Speculation over who would succeed former KZN Sports, Arts and Culture MEC Amanda Bani-Mapena was on Tuesday put to rest when acting Premier Nomagugu Simelane announced a mini cabinet shake-up.
In the swearing-in ceremony held at the provincial legislature in Pietermaritzburg, long serving ANC legislature member Sipho “KK” Nkosi was deployed to the portfolio of Human Settlements and Public Works. The previous incumbent, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba, was announced as the new MEC for Sports, Arts and Culture.
“The changes being announced today are a clear commitment to accelerate service delivery and to direct the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government to be more effective, agile and decisive in the realisation of the commitments that we made during the State of the Province Address,” said Simelane, acting on behalf of Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, who is currently out of the country.
Nkosi has served various committees in the KZN legislature including as chairperson of the Department of Coperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and Finance, among others. On the other hand, Mahlaba is a former mayor of Newcastle.
Bani-Mapena was unceremoniously booted out as MEC after barely serving a year, replacing Hlengiwe Mavimbela, who herself was a casualty of ANC factional battles. She was shown the door after her faction lost the 2022 ANC provincial elective conference to the strong contingent of the Talibans (a KZN faction of the ANC which prides its fighters of being resilient, “fighting till the end”), which led to the election of provincial chairperson Siboniso Duma and secretary Bheki Mtolo.
Prior to being the MEC for sports and culture, Bani-Mapena was an integrated development plan (IDP) manager at eThekwini metro, where she resigned under a cloud, facing allegations of tender fraud.
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