T Makwetla: State of the Province Address

23 February 2007

Madame Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Mpumalanga Legislature,
First Lady, Mrs Zanele Mbeki
Chairperson of the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders,
Members of the Executive Council,
Honourable Members of the Mpumalanga Legislature and Members of
Parliament,
Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC), Comrade Kgalema
Motlanthe,
The Public Protector Advocate Lawrence Mushwana,
Honourable national Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Speakers and Deputy Speakers from sister provinces,
Our revered traditional leaders, Amakhosi/Magoshi,
The Provincial Commissioner of Police Mr Afrika Khumalo,
The Auditor General Mr B Madliwa,
Our Honourable Mayors and leaders of the South African Local Government
Association (SALGA),
The Director General of the province and Heads of Departments,
CEOs of our parastatals,
All our dignitaries,
Our distinguished guests,
Residents of our province Mpumalanga throughout all our towns and far-flung
villages and hamlets,
Comrades and friends, compatriots,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

In his book, "The Monk who sold his Ferrari," the internationally acclaimed
writer and speaker on personal development and life improvement, Robin Sharma,
says,

"Remember you will not find true joy in sleeping, in relaxing or in spending
your time like an idler. The secret of success is constancy of purpose. The
happiness you are searching for comes through reflecting on the worthy aims you
are dedicated to achieving, and then taking action daily to advance them. This
is a direct application of the timeless philosophy that prescribes that those
things that are most important should never be sacrificed to those things that
are least important, i.e. the power of setting clearly defined, purposeful
goals and, most importantly, of having the character power to act on them."

Allow me, with all humility Madam Speaker, to dedicate this address to my
two children, Karabo and Marang , and all the thousands of the not-so-perfect
kids from the not-so-perfect families, who know what it is to grow up
unceremoniously with pain of deprivation of one kind or the other in their
nascent lives, because they, among others, give meaning to the work we are here
to report about and the programmes we have crafted for the period ahead, as we
seek to turn this country into a better land for them to live in.

I am making these remarks, Madam Speaker, to respectfully differ with the
cynicism of one of our eminent scribes who a week ago, in the weekend papers,
said the State of the Nation Address in Parliament was boring. Indeed, Madam
Speaker, it would be surprising if he is the only one who holds such a view,
however, what we all know to be the truth is that the overwhelming majority in
this country who are not fortunate to enjoy the comforts of middle-class life
such as our discerning scribe, among whom are women and children, the youth,
the disabled and the aged, cannot, and are not, bored by these interventions
and programmes. Their hope for salvation from their wretched lives, lies with
this government's ever-present contemplation of the challenging issues
surrounding their existence.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, timeless wisdom tells us that the past
explains the present and the present determines the future. The essence of this
colourful gathering lies in the story of our past, and it was shaped by our
past. It is a negation of segregation and separate development,
totalitarianism, lack of democracy, lack of accountability, the disregard and
suppression of popular participation.

As patriots we have therefore descended on Nelspruit, not to revel in just
another annual pastime, but we are here because we don't take our freedom and
democracy for granted, lest we forget. May I therefore steal this moment to say
thank you for coming.

Honourable Members, on this occasion last year we said residents of this
province had reason to have hope that visible progress in changing their lives
for the better will be made.

It gives me great pleasure indeed to present to this august assembly a
genuine progress report. We are upbeat today because the year 2006 witnessed
some of the most inspirational achievements yet, as we go past the half-way
mark of our provincial government of the April 2004 elections.

The firmness of these advances in our endeavour to create work in order to
fight poverty, and the acceleration of service delivery, gives us confidence
that the province will indeed steam ahead to the watershed year of 2009, buoyed
up by these hard-won advances.

Honourable Members, the message our administration seeks to communicate to
this House and the province at large is that we have found our range in
grappling with the task of accelerating the realisation of a better life for
all citizens in this province. This reality is not only borne by the
significant achievements attained across all sectors of our work, but most
importantly by the understanding of the wherewithal required for the work still
to be done.

