Limpopo Premier Stanley Chupu Mathabatha
The Limpopo provincial government is gearing itself up for Premier Stanley Chupu Mathabatha’s State of the Nation Address scheduled for 23 February 2023 at the Jack Botes Hall in Polokwane.
It follows after President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address which declared a national state of disaster on electricity, and the appointment of the Minister of Electricity in the Presidency.
In the build-up to the SOPA, a series of planning and consultative meetings were held to evaluate the work of the last financial year which ends in March and chart the way forward for the new financial year starting in March.
At the time of going to the press today, Thursday 13 January 2023, the Limpopo African National Congress concluded its Provincial Executive Committee Lekgotla. The Lekgotla is attended by the ANC alliance partners, members of parliament, and senior executives in government and state-owned enterprises.
The ANC Lekgotla is the party’s strategic retreat convened to review the work of the government and to develop the plans for the new financial year.
To complete its planning circle the Provincial Executive Council of Premier Mathabatha on Friday sits for its Lekgotla to review the work of the departments in the preceding year, and consider the plans for the year.
After the planning meetings have done their work Premier Mathabatha will on Thursday, 23 February 2023, take to the podium to deliver the SOPA. The SONA, regarded as the opening of the provincial legislature, sees the premier reporting on the state of the province through the work of departments.
The speech marks the opening of the provincial legislature and is attended by important political and government figures of the province and national.
Premier Mathabatha is expected to account for the work of the provincial government departments such as Education; Health; Public Works; Roads and Infrastructure; COGHSTA; Transport and Community Safety; Social Development; Economic Development, Environment, and Tourism; Agriculture; Sport, Arts and Culture.
Like Ramaphosa in his SONA on Thursday, Mathabatha has to pronounce on the delivery of electricity and water in the province. The dire water situation in the Mopani district saw President Ramaphosa making his highly anticipated visit to the Giyani Water Project in December last year. The Tzaneen Dam Wall Project also received a mention in the President’s speech for its potential increase of water supply to the area.
Other areas likely to be touched by Mathabatha in his speech are the long-awaited provincial theatre, proper sanitation in schools, the Industrial Parks Revitalisation Programme, and the spin-offs of the 1st Limpopo Investment Conference in 2021 and the 2nd Limpopo Mining and Energy Investment Conference held in September 2022.