Honourable Speaker
Honourable Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier and Members of the Executive Council
Honourable members of the Provincial Legislature
Honourable members of the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development & Agrarian Reform
Honourable members of the House of Traditional Leaders
Iinkokheli zakwa Lizwi zeemvaba ngeemvaba
Amafama kunye nabemi bephondo lakulo Tata u Nelson Mandela
Distinguished guests
Manene nani Manenekazi
Honourable Speaker, as I table this policy and budget speech to this house, I am mindful and appreciative of the support the people of South Africa showed to the African National Congress in the recent election. Trusting our manifesto commitments and capabilities to meet their needs, they gave us another mandate to move South Africa, and the Eastern Cape in particular, forward.
Honourable members, as the home of legends, we have a duty to continue the struggles waged by our heroes and heroines. In their lives they faced various challenges; they fought battles and won freedoms for our liberation. Committed to our freedom, liberty and prosperity, they taught us valuable lessons of how to take care of each other, selflessly lead society for all of us to have a better life.
Ours is to remember each of them by developing the people of our province and transforming their communities. We will use each lesson, value, principle and guidelines each left for us to transform our province into the land of milk, progress and honey.
Honourable Speaker, it is 20 years since the advent of democracy in our country. We are proud to be citizens of the Eastern Cape, a province that is a better place to live and work in. We do realise that there is more work to be done.
I am proud and confident to say this term of government will be characterised by radical socio-economic transformation that is meaningfully addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality. The National Development Plan lays a solid foundation for this radical socio-economic agenda.
This is supported by the twelve National outcomes from which the Province has identified seven that will trigger-off economic transformation quicker than ever before. This department shall continue directing its efforts and resources towards stimulating rural development, support for land reform and food security.
Full speech [PDF]