This occasion last year took place against the back-drop of advanced
preparations for the local government elections and restlessness in some
communities, owing to the pitched contestation among contending parties as they
tested the limits of our democracy. It gives me pleasure to report that in
spite of the many challenges we shall continue to grapple with, local
government is one of the areas where our province has posted courageous
achievements as attested by the buzz our municipalities generated at the
December National Vuna Awards of Excellence in Local Government, taking home
the first prize for the best Project Consolidate municipality and the best
district municipality, for the second time in a row, thanks to the maturity and
dedication of the majority of colleagues who are deployed in our local
government.

What is instructive about this victory is not the two trophies Mpumalanga
took home, but the obscure fact that out of 22 municipalities identified
nationally for quick deliverables in Project Consolidate, 11 of them are in
Mpumalanga. What was not sufficiently exposed is the consideration that one of
the overriding dimensions of the criteria used, was the availability in these
municipalities of good cogent plans in place for the rollout of these sponsored
projects, which says something about what is happening in the majority of our
municipalities. To us the challenge therefore, is to strengthen and take to a
higher level the co-ordination of support to these municipalities by the
provincial government in the endeavour to realise the Millennium Development
Goals. Needless to say, the challenge government, at all levels, must contend
with in this regard, is information management.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, the province's collective sigh of relief
was palpable upon the release of the matric results in December, less than two
months ago. It had to be, because the goal of achieving a satisfactory
pass-rate of matriculants in our province has eluded us for the last twelve
years. We all have shared the frustration of consigning thousands of young
people every year to the educational wilderness because of shattered dreams, in
a region historically known for its high illiteracy levels. We must all
congratulate the class of 2006, the education department leadership, our
educators and the parents for eventually putting this one in the bag for us. By
being the most improved province by 6,7%, our province is now only 1% below the
national average, at 65,3%. We all shared the ceaseless pain of watching our
underperformance in education undermine our other efforts at eradicating
poverty in many struggling families through our inability to facilitate
successful access to education by those who need it most in order to be
liberated.

To defend and ratchet up this gain is going to involve perpetual hard work.
We must all rally around the education sector inspired by the breakthrough they
have clinched, through hard work.

Madam Speaker, only those among us with an insufficient comprehension of the
legacy and lesson of the struggle we have waged, can make the mistake to
profess that change will not come, that the landscape of our country will not
alter as visualised in Vision 2014.

The most daunting, singularly overwhelming delivery programme we tested our
capacity against, and came out seriously bruised, but a lot wiser, is the
eradication of the 'bucket-system' in the province. Two and a half years later,
since April 2004, after a long-drawn battle I can, from the platform of this
august body, indeed report that the Mpumalanga Province has eradicated the
bucket-system, a year ahead of the nationally stipulated time-line of December
2007. Through this mammoth programme, 18 617 households benefited. Honourable
Members, what is even more pleasing is the fact that the scope of this project
in Mpumalanga went beyond the national parameters, the bucket-system has been
removed in both the formal and informal settlements, appreciating the
difficulty presented by informal settlements in conditions where the emergence
of new ones is still a possibility, and the challenge in some cases to resettle
communities on habitable land first, before their sanitation problem can be
addressed. In such instances, such as in Delmas where land for new township
establishment had to be found, we did not retreat � instead we went the whole
hog. It is, indeed, an advance to be heartily celebrated.

Madam Speaker, when an over-enthusiastic hasty male lion isolates a
buffalo-bull for a showdown, and in the process acts recklessly in anticipation
of its glorious conquest, it will invariably take few knocks each time it
forgets that it must never find itself in front of the buffalo-bull. Even if at
the end, the episode ends with the buffalo-bull's neck broken and its huge
carcass shining lifelessly under the sun, the lion may temporarily lie under
the shade without much energy and appetite for its glorious kill, and nurse its
sore muscles from punishment incurred during the uncalculating and reckless
moments of the attack.

In the realm of media logic, we are told, the fascination in this spectacle
is unlikely to be over the lion's power and glorious kill, but from the fact
that the lion appears to be licking its wounds, so to speak.

