Good morning!
We meet here this morning, just 52 days away from the biggest sporting event in the world, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, to be hosted by our country, "Feel it, it is here!" As the province, we are more than ready to welcome the visitors to our province and we are further looking forward to host the Chilean soccer team. We believe the tournament will boost our tourism industry and have long term ripple economic spin offs for the province, given the number of people we anticipate will visit our province.
May I start by also passing our sincere gratitude to you, the members of the media, for continuing to partner with us, to ensure that information reaches our people. As we said in the past quarterly briefings, we are mandated by the Constitution to provide regular feedback to the public on the progress we have made in carrying out our legislative mandates.
I have therefore as a norm, requested the management of the department, the chief executive officers of our public entities and flagship programmes to be present this morning in order to provide more details when required.
Ladies and gentlemen, we managed to make significant strides in the past financial year despite the "biting" economic recession which resulted in budget cuts nationally. It was unfortunate that around 55 000 people lost their jobs in various economic sectors in the province during the recession. However we can all breathe a sigh of relief because the storm is over now!
We are officially out of the recession, with indications that our provincial economy will grow by at least 2.4 percent this year. The expectation is that both Gert Sibande and Nkangala districts will lead the recovery with an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2.5 percent, followed by the Ehlanzeni district at 2.1 percent.
Let me now give you a progress report of our achievements during the past financial year (2009 to 2010):
Merger of Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA), Mpumalanga Agricultural Development Corporation (MADC) and Mpumalanga Housing Finance Company (MHFCO)
As promised, we can report that the honourable premier has assented to the bill which merges the old MEGA, the MADC and the MHFCO in terms of the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency Act of 2010 (Act 1 of 2010). This therefore means that the old MEGA and the MADC have ceased to exist, in terms of the law, by the end of March 2010, with the exception of the MHFCO, which still needs to be de-established in line with the Companies Act of 1973, since the entity was registered as a section 21 company. The process to de-establish the entity is currently underway and we hope it will be concluded in a short space of time.
You will also recall that we previously informed you that the executive council has decided to retain the name MEGA, for the new super entity, in order to save costs associated with establishing a new entity. To kick start the integration of the merged entities, we have appointed an interim board and an acting chief executive officer to oversee the process and run the new entity, in terms of section 7(4) and 13(7) of the MEGA Act of 2010.
The interim board consists of nine members, under the chairpersonship of Mr Z Mncube, who was the Chairperson of the old MEGA Board. Other members are Mr G Mokoena who is the Chairperson of the board of the soon to be de-established MHFCO; Mr J Nzima who was the Chairperson of the MADC Board; former Deputy Speaker of the Mpumalanga legislature Mr BJ Nobunga; former Chairpersons of the Audit Committees of the three merged entities; Ms Z Mashele, Ms NR Shabangu and Mr E Mabhena and two labour representatives; Messrs D Manana-Mavuso and V Ntshangase. For the position of the acting Chief Executive Officer, we have appointed Mr GJ Dladla who is the Chief Executive Officer of the soon to be disbanded MHFCO.
Activation of the tourism airlift strategy
In order to increase the number of tourists coming to our province, we have entered into a contract with Comair, which will make flying into the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) affordable. The inaugural Comair flight into the KMIA is scheduled to land on Tuesday, 4 May 2010 at about 11h00.
This will see Comair flying at least six times per week into the province. Members of the media are invited to join us on this inaugural flight from the OR Tambo International Airport and you will soon receive an invitation from Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA). More details on the contract will be given during the launch at the KMIA on 4 May.
Service Excellence Training programme
As one of the host provinces for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, we are committed to customer service excellence. We want to give our visitors an excellent lifetime African experience, which will ensure that our hospitality industry remains permanently engraved in their minds, long after the final whistle has blown.
Since frontline staff in the tourism industry is our brand ambassadors, we are currently in a process of identifying and recruiting all of them across the province, to undergo service excellence training from 13 to 19 May 2010. The training is part of the national initiative to improve overall customer service in line with the tourism service excellence strategy adopted in 2008.
Environmental management
Regarding our mandate on the environment, we managed to authorise 236 development applications for environmental impact assessments in terms of regulations under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) 107 of 1998 as amended. We referred 300 mine prospecting and mine license applications to the Department of Mineral Resources since mining is a national competency, after satisfying ourselves that the applications adhere to the National Electrical Manufactures Association (NEMA).
