Premier Job Mokgoro: North West State of the Province Address

State of the Province Address by North West Premier, Prof Tebogo Job Mokgoro, delivered at the north West Provincial Legislature 

Speaker of the North West Provincial Legislature, Ms Suzan Dantjie,
Deputy Speaker of the North West Provincial Legislature, Ms Viola Motsumi,
Deputy Judge President of the North West Division of the High Court, Judge Hendricks and members of the Judiciary,
Honourable Members of the Executive Council,
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature,
The Chief Whip of the Majority Party in the North West Provincial Legislature, Hon Paul Sebegoe,
Members of the National Assembly,
Our Permanent Delegates to the National Council of Provinces,
All the former Premiers of the North West present,
Executive Mayors and Speakers,
The Chairperson of the North West House of Traditional Leaders, Kgosi Moshe Mabe,
The leadership of the governing African National Congress and its Alliance partners,
Members of the Luthuli Detachment of the People’s Revolutionary Army, Umkhonto we Sizwe,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Vice Chancellor of the North West University, Prof Dan Kgwadi, Members of the Academia and Research Institutions,
Major General Naidoo, standing in for the Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane,
Distinguished guests,
Members of the media,
Baagi ba Bokone Bophirima,
Fellow South Africans,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Bagaetsho dumelang.

I stand before this august house to deliver the first State of the Province Address of the 6th Administration to clearly outline this government’s Programme for the current financial year and beyond; as we grow South Africa together with the sole aim of providing a better life for all.

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse re a lema.

Honourable Speaker,

Before I proceed, I would like to acknowledge the achievements of Mr Edward Mothibi from Magogoe Village here in Mahikeng; who made the province proud by winning the 2019 Comrades Marathon.

I would like, on behalf of the people of the North West, to also congratulate the other two gold medallists; Mr Joseph Manyedi from Takaneng Village in Taung – who came in at number 5 and Mr Gordon Lesetedi from Sekhing Village, also in Taung; who came in at number 9 during the race.

We are indeed honoured to have world class athletes coming from amongst us and representing us meaningfully on a world class stage.

May we all rise for the house and the public to acknowledge their outstanding achievements in a race that is widely recognized as one of the most gruelling races in terms of human endurance.

Honourable Speaker, allow me to acknowledge the presence of Mr Joseph Ndaba, who is in the gallery and from the North West Province, who has been appointed to serve in the Presidential Fourth Industrial Revolution Advisory Commission.

We will be hosting a National Summit on the Fourth Industrial Revolution in partnership with the Minister of Communication.

I will also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the presence of Dr S.M.A. Dywili who is the Director for Strategic Relations at the United Nations’ Global Economist Forum; who is sitting at the gallery.

Also in our midst are the following members of the Luthuli Detachment of Umkhonto we Sizwe; Messrs Daniel Kena, Ntollosi Montshosi, Kenosi Pholo, Ramasire Mogwe and Simon Rantao.

The freedom we are enjoying are as a result of gallant warriors like you.

Exactly a year and six days to date, on my election as Premier towards the end of the 5th Administration, I stood here and promised that, we shall work towards restoring the trust of the 3,85 million residents of the North West in the ability of the Provincial Government to deliver quality basic services.

Honourable Speaker, allow me to state that the outcomes of the 2019 National and Provincial Elections in the North West are testimony to the fact that we are on the right track to achieving that which we set to do at the time; a promise of turning the North West Provincial Government into that which listens to and resonates with the aspirations of its electorate.

We have traversed the length and breadth of the North West in the months preceding the 2019 National and Provincial Elections, interacting with people from various walks of life, people with different economic and social standing engaging with them on behalf of the governing party and to further hear, first hand, as to what their needs and aspirations are in relation to what government has done for them so far.

Therefore, the dawn of the 6th Administration of this democratically elected government of the people, exactly a quarter of a century since we triumphed over apartheid as a nation, happens at a period when our people still hunger for quality services from their own government and a better life that we promised them in 1994.

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the Republic of South Africa, the Honourable Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa was very clear in his line of march last week as to what the country’s seven main growth priorities are for the next five to ten years and they are:

• Economic transformation and job creation
• Education, skills and health
• Consolidating the social wage through reliable and quality basic services
• Spatial integration, human settlements and local government
• Social cohesion and safe communities
• A capable, ethical and developmental state
• A better Africa and World

In addition, we have been directed to “restore the National Development Plan to its place at the centre of our national effort, to make it alive, to make it part of the lived experience of the South African people”.

We are alive to the fact that the NDP has not lived up to expectation in the past and have been overtaken by events in some instances, but that does not mean we are unable to make amends; we are still on track to realising its goals.

Furthermore, we have resolved to include in our priorities the critical issues raised by our people during the election campaign: unemployment, water and sanitation, rural roads, housing, health services, crime, corruption, education and land.

We have broadly consulted with the governing African National Congress and other social partners, as well as academics in the Province on how to contribute to eradicating inequality, poverty and unemployment; especially unemployment amongst the youth.

Like I said during my inauguration a few weeks back, it is high time we roll up our sleeves as elected public representatives, supported by a capable and committed public service, and work towards improving the lives of our people; the same people who demand that we become one with them and not be distant from them.

Indeed, Honourable Speaker, the better life we promised our people in 1994 and subsequent years cannot be postponed; that is why we made the clarion call to Grow South Africa to all our people and they responded by extending our mandate by another five years.

Let us use that mandate to improve their quality of life of 3,85 million residents of the North West Province during this electoral term and beyond.

Honourable Speaker, I am deeply disturbed by the Auditor-General’s findings with regards to our municipalities, which were released two days ago wherein none of the 22 municipalities in the North West had a clean audit.

Just to quote Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu, “Despite the commitments made by the leadership to address root causes and control deficiencies, they did not respond with the required urgency to our messages about addressing risks and improving internal controls. The political instability in the province and the tone of those charged with governance have created an environment that is not conducive accountability, good governance and the effecting of consequences.”

This is a serious indictment on us in relation to the implementation of the Section 139 intervention in the last twelve months at these municipalities.

What is more disturbing are reports that at some of our municipalities, the A-G’s staff were intimidated and prevented from conducting their work; and had to be escorted  by the police to enter or leave those premises.

Let me assure you, there are going to be repercussions.

Mark my word. We are going to crack the whip.

We are aggressively going to be decisive on the action we take in turning these municipalities around in the interest of service delivery; we are not going to be intimidated while our only interest is to provide a better life for our people.

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Honourable members, in the last State of the Province Address of the 5th Administration in February this year, we reported to this august house on the then status of the criminal investigations emanating from alleged theft, corruption and the contravention of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act of 2004.

As part of our concerted effort  to root out corruption, we had previously reported that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks, were investigating 46 cases in the North West Provincial Government and that the Special Investigations Unit was dealing with 44 cases.

The Hawks had placed ten cases on the court roll for trial while 21 cases were pending a decision to enrol by the National Prosecution Authority and a further 15 were pending further investigations; all involving monies amounting to R2,497 billion.

With regards to the SIU investigations, one proclamation to investigate all forms of corruption and malfeasance has been issued while five motivations have been sent to the Minister of Justice for proclamations.

In addition, Honourable Members, investigations into the Scholar Transport contracts, the Extended Public Works Programme as well as the Roads contracts have been included and covered in the already existing proclamations.

Honourable Members, the Special Investigations Unit is at a very advanced stage with investigations into the Scholar Transport Contracts in the Province, with 3 criminal cases having been handed over to the NPA for prosecution while five cases of officials implicated in wrong doing handed to relevant departments to institute disciplinary action against those individuals.

We have been assured by the head of the Hawks that very soon further progress will be recorded.

Honourable Speaker, as part of our concerted efforts to clean scholar transport, we have completed the verification and definition of the routes; with accurate kilometres but over and above that, we are moving with speed to adjust the payment system to be in line with the correct kilometres, going forward.

In addition, during the course of the 6th Administration, the Department of Community Safety and Transport Management will have to look at means to set aside the current scholar transport tender, and replace it with a modernized, more efficient, more reliable and cost effective system.

We are expecting a comprehensive report by the MEC responsible on this matter at the end of next month.