Madam Speaker, the bucket-system eradication programme taught us many
valuable lessons which must stand us in good stead in tackling the many similar
challenges ahead. We now know the critical importance of information
management, impeccable planning, dedicated project management, co-ordination of
different spheres of government in executing a common programme, community
participation and political mobilisation, and appreciate the need to manage
fraud and the lie factor when tackling projects of this magnitude.

Madam Speaker, from this platform last year, we hinted that the province was
about to receive the History and Heritage Research Report about our province,
conducted over a period of a year under the able leadership of Professor Peter
Delius in collaboration with the National Heritage Council. Today's occasion
coincides with the publishing of a fascinating book on the History and Heritage
of Mpumalanga by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, as part of the projects
we undertook, to take this work forward. On behalf of our government we wish to
thank all those who made this dream come true, for the opportunities this work
has opened to our province.

This new site of our government work has already acquired passionate and
enthusiastic companions and partners as evidenced by the letter I received from
a certain Dr Cyril Hromnik, who writes and says:

"I wish to express my appreciation for the work which you and your staff
have done with regard to the just finished symposium on 'Stonewalling in
Mpumalanga,' held in Middelburg on 21-22 January 2007. The symposium was very
skilfully chaired by Professor Delius, assisted by Mrs Mani Molefe and Lebona
Mosia�. The social ambience and the concomitant refreshments were perfect� The
symposium marked a watershed in the historiography and archaeology not only of
Mpumalanga, but of South Africa in general as well."

"The status ante-watershed was presented by a long since retired member of
the orthodox school of African archaeology Professor Tim Maggs, who saw nothing
wrong with the concept of the so-called 'Central Bantu Cattle Culture,' which
sees the very beginning of the Black African Culture and history in the cattle
kraal, where food production and consumption, coupled with human reproduction
and the inevitable intertribal strife over the same, is the sole objective and
purpose of that society. This concept, Professor Maggs credited to the there
present (in the audience) Professor Thomas Huffman from the Witwatersrand
University, who conceived and postulated it years ago, in the 1970s. This image
of the early Africa (then called Ethiopia), is devoid of mathematics, of any
cultivated science, of philosophy and above all, of any theologically based
religion. In other words, it sees the given society as devoid of most, if not
all, cultural and spiritual attributes that qualify the ancient and more recent
advanced cultures everywhere else in the world. This misinformed theory placed
the Black people of Africa in a category of its own, as if they were not
related to the rest of the world's humanity."

"Not at all surprisingly, Prof Maggs' lecture did not stimulate any
discussion, leaving a clear impression that the watershed has been reached, and
the paradigm of the 'Central Bantu Cattle Culture' is heading, together with
its ageing practitioners, for an early retirement."

After graphically relating how he personally came under siege from
archaeologists, anthropologists and linguists from various universities, and
threats to shut down his research for being a caricature and misleading, he (Dr
Hromnik) went further to say:

"The major success of the whole exercise was that despite a concerted attack
against my findings in ancient Indo-African history, not a single voice from my
friends and my foes alike� came in favour of the now, and I repeat, now
obviously defunct 'Central Bantu Cattle Culture' and now buried 'cattle kraal'
interpretation of the stone structures in Mpumalanga. Prof Maggs had the
dubious honour of delivering the final epitaph to that misconceived, and to the
image of Africa in general, extremely damaging bully-beef demagogy."

"My only disappointment was that the Premier of Mpumalanga, the Honourable
Thabang SP Makwetla, was, because of his 'other commitments,' not able to
attend the sessions of this very successful symposium."

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, this illuminating and stimulating
gathering referred to here above signals that the debate has started. As a
consequence of the heritage research project, this symposium attests to the
assertion that this project is indeed an exciting voyage of self-discovery, a
robust dialogue in which there are no holy cows. Over and above the lively
debate about our identity which the project was expected to bring up, it is the
enormous economic opportunity this work presents to us that we must take full
advantage of and translate into reality. To this end, our strategic intent has
been integrated into our priorities of the province already. For us the most
critical challenge is how these initiatives prop up our fight against
poverty.

