Programme Director,
Honourable MEC Cronje,
Your Worship the Mayor Khumalo,
Your Worship the Mayor Rehman,
Amakhosi ahloniphekile akanye nathi,
Honourable Councillors present,
Senior officials,
Ladies and gentlemen.
It gives us great pleasure to be part of this exciting development being launched today as part of the journey by our democratic government towards making a lasting positive change in the communities of our people.
Today is not only a day to celebrate for this majestic infrastructural development alone, but it should go down in history – for many generations to remember – as a day on which a major milestone was achieved towards the realisation of a dream of creating a KwaZulu-Natal that contributes solidly into a South Africa that is characterised by improved prospects for all its people.
We gather today against the backdrop whereby as a province, we have just begun in earnest to implement our developmental programmes within the parameters of a national roadmap that promises to lead us over the next two decades towards the land of milk and honey where the ills of poverty, unemployment and inequality shall be no more.
As the country verges on the end of the 20-year-period in which our democracy has been in place, we celebrate the variety of achievements by government, working with a number of stakeholders, to redress the imbalances of the past which brought about by the erstwhile oppressive regimes in the form of deprivation of the majority of our people of basic services, job opportunities and normal living conditions.
As the provincial KwaZulu-Natal government, we are busy these days with budget policy presentations taking place in the provincial legislature, whereby we are reviewing the work done by this government as well as the work in progress. The overview in general suggests that we are fast advancing towards the stage where we shall say with pride that we are finally there; that the bridge between the privileged and previously neglected communities has been bridged.
But we have not yet reached the land of promise.
However, we are confident that the National Development Plan along with the Provincial Growth and Development Plan, is the route that will get us to the point where even the previously neglected among our people shall be able to enjoy sustainable jobs, self-generated business opportunities and generally a better life.
President Jacob Zuma has called for an intensification of a multi-sectoral and integrated infrastructural development as a way of growing the economy in a sustainable manner and creating job opportunities towards creating a stable and healthy society, and under his stewardship, the NDP has been developed as a clear strategic framework in this regard.
Ladies and gentlemen, today comes as part of the Corridor Development Programme which is being rolled out by the Provincial Government of KwaZulu-Natal as a priority intervention aimed at promoting local economic development and growth across the province.
This programme, which is aligned also with the New Growth Path that gives impetus to sustainable job creation, has therefore given birth to this airport that we are unveiling here in Newcastle, which promises to massively boost tourism, the movement of goods and thus promote small, medium to big business owing to the fact that it is positioned as a linchpin of the country’s key economic nodes.
Given that Amajuba as a district consists of mining, tourism and fast growing retail industries, the development of this airport provides a much-needed linkage between the eThekwini and Joburg economies, but, foremost, it means that even the local economy around the Midlands will now smoothly feed into the broader provincial pot and ultimately the national fiscus.
Indeed this is a day to remember; a development to celebrate as a province.
Despite a notable drop in demand for textile coupled with the drop in demand caused by cheaper imports, which has seen Newcastle suffering from job losses in the manufacturing sector, the local municipality has, nonetheless, managed to remain competitive as a node and has managed to maintain its position as a growing municipality.
Given its importance as a secondary node in the province, Newcastle has received priority support from the Provincial Government in nodal developmental projects, including funding of a number of initiatives emanating from the Local Economic Development Strategy and CBD Development Plan, of which the currently ongoing projects is the Rehabilitation and Upgrade of Newcastle Airport to the tune of R2, 5 million.
Further to the upgrades being undertaken on the airport, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is also conducting an in-depth assessment of business growth prospects whilst also developing strategies for development.
We are pleased ladies and gentlemen in that the upgrading of the airport will have the following positive outcomes:
- Expand tourism, support export oriented agriculture and industrial development.
- Enable handling of commercial flights alongside emergency and disaster relief flights.
- Unlock the potential of producing pilots from all our communities through the Blue Chip Flight School.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Honourable Premier, Dr ZL Mkhize, in his State of the Province Address, this year instructed us to make our critical contribution for the whole of our country to move forward and, critically, meet the Millennium Development Goals as we progress to realize our vision for South Africa by the year 2030.
And the NDP says that "between now and 2030, we need to move towards a state that is more capable, more professional and more responsive to the needs of its citizens."
We are guided by this vision as we continue with the task of building a truly developmental state.
What gives us hope in terms of the project we are launching today is the fact that Amajuba and Newcastle are part of the KwaZulu-Natal which in this era, is characterised by a stable local government system that complies with all legislative prescripts. Its agenda is firmly focused on development.
The department will continue with the mandate to support municipalities build their capacity in driving LED initiatives. As a province we have supported 14 municipalities with the LED Benchmarking Peer Review programme. We still hold the view that municipalities should be engines that drive economic growth and not just purveyors of service delivery only. Our PGDP highlights a number of specific local economic initiatives that remain unexploited.
Support has been provided to Municipalities on an ongoing basis to implement projects that will create an enabling environment for further economic growth. We must indicate that the implementation of the corridor development projects, of which the Airport today is part of, in the current cycle has opened up at least 581 jobs which led to poverty alleviation and broad based economic growth for the entire province.
We are confident that, through this project, a number of sustainable jobs will be created both directly from the airport but as well as through economic opportunities through the entire corridor linking Durban, Newcastle and Joburg.
As we are faced with the challenge of providing education, awareness and safety as a result of the bad weather phenomenon emanating from climate change, we are pleased that the airport will provide for aerial emergency rescue responses as and when required. The area of Amajuba in the recent years has been among those in our province which have been affected by various types of disaster incidents.
In conclusion, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the whole of Amajuba District and the entire province of KwaZulu-Natal on this significant development.
We thank those who are heartily involved in making this project a success. In the spirit of working together let us continue to make a lasting positive impact in the lives of our people and create a secure and prosperous future for all our communities in the province. Indeed KwaZulu-Natal is better since 1994.
Thank you!
