Premier Mabuza urges business to advise government on public investment

06 March 2014

Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza has called on the business sector in the province to advise government on public investment as in order to make well-versed decisions. The province will outline its budget next week.

Speaking at a business breakfast meeting yesterday [Wednesday, 05 March 2014] in Secunda, the Premier said it was important for the business sector to advise on public investment as government was using their money too. The meeting was part of the Taking the Legislature to the People programme.

The Premier said the business sector cared less about government matters as they concentrated on running their businesses, whereas their inputs would assist government in investing the public funds.

“As you run your business, you should also stand up and advise the government on its public investment, it is your money too. As a sector you are also investing separately in the province, as government we are doing the same too, therefore we are bound to talk, you must tell us how we should use your money,” said Mabuza.

He explained that as the country was celebrating 20 years of democracy, government should be commended for having made a conducive environment for business. He said there was stability and peace in the country as well as in Mpumalanga.

“With all our great achievements in the past 20 years, it does not mean that we do not have problems as a government, but regardless we still have a future as a country and it is going to be bright. Those who are optimistic about the good future, they just have to support this government,” said Mabuza.

While talking about the achievements of the democratic government, Premier Mabuza raised a concern about “forgiveness and unity” and whether the citizens of South Africa were building a kind of a society where all would enjoy the human rights as enshrined in the Constitution.

He asked if the South Africans had truly forgiven each other, or whether were they not continuing living in small silos in racial groups. He added that as South Africa was celebrating 20 years of democracy, citizens needed “to come out of their cocoons” and deal with hatred they had for one another. 

He said it was disturbing that 20 years of democracy, tribalism was still a big issue even in his administration adding that people still referred to each other as “us and them”.

“We have not done well politically, racism is still rearing its ugly head, but guided by certain principles, this government has tried so hard to ensure that this country belongs to all of us. We need one another and we have no choice but to live together. We must always be mindful of the fact that anything else other than unity will definitely destroy our own country. Going forward, we want to see all groupings coming together and build this beautiful country.

“The current government may have had its short comings, but we are still here and we have peace. Countries elsewhere envy the kind of a country we have built. There is no magic; we have done it as South Africans. Racism is a demon that threatens to destroy this beautiful country. This is our country, we must be proud of it. We must co-exist, respect one another, in that way we would be confirming that we are a united rainbow nation,” said Mabuza.

The Premier also challenged the women to utilise the resources availed by government in ensuring that their co-operatives functioned properly. He was responding to a question posed by a business woman who is in the mining sector that they lacked capacity building and government support.

Mabuza said there were many financial institutions created by government to assist small business; however women in particular were not well-organised.

“We are worried about the state of organisation for women, they are not well-organised and right now it is a bit late to be still organising themselves. We want to help them to be productive but the sun is about to set and there is no indication of improvement on their side,” he said.

He added that government had spent money teaching them how to run successful businesses, but each time it left them to survive on their own, their co-operatives collapsed.

“These financial institutions are not going to give you money for free. They will borrow you so that you will work hard and pay it back. There is a wrong mentality out there that there is too much money in government and that it must be given for free. How on earth are we going to move forward as a country if we do not repay our debts?

He told the meeting that he had received a correspondence from a group of people who had borrowed money from the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency [MEG] asking him to take an executive decision to “write off” their debt.

“We are very reckless; we do not want to teach ourselves how to manage our businesses. Maybe our focus is skewed, we cook the very chicken that must lay the eggs for us,” said Mabuza.

Responding to the taxi industry which complained about poor roads and that the provincial government did not partner with them as a sector, Mabuza conceded that certain roads were indeed terrible.

He said the good story his provincial government was telling was that the situation had improved; at least only five percent of the roads were in a very poor conditions.

“Our roads are better than yesterday. This government has built the state of the art taxi ranks and the taxi industry is paying nothing, not even for water or removing refuge.

“It is our view as a government that you should not worry about many law enforcement agencies as you say, but you should concentrate on growing you industry and become real business people. You must make it a business, this thing of fighting for the routes gives you a bad name, you are creating a bad reputation for yourselves,” said Mabuza.

Issued by Zibonele Mncwango
Spokesperson: Mpumalanga Premier
Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Office of the Premier
Tel: (013) 766 2453
Mobile: 079 491 0163
E-mail: zmncwango@mpg.gov.za

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