Protocol is observed;
Let me express my profound appreciation and honour for being part of this historical moment of translating concepts and negotiations into concrete deliverables that are set to change the face of our province and deliver a great quality of life for our people. This is in keeping with our theme for this year – “Implementation and Action”.
During our State of the Province Address (SoPA) we said strategic goals and intervention programmes to reposition the Eastern Cape (EC) as part of the mainstream in South Africa’s socio-economic development landscape, not as a beneficial of donor support but as an investment and development hub for South Africa, Southern Africa and the continent.
We are following the example of EC's first Premier Raymond Mhlaba who led in twinning the Eastern Cape with Zho Juong province of China.
We have three major challenges facing us – poverty, under-development and high levels of inequality which can be described as the Siamese Triplets that require an integrated strategy to successfully deal with. This is why we have a particular focus on creating jobs guided both by the new growth path and our provincial job strategy;
Although there is still a long way to go to really claim to be out of the forest, we must begin to celebrate the small but fundamental milestones we have and continue to achieve in chipping off these sometimes insurmountable looking challenges.
First and foremost we have begun to make the dent against poverty, registered a phenomenal decrease of the population living in extreme poverty from over 400 000 to about 15 000, while in general terms we have reduced over ten years those categorised as poor from 59% in the year 2000 to 49% in 2010. This 10% reduction needs to be applauded, while recognising that the interventions made thus far, cannot help us get to the next trajectory in the fight against the scourge of unemployment, because causes are more structural and reflect the state of our economy.
We welcome the coming on board of the private sector with billions of rands of investments that are set to contribute in providing highly needed job opportunities to our people, while also helping to address poverty and inequalities.
We wish to extend also our gratitude to the President and his Cabinet for placing the Eastern Cape firmly at the centre of major infrastructure development programmes. One should also hasten to acknowledge our national State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) that have responded to the lobby to boost their investments in the province of the Eastern Cape. In a few years’ time this province will look significantly differently, with even great capacity to attract more investments. She urged First Automobile Works (FAW) to order from local suppliers.
To all frontline and back-room people that helped in making this sod-turning for the construction of this Commercial Truck Manufacture Plant, we say “nangamso”, thank you, dankie, shee-shee.
