State of the Province Address by the Premier of Mpumalanga Province on 22 February 2019
Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislature,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers present;
Members of the National Assembly present;
Members of the Mpumalanga Legislature;
Colleagues in the Mpumalanga Executive Council;
Executive Mayors and Councillors present;
Chairperson of SALGA;
Provincial Judge President Justice Francis Legodi and all esteemed members of judiciary;
Provincial Commissioner, General Zuma;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
His Majesty Ingwenyama Makhosonke II;
His Majesty Ingwenyama Mabhokho III;
Chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders, Inkosi SE Mahlangu;
President of Contralesa, Kgoshi Mokoena;
Chairperson of the Mpumalanga Provincial House of Traditional Leaders, Inkosi uNgomane;
Acting Director-General Mr Matthew Mohlasedi and all Provincial Heads of Mpumalanga Government, Chairpersons and CEOs of Parastatals, Commissioners and Executives of Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 Institutions;
Officials from the British Embassy and the United States of America;
The Leadership of the African National Congress, represented by Acting Chairperson Cde Mandla Ndlovu;
Veterans of our struggle for freedom;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great honour and a privilege for me to stand before this August House and address you gathered here today, those at home, at work and on the road listening over their radios.
This State of the Province Address comes at a time when we approach the 25th anniversary of the advent of our democracy. Whilst this is my maiden SOPA speech, it also marks the end of our term as the fifth democratically elected government since 1994.
A five-year term that has been characterised by mixed socio-economic performance. It was certainly not the best of times, nor can we be overly pessimistic and say, it was the worst of times.
There were times of slight economic improvement only to be eclipsed by declines, which in some instances took us into technical recession only to be immediately followed by buoyant growth.
However, as a Province we have been fortunate that, when the country was experiencing consecutive negative growth quarters, our economy remained in marginal positive territory despite contraction in the mining industry.
What this means is that because of robust performance by some of our industries, Mpumalanga was spared of a technical recession.
The twenty fifth year of existence is usually associated with the transition from adolescence to adulthood characterised by economic independence, exploration, self-determination, being more realistic and pragmatic. Some would describe this period as coming of age.
The question that begs to be answered is, have we as a Province, reached that transition period? And if so, what level of socio economic and political development has our young democracy achieved during that period of coming of age?
In addition, what have we accomplished over the past five years since the last mandate our people bestowed upon us through the ballot box? It also demands that we face the realities of what we could not achieve during this term of administration.
Madam Speaker, this occasion gives us an opportunity to answer this question by first painting a picture of where we are coming from, what were the prevailing socio economic and political conditions of our people prior to 1994 and what the ANC led government has done to improve the lives of our people.
It also affords us a platform to look back through the five-year window period and account on the mandate our people gave the African National Congress through the 2014 election manifesto.
To some of our people twenty-five years may sound like a very long period, yet to others it feels like yesterday.
To those who are referred to as the born free generation, 1994 only exists through their imagination informed by the images of long queues of millions of South Africans, black and white waiting for their turn to make a cross and select a political party of their choice.
For the majority of our people in this country, they were making that cross on the ballot paper for the first time in their lives.
Since that moment to date, the people of our Province have overwhelmingly voted for the African National Congress as the only majority political organization that can represent their aspirations, bring hope, restore confidence and demonstrate our commitment in fighting the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. We have never and we shall never take our people’s trust in us for granted.
Madam Speaker and Honourable Members, we have made significant progress in transforming the apartheid state into a democratic one founded on the values of human dignity, non-racialism and non-sexism, the rule of law, and universal adult suffrage, as enshrined in the Constitution.
What we have achieved in our Province specifically and throughout South Africa generally has few parallels elsewhere in the world. The Mpumalanga that we live in today is utterly different from the one that we inherited in 1994.
We inherited a fragmented, unaccountable and racially divided governance system consisting of homeland administrations sometimes also referred to as “Bantustans” or “self-governing territories”, as well as separate administrations for certain racial groups.
We acknowledge that for centuries, our people were divided along racial lines. We had become a nation in dire need of healing. We wasted no time and worked hard towards reconciliation and social cohesion and ensured that mechanisms were put in place to deal with the legacy of apartheid and redress of past imbalances in a manner that fosters unity.
We have always been aware and appreciated the inherent strengths that we have as a nation and were mindful of the inevitable tensions of our diversity in race, class, creed, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, linguistic and geographical origin, as we embarked on this journey towards greater social cohesion.
Standing on this podium, unaware that this would become his last State of the Province address, the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa who was then our Premier, His Excellency Mr DD Mabuza declared, and I quote
“As the people of Mpumalanga, our genetic make-up is grounded on Unity and Struggle. We have preached this not as a self-serving crusade, but as a belief system. We stand united in our diversity, proclaiming our full commitment to holding each other’s hand - black and white, man and women, believers and atheists, poor and rich, in working to build a democratic and prosperous society.”
It is this unity of purpose that the Deputy President Mr Mabuza spoke about, that continues to guide and direct our efforts of nation building, reconciliation and national cohesion. It drives our collective efforts as a nation in building peace, stability and opens up opportunities for all our citizens in this Province.
For a nation that was born only a quarter of a century ago, our achievements in the area of deepening democracy through the healing of divisions of the past and establishing a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights are incomparable.
Our liberal and progressive Constitution, admired by the nations of the world is supported not only by the Bill of Rights but also by the Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 institutions that play a pivotal role in protecting and safeguarding our human rights and our constitutional democracy.
These institutions have proven themselves to be impartial and perform their functions without fear, favour or prejudice. The commissions of enquiries that are playing themselves out in the public arena today are a testimony of our desire to be transparent, promote justice and fight corruption.
As early as 1994 we committed ourselves to the pursuit of the goals of freedom, freedom from want, from hunger, freedom from deprivation, freedom from ignorance, freedom from suppression and freedom from fear. These freedoms are fundamental to the guarantee of human dignity.
We have gathered here today to look at how far we have gone in the attainment of these freedoms, knowing and accepting that these goals of freedom are progressive in nature. Read more [PDF]
