Mathabatha epitomises leadership that listens to people’s voices, dreams

Within the domain of scholarship and academia, there is a revered injunction that says: “attentive listening is an epic mark of greatness”.

The premier, Stanley Mathabatha epitomises a genre of leadership that listens to the voices and dreams of the people.

Since last year, the premier has been able to meet and liaise with a range of community leaders and corporate stakeholders. The premier has eliminated any “social disconnect” between Limpopo residents and government leaders.

Mathabatha is a unique calibre of a leader who leads from both the front and the back seats. He employs a rare mixture of great humility and sheer intelligence to govern the province. Just like president Jacob Zuma, Mathabatha is highly approachable, greatly sociable and humbly kind. The premier also possesses an astute visionary intelligence that is rooted in science and pragmatism. His inspiring style of leadership disarms even the hardest of enemies and ultra-pessimists.

Mathabatha assumed the premiership at a time when structures of governance in Limpopo were collapsing. In 2009, Cassel Mathale inherited a financially viable and stable provincial government from the former premier, Sello Moloto. Shockingly, Mathale plunged the province into bankruptcy and structural paralysis in 2011. Last year, the ANC national leadership finally forced Mathale to vacate office with immediate effect. The ANC appointed Mathabatha to serve as premier and to rebuild the ruined image of the province. Under Mathabatha, the province was able to regain its revered image and reputation. The provincial government is no longer defined by acts of large-scale corruption, maladministration and nepotism. As a political analyst, I greatly appreciate the excellent reconstructive work the premier is executing for the province.

The seemingly permanent presence of administrators in Limpopo is frustrating the Mathabatha administration. The national government’s intervention in the province was evidently justified and necessary in 2011. To date the administrators have done an excellent job in rescuing the province from bankruptcy. In 2011 the Limpopo government squandered its allocated annual budget of R43 billion within six months. Consequently, the province suffered and drowned into a budget deficit of more than R1,7 billion.

But by the end of last year, the province recorded a surplus capital of over R4 billion. That was an illustration of the superb work done by the administrators and the premier.

Honestly, the time has arrived for the administrators to realise that they have now overstayed their welcome. They have performed their mandated task diligently and they should now pack their bags and leave the province.

The province’s chief administrator, Monde Tom should plead with the finance minister to end the intervention in Limpopo. Resultantly, the minister must request cabinet and Zuma to approve that request. And finally, Zuma should instruct the National Council of Provinces to end the intervention.

Mathabatha should be afforded an opportunity to assume total control of his province. It is not easy to analyse Mathabatha’s performance because he is not in charge of the province’s fiscal management. The administrators must hand over the province’s financial management to the premier. That would enable Limpopo residents to assess the premier’s leadership skills and abilities. Mathabatha’s prolific political decorum, moral integrity and shrewd intelligence are a requisite for success in public office.

Elvis Masoga

Political analyst