Newly sworn-in North West Premier Professor Job Mokgoro has vowed to work towards eliminating the trust deficit between government and its people.
“Top of my agenda come next week is to reduce, if not eliminate, the trust deficit between the people of the North West and government,” he said on Friday.
Addressing the provincial legislature after being sworn-in as the next Premier of the platinum producing province, Mokgoro said relations within the province had been characterised by mistrust, scepticism, anger and disappointment on the part of communities that the provincial government serves.
“We’ve made mistakes in some areas and we need to learn from these as we go forward,” he said.
Concerns that people have raised include the inefficient delivery of services, waste of public resources as well as graft and poor leadership.
“The challenges of service delivery are enormously complex, and can only be effectively tackled through collective efforts. We in government do have all the answers to the challenges but are better off when guided by collective wisdom,” said the Premier, who was nominated in the house earlier unopposed.
Mokgoro committed to working tirelessly to restore stability and certainty in the province.
“We shall work hard to restore a sense of ownership regarding society in government. We shall deal with service delivery issues raised by the Inter Ministerial Task Team led by [Minister] Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,” he said.
Nominated by Jonas Legare and seconded by Wendy Nelson, the Premier also spoke out against the self-enrichment by officials.
“There is no opportunity for self-enrichment… Freedom should not be understood to mean leadership position: it demands of us to be in constant touch with the people to understand their needs, hopes and fears and to work with them to improve their conditions,” he told the special sitting called by Speaker Sussana Dantjie.
The swearing-in ceremony, presided over by North West High Court Judge President Monica Leeuw, follows the resignation of former Premier Supra Mahumapelo.
Mahumapelo, who was present at the swearing-in ceremony of Mokgoro, resigned as Premier on the 23 May.
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