We have already terminated contracts which were found to have been irregular and they are the Tokiso Security contract at NWDC, the Mediosa contract at the Department of the Health, the NEPO Data Dynamics contract at the Office of the Premier, the Ayamah Consulting contract at the Department of Roads and Public Works and the Agri-Delight contract at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Honourable Speaker, a part of these investigations is being conducted by National Treasury and this relates to the Buthelezi Emergency Medical Service case. 

We are keeping a keen eye on this investigation too.

As a result of these interventions, the bleeding of the Provincial fiscus has been substantially reduced.

Furthermore, there are 31 forensic investigations currently on-going in the Province, with 21 of them relating to Provincial Departments while the remaining 10 are related to municipalities; and 20 managers, some of them senior, are facing disciplinary processes across various departments.

Honourable members, we wish put it on record that, we as the North West Provincial Government, are willing to cooperate with, and assist, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, ably chaired by the Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

We will continue to cooperate fully with all the law enforcement agencies to root out malfeasance in government.

There has been considerable progress registered with regard to the implementation of the Section 100(1)(a) and 100(1)(b) intervention where we have witnessed improvement in financial management and governance, a relative decline in social unrest across the Province and progress in consequence management and criminal investigations.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Ladies and gentlemen, whilst we appreciate and acknowledge the genuine concerns of our people who time to time prefer street demonstrations to voice their frustrations, we are also aware of other forces whose intentions are to instigate violence and exploit community grievances for their own ends.

They will not succeed and our people will see them for who and what they are – agents provocateurs.

These forces are making use of genuine service delivery issues to pursue narrow, selfish and destructive political interests.

We have made an effort to uncover the sources behind this instability and we will, in due course, take the public into confidence as to the way forward in dealing with these sinister forces.

Honourable Speaker, the stability setting in our province should provide a launching pad for this new administration to guide the Section 100(1)(a) and 100(1)(b) intervention to its substantive conclusion in due course.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Administrator in the Office of the Premier, Mr Sibusiso Mpanza and all other Administrators for their contribution in working with us to steer the ship in the right direction and we believe that this sterling work will make it easier to take the Province forward upon the revoking of the Section 100 intervention, when the time is ripe.

Honourable Speaker, fraud and corrupt activities such as embezzlement and undue influence in the procurement needs assessment, bribery of public officials involved in the award process, or fraud in bid evaluations, invoices or contract obligations are eroding the public purse and affecting the service delivery.

To this end, we will be implementing the following to deal with such tendencies:

• Pre-auditing of all tenders above R10 million by the provincial internal audit to reduce the possibilities of non-compliance with laws and regulation;
• Internal control unit in the departments and entities will be strengthened to manage supply chain risks such as fraud, bribes, value for money etc; and
• Existing controls, thresholds and procedures will be regularly reviewed and assessed for relevance, adequacy and effectiveness.

The Provincial Government, through the Provincial Treasury, will implement programs that will combat and decisively deal with corrupt activities and irregular tendencies around the SCM processes which lead to irregular appointment of service providers.

The programs will amongst others include ensuring that there is adherence to the municipal SCM policies and procedures on appointment of service providers.

The Provincial Treasury jointly with the Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs will capacitate municipalities to ensure that contracts procured by municipalities are adequately managed and monitored through effective contract management.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tsware-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Ladies and gentlemen, creating sustainable jobs within any economic sector is an important aspect of development.

Our unemployment rate remains very high at about 27 per cent, and this excludes the number of those who have given up finding any form of employment.

Therefore, job creation and poverty alleviation should be a joint effort between the private sector and the provincial government.

In fact community services, which include employment by organs of state, including provincial public entities and municipalities, account for 20% of the provincial economy, with the rest coming from the private sector.

Some of the measures that will ensure investments and stimulation of economic growth relates to provision of incentives to investors establishing business enterprises in poor rural areas.

Some of the initiatives under consideration for implementation relate to the following:

• Favourable municipal property tax in the first three years of the business;
• Use part of the expanded public works scheme allocation to subsidize the wage bill of investors in the designated areas especially during the first three years after business startup;

Honourable Speaker, mining, agriculture, tourism and the arts have the potential to create quality jobs and are therefore selected as the priority sectors for support during the sixth administration.

• Industrial and Business Clustering to ensure that approvals for the location of businesses are done in ways that would encourage proper value chain by ensuring easy access to markets for final products;
• Provision of linkages with local businesses to ensure inclusive participation by historically marginalised groups in the provincial economy;
• Skills and human resources development by providing incentives or subsidised price for using provincial public infrastructure to all those who employ persons from the designated groups;
• Institutional framework and mainstreaming of Provincial and Local Growth and Economic Development initiatives with national policies;

Honourable Speaker, we will no longer tolerate municipalities who fail to implement all the necessary laws, regulations, guidelines and controls will be subjected to strict and very harsh punitive actions which amongst others, includes withholding of grants.

Amongst others, government is implementing EPWP as a flagship programme aimed to address unemployment and poverty alleviation. It also provides the unemployed people an opportunity to work, gain skills as well as bolster investor confidence in the labour market.

Under the programme, small contractors will be mentored so that they can compete effectively in tenders for municipal and provincial government labour-intensive projects.

To ensure that we do not lose any opportunity for job creation, during the next 100 days, the Provincial Treasury will be putting systems in place to assess all tenders that  would explicitly outline labour intensive programmes, training and contractor development as a requirement, including penalty clauses for non-compliance by contractors.

This programme will be closely monitored to ensure that we track all possible jobs.

During the second 100 days, the Provincial Treasury will craft a monitoring system to track all employment opportunities created where programme managers will be expected to upload employment statistic on a monthly basis including matters relating to sub-contracting. The following additional matters will be addressed:

• The Provincial Treasury will develop Instruction Note that reduces the R30m threshold to R10m, sub-contracting 30% to designated groups;

Provincial Treasury will enhance National Treasury Instruction Note on Local Content and Production for designated sectors with specific reference to businesses owned by women, youth and people with disabilities.

As part of the cost containment and reduction of the infrastructure delivery costs, the Province will be developing such infrastructure by using the alternative building materials. For the current year, minimum of 30 per cent of the infrastructure projects will be implemented through the utilization of alternative building materials increasing to 40 per cent in the 2020/2021 financial year.

Provincial Treasury in collaboration with National Treasury developed a Contract Management Framework to enforce, amongst others, the following:-

• Uniform application in terms of contract extensions, variations, deviations and contract terms.
• Provincial Contract Register which emphasizes, amongst others, contract description, contract period, start date, end date, contract value, renewal, escalations etc.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

In an effort to groom young people for the workforce, the Provincial Treasury implemented three learnerships, namely, Internal Audit Technician (IAT for unemployed learners), Professional Internal Audit (PIA for employed learners) & Public Sector Accounting for both employed and unemployed learners as well as internship programme.

Learners were supported as a result of a partnership between the Department and Finance and Accounting Services Sector, Education and Training Authority SETA (FASSET) and were hosted in the Department of Finance.

The Provincial Treasury will extend implementation of the internship programme to provide job experience in financial management to unemployed graduates and promote capacity building in municipalities throughout the North West Province, in partnership with FASSET.

Learners will be hosted at various municipalities, and this will assist in capacitating them, thus creating a pool of skills in financial management which can be tapped into during recruitment processes

The Department will enter into memoranda of agreement with individual municipalities to ensure commitment, successful implementation of the internship programme and monitoring thereof.

The Province will ensure spending on ICT infrastructure and systems that are citizen-centric in that they empower our communities with adequate and timely information; in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Agriculture is the most important economic activity in the North West Province and this is further strengthened by the fact that the President’s State of the Nation Address also highlighted its national importance to the overall social and economic development of our nation. 

Honourable Speaker, the agricultural sector produces 3% of provincial GDP and provides jobs for 6.3% of the labour force in the province compared to some 5,9% of the South African GDP in agriculture and 16,96% of total labour. 

This is a clear indication that optimisation includes not only agricultural production but also agro-processing as a multiplier for creating jobs, is possible.

North West Province is an important food basket in South Africa.

Despite the agricultural potential of North West Province, food insecurity still remains a challenge for the country especially at rural household level and food security is of course also threatened by the under-utilisation of productive agricultural resources as well as result of food wastage.

The sector faces water deprivation on account of climate change which calls for effective mitigation and adaptation of agricultural strategies and practices.

Agricultural productivity and profitability is intermittently constrained by lack of funding, markets, off- farm and on-farm infrastructure, skills, training and capacity building particularly for the small-holder farmer.

