Paul Mashatile takes week off for recovery after weekend health scare
Deputy president in high spirits but following doctor's orders
by TIMESLIVE · TimesLIVEDeputy President Paul Mashatile's office says he will take a week off to recover after a health scare at the weekend.
Mashatile was due to appear in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday evening but requested a postponement. His spokesperson, Keith Khoza, said Mashatile was following doctor's orders when he requested a postponement of the question-and-answer session.
Khoza said Mashatile has been advised to take a week off his official duties to rest and recuperate after the medical incident at the weekend in Tzaneen, Limpopo. He collapsed while delivering his address at the N'wamitwa Day celebrations in Tzaneen on Saturday.
“While the deputy president is no longer in any danger and is in high spirits, he is following the medical team's advice and has withdrawn from scheduled official duties for the current week,” Khoza said.
He said Mashatile will work with the NCOP chair to find a suitable date for rescheduling the question-and-answer session.
In addition to Mashatile's health condition, Khoza said the deputy president also wanted to allow members of the NCOP and former colleagues of the late former minister Pravin Gordhan the opportunity to pay their respects fully and to show their support for the Gordhan family.
Mashatile was due to brief the NCOP on the seventh administration's plans to improve the performance of municipalities and accelerate service delivery challenges in some municipalities.
“The deputy president, as he has demonstrated since his appointment to office during the sixth administration, takes parliamentary oversight extremely seriously and has worked tirelessly during his time in office to boost the national executive's accountability to the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. As such, he will work with the NCOP chair to find a suitable date for the rescheduling of the session as soon as possible,” Khoza said.
He said Mashatile looks forward to having an opportunity to apprise parliament of the government of national unity's efforts to improve municipal governance and service delivery, accelerate the process of land reform and boost South Africa's agricultural output and food security, as well as the imminent rollout of plans to fight crime and deal with the emergent scourge of criminal extortion and other forms of economic sabotage.
TimesLIVE