Madam Speaker, if today, in spite of the daunting challenges ahead and work
still to be done, we exude confidence, it is because over the last year
interventions to accelerate capacity building in our administration, have
received a major boost thanks to the knowledge and creative skills of the
Director General Mr Khaya Ngema. Executive training programmes for our senior
managers have been designed and conducted with the assistance from professional
institutions, in response to the gaps identified in our skills audit. I wish to
commend all our managers and facilitators involved in this training. Despite
slow progress in some of the areas of our work, we have made remarkable strides
in the implementation of the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS)
priorities, especially in critical areas such as the provision of basic
services such as water and sanitation, electricity, local government delivery
and housing.

Central to the effective implementation of the PGDS is achieving greater
alignment and integration in the planning and implementation of government
programmes across the three spheres of government. Working closely with the
Presidency, we have initiated work to pilot the implementation of National
Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP), PGDS and Integrated Development Plans
in Nkangala District. The process of enhancing the provincial Integrated
Spatial Framework and the PGDS in line with the NSDP principles will be
completed in May 2007.

It is an important accomplishment that all District municipalities have held
their District Local Economic Development (LED) summits, which will give
impetus and strategic focus on high impact projects that are necessary to
stimulate local development. The participation of government's social partners
in these developmental endeavours makes it a lot easier to achieve the higher
levels of local economic development through co-ordinated planning and
implementation.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, in my earlier remarks I commented that we
believe we have found our range in tackling the development challenges of our
province, which will ever be so many for any administration to tackle all of
them at once. As a matter of fact, in politics, not all the public needs that
administrations find when they come into office, get addressed by the time
their innings end. The challenges governments must address are always
overwhelming. This reality begs the question: how do we optimise the
utilisation of time and resources at our disposal to realise the biggest impact
on our development challenges within our Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF)
goals and priorities?

In evaluating our PGDS priorities in all sectors, the Executive Council took
a view that major projects with calculated potential for macro-impact on the
socio-economic development of the province be identified in order to leverage
the acceleration of development in Mpumalanga. Five flagship projects were
identified for special attention through dedicated project management capacity,
the concentration of resources and leadership provision. These flagships are
the two economic development corridors, namely the Maputo Development Corridor
and the Moloto Development Corridor; the revitalisation of our tourism by
sponsoring the restoration, preservation and packaging of our Heritage and the
greening of Mpumalanga to become South Africa's green region through
conservation management; the roll-out of water infrastructure to provide water
for all in the province in a sustainable way; and the acceleration of
management capacity building to attain efficiency and excellence in delivering
the vision for a better life across our administration.

These 'Big 5' development programmes of Mpumalanga we believe will, through
our efforts, soar and enjoy the majestic reputation of the 'Big 5' of our
abundant wildlife have. These 'Big 5' of Mpumalanga must be like development
sunbeams of the African Sun in our province.

Most importantly, Madam Speaker, we believe that these flagships will
provide our development partners, both in the private sector and other areas, a
focal point of priority activities and outcomes to which they will be able to
contribute their resources and expertise in order to advance the resolutions of
the 2005 Growth and Development Summit.

Madam Speaker, once again national government has placed sharp focus on the
war against poverty. It is for this reason that the imperative to reduce
unemployment amongst the populace of our province is paramount. While the
province has stabilised the unemployment trends, the situation is still far
from the ideal. However, government in the province has done commendable work
to create job opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP)
as promised when we started in 2004. In our journey speech of that year we
committed ourselves to create 100 000 new jobs through the EPWP programme over
the five years to the year 2009. It is encouraging that by September last year
we had already created over 46 000 new jobs through this programme, slightly
below the 50% mark we should have reached. However, the latest national reports
on the EPWP places Mpumalanga in the leading pack of provinces where the
programme is unfolding well. In 43 206 of the above jobs, skills transfer was
realised.

Madam Speaker, to fight poverty in our province, as previously reported,
government turned to the land to ameliorate the plight of our rural
communities. The 'Masibuyele emasimini' programme of support to subsistence
farming has now reached 2 189 beneficiaries at a budget of R21 million in this
financial year, ending in March. Thirty million rand is budgeted for expansion
of this programme in 2007/8.

