The Chairperson of the NCOP,

Mr. Mninwa Mahlangu;

Premier of Gauteng, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane and all Premiers present,

Ministers and Deputy Ministers,

Speakers of Provinces; 

Representatives of South African Local Government Association;

Members of the NCOP,

Members of the National Assembly;

Mayors and Councillors;

Community of Soshanguve and surroundings,

Ladies and gentlemen;

 

Good morning

 

We thank the National Council of Provinces for bringing us together again in this important programme of taking parliament to the people.

For many people, it would be difficult to reach Cape Town to interact directly with Members of Parliament and this August house, the NCOP in particular.

 

Honourable Chairperson

 

A lot has been achieved in the past 19years, and more in the past five years of the current administration.

 

The achievements scored have been due to the hard work of South Africans from all walks of life, working with government to build a better South Africa.

We thank our people for their contribution to the progress that the country has made.

But it is not enough. We still have a lot of work to do, working together.

 

Working together is the key to success, as emphasized by today’s theme; Working Together to Ensure Socio-Economic Development and Advancement of Our Communities.

We learn this from our founding fathers ,for example Pixley ka Isaka Seme. In his historic concept paper, the Native Union published on 24 October 1911, in which he motivated the establishment of the ANC, he spoke eloquently about cooperation.

 

He said the following; “I repeat, co-operation is the key and the watchword which opens the door, the everlasting door which leads into progress and all national success.

 

“The greatest success shall come when man shall have learned to cooperate, not only with his own kith and kin but with all peoples and with all life’’.

 

Indeed working together we will continue to do more.

Working together in the past five years more services have been extended to many areas and communities resulting in the improvement of lives.

These include the development of social and economic infrastructure, targeted support of industries and businesses and creating highly needed jobs.

 

For instance, employment has grown at an unprecedented rate of 308 000 new jobs in the quarter ending in September2013. These figures reflect the highest rate of new jobs created in over 22quarters and further lifts the overall figures of people in employment in South Africa to over 14 million.

The people of Gauteng, Tshwane and Soshanguve have been the biggest beneficiaries of the phenomenal jobs growth registered.  

 

In the same vein we celebrate the achievements since the advent of democracy, we believe levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality remain unacceptably high.

It is for this reason that we call for every role-player to join us and seize every opportunity to accelerate the betterment of our people’s lives. 

The progress we are making in jobs growth came as a product of massive public sector investment in social and economic infrastructure that reached new heights with over R840 billion spent since2009.

 

It is also a product of intensified collaboration of the public and private sector in driving the implementation of our economic turn-around plan adopted in 2010 to respond also to the second biggest world recession which began in 2008 – the New Growth Path (NGP).

We are happy to announce that in every jobs drive of the NGP, we are making inspiring progress that reassures us that the ideals of reducing poverty, unemployment and inequality can be achieved.

 

These are not foreign issues to the people of Gauteng and this region.

 

With Gautrain, Rapid Bus Transport, road network and telecommunications infrastructure we did not only create thousands of jobs, but enabled the people of this region to enjoy a better quality of life;
This region also has the second highest share of the R440 million provided by the Small Enterprise Finance Agency since its establishment in April 2012;
To enhance the industrialisation of the South African economy, the Industrial Development Corporation has increased its funding approval to more than R13 billion, enhanced by its increase appetite aimed at stimulating growth of industries.
As part of our efforts to enhance manufacturing and industrialisation of the South African economy, Gauteng has assembly plants for busses supplied to the Municipal Integrated transport system, and taxis contributing in improving locally assembled taxis from zero percent 12 months ago to over 9000 taxis entering our market in a year.
 

The buses are manufactured in Benoni by Marcopolo and Mercedes Benz while taxis are manufactured in Springs by BAW.

 

Incidentally, the NCOP sits in Tshwane during a busy construction period. Several projects being rolled out such as the Pretoria Rail Ring, Hammanskraal Rail Service, Moloto Rail Corridor and also the Bus Rapid Transport system as part of the national infrastructure rollout plan.

There may be a lot of inconvenience currently to the residents of Tshwane and surroundings but in the end, the results will make life much better and much easier.

Life in South Africa is indeed improving each day, in many ways.

 

There is still a lot of work to be done and we should do it together as South Africans from various walks of life.

One of the things we need to do better, say our people, is improve accountability especially at a local level. This matter has been raised during the outreach programme.

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At a local government level, the code of conduct for councillors dictates that they should be accountable to local communities and report back at least quarterly to their constituencies on council matters and municipal performance.

 

The Minister of Cooperative Governance will work with the MECs in all provinces to intensify oversight and ensure that councilors fulfill their obligations to the communities through effective public engagements.

I also wish to emphasise that it is the duty of all public office bearers to communicate with the public and not only councilors.

 

Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MECs and Mayors are also supposed to meet the public regularly to report back on services and also to obtain feedback from citizens on how services are being delivered by officials in their departments.  Many have been doing over the past five years but it is never enough for a vibrant democratic governmentlike ours.

 

South Africans, especially those who fought hard to be free, want to be engaged continuously and have strong views about how they should be governed.

