Tribute Magazine Forum, Leopard Park Golf Club, Mafikeng
13 September 2006
Programme Director
Tribute Magazine Editor and Publisher, Mr Tlhopeho Modise
The staff and management of Tribute Magazine
Government representatives and leaders of State-Owned Enterprises present
Our social partners in reconstruction and development
Members of the business community
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
"Each generation has the desire for its offspring to be greater than
itself"
I am happy to welcome all of our guests here to Mafikeng, the capital city
of the North West province. In particular, I am privileged to welcome to our
shores the Tribute Magazine team led by editor and publisher Mr Tlhopeho
Modise. I must in all humility also acknowledge the wise words with which I
begin this talk as having been borrowed from Tlhopeho Modise's presentation
entitled, "2006-2036: Going for a powerful future."
As you might be aware, Tribute Magazine re-launched itself last month after
a two and a half year absence from the shelves. We were most delighted to be
part of that rebirth and on the occasion, I had an opportunity to say that
Tribute Magazine had returned to infuse our media with the kind of journalism
that seeks to affirm an African perspective that sees its mission as primarily
being to build, develop, trumpet and take pride in the achievements of our
communities.
Today we continue on that tradition of taking pride of what we are and what
we have achieved as South Africans over a short period of time since 1994. Not
only that, we also share Tribute Magazine's commitment to have South Africans
across sectors debating the kind of future we want for our country and our
people, as well as begin to map scenarios of where our society will be in a few
decades time. Thus, in response to Mr Modise's presentation, "2006 � 2036:
Going for a Powerful Future", I have been asked to talk about the "North West
Vision: 2014 and beyond."
Let me begin by saying that there is a considerable aura of optimism not
only about our province but also our country South Africa, as well as the
continent of Africa in the future stakes of development and prosperity. It is
precisely this optimism and a strong sense of a better tomorrow that we have
come to understand as the Age of Hope, so well-articulated by President Thabo
Mbeki at the beginning of the year.
The North West province derives its visionary impetus from the national
vision 2014, which enjoins all of us in Government to grow the economy to the
rate of six percent and beyond, and halve unemployment and poverty by 2014. We
have already made significant headway in this regard, with our economic growth
as the main driver of our programmes to alleviate poverty and fight
joblessness. We will therefore continue on this economic growth trajectory,
intensifying our efforts at creating new jobs as we maintain current ones;
creating new enterprises as we maintain the existing ones, as well as making
our people self-sustaining.
The progress we continue to make enables us to say that today; the North
West province presents a myriad of opportunities for partnerships between the
public and private sectors as our province and country pursue higher rates of
growth and improvement of the human condition. The 2014 national framework is
therefore the socio-economic and political context within which we locate our
North West Vision of, among others, halving unemployment and poverty by 2014
and growing our economy by 6,6% by 2014, making our country and continent into
a formidable economic and political power-player in world affairs in the coming
years.
Unfortunately because of our well known past of discrimination and
oppression, of lost opportunity and arrested development, our North West
Vision: 2014 and beyond must of necessity begin by addressing the challenges
inherited from the unfavourable past. As Tlhopeho Modise so rightly warns in
his presentation, "the miracle of the transition to democracy should not be the
opium that makes us think we have arrived." In order to arrive, particularly
over the coming years up to 2014 and beyond, we must move swiftly and
ultimately reverse the legacy of that history by, among others: developing and
enhancing our people's capacities and capabilities; accelerating our sustained
implementation of the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) for
integrated and sustainable growth and development of the entire province; and
to achieve this total transformation, strengthen and effectively support the
local governance system so that it delivers to the poor and needy people in our
province.
This vision also entails promoting and protecting the interests and basic
socio-economic rights of vulnerable groups, such as the youth, women, the
elderly and people with disabilities in the province. In fact, there is no
known government in the history of South Africa that is so dedicated to
promoting and protecting the interests of the these vulnerable groups. However,
because the legacy of inequality, lost opportunities and underdevelopment was
cultivated into our society over a long period of time, it will take
considerable time to adequately address these challenges. Only then will we
begin to enjoy life in an equal society where growth and prosperity is shared
by all and is characterised by respect for human dignity and life.
Nevertheless, I believe our vision as the province clearly articulates the
steps that each one of us must take as well as different sectors of society to
inch us closer to the ideal of a better society as envisioned in our
Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Let me mention a few of these practical steps.
