As Limpopo premier Stanley Mathabatha prepares himself to deliver the state of the province address (SOPA), residents in Westernburg and Seshego bemoan lack of service delivery. The areas have been experiencing service delivery protests.
Water scarcity and job opportunities are the main challenges.
Premier Mathabatha is expected to outline the achievements of his administration, objectives and deliverables for the year ahead.
Residents at Westenburg and Seshego townships in Polokwane say they want the Premier to focus on creating job opportunities when he delivers the SOPA.
Mathabatha will deliver his last address as the premier on Thursday.
Westenburg residents say the government has marginalized them.
“Our children are sitting at home with certificates, they don’t get jobs and the service is very poor, streetlights and everything. And our water and municipality bills are very high. Can you please help us Premier. Can you just upgrade the Westenburg a little bit? Half of our roads are unfinished, and half of the roads have potholes. The park is not up to date,” a resident says.
One of the residents says he is not expecting much from the premier’s last SOPA, ahead of the 2024 general elections.
“I am expecting nothing, I’m sorry to say this. I expect nothing, because we are not working, we stay at home without food on the table and then they expect us to listen to them whereas they are doing nothing for us,”
Workable interventions
The opposition party, Democratic Alliance (DA) says the SOPA must focus on jobs, service delivery and health care among other key issues.
“We hope that Premier Mathabatha will focus on workable interventions to create jobs, accelerate service delivery and the improvement of health and education, infrastructure and staffing. There are still schools with dangerous pit toilets and crumbling infrastructure, and the standard of health facilities and staff shortages has put the poor and vulnerable at most risk. The premier must not tell the province that all is well. He must accept that is not the case, and he must give us solutions that we can hold him to,” DA leader, Lindy Wilson explains.
Mathabatha is also expected to highlight the province’s achievements and challenges.
