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But, when you talk about all those experts from our province, you get worried that we are still struggling with delivering water and we still struggle with roads construction. – Limpopo premier, Dr Phophi Ramathuba.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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Limpopo premier, Phophi Ramathuba, will turn to all locally born experts and doyens in various fields and ask them to lend a helping hand to development and service delivery in the province.

In an exclusive interview with The People’s Eye recently, Ramathuba said that it was worrying that the province had produced eminent professionals in engineering, science, medicine, finance, and many other fields who were serving in other provinces and abroad, yet the province was short of such skills.

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW: GBV, political activism, accidental doctor,rural upbringing,Limpopo priorities,first female premier.

Limpopo-born luminaries include Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of the United Nations University, whose research has been multi-disciplinary, involving the theory and applications of artificial intelligence to engineering, social science, economics, politics, finance, and medicine.

Others include Risenga Maluleke, the Statistician-General of South Africa, and auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke, the first female AG in the institution’s 100-year history. 

“I always brag about the achievements of people from this province. You look at the statistician-general, the AG and the principal of the UN University, the first African to lead the university, Prof Marwala – who was my senior at Mbilwi Secondary School,” Ramathuba said.

“But, when you talk about all those experts from our province, you get worried that we are still struggling with delivering water and we still struggle with roads construction,” she said.

Ramathuba said that government needed to create a conducive environment to keep skills in the province and attract professionals.

“In this day and age, you think there could be other ways to speed up delivery of roads, construction, and water reticulation. As it is raining, we cannot harvest water,” she said.

Ramathuba said that she would invite all Limpopo-born professionals to find out how they could help the province in areas it lacked.

“It takes a village to raise a child. Now I say that it takes a child to raise a village.”

Ramathuba said that the professionals knew the villages they came from and had an idea of what needed to be done to bring services.

“We need to industrialise our economy and for that we need industrialists. We’re tired that every Friday, the N1 north is full, and on Sundays the N1 south is full. They must come back home,” she said.

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