IT IS rather commendable that politicians - especially the ministers and MECs - are showing renewed vigour in seizing on their duties.

We must caution, though, against the tendency by the executive to confuse strategic leadership roles and operational activities.

This confusion is no more evident than in cases where ministers and MECs sometimes assume roles of their bureaucrats by engaging in operational activities themselves.

A case in point is KwaZulu-Natal MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo's decision to lay a charge with police against a principal who locked teachers and pupils out of school.

While the MEC's swift action is commendable, he should have known this was a matter for internal disciplinary procedures - not the police.

Worse still, he failed to observe protocol as education is not even his portfolio.