Johannesburg - The national intervention team that President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet sent to rescue Limpopo from bankruptcy is under mounting pressure to exit the province.
Three years after the province was placed under the control of the national executive, resentment has reached epic proportions.
The continued presence of national administrators, led by Monde Tom, now frustrates all political parties in the provincial legislature, including the ruling ANC.
Efforts are under way to organise “the mother of all marches to frog-march” Tom’s team out of offices, said EFF provincial secretary and MPL Jossie Buthane.
“We feel the people of Limpopo should stand up and reclaim what rightfully belongs to them,” he said.
Buthane said the province had sunk deeper into maladministration since the national executive took over.
The cabinet placed five provincial key departments under administration in terms of section 100 (1) (b) of the constitution in December 2011 after declaring Limpopo technically bankrupt.
This effectively stripped former premier Cassel Mathale and his executive council of powers to take any meaningful decision.
A pledge by the government of 2010 World Cup-style courts to prosecute officials and service providers that transgressed and looted the province’s coffers is yet to materialise.
The resentment flared into the open in October when the ANC provincial executive committee publicly fired salvoes at the administration team.
“The clear electoral mandate… indicates the confidence people have in the elected leadership of the ANC to lead the province and not some government functionaries,” the party said in a statement.
The party stopped short of accusing the administration team of corruption.
“The ANC in Limpopo has noted the serious allegations of looting, maladministration and (poor) service delivery made against the administrators.”
Tom rubbished the claims.
“These are ridiculous allegations with no basis and cannot be supported by any evidence. (They) are informed by desperation and border on defamation,” he said.
In July, the national government announced its intention to withdraw the direct intervention. The mooted withdrawal was pending the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the inter-ministerial task team headed by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene and Premier Stan Mathabatha.
That process would have culminated in the administrators’ departure and the direct intervention being converted to a laissez faire type of intervention in terms of section 100(1)(a).
A month after the announcement to end the direct intervention was made, The Star reported that Mathabatha had refused to sign the MOU.
He had expressed disquiet over clauses that gave Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi the prerogative to appoint strategic personnel in the corresponding provincial departments under administration.
National Treasury spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane said on Tuesday Mathabatha had still not signed the MOU
. “The issue is with the province, you must ask them why they haven’t signed,” he said.
Provincial government spokesman Phuti Seloba would not comment on whether the premier had signed.
The Star