By From her inception date, the Premier of the Free State province Ms MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae has taken bold and fearless steps in shaking and shaping up the province.
The Free State has for years suffered a major blow to its image. The province has been known as one of the most corrupt provinces in the country under the leadership of former Premier Dr Ace Magashule. The Auditor General of South Africa at some point in its report said there is a high rate of non-compliance, unaccountability and just basic decay of municipalities in the Free State due to mismanagement.
The provinces was in the news for the Gupta link Dairy farm scandal, the Edwin Sodi and Ace Magashule asbestos corruption story, the high rate of unemployment and the bad roads affecting the economy of the province.
The Former Premier and arch rival of Magashule, Mr Mxolisi Dukwana inherited a badly shaped province with a huge housing backlog and service delivery issues; a situation that will take years to turn around, however, he and his team managed to attract billions worth of investment into the province.
Taking the baton from her predecessor, Letsoha-Mathae spared no time to celebrate her achievement but pulled her sleeves up and got on with her work. The first order of business was to get hospitals and clinics in order, to ensure quality services to the people, that people have access to government and its services.
The Premier has vowed to reposition the province into an attractive investment destination of choice for both foreign and domestic investment. She is intent on unleashing the ultimate economic potential of the Free State by reviving and expanding the industries within the province and explore export markets to other countries including the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Roads are at the centre of economic vibrancy, good quality roads translate into more economic activity. MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae will continue with her initial plan when she was still MEC for Community Safety. Roads and Transport of fixing the roads, some of the roads have been transferred to SANRAL for fixing and maintenance.
Based on her, the Free State will be a construction site and will experience an economic boom over the next five years. Unemployment will be reduced drastically.
An enemy to progress is corruption, especially within government. Nothing stagnates economic growth like those who loot the public purse, tenders that cost millions of tax payer’s money with no results to show.
Letsoha-Mathae boldly and firmly announced that there is a new sheriff in town, and will put an end to the corrupt activities, the gravy train has crushed and there are a lot of causalities in it. Not only is she putting an end to it, but will be going after those who benefited without any service rendered to recover the money.
The five years will be interesting to watch, of most interest to me is to see how the provincial government will support small businesses as part of reviving the economy of the Free State.
The mining sector in the province has had some negative reports that it has reached its end, however, contrary to popular sentiment, MaQueen says it is a sunrise industry with extraction potential worth of years to come.
MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae stands tall and bold, she is decisive and has a very clear vision on what she wants to achieve during her term. One of her gaols is that of cleaning the image of both the Free State and the ANC and win the trust and confidence of the people back.
Politics in themselves are blind to progress, their concern is power, loyalty lasts for as long as the stomach is full and an ally is in power. The bold moves she is making are a threat to some of the beneficiaries of corruption. With the reshuffling of HODs in departments; it may mean taking bread out of the mouths of the beneficiaries.
The Premier will not go unchallenged; there will be a push back from a certain faction within the ANC as she has declared war on corruption. Given the trends over the years in the province and country wide, it will not be surprising to witness moves to get her out of office before her term ends. Letsoha-Mathae will going forward need a strong alliance to support and protect her during the storm.