Greening Mpumalanga
In our quest to keep our province green, we managed to plant 58 527 trees across the province.
Proposed provincial Mining Indaba
Following concerns relating to mining activities close to residential areas, land claims, competing interests between agriculture and mining amongst others; the premier and the Minister of Mineral Resources have agreed to host a Mining Indaba in the province. Plans are at an advanced stage to host a two days Mining Indaba, which will be held at Emalahleni during the month of May, to discuss these concerns and come up with possible solutions. We are currently finalising consultations with various stakeholders in preparation of the indaba.
Facilitating trade and investment promotion
We have a responsibility to ensure that emerging entrepreneurs are harnessed in order for them to contribute significantly towards growing our economy. In fulfilling this mandate, we facilitated the participation of a number of emerging exporters at the following exhibitions:
* Eight small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) selected from the agro processing, apparel, chemicals, stainless steel and furniture participated at the Southern African International Trade exhibition (SAITEX)
* Sixteen craft companies participated at the South African Handmade Collection exhibition held at the Gallagher Estate
* Nine companies participated at the Eskom Small Business exposition
* Three emerging exporters participated at the FIA LISBOA Handcraft exhibition in Portugal and
* One emerging exporter participated at the L'Artigiano in Fiera in Milan.
Protecting the rights of the consumer
The protection of consumers against unfair and unscrupulous business practices remains one of our priorities, as mandated by the Mpumalanga Consumer Affairs Act of 1998. In fulfilling this mandate, we have inaugurated six members of the Mpumalanga Consumer Affairs court.
The court is now operational and has already held two sittings under the chairpersonship of Mr Vusimuzi Nkosi. Its first sitting took place on 11 March 2010. The court will have formal sittings in the three districts of the provinces at least twice a month, to ensure that consumers are provided with necessary legislative redress.
We can also report that the office of Investigation of Unfair Practice has managed to investigate 2 480 reported cases and successfully resolved 2 319 of them, which saw just over R16 million being returned to the pockets of consumers.
Expansion of the gambling industry to enhance economic growth
Turning to the gambling industry, the Ridge Casino Expansion project worth R186 million of investment in the Emalahleni area was completed in June 2009. The project comprised expanding the existing casino and constructing additional 135 hotel rooms, which have a positive impact on tourism in the area as well as the province's fiscal growth.
The project has contributed to the creation of 75 permanent jobs, as well as 2 449 temporary jobs. As part of the growth strategy of the Mpumalanga Gambling Board (MGB), the entity has for the first time in the province, granted eight licenses for site operators with a maximum of 20 limited payout machines, as well as one independent site operator license, with up to 40 limited payout machines.
We also held public hearings on the Mpumalanga Gambling Amendment Bill of 2008 in the three districts of the province, which has since been passed by the provincial legislature. We hope the bill will be enacted during this financial year.
In contributing to the provincial fiscus, the MGB has by the end of March 2010, collected gambling revenue in excess of R40 million. However as a caring government, we continue to encourage responsible gambling hence we continued to intensify our public awareness campaigns about the potential negative impact associated with gambling.
Regulating the liquor industry
Our mandate also includes regulating the liquor industry in the province. We have during the past financial year, approved 552 applications out of 1 003 applications, and 260 applications were disapproved. We further continued to enforce compliance with the Liquor Act by conducting regular inspection of the licensed liquor outlets.
Preliminary budget expenditure
As I conclude, I deem it relevant that I should share with you the progress on our financial performance. Our preliminary budget expenditure for the 2009/10 financial year indicates a 100 percent expenditure of the total budget of R521,777 million appropriated for vote six, Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism.
Closing
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that we have made significant strides as the department, together with our entities, to fulfil our constitutional mandates. We commit that we will even do more in the current financial year, ending March 2011.
Once more, we continue to value your partnership which ensures that we continue to fulfil our constitutional mandate of being transparent and accountable to the electorates. Thank you very much for accepting our invitation to this briefing session and believe that you will continue on the same path.
Working together we can do more to speed up effective service delivery to the People!
I thank you!
Contact person:
Mohau Ramodibe
Tel: 013 766 4271
Cell: 082 771 9950
E-mail: mohauram@mpg.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
19 April 2010
Source: Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, Mpumalanga Provincial Government (http://www.mpumalanga.gov.za/dedp/index.asp)
