Programme Director,
The Honourable Premier,
Members of the Executive Council in the Province
Members of the District Municipality and Local Councillors
Traditional Authorities present,
Representatives from Organised Business
Community Leaders, from NGO’s, Community Based Organisations and Faith Based Organisations,
Leaders from all political formations,
Members of the community,
Ladies and gentlemen,
All protocol observed.
Introduction
I am very honoured and privileged to address this important gathering today. Starting a new way of coming to Areas mentioned in the State of the Nation Address (SoNA).
Each day our government strive towards the improvement of the life of ordinary South Africans, government at all levels remain committed to improve service delivery to our people.
The policies and programmes of government shows great level of commitment to making South Africa a better place.
Programme Director
On February 9 the President of the Republic of South Africa, President Jacob Zuma, delivered the State of the Nation Address, at 1900 in the evening. This was the second year running where the President has delivered the State of the Nation Address in the evening.
Delivering the speech in the evening, has allowed the President to reach ordinary working South Africans, who otherwise would not have witnessed the event due to them being at work during the day.
During the SONA the President, accounted to the Nation and outlined our plans, as government, for the year ahead. He also charged us, as his Cabinet, to write a new story about South Africa, together with our people.
Understanding that this new South African story needs to be written by all of us, collectively, the President has also instructed that we come to you, the people, so that you are on board in the writing of this story.
Today we are here to take, the people of Ingquza Hills Municipality and Lubala Village along with us as we write this story. Let it not be a story of destruction of torching and burning of schools, libraries, community halls, municipal offices, other public amenities – as those are infrastructure need of society. It must not be a story of endless corruption, of inequality, of unemployment and of poverty.
Ladies and gentleman:
I will now take this opportunity to engage, together with you, on some of the most pertinent issues that came out of the SONA.
You have the right to strike but not destroy, the Right to demonstrate but not burn and torch property, the Right to express your views, to draw attention to issues that affect you as people, but within the Law.
Government achievements and commitments from the 2012 SONA
The recent events in communities call for a reflection on whether we want to be known as violent and as destroyers-
- We must not condone, the negativity that comes with protests and demonstrations.
- However, we must agree on the need to move with speed to deliver on quality basic service, e.g. water running on taps, proper sanitation (not holes / not buckets); to ensure electricity is on; garbage/refuse removal is happening, our towns; townships and suburbs are clean; the schools; Pre-Schools (early learning centres); community parks; recreational facilities; and our roads are paved & or maintained.
All these are possible if we grow our economy that creates jobs, and our people paying for services that they are consuming. We need a partnership, we need to work together, we must listen to the voices & grievances of the people, attend to them, respond to them and build a winning nation, enter into a second transition of Economic Emancipation (or Economic Freedom) and do things in “New Inspiring Ways)
Our government has been successful in a number of areas. However, the country continues to battle against the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
Unemployment:
According to the survey conducted by Stats SA, the unemployment rate in this Province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) stands at %, while the highest in the country is North West which is standing at 26.6%. This high rate of unemployment is unacceptable. A large population of young people in the Ingquza Hills Municipality and Lubala Village are unemployed and both the province and the municipality must take initiative that will create job opportunities. In order to reduce unemployment the President has outlined government plans and programmes as interventions that require all of us to participate in changing our lives.
Government has worked on decreasing the unemployment rate – as indicated by the fourth quarter figures released on 7 February 2012, which indicate that the rate of unemployment has come down from 25% to 23.9% as a result of new jobs.
During 2011, a total of 365 000 people were employed – the country’s best performance since the recession of 2008.
Government has also developed a mining beneficiation strategy which seeks to provide opportunities in the downstream part of the minerals sector.
Poverty:
The Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe continues to unleash efforts under the auspices of “War on poverty campaign” which seeks to reduce social injustice. This campaign is supported by all departments and spheres of government, but its success also depends on communities taking initiatives to eradicate poverty. Food security is at the centre of the fight against poverty and nothing stops the people of Ingquza Hill from utilising the land to establish secured and supported vegetable gardens.
KZN witnessed the first “Poverty War Room” established in Mngome, Umsinga where the Deputy President and the Premier of KZN confirmed government’s commitment to eradicate poverty, which manifests in various dimension, i.e. access to food, unemployment, access to basic services, wellbeing and among others. These dimensions explain how people experience poverty, which is exacerbated by historical race factors and deprivation.
South Africa is continually challenged by our bitter history that has divided our society in every sphere – economic, social, political, moral, cultural and environmental. Siyoyinqoba if we continue to mobalise our communities in line with “Operationa Sukuma Sakhe”, which is a ward based programme launched in KZN to fight against poverty (ububha)
In addressing pressing needs, expenditure on social grants will grow from R105 billion in 2012/13 to R122 billion in 2014/15. At present, nearly 16 million South Africans receive social grants. With effect from April 2012:
The monthly state old age pension and the disability and care dependency grants will rise by R60 a month to R1 200, or R1 220 for pensioners over the age of 75,
Foster care grants will increase by R30 to R770,
The child support grant will increase to R280.
