State of the Province Address Delivery by Premier Phumulo Masualle, In Bhisho, On 15 February 2019
Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker;
Leadership of the ANC and the Alliance
Ministers and Deputy Ministers;
Members of the Executive Council;
Members of the Provincial Legislature;
Members of National Parliament and delegates to the NCOP;
Speakers from our sister Legislatures;
Veterans of our struggle for national liberation and their families;
Leadership of Political Parties;
IiKumkani zethu zonke;
USihlalo Wendlu Yeenkosi, iinkosi, kunye namaphakathi;
Executive Mayors, Mayors, Speakers, Chief Whips and Councillors;
Judge President of the Eastern Cape and Members of the Judiciary;
Leaders of Chapter 9 Institutions;
Vice Chancellors of our Tertiary Institutions;
Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps;
Provincial Commissioner of SAPS, Senior Officers and Heads of Security Services;
Leaders of the Religious Fraternity, Business, and Civil Society;
Senior Government Officials and Heads of State-Owned Enterprises;
Deputy Chairperson of the EC Planning Commission and Commissioners
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen
Mzi wakowethu, mandithathe eli thuba ndibulise kuni nonke egameni likaRhulumente. Kuzo zonke iindawo enikuzo sithi molweni! I know that some of you are gathered and listening to this address at various venues across the Province, including those who are gathered at Public Viewing Areas – at Gompo Hall in Gompo, at Babs Madlakane in Uitenhage kwaNobuhle, at Elubaleko Community Hall in Mount Ayliff, at Sonwabile Community Hall in Maclear, at Kliplaat Community hall in Kliplaat, at Lusikisiki College in Lusikisiki, at Ncumisa Kondlo Community Hall eNgqushwa, nase Cala Community Hall.
Kuwo onke amakhaya eeNgqwele zeli phondo, nakuwo wonke umlisela nomthinjane wakowethu, siyabhotisa! Dumelang! Goeie dag aan u almal!
Madam Speaker, allow me to take this opportunity to thank you and Honourable Members of this august house for the honour you have accorded us to address you. As we close the fifth term of our administration, we cannot but note with a deep sense of appreciation that, once more you have generously allowed us an opportunity to account to our people for the work done.
We are also humbled beyond words by the trust the people of the Eastern Cape bestowed on us when they, back in 2014, gave the African National Congress, both in this Province and in the rest of the country, a renewed mandate to pursue the historic duty of rewriting the wrongs of the past and thus improve their lives.
Indeed a great deal of work has been done, and much ground has been covered, both by this 5th administration, and by the administrations that came since the dawn of our democracy. Without any hesitation, access to education continue to improve, more have access to basic services like electrification, water and sanitation, broadened access to healthcare services, resulting in improved life expectancy, the quality of life for more of our inhabitants continues to improve.
Madam Speaker, it is equally true that more still needs to be done, and as we have done before, our combined energies and brainpower are still required. As former President Mbeki once put it, that in our quest to meet the commitments we undertake to better the lives of our people, we shall need to do “business unusual”. This would require of us to think innovatively, act differently and decisively, with courage and conviction, in pursuit of diligent service to our people.
Madam Speaker, like athletes in a relay race, today marks the point at which the current administration true to the dictates of our constitutional order is getting ready to handover the baton to the next.
In a manner that seamlessly continues the service to our people, all the policy instruments that guided the 5th administration, the National Development Plan, our Provincial Development Plan and its Vision 2030, as well as the Provincial Medium-Term Strategic Framework, shall continue to guide the 6th administration. Accordingly, today our task is to give a full account on how we discharged ourselves in respect to the mandate we were given. Read more [PDF]
