State of the Province Address delivered by the Premier of Limpopo Province Honourable Chupu Mathabatha to the sixth Limpopo Provincial Legislature at the Jack Botes Hall, Polokwane
Honourable Speaker;
Deputy Speaker of the Legislature;
Honourable Members of the Legislature;
Members of the Executive Council;
The President of SALGA and your Executive Mayors and Mayors;
The leadership of the ruling party, the African National Congress;
Leaders of opposition parties;
Chairperson of Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders;
Our esteemed Majesties, Kings and Royal Highnesses;
Former MPs and MPLs;
Director General and Heads of Departments;
Stalwarts and veterans of our struggle;
Provincial Commissioner of Police;
Heads of our Chapter Nine and Chapter Ten institutions;
Leadership of religious community;
Leadership of organised business and labour;
Youth, women and community leaders;
Members of the media;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen
This year, 2020, marks the 65th year since the adoption of the Freedom Charter.
It was on the 26th of June 1955 when the ANC-led Mass Democratic Movement, convened the Congress of the People in Kliptown, Soweto.
The purpose of this gathering was to solicit direct inputs from the people about South Africa they yearned for. This was in response to the brutal system of apartheid, which the United Nations has declared as crime against humanity.
At the apex of the people’s demand was a government which is based on the will of the people. The people went on to demand equal treatment of all national groups living in South Africa. The people further demanded that everyone should share in the country’s wealth, and that the land should be shared amongst those who work it.
The other demands included the question of equality before the law, equal enjoyment of human rights, work, houses, security and comfort. Over and above this, the people demanded that the doors of learning and culture should be opened for all.
As we celebrate the 65th anniversary of this historic document, we recommit ourselves to the total realisation of the dreams and aspirations of our forebears.
Whilst a lot has been achieved over the past 25 years of freedom and democracy, a lot more still need to be done to restore the dignity of our people.
Honourable Members;
In the same vein, we are meeting during the month that marks the 30th anniversary of the release from prison of our international icon, President Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela. The release of Madiba accelerated the downfall of the system of apartheid. It actually ushered in an era of hope for the hopeless majority.
As we conduct our work in government today, we are reminded and guided by President Mandela’s words when he said that “like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the action of human beings.”
He went further to say that “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life”.
Madam Speaker;
It is against this background that the 6th administration is anchored on the following priorities;
The building of a capable, ethical and developmental state,
The transformation of economy and job creation,
Education, skills and health,
The delivery of reliable and quality basic services,
The transformation of human settlements and the strengthening of local government,
Social cohesion, safe communities, and, above all,
The building of a better Africa and a better world.
Madam speaker;
Before I could go any further with my speech, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my deepest gratitude to the Commander In Chief of the South African National Defence Force, His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa, for the decision to host the 2020 edition of the National Armed Forces day in our Province.
This event, which was hosted by the City of Polokwane, came with huge socio- economic spinoffs for the Province. For so many weeks, our accommodation facilities from Mokopane, Polokwane up to Haenertsburg were always fully booked.
Beyond these spinoffs, the event helped to instil a sense of national pride and exposed so many of our young people to a world of career opportunities in the army. It is therefore not surprising that the SANDF received almost 5 500 applications from our young people who are interested in joining the army.
We also want to thank the army for having reached out and helped to renovate Ipopeng Secondary School and Sekutupu Old Age Home in Zebediela.
A growing economy
Madam Speaker and Honourable Members;
As a nation, we are faced with the reality of an unfavourable economic outlook which impacts negatively on our developmental objectives.
This reality is manifested by low growth rate, energy supply challenges and corruption which undermine sustainable development in our economy.
Nevertheless, as Limpopo, we have noted marginal improvement with regard to economic growth. Statistics show that our economy has been growing at an average rate of 1% in the recent past. This is certainly far less than what we need in order to achieve our developmental objectives.
We are, however, confident that we have managed to place the Province on a pedestal for higher growth trajectory.
It is within this context, that we are implementing some of the major catalytic projects, which are aimed at stimulating economic growth and job creation.
These projects include the Musina-Makhado SEZ, the proposed Tubatse SEZ, the revitalisation of the Industrial Parks, agricultural and several mining initiatives.
Madam Speaker;
In terms of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ), we have recorded significant progress. As we speak, we have since completed the External Master Plans for both the Southern and Northern parts of the SEZ. In the same vein, the Internal Master Plan for the Southern part is complete.
We have now completed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study for the Northern side, while the process is at 90% for the Southern side.
I have got no doubt that we are indeed moving from expressions to practical actions. It is also pleasing to report that the Musina-Makhado SEZ Company has recently signed an additional 1.1 billion US dollars investment commitment.
Whilst on the other hand, Shaanxi CEI Investment Holdings has made a commitment of 5 billion US dollars for a vanadium and titanium Smelter Project.
In an effort to attract further investments to the Northern side of the SEZ, we hosted a successful investor conference in November 2019. We are also happy to announce that a local company has committed to manufacture, amongst others, new energy solar system products, energy electric vehicles, energy storage systems and high-density polyethylene water pipes.
With regard to the issue of water availability for the Musina-Makhado SEZ, we are finalising discussions with our Zimbabwean counterparts.
Madam Speaker;
We are equally delighted to report that the training of young people is taking shape. In this regard, we have launched a fully-fledge training centre in Musina.
We therefore implore on all young people to seize the opportunities presented by these developments around the SEZ. With the latest additional investment commitment of 6.1 billion US dollars as alluded to earlier on, the number of projected jobs to be created by the Musina- Makhado SEZ project has since being revised upward from the initial 21 000 to 26 000.
On the other hand, we are making significant progress in terms of the Tubatse SEZ. We have finalised the Master Plan and the infrastructure needs for the project have since been completed and costed. This project has an investment value of R25 billion and it is projected to create over 8000 job opportunities.
In line the new requirements, we will submit our revised Business Plan for the Tubatse SEZ to the Minister of Trade and Industry by the end of September this year.
Honourable Members;
The program to revitalise our Industrial Parks is well on course. This program is aimed at breathing life of economic activity into our townships. The Seshego, Nkowankowa and Thohoyandou Industrial Parks have a combined occupancy rate of about 80%. As we have said, the activities in these Industrial Parks include agro-processing, manufacturing, storage facilities and recycling. To this end, these Industrial Parks have created a total of 6 256 jobs.
In keeping with our commitment to industrialise the economy of our Province, we will together with the Department of Trade and Industry strengthen our investment in these Industrial Parks. This will go a long way towards stimulating the much-needed economic activity and creation of more sustainable jobs.
Madam Speaker;
As a rural Province, with abundance of arable land, agriculture remains one of our economic competitive advantages. It is in this context that we are hard at work to unlock the potential of agriculture in order to ensure maximum contribution of this sector to food security, economic growth and job creation. Read more [PDF]
