Nkoana-Mashabane on the occasion of the unveiling of the single accommodation
village in Northam, Thabazimbi municipality
27 September 2007.
Programme Director
Executive Mayor of Waterberg Municipality Councillor Pinkie Kekana
The Mayor of Thabazimbi Municipality Councillor LN Matlou
Kgoshi Nyalala Pilane wa Ba Kgatla ba Kgafela
The CEO Duncan Wanblad
William Taylor Anglo Platinum Mine Manager
Executive Director of HR Abey Thebyane
Representative from Housing Forum
Representative from Labour
Friends from the media
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Programme Director
"All our peoples have without exception known the humiliation of living in a
country which was our own but which the superior power of alien and hostile
forces had annexed and transformed into their patrimony. We have all known the
indignity of living under rulers who tried to deny us a personality of our own,
who decried our history and derided our cultural traditions, who allowed us no
names and no future except to the extent that they chose, and such a future as
accorded with the perpetuation of their own interests.
All our peoples also share the experience of resistance to colonialism. If
we turn our minds back to the last decades of the 19th century and the opening
years of the 20th, we find that with few exceptions we were all engaged in wars
of resistance," said Oliver Reginald Tambo when addressing the Heads of States
of the Non Aligned Movement in Havana Cuba.
It's the leadership of this visionary and the liberator of our people who
continued to spread the message of hope during the dark years of apartheid that
one day, we the people of the South shall be free. He left us a legacy and
heritage that we dare not betray.
Programme Director
The month of September 2007 has been declared heritage month and our
Department of Local Government and Housing is part of the broad government
agencies that commemorate and celebrate our heritage. As a government agency
our participation in the heritage month is the decree and to the extent to
which we are able to deliver basic services for our people which forms the
basis of our heritage.
Key to this heritage of our people is delivery of water, sanitation,
electricity and housing. Delivery of housing, water and electricity is a
fundamental objective in pursuit of the ideals of the Freedom Charter which is
a heritage that our forebears have bequeathed it to our people.
Programme Director
As South Africa celebrates Heritage Month, we have an opportunity to reflect
on what our collective heritage actually is. This is pertinent as we look back
on what we have achieved in the first ten years of South Africa's freedom and
democracy. Heritage Month is about taking the best in us and our past - and
projecting it into a future that is "Alive with Possibility." Our country's
successful transformation from a pariah state to a stable and prosperous
democracy has led to South Africa being respected and revered internationally
for its most progressive constitution.
Our ability to turn a tragic situation into a lesson for the world - our
transition to a democratic state was expected to be marred by violence and
retribution, but instead it was an astounding lesson in reconciliation. This
heritage was inherited from our forebears who fought tirelessly for this
Freedom for this current generation and future generations to come.
Programme Director
The democratic breakthrough brought us a new social order that dictates to
us that things must be done differently from the previous regime. It is against
this backdrop that housing policies has to change for the better to the benefit
of all the masses of our people including the migrant workers.
Programme Director
The unveiling of this Refurbished Hostel single Village accommodation in
Swartklip signifies the change in our housing policy in partnership with the
private sector (Anglo Platinum Mine). It is in our view that this housing
compounds will immensely contribute towards social cohesion and integration of
families.
The three thousand six hundred employees who benefited from this project
will now start to live like human beings with their fellow workers without
being packed in a hall were there is no privacy.
The progressive policies that we have developed in realisation of integrated
human settlements must be promoted and strengthened. The private sector must
ensure that it integrates these policies as it embarks on any housing
developments for its employees.
We will continue to mobilise the private sector in pursuit of construction
of decent accommodation workers in the mines, factories and farms. It is both
our concomitant duty as government and the private sector to provide shelter to
our people.
We appeal to other mining houses to follow the path and example that Anglo
Platinum has undertaken. Together in unity in action we will fight this battle
to shelter those who cannot afford to put shelter over their heads if we donât
intervene as government and private sector.
As the department we would like to appreciate our partnership with Anglo
Platinum for their efforts to ensure that provision of decent housing is not
the responsibility of government alone but all of us.
We must strive to encourage that all of our partners and the private sector
as whole, especially in the mining sector implement our social housing policies
by construction of family units for mineworkers.
I hope that this partnership with Anglo Platinum will not end today but it
will continue until we achieve a shack free society where all of us rich and
poor have access to a roof over our head.
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Local Government and Housing, Limpopo Provincial
Government
27 September 2007
