Cabinet Media Statement
20 November 2013
Cabinet held its ordinary
meeting today [Wednesday, 20 November 2013] in Nelspruit and while
deliberating on a number of issues, it noted progress and approved
certain plans for the provincial government.
Chairing the meeting,
Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza commended the provincial government
for acting swiftly in managing a gruesome and tragic Kwaggafontein
bus accident which claimed the lives of 30 people on Moloto Road.
Mabuza said the provincial
government needed to revisit the matter of an alternative mode of
transport for communities utilising the Moloto Road as a matter of
urgency before the end of the year. He said the provincial
administration was concerned about the continuous deaths on Moloto
Road but added that with the help of national government; the matter
would speedily be attended to.
Again, Cabinet expressed a
concern on the recent shocking number of deaths due to malaria in
the province. The province has recorded 17 deaths since October due
to malaria of which 12 mortalities are from Matsulu, just outside
Nelspruit, and the five were from other areas.
The provincial health
department has intensified the spraying in the affected areas,
whilst at the same time it monitors the situation. The Executive
Council has since directed the department to put up a very
comprehensive plan to deal with the situation as summer rains were
continuing.
Update Report on the
verification of Human Settlements Projects
Cabinet received a report on
the verification process of human settlements projects in all
municipalities which was undertaken by the Office of the Premier in
cooperation with the department of human settlements.
This was a process which was
commissioned by the provincial budget and finance committee chaired
by the Premier to satisfy itself if the remaining projects were
going to be completed within the next six months.
The report states that to
date only 7 299 RDP houses have been completed, 1 159 units are
likely to be completed and another 4 941 is not likely to be
completed in the current financial year.
The team established that
there was an absence of an integrated human settlements master plan.
The team further identified that the ability of municipalities to
provide or fund the requisite bulk services posed a challenge to the
completion of planned RDP houses. They also identified that poor
performance by appointed contractors threatened the quality,
implementation and completion of allocated housing units.
The Executive Council
reiterated its concern on the houses which were unlikely to be
completed while budgeted for and has since instructed the
infrastructure committee to deal with a general problem of
workmanship.
Preparations for the 16
Days Campaign of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children
The opening ceremony for the
16 Days Campaign of No Violence Against Women and Children will be
held in Elukwatini in the Chief Albert Luthuli on Sunday [24
November 2013] which has been identified as one of the flash points
of gender based violence.
The closing ceremony has
been scheduled to take place in KwaMhlanga in the Thembisile Hani
Municipality, a cluster area that has also been identified as a high
rate of gender based violence.
Cabinet is satisfied with
the state of readiness for the campaign meant to generate an
increased awareness amongst communities pertaining to the incidences
of violence perpetuated against women and children. The campaign
further seeks to create awareness around the link between HIV and
AIDS and gender based violence. The campaign also seeks to challenge
the perpetrators of such offences to change the mind set and
behaviour.
The provincial statistics
for 2012 recorded 3358 rape cases, 28 statutory rape cases, 236
sexual assault cases, 1284 domestic violence cases and 79 child
abuse cases.
Cabinet recommended that the
campaign should be sustained for 365 and communities dominate the
interactions as compared to having politicians making speeches in an
effort to make a lasting impact. It further suggested that local
community leaders who are influential should be utilised to drive
the messages as people understood them better.
Preparation for the World
AIDS Day Commemoration
This year’s national World
AIDS Day will be commemorated in Piet Retief at Mkhondo Municipality
on 01 December 2013 and will be attended by Deputy President Kgalema
Motlante and health minister Aaron Motswaledi.
After receiving the
implementation plan, the executive council expressed satisfaction on
the state of readiness in hosting the event envisaged to mobilise
many people to know about their HIV and TB status, promote key HIV
and TB interventions, increase early access to HIV and TB treatment,
increase testing and increase the uptake of safer male circumcision.
Transport will be availed to
commute people to the venue. Gert Sibande District Municipality has
been targeted since it has the second highest HIV and AIDS
prevalence at 46 percent.
There will be build-up
activities that would be characterised by door-to-door household
visits and on-site medical male circumcision services at Piet Retief
Hospital, Amsterdam CHC targeting a large number of males.
There will be health
screening for farming communities while SASSA and Home Affairs
Department will also be offering their services. At least 10 people
living with disability will be given wheelchairs while another 1000
deserving households will get food parcels from government.
Oman inbound mission
Mpumalanga province will be
hosting an Arab delegation from the Sultanate of Oman on the 24 to
28 November 2013. The visit by a six-member delegation from the
ministry of agriculture and fisheries wealth of the Sultanate of
Oman, follows an invitation by Premier Mabuza to pursue discussions
on agriculture, but focusing on trade and investment.
The primary interest of the
Mpumalanga Provincial Government will be to respond to the import
needs of Oman Government to deal with their food security
challenges. The Oman delegation is expected to engage with
Mpumalanga on its citrus harvest and the province’s veterinary
capability with regards to livestock improvement programme.
The delegation is further
expected to engage with Mpumalanga on cooperative development,
investment and partnerships. Lastly they are expected to engage on
the agricultural model in support of the Mpumalanga International
Fresh Produce Market. The delegation will further visit various
projects in all three regions of the province.
Premier Mabuza visited Oman
in September 2011 and identified areas of cooperation which included
the establishment of economic and trade relations, cooperation on
agriculture, tourism, industrial development and to strengthen the
social and cultural ties.
Approval of the draft
integrated recruitment and retention strategy for maths and science
teachers
Cabinet approved an
integrated recruitment and retention strategy by the department of
education for maths and science teachers. The strategy seeks to
facilitate the recruitment and retention of competent
Maths and science teachers. Although the shortage of qualified Maths
and science teachers is however not unique to the Mpumalanga
Province, it is in fact a national problem.
The strategy is based on four pillars
which are the recruitment through the attraction of new qualified
teachers, recruitment of foreign teachers, retention through the
payment of incentives to Maths and Science teachers and retention
through the professional development, capacity building and support
of Maths and Science Teachers.
With the implementation of the strategy,
the department of education will simultaneously contribute to and
support the implementation of the comprehensive national human
resource planning strategy.
The comprehensive national human resource
planning strategy includes the establishment of an effective human
resource planning system at provincial and district level. It
further includes the improving the production of teachers, improving
the management of supply, deployment and utilization of teachers.
Lastly the comprehensive national human
resource planning strategy includes improving the work environment
and conditions of service of teachers and development of a
monitoring and implementation framework.
Provincial Land Summit
Mpumalanga will be hosting a
two-day provincial land summit early next month [11 - 12 December
2013] which will be led by the department of agriculture, rural
development and land administration.
The summit will look into
the challenges that are contributing to the failure of the land
reform programme. The province has placed land reform as the
priority that could stimulate the creation of much needed jobs as
outlined in the Mpumalanga Economic Growth and Development
Programme.
The provincial land summit
is expected to open a dialogue on the challenges faced by the land
reform beneficiaries in the province. The overall goal for the
summit is to develop a comprehensive and sustainable land reform
turnaround strategy to improve the productivity of land reform
farms.
The strategy will guide the
province in planning and in the implementation of post settlement
support programmes. It will further guide the department during the
strategic planning process.
It will further guide by
identifying the possible interventions by the province in the
context of land reform policies. The strategy will guide develop
comprehensive post settlement strategies to deal with the
challenges.
Appointments
1.
Mr Thabo Motau –appointed
Director in the office of the MEC [COGTA]
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