ANC Eastern Cape Chairperson, Phumulo Masualle, will be the new premier for the province. Masualle is the MEC of Planning and Treasury in the Eastern Cape and succeeds Noxolo Kiviet.
ANC Eastern Cape Chairperson, Phumulo Masualle, will be the new premier for the province. Masualle is the MEC of Planning and Treasury in the Eastern Cape and succeeds Noxolo Kiviet.
This is a surprise appointment, in the view of some political analysts, because he was not at the top of the ANC's provincial list.
In a media statement issued on Tuesday 20 May, the South African Communist Party (SACP), of which Masualle is a Central Committee member, congratulated him the his appointment.
"We are of the firm view that Cde Phumulo Masualle brings in undisputed, impeccable experience and capability to provide political leadership in the Eastern Cape Government," the party said. "(He) has done a very good work in various departments in the Eastern Cape where he has been deployed as the MEC; those departments include the Department of Public Works, Department of Health and the Department of Planning and Treasury."
In 2009, as Eastern Cape Health MEC, Masualle tackled traditional leaders over illegal circumcision schools in the province.
At the time, hundreds of under-age boys were illegally circumcised in the Pondoland area and Masualle vowed to tackle the problem head-on.
