PREMIER'S REMARKS
Programme Director Dr. Jacobs
Co-organiser of this seminar
Leader of the research project, Dr. Marais
Delegates and distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for the opportunity to address you on the occasion of this auspicious research seminar. It is a privilege and an honour to be here and to share a few thoughts with you.
Allow me first to welcome you all to the province of the Rising Sun and to the city of Nelspruit. I trust that the proceedings of the day – both the formal and informal interactions - will prove to be a very rewarding experience to all of you.
But it will please me even more if tomorrow I am told that indeed you contributed in a big way to the realisation of uniting in action to change the lives of all the rural poor in our province – black and white.
I am told you are here to talk about the role that education and training can play in rural human development. I am also informed that you conducted your research in parts of the Lowveld region, now known as Ehlanzeni.
During your research you must, I believe, have come face to face with poverty beyond description. And you must have wondered so many people could still be wallowing in abject poverty seven years after ushering in democratic rule.
Do not despair. It is my belief that if poverty is indeed to be eradicated and truly sustainable and development is to be achieved, we need to be united in action towards change.
The poor are seldom poor by choice. Very few people in this province enjoy living on handouts. Most poor people know that they are quite capable of earning their living by their own efforts, and are eager to do so. But they must be given a fair chance to compete.
In addressing the twin problems of unemployment and poverty, we need as a province to mobilise our own resources, both human and material. We need to attract investment from outside the province and from abroad.
Our ability to do that depends, in the first instance, on the quality of our governance. Men and women in this province can only compete in the global market if they enjoy the benefits of education and training.
As UN Secretary-General Kofi Anann said recently, people need to enjoy the benefits of effective State institutions, transparency and accountability in public affairs, respect for human rights, and a say in the decisions that affect their lives.
So there is much that even the least educated person can do, and are doing, to help themselves. Many have made remarkable strides towards self-sustenance, even in the midst of poverty.
Ladies and gentlemen, in this province and in the country as a whole development in general and human development in particular have become national imperatives.
Our province has regions that count among the most advanced regions in the country. The Middelburg-Witbank nodal growth point; The Nelspruit – White River area, etc. But there are areas where one can see, feel, touch and smell poverty.
That is why as government we have in recent years identified, invested in and launched a number of projects in order to uplift the poorest amongst the poor.
I am proud to mention that in the past few months we have approved poverty alleviation projects worth more than six million rands in the three districts.
In the Ehlanzeni district we approved two million, six hundred and fifty-five thousand directly benefiting four hundred and forty-seven households. The Asikhuthalisane Abattoir Project in Dwaleni with nineteen beneficiaries was given a cash injection of four hundred and eighty five thousand rands.
The Sihlangene Abattoir Project in Vaalbank in the Ekangala district, with fifteen beneficiaries was given a cash injection of four hundred and eighty five thousand rands. This project is one of the many projects worth one million, eight hundred and ninety thousand rands benefiting four hundred and twenty-four households in the district.
In the Eastvaal more than one hundred and ninety-nine households are benefiting from projects worth one million, four hundred and sixty thousand rands. The Ekulindeni Hydroponics project involved in vegetable and strawberry production is worth more than four hundred thousand rands and has thirty-nine beneficiaries.
We are committed to social and human development in our province. Many of you have repeatedly reminded us that Mpumalanga is one of two provinces that currently do not have an institution of higher education of its own.
Your concern has borne fruit. Recently Education Minister Professor Kader Asmal announced a policy that will ultimately lead to the establishment of a National Institute for Higher Education in our province.
In the mean time, however, I can say with conviction that the thirteen institutions represented here have done excellent work. Allow me therefore to refer to the co-organiser of today's seminar, Technikon Southern African.
Technikon SA was one the original signatories and partners of the UTEC project, which I believe in its own way, influenced Dr Asmal's proposal on the establishment of a National Institute for Higher Learning in Mpumalanga.
The commitment of Technikon SA in the development of government officials on provincial and local level is noticeable in almost every government department and in many local authorities.
The central focus of today's seminar counts as one of the TSA's investments in our region.
This program has over the past four years become deeply involved in studying educational and training needs, training methods, quality control measures, organizational issues – all with a view to improving the quality of life of our people.
Today the project team, under its leader, Dr. Marais, will share with us details of their work. Considering the invitation to the seminar and the composition of the program it is clear that we will also be asked to advise them on the implications of their work, its implementation and the way forward. I also wish to appreciate the enabling role played by the National Research Foundation in funding the project.
Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you well with today's proceedings. It is my hope indeed my conviction – that today's seminar contributes in tangible ways to the social and human development of our people.
It is now a privilege to declare the seminar, on Education and training in rural human development, officially open.
I thank you.