The Executive Council of Limpopo is the cabinet of the executive branch of the

provincial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, o ...

in the South African

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are appointed from among the members of the

Limpopo Provincial Legislature The Limpopo Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Limpopo. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the Premier of Limpopo, premier and the provincial cabinet, the Executive Council (Sou ...

by the

Premier of Limpopo The premier of Limpopo is the head of government of Limpopo province of South Africa. The current premier of Limpopo is Phophi Ramathuba, a member of the African National Congress, who was elected on 14 June 2024, following the 2024 national a ...

, an office held since June 2023 by

Phophi Ramathuba Phophi Constance Ramathuba (born 15 August 1973) is a South African politician and medical doctor serving as Premier of Limpopo since June 2024. A member of the African National Congress, she was sworn into the provincial legislature in May 2015 ...

Mathale premiership: 2009–2013

Cassel Mathale Cassel Mathale (born 23 January 1961) is a South African politician who was the third Premier of Limpopo between March 2009 and July 2013. He is currently the Deputy Minister of Police in the South African government and before that was Deputy ...

was elected to his first full term as Premier in the 2009 general election and on 6 May 2009 announced his new Executive Council, in which seven of ten MECs were new to the provincial cabinet. In August 2009, Public Works MEC Pandelani Ramagoma died and was replaced by George Phadagi. However, Phadagi and others were moved to new portfolios on 28 January 2011, when a cabinet reshuffle was announced. A subsequent reshuffle was announced on 13 March 2012 and saw four ministers exit the Executive Council: Phadagi, Dikeledi Magadzi, and Joyce Mashamba were fired, while Soviet Lekganyane resigned pursuant to his election as Provincial Secretary of the Limpopo ANC.

Mathabatha premiership

First term: 2013–2014

Stan Mathabatha was elected Premier in July 2013 after the ANC asked Mathale resign. On 19 July 2013, he announced the composition of his first Executive Council, firing eight of Mathale's ten MECs; only

Dickson Masemola Namane Dickson Masemola (born 11 January 1968) is a South African politician who currently serves as Deputy Minister for the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Third Cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa, Government of Nati ...

and Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba retained their spots in the cabinet, although they were moved to new portfolios.

Second term: 2014–2019

In the 2014 general election, Mathabatha was elected to a full term as Premier and announced his new Executive Council, which disbanded the former roads and transport portfolio, merging roads with safety and liaison and roads with public works. On 27 May 2015, he announced a reshuffle affecting only three portfolios (education, health, and treasury); a vacancy had arisen after the death of Education MEC

Thembisile Nwedamutswu Thembisile Ellen Nwedamutswu (; 17 December 1960 – 9 January 2015) was a South African politician and civil servant who served as Limpopo's Member of the Executive Council for Education from May 2014 until her death in January 2015. She was ...

in January 2015, and Rudolph Phala was the only MEC to be fired. Another three-portfolio reshuffle was announced on 15 September 2016, two months after the death of Agriculture MEC Joy Matshoge. Mathabatha effected a more comprehensive reshuffle in October 2017 ahead of the ANC's 54th National Conference; his critics, including in the provincial

ANC Youth League The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC). As set out in its constitution, the ANC Youth League is led by a National Executive Committee (NEC) and a National Working Committee (N ...

, labelled the reshuffle a

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

of supporters of national President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

because it entailed demotions for Zuma loyalists, such as Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana and Makoma Makhurupetje. Finally, in July 2018, Mathabatha made two appointments to fill vacancies created by the death of Agriculture MEC Joyce Mashamba and the resignation of Sports, Arts and Culture MEC

Onicca Moloi Mmaneo Onicca Moloi (born 1979/1980) is a South African politician and businesswoman who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature from 2014 to 2019. She was also Limpopo's Member of the Executive Co ...

Third term: 2019–2024

On 22 May 2019, shortly after he was re-elected in the 2019 general election, Premier Mathabatha announced his new Executive Council, with wide-ranging changes from the cabinet installed in his previous term. On 23 March 2020, he announced his first second-term reshuffle, a minor reshuffle affecting two departments in which one MEC, Monicca Mochadi, was fired. In June 2022, Mathabatha was re-elected to a third term as ANC Provincial Chairperson in a hotly contested party elective conference. Although he said after the conference that internal party competition would not lead him to reshuffle his executive, he announced a reshuffle at the end of the same month. In the reshuffle, Public Works MEC

swapped portfolios with Social Development MEC Nkakareng Rakgoale, while Education MEC Polly Boshielo swapped portfolios with Community Safety MEC Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya. This was perceived as a demotion for Masemola and Boshielo and was linked to the ANC elective conference, at which Masemola had run against Mathabatha. Then, in October 2022, Mathabatha announced a wider-ranging reshuffle, affecting five departments, in which he fired Masemola and Boshielo outright; he also sacked the MEC for Sports, Arts and Culture, Thandi Moraka, who, like Masemola and Boshielo, had failed to gain re-election to the ANC Provincial Executive Committee at the party conference in June.

Ramathuba premiership: 2024–present

Following the 2024 general election, the MEC for Health,

, was elected to succeed Mathabatha as Premier of Limpopo. She named her executive council on 18 June 2024 and the new MECs were sworn in two days later on 20 June.

References

{{Limpopo Province Government of Limpopo