Honourable Speaker, we will champion economic growth and transformation through agriculture to accelerate job creation in line with the State of the Nation Address by working towards a set target of 3 000 jobs along the Agricultural Value Chains. This initiative will include the following activities:

• The Global Economist Forum of the United Nation will collaborate with the Department to stage a Provincial Summit on Agriculture in order to map out opportunities through programs for job creation and economic transformation, within the next six months.
• The roll out of four (4) Youth Mechanisation Centres, one per District in partnership with the private sector for the provision & maintenance of the mechanisation, agricultural equipment’s, production inputs and planting services to farmers in local communities.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will have to move at speed to ensure that all issues that are bottlenecking the effectiveness of Agri-Parks are resolved with immediate effect and we expect the MEC responsible to outline how that will happen when she tables the Departmental Budget Vote in the next few weeks.

Honourable Speaker, other new plans will include support of new entrants at the Dairy Processing Plant in Ngaka Modiri Molema District and Provincial Poultry Hatchery in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District as part of value chain enhancement.

The Taung Irrigation Scheme is a critical contributor to the local economy in the area of Taung, and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will present a turnaround strategy on how to unlock the economic potential of this scheme in this current financial year.

In our quest to improve household food security, we will reach out to 2 500 needy and food insecure households through provision of agricultural packages that include goats, chickens, fruit trees to sustain livelihoods, thus reducing hunger and poverty across the province; specifically targeting women and youth.

In promoting Investment in Agriculture, we have identified key mega projects for possible investment  in line with the call by President Ramaphosa to have stimulus project packages in the all economic sectors to stimulate growth and development.

In the same breath, measures will be put in place to review the current Provincial Agricultural Show so that it benefits young emerging farmers in agricultural technological advances.  

Our farmers will be supported through various funding sources in terms of Comprehensive Agricultural Support Program and ILIMA-Letsema Program that will be blended with the funding support from the Land Bank to allow farmers in the province to have a fair access to the R3.9billlion allocation.

Honourable Speaker, to mitigate the effects of climate change in the agricultural sector, we will shift more towards climate smart agriculture and conservation agriculture; where the use of drought and heat resistant cultivars in cropping will be advanced through our programs. 

We granted drought relief to the region’s livestock farmers in the form of 48 572 bags of animal feed to the tune of R3,7 million in 2017/18 and a further R6,2million allocated during 2018/19.

Furthermore, other land care measures to mitigate the effects of drought included the spending of R30,5 million for water provision for livestock, chemical and mechanical de-bushing program to increase grazing and planting capacity using the EPWP Program; for the benefit of young, emerging and established commercial farmers.  

We will continue to seek appropriate funding from the National Disaster Management Centre to curb the persistent drought disaster.

We aim to make great strides to have smallholder farmers participating in feedlot facilities and associated local markets, with regards to the existing livestock Development Program that incorporates Kaonafatso Ya Dikgomo while we will continue to support youth who aspire to become commercial farmers.

In addition, we will radically fast-track the implementation of the government-led market program to allow our producers to market their produce directly to the Public Sector Departments, in our effort to adhere to the call on buy South Africa produce.

Through our support, we intend to revitalize farmers’ production for bigger share in exports market on agricultural commodities in line with comparative advantages of the province and we will support emerging famers with maintenance of existing marketing facilities in all our four districts in order to stimulate rural economy through Black Auctioneering Services.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Honourable Speaker, there is a need to recognize the strides we have made in providing trafficable and safe roads to our communities.

We note that since 1994, we have maintained 5 125 kilometres of tarred road network as well as 14 658 of the gravel road network that we are responsible for as a Province.

The work done in the past 25 years might not be significant but, given the limited resources at our disposal, much has been done and more will be done.  

We have heard our communities’ hunger and desire for a better roads infrastructure mainly through petitions, public protests, letters and social media messaging and this has given us more reason to intensify our road network improvement programme.

We recognize that our roads are the backbone of economic development and growth in the province but further to that, we recognize that world class roads provide communities with access to much needed services such as education, health, transport and basic dignity.

Our focus areas on roads will be to ensure that the majority of our economic, eco-tourism, agricultural and access routes are trafficable to facilitate economic growth and development in the province.

This initiative will, in turn, also assist in enhancing our trade routes with our neighbouring provinces such as Northern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo.

We will further consider the cross-border corridors that link our country and province with our neighbouring countries such as Botswana in the west and Namibia in the south west of our province.

Honourable Speaker, we further commit to improve on the speed, consistency and the quality in attending to maintenance and upgrade needs of our roads as expected by our communities.

In addition, we will explore more efficient, effective and economic methods of delivering quality roads infrastructure, cutting down on rehabilitation and upgrade costs per kilometre.

We will also increase our allocation of equitable share for roads infrastructure upgrades from R933 million over the coming three years (MTEF) to R1,6 Billion over next MTEF cycle, and this will lead to an increase in the number of kilometres that we will be able to upgrade from gravel to tar.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Honourable Members, consistent with the pronouncement by the President in the State of the Nation address and the reconfiguration of government at both the national and provincial spheres, the Department of Public Works and Roads will be capacitated and positioned better to lead in delivering public infrastructure.

We will work closely with SANRAL to coordinate the Strategic Infrastructure Projects (SIP4) a work stream designed for our province under the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Committee (PICC), to unlock economic growth in the Province.

I will personally be monitoring progress in this regard.

Honourable Speaker, in line with the Government Immovable Asset Management Act (GIAMA), the Department of Public Works and Roads will coordinate the Infrastructure Delivery Management System and the Standard for Infrastructure Procurement Delivery Management.

Ladies and gentlemen, over the next ten years, we will expand our asset base of government-owned office accommodation; reduce our leased portfolio to 30% and dispose of redundant assets.

Honourable Speaker, we will embark on a process of acquiring a Multi Tenancy Office Complex consisting of an estimated 28 000 m2 around Mafikeng / Mmabatho area to strengthen the administration, reduce exorbitant rentals and the resolve the long overdue office crisis.

This acquisition will effectively eliminate the current leasing burden at an estimated cost of R320 million with an estimated saving of R245 million over the MTEF period.

Furthermore, we will embark on the disposal of non-core assets such as redundant houses and vacant sites to raise funds for service delivery initiatives and to offload the burden of paying rates and taxes.

We estimate that this initiative will generate about of R238 million from the sale of non-core assets but in addition, we will also avail much needed land and buildings for community development projects and service delivery thus reducing the number of redundant government immovable assets that threatens the safety our communities as they harbour criminals.

These proceeds will go towards the Premier’s Bursary Fund so as to enable young needy people to access higher education.

We are pleased to report that we have resuscitated the contractor development programme that saw 61 contractors awarded practical training contracts to the value of R 140 million for social and roads infrastructure projects.

This programme aims to provide a platform for North West contractors to be developed in line with Construction Industry Development Board Contractor Development Programme requirements.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Honourable Speaker, tourism remains one of our strategic sectors with immense potential for job creation.

Honourable members, through the North West Parks and Tourism Board, we have hosted three World Angling championships in the Bloemhof Dam Nature Reserve, which included the Women Angling championship, culminating in the development of a youth angling club.

We have trained 13 accredited Professional Hunters in the Province as well as 40 accredited rangers and employed them.

In addition to the R30 million project that we are busy with at Bloemhof Dam, we will develop tourist facilities in Pilanesberg and Madikwe Game Reserves this year.

We will also strengthen dealings with our tourism source markets to re-position the Province and increase our South African tourism market share from 6,5 % to 8% to build on our competitiveness.

Through effective and joint marketing agreements with key stakeholders, we can realize an increase of international visitors from 681 000 realized in 2018 to 800 000 in the current financial year.

In developing and re-positioning domestic tourism we project to increase domestic trips undertaken from 1, 6 million to 2, 2 million trips.

Ladies and gentlemen, these efforts will realize the creation of 10 000 more jobs in the tourism sector.

We will, in partnership with the National Department of Tourism, realize the completion of two strategic tourism infrastructure projects in Mahikeng, the Manyane Game Lodge and Lotlamoreng Dam development.

These projects will increase tourism activity for the region and create an estimated 100 jobs going forward.

