26 Feb 2025

For the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) government to ensure that the country enters a new trajectory, there needs to be changes made in the top echelons of the civil service, Kgatleng West MP Dr Unity Dow has said.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, she said a new dawn of governance based on human rights and sustainable development required a new direction implementable by a new broom sweeping at the government enclave.

She said the people who turned public institutions such as the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) into what she termed “rogue institutions that fabricated cases against the likes of former minister Dr Thapelo Matsheka and intelligence agent Ms Wilheminah ‘Butterfly’ Maswabi” still populate the current public sector.

Dr Dow said the new administration needed to work with people committed to the political and economic change necessary to take the country forward. 

She also raised the concern that electoral promises made on areas such as the living wage, student allowances, ten percent economic growth target and other pledges had not been mentioned in the budget speech.

Nonetheless, she commended the government for introducing the Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education given the importance of investing in a person’s holistic development from childhood. 

She cautioned that the country needed to be proactive with gender-based violence (GBV) which had become a serious national concern.

Meanwhile, Letlhakeng MP, Brigadier Domcaza Mokgwathi urged the political opponents and the public to be patient with UDC government in their restructuring of the civil service and in introducing socio-economic reform.

He said not all people in the civil service had been at fault for past mistakes and if there were any who were involved in unscrupulous activities, time should be afforded for due forensic evidence substantiation since “when the eagle pounces on its prey it is because of perfect timing.”

Mr Mokgwathi said the budget was well balanced and with good technocrats in the civil service government should be able to optimise the minimal financial resources availed in the budget. 

He said the inescapable truth was that there had been wastage in the past and expressed hope that going forward every penny in the recurrent and development expenditure would be put to productive use. Mr Mokgwathi called for investment in agriculture, roads linking farming production areas to markets, green energy and boosting rural area capacity to help spread development nationally.

He said UDC displayed dynamic thinking by raising old age pension allowance from P830 to P1 400 and in the introduction of the P300 child grant. 

He said other manifesto pledges would be gradually implemented when the country’s financial state permitted. ENDS