Today’s SOPA address by the ANC’s top cheerleader in Limpopo, Premier Phophi Ramathuba, failed to inspire and did not adequately address the grassroot challenges that most people in Limpopo are faced with.
30-years into democracy and the ANC’s premier is still using raced base examples as the bar to celebrate her incompetent government’s successes.
The DA, are deeply concerned about how the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone(MMSEZ) development has divided and angered our society, including the region’s indigenous communities. Concerns have been raised around the impact on the environment, our scarce water resources, our sensitive and renowned ecology, and the interests of other economic drivers such as farming and tourism.
We will continue to question and hold the provincial government accountable for the ambiguous piecemeal manner in which it has handled the environmental impact assessment process—particularly the fact that LEDET serves as the developer, the applicant, the adjudicator, and the appeal authority.
Our commercial farming sector has long been a backbone of our economy and has evolved into a globally competitive industry. However, collapsing municipal governance, failing service delivery, deteriorating road infrastructure, porous borders, and other government failures threaten its productivity and competitiveness.
We also call upon the Premier to be bold. Limpopo is blessed with vast tracts of arable land owned by the state and traditional communities. If this land can be unlocked, we can significantly expand our agricultural sector and establish a cohort of viable emerging farmers working in collaboration with commercial farmers, as recently demonstrated by the signing of the Vhembe Agricultural Multiplier Memorandum of Understanding.
Premier Ramathuba saw it fit to establish a provincial Water Task Team to address water shortages and interruptions instead of acknowledging and disposing of incompetent cadre deployment in key positions, especially in district municipalities.
The incomplete bulk water supply projects strewn across the province which will not be completed soon due to incompetent contractors, corruption and poor governance by deployed cadres exacerbate the lack of water provision to residents.
It is unacceptable that more than 35.8% of Limpopo residents do not have any access to water.
Uninterrupted water supply across Limpopo is considered a luxury by the ANC executive and shows a blatant disregard for access to water as a human right enshrined in our Constitution- across the province residents are without water for months with some communities having never received access to water.
We commend the Premier for expressing concern regarding the construction mafia, but we would like to remind her of who appoints these companies holding progress to ransom.
According to the expanded unemployment rate, 46,5% of persons of working age have given up hope of all finding employment. This statistic translates to more than 3 million individuals who are unemployed, discouraged work seekers or not economically active.
Our communities continue to live in fear as crime was largely overlooked by the premier; no mention was made of Limpopo’s rape and crime hotspots in the province. Polokwane, Sheshego, Mankweng and Thohoyandou remain in the national top 30 stations for rape, residential and non-residential robberies.
Our women and children in Limpopo remain vulnerable to high levels of GBV and sexual abuse. Ramathuba again missed an opportunity to put forward a comprehensive plan backed by sufficient resources to address these issues.
While it is encouraging that Premier Ramathuba has indicated a focus on the priority areas previously highlighted by Basic Education Minister, Siviwe Gwarube, such as expanding access to quality early childhood and improving teacher support and development in the foundation phase , there is still no real solutions to long standing challenges.
Limpopo learners continue to learn under trees, some classes have over 100 learners in one class and dilapidated classrooms are on the brink of collapsing with no solution in sight. The address continues to paper over the cracks with regard to overcrowding, shortage of classrooms , mismanaged scholar and school nutrition programmes and inappropriate sanitation in Limpopo’s education sector.
Road Agency Limpopo’s (RAL) consistent gross mismanagement and poor financial management continues to go unaddressed. The entity has failed to improve the road infrastructure and improve economic development in the province and it is why the province has an enormous backlog of 13 500km unpaved roads as opposed to only 6500km of tarred roads.
It is clear that RAL has proven itself to be a perennial poorly run entity that is an unnecessary expense, severely underfunded and has failed to provide services to the people of Limpopo.
Health in the province continues to be underserved, and while hospitals and clinics are under resourced and severely understaffed the premier failed to highlight the real state of healthcare in the province. Hospitals in the province lack equipment, have poorly maintained infrastructure and high vacancy rates at health facilities continue to compromise the quality of healthcare in Limpopo.
Ramathuba’s mention of efforts by the Social Development department to implement social relief for individuals facing hardships due to disasters and other social conditions. She missed an opportunity to clearly outline the social development programmes the province will undertake to address pressing social issues in the province. The address failed to indicate details of implementation of social programmes to assist in fighting HIV/AIDS , plans to resource and support Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) and Victim empowerment programmes as well as plans to assist Limpopo’s youth development and empowerment.
The DA will monitor all the commitments made today by Premier Ramathuba to ensure Limpopo’s government meets all of them and starts to realise the aspirations of the people of Limpopo.