We will also see to the completion of tourism skills and hospitality infrastructure development in Taung Hotel School, as well as engage the North West University for partnership with the School of Tourism

Ladies and gentlemen, we have been hosting major arts events, such as the SAMA’s and the SAFTA’s, which contribute immensely to tourism in this province, but we need long term agreements with the organisers of these events to leverage on their pulling power.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

It is also very important that as we embark on these efforts, the element of community beneficiation, empowerment and building an inclusive economy, are central to our efforts.

We have resolved that the North West Development Corporation (NWDC) will be repositioned to serve as the Provincial Mining Agenda Implementer to create state capacity to ensure that mining procurement takes place.

It is with this background that the NWDC is pursuing the mining initiatives including but not limited to expansion in small scale mining, mining beneficiation, mining procurement and new venture mining.

The NWDC will collaborate with the mining houses and establish an Incubation Programme which will host and train SMMEs in a tailored-made fashion in the mining space to supply different requirements and equipment to mines.

The NWDC will conduct a needs analysis of the local North West based mines to verify the products to be supplied by the local companies to build a procurement opportunity data base of the province. In this regard, we are in discussion with Old Mutual Masisizane Fund for partnership in enabling our SMMEs to access mining companies procurement programmes

We will use preferential initiatives for black owned and local based companies.

As there is a need to have a formal process to give effect to this process and adherence, the Province will in, partnership with the relevant stakeholders, develop a local supplier development programme.

All of the above will contribute to local economic development and therefore address other social challenges such as unemployment, crime, inequality and poverty experienced by communities 

The participation of the NWDC will be guided by among others the regulatory requirements like the Mining Charter and Preferential Procurement Strategies.

It is our conviction that the repositioning of the NWDC particularly within the mining space will ignite economic activity, restore stakeholder confidence, create new jobs, and contribute in addressing challenges that affect the conditions faced by vulnerable groups among our people.

The Department of Trade & Industry, has through the NWDC embarked on a meticulous programme to revitalize and refurbish state-owned industrial parks as part of regional industrialization and increasing the manufacturing base by offering quality industrial infrastructure in townships and rural areas.

This programme which is targeting Mogwase, Babelegi; Bodirelo; and GaRankuwa Industrial Parks has been designed into phases, with phase one done, concentrating on security features including fencing, access gates, guardhouses, surveillance cameras and lighting.

As a consequence of these exciting developments, the NWDC has since achieved the following:

• In Babelegi, 5 new investors have been attracted since the completion of phase one of the security upgrades, with an investment value of R15.6 million and 257 new job opportunities created;
• Babelegi Phase 2 will realise the refurbishment of 5 stands, installation of 10 high mast lights and resealing of roof coverings. These improvements will cater for 13 potential investors in the pipeline, with an anticipated total investment of R 37.5 million and a potential 306 permanent job opportunities;
• In Mogwase, Phase 1 included refurbishment of 7 factories. The refurbishment project is due to be completed and will be soon launched by the Department of Trade & Industry;
• Phase 2 for Mogwase will be for security features, high mast lights, surveillance cameras, fencing, guard houses and access gates.

The combined value of the completed phase one in all three areas is R105.3 million.

Honourable Speaker, the Development Bank of Southern Africa is finalising processes to appoint the contractor for Babelegi and Bodirelo; whose Phase 2 thereof have been approved and GaRankuwa’s Phase 2 is still pending with the delay attributable to community unrests.

The combined value of phase two in the three areas is approximately R150 million.

We have secured the designation of the Bojanala Special Economic Zone (SEZ) from the Department of Trade & Industry and it has been gazetted; the only thing that is outstanding to complete the process is the awarding of the SEZ license.

There are already five (5) Black Industrialists already operating on site and nine (9 ) investor companies that have shown an interest to also operate on site, which will create about 1076 jobs already, and this asserts our long-held conviction that SMME development remains the nucleus of the economic transformation of the Bojanala region.

The SEZ will be a serious game-changer in addressing the weakness of our mining industry which is currently spending a large portion of their procurement budget outside the Province, with the excuse that there is lack of infrastructure, lack of relevant industrial skills as well as testing facilities.

Honourable Speaker, we estimate that the average annual impact on employment due to the operations associated with the SEZ will be 50 000 direct jobs during the less optimum level to 142 000 jobs created at optimum levels; and 16 000 indirect jobs to 42000 indirect jobs created respectively going forward. 

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

We will continue to engage the Mining Council on frank conversations to work together for the benefit of the region.

We will convene a Mining Indaba in December this year to, among others, address the role of the mining houses in the province in relation to provision of housing, beneficiation, royalties and the impact of their Social Labour Plans in all areas in which they conduct their business in the North West.

Since the pronouncement of the Economic Stimulus and Recovery Plan by the President in September last year, we have, in response, crafted a range of measures that will ignite economic activities, restore investors’ confidence, prevent further job losses, create new jobs and address some urgent challenges that affect the growth and sustainability of small business in the province.

We have set aside R5 million for the current financial year to support 10 qualifying small businesses in distress through Business Rescue Program; targeting distressed businesses to support them with turnaround and retention interventions in order to avoid job losses. 

Ladies and gentlemen, 320 informal traders will benefit from the R4 million that we have set aside for skilling and resourcing the informal sector to stimulate economic activities in local areas as collaboration between the department, local municipalities and SEDA. 

In addition, 35 small business enterprises have been targeted to benefit from the R3 million set aside for Incubation program in Itsoseng township in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality and about 100 young people who are unemployed, and not in education programmes, will benefit from this programme.

Furthermore, we are serious when we say that there is a need for viable economic activity in Itsoseng.

Therefore, the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism working with the North West Development Corporation will start working on a programme to attract investors to begin with the construction of a shopping mall in Itsoseng during this financial year.

Furthermore, they should ensure that this initiative complies with the existing legislative provisions related to local participation, in an open and transparent manner.  

Honourable Speaker, we have seen an increased number of new entrants into the gambling industry, and our policies dictate that licensees should have 60 percent of ownership by Previously Disadvantaged Individuals.

The number of limited pay-out machines has also been increased to the benefit of this stratum.

This has created direct and indirect jobs, and SMMEs stand to benefit from this as the procurement of goods and services will be procured from local enterprises.

The Awarding of the Application for the Fifth Casino license remains the biggest plan for this current financial year.

This will create more sustainable jobs and lead to more jobs being created in the retail industry and tourism sectors.

We are excited that this victory will further contribute in socio-economic opportunities being created for the people of North West.

Furthermore, there is determination to continue with the economic transformation agenda to ensure that the ownership of the industry reflects the demographic patterns of the country. 

With the decline in the occupancy rate in the industrial factory units managed by the NWDC as a result of the increasing administrative cost of doing business, the NWDC is looking at reviving business activities contributing to the economic growth of the Province through a market-driven initiative model of flea markets that will accommodate enterprises in all sectors of the economy.

We have resolved to merge the Tourism Board with the Parks Board to form the North West Parks and Tourism Board so to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Parks and Tourism sector in the Province.

This merger will be fully effective from 1 April 2020, but the process is already underway to work on the modalities of the merger; so as to create viable and profitable single public entity.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is our expectation that these entities should generate income and to facilitate further income rather than continuously to request bailouts from limited state coffers.

I am advised that SA National Parks (SANParks) has about 12 concession lodges including 7 in the Kruger National Park, and that all contribute over R60 million per annum to SANParks.

In stark contrast, we have about 40 concession lodges in Pilanesberg and Madikwe contributing less than R40 million per annum.

What are we doing wrong?

I am, however, informed that the Madikwe concessions are now contributing additional R10 million per annum for conservation to assist with rhino poaching, amongst others. Pilanesberg concessions are expected to do the same.

Honourable Speaker, for us to improve cooperation between Management Authorities and communities/landowners  within Protected Areas, we will negotiate and sign at least 4 co-management agreements between Communal Property Associations and  Protected Area Management Authorities in this financial year.

We will also conduct regular security checks in the North West Protected Areas so as to reduce crime and ensure a safer environment for tourists in those areas.

To improve the financial sustainability of the North West Protected Areas with the purpose to reposition them in the tourist sector, we will be getting into partnerships with stakeholders to increase revenue initiatives and to upgrade infrastructure

In terms of transformation in the wildlife industry in the North West Province, over 500 wildlife animals have been identified to support game farming in the Province, while support will be provided to land owners in Protected Areas and neighbouring communities to be part of the Eco-Tourism Industry over the next five years.

