DA Limpopo leader slams premier over ‘power grab’

JACQUES Smalle, the DA’s Limpopo leader, has laid into Premier Stan Mathabatha for allegedly concentrating power on himself. Speaking yesterday during debate on last week’s State of the Province Address in the provincial legislature, Smalle said Mathabatha had concentrated power on himself.

Stopping short of calling Mathabatha a dictator, he said the premier had not consulted ordinary people when he drafted the Limpopo Development Plan.

“At this stage, we have no idea who contributed to this so-called provincial development plan and all stakeholders who will follow it through.”

Smalle said the plan looked noble on paper, but “in reality it’s a dictator’s way to increase his stronghold over the province and choke out any opposition or input”.

Mathabatha was not present in the legislature, and Smalle did not hold back the punches.

“The main characteristic of a dictatorship is concentration of power in the hand of a single individual who does not consult with people,” he said.

Smalle said the first time ordinary people heard of the provincial blueprint was when Mathabatha announced its completion during his speech last week.

“Like any other authoritarian, premier, what you delivered last week Tuesday was not a State of the Province Address, it was a sanitised sales pitch,” he said.

“The real state of our province is that, just last week, patients at Polokwane Provincial Hospital were experiencing serious water shortages.”

EFF MPL M Machaka also slammed the provincial development plan, saying its targets were divorced from those of the Freedom Charter. He suggested the premier’s plan would fail. “The majority of senior managers, including some heads of department, don’t have knowledge and competency to implement the plan,” Machaka said. “The people of Limpopo shall not be moved by the singing of birds,” he said.

Health MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe lauded the premier’s speech and highlighted achievements it had touched on, many of them in the health sector.

Cope MPL Patrick Sekhutshi said: “The ANC has become the school of praise-singers.”

ANC MPL Thandi Moraka came out guns blazing, and attacked the EFF.

“We want to tell these mafikizolo (Johnny-comelatelies) political parties which hilariously claim the Freedom Charter that it is the document of the ANC,” Moraka said.

“We want to tell these lumpen politicians who run every day when they see their shadows that the ANC will not be taught by you how to implement the Freedom Charter.”

People won’t be moved by the singing of birds