Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa on Monday repeatedly promised to discharge the mandate handed him and the African National Congress to deliver the party’s mandate to voters, while opposition parties pledged to lend a hand.
”Thank you to members of the house for electing me to once more lead the government of our prosperous province.
”I also wish to thank the leadership of the ANC for once again showing confidence in me by entrusting me with the responsibility to lead Gauteng,” Shilowa said.
”I am aware of the immense responsibilities that come with occupation of this, the highest office in our province. I will not betray the trust that you have placed in me.”
Shilowa was making his first address of his second term as premier to the province’s third legislature.
He was speaking shortly after being sworn in as an MPL by Pretoria High Court Judge President Bernard Ngoepe.
He sat impassively as Ngoepe called for nominations. He was nominated by ANC MPL Angie Motshekga and seconded by the party’s Gladstone Nkomfe.
There were no other nominations.
The judge swore in the MPLs in batches of up to five, each swearing or solemnly affirming to be faithful to the people of South Africa to obey, respect and uphold the Constitution and all other laws of the republic and promising to perform their duty as MPLs to the best of their ability.
There was a moment of drama when Motlalepula Chabaku insisted in English and Setswana that she wanted to take the oath in her ”own language”.
Independent Democrats leader Themba Sono seemed to be a popular member of the House when the calling of his name excited a rare moment of applause and cheering. Sono is the ID’s sole MPL in Gauteng.
The judge excused himself from the proceedings after declaring Richard Mdakane as elected speaker, unopposed.
”I wish you all the best, and we expect delivery,” Ngoepe said to applause as he left the chamber.
After a short break Mdakane took up his seat and resumed the business of the House, which was to first elect a deputy speaker and then to allow Shilowa to make his address.
The assembly chose as his deputy former education and later agriculture, environment and land affairs provincial minister Mary Metcalfe. She was also elected unopposed.
Shilowa, who will be sworn in at a public ceremony on Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, Johannesburg, said challenges facing his government and the province include ”unemployment and poverty, homelessness and the provision of water and sanitation, HIV and Aids and other diseases, nation building, community safety, improving public education, and eradication of all forms of discrimination”.
”It is important that all of us who constitute the Gauteng legislature should give ourselves some time to study the ANC’s election manifesto and understand what this people’s contract is and what it requires us to do.
”Even those who do not wish to be part of the people’s contract will still need to familiarise themselves with the content of the contract since it is on this contract that our government will be judged. This will enable you to work with us as we implement our mandate and to hold the government accountable.”
In his reply to Shilowa’s address, the Democratic Alliance’s Brian Goodall quoted 19th-century French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte’s warning that strategy is easy but implementation very difficult.
He pledged his party’s support to Shilowa, the only one of the country’s nine premiers to be re-appointed, saying that before being members of political parties, MPLs are South Africans.
The Inkatha Freedom Party’s Gertrude Mzizi said she was extending the hand of friendship to Shilowa.
The ID’s Sono told Shilowa the two had campaigned against each other in Soshanguve (near Pretoria) where Shilowa beat him ”hands down”.
Sono said Shilowa is clearly the province’s ”preferred deliverer”.
”Remember that mandate,” Sono said, ”We in the ID will hold you to your lovely words.”
The United Democratic Movement’s Nomakhosazana Mncedane pledged constructive criticism of government decisions while the African Christian Democratic Party’s Lydia Meshoe expressed the hope that the province would grow over the next five years.
The Freedom Front Plus’s Frederick Mulder said he looked forward to representing the interests of his constituents and told the chamber his party’s presence would not go unnoticed.
”Don’t count us, weigh us,” he said.
The Pan Africanist Congress’s Makesela Ledwaba in his maiden address that his party had not previously held a seat in Gauteng. He said the PAC and ANC have to make sure the post-1994 dispensation is not taken for granted.
The legislature also appointed six permanent delegates to the National Congress of Provinces (NCOP). Four are from the ANC, one from the DA and one from the IFP.
They are Joyce Kgoali, Sicelo Shiceka, Nomopo Madlala-Magubane, Elliot Sogoni, Sherry Su-Huei Chen and Abraham Mzizi.
Shilowa also indicated that the expansion of the legislature from its present 73 members to 80 is still under negotiation.
”Myself and the previous speaker [Firoz Cachalia] are dealing with that. We are still in discussion with the IEC [Independent Electoral Commission].”
The IEC allocated the ANC 51 seats, the DA 15, the IFP 2 and the ACDP, ID, FF+, UDM and PAC one each.
For the first time since the creation of the Gauteng legislature in 1994, the New National Party is not represented.
Shilowa is scheduled to appoint his cabinet on Thursday. It is expected that Cachalia will be promoted to provincial minister.
He will follow in the footsteps of former local government provincial minister Trevor Fowler, who was the province’s first speaker. Fowler will now be Shilowa’s principal political adviser and is no longer an MPL.
Also not sworn in on Monday was popular former finance provincial minister Jabu Moleketi.
Shilowa and several of the opposition parties thanked him from the floor for his contribution to the province. Moleketi was sitting with the ANC’s NCOP candidates in the media gallery. It is widely expected that President Thabo Mbeki will appoint him to a Cabinet or deputy minister’s position. — Sapa