Honourable Speaker, the Taung Skull World Heritage Site remains one of the flagship tourism attractions in the North West. 

Therefore, the repatriation process of the Taung Material from Wits University and a host of other museums, and back to Taung, will continue to unfold in this current financial year, with the Office of the Premier leading this process and supported technically by the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

We have seen a disturbing trend of social ills manifesting themselves in various communities across the province, most especially the culture of gangsterism on the Western corridor of our province; in areas such as Bloemhof, Maquassi, Jouberton, Khuma and Kanana.

We are therefore developing a Provincial Anti-Gangsterism Strategy to ensure an integrated approach in the fight against social ills.

This initiative is being led by the Office of the Premier, relevant stakeholders, organised community structures and affected municipalities.

We are also going to be rolling out our Court Watch Programme in this financial year to ensure that cases that are before the courts are not easily withdrawn or removed from court roll.

As a result, Honourable Speaker, 15 Court Watch visits will be conducted in the next 300 days to further make sure that any delays are communicated to the South African Police Service for improved service to communities across the Province.

Ladies and gentlemen, appropriate and adequate financial and human resources are available to make this possible.

Honourable Speaker, stock theft is a serious crime that robs our rural communities, subsistence farmers and breeders of their only means of survival.

We have resolved to make resources available to encourage community and stock owner participation where stock owners and communities will be educated on issues relating to brand marking and the safe keeping of their stock.

Ladies and gentlemen, in addressing the road carnage caused by stray animals on our public roads due to the predominantly rural nature of our province; we have resolved to appoint 70 road rangers across the province to keep animals away from the roads, especially at night, so as to ensure a decrease in road crashes.

We are in the process of conducting an audit of all taxi operating licenses and permits in the province as we believe that this will assist to eradicate illegal operating licenses; which have proven to be one of the causal factors of incidents of taxi violence.

We are, therefore, appealing to all recognised taxi associations to cooperate with authorities and report all the fraudulent operating licenses to the law enforcement agencies; to allow us to act decisively in that regard.

Honourable Speaker, it will be very important to note that we are embarking on a multi-sectoral approach to combat taxi violence; this approach will be comprised of intensive law enforcement operations conducted jointly with District and Local municipal authorities, the police, the South African Revenue Service, the Road Traffic Management Corporation, relevant government departments and all other identified role players.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Section 26 of the Constitution states that every citizen should have adequate housing and it is against this backdrop that the people of the North West Province should continue to have access to adequate and habitable human settlement in this current year and beyond.

It is a promise we are bent on keeping as the 6th Administration to ensure that our people have a roof over their heads.

We are going to build 9685 housing units in this current financial year across the province while 7393 sites will be established; we have made an allocation of R1,9 billion to achieve this target and achieve it, we will.

In addition, we are going to transfer a total of 14 341 title deeds to our people during this financial year amounting to R15,9 million; 6 455  being from the pre-1994 housing while the remaining 7 886 title deeds will be from the post-1994 era.

Section 154 of the Constitution put the responsibility upon provincial governments and national government to support and strengthen the capacity of the municipalities to manage its own affairs.

In responding to this call, we have planned to capacitate 400 councillors across the province.

The focus of this capacitation will be to conduct work sessions on the roles and responsibilities in dealing with Municipal Finance Management Act, Section 32 & circular 68 for MPACs and Municipal Budget Treasury Offices with the aim to address Unauthorized, Irregular, Fruitless & Wasteful expenditure related findings.

We are also in the process of finalising the North West Spatial Planning and Land Usage Management Bill as it deals with land use management in much more detail and it is more province-specific.

Honourable Speaker, please take note that this Bill was certified on 13 March 2019 and will be tabled at EXCO in this current financial year for approval by the North West Provincial Legislature.

Municipalities have developed Local Economic Development plans and we will continue to support municipalities to align LED plans to the National LED Framework.

We will continue to work with SALGA to ensure that Local Economic Development programmes are indeed meant to address poverty, unemployment and inequality as they should reflect the will of the people and not municipal officials or councillors.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is continuous support to municipalities to ensure that 5% Municipal Infrastructure Grant gives the necessary support to economic infrastructure so as to stimulate jobs and support SMMEs. 

The following municipalities are implementing their LED projects at various phases: Matlosana, JB Marks, Maquassi Hills, Rustenburg and Mahikeng Local Municipalities. 

Honourable Speaker, the North West Province has, in recent times, been hit by several natural and human induced disasters such as floods, droughts and earthquakes, which severely and negatively affected the state of our social infrastructure.

However, in response to these disasters, we will be implementing the integrated Disaster Management Strategy with all Provincial Disaster Management activities under one roof in order to prevent, mitigate, prepare and respond rapidly and effectively to disasters.

Honourable Speaker, we are tasked as the Provincial Government to look after the interest of our rural communities and the well-being of the Traditional Authorities that govern those communities.

We will be submitting our final report from the investigations into the affairs of the Baphalane boo Ramokoka Tribal Authority in Ramokokastad in August this year.

The report into the Inquiry of Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims in respect of the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela, Batlhako Ba Leema as well as the Bapo Ba Mogale, has been submitted to the Office of the Premier;

However, we are unable to release the report in its entirety to the affected communities because of a legal challenge that has been brought against the release of the report.

We have instituted a legal process to challenge the interdict and if successful in court, we will release the report with immediate effect.

We will review the North West Traditional Leadership and Governance Act to address existing gaps as well as develop and implement relating to the Act.

In addition, we will develop Policies and Standard Operating Procedures for implementation in all traditional councils as we believe that this will improve governance, administration and compliance.

We will also develop and implement an accounting framework for Traditional Councils to improve accountability in the use of public resources.

Provincial Treasury will provide the necessary assistance in this regard to improve records management in Traditional Councils and provide personnel capacity for Traditional Councils to address functions such as book-keeping, accounting, and general financial controls.

Honourable Speaker, in instances where a Traditional Authority has entities established for the benefit of Traditional Communities, we will develop a framework to guide establishment of governance structures such as Board of Directors, Trustees, etc.

Lastly, in line with section 35 of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Act, we are going to conduct a skills analysis of members of the traditional council and provide a training programme aimed at improving their skills base; including leadership and management skills.

Honourable Speaker, we also have a mandate to protect vulnerable groups and create self-sustainable communities through integrated Social Development services.

In our quest to improve service delivery and timely access to services, we have ensured that each ward is allocated a team of Social Services professionals which are comprised of 818 Social Workers, Social Auxiliary Workers, Community Development Practitioners and Social Work Supervisors and they have been distributed across the province as follows:

• Bojanala has been allocated 238 Social Workers;
• Ngaka Modiri Molema has been allocated 239 Social Workers;
• Dr Kenneth Kaunda has been allocated 154 Social Workers; and
• Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati has been allocated 187 Social Workers.

These Social Workers will be responsible for the following:

• Attend ward community meetings on a monthly basis to identify needs and coordinate interventions with ward stakeholders.
• Conduct household and community profiling on a quarterly basis to identify social pathologies that are prevalent in the wards and provide appropriate interventions.
• Conduct early intervention, prevention and awareness programmes on substance abuse, women and child abuse including gender based violence, gangsterism, abuse of older persons and persons with disabilities on a quarterly basis to mitigate the prevalence of social pathologies.

Honourable Speaker, these comprehensive interventions will be provided to vulnerable groups with special focus on the following:

• 9000 people and victims of crime will be reached through integrated Victim Empowerment Services;
• 93 500 people and service users will be reached through Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation programmes.
• 715 children at risk and in conflict will be reached through Social Crime Prevention and Support Services

Ladies and gentlemen, the President made a pronouncement on the migration of the responsibility of Early Childhood Development from Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education and, in order to give effect to this directive, the two departments are working together to manage the transition.

This policy change will see an estimated number of children aged 0 – 3 years totalling 50 323 remaining in Social Development, and those aged 4 - 5 years, estimated to be around 21 565 will be relocated, with necessary resources, to the Department of Education.

The Department of Education will take over overall coordination and leadership, be responsible for nutrition, and salaries of Early Childhood Development Practitioners and the migration plan will be implemented over a 7 year period as per processes outlined nationally by the relevant Ministries.

The Department of Social Development has previously built social infrastructure in the form of an Old Age Home in Taung, Substance Abuse Treatment Centre in JB Marks, and the Khuseleka Victim Empowerment Centre in Naledi Local Municipality.

