Provincial Budget Speech by the MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Mr. PS Ngomane (MPL), to the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature in the City of Mbombela
- Honourable Speaker; Ms. B.P. Shiba;
- Honourable Deputy Speaker; Mr. P.V. Mkhatshwa;
- Honourable Premier; Mrs. Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane;
- Honourable Members of the Provincial Executive Council;
- Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature;
- Acting Chairperson of the ANC in Mpumalanga; Mr. Mandla Ndlovu
- Executive Mayors and Councillors;
- Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders, iNkosi Ngomane;
- Provincial Director-General, Ms. Sindisiwe Xulu;
- Heads of Departments, CEOs of State-Owned Entities, and Municipal Managers;
- Business Executive in the Office of Auditor-General;
- Representatives of Organised Labour, Business, Civil Society and the Media;
- Ladies and gentlemen.
It is my distinct honour and a privilege to address this august House on the 2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Provincial Appropriations for the 2020/21 financial year.
We present this Provincial Budget during a month of celebrating the restoration of our Human Rights, as enshrined in our Constitution.
This is also a focus month of recognises the significant role of women in society, for the International Women’s Day was celebrated only two days ago, on 8 March.
This day (8 March) is used to highlight the plight of women in all aspects of life and, most importantly, to heighten the advocacy on the protection of women’s rights and respect for their dignity.
Perhaps, we should proudly underline the point of women’s role in Leadership, because our Province counts amongst the leading institutions that exemplify the value women create when they are entrusted with leadership responsibilities.
Let me remind the House of a few women leaders that we celebrate amongst ourselves, namely:
- Honourable Speaker Shiba;
- Honourable Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane;
- Honourable MECs Tshabalala; Shongwe; Ntshalintshali; Manzini and Mahlangu.
We want to particularly congratulate you Honourable Premier for having ensured that, of the four newly appointed Accounting Officers, three are Women, led by a seasoned and capable administrator, Director General, Ms. Sindisiwe Xulu.
The month of March is also important for us because it presents an opportunity to reflect on our country’s sordid past, in particular the one that was further blighted by the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March 1960.
We mark our Human Rights Day on 21 March every year, precisely to remind ourselves, and teach the young people, about where we come from as a nation - and where we should never dare return.
Even more profoundly, 21 March is one significant day in our calendar, because it reminds us that, indeed, our Freedom and Democracy were not free.
Our freedom was a culmination of untold sacrifices of many fallen and broadly unsung heroes and heroines.
One of our celebrated and brave heroines of all time, the late former President of the ANC Women’s League, uMama Winnie Mandela, said this in 1976:
“If you are to free yourselves you must break the chains of oppression yourselves. Only then can we express our dignity. Only when we have liberated ourselves can we co-operate with other groups. Any acceptance of humiliation, indignity or insult is acceptance of inferiority.”
We should always be mindful of Mama Winnie Mandela’s counsel, and use these commemorations to build national consciousness about the importance of freedom, Human Rights and nation-building.
We must leverage these platforms to galvanise all citizens, young and old, around the historic task of striving for “a united, non-racial, non-sexist, and democratic South Africa in which the people as a whole shall govern and shall enjoy equal rights”.
On our part, as Provincial Treasury, we will continue to consciously leverage the Provincial Budget as an instrument to catalyse economic development, sustain growth, as well as foster socio-political and cultural transformation, as envisaged in the Freedom Charter.
Full speech
