The DA’s Alan Winde was sworn in to serve a second term as Western Cape premier on Thursday.
Winde won by a comfortable 26 votes after he was nominated alongside the ANC’s Khalid Sayed.
Patricia Goliath, the acting judge president of the Western Cape, administered Winde’s oath of office, during which he stated that he would continue to give the “crisscross the province” campaign top priority in order to comprehend the needs of the residents.
He asserted that the reason the campaign was successful during his first term was because when he visited people at home, they frequently expressed their worries and expressed appreciation for the good work the provincial government had done.
Commitment to create more jobs
Although he expressed pride in the increased number of job-creation initiatives in the Western Cape, he also expressed concern about the need for more jobs to be created in order to guarantee that job seekers are placed.
Winde boasted that the province’s crime rate has dropped, but he also admitted that this is not widely recognised since crime is still present despite the numbers declining.
Nevertheless, he promised to keep pushing for better crime statistics.
“It is an honour; it is a privilege to be able to serve for a second term [and] get a mandate from the citizens again to say ‘carry on with what you are doing’.
“As you have seen from the election, we might have a majority in the Western Cape, but in South Africa there are big changes coming, and the Western Cape has a big role to play.
“While coalition parties start to determine a different future in our country, we’ve got stability in the Western Cape, and we must keep on doing our job,” Winde said.
Education and health top list of priorities
He said that his new provincial cabinet, which will be unveiled later on Thursday, was carefully chosen to enhance people’s lives.
In order to provide the residents with better access to the social services they require, he stated that his office will concentrate more on areas like social development, education, and health.
He said: “As complex as the issues we face may be, I am eager and determined to get stuck into my second term of office to keep tackling these formidable challenges.
“My team and I will continue to work with the leadership and staff of the Western Cape government for the residents of this province.”
