Limpopo Premier Stanley Matabata is set to hand over power to his successor in his seventh administration after the general election on May 29. Matabata has led the province since 2013, when it was ruled by his predecessor Kaselu Mathare.
He says he has been successful in improving the lives of the people of the state through sustainable and inclusive development and effective governance.
Mathabatha is proud of the progress made under his leadership but says more could have been done to curb corruption and prevent the VBS scandal.
“Let me talk about corruption. I'm not saying we failed, but maybe we would have if we had foreseen that local authorities would have problems like this. For example, VBS could have used its hub of expertise, which I mentioned earlier, to advise local authorities that they could not invest in mutual banks because the Public Finance Management Act does not allow it.”
Some Limpopo residents say Mathabatha could have done more to improve the lives of people in the province.
“There are other promises he made. For example, there are other roads he promised to build but unfortunately they failed. So I will only mention the road to Ga Selepe. He mentioned that road many times and the other one was the Makrun line from Makrun to Ga Shaiks,” said one of the resident.
Another resident said: “As far as his tenure as chief minister goes, I didn't really like his leadership. I live in Ivy Park, which is in the city centre so I thought there wouldn't be a problem with the water supply. It has gotten to the point where I have to buy bottled water even to flush the toilet.”