PREMIER'S ADDRESS
Mgcinisihlalo
Honourable Members of the Executive Committee
Respected Members of the Provincial Legislature
Members of the Alliance
Mayors and councilors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Let me start off by thanking you for the sterling role you played during the June elections. Through your unstinting support and hard work the people's voice in your area was able to be heard very loud and clear.
Through your efforts as comrades in the African National Congress, Cosatu, the SACP, SANCO and other democratic structures, you were able to ensure that the ANC gets a mandate to govern and ensure that the lives of our people improve. For this the.people of South Africa will be forever grateful.
The government accepts the challenges of the overwhelming mandate it has received with humility and determination to do better. This mandate reflects the confidence of the people of South Afirica in the process of change; in the effort to build a better life for all. Particularly the poorest of the poor are confident that together we can change conditions of life for the better.
As a nation and a province we face the urgent challenge of pushing back the frontiers of apartheid and building a truly united, non-racial, non- sexist and democratic society.
In my opening speech at the Legislature on July 6, 1999 I pledged that it was my govenmnent's commitment to deliver on our election promises. On behalf of my colleagues in the Executive and all of us in the Legislature on that day, I made the solemn pledge that we shall not fail our people.
We committed ourselves to:
- Speeding up delivery of basic needs and developing human resources
- Building the economy and creating jobs
- Combating crime and corruption
- Transforming the State
- Building a better Africa and a better world.
We, promised that in terms of speeding up the delivery of basic needs and developing human resources, we would accelerate our programmes on poverty alleviation, recreation, housing, welfare, healthcare and education.
We promised that we would spare no effort in ensuring that we build clinics, hospitals, schools and houses in a number of areas. We pledged to bring clean drinking water to every house in the province. We undertook to upgrade the roads and provide electricity.
As parents ourselves we pledged to facilitate the construction of 288 classrooms, 10 Specialist Rooms, 10 Administration Blocks and 856 toilets in our schools so that our children no lomger receive tuition under a tree. But we must agree that this infrastructue will be meaningless if there is no culture of leaming in our schools. Our work as government and parents must be to ensure that we create the best environment and conditions for our children in schools.
Our housing projects - including extensions, consolidation projects, the people's housing project, subsidies and hostels - must deliver on their promise.
We promised you that we shall ensure that no pensioner in Mpumalanga goes without a pension.
We promised to intensify our poverty alleviation programmes, and build additional elderly centres, women support centres, community-based substance abuse treatment centres and social development centres.
You will remember that we undertook to continue to support and monitor programmes aimed at our women, the differently-abled and our youth through the Office of the Status of Women, the Disability Desk and the Provincial Youth Commission.
More importantly we put our hands on our hearts and declared that we would pay special attention to our campaigns aimed at Aids Awareness and Violence Against Women, as well as the Child Abuse Project and the eradication of death or maiming through preventable diseases.
We promised to build the economy and create jobs. Achieving growth, advancing worker rights and promoting investment have always been our priority.
Because we are a government that listens and leams from the people, we heard your cries and took note of your grievances.
You told us the following:
- That the conditions of the roads here are very bad,
- That the Mayflower road has been under construction since 1991 with little progress.
- That you want government structures to be looked after.
- That you need a better water supply system.
You also told us that some police officers are not serving you properly. You claim some of them are corrupt. You also complained about the high crime rate and the ineffectiveness of the community.policing forums.
We listened when you spoke about the high unemployment rate, the insufficient budget of traditional leaders, and the strained relations between the TLCs and Traditional Leaders.
To us your problems about poor TV reception and a poor telephone system cannot and must not be brushed aside. We also know that you would like a centre for the differently- abled people in your area.
On Thursday when I visited a centre for the aged in Msogwaba I challenged the business community to assist in the provision of such centres. May I ask you to co-ordinate these efforts and contribute towards the reconstruction and development of your area.
You also told us that you would like to utilise nearby existing state farms and have boreholes installed. We are equally perturbed about farm evictions and assaults. We will do all in our power to fight against this evil.
These are some of the other things you would like us to attend to:
- Government departments should as well pay for services.
- Community Halls should be made available for the Council.
- The bucket system should be phased out.
- You want RDP Houses as well.
When you tell us that the water scheme at Kroomdraai is temporarily suspended owing to a shortage of funds and that seconded staff from Head Office is not co-operating with members of the council, we must listen.
