honourable MEC K Padayachee, MPL, Mpumalanga Legislature
14 June 2007
Honourable Speaker, Mrs YN Phosa
Honourable Premier, Mr Thabang Makwetla
Colleagues in the Executive Council
Members of the Legislature
Mayors and councillors
Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders, Inkosi Mthethwa
Your Excellencies, Amakhosi
The Director-General (DG)
Heads of departments (HoDs) and public entities
The business community
The media
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Madam Speaker, this budget and policy speech takes place two days before we
celebrate/commemorate our youth. On 16 June 1976 the youth uprising that took
place gave momentum to the struggle for freedom and liberation in our country.
Today, 31 years later, we must enable and encourage our youth to take up the
economic opportunities out there help to develop their skills and secure their
future.
"When we set out on our journey in 2004 to create work in order to fight
poverty, we fore grounded economic development and planning as the nucleus of
our administration plans," honourable Premier Makwetla said this in his 2007
State of the Province address (SOPA). Madam Speaker, a strong foundation has
already been laid down from which we can build on further policies and
programmes to accelerate the process of economic growth and transformation.
Although there are visible signs of progress on certain areas of work,
however, I must indicate that the challenges still lying ahead are
enormous.
Our Constitution calls upon us to improve the quality of life of all
citizens and free the potential of each person. It is in this context, Madam
Speaker, that economic growth is key if we have to improve the lives of our
people. Growing a sustainable economy will certainly contribute to development
and job creation.
As a Department of Economic Development and Planning (the Department), we
will continue to accelerate programmes aimed at stimulating economic growth and
development in the province and we believe that this will give us a distinct
possibility to come closer to the realisation of our organisational vision.
Mpumalanga economy
Demographics
The re-demarcation of provincial and municipal boundaries has resulted in a
7,9% net population gain for Mpumalanga which translates to approximately 255
500 people thus increasing its share of South Africa's population from 6,9% to
7,4%. This means Mpumalanga has become the sixth largest province in South
Africa by population.
The incorporation of Bushbuckridge Municipality into our province, an area
that historically lacks economic infrastructure, will need strong attention in
order to realise its full potential particularly in the tourism and agro
processing sectors. The spatial distribution of the rural settlements is in an
area which is far from most of the areas of industry.
Madam Speaker, there was a general increase in the Human Development Index
(HDI) which is a measure of people's standard of living. For Mpumalanga's
population it rose from 0,50 in 1996 to 0,54 in 2005. The increase was more
pronounced within the black population, rising from 0,43 to 0,5 in just under
10 years. Robust government spending particularly on education; basic health
services and the implementation of affirmative action policies and employment
equity are some of the factors that contributed to the rise in HDI amongst the
black population.
Economic growth [regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP)]
Madam Speaker, a number of aspects relating to the economic outlook for the
province has already been highlighted in the budget speech of the MEC for
Finance. I will only make additions and updates for emphasis.
The contribution of Mpumalanga to South Africa's economy was fifth overall
in 2005, accounting for 6,7% of the national total. Mpumalanga's share of
national total has remained fairly steady over the past 10 years whilst that of
its neighbouring province, Limpopo, has increased steadily over the same
period.
Since the low of 1,3% in 2001, the provincial economic growth rate has
increased steadily over the years to reach 4,3% in 2005.
Madam Speaker, our goal for South Africa is to grow the economy by at least
6% in order to address the challenge of halving unemployment and poverty by
2014.
Madam Speaker, we conducted sector studies in the financial year 2006/07
focusing on:
* agro-processing
* mining
* tourism
* metals and metal products
* petrochemicals
* film and video, in conjunction with the Department of Sports, Arts and
Culture.
The sector studies, Madam Speaker, have proposed catalytic initiatives which
if implemented would assist in galvanising the economy to faster growth
rates.
There is a growing urgency to support growing sectors and I wish to
re-enforce what the MEC for Finance highlighted in her speech that the
financial services sector in the sphere of call centres and Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO), is an area where opportunities are and needs attention for
it to grow.
