* Spotlight on northern province over corruption allegations
* Limpopo ANC premier shrugs off calls to resign
* Ruling party faces outcry over “corruption, cronyism”
* Fears of wider “system failure” in South Africa
By Pascal Fletcher
POLOKWANE, South Africa, Feb 23 (Reuters) – When the
premier of South Africa’s Limpopo province gave his “state of
the province” speech this month, he announced that his region
led the nation in good financial record keeping.
It left some in his audience blinking in disbelief.
Was he talking about the same platinum- and coal-producing
northern province that is the target of corruption probes by a
posse of South African law enforcement agencies after being
declared “technically bankrupt” by the national treasury?
Critics and supporters alike of South Africa’s ruling ANC
have denounced what they call the wholescale “looting” of public
resources in Limpopo by a group of politicians led by provincial
premier Cassel Mathale and his friend and ally, outspoken ANC
Youth League rebel Julius Malema.
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