RESPONSE BY PREMIER
Madam Chairperson
Honourable President
Honourable Premiers
Honourable Members,
In the past 10 months we travelled the length and breadth of our province talking to and working with our people.
During our daily contact with the people we listened and learned from them. We did this through our Community Outreach Programme and Imbizos. In that way we were able to touch base with almost every village and town of all our municipalities in the province.
What struck us most was the keenness from the majority of our people to be part of the process of rebuilding the country – a process that will guarantee a better life for all.
But, Madam Chairperson, that keenness, that willingness to participate in the reconstruction of our province and our country places a profound obligation on the shoulders of each one of us,
Particularly the elected representatives of the people. But it also places a profound obligation and responsibility on the private sector, organised business, the labour movement; the religious fraternity; teachers; parents; farmers – in fact on all of us.
When we spoke to our people earlier this year we told them that in all our joint and shared activities we would be driven by a desire to lift every one out of poverty.
We also told them how far we have gone in getting communities involved in becoming masters of their own fate. As the Mpumalanga Provincial Government we have always said we are committed to engage citizen voices in local, regional and provincial governance in new ways.
We realised early in our interaction with the communities that honesty was essential to break through citizen distrust of institutions . As we listened and interacted with people from every walk of life and in vastly different circumstances, we heard consistent themes over time of what supported people being involved and what were barriers to people being involved in the community's work.
The common voice in all the communities we visited indicated the overwhelming desire to be lifted out of poverty.
Madam Chairperson, through the dedication and co-operation of members of the Mpumalanga Provincial Government, in partnership with business, and working closely with the community, we ensured that more than 250 000 people are active beneficiaries of social grants as at 31 March 2001.
During the same period the number of Child Support Grant beneficiaries stood at 69 792. The monthly average uptake rate in respect of the Child Support Grant is more than 5 000 children.
Social development projects are implemented in a co-ordinated manner with all relevant departments and stakeholders participating. This concept is being cultivated vigorously through the Social Cluster of the Executive Council, in which the District Mayors and the Executive Mayors of our four strategic towns are participating.
The Community Based Public Works Programme is a specific job creation and poverty alleviation programme targeted primarily at the rural poor.
Our objective is creating short and long term employment, sustainable public assets, and providing accredited training to communities in the poverty pockets of the Province.
The Programme's budget of R6,2 million was used to fund five cluster projects in the three districts of the Province.
In the Ehlanzeni District, the community of Shabalala next to Hazyview constructed a multi-purpose center, community garden and market stalls including two poultry houses for an amount of R1,4 million.
In the Eastvaal District the community of Perdekop received R 1,4 million to construct a sports stadium, five poultry houses and a community garden.
The community of Davel decided to use the R1,2 million to construct a sports facility that includes tennis and basketball courts.
In the Nkangala District, the community of Vaalbank constructed six poultry houses valued at R740 000.
In Kameelrivier an existing sports stadium was upgraded for R1,5 million. During the construction of all the projects 408 people – among them 197 women - were employed, and 209 people were trained.
We are also happy to announce that the MEC for Public Works, Roads and Transport recently launched a multi-million rands project to upgrade the Moloto Road.
The Moloto Road, you will remember, has been dubbed the “Killer Road”.
We plan to build this road in three phases. We have put aside R61-million for the current phase. It is our firm believe that the project would result in the employment of a number of people. The number of people employed would increase at every stage of the project.
Madam Chairperson, our target of providing 20 000 housing units is within our grasp. More than seven thousand new houses have been built and handed over to beneficiaries.
Seven-thousand houses have had their ownership transferred through the discount benefit scheme. More than fourteen hundred housing units are under construction and over 3 000 are being processed for Board approvals.
In our recent Outreach Programme in Daantjie and Msogwabo we could see the smiles on the faces of our people as they took ownership of new tarred roads.
