Limpopo: a joke that stings: iLIVE

17 July 2013 - 02:15 By John Steenhuisen, DA MP, by e-mail
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Cassel Mathale. File photo.
Cassel Mathale. File photo.

I was not sure whether to burst into laughter or tears when reading the comments made by ANC spin-doctor-in-chief Jackson Mthembu about the axing of Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale ("ANC thanks Mathale for a prosperous, thriving and stable' Limpopo", July 15).

A "prosperous, thriving and stable province"?

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Mathale has presided over one of the most corrupt and moribund administrations in the country.

Five of his provincial departments are under national administration, a number of departments are under investigation for corruption and tender irregularities, and the consequences of the failure to deliver textbooks to schoolchildren will continue to linger.

Rent-seeking, politically connected networks have sucked the provincial coffers dry. While Limpopo citizens suffer deprivation and lacklustre service delivery, the political elite has prospered handsomely.

The greatest irony is that Mathale's sacking appears to have had precious little to do with his spectacular inability to govern effectively, but rather with his outspoken opposition to "No1".Good governance has no hope in this country if the ANC can hold up Limpopo as an example of prosperity.

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