Expanded Public Works Programme: By the second quarter of the 2011/12 financial year, the infrastructure sector of the Expanded Public Works Programme had created 241 177 work opportunities out of the 440 000 targeted for the 2011/12 financial year.
Community Works Programme: Chief amongst this is the contribution by the Community Works Programme which created more than 79 000 work opportunities in the same period benefitting women and the youth particularly from the poor rural families. In addition, the Human Settlements Programme created over 50 000 direct jobs, 4 653 indirect jobs and 21 446 induced job opportunities.
All departments and spheres of government have a responsibility to ensure the development and support of small enterprises and cooperatives, utilise government resources, including The Jobs Fund, and to promote the enhancement of skills through Vocational Training.
We are aware that tourism remain a critical pillar of the district economy, Vhembe has vast tourism potential that need to be protected and with its strategic tourists points like Mapungubwe, Big tree, the Kruger National Park, Lake Fundudzi, Nandoni dam, Tshatshingo potholes, Phiphidi waterfalls and Vharwa caves.
The people of this area must take pride in the fact that very few districts can match Vhembe combination of wild life, rich culture and biosphere reserve.
Bulk Infrastructure Development
The President announced an infrastructure which plan will be driven and overseen by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Council (PICC), which was established in September, bringing together Ministers, Premiers and Metro Mayors under the leadership of the President and the Deputy President.
The PICC has identified and developed projects and infrastructure initiatives from state-owned enterprises as well as national, provincial and local government departments.
The President also committed to convening a Presidential Infrastructure Summit to discuss the implementation of the plan with potential investors and social partners.
- Being a gateway to other African markets, South Africa is an important emerging economy that must work more on supplying energy, transport, communications, ports, rail links, pipelines, road and rail infrastructure and investment in the continent.
- South Africa’s R300-billion public infrastructure programme, including those projects that will unlock key mineral resources and exports.
- In this Limpopo province, there will be development and integration of rail, road and water infrastructure, centred around two main areas: the Waterberg in the Western part of the province and Steelpoort in the eastern part. These efforts are intended to unlock the enormous mineral belt of coal, platinum, palladium, chrome and other minerals, in order to facilitate increased mining as well as stepped-up beneficiation of minerals.
Other major projects in the country:
- The Durban-Free State-Gauteng industrial and logistics corridor.
- The Umzimvubu Dam will be accompanied by the building of the N2 Wildcoast Highway to connect rural communities, link farms to markets and reduce transport times between the East London and Durban by about two hours.
- The rail-line from the Northern Cape is connected to a new private-sector manganese sinter plant in the province, and is due for completion by June.
- The eastern parts of the North West province will benefit from the greater focus on infrastructure connected to mining and mineral beneficiation.
- Improvement on the movement of goods and economic integration through a Durban-Free State-Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor: This project is intended to connect the major economic centres of Gauteng and Durban/Pinetown, and at the same time, connect these centres with improved export capacity through our sea-ports.
The President announced the Market Demand Strategy of Transnet, which entails an investment, over the next seven years, of R300 billion rand in capital projects. The Market Demand Strategy will result in the creation of more jobs in the South African economy, as well as increased localisation and Black Economic Empowerment.
It will also position South Africa as a regional trans-shipment hub for Sub-Saharan Africa and deliver on NEPAD’s regional integration agenda. R200 billion is allocated to rail projects and the majority of the balance, to projects in the ports. Amongst the list of planned projects, is the expansion of the Iron Ore Export channel from 60 million tons per annum to 82 million tons per annum.
- There are various improvements to the Durban-Gauteng Rail corridor and the phased development of a new 16 million tons per annum manganese export channel through the Port of Ngqura in Nelson Mandela Bay.
- The State is also looking at the necessity of reducing port charges, as part of reducing the costs of doing business as this was raised sharply by the automotive sector in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage during the performance monitoring visit to the sector last year.
- The Port Regulator and Transnet have agreed to an arrangement which will result in exporters of manufactured goods, receiving a significant decrease in port charges, during the coming year, equal to about R1 billion in total.
- The development of a major new South Eastern node that will improve the industrial and agricultural development and export capacity of the Eastern Cape region, and expand the province’s economic and logistics linkages with the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
- The state is committed to building a dam using the Umzimvubu River as the source in Eastern Cape, in order to expand agricultural production.
- The implementation of the Mthatha revitalisation project is proceeding very well and this is a Presidential special project. Work is at an advanced stage to improve water, sanitation, electricity, roads, human settlements, airport development and institutional and governance issues.
- Expansion of the roll-out of water, roads, rail and electricity infrastructure in the North West. Ten priority roads will be upgraded.
