Alex Matlala

Alex Matlala

The 1,3million people of Sekhukhune region in Limpopo will know who their new executive mayor is today.

This is after Namane Dickson Masemola, pictured, former executive mayor for the district and current deputy provincial chairman of the ANC, was promoted to a higher position in government.

Masemola will now fill Sello Moloto's position as a member of the Limpopo legislature.

Masemola is not new to the politics of the province. After the 1999 government elections, he was dispatched by the Limpopo government under then premier Ngwako Ramathlodi to lead Sekhukhune.

He later became the executive mayor of the region and subsequently the regional political head of the district.

Current ANC regional chairman David Mahabe tops the list of candidates to take over from Masemola.

If Mahabe, 45, is elected, his biggest challenge will be the cholera epidemic which has already claimed many lives, especially in the province's rural areas. He is also expected to deliver on government's promises of "a better life for all".

Sekhukhune was identified by former President Thabo Mbeki in 2002 as one of the country's regions that needed urgent development. This meant that government intervention was required to change the lives of the poor for the better.

Another major challenge the new mayor is likely to face is to make peace between the many mining houses and communities at each other's throats in the province.

"Whoever is elected will serve as executive mayor for the district of Sekhukhune until after the local government elections in 2011," said ANC provincial spokesman Ishmael Kgetjepe yesterday.