KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY HONOURABLE PREMIER OF MPUMALANGA PROVINCE, MR DAVID D. MABUZA ON THE OCCASION OF THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE MPUMALANGA SHOW, HELD AT MBOMBELA STADIUM ON 31 AUGUST 2017
04 September 2017
Programme Director,Chairman of the Mpumalanga Show, Mr BK Ring,
Members of the Executive Council,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps in our midst,
Provincial Government Administrative Heads,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Today marks yet another very important milestone in the calendar of our province. When we met on this venue in early May this year to officially launch this initiative, we promised people of Mpumalanga a show like no other show. A show that will showcase the best we can offer in agriculture, forestry, wildlife, tourism and related sectors.
Today we are here to witness the birth of the annual agricultural show that will raise the bar and provide the ultimate consumer experience with a multi-faceted event that meets the needs of every member of the family.
With an evolving consumer landscape, unpredictable changes in consumer taste and tough economic conditions having a direct impact on consumer aspirations, innovative ideas on building our economy and positioning Mpumalanga as a significant player, becomes very important.
Mpumalanga Show will have to consider investing a great deal in consumer research in order to identify key trends that are vital to the future success of events of such magnitude in this Province.
It must create a healthy balance between the expectations of the exhibitors who are looking for a good return on their investment and the consumers who are looking for a unique experience, one where they can find the same variety and offerings that are tailored for their needs.
Mpumalanga Province has a diverse culture only second to Gauteng. The show will provide a marketing platform that offers exhibitors the opportunity to reach as diverse an audience as the Province can provide. Our audience comprises families across a diverse range of backgrounds and language groups.
The Show will provide companies with the opportunity to communicate directly and personally with a large audience in a way that no other medium allows. This will allow companies to among others:
- Educate the public about their programmes and projects.
- Communicate their latest policies and legislation to a broad audience using the opportunity to grow public understanding and awareness.\
- Implement a social marketing campaign that can influence perception and drive changes in attitude and behaviour.
- Solicit public feedback on their perceptions of their organisation and awareness of their programmes so that they can improve their future communication.
- Conduct research and gain immediate feedback in order to inform future planning.
- It is the ideal opportunity to inform young people of career opportunities within various sectors and thereby help to reduce the education-to-employment gap
Therefore, this Show creates a platform for our agriculture and related industries to once again enable Mpumalanga to reclaim its potential leadership position among the other comparative players to present a uniquely Mpumalanga product that propels the economic growth of our Province to produce desired outcomes that create economic opportunities for much needed creation of job opportunities.
Not far from where we are in the not so distance a future, an International Fresh Produce Market, which is a catalytic project to organize the agricultural sector and help in injecting its growth, will rise and be a reality.
This market will provide an opportunity to both commercial and emerging farmers as well as those in the value chain of agriculture business, a powerful platform to sell their produce to both the domestic and export market the produce locally and internationally.
This past Wednesday, I met with commercial and emerging farmers with an aim to share government programme on providing support to the sector as well as initiatives to empower them economically through both ownership and direct participation in the platform that will propel agricultural sector to great heights of development.
I am clear in my mind that there can be no growth of the sector if farmers as primary players in food production and food security, are at the margins of the entire value chain of agriculture as the business.
It is therefore critical that farmers begin to organize themselves as a united force that is preoccupied with feeding the nation and ensuring that their produce gets to export destinations of the world, in the process earning our country required foreign income that we can spend in other social transformation programmes like providing quality education to our children, housing to the poor and the needy, and quality healthcare to all our people.
Farmers are the backbone of the economy, and need state support to deliver on the nation’s expectation whilst fulfilling human needs across the borders to have food security.
This Mpumalanga Show, is an important cog in our agenda to build a vibrant agriculture, forestry and tourism sectors. It reinforces the importance of these sectors to our economy and the direction we must take in making it a primary motif force for our growth that contributes to the solutions to our prevailing problem of unemployment.
Our forestry continues to be the backbone of our country’s economy and is valued for among others, for its biological diversity, for its medicinal strength and local uses, and for its aesthetic, spiritual and commercial value through its contribution to the success of our mining, rail and road construction, housing construction, furniture manufacturing, paper and pulp, ecotourism and other opportunities of great economic value.
The Province is well known for its beauty punctuated by flora and fauna and is complimented by the beauty of our wildlife, hence the globally known Kruger National Park. As Mpumalanga, we continue to attract a number of foreign and domestic tourists who come to enjoy the beauty of our Province. This Show brings all of it under one roof.
