Head of Department, Advocate Matshidiso Mogale
Departmental Management
Ladies and gentlemen
Good Morning
We meet today at the beginning of a very important period of our democracy; the last year of the fourth electoral term of a democratically elected government and as you are all gathered here to take stock of your performance in the first quarter of this financial year, I want to take the opportunity to share a few pointers with you going forward towards achieving 20 years of democratic governance on a high note.
We are at point in our democracy where we need to ensure that the needs of young people in this country are put at the top of the food chain and we are the most better placed to elevate youth empowerment to its rightful place on our developmental agenda.
I hope and believe that we are on the right track as a department on improving the lives of young people in this province; we should bear in mind that the majority of youth in this country are not active participants in the mainstream of the economy and this indeed should be a worrying factor to us - especially 19 years into democracy.
Our performance review should serve as an introspection as to how far have we managed in implementing the War on Poverty programme since it was launched by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe three years or so back in this province.
We must be able to confidently report at the end of this electoral term that indeed we are winning this war on poverty and changing the lives of our people in those identified impoverished areas, especially rural areas of the North West.
In recent months, we have seen escalating levels of abuse and violence directed towards women and children in this country; and the North West province has not been an exception to the case.
I must say that I was humbled by the responses and interventions by departmental officials in Taung following the brutal murder of Ms Pontsho Mogapi at Manokwane Village in Taung, allegedly by her husband at the end of last month. Your efforts are living testimony of our ability to make a difference in the lives of those that we serve as a department.
We need to intensify our efforts in general to achieve a clean audit at the end of this financial year while at the same time delivering quality services to the people of the North West and I believe that I will elude further on my vision for this very important period of the electoral term for this department during our future encounters.
Ladies and gentlemen, mediocrity and sub-standard performance is not going to be tolerated in this department; but working together, we can achieve more than what has been achieved already.
I thank you.