You also complain that:
- Ekuphileni Lower Primary School at Dundonald, has no windows, no doors, no chain and other related facilities and that lessons are conducted under the trees.
- You are also unhappy that one hospital caters for a region that is vast and heavily populated. That your ambulance is a 4 x 4 bakkie; you have few doctorss and that your hospital has no intensive care unit and that clinics do not operate 24-hours.
Ladies and gentlemen, when you say the only medication available here is Panado and that you are unhappy that the security tender for the hospital was awarded to outside companies instead of Local security companies, we must listen.
My colleagues in government are here and I hope we will be able to attend to some of your problems.
But what I know is that commuters, motorists and taxi-dnvers can rest assured the upgrading of our roads will be a priority for this Government.
We promise to accelerate delivery. Over the past five years, the policies and strategies to achieve this were worked out. The foundation for faster progress has been laid.
But then you must remember that in order to deliver services effectively, the local government need funds and rate payment is the key revenue source.
The pro- 1994 political rationale for excessive boycotts and non-payment of rent and services does not exist anymore. But yet in some areas the culture of non- payment is still alive and kicking.
Your areas are by and large rural and under-developed.
Because of apartheid most of our people were relegated to the most arid parts of
the country - dumped there after being used and abused by the captains of
capital in the big cities and towns. Most areas were formerly classified as R293
and were administered by homelands.
Today most of you depend on inter-goveirnmental grants. This money from the
Department of Constitutional Development was used to pay everything except the
running of administration. For administration you had to depend on rates
payments from your communities.
As we approach the 2000 election, there will be a tendency amongst certain political parties to use pressing community issues as a tool to generate support.
It is relatively simple to mobilise by associating with the hardships of people,. and challenging authority by posing as a mouthpiece of the community, through exploiting their fears and aspirations. We need no further proof that the opposition will try to keep momentum and support in order to further their own agendas, by discrediting councillors before the next elections.
It is thus imperative for the local government representatives to be critical of the strategies in place to solve community problems, as it has become a tendency that dwellers protest against local municipalities. If this tendency is not curbed, it will result in higher level of instability in our communities and non-payment of services will also remain as long as the comniunity perceive the local govenmnent as not delivering or fulfilling their needs.
Let us acknowledge that we have not been able to deliver on all our election promises in 1994 as well as 1999.
It has come to my notice that some TLCs are on the verge of collapse. But I have full confidence that local government councillors and the MEC for Local Government, Mr Fish Mahlalela will be able to join forces and remove any obstacles towards efficient service delivery.
I would like to acknowledge the local - councillors contribution in the various constituencies you serve. There are areas which may still not receive -the level of services which you have hoped they would receive. And yet you find yourselves caught up in a vicious cycle.
Without payment services cannot be improved; on the other hand, one is inclined to say that the only service worth paying for arethose that meet the required standards. Paying of services is an investment to our collective future because it provides the oil to move the wheels.
Local government cannot deliver effectively without the support of the people.Our support for transformation can in part be measured through our willingness to pay for services of which we make use.
Even with limited resources, the programme to provide houses, water, electricity, better education and other services will be speeded up. Greater attention will be placed on ensuring better quality and sustainability of these programmes.
Better conditions will be created for an economy that grows at a faster pace: an economy that creates jobs, ensure worker rights and provides even more resources for expansion of the programme to improve people's lives.
The face of apartheid cities and rural settlement will be changed through integration programmes for rural development and urban renewal. Particular attention will be given to the needs of the youth, women, and the disabled.
Much greater effort will be put into improving safety and security of the citizens. Serious and violent crimes will receive special and decisive integrated attention from the criminal justice system.
These objectives will be achieved through firm leadership on the part of government. The operations of government will be streandined, better co-ordinated to be more efficient. Laxity, laziness, arrogance and corruption will be dealt with relentlessly.
But government can only succeed in partnership with the people. This means a govemment that is in daily and respected contact with the people; a government that listens and learns from the people. It means communities that take full responsibility for their upliftment in partnership with government. It requires discipline and responsibility at work and at leisure.
Everyvvhere, a new patriotism must make itself felt among citizens who care for one another, citizens who build One another; citizens driven by new morality in the public anct privae sectors.
In this way, we can together with our brothers and sisters in other parts of Africa and the world, work for a better life for all. We shall make the dream of an African Century, and a world of peace, jusfice and equity a reality.
As we enter the new millennium, South Africa must become a bee-hive of activity; a nation at work to build a better life!
I thank you.