Limpopo finally got its first woman premier after a succession of men occupied the hot seat since 1994.
Phophi Ramathuba, a qualified medical doctor, is not necessarily new to the echelons of power, having served as MEC for health, a position in which she served with aplomb, making her a public favourite for the premiership in the run-up to the 2024 general elections.
But she has her work cut out for her, particularly in a province beset by challenges including high levels of poverty and underdevelopment.
With more than 70% of the province falling under the authority of traditional leaders, Limpopo finds itself at a critical juncture amid ongoing disputes in royal councils.
The Vhavenda nation is without a traditional leader while they are still looking for a
candle wife.
The Bakgaga ba Mphahlele, Bahananwa and the Vatsonga are also facing the same dilemma.
All these matters have been deadlocked in the Limpopo High Court sitting in Polokwane, where Judge President George Phatudi adjourned the matters to January.
However, the Bapedi royal kingdom, which is also embroiled in a legal battle over the rightful heir to the throne, has moved to stabilise its leadership with the appointment of former premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi as its royal prime minister.
In one of the year’s sensational criminal cases, Phatudi sentenced Stanley Leshabane and his accomplices to two life sentences for murdering his wife Makoena Mabusela-Leshabane and her business partner, Tebogo Mphuti, at Ladana in Polokwane.
Despite compelling evidence that Leshabane and the hitmen sprayed the two women with a hail of bullets, they pleaded not guilty.
The brutal killing of two women in Limpopo has brought poignant memories of unabated farm killings that have bedevilled the province.
The deceased, Mariah Makgato, 47 and 34-year-old Lucia Ndlovhu, were shot and their bodies thrown into a pigsty.
Zachariah Johannes Olivier, 60, who is a farm owner and his co-accused Andrian Rudolph De Wet, 19 and William Musora are facing charges of attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, defeating the ends of justice.
Musora, a Zimbabwean national, is facing an additional charge of being in the country illegally.
Limpopians also welcomed the hosting of the annual ZCC Easter pilgrimage at the church’s St Engenas headquarters in Moria.
The gathering had been suspended since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.
The gathering was however marred by tragedy when a bus ferrying pilgrims from Molepolole in Botswana plunged down the Mmamatlakala Pass, killing all but one passenger.
One of the highlights on the business front was the hosting of the Limpopo Investment Conference, graced by President Cyril Ramaphosa and captains of industry, both local and international.
The province is on a transition towards becoming one of the country’s mineral extraction hubs.
However, one of its flagship projects, the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone, in which China has invested hundreds of millions of dollars, faces court action.
The province experienced one of its biggest gatherings when scores of people from SA and abroad flocked to the hamlet of Magoebaskloof to bid farewell to former finance minister
Tito Mboweni, who died after an illness.