Honourable Speaker, going forward, these facilities will be utilized to render and improve access to services and all outstanding infrastructure work as well as their operationalization will be completed on or before end of December this year.

We have in recent times experienced unprecedented service delivery and public protests which affected provision of services to the needy social services beneficiaries.

It is worth noting that the Department of Social Development was operating in an environment that was unstable, characterized by labour unrests as a results of failure to properly deal with Occupational Health and Safety Act non-compliance, inadequate tools of trade such as laptops, desktops, office furniture, transport and matters relating to conditions of service such as Occupation Specific Dispensation, employee Performance Management Development System, and Probation Management.

These issues affect workers daily, and it pleases me to report that seven hundred and forty three 743 computers have been procured and distributed to qualifying officials including social workers, community development practitioners, and administration.

Furthermore, three hundred 300 laptops will be distributed to Social Auxiliary Workers by end of this month, and enable them to deliver services in schools, wards, and all other areas where they operate.

In addressing transport challenges affecting service points, the Department of Social Development has spent R4 million to procure 22 vehicles which will be delivered next month and be immediately distributed to service points.

The Department of Social Development has also registered great progress in resolving Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) related challenges, wherein 131 officials have been paid what was due to them, and the department will henceforth manage these conditions of service related matters to avert labour unrests which deprive communities the services they require.

The North West Provincial Government will prioritise office accommodation for all departments and explore all available avenues to remedy the current undesirable situation.

The Department of Social Development will as part of the intervention to address office space challenges open sub-offices and satellite offices in areas such as Ikageng, Mahikeng, Madikwe, Matlosana, Rustenburg, and Moses Kotane.

The people of North West will be provided Social Development services without interruptions, the efforts put by the Department will go a long way in ensuring that stability that has been reached is sustained.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Ladies and gentlemen, the destruction that took place at the Mmabana Foundation buildings in Mahikeng following the upheavals of April 2018, including the Mahikeng Regional Office and the Mmabana Head Office, has led to the programs offered there coming to a complete halt and both these buildings being rendered unsuitable for occupation or use. 

As a result, we have made available an amount of R10 million to go towards repairs of the Mahikeng Regional Office and work has already commenced on site and the building will be habitable from the 1st of September this year.

Honourable members, the focus of the work will be on the following critical areas:

• Building Structural Repairs,
• Electrification, and
• Plumbing and Sanitation.

The harm and regress suffered by the beneficiaries of the programmes that are offered at Mmabana as a result of the destruction and looting on the property is deeply regretted.

The management of Mmabana will have to embark on consultative engagements with their stakeholders to continuously report on the progress of the renovations of the building as well as provide reports to the MEC responsible.

In addition, the MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation will, for the next 100 days embark on an intensive programme of consultations with art practitioners, athletes and sport federations with the view to address concerns in their various sectors.

The North West is a province with a very rich heritage in the arts and therefore, we expect the MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation to be ready, by end of this financial year, to pitch a soapie or a telenovela, that will be able to be filmed in the North West by young people from this province, to various television platforms and channels in this country for commissioning.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Honourable Speaker, we are proud to have continued on a positive path to build and equip more new libraries, while continuing to support the existing ones.

To date, we have 112 community libraries across communities, with more scheduled to be built, notwithstanding the continued and unfortunate destruction of library infrastructure and facilities in some parts of our province; especially during public and service delivery related protests.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is worth noting that the majority of these libraries are fully equipped with books, ICT infrastructure and equipment including that which caters for the visually-impaired people.

These library services are particularly useful to learners, students, jobseekers as well as entrepreneurs seeking opportunities both in the private and public sector and the variety of toys in our community libraries offer a decent kick-start to the education and development of the young ones.

Over and above job creation, we have awarded bursary opportunities to 25 library assistants to study towards Bachelor of Information Science degrees with UNISA for the current academic year.

Honourable Speaker, we have entered into a Protocol Agreement with National Department of Health (NDOH) to assist us to procure 8 boilers for health facilities in the Ngaka Modiri Molema and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati districts in this financial year.

In the next six months, we will introduce an improved and properly managed health infrastructure delivery programme focusing on apex projects, contractor development, learnership programme for both contractors and unemployed youth and launch of a 24 month intensive facility maintenance plan.

We will kick-start a Contractor Development Programme in the Health Sector, which is aimed at a deliberate and managed process that will achieve targeted developmental outcomes to improve a contractors’ grading status, performance and quality of service, and equity and targeted ownership.

To achieve this objective, we aim to:

• Increase the number of black, women, disabled, and youth-owned companies in targeted categories and grades;
• Improve the grading status of previously disadvantaged contractors in targeted categories and grades;
• Improve the performance of previously disadvantaged contractors in terms of quality, employment practices, skills development, safety, health and the environment; and
• Improve the business management and technical skills of these contractors.

Honourable Speaker, an advertisement inviting previously disadvantaged contractors will be on public media before the end of September this year.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

We have noted that access to Primary Health Care Services is a fundamental human right.

In addressing this Human Right, we will increase the number of 24 hours health facilities from 68 to 77 in the next 12 months, and this number will increase by at least 10 facilities per year for the next five years.

This will mostly target rural communities in a manner that address the equity of access to health services.

The first of these clinics will be the following facilities:-

• Sekhing Community Health Centre, Matsheng Clinic to 24 hours and Buxton clinic to 12 hours respectively in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati district, while Ngaka Modiri Molema district will have the Moshana clinic, Weldervrede clinic and Madibogopan clinic extending operating hours to 24, and Bojanala district will extend services to 24 hours at the Obakeng, Bethanie and Madikwe clinics.

We will work together with Provincial Treasury to cater for the improved access to health service by filling critical health professional nurses posts, ENA and Clinical support staff to reach this objective over the MTEF period. 

We will also have to make available additional funds to make improvements to essential health equipment to enable the achievement of the ideal clinic realisation and maintenance.

We will also have Planned Patient Transport Services available for use to close the gap where there are clinics that do not operate for extended hours of services; should the need to transport patients to other health centres arise.  

We have put a strategy in place which is indicative of the fact that a fully-fledged EMRS service could take a while to be achieved due to the limited resources. 

However, we will continue hiring private EMRS services and this will be done per municipality with an incentive of rural allowance to attract bidders to cover the far flung areas.

Honourable Speaker, from the milestone achievement of the National Health Insurance pilot, the good practices have been copied and implemented in other districts of the province, in readiness for full implementation of phase 2 of the NHI. 

Through a number of achievements during pilot, the province will be in a state to fully implement the NHI once the bill is passed by parliament

In collaboration with the North West Development Corporation and Department of Health, Department of Finance through the NWDC, are working towards the development of a Provincial State Pharmaceutical company.

We are targeting Chronic Medical Distribution as a means to empower or bring economic growth to locally based SMMEs.

The Department of Public Service and Administration is still busy with absorption policy of Community Health Workers and the process should be completed in this financial year.

Ladies and gentlemen, consultation roadshows are currently underway in all four districts on the re-establishment of the Provincial Council on Aids as per the national directive. 

This programmes is done in collaboration between the Department of Health and Office of the Premier. 

Deputy Directors General from both departments will oversee the project.

The Legal Services Units of the two Departments will look into legislative work and options of implementation.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tsware-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Honourable Members, in order to bring the President’s call for every 10 year-old to read-for-meaning into effect, we are going to ensure that North West becomes a province of active readers from elementary grades.

We have started in earnest to implement the Primary Schools Reading Improvement Plan.

It is through our Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign that we are going to rally our communities behind the Community Reading Programmes, Reading corners and Hubs.

As part of the Primary School Reading Improvement Plan, we will continue strengthening our partnership with NECT as well as to expand the scope of the Early Grade Reading Study, which aims to develop our teachers to teach reading of Setswana Home Language with understanding in the foundation phase; Grades 1 - 3. 

Over the past years, our province has been stagnating on position four out of the nine provinces in terms of matric results.

Last year, our matric pass rate was 81,4 percent; which was an improvement by 1.66 percent from 79.44 percent in 2017.

For this year, our target for 2019 is 85 percent overall pass rate, with 30 percent for Bachelors, 30 percent for Diploma and 25 percent for Senior Certificate.