In the agricultural sector, anchor projects have been identified in key
commodities such as macadamia, sugarcane, essential oils and soya beans to seek
a redress of inequalities of the past, and to maximise the growth potential
offered by these commodities. These are high impact projects that will be
rolled out in the 2007/08 financial year to contribute towards job creation and
poverty alleviation. The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP)
has budgeted R84 million to provide support to these projects and others.
Amongst us in the audience today is someone who made all of us proud - Mrs
Linda Ngatshane who walked away with the best National Female Farmer Award for
the Year 2006.

Honourable Members, the centrality of the war against poverty in the
government's mission over the medium term, demands honest self-evaluation to
avoid telling lies and claiming easy victories, as it were. When we set out on
our journey in April 2004 to create work in order to fight poverty, we
fore-grounded economic development planning as the nucleus of our
administration's plans. We all agree that we could have done better and some of
the hindrances were within our control to manage. We allowed subjective
weaknesses to be our enemy. We have been falling behind on a few goals in the
economic sector, including small and medium enterprise support programmes,
economic sector strategy development, trade and investment promotion and
monitoring, broad-based black economic empowerment, and cultivating regional
economic linkages.

Madame Speaker, all the above challenges speak to the endeavour to create
opportunities for jobs, which we have not paid sufficient attention to. Even as
we lament the opportunities lost, we should exercise caution not to suggest
that these are easy challenges and our capacity in the economic sector is equal
to the task at hand. In this regard, Cabinet considers seriously the role our
parastatals play. Our expectations on the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency
(MEGA) are high, and we hope that its management and leadership share with us
this sense of urgency. One of our urgent challenges is to improve
accountability and control of parastatals by their parent departments.

The Department of Economic Development and Planning, together with its
parastatals, will go back to the master plan of the Maputo Development Corridor
to detail the projects to be embarked upon in the different municipalities
along this corridor. Similarly, the Department together with its parastatals,
in collaboration with the Nkangala District Municipality, must commence work on
the Moloto Economic Development Corridor feasibility studies.

Road infrastructure maintenance and expansion remains one of our economic
challenges in the province. While we have done a lot of work on several roads
that were in a state of disrepair, we have however fallen behind with our work
on major road infrastructure projects where massive job opportunities are
supposed to be created.

Our timelines on the Moloto Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for
South Africa (AsgiSA) rail corridor are a cause for concern. The challenge of
co-ordinating numerous stakeholders on a project of that magnitude proved
cumbersome and unwielding. However, these institutional hiccups have now been
cleared and we hope the project will pick up its pace as planned.

The 5 percent growth rate experienced in our national economy has put
pressure on our energy supply grid, which lies in our province. The repair work
on the coal haulage road network that ferries coal from the mines to the power
stations in Gert Sibande to the tune of half a billion rands has also suffered
from inadequate management capacity to plan for it. This work will receive our
top priority to inject these massive funds into the economy of that region
through jobs and services rendered by communities while rehabilitating this
infrastructure that is so critical to the country's energy industry.

In line with the national priority to expand the National Youth Service
Corps and provide job opportunities and training for the youth, the province
has set aside R11 million to be used for the maintenance of health
infrastructure, hospitals and clinics, as part of the EPWP. This will include
young women and disabled persons.

We remain acutely aware that central to any effort to overcome poverty is
the development of the human potential of our people through education and
skills development. Drawing on the short-term interventions envisaged in AsgiSA
and those being co-ordinated under the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills
Acquisition (JIPSA), we need to step up the ongoing work to ensure access to
affordable, quality and economically relevant education for all.

Madam Speaker, in order to support our initiatives in the crusade to deliver
quality healthcare, we are continuing to strengthen our organisational capacity
by filling vacant posts in the Departments of Health and Social Services,
strengthening management in the Department and in hospitals and developing and
motivating the incumbent staff.