A positive sign is that all the broad sectors of the economy posted positive
growth for the year 2005. The construction industry led the growing industries
as it grew by 9,8%. Transport and communication as well as the finance and
business services all did relatively well, growing by 5,6% and 6,5%
respectively. Although agriculture, forestry and fishing only grew by 3,7% this
was an improvement upon the previous year's figure of 1,8%. Madam Speaker, this
industry is key in that it has a high rate of absorbing labour. The two major
industries in the province, manufacturing and mining, grew at 3,9% and 2,7%
respectively. Although they recorded positive growth, indications are that the
primary and secondary industry share to the provincial economy is growing at a
slower rate. From 1996 to 2005, tertiary industries increased their overall
share contribution towards the provincial economy by 3%. Share contributions by
primary as well as secondary industries shrunk by approximately 1,5% each.
Tourism
Tourism related activities fall within the tertiary sector and in 2005 total
foreign direct spending in tourism related activities contributed close to 7%
of provincial GGP. The ever growing importance of tourism towards the
provincial economy cannot be overlooked. It is therefore appropriate that
Heritage, Greening Mpumalanga and Tourism are one of the "Big 5" projects for
Mpumalanga. Madam Speaker, Mpumalanga consistently retains its number four
ranking with regard to international visitors but has not performed as well on
the domestic front. It should however be noted that statistics on domestic
tourism have been called to question many a time. Government needs to work with
the private sector and communities to invest more resources into building
tourism infrastructure as well as undertaking a concerted marketing drive that
improves the brand of the province both locally and internationally.
Madam Speaker, we are now looking seriously into other forms of tourism to
increase our product offerings and diversify our tourism base. Further, a new
shared vision is currently being developed with the intention that it will
define the way in which we will turn tourism around and make a substantial
contribution to the economy of the province. In collaboration with the
Department of Safety and Security, the Department continues to play an active
role of ensuring that the safety of our tourists remains high on the
agenda.
To further augment our efforts of promoting tourism, we will hold a Tourism
Summit during the course of this year with the aim of elevating tourism in
Mpumalanga to greater heights.
Madam Speaker, I intend setting up a tourism forum that will include all
sectors of the tourism industry in the next two months. The following
individuals will help me in attaining this objective:
a) Dr Bandile Mkhize of South African National Parks (SANParks)
b) Mrs Nelly Mashinini, Mpumalanga Gaming Board (MGB) board member
c) Mr Nico Oosthuizen, Chairperson of Regional Tourism Forum
d) Mrs Natalia Ndaba Mafumo, Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) board
member
e) Mr Isaac Sambo, Acting Director for Tourism Directorate
f) Solly Mosidi, MTPA Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Madam Speaker, the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup brings to us a challenge of
ensuring that the provincial tourism industry is ready to receive all the
participants and soccer fans that will be visiting our shores during this
event. I am sure that we will live up to this challenge by working closely with
all the stakeholders.
Madam Speaker, the Department has transferred a number of activities that
were done in-house to our public entities for implementation. This means the
Department will now focus more on policy development and monitoring while our
public entities serve as the implementing arms. We are conscious of the fact
that this undertaking might have an effect on our staff members within the
Department doing the work linked to our public entities. In this regard, I
would like to assure this House that we will do all that is necessary to ensure
the smooth transition, if needs be.
Biodiversity conservation
Madam Speaker, as a province we pride ourselves that MTPA has achieved an
excellent track record with regard to the processing and issuing of
conservation related permits and has completed the most advanced Biodiversity
Conservation Plan which is to be used as the national benchmark.
Several new conservancies were added to the Mpumalanga portfolio. The
Heritage, Greening Mpumalanga and Tourism Programme of Mpumalanga will receive
much attention from the MTPA.
Securing water for all remains one of the flagship projects and MTPA
programmes will concentrate on protecting wetlands and mountain catchments in
the province right at the source where water is generated.
An amount of R147 606 000 has been allocated to MTPA in this financial
year.
Employment
Mpumalanga experienced employment growth in trade, construction and the
finance sectors. Government infrastructure spending coupled with the growth in
the property market has fuelled employment growth in the construction as well
as finance and business services sectors. Employment growth in agriculture,
mining, electricity and the household services sectors have decreased over the
years (1996, 2004 and 2005) due to drought and reduced mining operations and
mechanisation. The future for growth in mining is however promising but will
need to be linked to Small Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMME) supplier and
support services in order to create a knock on effect in other sectors like
manufacturing, construction, trade and finance.
