By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Roads, water and jobs are among the priorities for Limpopo Premier Phophi Constance Ramathuba, who addressed the first sitting of the Seventh Limpopo Legislature in Polokwane on Friday, 2 August 2024.
Ramathuba said during her opening address that she will soon launch a project to ensure the people of Limpopo receive drinking water.
She said it is concerning that most rural residents in the Vhembe, Mopani and Sekhukhune districts remain thirsty, despite the province having some big dams such as the multimillion-rand Nandoni Dam outside Thohoyandou. She suggested municipalities should also buy water-drilling machines to insource water-provisioning services instead of relying on outside service providers.
Ramathuba also promised to revive the mining, agriculture and tourism sectors to create jobs and improve the economy.
“With the global mining industry experiencing significant transformation resulting in major capital investment paradigm shifts, Limpopo is well positioned to align very favourably on these shifts. Mining investment is shifting dramatically to the Big Six metals, namely copper, platinum group metals, nickel cobalt and rare earth elements.”
Roads
Ramathuba has instructed her government to find a budget to procure “yellow fleet” earth-moving equipment to construct and maintain roads.
The premier’s speech doubled down on the recently launched Dikgerekere Wednesday project, which will see the purchase of more yellow fleet equipment to minimise the province’s reliance on contracted service providers.
The premier said 19,800km of road in the province remains unpaved or untarred.
“That is why we have to use our internal resources and capacity to make gravel roads user-friendly, by re-gravelling, blading as well as clearing bushes around them for community use.
“The Digerekgere Wednesday project was born out of this concern and it has revealed the great potential that some of our departments have, in utilising our own resources for infrastructure maintenance purposes.
“We must appreciate those municipalities that have already started to join this revolutionary programme which is also aimed at reducing reliance on service providers for work that could ordinarily be done inhouse,” Ramathuba said.
Hoedspruit airport
Ramathuba, confirmed that plans are underway to grant Hoedspruit airport an international license.
According to her, the heritage sites in the province are increasingly attracting tourists from abroad – driving the need to accommodate international flights.
“We also have two heritage sites that have been declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Mapungubwe and Makapan valley. These heritage sites continue to be the province’s shining icon, that must be used as selling points to the global community.
“To this day plans are underway to have the Hoedspruit airport to be granted an international license because of the increasing number of overseas tourists who visit the Kruger National Park”.
She said the heritage sites will help attract more tourists to Limpopo.
University of Technology (TUT) campus in Giyani
Ramathuba promised to build a Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) campus in Giyani, and said that plans are at an advanced stage.
“One of my special guests in this August House is the son of the soil, Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, the current Vice Chancellor and Principal of TUT.
“He agrees with me that we cannot allow a situation where a child from Ka-Munghonghoma, after passing Grade 12, cannot further her higher education in a more advanced university of technology right there in her backyard,” said Ramathuba.
She says provincial government has already started with the construction of the first Limpopo Central and Academic Hospital in Polokwane.
“In a similar vein, initiatives towards the opening of a specialised skills branch at the Sekhukhune TVET College, which will further contribute towards addressing skills gap and unemployment challenges in our province are underway,” added Ramathuba.