The DA in Limpopo believes that during the tabling of the Limpopo 2025/26 Adjustment Budget, MEC Kgabo Mahoai has unintentionally exposed the ANC’s own failures. The Adjustment Budget makes it clear that implementation remains one of the province’s greatest weaknesses under ANC leadership.
The shifting of funds in this Adjustment Budget does not reflect strategic reprioritisation rather, it reflects the consequences of irrational choices, weak implementation, failed project management, poor oversight, and the inability of departments to spend the money they are given.
The most telling indicator is the contentious Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ). The Adjustment Budget confirms that funds previously earmarked for the project have once again been withheld and returned to the Provincial Revenue Fund, making this the third year in a row that funding intended for the MMSEZ has been diverted or withdrawn due to failure to implement.
It is an explicit admission that the ANC’s much vaunted flagship economic project in Limpopo has failed over a decade to progress to a point where spending is even possible. Instead of stimulating growth and jobs, the MMSEZ has become a symbol of irrational choices, stalled development, administrative incapacity, and maladministration. In total, R186.623 million has been withheld from SEZ-related capital projects in Limpopo, covering both the MMSEZ and the proposed Fetakgomo-Tubatse SEZ.
The Adjustment Budget further highlights additional stalled or collapsing flagship projects, including the halting of the Limpopo Provincial Theatre project, the reprioritisation of funding from the Limpopo–Gauteng Speed Rail, and the stalled Thohoyandou Intermodal Facility.
This failure is further reflected in departments surrendering funds and rolling over Conditional Grants simply because they cannot spend them including the Provincial Treasury returning R45.8 million. While millions sit idle or are returned to Treasury, communities continue to endure failing roads, overcrowded schools, collapsing clinics, and deteriorating municipal services.
The reality is clear: Limpopo does not suffer from a lack of money, but from a lack of implementation capacity. With major funding cuts projected over the next three years, the province cannot afford continued waste and non-delivery. As a direct consequence of this failure, people are leaving the province and when people leave, the money follows them. Limpopo is losing equitable share funding because fewer people are being educated and treated here, as families and workers leave in search of jobs and basic services.
The single biggest threat to the credibility of this Adjustment Budget is not funding it is implementation. Until projects move beyond speeches and shifting budget lines into real delivery, Limpopo’s economy will remain stagnant, and residents will continue to suffer.
The DA in Limpopo will continue to hold this government accountable and fight to ensure that public funds are spent on real delivery—not on failed projects, empty promises, and political vanity.