Nationally, the share of employment created by the informal sector continues
to grow but the formal sector is also beginning to create more jobs. This calls
into focus the status of our women with regard to employment. Although the
total unemployment rate for the province stood at 26,9% in September 2005,
women were at 33,9% as compared to men at 21,3%.
Madam Speaker, the unemployment rate in the province has been below the
national average in the past five years until the re-demarcation process which
resulted in the incorporation of Bushbuckridge to Mpumalanga. This rate has now
risen above the national average, implying that the province is only managing
to create a number of jobs that offset the new entrants to the job market.
Trade
Madam Speaker, the export contribution to the economy of Mpumalanga was
steady from 1996 to 1999 then it grew steadily from 1999 to 2002 in line with
the national trend.
Mpumalanga currently exports more of primary products from its mining and
agricultural activities with little value addition. By adding value to its
export products through beneficiation, the province will be able to increase
the share of export contribution towards provincial GDP.
Economic growth
Madam Speaker, the favourable performance of the South African economy
witnessed in 2005 which saw economic growth reaching the 5% level for the first
time in a quarter of a century was sustained into 2006.
The provincial economic growth rate has increased steadily over the years to
reach 4,3% in 2005. Within this context, Mpumalanga province enjoys a
comparative advantage on agriculture, mining, manufacturing and
electricity.
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE)
Madam Speaker, the Department has established BEE directorate during the
last financial year. In strengthening our resolve to give impetus to BEE, the
Department co-ordinated and hosted a BEE Conference on 25 to 25 May 2007 in
order to share and impart knowledge with both big and small businesses on BEE
matters. Honourable Speaker, we are delighted that 500 delegates attended the
conference. An exhibition of various business support agencies also ran
parallel with this conference.
The delegates at the conference made recommendations on three important
areas, namely, funding, challenges facing BEE and monitoring and evaluation.
Madam Speaker, I want to assure all stakeholders that the Department is
following up the BEE Conference resolutions. The lessons learnt from this
conference are truly remarkable and they will go a long way in taking the
province forward in achieving its BEE targets.
Speaking at the conference, Premier Thabang Makwetla indicated his concern
about the slow growth and development of black businesses in the province.
Madam Speaker, the Premier correctly pointed out the lack of capital for black
entrepreneurs and heavy reliance on government contracts as among major threats
to BEE in the province. In addressing this situation, the honourable Premier
announced the establishment of a provincial BEE Advisory Committee that will
assist in the implementation and monitoring of BEE in the province.
I have the pleasure of announcing the names of the task team members who
will assist the Department in setting out the BEE Advisory Committee.
They are:
a) Mr Hendry Pieterse, Chairperson of Afrikaanse Handelinstituut (AHI)
b) Mr Gay Mokoena, Provincial Secretary of National African Federated Chambers
of Commerce (Nafcoc)
c) Ms Immy Serakalala, Director for BEE in the Department
d) Ms Lydia Schumann, Sasol BEE Manager.
Enterprise development
A major milestone has been achieved in the development of our enterprises.
The Department working together with the office of the Premier, Nafcoc and
other chambers in the province successfully hosted the Procurement Conference
aimed at assisting SMMEs in the province to deliver quality service to
government when awarded tenders. Madam Speaker, workshops and seminars were
also organised wherein businesses were trained in the area of supply chain.
The Department together with the Provincial Treasury is monitoring the
implementation of the Procurement Conference resolutions. The review of the
provincial SMME Development Strategy which was supposed to have been started in
the last financial year is well on course and a call for proposals from the
service providers has already been done. Madam Speaker, we envisage to complete
the review of the strategy in this financial year. The Department has also
embarked on a process to develop a Provincial Strategy for Co-operatives,
targeted to be finalised in this current financial year. Madam Speaker, through
the Co-operatives Act, all forms of co-operatives will be promoted. We will
seek to assist in the establishment of ten co-operatives in the province.
A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Industrial Development Corporation
(IDC) to broaden access to finance for SMMEs is moving forward with the working
relationship with Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA). On the other hand,
the South African Micro Enterprise Apex Fund is assisting our rural communities
to also access finance. Madam Speaker, the establishment of a growth fund will
go a long way in unlocking the potential of entrepreneurs in the province.