In our ongoing effort to improve our healthcare system, human capital
development has received all the necessary attention. In order to improve the
human resource capacity in the nursing fraternity, we will expand the training
and employment of 150 nurses and nursing assistants at a cost of R17 million in
the financial year 2007/2008. We have awarded bursaries to 340 students. Seven
hundred and sixty nurses have been trained on health related topics to render
quality service to our patients. As part of the endeavour to enhance service
delivery in the health sector, we shall in collaboration with the National
Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (NEHAWU) study the Chris
Baragwanath Hospital pilot project aimed at service delivery improvement.

As part of ensuring the efficient management of the healthcare system, the
provincial administration will continue with the financial and human resources
delegation to hospital CEOs and District Managers.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, the creation of a caring society stands
at the centre of our development agenda. Support for families affected by HIV
and AIDS, extreme poverty, disability, violence and abuse require close
collaboration between communities, organs of civil society and government as a
whole.

Some R40 million has been allocated to support 175 Home Community Based Care
centres that provide community-level support for vulnerable families, in the
2007/08 financial year.

We will also train and employ four hundred and forty (440) social and social
auxiliary workers to add to the two hundred and fifty (250) currently in
employment.

Madame Speaker, the province will create an additional 80 sites for Early
Childhood Development, which will provide 9 612 pre-school children with access
to structured learning. R9,6 million has been allocated to this programme in
2007/08. The total number of schools declared 'No Fee Schools' has reached nine
hundred and eighty three (983). This makes all Quintiles 1 and 2 schools in the
province 'No Fee Schools.' School principals are not allowed to charge school
fees in these schools. This will impact on 404 431 learners who will receive
free education.

To make freedom a reality for those who were denied opportunities by
apartheid, we will enrol 26 000 participants in Adult Basic Education and
Training courses in 2007/08 at a cost of R90 million.

The introduction of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in
public schools received a huge impetus with the launch of the Provincial ICT
Strategy. Forty five schools were earmarked for the introduction of ICT and
each school has been allocated a total of 25 computers for the introduction of
an ICT laboratory per school. This has cost the department an amount of R9,5
million. The rollout to the next 150 schools will take place over the MTEF
(Medium Term Expenditure Framework) period from 2007 to 2009.

Madame Speaker, a fundamental building block of society is the family, and
families are severely challenged without access to decent, liveable housing.
Such housing must not only provide protection against the elements but must
also be located in areas that provide economic opportunities and in
environments that are socially conducive to sustainable communities.

Over the 2006/07 financial year, Government has delivered 4 984 housing
units and transferred 449 housing units. These figures graphically amplify our
failures in the housing programme during this financial year. The numbers we
were able to deliver this time around, is on average, only half of the work
done in the previous years.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, whereas the deliberate decision to
prioritise the completion of incomplete housing projects, was correct, it
proved disastrous because it was not preceded by diligent planning. Central to
the grossly low spending in the housing programme, is our inadequate planning
capacity. Furthermore, another challenge the housing programme has to contend
with in the province, is exactly the same for all infrastructure work � an
acute shortage of project management capacity and professional technicians such
as engineers and quantity surveyors.

Attempts to address this challenge have included the recruitment of 12 Cuban
engineers to prop up the technical expertise in the department.

Water remains a key source of livelihoods and it is central to increased
economic activities and investment. It is for this reason that 'water for all'
has been elevated to the status of a flagship project. This flagship project
aims to accelerate the eradication of water backlogs in order to meet the 2010
target in a sustainable manner. This involves developing water services
infrastructure for the 171 586 households that are currently without access to
clean and safe water. Clearly, the attainment of this goal requires a very
robust partnership between provincial and local government.

As we meet here today, an additional 474 961 households have access to free
basic water. In the interim, since last year, our municipalities have been
enjoined to acknowledge responsibility for water provisioning in areas where no
infrastructure exists. In collaboration with the Department of Water Affairs
and Forestry (DWAF), the province is confident that we will make a breakthrough
towards the realisation of the commitment to provide water for all.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, the health of any nation lies in the
extent to which it is able to maintain a healthy and pristine environment, and
use it in a sustainable way for the benefit and health of future generations.
Mpumalanga is endowed with a pristine environment, and it is our responsibility
to protect it from degradation.