- Improvement of infrastructure to unlock this potential, which includes the expansion of the iron-ore rail line between Sishen in Northern Cape and Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape, which will create large numbers of jobs in both provinces. The iron-ore capacity on the transport-side will increase capacity to 100 million tons per annum and this will allow for the expansion of iron-ore mining over the next decade to feed the developing world’s growing investment in infrastructure and industrial activities.
- Social infrastructure projects include projects aimed at laying the basis for the National Health Insurance system such as the refurbishment of hospitals and nurses’ homes.
- South Africa’s bid to host the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope in partnership with eight other African countries.
- South Africa champions the North-South Road and Rail Corridor, which is part of the African Union’s NEPAD Presidential Infrastructure Championing initiative.
- The massive investment in infrastructure will industrialise the country, generate skills and boost much needed job creation.
- The President will convene a Presidential infrastructure summit to discuss the implementation of the plan with potential investors and social partners.
- Building new universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape: A total of 300 million rand has been allocated for the preparatory work towards
Basic education
The matric percentage pass is on an upward trend and more efforts will be made in continuing to invest in producing more teachers who can teach mathematics, science and African languages.
- A call to teachers to be in school, in class, on time, teaching for at least seven hours a day remains pivotal to success.
- A major achievement is the doubling of Grade R enrolment, from 300 000 in 2003 to 705 000 in 2011. There is a clear sign that the target of 100% coverage for Grade R by 2014 will be met.
- To fight poverty and inequality and to keep learners in school, over 8 million learners attend no-fee schools while over eight million benefit from government’s school feeding scheme.
- Last year, national government instituted a Section 100 (1)(b) intervention in the Eastern Cape, to assist the department of education to improve the delivery of education. The implementation of the intervention will continue and all is working well with the province in this regard.
- School attendance in the country is now close to 100 percent for the compulsory band, 7-15 years of age. But there is still a concern regarding the report of the General Household Survey in 2010 that just over 120 000 children in that band are out of school and Grade 10 drop outs appear to be a problem, particularly in the rural and farm areas of the Western Cape. The national Government will work closely with the Western Cape government, to trace these learners and provide support so that they do not lose their future.
- With regards to higher education, government has exceeded targets. Close to 14 000 learners were placed in workplace learning opportunities over the past year, and over 11 000 artisans have completed their trade tests.
As government we strongly encourage our young people to take the education opportunities presented to them to get quality education, because they are the future leaders of this beautiful country.
Municipal Infrastructure Development
Strategic Objectives
- To support municipalities to effectively undertake Comprehensive Infrastructure Planning
- To support municipalities to effectively and efficiently procure and develop their infrastructure
- To support the management of (infrastructure) operations and ensuring a proper maintenance programme for municipal infrastructure;
- To provide specialised technical and management support to municipalities to ensure accelerated delivery of municipal infrastructure and service provision;
- To develop and coordinate the strengthening of technical capacity in municipalities and within the sector as well as facilitate increased access to funding;
- To monitor the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of infrastructure projects and support initiatives;
Cooperative Governance
Cooperative governance is the key towards achieving the goals that we have set for ourselves as government.
We all need to embrace the spirit with which the Local Government Turnaround Strategy was conceptualised.
The strategic objectives of Local Government Turnaround Strategy:
- Restore the confidence of the majority of the people in our municipalities, as delivery machine of the developmental state at local level;
- Re-build and improve basic requirements for a functional accountable, responsive, effective, efficient developmental local government
- The Local or cooperative governance sphere is a sphere where all of us, have a role to play. We are all players in cooperative governance. There are no reserves and no bystanders.
- We take this opportunity to acknowledge the good performance by the Provincial Government of Limpopo in forming partnerships with stakeholders which continues to strengthen democracy and community participation.
- We are also acknowledging those municipalities like Govan Mbeki Local Municipality who have performed well over the past financial period, in which they received an unqualified audit report from the Auditor General.
- We are aware that some of the municipalities in this Province did not do badly themselves even though there are still areas of improvement.
Programmes to Build Houses for the poor (RDPs) Social Housing, Rented Stock and assisting those, not qualified to buy houses e.g. not qualifying for the RDP/ not for bond.
Performance, Monitoring & Evaluation to ensure Performance Agreements with Minister and President are fulfilled, Quality Basic Services are guaranteed, Target & Outcomes are realised. Will visit areas, point at weaknesses and correct them, & assure our people we mean business, in the Inspiring new Ways.
All of these government initiatives will happen in the context that includes the New Growth Path framework aimed at identifying job drivers as infrastructure development, tourism, agriculture, mining, manufacturing and the green economy.
As I conclude, the government call on all of us to take responsibility of our destiny and promote social cohesion and let us write the story of this beautiful country together!
Once again I wish to declare that “Together We Can Do More”
I thank you