Madam Speaker, the Department has successfully transformed the Micro
Enterprise Finance (MEF) in the province to be a fully fledged Umsobomvu Youth
Fund (UYF) outlet to provide all UYF services to the youth of our province. To
complement our enterprise development efforts, the Department has recruited the
new business finance to operate in the province. This fund provides bridging
finance to SMMEs who have been awarded tenders. We hope that new business
finance will open up satellite offices in the Gert Sibande and Nkangala
region.
Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA)
Madam Speaker, the newly constituted MEGA managed to establish one foreign
direct investment project worth R5 million and there are other foreign projects
in the pipeline which should be implemented in this financial year. MEGA has
also been successful in attracting six local investment projects worth R51
million and there are 13 other projects in the pipeline to be implemented in
this financial year. MEGA also manage to expose 27 new SMMEs exporters to new
markets through exhibitions, including those from the previously disadvantaged
backgrounds. Madam Speaker, this initiative has generated exports to the value
of R22 million.
Though MEGA did not have sufficient budget to meet the loan demand, 51 new
loans to the value of R13,3 million were disbursed to small businesses. It is
quite clear that the success of the programmes of MEGA depend largely on
strategic partnerships with other institutions. In this regard, MEGA has
entered into a formal partnership with the Small Enterprise Development Agency
(SEDA), IDC, Enablis and Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA). MEGA
has a property development portfolio with an overall occupancy rate that has
increased from 77% to 93%. To improve its property portfolio, MEGA will
undertake an assessment study of the property portfolio and begin to implement
a maintenance plan, providing basic and targeted maintenance of its
properties.
In this financial year MEGA will be consolidating and implementing all the
processes of the previous year. An aggressive strategy to deal with debt
collection in order to reduce the long outstanding loans in the loan book and
the outstanding rentals from the properties will be implemented henceforth.
To promote trade and investment, MEGA will establish at least five foreign
and five local new investment projects. MEGA will identify and package three
major projects for promotion purposes and facilitate 10 new export deals and
establish three exports based development programmes. And to broaden access to
finance, MEGA will approve loans to the value of R20 million and provide
aftercare services to the clients.
Both MEGA and MTPA face a challenge of appointing qualified and competent
staff in order to fulfil their mandates and address other challenges of a
transformative nature. Madam Speaker, it is therefore of paramount importance
that these institutions should have the right calibre of people to facilitate
the implementation of policies in a manner that benefits our people.
An amount of R60 905 000 has been allocated to MEGA in this financial
year.
Local Economic Development (LED)
Madam Speaker, we have not done as well as we would have liked to in
facilitating LED in the province. We hoped we would have finalised the
provincial LED strategy by this time, however, due to capacity challenges we
have not. To address this challenge, Madam Speaker, we have established an LED
directorate to ensure that we deliver on our mandate and speedily finalise the
draft strategy incorporating the outcomes of the sector studies.
Madam Speaker, the Department participated in the development of the
National LED Regulatory Framework launched in August 2006. This framework
emphasises good governance and covers areas of service delivery, public and
market confidence; spatial (locality) development planning and comparative
advantages; enterprise support and business infrastructure development and
community investment programming.
Madam Speaker, the Department will further provides support in the analysis
of local municipalities LED plans to ensure that they are viable and generate
sufficient interests for investment. The process of integrated development
planning will be enhanced through the district level to ensure synergy in
economic planning.
Using the comparative and competitive advantage of the localities, we must
be able to develop an investment plan to be used to market our localities
attract and retain investors. The Department will be supporting the district
municipalities in developing investment plans so as to attract more
investors.
Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA)
Madam Speaker, in line with AsgiSA the Premier announced two economic
development corridors, namely the Maputo Development Corridor and the Moloto
Rail Corridor. Together with the Heritage, Greening Mpumalanga and Tourism
Project, which aims to revitalise tourism, restore and preserve our heritage,
we have embarked on an ambitious programme of the big five flagship projects to
give Mpumalanga a competitive edge.
Maputo Development Corridor
To paraphrase the words of the Premier, "We believe that these flagships
will provide our development partners, both in the private sector and other
areas, a focal point of priority activities and outcomes to which they will be
able to contribute their resources and expertise in order to advance the
resolutions of the 2005 Growth and Development Summit."
Madam Speaker, together with MEGA we will do an in depth study of the master
plan of the Maputo Development Corridor to detail projects to be embarked upon
in different municipalities along this corridor. We have seen development
taking place along the Maputo Corridor, however, it appears that no one has
tracked and documented this development. To deal with this challenge we are
developing a database of all the developments since the corridor was initiated.
