THE Limpopo State of the Province Address (Sopa) got off to a rocky start shortly after Premier Stan Mathabatha took to the stage to deliver his last address as premier of the province.
This is after members of the Economic Freedom Fighters disrupted Mathabatha with point of privileges.
They demanded that the Speaker Rosemary Molapo adjourn the sitting for 10 minutes to allow Mathabatha to address residents who were picketing outside the venue in Polokwane due to a lack of service delivery and youth unemployment.
Molapo had to make a ruling not to allow point of orders to allow Mathabatha to continue with his address.
Mathabatha reflected on his time when he took over as premier in 2013, his successes and challenges that he came across. He said in 2013 when he took over, Limpopo was at a critical juncture.
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“Five departments were under national administration. We worked tirelessly to bring stability and sound administration to our province. The once prevalent disclaimer audit opinions are now a thing of the past in our departments, public entities and municipalities. No department is under administration,” he said.
He said they had so far electrified at least 94,6% of rural households, marking a significant improvement in access to electricity.
“We currently have 476 clinics and 216 operate 24 hours a day. In 2010, we reached 80% of access to water, reaching more communities and improving public health outcomes. However, because of various countervailing factors, we have experienced a decline to 69,1%,” he said.
Mathabatha said they have improved access to sanitation, to 63,1%, up from 26,9% in 2002.
“Despite global economic and pandemic crises, our contribution to national GDP reached 7,3% by 2023,” he said.
He said their annual investment conferences, beginning with the first in 2021 have contributed over R280 billion in investment pledges.
“We experienced an increase in employment from 2019 to 2023. Although we lost 40 000 jobs in the last quarter, we have created 182 000 jobs in 2023, making us the second largest province in job creation,” he said.
He said they are now left with 80 schools to complete the elimination of pit latrines, from 380 schools identified in 2017 as having inappropriate sanitation.
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