Opposition leaders in the province gave their thoughts afterwards:
The EFF feels that Mathabatha needs to step aside as he failed to pronounce any tangible plans, as could be seen with his previous addresses. No new plans were announced and those that were new contradict the premier’s previous statements. He focused on the refurbishment of the three industrial parks, saying they were at an 88% occupancy rate but a visit to any of them will show that less than 25% of the parks are being used. We feel that the refurbishment
The address was riddled with promises for the people of Limpopo that are nothing but smoke and mirrors for the issues that represent significant failures for him and his executive. He utterly failed to address Gender Based Violence (GBV), or outline provincial strategies to tackle the sourge of gender-based violence in Limpopo recorded the highest increase of 13,5% nationally for sexual offences. Unemployment and job creation was addressed at length but Mathabatha downplayed the severity of the job loss crisis in Limpopo as we currently have 3,176 million people who are unemployed. The eradication of pit toilets at schools in 2020 was also not achieved. The Premiers list of projects being rolled out by Sanral are also a major concern.
The premier appears to be living in some fantasy world where he is dreaming big for the future while using Covid-19 as an excuse for the present-day corruption and deterioration of the province. Plans without action mean nothing. The premier should rather focus his attention on finding the reasons why so many of the projects in the past were never completed or simply failed. He made no mention of taking decisive action against corrupt officials or how the millions of rand that were stolen will be recouped. Instead of being prosecuted, corrupt officials are awarded by being deployed in even better positions. This has led to the demise of municipalities and departments in the province. The lack of water supply in towns is an infringement on basic human rights and is the result of maladministration and poor planning. And regardless of the projects that are already underway, a lot more needs to be done because various towns in the province do not have a constant supply of water. The roads are in a terrible condition and maintenance work either happens very slowly or not at all, which results in financial losses for residents, farmers and businesses.
