Ntombela set the bar very low, Dukwana can not fail twice

The much-awaited ANC Free State provincial conference is done and dusted, now the real test is for the incoming Premier, Mxolisi Dukwana, and his team.

Dukwana is not new to challenges facing the province as he was a Member of the Executive Council and it was under him in his capacity as MEC for COGTA and Convenor of the now defunct IPC that Mangaung metro collapsed and the ANC lost Maluti-A-Phofung to a coalition government.

It was interesting to see Ketso “Toto” Makume, newly elected deputy chairperson allude to the same sentiments shared by Gwede “Tiger” Mantashe that governance from the provincial government to municipalities has collapsed, everyone who stays in the province knows this and for people who sat in the IPC to act like what Gwede said is something new is shocking. In Mangaung only where ANC launched Letsema around January 8, the city had to be cleaned and potholes filled just because the president was coming, even former president Thabo Mbeki warned them about service delivery in one of the meetings with the same IPC they belonged to.

Typical Ramaphosa behavior always shocked by things they should solve let alone know and it has now rubbed off on his cheerleaders.

Ntombela’s administration has set the bar so low, it can’t go lower than this and Dukwana having failed as IPC convenor can not fail twice, otherwise, the province will have a coalition government after the 2024 national elections.

It was rather amusing that after Ramaphosa won Nasrec, a province that struggled to convene a conference in months was suddenly ready in weeks and with that said, all regional conferences will be won by Ramaphosa supporters, Ankole now has Free State under his control.

His first test will be how he deals with allegations against his HoD who sources say is victimizing staff and whether he moves with the team in his office, seconded from DESTEA to the Premier’s Office as that will be against Public Service.

We will get to the R10 000 he said was given to him by Guptas for fuel at the later stage.

He will also be tested on how he addresses a labor court case involving a deputy secretary dating back to her days at Social Development, a court granted and ruled in favor of a complainant and ordered social development to pay her R3 million.

This relates to her appointment despite coming second and against the panel report. So who appointed her?

Some of the PEC members were in government before and once sang handsoff Zuma and now changed their tune to Re morata kaofela, we will delve into how others were MECs and moved employees linked to political office to the department without jobs being advertised.

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