BRICS is taking the country forward
“We are determined to take advantage of resources in the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) bloc in order to create a stronger KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) economically and socially.” That’s the message from Premier Willies Mchunu who was addressing captains during the KZN Growth Coalition Business breakfast.
Mchunu stressed: “We pay tribute to the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping who has been working hard with our President His Excellency J.G Zuma to strengthen relations between China and South Africa.”
He further announced that the Leader of Government Business Sihle Zikalala will depart today to represent KZN in Guangdong Province in China. He will have a series of interactions with business community in various platforms as part of efforts aimed at attracting investments into the province.
“We are confident that the warm friendship between ourselves and the people of China will go from strength to strength for many years to come. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between KZN and Guangdong few weeks ago proved a firm foundation for entrepreneurs from both countries to work together to create a prosperous future.”
Mchunu invited the captains of industry to work government to create employment for local communities especially those who remained marginalised.
“We understand that for the majority of our people who have been previously excluded socially, economically and politically, seeing illegal immigrants having access to socio-economic development opportunities creates hatred.”
“Government and the private sector must work together to deal with this sensitive matter which is hampering our efforts aimed at ensuring social cohesion. In the next few months I will announce a programme focusing on social cohesion to be located in the Office of the Premier. We must collaborate to rollout programmes that will ensure poverty alleviation and the protection of the vulnerable groups in our province.”
“I want to take this opportunity and condemn any attack on foreign nationals. In an economy which has high unemployment rate, migrants are often accused of stealing the jobs of South Africans. We have noted certain people making calls especially at Chesterville for immigrants operating businesses there to leave the area.”
“We call for maximum restraint. We have sent officials from the Department of Community Safety and other departments including eThekwini Municipality to address this matter through community dialogues.”
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