President Jacob Zuma will undertake a two day working visit to the Eastern Cape on 28 to 29 September 2011, to monitor job creation and local government performance in Nelson Mandela Bay and Umthatha respectively, as part of the monitoring and evaluation of government performance.
The President wants hands on performance monitoring and evaluation to be one of the key defining features of the current administration.
Job creation, Nelson Mandela Bay
In Nelson Mandela Bay on the 28th of September, the President will assess the performance of the automotive sector, in line with the declaration of the year 2011 as the year of job creation and economic transformation. The President will be monitoring Outcome four of government’s 12 outcomes, which is “Decent Employment through Inclusive Growth’’.
The visit will underscore the support of the sector by government and will enable the President to gain a firsthand account of the successes and challenges from the manufacturers, to enable government to provide the needed support.
There are three car manufacturers in the Eastern Cape, namely Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) in Uitenhage, General Motors South Africa (GMSA) in Nelson Mandela Bay, and Mercedes Benz SA in East London. In 2009, VWSA accounted for 52.8 percent of the total employment in the auto industry, followed by Mercedes Benz and GMSA at 24.2 and 23 percent respectively. In terms of production, VWSA production is estimated at 112 000 cars per annum, while closer to 30 000 cars come off the GMSA assembly line. Mercedes Benz manufactures about 50 000 units per annum of its C-Class model for the local market and for global export.
The President will hold a meeting with industry Chief Executive Officers and representatives of the National Automobile Manufacturers Association of South Africa (NAAMSA) as well as those of the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (NAACAM), both of which represent the biggest players in the auto industry. The meeting will take place at the COEGA IDZ which the President will be visiting for the first time.
After the interaction with industry leaders, the President will tour the plants of General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen in Nelson Mandela Bay and Uitenhage.
In the Nelson Mandela Bay leg, the President will be accompanied by the chairperson of the Economic Cluster, Minister Gugile Nkwinti, Eastern Cape Premier Ms Noxolo Kiviet, the Minister of Finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan, the Minister of Economic Development, Mr Ebrahim Patel and the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Ms Elizabeth Thabethe.
Local government and rural development, Umthatha
The second leg of the visit, to take place on the 29th of September, will take the President to Umthatha to assess the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) that he established to assist in revitalising the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality.
Residents of Umthatha, Libode and surroundings had complained to President Zuma about what they saw as a decline of the KSD area. Areas of concern include water, electricity, roads, sanitation, housing and the need to upgrade Umthatha airport.
The President established the IMC and amongst the tasks and priority areas he gave them, was to address these focus areas.
The visit will monitor the work of the IMC in relation to the delivery on the following Outcomes:
- An efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network
- Vibrant, equitable, sustainable rural communities with food security for all
- Sustainable human settlements and an improved quality of household life
- A responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system.
The President will be accompanied by the following members of the KSD IMC:
- Minister of Performance, Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration Collins Chabane
- Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti
- Acting Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nathi Mthethwa
- Minister of Public Service and Administration Richard Baloyi
- Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tina Joemat-Pettersson
- Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa
- Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi
- Deputy Minister of Human Settlements Zoe Kota-Fredericks
- Deputy Minister of Performance, Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration Dina Pule.
This is the second monitoring visit to the Eastern Cape. The first one took place on the 7th of June to monitor the state of education. The President continues to work directly with the Eastern Cape Presidential Education Task Team to implement decisions from the visit and also the Section 100 (1) (b) intervention imposed by Cabinet to improve the province’s education delivery.
On the 7th of July the President undertook a visit to the Limpopo province to monitor health sector performance.
The President will take his monitoring campaign to the Free State Province on the 4th of October to assess the state of rural development.
Enquiries:
Zanele Mngadi
Cell: 082 330 1148
