KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY PREMIER T S P MAKWETLA AT THE MPUMALANGA GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP IN PROCUREMENT SUMMIT
"Working together for effective and efficient service delivery "
Loskop Aventura
5 May 2006
Programme Director,
The Mayor of Nkangala District, Hon Clr Speedo Mashilo,
Members of the Executive Council,
Honourable Mayors and Councillors present,
The DG of the Province and Head of Departments,
The Executive Committee of NAFCOC Mpumalanga, and other distinguished representatives of the broad business community of our province,
Senior government officials at both provincial and local government levels,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Two years ago, in the April 2004 general elections, the electorate gave the ANC 70% support (in Mpumalanga 86%), to endorse the call and a promise for accelerated delivery over the five year period we are going through now. To underpin this imperative in our national conjuncture, the President and the ANC have emphatically articulated the view that the singular challenge of our government in this second decade of our freedom, is the implementation of our numerous good policies, the translation of our vision into reality.
Consequently, the last two National Cabinet ‘Makgotla', from July last year, placed the spotlight on the organisation and capacities of government to roll-out government delivery programmes.
This overarching priority is a responsible acknowledgement of the expectations and hopes of 70% of South Africa's voters, lest we compromise our democracy through disillusionment as a result of unfulfilled hopes, which can breed civil instability. Another real threat is the fact that inability to implement may lead to a sluggish delivery pace which may be outstripped by-far by growing demand associated with population growth rates.
In a nutshell, colleagues, comrades, ladies and gentlemen, this is the reason why we are here today. Business is a critical partner of our provincial administration. We are here because we seek a stronger bond with our business entrepreneurs, to cultivate a unity of purpose, shall I say in tandem or beyond the conventional profit motive. (I say this not to insult, but as an acceptance of the objective logic of business, which we all respect).
At the outset I wish to state that we are not here to promote a witch-hunt. Were that to happen it would be a disaster of immeasurable proportions. Our government's mission is to deliver a better life to all, including previously disadvantaged individuals in business. As government, we remain committed to empowering those who did not have access to opportunities before. We are committed to see you become successful, thriving business people. It is part of our strategic obligations to ensure that the programme to deliver a better life, in particular to the previously disadvantaged, must not be executed in a way that entrenches the racial ownership patterns of the past. Were this to happen, it will most certainly lead us into another catastrophy.
In this regard, I may even venture to say our province has not performed well compared to other provinces regarding the growth of a post-1994 black middle-class. This places a heavy responsibility on those institutions in the province which carry the mandate to economically empower the previously disadvantaged beneficiaries.
Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen, from what I have said above, we will all agree that what we are here to tackle is a challenge presented by what seems to be an unintended clash of policy goals. The task we have is to ensure that all these policies succeed – to devise a win-win solution that will leave all the constituencies that are beneficiaries of these policies, happy.
Programme Director, the socio-economic upliftment of blacks must be all-inclusive, encompassing all segments of our communities, all classes and strata. As government, our overarching policy is to intervene on behalf of those with a lesser ability to fend for themselves. Conversely, many of government's delivery programmes target mainly the poor, ranging from the delivery of free books at schools to the provision of houses, health and the transportation of learners to schools.
Programme Director, it is common knowledge that the overwhelming majority, if not all, of these delivery programmes are not provided through government in-house capacity. All these delivery programmes are largely rolled-out from goods and services provided by private business entrepreneurs, from the provision of houses to the transportation of learners to school. Quite clearly, whilst government manages services and goods providers, the providers, the entrepreneurs, are responsible for actual delivery.
This is the crux of the matter, a case for a healthy partnership and the reason for common purpose between the people who are here today.
Speaking for government, the challenges are many. However, permit me to isolate two central challenges. The first one is the common knowledge that as government nationally we have put tight timelines for the delivery of many services, including houses, water and electricity. Secondly, the quality of everything government provides (professionalism and standards) from houses to learner transport and roads is a cause for concern as to whether government is getting value for money.
To tackle these challenges successfully there is no doubt that some of the weaknesses flow from institutional capacity problems to flawed procedures and inadequate checks and balances. There are weaknesses we will probably trace to compliance issues pertaining to supply-chain-management. Other weaknesses may be attributed to practices in the industries themselves, while other problems may be as a result of the outright greed of individuals.
Be that as it may, what is scary colleagues, is a spectre of government resources squandered without the attainment of our dream of a better life for our communities. A syndrome of kids who are transported to school in unroadworthy bakkies, houses that are collapsing, roads that last only for three months, school feeding schemes that are a nightmare. Government cannot afford programmes that are in ruins because of service providers.
It will indeed be a sad story and a national calamity if a few blacks were to end up wealthy and rich when the conditions of the majority continue to shame us all. It would be even worse if a limited number of blacks were to be well-off at the expense of government delivery programmes intended for the poor.
Until there is proof to the contrary, we will continue to hold the view that in our country black business will for the foreseeable future continue to harbour sentiments of solidarity with black communities and their plight. The black bourgeoisie cannot easily be devoid of patriotism.
It is our belief that the broad business leadership, and NAFCOC in particular, will be able to share with us in this forum the many challenges encountered from where they are sitting, with the view to generating solutions on the way forward.
This conference must give impetus to efficiency, professionalism, commitment and pride in the work business is doing with government and vice versa, all in the name of our people.
We can go about this challenge such that when the face of this province and the country shall have changed, there will be families and companies within South Africa's business community that can say with pride that they transformed and changed the face of this province and country. People who will proudly point at enduring world-class infrastructure and say, “we built that road, we built that township, we built that college, we built that clinic, etc…”
Let this forum, the first of its kind, be another building block to our collective leadership.
I thank you.