Limpopo situation not so bad - ANC

2011-12-08 22:49

Polokwane - The state of administration in Limpopo is not as bad as portrayed, the provincial African National Congress said on Thursday.

"The ANC has received an assurance from the premier - who is an ANC deployee - that the situation is not as bleak as it is projected," provincial party secretary Joe Maswanganyi said.

On Monday, Cabinet announced that the national government would take over the running of five Limpopo departments which were mismanaging their finances.

Maswanganyi said Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale had assured the party the provincial government would co-operate fully with the intervention team to "normalise the situation".

"We trust that this intervention would also go a long way in providing support to the provincial administration."

The national government would also intervene in the management of finances in the Free State and the Gauteng health department.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told SABC radio news this week that Cabinet had been monitoring the finances of these provinces for some time.

"There's been a... trend of underspending, overspending, violating supply chain provisions, and this is what we want to thoroughly investigate now," he said.

- SAPA