On Thursday morning at around 10:00, Limpopo residents will devote their attention to Premier Chupu Mathabatha’s State of The Province Address (Sopa).
Sopa is scheduled to be delivered at Jack Botes Hall, in the epicentre of Polokwane. Given the persisting trend of macro-economic depreciation in the country, public expectations for prosperity are justifiably high and understandable. In the last six years, Mathabatha’s administration has recorded phenomenal strides and achievements.
In the same vein, his administration has encountered some insurmountable socio-structural challenges.
The most critical challenge engulfing Limpopo is the crippling scourge of youth unemployment. Truthfully, Mathabatha’s systemic achievements and successes have raised the bar of public expectations very high.
The more a leader succeeds, the higher the public expectations. Mathabatha has become the victim of his own strides and achievements.
I penned and published an open letter to Premier Mathabatha last month, wherein I offered this precious advice: “I have observed that your legacy as premier would be defined by the success of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs). If the SEZ ideal fails, then your legacy would be locked in the dungeons of shame and condemnation. SEZs are the most powerful catalysts for societal prosperity, job creation and massive capital investments.
Limpopo’s agricultural and mineral outputs have a huge potential to expand our economic trajectory. … Through radical industrial expansion, you can eliminate joblessness in Limpopo.”
The Premier must accentuate on the practicalities of mineral processing and benefaction, productive manufacturing and agro-processing technologies. Limpopo is incredibly rich in mineral deposits, agricultural endowments and top-class human resource capital.
Our province has great potential to become a leading manufacturing and industrial powerhouse in the country.
The premier must compel all mining companies and retail conglomerates to invest in industrial expansion.
Eradication of youth unemployment would certainly immortalise Mathabatha’s legacy. The Premier’s Sopa must be modelled on pragmatic idealism, technocratic ingenuity and ruthless decisiveness. Great leaders are endowed with a limited dose of dictatorship.