The Freedom Charter says the people shall govern. In this regard, the way we interaction is absolutely critical. If done correctly, continuously engagement at all levels would eliminate the reasons for protests as people would have more avenues to speak to government directly.

 

Honourable Members,

 

The issue of crime has also been raised sharply, including the abuse of drugs and other substances.

Drug abuse perpetuates crime.

Addicts commit more crimes, robberies, break-ins and so on to sustain their addictions. Due to the demand that is not subsiding, drug syndicates proliferate, infiltrating even law enforcement agencies.

It is even more worrying that school children are nowadays main targets of drug trade. Working together with other departments such as Social Development, the Police will intensify their efforts to fight drug and substance abuse in these areas.

 

The police will need the support of communities to fight drugs and substance abuse in this area. As Pixley ka IsakaSeme said, cooperation will be the key to our success.

Amongst operational crime fighting issues raised, challenges at Ga-Rankuwa Police station and the magistrate court, particularly regarding the escape of detainees, are being addressed.

 

In the same manner, more towards the east in Kameeldrift, the police are intensifying their fight against crime, which also includes rhino poaching.

Dube police station in Winterveldt will also improve patrols in the areas which have been identified as crime hotspots.  My mentioning of these areas and issues Honourable Chairperson demonstrates the power of the NCOP. It makes all of us to focus at community levels and deal with issues that affect people directly.

We should continue working together to make our communities safe.

 

Compatriots,

 

Another area that we should work together on is to fight hunger. According to the Statistics SA report of 2011,approximately 12 million households are vulnerable to food insecurity.

The country’s socio-economic blueprint, the National Development Plan, sets out various methods and targets to eradicate poverty, reduce unemployment and eliminate inequality by 2030.

The NDP makes reference to a number of steps that will improve food security, including the expanded use of irrigation, security of land tenure, especially for women and youth, and the promotion of nutrition education.

 

In response to the NDP, last week we launched the Fetsa Tlala food production programme in Kuruman, to eradicate hunger while promoting food security.

Two billion rand has been made available this financial year for farmer support programmes and 72% of it will be used for food production to support Fetsa Tlala.

 

The programme will be administered by the departments of agriculture in the provinces.

About 100 000 hectares of land will be put under production through these programmes.

We trust that Fetsa Tlala will encourage the development of food gardens in all households. 

 

Loluhlelo olusha lukahulumeni lokulimaiFetsa Tlala ludalelwe ukusiza umphakathi nabalimi abancane ukuze bakhiqizeukudla okuzosiza imiphakathi kanye nemindeni.

Masilime siyixoshe indlala eNingizumuAfrika yonke ngaloluhlelo lwe Fetsa Tlala.

 

Through Fetsa Tlala we are building on the good work that government has been doing already. We have  already spent over R3 billion since 2009 through the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme and the Ilima/Letsema Programme.

 

The two programmes support  smallholder farmers and vulnerable households to produce food.

The support is in the form of infrastructure such as fences, boreholes, irrigation systems, poultry houses, shearing sheds and storage facilities.

It is also through production inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, chemicals, day old chickens, sheep and others.

Government also provides targeted training for farmers and the provision of extension advisory support. Over 102 606 beneficiaries were reached during this period.

 

Compatriots,

 

Work continues to extend services in the areas of health, social development, water, electricity and a host of others that were raised during visits by MPs to various communities.

 

Life is certainly much better than it was before 1994. Over the last twenty years we have worked together to change the face of our country. 

We have worked hard to improve people’s lives, especially the poor.

But the struggle against poverty and unemployment must continue. We must work harder to make sure that every South African can live and work in dignity.

Government will work harder to improve the pace of implementation and speed up the delivery of services.

 

We are making progress in our public infrastructure programme.

The economy will begin to grow faster as we overcome bottlenecks in transport, electricity, water and other sectors.

Although economic transformation will take time, government has put in place complementary policies that boost employment and economic participation. These include the public and community works programme.

 

The Employment Tax Incentive bill will also help to absorb our people into work, especially the youth.

As the global outlook improves, we will also see an improvement in growth and the job opportunities our people can access.

 

But South Africans cannot rely on outside developments to come to our rescue. Citizens must work with government to ensure social and economic development and build our communities.

The National Development Plan provides a programme that can unite us as we build a faster growing and more inclusive economy.

The plan promotes greater competitiveness, expanded public and private infrastructure, vibrant cities in which we all have a stake and stronger rural development.

 

It is important the government, business, organised workers and active citizens all collaborate on strengthening development and inclusive economic growth in our country.  We have done it before, and we will continue to build on these strengths.

We have a beautiful country. We have done a lot since 1994 to build it.

We must now move ahead together inbuilding a truly united, non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous society in which all citizens can look ahead and anticipate a bright future.

 

Masisebenzisane ukwakha iNingizimu Afrikaehlangene, engacwasi muntu ngokwebala nangobulili nenethemba lentuthuko nempiloengcono kubobonke abantu.

 

We thank the NCOP for bringing parliament to Tshwane.

I thank you.

 

Issued by the Presidency