Executive Council Media Statement
30 March 2017
- The Executive Council held it’s ordinary sitting yesterday, the 29th of March 2017, in Mbombela after attending to the emergency situation in Bushbuckridge where the learners were being stopped from going to school. Members of the executive had been deployed to various schools to monitor if the learners and the teachers were safely returning to school.
Security plan for Bushbuckridge schools
- The Executive Council has condemned the torching of schools in Bushbuckridge and the stopping of the learners from attending classes.
- Security measures have been put in place to bolster the protection of the learners and the teachers in Bushbuckridge, as well as to ensure that the destruction of schools is minimized.
- The executive council has approved the security pan in line with the existing contract for the provision of security services at the sites of the provincial government.
Approval of hospital designs for Mapulaneng and Middelburg
- The Executive Council has approved the designs for the construction of new Mapulaneng and Middelburg hospitals. The existing Mapulaneng hospital was founded by Swiss Missionaries in 1936 and was known as Masana, it was later transferred to the then Lebowa Government in 1976 and was renamed Mapulaneng Hospital.
- It was recently transferred to the Mpumalanga Government, and the hospital currently operates on approved 252 beds whilst having 269 usable beds. The new proposed hospital will have 365 beds.
- The existing dilapidated Middelburg Hospital was originally built in 1938 and continuously expanded over the years with various sections of the hospital being constructed from time to time. The hospital currently operates on 349 approved beds, and only 247 beds are usable.
- The new proposed hospital will have 200 beds and it will be located just off the N4 national road, next to the Middleburg Mall in the Steve Tshwete Municiplity, to replace and augment services currently offered by the existing hospital facility.
Mpumalanga Provincial Land Summit
- The Executive Council has approved the coordination and hosting of the provincial land summit by the provincial Department of Rural Development Land and Environmental Affairs in collaboration with the national Department of Rural Development for scheduled for 04 – 06 April 2017 in Mbombela.
- Since 1994, government has introduced different land reform programs aimed at redressing the injustices of the past, address poverty, create jobs and ensure that economic development in the country.
- The summit will seek to create a dialogue and attempt to find solutions on the challenges such as internal conflicts amongst land reform beneficiaries, assist in the productive utilization of land. It will further seek to deal with misalignment and disintegration pre and post support programs provided by various government departments and other role players, thereby resulting in duplication and wastage of the resources.
- Other challenges, which the Summit is expected to deal with, are the continuous violations of vulnerable farm workers and farm dwellers’ human rights by some farm owners, thereby affecting farm productivity and safety on farms.
Draft Mpumalanga Economic Regulator Bill 2017
- The Executive Council has approved the tabling of the draft Mpumalanga Economic Regulator Bill, 2017 at the Legislature for further processing. In October last year, the Executive Council approved the proposal to merge the Mpumalanga Gambling Board and the Mpumalanga Liquor Authority under one newly created Provincial Economic Regulator.
- This Bill therefore seeks to facilitate the establishment of the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator (MER) as submitted.
- The Mpumalanga Economic Regulator will be responsible for the regulation of gambling in terms of the Mpumalanga Gambling Act, 1995 (Act No. 05 of 1995), the levying of gambling levies in terms of the Mpumalanga Gambling Levies Act, 2007 (Act No. 05 of 2007) as well as regulation of the liquor industry in terms of the Mpumalanga Liquor Licensing Act, 2006 (Act No. 05 of 2006).
Mpumalanga Tourism Outbound Mission to Yekaterinburg, SO, Russian Federation, 1 – 15 April 2017
- The Executive Council has given an approval for a Mpumalanga provincial tourism outbound mission to Yekaterinburg, in the Sverdlovsk Region of the Russian Federation planned for the 1st of April to the 15th of April 2017 which will be led by Finance, Economic Development & Tourism MEC Skhumbuzo Kholwane.
- The mission is expected to conclude and sign the memorandum of agreement on behalf of the Mpumalanga Provincial Administration. The delegation will attend and participate in the International Tourism Trade Exhibition scheduled for the 7th and the 8th of April 2017 in Yekaterinburg.
- The delegation is expected to establish business linkages with the province’s Russian counterparts for purposes of increased intra-trade between the two regions, to see exponential growth of tourists coming into South Africa from Russia, and to encourage South Africans to travel to the Russian Federation.
- Further, the delegation is expected to explore opportinities for the establishment of a tourism airlift route between Moscow and Mpumalanga, to promote investments for the growth and development of the tourism sector; and to foster collaborations in all the identified areas in the spirit of the co-operation agreement.
20. Appointments
20.1 Mr Sethembiso Nyoka, appointed Chief Financial Officer [Department of Human Settlements]
20.2 Mr Jan Steenkaamp, appointed Director: Infrastructure Program Delivery Management [Department of Education]
20.3 Ms Gcinaphi Khoza, appointed Director: Physical Resource and Property Management [Department of Education]
20.4 Mr Boy Johannes Nobunga, appointed Chief Executive Officer [Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Authority]
Issued by Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Enquiries:
Spokesperson: Mpumalanga Premier
Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Office of the Premier
Zibonele Mncwango
Tel: (013) 766 2453
Mobile: 079 491 0163
E-mail: zmncwango@mpg.gov.za OR mncwangoz@prem.mpg.gov.za