As part of our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, and over and
above current programmes addressing the skills shortage in our province, we
have readily incorporated the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for
South Africa (AsgiSA), particularly its programme of the Joint Initiative for
Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) into our programme of action. Among other
things, we are looking at the contribution of higher education institutions to
the implementation of AsgiSA or JIPSA objectives of acquiring priority skills
for our people, including in the fields of science and technology. We will
continue our onslaught as we educate and skill a nation that has had many years
of neglect and deprivation. Specific programmes in our PGDS have begun to
address precisely these imperatives of education and skills development.
Secondly, the call we made to the business community to partner with
government is beginning to bear fruits as we witness daily the investments that
are poured into our provincial economy across the manufacturing, tourism,
mining, financial services, agriculture, hospitality and other sectors of our
economy. I am certain that, for our distinguished guests, the North West
province you see today is vastly different from the province you knew before
and it will be much different and radically improved in the near future.
Thirdly, we are in the second phase of our local government now, having had
the benefit of learning from our successes and shortcomings in the first phase.
I can therefore assure you that all local municipalities across our province
have taken with vigour the task of delivering faster and better services to the
communities, including delivery of our infrastructure needs. As far as we are
concerned, this sphere of government is where people's lives must practically
begin to change for the better, forever. And change it has begun.
Finally, the work we do as government together with all our social partners
continues to give practical meaning to our Vision for 2014 and beyond which
calls upon us, among other things, to progressively reduce unemployment, grow
our economy, develop our people's skills, attract investment, work in
partnerships, create access to opportunities, be competitive and profitable as
well as ensure sustainable development and poverty eradication.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are also building a society based on a culture of honesty, integrity and
compassion. Together, we are putting in place the necessary measures to ensure
that the culture of corruption and lack of accountability is not entrenched in
our new democracy, nor will it persist into the future that we are
constructing. This vision can only be translated into reality if all of us
enter into a people's contract for a more transparent and corruption-free
society!
As part of our national effort to transform society, we must seek to ensure
that our people do not remain passive recipients of government services.
Together, we are creating a new citizenry, a citizenry that is empowered to
seize the opportunities brought by freedom and democracy to bring a better life
to themselves and their fellow citizens.
Collectively, we must make a solemn pledge that as we enter the second
decade of freedom, we will accelerate the offensive on economic and social
exclusion and work towards a society that is truly a home for all. This, we
must do so that all our people can have the possibility of tasting the fruits
of our democracy, because South Africa belongs to them too.
Today, we can say with confidence that from an unjust and inhuman society of
the past, we are witnessing the emergence of a new society where values are
based on justice, equality and human rights. Ours is a vision of a society
where the sick, the poor and the victims of historic injustice can claim a
place of pride alongside the rest of humanity. Together, we must therefore
celebrate the extent to which we have collectively worked towards the
progressive realisation of all the rights enshrined in the Constitution. We
must not tire nor falter in our ongoing efforts to ensure that all our people
taste the fruits of freedom. This we must do because we know that the full
meaning of freedom will only be realised once all our people have been freed
from the legacy of deprivation, poverty and indignity.
The picture of our future society looks bright. It is a picture of a society
characterised by a fundamental and decisive break with the past. It is a
society that seeks to restore the dignity and prosperity for its entire people.
As a result of the work we have done over the last 12 years, we now have a
solid basis upon which to embrace the future with confidence - confidence that
acting together we will overcome the collective challenges that confront us.
Together with our people, we have confidence in our democracy and an enduring
hope that today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than
today. We cling tenaciously to the hope that today's pain is steadily giving
way to a brighter tomorrow.
This is where we locate the North West Vision: 2014 and beyond. It is a
vision for our province and our people upon which our citizens have pinned
their hopes. We are well on course in delivering to this vision. It will
continue to guide us as we together shape the future of our children, a future
that will be distinguished by more opportunities than the previous generations
because "each generation has the desire for its offspring to be greater than
itself."
We therefore thank Tribute Magazine for commencing this revitalisation
process in our province. By doing this, Tribute Magazine has certainly
re-ignited the fires for constructive debate, the thirst for knowledge and the
endless channels of communication that must characterise our interventions as
we seek to change our province and our country for the better. I have no doubt
that Tribute Magazine will continue in their noble task of informing all our
citizens about this vision, the strides we continue to make and whatever
challenges we encounter in the implementation of this vision.
I thank you again for this opportunity to engage in this forum and let the
lively spirit of healthy debate, inspired engagement and constructive criticism
be with all of us for centuries more to come.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
13 September 2006
