Programme Director,
The Honourable Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba,
The Vice-Chancellor of UKZN Professor Malegapuru Makgoba,
The Mayor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, James Nxumalo,
The Chairperson of Eskom, Mr Zola Tsotsi,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,
All protocol observed.
On behalf of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, we wish to express our sincere delight at being part of a gathering whose purpose is to mark a significant milestone in the maturation of one of our government’s most important state owned entities. But equally important, our presence here today also signifies an important trajectory for the research capacity of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
The advent of Eskom’s 90th birthday celebrations has augured well for the province’s higher educational institutions. We say this because as recently as last month, we were invited by the national power utility to an event not dissimilar to this evening’s, which was held at the Mangosuthu University Technology (MUT).
It was at that event that Eskom pledged its support for the technological development of our youth by advancing a princely R1, 6 million donation to MUT to help the institution consolidate its IT infrastructure. While we roundly applauded Eskom’s intervention as an invaluable first step towards assisting create a techno-savvy generation at that event; little did we know that more youth oriented initiatives lay in the offing.
Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, today’s unveiling of the multi-million rand Science and Technology Innovation Park (STIP) adds yet another feather to Eskom’s already amply decorated cap.
The power utility’s efforts towards the betterment of the lives of ordinary South Africans are well documented, and throw down the proverbial gauntlet in front of both public and privately owned entities to replicate these bold feats elsewhere.
Eskom has a responsibility to the country to ensure that sustainable development becomes a reality. It plays a major role in accelerating growth in the South African economy by providing a high-quality supply of electricity to satisfy the needs of the country. Eskom generates, transports and distributes approximately 95% of South Africa's electricity – with some of its power lines transcending the borders of some of our SADC neighbours.
But even as Eskom continues to embark on its core competency of delivering electricity infrastructure and exploring renewable energy forms which our country so desperately needs for sustainable economic growth and development; it is pleasing to note that the parastal has done so without abandoning its bias towards altering the circumstances of the previously marginalised for the better.
Indeed, we echo the sentiments of Eskom Chairman Zola Tsotsi that the parastatal’s mandate is about creating a foundation on which South Africa can grow and helping to transform the lives of the large percentage of our country’s student population. Programme Director, we view the launch of the Science and Technology Innovation Park as a unique convergence point between technology and research.
Programme Director, we take delight in the fact that SOEs like Eskom continue to work with us in this regard to upskill our youth and also prepare them for the work environment.
Programmes such as the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) training offered by Eskom, must therefore be applauded as a timely intervention towards not only supporting the training of our young people in the scarce skills sectors of engineering, but for also preparing our young people to become entrepreneurs and, in conclusion, we would like to say to the students of UKZN that we expect them to step up to the challenge and ensure that they use the donation by Eskom today to empower themselves but to also take the lead in research areas that will be to the better benefit of mankind.
