Address by the Premier of Limpopo, Mr Chupu Stanley Mathabatha, on the occasion of the Sitting of the National Council of Provinces
Programme director,
His Excellency, the Honourable President of our country, Mr. Jacob Zuma,
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of NCOP, Premiers and MECs here present,
Members of Parliament and the National Council of Provinces,
Members of Provincial Legislatures, Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Ours is indeed about working together, to build on the advances of our democracy in our struggle to ensure a better life for all.
Our collective experience proves that achieving the task of creating a better life for all our citizens is not an easy parade.
However, as committed representatives of our people we have availed ourselves to this necessary task and we will not fail or disappoint the expectations of our people.
We have over the past 21 years of our freedom and democracy worked harder to perfect the art of taking services to the people in order to help realise the dream of a better life for all.
We have done this under very difficult conditions imposed on us by our shared history of exclusion by successive regimes of minority rule.
Part of this ugly inherited legacy included the many social and economic problems facing our country - problems such as:
Rampant violence
Lack of proper housing for majority of our people, in particular the masses of Black Africans
Lack of jobs
Inadequate education and health care and
A failing economy.
Honourable President
Precisely as a result of the work that we have been doing, we can state here without any fear of contradiction that Limpopo is now a province on the move.
As Honourable Members would know, we have now completely closed the Section 100 Intervention Chapter in Limpopo.
This too is a result of focused political leadership in the province. In this regard we also note the support we have received from the National Cabinet and this august House.
We have indeed restored the ethos of corporate governance in Limpopo. We have made significant improvement we have made in terms of financial management systems in the provincial administration.
We have completely eliminated the R1.7 billion overdraft that was accumulated before December 2011, and more importantly, the reduced of R2.7 billion unauthorized expenditure.
We can confidently say that Limpopo is back on a sound financial footing.
Our audit outcomes also prove that we are indeed on the correct path. The picture painted is that of qualitative improvement.
The significance of these improvements is that we now have stronger muscles to move with at a desired pace in our journey to take services to the people.
Honourable President;
We are punching very hard against the inherited legacy I had earlier spoken about.
What this means is that we are at work:
- attracting investments,
- creating jobs,
- building houses for the needy,
- providing drinking water to communities,
- electrifying households,
- providing decent sanitation facilities to households
- Building schools for our children, and improving on the results from our schools.
Honourable President;
- Our report to this august House is that in Limpopo, today over 83% of households have access to clean drinkable water;
- Over 83% of our households are connected to electricity supply;
- We are punching hard against the backlog of sanitation delivery which is now at 43%;
- We have increased our Matric Pass Rate to 72% in 2014, and the rise continues;
Honourable Members;
Limpopo is fast becoming a destination of choice for international investors.
Our trade agreement with the Chinese Hong Kong Mining Exchange Company (Hoi Mor) for the establishment of South Africa Energy Meturlligical Base Project is now in progress.
This Project whose investment value is estimated at R38.8 billion, is based in the Musina Special Economic Zone, and is expected to create 19 000 direct jobs over a period of three years.
Similar to this, is the joint venture agreement between the South Africa’s Women Investment Holdings, Jidong Development Group and China Africa Development Fund for a R1.65 billion investment into cement manufacturing which is based in Thabazimbi. This project has also provided our people with quality and sustainable jobs.
On the other hand, our infrastructure rollout plan is also on track. We are investing more resources to roads infrastructure development and maintenance.
In the past five years alone we have managed to construct about 21 bridges, upgraded from gravel to tar about 407 kms
of road network. We have also rehabilitated over 173 kms of tarred road network.
The province has put aside an amount of R3.187 billion to upgrade from gravel to tar 18 projects over the next three years.
Honourable President;
Limpopo is one of the hardest hit provinces by the recent drought that has affected large parts of our country. Despite the recent rains, our communities, in particular our farming communities remain affected by the effects of this drought.
More and more calls for assistance are made to the provincial government.
In this regard, we wish to appeal to the national government for more support. This support is necessary to mitigate the adverse effects of this drought and to ensure that we do not run into a food security crises.
We are hopeful that we will get this intervention.
Perhaps I should conclude on a more generous note, and invite Honourable Members to our week-long Mapungubwe Arts & Heritage festival 2015.
The Festival will commence on the 4th and end on the 12th of December.
I thank you!
