By OBAKENG MAJE
The North West Premier, Lazarus Mokgosi said the media plays a significant role in keeping the communities abreast of key government programmes that are primarily aimed at changing the lives of the people for the better. Mokgosi, who held a Provincial Media Day at Protea Hotel in Mahikeng on 2 August 2024 said, they have invited the media as part of their ongoing efforts to cement the relations with members of the media.
He further said as Members of Executive Council (MECs) in the North West, they met with the media after he delivered a speech on the official opening of the North West Provincial Legislature (NWPL), to highlight and put emphasis on the priorities of the 7th administration. Mokgosi added that they affirm and fully support the independence of the media to hold the government accountable as enshrined in the constitution.
“This Media Day that we are launching today will be held annually after the Premier’s State of the Province Address (SOPA) to communicate developmental initiatives of this administration, as well as interventions on various socio-economic challenges such as unemployment, poverty and income inequalities afflicting our communities.
“We will also hold quarterly media sessions with yourselves to report progress registered in attending to a number of challenges, remedial action plans and achievements.
We are not ignorant to challenges confronting our province and we are hard at work to speedily resolve them,” he said.
Mokgosi said in the past two weeks, Members of the Executive Council (MECs), have been tabling their Budget Votes and Policy Speeches that are aligned to their Annual Performance Plans (APPs) to ensure that they create economic opportunities for their people, whilst attending to their concerns on service delivery. He said the period from now until 31 March 2025, the 7thadministration will be completing the work of the 6th administration to ensure a seamless transition between the two administrations.
“The full account and report back of the 2024 SOPA will therefore be in February 2025, which will also include a full resourced Programme of Action of the 7th administration. The provincial government has subsequently developed a Programme of Action for the 2024 SOPA for implementation.
“Today, we have invited you to highlight what the priority areas of the 7thadministration are. We have appointed the Economic & Investment Advisory Council, consisting of Members of the Executive Council (MECs), Economists, Industry Experts, Organised Agriculture, Labour, Tourism Sector, Mining and Independent Experts,” said Mokgosi.
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