Maputo — Felicio Zacarias, governor of the central Mozambican province of Sofala, has warned that underperforming district administrators will face the sack, reports Thursday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

Speaking on Wednesday at the first session of the provincial government of the new year, Zacarias said he was angered by the poor performance of some district administrators. If they did not change their attitudes, they were in danger of losing their jobs, he said.

He did not name the administrators concerned, but he told reporters he had three of them in mind.

"I am giving them a last chance", he said. "But if they continue as they are now, then they will be re-allocated to other jobs in the state administration".

Zacarias also criticised those provincial directors who remain glued to their offices, and never have any contact with rural communities. "This must also stop", he said. "We have started a new year, and we want a new dynamic. What is important is that we comply with the five year plan that Frelimo presented to the mass of the people (at the elections in 1999) since, at the hour of truth, we will be asked what we have done in these five years of governance".

He attacked the failure of some provincial directorates to comply with time limits concerning fiscal matters and the inventory of state assets. The provincial director of finance, Orlando Chaves, backed up the governor, and said that only the health and education directorates had respected the time limits. He warned that this could lead to legal action by the Administrative Tribunal, the body that oversees the legality of public expenditure.