The Programme Director
House of traditional leaders in the province
Traditional leaders present here
The Executive Mayor
Honourable councillors
SABC representatives
ICASA representative
SAPO representative
IEC representative
The traditional leadership present here
The community of Tiyane and neighbouring villages
All public representatives
Ladies and gentlemen
! Aa! Avuxeni!
On the, 27 April 1994, we held our first democratic elections, signalling the end of racist apartheid rule.
This month we remember that historic moment. We are celebrating our triumph over institutionalised racism, repression, state-sponsored violence and the enforced division of our people based on race or ethnicity.
I’m pleased to announce that this year’s National Freedom Day commemorations will be held in this province, in Giyani on 27 April. President Jacob Zuma, and Cabinet Ministers will be attending this event. I’m extending the invitation well in advance to all of you here, please let’s all attend freedom day commemoration in numbers.
Today millions of people now have access to clean water, healthcare services, education, housing and many other basic needs which they did not have before 1994. Work is continuing to reach more people each year.
The National Development Plan which is the country’s socio-economic development blueprint which is being implemented by government, outlines the type of society we want to be in 2030.
Informed by this Plan, we are working to build a future where every citizen of our country lives in a community with proper infrastructure, be it a road, school, clinic, recreational facilities, a community hall, electricity, water and sanitation.
We recommit ourselves as government to ensure that all policies and plans that we develop and implement, build a better future for our children and the youth.
While government acknowledges that times are tough economically, we are positive that as government we shall do our utmost best to improve the lives of our people by creating better conditions that are conducive to economic growth and job creation.
In the Local Government front: Government is intensifying the implementation of the Back to Basics local government revitalisation plan. Active monitoring includes unannounced municipal visits, front line service delivery points in government facilities, spot checks of supply chain management processes and site visits to Municipal Infrastructure Grant funded projects.
There is greater improvement in accountability measures for example as the recommendations of the audit outcomes and forensic reports are being implemented.
A 10-point plan of Back to Basics priority actions has been developed and it includes the promotion of community engagement.
Digital Migration progress: Often people ask me, when the Digital Migration is going to start, the quick answer to that is the digital migration has started. Last year in October myself together with the team, stakeholders and role players involved in the project launched the registration process in the Northern Cape Province . To date , over 12 thousands households have registered with the South African Post Office to receive government subsidized Set-Top-Boxes.
This is the expectation I have from you people of Tiyani. I’m expecting this community to go and register at the Post Office so that you can be able to receive these devices when the distribution starts in this province. As government we have gone through the process of gazetteing the broadcasting digital migration policy, and making Set-top-boxes available, and it is time now that you as community take an initiative to go and register at your nearest post office.
This digital Migration project, also comes with the benefit of training and job creation for young people. The plan is to have these set-top- boxes installed by local young people. As government, we have developed a training plan that will see some of the young people trained and certified to be installers of these devices during the distribution phase.
The installation and maintenance of these boxes will be required even after the rollout of digital migration programme. This means that this is a skill that people like yourselves will continue to benefit from economically.
This means that all of us will have new experience of our Free-To-Air television broadcasting services in South Africa.
I wish to thank the support that our traditional leaders are providing to the local communities on this registration process. I believe that all the social and political structures will follow suite in ensuring that everybody is registered within a short space of time, and drive the public awareness in this area.
We have exhibitors outside this venue from various government entities, please do visit their stalls, and find out about their service offerings. This entities are here to talk to you on issues that you may need clarity on in order to participate fully in our economy.
All of us here have a responsibility to jealously guard the freedom that we attained in 1994, together we can move this country forward.
I thank you.
