Remarks by the MEC for Public Works and Human Settlement Ravi Pillay representing the Premier of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal Willies Mchunu on the occasion of the State of the Continent Address Media Briefing, Hilton Hotel, Durban
Programme Director
Deputy Mayor of eThekwini, Cllr Fawzia Peer
Chair of the African Union Commission, Dr Nkosazane Dlamini-Zuma
MEC Ravi Pillay representing the Premier of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, Willies Mchunu
MEC for Social Development Weziwe Thusi
Officials from the African Unions
Honoured Guests
Members of the media
Good Day
First and foremost, I wish to convey an apology on behalf of the Premier Willies Mchunu. He was looking forward to this important event but could not make it due to a bereavement in his family.
Programme Director, on behalf of KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government and the people of KwaZulu-Natal, we extend our appreciation to the African Union.
We thank the African Union Commission for choosing KwaZulu-Natal for this important event.
The province has positioned itself as the home of African renaissance celebrations as well as an important venue for high profile national and international events that are hosted in South Africa.
It is this province that has in the past hosted the inaugural and founding conference for the formation of the African Union, hosting all the heads of states from the African Continent.
It should be remembered that on the 9th July 2002, the Organization of African Union metamorphosed into the African Union. Meetings ahead of the launch were held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, named after the first African recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Inkosi Albert Mvumbi Luthuli.
The launch, brought together 53 member states who collectively agreed to work towards addressing challenges such as unemployment, poverty and equality. The leaders committed themselves to promote unity and solidarity among African states.
Many other conferences of note such as the World Economic Forum, Non-Aligned Movement Summit, the largest AIDS International Conference in year 2000 and 2016, Commonwealth Conference, CORP 17 and BRICS have been successfully hosted in this city.
We highlight these to contextualize the importance we attach in portraying this province as an important site for exchange of ideas, and finding solutions to problems of different parts of the globe.
The province is being developed as a Centre for cultural and sporting excellence, attracting several cultural and sporting events on a regular basis thus making it the leader in domestic tourism and premier destination for international tourist.
The African Renaissance conference hosted under the KwaZulu-Natal chapter has remained the most enduring as it offers a platform for intellectual debate and spiritual bonding amongst the African thinkers and intellectuals in the continent and in the Diaspora.
Every year, we welcome many guests and delegates from different parts of South Africa and the African Continent as well as the African Americans from the United States of America and other parts of the globe.
It needs to be remembered that the origins of our contemporary liberation struggle is closely associated with the inspiration from many other struggles, amongst which were the struggles of the descendants of the slaves that had been forcibly removed from our soil who continued the fight over generations in the North and South America and other parts of the Western world for the return to their country of origin -Africa.
There is a direct link between the African intellectuals who studied abroad and some of the leading luminaries and proponents of the Pan Africanist thinking in America, such as Marcus Garvey, DEB Du Bois and Booker T Washington. Many of these leaders of the African American people had many discussions with some of the pioneers of the liberation struggle in the continent, such as Dr J.L. Dube, Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme, Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Haile Sellasie and many others who rose to lead their countries out of colonialism.
Dr Dube had even founded a school in Ohlange a few kilometers from this venue modeled it on the Tuskegee Institute founded by Booker T Washington to “train the mind, the heart and the hand.” The work of Mahatma Gandhi especially the peaceful protests (known as satyagraha) formed the main inspiration for the civil rights movement led by Dr Martin Luther King Junior, amongst others. He was also in close communication with Chief Albert Luthuli who led our struggle during the most challenging time in our history.
A few years ago we had the privilege to honour and host Rev Jesse Jackson who was at the side of Dr Martin Luther King during his last moments. He recounted how this realization that the struggle for civil rights and equality for the African Americans was inextricably bound to our own struggle against colonization, oppression and in particular apartheid.
He reminisced about the days they spent together with President Oliver Tambo and Johnny Mfanafuthi Makhathini as they crisscrossed the USA and the different countries in the world to isolate apartheid South Africa internationally.
The commitment of African leaders to the total decolonization of Africa was such a deeply held conviction that was demonstrated by the insistence of the leaders of the Organization of African Unity that as long as one country in the continent is not free, Africa cannot be said to be totally free. They committed resources to the cause of liberating South Africa and never wavered despite the serious losses they suffered and the sacrifices they were forced to pay to defend many freedom fighters –but never abandoned them.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as the province of KwaZulu-Natal we are committed to be part of efforts aimed at finding solutions to the challenges facing the continent.
We salute the out-going chair Nkosazane Dlamini-Zuma for her role in championing the development of the continent.
Flowing from her work, we will sustaining a programme aimed at encouraging the twinning of cities, provinces and academic institutions and partnership amongst the business fraternity.
We want academics from KZN and other parts of the continent to host regular conferences to share ideas and exchange academic staff and students and help to create an African identity of academic excellence across the boundaries.
Sports and cultural exchanges will be used to strengthen the people-to- people relations and work strongly to eradicate xenophobic tendencies such as those that erupted and embarrassed our country over a year ago.
Importantly, as KZN we believe that upliftment of the continent and African people in general lies in their solidarity and in the numbers that they constitute. We are committed to maintaining stronger lines of communication with Africans in the Diaspora as we continue to be inspired by our common history and heritage.
We want to state unequivocally as the KZN government that we believe that our long-term success lies in economic integration with economies of Africa and the world. We cannot prosper in isolation.
Over the years we have hosted the African Economic Expansion Summit and Essence Festivals as part of our efforts aimed at ensuring that as KZN we strengthen socio-economic relations between KwaZulu-Natal and the rest of the continent.
We also hosted 42 African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics. These events presented the provincial government with an opportunity to market KZN to the whole continent.
There has been an overwhelming response from the whole continent with heads of states and captains of industry expressing their willingness to do business with KZN.
I am making these statements to underline the fact that KZN is the Gateway to Africa. We are therefore saying a relationship with KwaZulu-Natal is equal to a relationship with the rest of Africa.
In this regard, we want to take this opportunity to invite potential investors in other parts of the globe to consider KZN for investments. We boasts two economic zones such as Dube Trade Port and the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone. We want the RBIDZ to be catalyst for job creation and foreign direct investments. In pursuit of this objective, we are guided by the Provincial Growth and Development Plans which is linked to the National Development Plan.
More importantly, we have identified RBIDZ as an important site for energy infrastructure. A key highlight of the year was the announcement that Richards Bay has been selected to host the lion’s share of 2000 Megawatts of the 3600 Megawatts allocated to gas power plants as part of the gas Independent Power Producer (IPP) project.
This project will involve construction of a 2000 MW power plant as well as associated infrastructure such as pipes, a berth for a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU), the FSRU itself and associated piping. It is intended that more gas than is needed for the power plant is imported so as to make natural gas available to industry in this province, the country as a whole and neighboring countries.
The development of the African continent will not be possible without the provision of adequate energy. Therefore, we are proud as the provincial government to be part of efforts aimed at ensuring adequate supply of energy in this country and the neighboring countries.
The province has some of the highest hydro-electrical potential within South Africa due to the velocity of the water flow in its rivers as well as the escarp of the Drakensberg providing the best localities. Both Macro and micro hydro-electricity production has a significant potential in the province.
Other forms of alternative energy production such as Wind, Solar and Biomass generation have also shown potential within the province and we are exploring this as part of the solution to climate change.
In conclusion, we want to once again express our appreciation to the entire leadership of the African Union Commission. We thank you for choosing this province for this important engagement.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Ndabezinhle Sibiya
Spokesperson for the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal
Cell: 082 365 4742