To this effect, we will partner with the private sector and the relevant
municipalities in establishing a Maputo Development Forum which will focus on
the non-freight elements of the corridor.
Madam Speaker, we have to re-look at the market survey that we are
conducting on the possibility of the dry port in Komatipoort.
Along the Maputo Corridor, the feasibility study on development of an
industrial park around the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport identified
two possible sites where the industrial park will be situated. This study has
also identified fruits, fish from Mozambique, motor vehicle spare parts and
petro-chemicals as possible products that may be suitable for exporting by air.
Madam Speaker, we also foresee opportunities for courier services, storage and
warehouse facilities. The spin offs for the small entrepreneurs can be
enormous.
Madam Speaker, other projects along the Maputo Development Corridor are the
Steve Tshwete Industrial Park and the Kruger-Mpumalanga International Airport
Cargo Terminal. The Steve Tshwete Municipality has established an industrial
township that occupies 300 hectares of land. This industrial township is
adjacent to the N4 toll road, which is the Maputo Corridor backbone. This land
will be developed by the Germans into industrial stands. Madam Speaker, the
servicing of these industrial stands will start in July 2007.
Madam Speaker, the aviation study by the Department of Roads and Transport
and Kruger-Mpumalanga International Airport will help us to determine the type
of cargo that is viable for the airfreight.
In agriculture the projects identified are biofuels, vegetable tunnels and
agro processing. The Department together with the Department of Agriculture and
Land Affairs has plotted a map of all the activities along the Maputo Corridor
on the geographical information system. This will assist in marketing the
Maputo Corridor to investors. To this effect we will be hosting an Investor's
Conference in November on business opportunities in the Maputo Corridor.
Madam Speaker, I am delighted that most of the bottlenecks in the South
Africa/ Mozambique border post are currently being removed. The hours at the
border have been extended to 22h00 and there are no visa requirements for South
African visitors to Maputo. I must however point out that one challenge that
still remains is the establishment of a one stop border post that will
drastically reduce time for the business and tourists alike.
Moloto Rail Corridor
Madam Speaker, we have also commenced work on identifying economic
opportunities along the Moloto Rail Corridor. The first draft of the report
shows that there will be direct impact on the regional GDP of Mpumalanga of
R245 million per annum. Six thousand long term job opportunities will be
created, while 115 000 short term job opportunities will be created over a
period of three years.
Madam Speaker, the Moloto Rail Corridor is a project falling within the
functional area of both the Department of Economic Development and Planning and
the Department of Roads and Transport. Given this scenario, the MEC for Roads
and Transport will further elaborate on this project during his policy and
budget speech.
Trade and industry promotion
Trade and investment promotion
Madam Speaker, all Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA)/departmental
development projects took off the ground. These include Middleburg Stainless
Steel Incubator (MSI) learnership programme which is nearing completion before
the end of the year. The granite beneficiation feasibility study is completed.
The furniture manufacturing centre opened its doors for the first time in
January 2006 for the incubation programme and training of small businesses in
furniture technology. Madam Speaker, in the stainless steel industry, the MSI
has received a huge Pall rings order from SASOL to manufacture and replace
imports. However, the challenge is that MSI is required to install automated
tooling machinery but faced with skills and capital scarcity.
The Mpumalanga Mining and Energy Preferential Procurement Initiative
(MMEPPI) was launched in June 2006. Interactions are taking place with the
mining companies to implement MMEPPI to assist the BEE companies to get
procurement deals within the mining industry. Madam Speaker, this process is
slow and must begin to gain momentum. The mining industry must begin to procure
services from our Mpumalanga companies.
Business regulation
Madam Speaker, you will recall that this House passed the Mpumalanga Liquor
Licensing Act in the previous financial year. This Act regulates the licensing
and operations of all retail liquor outlets. The Mpumalanga Liquor Authority as
a creature of this Act became the successor in title to the Mpumalanga Liquor
Board.
Madam Speaker, this piece of legislation among others seeks to facilitate
the entry of new participants into the liquor industry and to address and
reduce the economic and social costs of excessive alcohol consumption. The
implementation of this legislation, Madam Speaker, will pave way for a speedy
and simpler way of processing applications for liquor licenses and speedy
evaluation by the Mpumalanga Liquor Authority. Madam Speaker, the HoD will
ensure that the Mpumalanga Liquor Authority will be functioning before the end
of this year. At the same time she will ensure a smooth transition from
Mpumalanga Liquor Board to Mpumalanga Liquor Authority.