As hinted in our previous address, the Executive Council and District
Executive Mayors undertook a study tour to the province of Alberta in Canada
last year to benchmark, learn and share experiences on environmental management
issues with their counterparts and draw lessons for implementation in the
Mpumalanga context.

As explained earlier, one of the flagship projects involves the greening of
Mpumalanga. The project's milestones will include:
* pollution and waste management
* biodiversity planning and management
* spatial planning and development
* environmental awareness and planning.

The province will focus on the following projects to further the objectives
of greening the province of Mpumalanga:

* Clean-up campaigns will be rolled out in all municipalities to encourage
communities to take care of their environment. Job opportunities will be
created for local people to clean up areas where they live. This will be done
within the framework of the Expanded Public Works Programme.
* Tree and grass planting will mobilise communities and schools to plant trees
and grass to contribute to the 'greening' of areas where communities live, and
ensure that these areas are maintained in a good state at all times. A target
of planting 100 000 trees has been set for the 2007/2008 financial year.
* The establishment of 3 central waste disposal sites and 1 provincial
hazardous waste site will improve waste management practices in our
municipalities.

We will also conclude the compilation of the Environmental Report for the
Nkangala District Municipality and the development of an Integrated Waste
Management Plan for the Gert Sibande District Municipality. In Ehlanzeni
District, the National Waste Management Strategy Implementation Project is
being piloted in the Mbombela Municipality. We believe that the pilots will
assist us to move a step forward in environmental management in the province.
We must congratulate the Steve Tshwete Municipality for being the overall
provincial winner of the Cleanest Town Competition (CTC). We should also note
that the province hosted the International Women and Environment Conference
where 700 women from different countries came to Mpumalanga province to reflect
on the state of the environment.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, Government has been able to accelerate
the roll out of Multipurpose Community Centres (MPCCs) through the renovation
of unused infrastructure, due for completion by the end of March. From the
beginning of the next financial year, 8 newly renovated MPCCs will be brought
into service.

Madame Speaker, we are happy to report that the deployment of 300 Community
Development Workers (CDWs) to municipal wards has contributed to improved
service delivery to communities by bringing access to information on government
services closer to communities. With the establishment of fully functional ward
committees in the majority of wards in our local municipalities, government has
created possibilities for improved public participation on matters of local
development and service delivery.

Madam Speaker, the coming year shall also see us expand our crime prevention
strategies to municipalities as part of our plan to turn our localities and
communities into safe environs for our 2010 visitors. The intention is to align
municipal development strategies within a crime prevention framework that will
mobilise all agencies and stakeholders within a common agenda to fight crime.
This strategy will further be aided by the South African Police Service (SAPS)
provincial policing strategy, the Afrika Concept, which aim is to decentralise
resources to local stations in an effort to enhance the combating of crime. Of
utmost importance is the elaboration of the provincial 2010 Safety and Security
Strategy as a matter of urgency.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, to accelerate capacity building in order
for Government to deliver on all our critical programmes, we have decided to
enhance the capacity of government officials through training, better
performance management and improved selection, recruitment and retention
practices. Secondly, we must enhance the productivity of provincial and local
government by developing organisational capacity through improved systems and
values. To give effect to the training dimension, and in recognition of the
need for continuous learning and innovation in government, the Mpumalanga
Management Centre will be established in the next financial year. The
Accelerated Capacity Building Project lies at the heart of the province's
developmental agenda as all the evidence illustrates unequivocally that state
capacity is a necessary condition to advance economic and social development.
This work will receive additional attention as part of our 'Big 5' development
flagships.

Madame Speaker, we have promised zero tolerance to instances of undermining
the integrity of government systems and public service delivery through fraud
and corruption. We will continue to sustain our effort in proactively dealing
with cases of fraud and corruption where this phenomenon rears its ugly head.
We are happy to report that we have dealt decisively with cases of fraud and
corruption where these have been discovered. In the 2007/2008 financial year,
we will enhance our capabilities in forensic investigations, greater
transparency and accountability for performance and computer auditing so that
potential threats to the integrity of governance systems are discovered before
they cause havoc to service delivery. To achieve this, we intend to establish
three units in the Premier's Office, namely, Forensic Audit, Performance Audit,
and Computer Audit.

