Honourable Deputy Speaker of the Legislature, Ms V.S Siwela;
Honourable Premier of the Mpumalanga Province, Mr DD Mabuza;
Honourable Chief Whip of the majority party, the African National Congress in the Legislature, Mr JM Mkhatshwa;
Honourable Members of the Executive Council and Members of the Legislature;
Distinguished Executive Mayors, Speakers, and Councillors of District and Local Municipalities across the Mpumalanga Province;
Secretary to the Legislature, Mr. LJ Mwale;
Director-General of the Mpumalanga Government, Mr. T Mdakane;
Inkosi KN Mkhatshwa
Inkosi EM Shongwe
Heads of Departments, Parastatals and Chapter 9 Institutions;
Provincial Secretary of the ANC, Comrade M Ndlovu and and Alliance partners;
Leaders of Political Parties represented in the Legislature DA, EFF,
BRA;Members of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature Audit Committee present;
Representatives of the different media houses in our Province;
Leaders from business, sports and religious sectors;
Special Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen Good morning all
Hon, Deputy Speaker, it is an immense honour to table the 2017/18 Policy and Budget speech of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature. The main strategic and political objectives of this policy and budget speech is to articulate our priorities for the year-ahead as we continue to advance our efforts towards building a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society.
In this year of Oliver Reginald Tambo – “a true servant of the people”, we as the Legislature, remains steadfast in our collective commitment to contribute towards further harnessing and consolidating our hard won freedom for the realisation of a better life for all our people in the province. In line with our constitutional mandate, the Legislature is certainly committed to moving the province forward towards a more prosperous path.
This path of progress we are yearning for, and in commemorating the selfl ess life of OR Tambo, will include deepening unity and cohesion of all our people in a radical programme to transform the structure of our economy and to achieve inclusive growth. OR Tambo eloquently stated; “We seek to create united democratic and non-racial society. We have a vision of South Africa in which black and white shall live and work together as equals in conditions of peace and prosperity” We therefore welcome the leadership demonstrated by the Premier Hon DD Mabuza, where he actively promotes the unity and cohesion of our province as an important instrument to foster nation building as we build a united, non- racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
In this context, the imperative to continue dismantling the remnants of the colonial legacy of apartheid which created an unequal society should remain at the centre of our on-going struggle in this radical phase of democratic transition. Honourable Deputy Speaker, our young democracy cannot fl ourish and become resilient if our people continue to be affl icted by the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
It should be the conscious resolve to build a better South Africa in resolving the three interrelated societal contradictions of race, class and gender that our National Development Plan requires us to collectively address regardless of our political affi liation. More specifi cally, peace, freedom and democracy cannot be sustainable when there is a pervasive wide economic gap between the small minority and the large majority.
In his state of the nation address, President Jacob Zuma characterized radical socio-economic transformation as the fundamental change in the “structure, systems, institutions, and patterns of ownership, management and control of the economy in favour of all South Africans, especially the poor…”.
As the Legislature, we are delighted that also our provincial government, through the Hon, Premier, during his state of the province address, made a commitment in this august House towards “leveraging state power for the radical socio-economic transformation agenda”.
As the preamble of our Constitution enjoins us all, we ought to ensure that we work together in improving the quality of life of our people and free their potential. In fulfilling our constitutional mandate, the Legislature is committed in becoming an active partner in this regard. We will work tirelessly as the true representative body of our people to ensure that the critical mission of radical socio-economic transformation is addressed in our life time.
All our efforts will therefore continue to be guided by our collective commitment towards ensuring effective oversight and public accountability as we take our Province forward towards a new development trajectory. Hon, Deputy Speaker, the Legislative Sector has prioritised this year to celebrate 20 years since the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, and since the inception of the National Council of Provinces.
This particular celebration provides a platform to recognise the contributions made by the people of South Africa who fought gallantly in order to achieve the freedom we are enjoying today. It also enables us not only to honour the pioneers of the Constitution, but also to celebrate the ideals in the Constitution which resulted in changing our society and its people. In keeping with the spirit of OR Tambo, it is necessary to continue to foster greater patriotism, nation building and social cohesion through a renewed momentum embolden by the aspirations of the world renowned Constitution.
Accordingly our celebration seeks to reinforce and remind the electorate the signifi cant transformational changes introduced by the Constitution, to encourage dialogue and the sharing of experiences of what these transformational changes meant to different generations of our society. Deputy Speaker, the Legislature is part of Africa and the global parliamentary community.
Consequently, we recently celebrated Africa Day on the 23rd of May 2017 under the theme - building a better Africa and a better World. As part of addressing African challenges by African themselves, and to further advance the African progressive agenda, the Pan African Parliament (PAP) which, is the legislative arm of the African Union, recently convened in Midrand (Gauteng Province).
Parliamentarians spoke in one voice to imagine a better future from a hostile present. Inspired by the renewed narrative of Africa rising, there is a need for greater agency which compels us as the legislative sector, to work together towards strengthening the fulfi lment of our constitutional mandate for improved public accountability and service delivery.
This collective task is of paramount importance if Africa is to rise again. The words of black civil rights activist and global icon Brother Malcom X, are quiet compelling in this regard, when he said; “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today”. Our task as public representatives in the fulfi lment of the promise to the people is to build a better continent and better world today.
The late O.R Tambo, our struggle hero and icon, from whom we draw much inspiration stated: “The fi ght for freedom must go on until it is won; until our country is free, happy and peaceful as part of the community of man, we cannot rest”. We therefore cannot rest until our freedoms are enjoyed by all here and beyond our borders. Full speech [PDF]