This target can be achieved if all of us can pull in the same direction and stop using schools as bargaining chips when we embark on community protests demanding roads and basic services.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Ladies and gentlemen, one death of a teacher or a leaner in a school is one too many.

We have reached a tipping point of violence in schools - and rightly so, we need to take harsher steps against its perpetrators.

Extant studies suggest that over-aged learners in a grade are usually responsible for violent incidents in schools and in view of this, we need to review our school admission policy without going against the law.

As the 6th Administration, we are duty-bound to ensure that we implement the resolutions of The Provincial School Safety Summit which was held in Rustenburg on 12 to 13 March 2019.

Foremost among those resolutions, we are going to deploy security guards to 200 schools which have been categorised as violence hotspots in this current financial year and hopefully increase the number on annual basis.

Furthermore, we will ensure that we resuscitate the Adopt-A-Cop programme - where each school adopts a police officer perform as a mediator between the school and the police - to curb crime at schools.

We have set aside R1,2 million towards the School Safety Programme, which will go a long way to strengthen our work  to fight crime and criminality in and around school grounds; this will be done in collaboration with the Department of Education and all other stakeholders including the SAPS.

There will be unannounced on-the-spot search and seizure operations by uniformed and non-uniformed law enforcement officers in and around school premises and we believe that through this approach, drugs and weapons will be removed from school premises. 

The eradication of mud school buildings and pit latrines is our apex priority.

We need to restore the dignity of our boys and girls in schools.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

In the previous financial year, we somehow rested too much on laurels only to wake up when we got a nudge in the ribs that over R125 million of infrastructure grant was taken from our province to the Eastern Cape.

In order to avoid the recurrence of this anomaly, thereby living to our commitment of improving our delivery of physical infrastructure in our schools, the Department of Education is continuously engaging the implementing agents of its school infrastructure project, that is, the Independent development trust and the department of public works and roads. 

We have also hired the services of Project Support team to strengthen the capacity of the departmental infrastructure unit. In addition, we are in the process of filling advertised vacant posts with relevant building engineers and specialists.

We will ensure that by the end of the current financial year, pit latrines and mud schools are a thing of the past.

As part of the first 100 days of the 6th Administration, we will hand over the following ten completed school projects:

• Alabama Primary 2 and Kanana Primary Schools in Matlosana,
• Areaganeng Primary and Mosikare Secondary Schools in Mahikeng,
• Kelebogile Primary School in Tswaing,
• Lichtenburg High School in Ditsobotla,
• Mokgareng Secondary School in Greater Taung,
• Oukasie Primary School in Madibeng,
• Shupu Primary School in Kagisano Molopo, and 
• Sedumedi Primary School in Moses Kotane.   

Ladies and gentlemen, we need to substantially revamp the basic education system of this province in earnest through the implementation of the Three Stream Model of a Curriculum namely Academic, Technical Vocational and Technical Occupational.

To this end, our schools are embarking on the process of curriculum rationalisation.

It is worthy to note that the technical occupational pathway will focus on preparing learners for work immediately after secondary school.

It will include the development of skills such as farming, panel-beating, hairdressing, carpentry, glasswork, glazing, welding, upholstery, and many more.

It is envisaged that the 60% of learners who will be absorbed in the technical occupational schools will help address two of the triple challenges facing South Africa, namely, poverty and unemployment.

Already, we are strengthening the capacity of our Agricultural Focus and technical schools by providing them with relevant resources, including staffing, so that they can live up to their expectations.

We are gearing the school system up to prepare learners to deal with the technological challenges of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”.

The Maths, Science and Technology Grant is being used to provide selected schools with Information and Technology devices. 

Two hundred (200) schools are benefiting from this grant over a 3-year period; which will be 100 devices from 2014 to 2016 and the second 100 from 2017 to date.

By the end of three years, each participating school shall have received 60 tablets for learners, three laptops and three projectors for teachers.

Through this grant, 555 primary schools in the province were provided with Maths Labs to assist in the teaching of mathematics with understanding from early grades.

Each Maths Lab is equipped with a laptop, projector, interactive white board, 12 tablets in a charging trolley, Mathematics Manipulatives, Mathematics side panels and wall branding, teacher table, Learner tables and cupboard.

Teachers were trained on how to use of the equipment to enhance their skills of teaching Mathematics.

In the next five years, we will have provided such laboratories to all our primary schools in the province.  Our E-Learning programme is implemented through a partnership with ICASA.

In this regard, ICASA has identified 13 Special Schools to benefit from the partnership and provides each with 2 laptop trolleys, 1 server, Wi-Fi access point per trolley, 2 teacher laptops per trolley, 15 learner laptops per trolley, 1 printer and 21 projectors per trolley.

Plans are afoot to roll out a tablet or a laptop per learners in all multi-Grade teaching schools provided by ICASA.

We have at least 15 Education Development and Support Centre Managers who are responsible for training more than educators in the province.

We will also be working in close collaboration with the Faculty of Education of the North West University in rolling out school programmes relating to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Honourable Speaker, we had a very fruitful engagement with the management, staff and student leadership of the North West University on Tuesday.

The engagement focused on how best the Provincial Government can partner with the University on areas of research, capacity building and addressing challenges of service delivery in municipalities and the Provincial Government.

It is very disturbing and it is an indictment on us that we have a municipality such as the Mahikeng Local Municipality that is on the brink of collapse, not being able to fully utilise the resource and knowledge base of the university a stone throw from them.

We are committed, Honourable Members, to turn around the situation for the better at the Mahikeng Local Municipality so that it is able to provide quality basic services to the people of Mahikeng like any other Provincial Capital City municipality.

The knowledge and skills produced by the North West University, especially the Mahikeng Campus, should have an immediate impact on this town and province first before any other province benefits from its output.

We are going to pull all resources together, including tapping into the knowledge base of the North West University to fix that municipality.

Therefore, we are going to enter in a partnership agreement, with agreed terms and conditions, with the North West University as the North West Provincial Government before the end of next month, July, through the Ikatisong School of Governance.

Among the issues that will be included for immediate attention are the proper management of the Premier’s Bursary Fund to fully benefit needy students; something that the students and management of the University have raised sharply, and this will be given priority attention.

I strongly believe that the North West University can play a meaningful role in assisting us in our quest towards building a capable state and a capable public service, and this will be facilitated through the ISOG partnership

The safety of university students should be a concern for all of us and we are engaging with the Minister of Higher Education and Training and all other relevant role players on prioritizing adequate, affordable and safe student accommodation in Mahikeng.

This urgent initiative will also extend to the Taletso TVET College students.

Furthermore, the Department of Public Works and Roads, working closely with the Mahikeng Local Municipality, should, as a matter of extreme urgency, start working on designing a pedestrian bridge at the main entrance of the North West University Mahikeng campus.

This pedestrian bridge is as a result of the volumes of traffic at that intersection which poses a threat to students, especially at peak hours as they cross the road to and from the university.

We will also have to work on a collaborative programme that involves the Mahikeng and Taung Hotel Schools partnering with the North West University’s School of Tourism.

This will also assist us in ensuring that the qualifications offered by the Hotel Schools are properly accredited and worth the paper they are written on.

We will also be engaging the Department of Higher Education and Training on accelerating the establishment of a Medical School at the Mahikeng Campus as well as a Veterinary School.

Honourable Members, the Mmabana Arts, Culture and Sport Foundation will have to benefit from this partnership too; and ideally we would want to see the North West University having a School of Performing Arts here in Mahikeng that will collaboratively work with Mmabana.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tsware-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

We have received the final national budget allocation from National Treasury for this current financial year to provide Bulk Water Services.

We are required to adhere to all the PFMA, Treasury Regulations and Division of Revenue Act when committing or spending the allocated budget.

