Programme Director
Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale
Ministers and MECs
Our Honoured Traditional Leaders
Mayors and Councillors of the Greater Giyani Municipality
The community of Giyane
We are gathered here in Mushiyane, in this district of Giyani, for the second time, in less than a month.
This, more than anything else, emphasises the importance the government you have mandated us to lead is attaching to development in our rural municipalities.
You will also recall that, in our State of the Nation Address to Parliament in June this year, we indicated that we will be paying special attention to the challenges facing rural areas.
We also promised that we shall do things differently and do so even better. That is in fact the reason why we are gathered here. During the launch of our comprehensive rural development project on 17 August here at the Greater Giyani Municipality, we reiterated that none of us will rest for as long as there were communities without clean water, decent shelter or proper sanitation.
We said we would not rest for as long as there were rural dwellers that were unable to make a decent living from the land on which they live. We said that being born in a rural area or the countryside should not condemn our people to life of poverty and underdevelopment.
I want to repeat here today that this government believes that people living in the rural areas also have a right to basic necessities and amenities such as electricity, water, flush toilets, roads, entertainment and sport centres.
This is borne out from the journey we started together in 1994, a journey to restore the dignity of our people. We also stated in the Freedom Charter, as far back as 1955, and included almost the same formulation in the country’s Constitution that, “there shall be houses, security and comfort”.
When we say this, we are asserting the fundamental right to dignity by our people who suffered from centuries of the indignity of repression, colonialism, institutional racism and apartheid. Apartheid sought to destroy the lives of our people. That is why we are here, as a government to continue working to restore the dignity of our people and rebuild our communities. We are aware that before 1994, rural areas like Mushiyane did not feature in the architecture of the apartheid spatial planners.
We are now here fifteen years into democracy to make a bold statement that Mushiyane and the greater Giyane area, are very much part of the planning process of the cadre of post apartheid democratic planners. We have begun to give practical expression to the ideals contained in the election manifesto of the ruling party.
With the switch-on today, we are therefore making a statement to the people of our country who are living in rural areas that their government cares for them.
We are saying that they do not need to be in the metropolitan areas to have access to electricity and other basic services. We have known for a long time as government that the biggest casualties of this lack of access to electricity in particular are women, children, people with disabilities as well as pensioners.
Growing up in rural Nkandla myself, I have seen that women, in particular, are the ones who have to travel long distances on foot, to fetch wood and water, with children on their back.
It is their children who have to study under the darkness of a candle light or even paraffin which has proven to be unsafe particularly in the informal settlements. In some cases, candles have also caused devastating harm to many such areas because of lack of electricity.
I know also that it is women who have to bear the brunt of having to look after the elderly and the sick. This government knows also that children are unable to receive proper health care when local clinics do not have access to electricity.
The important turning point in the lives of the Mushiyane Village is that immediately, 417 households will have electricity for the first time, with government spending almost R4 million to make this possible.
I must also point out that in a quest to accelerate the electrification programme and maximise available resources, additional allocations have also been made to the municipal programme as a whole. Upon completion of this project, over 1000 families will no longer be expected to travel long distances to fetch wood in order to cook, or compel their children to study under a candle light.
We are also much pleased that this project, during its implementation phase, will also create much needed jobs for the local community, thereby bringing not only light to our homes but food on the table as well. Our government considers this measure a great relief particularly during this period of global economic recession.
I therefore wish to urge the contractors to give employment opportunities to the most deserving local people. I would also like to urge the community to report officials who conduct themselves in an unbecoming and corrupt manner when they are employed to deliver a service.
The same applies to izinyoka, those who are bent on stealing electricity and illegally connecting to the electricity network. These people are doing something that deprives local government and Eskom of the revenue they need in order to build even more infrastructure for those who are yet to receive electricity. In fact, these criminals are denying the government of the resources it needs to realize its objective of achieving universal access to all proclaimed areas by 2014.
Ladies and gentlemen
You will recall that in January 2008, we experienced load shedding in massive scale in the whole country. I am certain that you, the people of Mushiyane, did not escape the inconvenience of these blackouts. The strength of our economic growth had caused our supply to be outstripped by the demand.
Our big industrial consumers were consuming a lot of electricity as well. Some of our people joined in the excessive use and did not worry about their consumption patterns.
Others did not even mind to leave their appliances active almost all the time. They did this because of the relatively cheaper electricity prices then. I would strongly discourage people from putting their guards down now that there is no more spectre of load shedding. And I want to caution that we are not completely out of the woods yet.
We are still thin on the ground with regard to the reserve margin which is needed in our electricity grid. When the global economic recession ends, and the demand from bigger industrial customers picks up, we might be in trouble. I am therefore urging South Africans to use electricity sparingly. Let us save electricity wherever and whenever we can.
Government must lead by example and embrace energy efficiency. It is the only way to achieve the stability that we require for our country’s energy requirements. In the true spirit of working together to do more, and as part of government’s wider programme of improving the lives of our people, we recently paid a state visit to Angola last week.
Part of the decisions that were taken there related to working with the electricity utilities in Angola to reticulate the electricity infrastructure of some of the Angolan cities such as Huambo. We will also continue to explore all other forms of energy sources such as renewable energy, so that all our people can have access to a better life. Together, we have begun to work harder to eradicate poverty and the fact that this electrification takes place during women’s month, means government is indeed redoubling its efforts. As we bring light and relief to the community of Mushiyane, let us also remember that our journey is far from over.
We still have many people and households, including some not far from here, who still do not have access to electricity, clean water and sanitation. It is therefore our continued determination, as government and society, to work together to better the lives of our people.
In conclusion, I would like to urge you to look after this infrastructure and guard it with jealousy. Accordingly, those who are using electricity must therefore pay for it. As they say, there is nothing for mahala. On a serious note, government will continue to shield the poor from these higher than normal electricity prices that are now starting to take shape in our country.
We urge municipalities and Eskom to implement the free basic electricity provision that our people deserve. Let me re-iterate that working together we can switch more electricity on to our communities, create more jobs, fight crime and corruption, build decent shelter as well as provide access to health and education for all our people, particularly in the rural areas such as Mushiyane.
Our job is not yet done here. Over the coming months we will focus our attention at upscaling the social and economic infrastructure. We will also work to extend quality government services, especially health and education, to our rural areas.
It is my privilege and honour to officially switch on the electricity in Mushiyane village in Giyani!
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
30 August 2009
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/)