We still hear their voices as they say thank you for what has been done – and continues to be done – in improving their lives. In the past week we launched the Daantjie/Luphisi Road and Phase two of the Daantjie/ Goboza Road in the Mbombela Municipal area.
If attendance at the Imbizos held afterwards with communities of Daantjie, Msogwabo, Spelenyana, Tekwane Karino Farms, Ka-Nyamazane and Matsulu A, is anything to go by, then we are convinced that we are indeed in touch with our people.
May I also mention that amongst the things we did with the community in the past week was to discus the plight of farm dwellers and farmworkers in the province, hand-over funds for disaster relief in the Volkrust area, and launch Indigenous Games at Embalenhle.
Throughout the week the provincial health department took its health awareness programme to the schools, while the provincial social service department held a successful National Children's Day Celebration at the Mbuzini Stadium.
Madam Chairperson, more pregnant women in the province now have access to maternal health through the clinics we built in deep rural areas like Mmamehlake, Lefiso, Kabokweni, Phake, Verena and Daggakraal.
One of the key challenges in the education sector was the restoration of the public confidence on the integrity of our matric results. I can say with confidence that this objective has been successfully realised. That is why it was relatively easy to root out the person who tried to cook the outcome of this year's results.
We have completed a number of new schools, new classrooms, new administration blocks and toilets. More than 160 poverty alleviation projects are up and running this year.
As a Provincial government we continue to place high on the agenda the task of ensuring that all of us act together to achieve high and sustained rates of growth in our economy.
A co-ordinated approach between the provincial government and municipalities in Mpumalanga is starting to pay dividends.
Once a month we have our three Executive Council Clusters sitting with all District Mayors and Executive Mayors of our four strategic towns.
At that meeting members of the Executive in the three Clusters discuss project planning and other matters of common interest with the municipality councilors.
These meetings are preceded by Technical Cluster meetings consisting of municipal managers and heads of provincial departments under the leadership of the provincial Director- General.
These Technical Cluster meetings prepare for the political cluster referred to.
We remain convinced that it is only through creation of a close partnership between the public and private sectors that we can have a growth path that is labour absorbing, reducing inequality, promoting international competitiveness and accompanied by a process of empowerment.
We are developing the tourism industry so as to create more jobs. We Initiated, assisted and supported the development of 21 new tourism projects. Ten of these are up and running while the rest will follow suit in the new financial year. Nine existing tourism projects were supported and enhanced.
These projects have led to the creation of 94 permanent and 582 temporary jobs. In order to exploit the opportunities offered by the global trade strategy, the relevant department launched the SMME Export Strategy together with a provincial export forum and regional forums.
More than thirty-one potential exporters were assisted.
The Mpumalanga Investment Initiative established a vehicle for assisting the business sector, especially small business, to access the international market. Through our assistance two individuals emerging entrepreneurs from the black community managed to secure lucrative export contracts.
The one secured an export contract with the Namibian government to supply field stoves, repairs and maintenance to military machines and vehicles, while the other secured an export contract for leather products.
On the mining front we have facilitated the establishment of eight manufacturing businesses to the value of R32, 4 million and three acquisitions and or mergers between local and foreign companies to the value of R195 million.
Five projects to the value of R20 million are currently in the process of being established in the Province.
Our HIV/Aids projects are on course. Our Aids ambassadors are hard at work. That, in short Madam Chairperson, is our report.
We are aware that we need to work harder. We need political, civic, and corporate leadership who have vision and understand the importance of listening to all voices in the community.
In the same way that we need community activists who have vision, are self-initiating, and focus on the common good. We believe that the activation of the 11 Public Information Terminals in the province would enable community wide and region wide dialogue and deliberation.
We must integrate high tech and high touch to support authentic dialogue. In the process we would also need a print media, television and radio that embraces community or public journalism values. A media that is not shy to commit resources to building community.
On our part we are proud that we have been able to establish an expressed public valuing of trust, respect, and compassion among the people engaged in the civic life of the Mpumalanga community.
I thank you.