As tourism continues to grow and expand, it is inevitable that pressures on the environment and wildlife will increase. Without proper and effective management and protection, these pressures will destroy the very things that people value, and all that define our heritage as a nation.
For our international guests, we take pride in having the diversity we have and offer to you for your enjoyment and education about the beauty of creation. These are assets we value and take pride in as our unique offering to the world. Indeed, Mpumalanga is the place of the rising sun. The cradle of human civilisation, just take a good look at our Sudwala Caves.
That is why the protection of our wildlife and the environment, should always be of primary concern and importance to ensure that sustainable growth of this sector is achieved.
We must use all resources at our disposal, mobilize our communities to fight the poaching of our endangered species as it robs the potential growth of tourism and future inheritance of rich heritage by our future generations.
We should therefore use this Show to promote partnerships between the public and the private sector and position it as an interactive tool that will showcase the people, products, programmes and partnerships required to unlock economic growth and employment potential in the agriculture, forestry, tourism, wildlife and related sectors.
As part of our export promotion and attracting direct foreign investments into our province we are engaged in other international partnerships that seek to build long-term international markets for goods and services in these sectors of our economy.
We are equally working hard to attract investment through our industrialization programme in local manufacturing of machinery and equipment that support these sectors. We are pleased to see that some of these manufacturers are represented here today.
We believe that this show will expose both the exhibitors and consumers to those unique qualities of Mpumalanga which continue to make it exciting but also curious for those who want to learn and know more about our province.
Globalization has led to phenomenal growth in international trade resulting in massive income inequalities, both between and within industrialized and emerging economies.
The world has become a highly competitive economic environment driven by high tech industries that are endlessly replacing low tech jobs. It therefore becomes imperative that we grow our agro-processing industries through value add so that we have a sustainable sector that is equally resistant to threats of collapse.
As government, we will continue to work with large and small enterprises, commercial and emerging farmers, formal and informal businesses to drive interventions aimed at the diversification of our economy so that our capabilities are strengthened with a focus on increasing value-addition, skills development, localisation and employment creation.
In the Wednesday meeting with farmers, I told them that we have wo work together people as people of Mpumalanga regardless of race colour or creed. I therefore call upon all of you to stand resolutely with us, and promote the building of our nation through unity in action.
As an ANC led government we are relentlessly working hard to build a society that is democratic, united, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous - a society that builds a better future for its all citizens.
The success of this show especially this year and many years to come, will be dependent on how we present and manage a serious show that attracts quality exhibitors and present unique experience to the public and a value for money product offering.
If we do this right we will be able to develop long lasting partnerships and business opportunities for large, small, existing and new enterprises.
This Show should be able to draw exhibitors and consumers from our neighbouring countries Swaziland and Mozambique as well as participants from far afield beyond African continent.
If we are able to present business opportunities and a platform for learning and networking for emerging entrepreneurs in agriculture, wildlife, forestry and tourism related sectors, we will manage to inspire entrepreneurship that contributes in creating new employment opportunities.
Therefore, this platform should help in building linkages throughout the value chain that would attract investments, create job opportunities, and strengthen our economy.
In the process, what we would have achieved for our Province, is meaningful and sustainable integration of these sectors and their value chain, which in time will create economies of scale and enhance our competitiveness to participate in the global economy.
Geographically the province is best positioned to play a leading role as the hub of agriculture, forestry and tourism.
Our proximity to the port of Maputo in Mozambique and easy access to the port of Richards bay enhances our contribution in making our country a long term strategic market for investment and exports of both goods and services.
This Show gives us an opportunity to build a winning nation that plays on the strength of its comparative advantages, and eradicate duplication and overlaps that has resulted in missed opportunities that have unfortunately contributed to our country’s diminished competitive edge in the world.
To the project coordinators, you have proved to all and sundry beyond any shadow of doubt that working together we can to do more.
We believe that this is an idea that will once more, demonstrate to the world that the people of Mpumalanga are driven by the will and the desire to deliver the best Show in the region.
This Show will be an inclusive and all encompassing, catering for the needs of all sectors of our communities in this province irrespective of the income status.
We call upon people of this province to come out in big numbers visit this Show and make it one of our signature events that will continue to draw people from around the country and neighbouring countries.
I wish you all a very successful Mpumalanga Show in this “Place of the Rising Sun”. Go out enjoy yourselves and have fun whilst doing business.
I thank You.
Issued by Zibonele Mncwango
Spokesperson: Mpumalanga Premier
Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Office of the Premier
Tel: (013) 766 2453
Mobile: 082 616 6698
E-mail: zmncwango@prem.mpg.gov.za
