Party statement on the Limpopo Cabinet reshuffle

The SACP has noted with dismay today's pronouncements on the cabinet reshuffle by the provincial Premier, Mr Charlie Cassel Mathale. This was preceded by an equally problematic but silent reshuffling of chairpersons of different portfolio committees within the legislature two weeks ago where all the comrades who were opposed to Mr Mathale's re-election as the ANC Provincial Chairperson were removed from their Portfolios and replaced by his loyalists. This pattern of political purging surely had to culminate in the cabinet reshuffle that was announced this morning.

Contrary to the claims by the Premier that the reshuffle is meant to enhance service delivery, this is one act that is meant to entrench the tenderpreneurs who have been milking the public purse up to a point of bankruptcy that we find ourselves in. This is further intended to undermine the National Cabinet intervention in trying to stabilize the finances of the province and dealing effectively with corruption.

How else does one explain the redeployment, from one portfolio to another, of an MEC whose department is under administration and being investigated by law enforcement agencies, if not to undermine the work done by the National Cabinet?

In the same breadth, what is rationale behind the removal of ANC NEC members, who have vast government experience after having served under the past two administrations, from the provincial cabinet, except that friends who will not resist the instructions to loot the state coffers had to be appointed so that the tenderpreneurs could continue in the same old way of looting that led to a situation of total bankruptcy that the province finds itself in at the moment!

For this reason, the SACP wishes to reiterate its call for the National Government to place the entire Limpopo executive under administration and for Premier Charlie Cassel Mathale to step down! It is clear from this disruptive intervention that any little time and space that Premier Charlie Cassel Mathale can get will be utilized to further weaken the state in the province. We also call upon all the law enforcement agencies that are dealing with corruption in Limpopo to complete their task quickly so that all the culprits (corrupt elements) might be brought to book.

We further call for the de-tenderization of the state so that the state could on its own deliver services to the people! This is all the more urgent in the light of the massive infrastructure programme that has been announced by the President of RSA during his State of the Nation Address in February 2012.

Certainly such massive infrastructure programmes in Limpopo will be used to enrich a small circle of tenderpreneurs that is connected to the leading figures within the state. These tenders will also be used to destabilize the movement particularly in the build-up to all the national Congresses of our structures this year!

End!

Statement issued by Gilbert Kganyago, SACP Interim Provincial Secretary, Limpopo, March 14 2012

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