Riot Hlatshwayo and Alfred Moselakgomo

Riot Hlatshwayo and Alfred Moselakgomo

David Dabede Mabuza, or DD as he is popularly known in Mpumalanga, was inaugurated as premier at the KaNyamazane Stadium near Nelspruit yesterday.

In his inaugural address Mabuza told thousands of happy that on April 22 the people of South Africa mandated the ANC to pay undivided attention to five priority areas for the next five years.

"These are: the creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods; education; health; rural development, food security and land reform; as well as the fight against crime and corruption," Mabuza said.

The premier also said the slow pace of service delivery to the people, particularly the poor, was not due to the lack of sound policies but the absence of urgency to implement those policies.

"The bulk of these bottlenecks lie in the administration," said Mabuza.

He said there was a duplication of funds, a bloated bureaucracy, excessive waste of government resources, poor accountability and negligible implementation of Batho Pele principles.

"A revamp of delivery will be my targeted focus on strengthening performance management systems within provincial departments, parastatals and municipalities," Mabuza said.

Mabuza said as part of the government's response to the devastating impact of the global economic downturn, it was critical that government, business and labour "engage and agree on innovative and workable solutions to prevent job losses and also mitigate the negative impact of this unfavourable situation".