By late 2011, Limpopo's provincial government was in financial freefall. Five departments had accumulated R2.7 billion in irregular and unauthorised expenditure. The provincial treasury could not pay service providers. The Education department could not deliver textbooks. The Health department had supply chain failures affecting hospitals and clinics. Roads and Public Works were characterised by corrupt procurement and incomplete infrastructure projects.
National Treasury's assessment found that the problems were systemic: cadre deployment had placed unqualified officials in key financial and management positions, procurement systems had been captured by politically connected suppliers, and internal controls had been deliberately weakened to facilitate corruption.
The Premier was Cassel Mathale, a close ally of former ANC Youth League president Julius Malema, whose Limpopo power base was fuelled by access to provincial government contracts. Malema's lavish lifestyle — R16 million house in Sandton, expensive cars, overseas trips — was funded in part through a network of Limpopo government contracts channelled through companies connected to his associates.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan invoked Section 100(1)(b) — the first and only time an entire set of provincial departments was subjected to this constitutional mechanism. Administrator-generals were appointed with executive authority. The intervention achieved some immediate financial stabilisation but did not address underlying political dynamics.
The Limpopo textbook crisis erupted in 2012 when the Education department failed to deliver textbooks to schools across the province. Section 27 successfully litigated to compel delivery. Malema was charged with fraud and money laundering in 2012, though the case has proceeded glacially.
The intervention ended in 2014 with the national government claiming sufficient improvement. But Limpopo's corruption networks survived intact — the subsequent VBS Mutual Bank scandal (R1.5 billion in illegal municipal deposits) demonstrated this clearly.