Mpumalanga Gaming Board
Madam Speaker, there has been a tremendous growth in the gambling industry.
In the last financial year, 2006/07, our gambling regulator saw its name being
changed from Mpumalanga Gaming Board to Mpumalanga Gambling Board (MGB)
pursuant to the promulgation of the Mpumalanga Gaming Amendment Act.
Of the R31,14 million gambling levies collected in 2006/07 financial year,
the contribution of the casinos was R23,56 million. We applaud the efforts of
the MGB in ensuring the appropriate collection of gambling levies. As part of
the Tsogo Sun Casinos bid commitment to Emalahleni Municipality, the Highveld
Shopping Complex has been developed. We hope that this development will serve
as a catalyst to the casino operations in this province.
Madam Speaker, there has been a minimal increase in the limited payout
machine sites due to the slow roll out and the re-demarcation processes in the
last financial year. In this regard R3,91 million to the gambling levies was
collected.
In this current financial year, we undertake to empower SMMEs especially
those from the previously disadvantaged backgrounds. Madam Speaker, we are
looking at the possibility of rolling out 40 machine sites to fulfil this
objective and thus create opportunities for economic development and jobs.
Madam Speaker, the projections for 2007/08 financial year is that the
gambling industry will generate R35 million in gambling levies.
Although we celebrate growth in this industry, we are aware of the social
challenges associated with gambling. In this spirit, we will intensify our
education and awareness campaigns to promote responsible gambling.
An amount of R26 853,000 has been allocated to MGB in this financial
year.
Allocation
Madam Speaker, the Department has been engaged with the National Treasury to
review the organizational structure in order to streamline a generic reporting
format in line with all the Departments of Economic Development in the
country.
Madam Speaker, this re-engineering process has a long term implication for
the budget of the Department and a bearing on the organisational structure. In
the past financial year the Department had only three programmes. Madam
Speaker, in line with Treasury guidelines, the Department of Economic
Development and Planning will now have five programmes.
Madam Speaker, allow me to present the budget allocation for the
Department.
Programme 1: Administration, which includes the Office of the MEC, HoD,
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and corporate services has been allocated R52 168
000.
Programme 2: Integrated Economic Development Service which includes the
public entities, enterprise development, LED services and BEE has been
allocated R259 594 000.
Programme 3: Trade and Industry Promotion, which includes trade and
investment promotion, sector development, industry development and tourism
biodiversity conservation has been allocated R19 806 000.
Programme 4: Business Regulations and Government, which includes consumer
protection services, liquor regulation, gambling and betting and business
regulation has been allocated R14 796 000.
Programme 5: Economic Planning, which involves policy and planning, research
and development, knowledge management and monitoring and evaluation, has been
allocated R14 984 000.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Madam Speaker, the large capital spending infrastructure
projects such as the Maputo Development Corridor which includes Lion
Ferrochrome Smelter, which is the world's largest ferrochrome expansion worth
R1,6 billion and the Moloto Rail Corridor will increase investments and growth.
The diversification of our economy and value adding will see us halving poverty
and unemployment by 2014.
Madam Speaker, this noble goal will be achieved by strengthening our
partnership with the private sector and labour. My meeting with the organised
business will be a regular one. The proposal from Business Mpumalanga that we
create a forum that will meet regularly is accepted and will be implemented
henceforth.
Let me thank the honourable Premier and colleagues in the Executive Council
for their guidance and support, members of the Legislature in particular the
Portfolio Committee on Agriculture; Land Administration and Economic
Development and Planning, board members of our agencies, CEOs, the HOD Ms
Simangele Sekgobela, all the staff in the Department and our agencies. Lastly,
I would like to thank my family for the unwavering support and words of
encouragement even when I have to spend many hours and days away from home.
Madam Speaker, I request this House to approve the budget of the Department
of Economic Development and Planning totalling R361 348 000.
Madam Speaker, South Africa is alive with possibilities and everyday in
Mpumalanga is a beautiful day.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Economic Development and Planning, Mpumalanga
Provincial Government
14 June 2007
