Limpopo premier Phophi Ramathuba. Picture: Limpopo provincial government/Facebook
Newly-appointed Limpopo premier Phophi Ramathuba has hit the ground running with the province’s Dikgerekgere Wednesday service delivery programme.
The programme aims to revitalise the province’s road infrastructure through blading, gravelling, and debushing.
According to the premier’s office, gravel roads constitute 68% of the province’s road network.
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“Given that most of our roads are gravel, this intervention is essential. This initiative ensures our roads remain in good condition, free from potholes, and safe for all road users,” said the premier before the programme’s launch earlier this month.
On Tuesday, Ramathuba was at Maphata Village, Greater Giyani Municipality, and in her address, rebuked municipalities that advertise tenders for such small projects.
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These projects are important and must be budgeted for, said Ramathuba, calling for municipalities to build capacity within their departments to eliminate the need for the tender system.
“Every year, we must dedicate budget, acting HOD, you are here, you are listening to me. There must be a budget towards yellow fleets. There must be a budget towards the appointment of the operators because we want to do this in-house,” said Ramathuba.
“Some of you, when you heard there would be tractors, I saw you salivating, saying there will be tractors Wednesday, it means another tender is on the platform. This is not going to be on any tender, we will do it ourselves.
“We must re-empower, and the mandate of public works is to build infrastructure and maintain it. Where we build our roads, we must maintain them, internally.
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“Why should everything go through a tender? This is what causes conflicts. We’re fighting because of these tenders.”
Ramathuba further called on municipalities to stop making promises to communities that cannot be fulfilled due to financial constraints. Service providers who failed to complete their work were not spared either.
“People are being appointed without even a budget. I was with Treasury last week and they were showing me how they don’t have money, but we’re committing. Why are we committing? You can’t appoint people when there is no money.
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“You will have to explain to me when you advertise and appoint, where are you getting that money? Can we do the job and fix the roads internally? Because when you sign a letter and commit to fix a road, and you don’t do it, the chiefs come and fight us, not officials.
“If you commit without money, I’m coming after you. When you commit and there is money, go and build that road. If there is money but you don’t build the road, I’m coming after you. When you’re a service provider and you don’t do the work, we are going to blacklist you.”
Although Ramathuba has been commended for her tough stance on service delivery, her programme has sparked a debate on whether it is based on Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) or African National Congress (ANC) policies.
Both the ANC and EFF have plans in their manifestos to capacitate the state for service delivery projects.
EFF’s third cardinal pillar is clear about building state and government capacity, “which will lead to the abolishment of tenders”.
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This is as the ANC vows to “invest in infrastructure, build capacity, including technical, planning and project management capacity, to maintain all public infrastructure, and prioritise it in budgeting”.
