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Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale must take political responsibility for the crisis in Limpopo and resign.

If Mathale is unwilling to go, then the ANC as a political party must get rid of him. Failure to do so indicates tacit approval for his klepto-administration, or at least a failure to understand its seriousness.

There are concrete reasons why Mathale needs to go:

He reportedly abused his position as Premier to force his executive to prioritise infrastructure projects that would benefit companies with links to him at the expense of government operations.
He consistently purged the government of civil servants who spoke out against corruption, reportedly issuing golden handshakes to at least 10 senior officials he perceived as disloyal.
He bankrupted the province, allowing unauthorised expenditure to rise from R1.5 billion in 2009 to R2.7 billion in 2011.

The current national government intervention in the Limpopo provincial administration is welcome, but it is not enough. Central government and the structures of the ruling party should take the opportunity for a wholesale clear-out of corrupt officials and politicians.

News that police are having to protect national government officials overseeing the intervention follows hard on the heels of the Minister of Finance reporting that there are instances where provincial officials are sabotaging service delivery to try and make the national government look bad.

Allowing anybody guilty of either threatening or even uncooperative behaviour or of sabotage to stay on as a government employee does the country a great disservice.

Much of the R2.7 billion in unauthorised expenditure has been stolen and this corruption has led to unacceptable circumstances where school children are receiving sub-standard education, and people are dying because of inadequate health services and the sharing of drinking water with cattle.

The message to the ANC is simple: If you really care about improving the lives of poor South Africans then corrupt officials and politicians must be fired wholesale.