Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane: Mpumalanga State of the Province Address 2021

05 Mar 2021

State of the Province Address by the Premier of Mpumalanga Province

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislature; Honourable Chief Whip of the Majority Party;
Ministers and Deputy Ministers present; Members of the National Assembly; Members of the Mpumalanga Legislature;
Colleagues in the Mpumalanga Executive Council; Executive Mayors and Councillors;
Provincial Chairperson of SALGA;
Provincial Judge President Justice Francis Legodi and all esteemed members of the 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, Ikosi SE Mahlangu; President of CONTRALESA, Kgoshi Mokoena;
Chairperson of the Mpumalanga Provincial House of Traditional Leaders, Inkosi uNgomane; Acting Director-General Mr Peter Nyoni and all Provincial Heads of Mpumalanga Provincial Government,
Chairpersons and CEO of Parastatals and other Chapter 9 Institutions;
The Acting Chairperson of the Public Service Commission in Mpumalanga;
The Leadership of the African National Congress, represented by Acting Chairperson Cde Mand la
Ndlovu;
Veterans of our struggle for freedom; Distinguished guests; Ladies and Gentlemen; Good Morning;

The Flower, a symbol of hope, beauty and love

Madam Speaker, we have chosen a very special, gorgeous, attractive, bright and a unique flower as our symbol of hope for a better and prosperous future, the beauty of our province and our environment and above all else LOVE for our people, especially our women and children.

This glorious flower in question is the Barberton daisy.

It is indigenous to South Eastern Africa and in our beautiful Province, it is commonly found in

Barberton.

We have also chosen this beautiful flower to make an appeal to males in our Province to help us stop the pandemic of Gender Based Violence. Our women and children are like this Barberton Daisy, beautiful, fragile and in need of love and protection.

This pandemic exacerbates the triple challenges of patriarchy, racism and inequality endured by us women for generations.

In this crucial year of Mama Charlotte Maxeke , it is time for us women to occupy our rightful place and still feel safe in our homes , workplaces and our surrounding communities .

Bakwethu sekwanele. Wathintha’ Bafazi , wathintha imbokodo

The Context

1. Madam Speaker, I stand before you today to deliver the state of the province address at a time when the whole world is holding its breath and pinning its hope on the success of one of the largest global vaccination programmes that has been undertaken in history.

2. We deliver this SOPA exactly a year since the first positive covid-19 case in the country was reported on the 5th of March 2020. We have made significant strides to counter the devastating effect of the pandemic.

3. Our unique approach to managing the surge of the virus in the Province has encompassed;

The establishment of Ward based containment teams under the leadership of Ward Councillors and thus deploying a “wall to wall” strategy across all wards in the Province;

The linking of the ward based containment teams with Clinic-driven ward based targeted screening, testing and care teams; and

Intensifying the identification of active cases through testing, isolation and quarantine.

4. This strategy was developed in collaboration with the clinical advisory panel of experts that I have appointed to augment the Provincial COVID-19 containment strategy. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the panel, led by Professor Simon Nemutandani from the University of the Witwatersrand.

5. Evidence of their excellent work is seen through the relative low rate of infection and mortality across the Province as well as our recovery rate that has been stable at over 97% across the two waves of COVID-19 infections.

6. Madam Speaker, to-date Mpumalanga has lost 1271 people to COVID-19, from 71525 infections and a total of 69 073 recoveries.

7. In memory of all those who have passed on due to the COVID-19 pandemic may I request that we observe a moment of silence….may their souls rest in eternal peace.

(MOMENT OF SILENCE IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES TO COVID-19.)

8. I also extend my gratitude to our frontline workers, who have worked tirelessly in the face of great adversity and in difficult circumstances to save the lives of the people of Mpumalanga.

9. Their efforts will not be in vain. The Provincial Government will, in due course, honour and celebrate our frontline workers.

10. As Mpumalanga Province, we have begun rolling out the COVID-19 vaccination programme as we take the first steps to returning to life as we knew it.

11. We have completed part of the first phase which entailed the vaccination of health workers at two provincial health facilities, which are Rob Ferreira and Witbank hospitals.

12. Once the next batch of vaccines arrive, we will complete the first phase of our programme that of vaccinating all our health and emergency workers and move to the next phase.

13. In the second and third phases of our vaccination programme, we will vaccinate police, teachers, taxi drivers and those that are 60 years and above as well as those that are 18 years and older but with comorbidities. This will be followed by the entire population of Mpumalanga who are above 18 years.

14. We shall have achieved herd immunity once we vaccinate at least more than 67% of our population.

15. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a health crisis in every corner of the world and has birthed an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions.

16. Our socio economic response to the pandemic has been swift, targeted and assisted millions of our unemployed people and low wage vulnerable workers.

17. As early as April last year, government announced a massive stimulus package which was allocated to among others;