Programme Director Mr Dimitri Van der Westhuizen,
The Executive Mayor of Govan Mbeki Local Municipality Her Worship Cllr LL Masina,
The Executive Chairman of Hydra-Arc Mr J Maciel,
Sasol Executive Mr Flip De Wet and all Sasol line managers,
Chief Executive Officer Mr J Maswanganyi and your line managers,
Mayoral Committee Members and all Councillors in our midst,
Heads of Departments and all Government officials in our midst,
All media present,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning.
It is a privilege for me on behalf of the Honourable Premier of Mpumalanga, Mr DD Mabuza, to witness this historical event - the launch of the C3 vessel, which I’m informed, is the biggest ever vessel of its kind to be fabricated on our shores. We congratulate Hydra Arc (Pty) Ltd for this new ground breaking Project.
On the same breadth, we further wish to re-affirm that the private sector is our critical partner in attaining the 2030 Vision underlined by the National Development Plan, as well as the targets we have set ourselves in the Mpumalanga Economic Growth and Development Path (MEGDP).
As government, our primary focus is on skills acquisition, job creation and inclusive globally competitive growth, hence we will continue to strengthen partnership with the private sector in this regard.
We also express our profound appreciation to Sasol for walking the talk, by not only putting trust into locally developed technology, but also being the first to consume the local product and by so doing; Sasol has given the “Proudly South African Campaign” a big boost. They deserve a big round of applause, for believing in local products and skills.
We thus call upon all other corporate citizens to join Sasol in helping to develop and support the local technology. As the Provincial Government, we have every intention to tap from your knowledge base and expertise, particularly on the acquisition of highly trained welding artisans. I’m therefore confident that going forward, we will cease to import welders as we did during the construction of the 2010 FIFA World Cup infrastructure and the construction of the Kusile Power Station.
We must build internal capacity to produce world class welders, and we will be counting on companies such as Hydra Arc to achieve this strategic target. This will be in support of the call by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, who has declared 2013 as the year of the Artisan. Skills Development is a lifelong, self-reinforcing process which is required for growth and development.
Special recognition must go to the Executive Chairman of Hydra Arc Mr J Maciel for his vision which has come to fruition, through this unprecedented C3 Vessel Fabrication Project.
Today, the people of Mpumalanga are reading your story Mr Maciel, wherein scene one (1) begins with an informal backyard welding operation, and the scene we have come to witness today is hopefully not the last scene of your story.
This scene is about a state of the Art workshop equipped with locally developed world class technology, hence the birth of the New Ground breaking C3 Vessel. It is just the beginning in the sequel to your original story, and hopefully the trilogy will be even better and not too long awaited.
Once more we wish to congratulate Sasol and Hydra Arc on the partnership. The Mpumalanga Provincial Government wishes to register its support to these kinds of initiatives with the potential to take the economy of this country to another level.
Working together, we can do more to grow our skills base required for economic growth and development.
I thank you!
