The debilitating poverty, dehumanising living conditions and high unemployment levels demand of the Free State Provincial Government, through its senior officials, to deploy drastic measures to arrest the decline.
That was the view of Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae during the Strategic Planning and Review session held in Mangaung on Thursday, 23 January 2025. Addressing senior and middle managers who had gathered at the venue, the Premier warned that government officials will no longer be allowed to laze about without consequence management and instead, they will be expected to play a role in assisting to address these matters.
The preoccupation of the current administration, added Premier Letsoha-Mathae, will be to bring services to the people of the province, and government officials are and will be expected to execute those plans.
“Our people going to lose faith in their government if we do not provide services to them. That is why there must be a change in how we operate. Batho Pele principles, for instance, must be brought to life and should not be looked at merely as a just another piece of documentation,” said Premier Letsoha-Mathae.
She continued: “I am passionate about provision of services. With that said, we have pledged to bring services closer to the people and our appeal to our officials is to assist us achieve that vision. We cannot expect our people to use their money on transportation to access services from their government.”
Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Seiso Mohai said unemployment, particularly amongst young people, will present a chance for political opportunists to exploit the situation.
“If there is high youth unemployment, as is the case in our province, levels of opportunism increase. We must therefore guard against such characters, which I like to refer to as counter revolutionaries,” said Deputy Minister Mohai.
