WELCOMING REMARKS BY PREMIER TSP MAKWETLA AT THE SMASSE -WECSA
REGIONAL CONFERENCE
Nelspruit, Monday 31 may 2004
Programme Director
First Secretary from the Japanese Embassy Mr. Keiichi Matsui
Education MEC Mr. Siphosezwe Masango
SMASSE -WECSA Chairperson Mr. Bernard Njuguna
Permanent Secretary Mr. Steven Mahere
Delegates and distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the government and the people of our province, Mpumalanga, to welcome you all, individually and collectively, to the 4th SMASSE-WECSA regional conference in South Africa.
We are honoured and humbled that you chose the province of Mpumalanga and the city of Nelspruit to hold this prestigious and important 4th conference of your organisation.
As countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, we are a people bound together by a common legacy of many decades of arrested development, as a consequence of our colonial history.
In our province too, I believe you will experience the same eagerness and enthusiasm, characteristic of your communities back home, to equip ourselves with knowledge and skills that will help extricate ourselves from ignorance, disempowerment, dependence and underdevelopment.
I am confident that your visit will serve to further bring our peoples even
closer together from the realisation that we share a common destiny.
A few weeks ago, on the occasion of the Opening of our Third Democratic
Parliament, President Thabo Mbeki indicated that our country must further focus
on our interaction with the African continent, especially within the context of
SADC and NEPAD.
That is how it should be, afterall the new African initiative is a pledge by African leaders, based on a common vision and a firm and shared conviction, that they have a pressing duty to eradicate poverty and to place their countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development.
The Programme is anchored on the determination of Africans to extricate themselves and the continent from the malady of underdevelopment and exclusion in a globalising world.
The poverty and underdevelopment in many parts of Africa stand in stark contrast to the achievements of the developed world. We are aware that the continued marginalisation of Africa due to the globalisation process, and the social exclusion of the vast majority of its peoples, constitute a serious threat to global stability.
The challenges call for the reversal of this abnormal situation by changing the relationship that underpins it. Africans are appealing neither for the further entrenchment of dependency through aid, nor for marginal concessions.
Across the continent, we must declare that, we will no longer allow ourselves to be conditioned by circumstance. We will determine our own destiny and call on the rest of the world to complement our efforts. There are already signs of progress and hope.
For centuries, Africa has been integrated into the world economy mainly as a supplier of cheap labour and raw materials. Of necessity, this has meant the draining of Africa's resources rather than their use for the continent's development.
The plan to use minerals and raw materials to develop manufacturing industries and a highly skilled human resource base to sustain growth and development was lost. Thus, we remain the poorest continent despite being one of the most richly endowed regions of the world.
The African initiative seeks to build on and celebrate the achievements of
the past, as well as reflect on the lessons learned through painful experience,
so as to establish a partnership that is both credible and capable of
implementation. In doing so, the injunction is for the peoples and governments
of Africa to gain the conviction that development is a process of empowerment
and self-reliance.
One of the preconditions for development is regional cooperation and
integration. Our priority sectors are Infrastructure, Information and
communications technology and Human development, with a focus on health and
education and skills development
As Africans we recognise that we hold the key to our own development. We affirm that the African initiative offers an historical opportunity for the developed countries of the world to enter into a genuine partnership with Africa, based on mutual interest, shared commitments and binding agreements.
In this context, allow me to commend the spirit of the government of Japan through the Japan International Corporation Agency for sponsoring this initiative.
That is why this conference is so important to all of us. We need to improve the skills level of all our people in our regions and continent so that we can compete as equals with the globalised world.
It is my fervent wish that this conference would heighten the push to advance Africa technologically through Mathematics and Science. We must impress on all of us the vital role of science and technology in contributing to Africa's advancement and the development of our communities.
We must all enhance this new spirit of doing things as a people determined to extricate the continent from the malaise of underdevelopment and exclusion in a globalising world.
We believe that real advance is possible. Our shared responsibility to our people now is to make it happen. Remember: The future belongs to those who equip and give the next generation reasons to hope.
Let me once again, on behalf of the people of this province, welcome you all to the city of Nelspruit and to the province of Mpumalanga. As South Africans and as people of Mpumalanga we also hope that those of our guests who come from outside our province and country will enjoy their stay with us and have lasting impressions of the hospitality, warmth and the scenic beauty of Mpumalanga.
I hope you will find time in your busy schedule to visit our own animal kingdom - our Kruger National Park, and the breath-taking panoramic beauty of mother-nature at its best.
I am reliably informed from the Cabinet Memorandum we received that the logistics of this conference will be fully borne by the SMASSE WECSA secretariat consequently allowing for a sizeable disposable income among participants.
Please spent lavishly. If you can, leave all your money here in Mpumalanga.
Ladies and Gentlemen, experience South Africa's young democracy, the fruit of your own toil too.
Let your deliberations benefit the future.
I thank you.