Cabinet Media Statement

29 May 2013

At its ordinary meeting today [Wednesday, 29 May 2013] the Mpumalanga Cabinet approved a number of administrative matters and noted numerous progress reports on on-going activities embarked upon by the departments.

Deaths of initiates in the Nkangala region  

The executive council has expressed words of support to the two kings and the Ndebele people for tragic deaths of the initiates at initiation schools. According to the Cabinet, the incidents had a potential of undermining rich cultural practices.

Cabinet has called for calm and has urged others to respect the Ndebele people in their ways of handling this sensitive matter. It has further welcomed government interventions thus far in preventing further deaths. 

Cabinet further welcomed the commitment by the traditional leaders to clamp on the illegal initiation schools and support a call for those who are found to be on the wrong side of the law to face the might of the law.

The Executive Council also accepted the proposal to hold an Indaba on the practice of initiation school aimed at establishing best ways to manage initiation schools, especially in the wake of the current health and social challenges that brings about a new dimension in the whole practice.

“As a provincial government we are satisfied that we have done everything we could in dealing with a very unfortunate situation which is also very sensitive. We will continue to work together with the traditional leaders in ensuring that such disasters do not recur,” said Premier Mabuza.

Condolences for Public Works Roads and Transport MEC Dikeledi Mahlangu

Cabinet also conveyed its condolences to the Public Works Roads and Transport MEC Dikeledi Mahlangu’s family for the loss of her father. MEC Sibongile Manana from the Department of Culture Sports and Recreation was tasked to give moral support to the MEC and her family on behalf of the Cabinet.

Socio-economic profile of Bushbuckridge Municipality

Cabinet welcomed the scientific socio-profile of the Bushbuckridge Municipality and acknowledge that a lot still needed to be done in terms of boosting economic activities within the municipality. Cabinet is due to conduct an outreach programme in mid-June in Bushbuckridge to assess its impact it has done since its last visit in 2011.                          

Although there are some improvements with regards to households with electricity for lighting, more than 28 000 families still do not have access to piped water. Cabinet noted that although the municipality was ranked the second highest in the province in terms of high unemployment rate, households were relatively regarded as wealthy in terms of their assets.

The Executive council resolved that the economic cluster, especially the Department of Economic Development, Environment and tourism and the Department of Finance should pay attention to the socio-economic profile and work with Municipalities to come up with other more sustainable and long lasting  economic development interventions. 

CRDP Report on Bushbuckridge Municipality

Cabinet welcomed progress report on the comprehensive rural development programme that government departments were bringing a better life in the Bushbuckridge municipal area.  

The Executive Council felt that the suggestion made after interrogating the Socio-economic Profile above should take the CRDP work as a base to guide further work on the development of medium and long term sustainable economic development plans.

Provincial Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Strategy

Cabinet approved the Provincial Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Strategy which seeks to assist the provincial government to fast track the implementation of broad based black economic empowerment and ensure the redistribution and creation of wealth for previously disadvantaged individuals.  

It further seeks to accelerate socio-economic transformation and economic growth. The strategy identifies areas of leverage and provides guidance to the province on the implementation. It identifies the roles for the provincial government, its agencies, business community and civil society.

Provincial Programme of Action

The executive council also approved the provincial programme of action which reflects the provincial priorities, targets and programmes for the financial year 2013/2014.

Priority programmes had been extracted from the State of the Province Address. The key considerations in the Mpumalanga Vision 2030 have been included to provide an overall long term strategic context. 

Key targets are assigned milestones to ensure that progress could be tracked and any deviation timeously tracked.

Issued by the Communication Chief Directorate, Office of the Premier

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