Honourable Members, the operationalisation of the Mpumalanga Traditional
Leadership and Governance Act, 2005 (Act No 5 of 2005) and the Mpumalanga
Provincial and Local Houses of Traditional Leaders Act, 2005 (Act No 6 of
2005), has not proceeded as planned due to insufficient guidelines that must
govern many of the processes involved. The irregular inputs from the national
department on these issues have not assisted. We need closer collaboration
between both provincial and national leaders of the House of Traditional
Leaders, and the central participation of the Department of Provincial and
Local Government (dplg) to rectify the situation. Cabinet will soon receive a
draft policy on resource allocation to the constituency of traditional
leadership.

Madam Speaker, as we promised twelve months ago, in July last year we
appointed a Deputy Director-General in the Office of the Premier to lead the
2010 process in Mpumalanga. A Master Plan that focuses on several pillars which
are considered critical success factors for the hosting of the 2010 games, have
been elaborated. It includes safety and security, health, disaster management
and emergency medical services, economic development and tourism, stadium
infrastructure, integrated infrastructure development, sports architecture and
legacy projects.

In order to advance the province's social development agenda, R10 million
has been allocated to implement five community sport and recreation programmes
in each District Municipality in 2007/08.

Mbombela was among the first South African host cities to turn the sod for
the stadium. We are satisfied with progress in fast tracking work on
stadium-related infrastructure such as ring roads connecting the stadium to
main road infrastructure network.

It is essential that the province enhances its disaster management and
response capabilities in anticipation for 2010 and beyond. Construction work
will commence in June this year, and the project will be completed in May 2009.
R15 million has been put aside in the 2007/2008 financial year for the first
phase. Linked to the establishment of the Disaster Management Centre is the
implementation of the Health Emergency Medical Services Model that focuses on
achieving shorter response times, better communication systems, vehicle
replacement, introduction of aero-medical services and basic training course
for ambulance assistants. This will significantly enhance our readiness to
provide quality emergency health services that meet 2010 World Cup
standards.

We will purchase 83 ambulances for R22 million in preparations for 2010 and
beyond. It is essential that we achieve broad-based participation and access to
the 2010 World Cup experience so that it fosters social cohesion. To this end,
we will be establishing fan parks that will bring the games to where the people
are, and provide for all entertainment and experience during the period of the
World Cup. These parks will serve to bring the people of Mpumalanga together to
be part of the global community watching and enjoying the World Cup
experience.

We will endeavour to make 2010 a truly African experience by ensuring the
equitable participation of our neighbours, Swaziland and Mozambique. Additional
impetus will be given to the creation of a 'one-stop' 2010 Office, which will
house all 2010 related government components at all levels. In the year ahead
the 2010 Office will focus on consolidating and facilitating optimal use the
province's relationship with North Rhine Westphalia, a province which had three
venues during the FIFA World Cup 2006.

In conclusion Madame Speaker, Honourable Members, the report we have
presented here this morning speaks about battles emphatically won and valour
displayed by many public servants in this province. Equally this report also
points to flanks dangerously bridged to warrant a re-organisation of our
formations in order to advance. Once again we give this august house and the
province at large, the assurance that we have what it takes to take our work to
a higher level. We come from a glorious tradition of struggle and
self-sacrifice; no price can be too much for us to pay.

Allow me to evoke the characteristic clarity of purpose and total devotion
of Winston Churchill when he said, and I quote:

"Sure I am that this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has
been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not
beyond my endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an
unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us."

Many citizens and patriots in this government and its administration on a
daily basis do things that make them unsung heroes and heroines, owing to their
genuine commitment to enhancing service delivery and improving the lot of our
people.

We shall not fail them!

I thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
23 February 2007
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government (http://www.mpumalanga.gov.za/)