DD Mabuza was duly appointed by the ANC to lead Mpumalanga Province in the new administration. The people of Mpumalanga province came from all walks of life to witness this beloved son of the soil taking up the leadership of the province. Also politically, the branches elected him in a well constituted and well run conference.
The numbers congregated at KaNyamazane stadium during the inauguration, were a sure sign of acceptance and approval of his leadership. And thus Premier Mabuza and his administration cannot be preoccupied with agendas of faceless individuals who cowardly write anonymous letters invoking the ire of the ordinary people.
To this end, the Executive Council will not be derailed from its course of delivering the electoral mandate of service delivery towards a better life for all in Mpumalanga.
The administration of the Mpumalanga government will continue to appeal that agendas of fuelling instability in the province are futile and are in essence acts of sabotage to the mandate assigned to the Premier and the Executive Council to lead the Province.
On the questioning of the so called silence of the Premier on the murders and the alleged hit-list in the province, the provincial administration reiterates that the law enforcement agencies must take the lead in the matter by investigating and subsequently apprehending the people behind these senseless killings.
On the matter of corruption, the Premier is on records having spoken strongly against any corrupt tendencies. He is totally against any type or form of corruption. This was also made clear during his State of the Province Address last year. Among other things, Premier Mabuza stated that corruption and fraud destroy the moral fibre of the society. He said we must work very hard to uproot it both in government and the private sector.
To demonstrate his seriousness about this challenge, soon after taking the reigns of power, the Premier established a Commissions of Inquiry to investigate alleged irregularities on the Scholar Transport, and the construction of the Provincial Archive building and the Disaster Management Centre.
The Provincial Government led by Premier Mabuza, is committed to fight fraud, corruption and maladministration, and therefore will not be side-tracked on its course to implement the government programme of action aimed at uplifting the living standards of the ordinary people.
To emphasise again, the Mpumalanga Provincial Government appeals to all to refrain from non-productive activities of rumour peddling and rather work together to accelerate service delivery. Anyone with verifiable information on actions that derail this national vision of bringing a better life to all should approach the relevant law enforcement agencies.
Statement issued by Mabutho Sithole, Spokesperson of the Mpumalanga Premier, February 7 2010
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