The following is a summary of the North West Provincial allocations for both the Regional Bulk Infrastructure (RBIG) and Water Services Infrastructure (WSIG) Grants:

Honourable Members, we are serious when we say we are going to resolve the water crisis in our province and the following allocations have been made and the projects are already underway:

• R60 million for the Taung/Naledi Bulk Water Service Scheme
• R61,6 million for the Greater Mamusa Bulk Water Service Scheme
• R40 million for the Madibeng Bulk Water Service Scheme
• R18,2 million for the Moretele South Bulk Water Service Scheme
• R40 million for the Koster Waste Water Treatment Works upgrade
• R40 million for the Ratlou Bulk Water Service Scheme
• R20 million for the Mafikeng South Bulk Water Service Scheme
• R20 million for the Tlokwe Bulk Water Service Scheme

In addition, the following Water Services Infrastructure Grants for various municipalities have been received and projects have begun:

• R88 million for the Moretele Local Municipality
• R88 million for the Rustenburg Local Municipality
• R55 million for the Moses Kotane Local Municipality
• R105 million for the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality
• R25 million for the Madibeng Local Municipality
• R20 million for the Kgetlengrivier Local Municipality
• R70 million for the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality

The following are some of the challenges that were identified in the previous financial year and remedial action will be introduced in planning and implementation of the current programmes:

• Lack of technical capacity, governance and financial management in municipalities
• Vandalism of infrastructure
• Tankering as a means of water provision

We are committed to providing clean, adequate and drinking water to all the people of the North West Province and I can guarantee this august house and the people of this province that no cent earmarked for Water Provision will be redirected elsewhere, as we saw when monies intended for provision of Bulk Water Services were illegally invested by some municipalities into the new defunct VBS Mutual Bank.

That will never happen again.

Not under my watch.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

The 6th Administration commits to intensifying economic transformation as well as job creation and to this end, we will continue with the implementation of the Expanded Public Works Programme in order to maximize labour intensive methods to create jobs as it delivers services to the people of North West.

We, therefore, intend to create 198 286 work opportunities over the next 5 years; with provincial departments expected to create 125 957 work opportunities whilst municipalities will create 72 329 work opportunities.

These work opportunities would be created through infrastructure development and maintenance programmes with provincial roads maintenance expected to predominantly contribute over 45 000 work opportunities.

These work opportunities will be followed by the provision of social services that are inclusive of HIV/AIDS home community based care, early childhood development, agriculture support programmes as well as waste management efforts that are inclusive of urban renewal, cleaning of towns, parks and all other settlements.

Honourable members, all our Public Works and Roads EPWP projects would be biased towards women and youth with designated targets of 60 percent and 55 percent respectively.

In our efforts to create opportunities for the youth, we will also support the implementation and expansion of the National Youth Service Programmes that are targeted at young people for skills transfer, experiential learning and capacity building.

We are launching the Expanded Public Works Programme Phase 4 next month aimed at creating more work opportunities in this space.

Honourable Speaker, to date, 120 unemployed graduates in the agricultural sector have been placed in farms as part of experiential training and learning as a three year program and we are implementing a memorandum of Agreement with Taletso and Vuselela TVET Colleges to jointly ensure that we provide in-service training and internships to those student who have just completed their studies.

In pursuance of empowering our youth, we have developed various job creation initiatives that will see our youth participate in the mainstream tourism economy and provide them with job creation opportunities.

Honourable Speaker, these pilot initiatives will be implemented in the current financial year and we estimate that 200 young people will participate in these initiatives.

The Youth Technical Skills and Entrepreneurship Program is an intervention focusing on skills development in areas of road markings and pothole patching over a period of 12 months.

At the end of the training, the “graduates” will be linked with local municipalities for possible job placement and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Furthermore, 200 young people will benefit from a Youth Business Advisors Program which is aimed at developing a cohort of young business advisors over a period of 12 months to be able to provide business advisory service needed by small business enterprises to turnaround and sustain their businesses ventures. 

An amount of R6.7 million has been budget for this initiative.

Furthermore, we will create 180 tourism job opportunities within the North West Protected Areas; 150 of which will be specifically young people.

During 2018/19 financial year, 304 EPWP job opportunities were created through the Waste Management Programme, targeted at cleaning litter hot spots in the Matlosana, Mahikeng and JB Marks Local Municipal areas. 

For this financial year, we are targeting 250 EPWP job opportunities through the same Waster Management Programme.

In our quest to rid our communities of rampant crime, 400 community patrollers are being appointed in high crime infested areas and identified crime hotspots so as intensify community participation in the fight against crime.

Honourable Speaker, of these 400 community patrollers, the first 100 are already working in Mahikeng, Khunotswana village in Ramotshere Moiloa as well as Hebron in Madibeng and R5 million has been set aside for this purpose.

We have installed CCTV cameras to monitor crime hotspots in Mahikeng to enhance our crime fighting capabilities and as a result, we have also made R3 million available for 20 young people to be trained and employed.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

The Department of Social Development has committed to contribute towards youth development in order to address youth unemployment and poverty and the programmes that will be implemented as part of the youth intervention package are as follows:

• 63 Social Work, Community Development, and Administration Internships;
• 78 EPWP Integrated Grant Opportunities;
• 100 Work opportunities in Community Nutrition and Development Centres; 
• 300 National Youth Service (NYS) 12 months training in mixed farming and civil construction

Honourable Speaker, in the past financial year, the Department of Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation created 2534 Job Opportunities; 401 of which was through the EPWP Programme, 93 through the Infrastructure Projects Programme, 40 were learnerships and internships and further 2000 temporary jobs through departmental festivals and events.  

We will create an estimated 500 jobs in this current financial year; translating into 45 Sport and Recreation Coordinators, 239 Arts in Schools jobs, 104 opportunities through the EPWP programme at Arts and Culture facilities throughout the province, 30 work opportunities also through the EPWP at Libraries and Archives as well as 47 training opportunities through learnerships and internships.

Honourable Speaker, as part of our on-going job creation efforts, we appointed 11 Head Librarians, 30 Librarians, 119 Library Assistants, 11 Library Assistants with visual disability and three IT Technicians to ensure proper running of the libraries.

The Department of Health, through Contractor Development Initiative, will partner with Construction SITA to engage 150 youths on a learnership programme and to also create 500 jobs.

The identified maintenance projects will be implemented mainly by Labour-intensive methods in order to generate more direct and indirect local employment opportunities and income.

The number of graduates since inception of the Programme to recruit, train and deploy medical studies beneficiaries is standing at 113. 

Those who are currently on internship are 32 while 11 are on Community Service. 

The number of Cuban trained students doing final rotations in local medical universities is standing at 72. 

Currently we have 314 students in Cuba.  The number of those in the country (study leave due to ill-health and ill-discipline) is 9 (7 due to ill-health and 2 ill-discipline). 

The number of those envisaged to graduate on the 05 July 2019 is 16 (9 confirmed and 7 will be writing their Cuban exam on 21 June 2019).

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng.

Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema.

Ladies and gentlemen, through the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme we are able to recruit in-and-out-of-school youth to enter the teaching profession on an annual basis.

Upon completion of the teaching qualification, the bursars are placed in permanent teaching posts in schools. Recruitment for 2020 is already on course.

Unemployed graduates with a bachelor degree or diploma in a scarce and critical school subjects are employed in schools whilst studying a teaching methodology and awarded a two year bursary to pursue post-graduate studies in Education.

Last year we provided End-User Computing Learnership NQF Level 3 and 4 to unemployed and out-of-school youth.

The project was funded by ETDP SETA for 12 months.

The learners recruited by municipalities based on criteria provided by the SETA and 2 unemployed youth were recruited per ward. The Department placed them in schools for practical training and 171 graduated.

The following municipalities participated:

• Greater Taung, Ratlou, Moretele, Maquasie Hills, Tswaing, Moses Kotane, JB Marks, Kagisano Molopo and Mahikeng Local Municipalities

We are forging a relationship with TVET Colleges to assist with skills development. Five (5) Special Schools in the province are linked to TVET colleges for accreditation of the skills programmes they offer.

Honourable Speaker, there is a youth owned computer manufacturing project, based at the Platinum SEZ in Mogwase, where those young people manufacturing locally made laptops, tablets desktop computers – LEEMA COMPUTERS – with a potential to create 200 permanent youth jobs; if well supported by us,

It is inherent upon us that we support and buy local; and let us support these amazing young people.

Ladies and gentlemen, this State of the Province Address is a response to what the masses of our people have told us they want to see this government doing for them and we shall do as told by the people; for the mandate we hold is derived from them.

We shall roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty to deliver quality services to the people of the North West.

Mmusakgotla,

Sechaba sa Bokone-Bophirima se re neeile maikarabelo a bo-kgajane le bo-tshwara-teu, Pholo tsa rona di gokeletswe mo megomeng, pelesa mo letlhajaneng. Re goga morwalo re semeletse rea lema

Ka ao mafoko, ke lebogetse sebaka.

PULA!