Since taking over the financially troubled Limpopo province, Stanley Mathabatha has been described as the premier who brought financial stability and restored governance in the once embattled province.
On Thursday, Mathabatha delivered another state of the province address since taking the helm of Limpopo in 2013 when the province had several departments placed under administration because of allegations of corruption, fraud and maladministration.
According to political analyst Rachidi Molapo, under Mathabatha's leadership all the departments had improved their financial management, adding that so far he had delivered on his mandate to rebuild the province.
“When he was called to lead in 2013 he found that some departments' coffers have been looted, with public works department having nothing in its bank account. He came in and slowly built the province, particularly on governance and financial stability, and there are less scandals compared to other provinces,” he said.
In 2011, cabinet took a decision to place under administration the departments of roads and transport, education, treasury, public works and health and social development.
At the time, cabinet found that the province under then premier Cassel Mathale had accumulated expenditure which grew from R1.5bln in 2009 to R1.5b in 2011. Unpaid invoices grew to R500m.
However, Molapo equally outlined some of Mathabatha's failures including the collapse of VBS Mutual Bank, lack of infrastructure in some schools, Talana shacks and poor matric results.
Cosatu provincial secretary Nkomazi Twala refused to comment, saying Mathabatha still has two more years as premier and doesn't want to pre-empt his achievements and failures.
Recently, the province recorded poor matric results, occupying the bottom spot.
Another independent political analyst, Dr Metji Makgoba, said Mathabatha's government missed the opportunity to grow the agriculture and mining sector to create massive job opportunities.
“Unemployment in the province is still the biggest challenge. In Limpopo there has been grand announcements on job creation but there are not supported by a tangible programme,” he said.
“The government doesn't have strong capacity to create job opportunities because state has become absent and mines do as they wish. There are many huge farms that have been distributed to black people but they are idling and unproductive because state is mute and those pieces of land has got potential to unlock employment,” he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.