Introduction and scene setting statement
Madam Speaker, and all present here today, this is indeed a very special moment in the history of our Country and our Province and Iam deeply touched by the honour bestowed on me to once again deliver this State of the Province Address here today.
Today is special because we believe that 2018 holds great promise for our Country, our Province and our people. We are eager to experience the new dawn our new President, His Excellency, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa referred to in his State of the Nation Address less than two weeks ago when he stated that We are one people, committed to work together to find jobs for our youth; to build factories and roads, houses and clinics; to prepare our children for a world of change and progress; to build cities and towns where families may be safe, productive and content. We are determined to build a society defined by decency and integrity, that does not tolerate the plunder of public resources, nor the theft by corporate criminals of the hard-earned savings of ordinary people".
We are eager because we realise that there is much to be done to ensure that we deliver this new dawn in tangible results to our people that have been living in hope for a better future for so long and who have remained loyal to the struggle for true and meaningful emancipation.
As we do so, we also want to express our heartfelt appreciation to our former President, Mr J G Zuma for having led us to where we are today. We pay special tribute to your leadership. We acknowledge the role you have played in the development and adoption of the National Development Plan, the fight and gains we have made against HIV/AIDS, as well as elevating South Africa's international profile as a fully-fledged member of the BRICS alliance.
Madam Speaker, 2018 is special because this is the year we celebrate the centenary of our great father of the Nation and our first democratically elected President, Madiba, our beloved Tata Nelson, Rolihlahla Mandela. What better way could there be of honouring Madiba in the course of this year than by ensuring that we remind ourselves of what he stood for and what it was that he was prepared to dedicate most of his life to, namely the creation of a united, non racial, non-sexist, democratic, prosperous and equitable society.
2018 has therefore been declared as '100 Years of Nelson Mandela: The year of renewal, unity and jobs.'
Madam Speaker, as we move into 2018, we will also be celebrating the life of Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu, a great mother of our Nation as we commemorate the centenary of her birth on 21 October 2018. We are also reminded that in the last year we celebrated the centenary of another legend of the liberation struggle, namely that of Oliver Reginald Tambo. What a privilege it is to celebrate the lives of three stalwarts of the calibre of Sisulu, Tambo and Mandela in two successive years. 2018 is indeed a special year as we look back on the lives of these centurion idols and what it is that they stood for.
Addressing the 72nd anniversary of the ANC in 1984, 0 R Tambo said prophetically that the *future belongs to the majority of the people of South Africa, black and white, who, in struggle, are today laying the foundations of a united, non-racial, democratic South Africa in what will then, but only then, become a peaceful and rapidly advancing region of Africa."
Full Speech
