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Contribution to Premier's opening address
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Road and Public Works

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEBATE ON THE PREMIERS OPENING ADDRESS

MEC FOR ROADS AND PUBLIC WORKS

14 FEBRUARY 2000

Honourable Speaker
 Members of this Provincial Assembly
 Colleagues in the EXCO

I'm extremely honoured in having been afforded the opportunity to participate in this first ever state of the province address by the 
Premier this year, the year we have declared, "The year of the dawn of the African Century".

The manner in which the Premier has articulated once more the challenges confronting the rest of humanity and our province in particular 
can only be described as having been meticulous, focused, with a clear sense of purpose and direction.

There was however little surprise for me as I was going through the commentaries on the Friday and weekend newspapers and indeed subsequent 
radio broadcasts.

I reached yet again the only conclusion that there are some among us in this house who are indeed beyond redemption. They refuse neither to 
learn nor to listen. Notwithstanding the numerous attempts by the Premier and others in what we have come to accept as ABET at this level, 
the last being the address itself, but still there are no positive outcomes.

It looks to me that some have conveniently resigned themselves into a state of permanent forgetfulness or shall I say amnesia for lack of a 
better word. We though shall persist. (Umzingisi akanashwa)

My point of entry in this debate is on the provision of the much needed infrastructure to support and promote the economic well-being of 
our people, the most needy and the poor most of whom reside in the remotest of our villages in the country side.

PROMOTION OF SMME's

In his address to this assembly, the Premier further makes the point about the need to nurture and promote small and medium enterprises as 
a vehicle to fight poverty and unemployment.

Through the national public works programme and the affirmative procurement procedures that have been instituted and spearheaded by our 
department, the ordinary people from our villages, women and youth are able to benefit in gainful employment as well as receive skills that 
are a critical component of our overall economic development.

Many previously disadvantaged individuals are beneficiaries of the targeted procurement procedures in those areas that hitherto were 
exclusive domains of a particular race group or a tiny section of our population over the others.

We must with both our Premier and President when they say that, the problem of racism will linger with us for some good time to come. I say 
this in the context of the experience that is beginning to emerge as a seek to transform our society and the economy in particular.

There are already those who are bent on corrupting this fledging and powerful sector of this economy before it has become any stronger. 
Often you hear of such things as, "Rent a Black".

This is most certainly a highly disturbing phenomenon. We are told that some of these companies so called emerging, are nothing but a 
disguise by the same old tricksters that were responsible for our very own subjugation in the first place. Some among those whom we seek to 
affirm are willing parties in their continued marginalisation in the wealth creation for the country. Some of these people find themselves 
in various sorts of JV's in which effective empowerment is a distant dream or a near impossibility.

We have lined up training programmes to impart skills to our people together with national government to ensure that those well meaning 
individuals are not victims of this cruelty.

The Premier makes a very bold statement in acknowledging that the situation in our roads has indeed reached crisis proportions and that the 
recent weather conditions have not made our challenge in this regard any lighter. Today as we speak here, another bridge has been swept 
away in flood damages in Tywenka, a locality between Tsolo and Maclear.

This experience has visited many other communities in the far Eastern and Northern parts of our province. Some of these areas easily go 
unnoticed as they do not enjoy much or any media coverage as you would have elsewhere in the same province. These areas include Maluti, Mt 
Fletcher, Bizana, Flagstaff, Ntabankulu, Lusikisiki, Qumbu, Mt Frere, Mt Ayliff to mention but a few.

These places have but one thing in common, they constitute those old native reserves as they were called. They were systematically 
subjected to decades of neglect in terms of development perhaps because they were inhabited by those sub-humans who belonged to the wrong 
race group as they were perceived by the powers that be at the time.

When disaster strikes, these areas suffer the most as they do not have the basic and reliable infrastructure to sustain their livelihoods. 
This is the gigantic task that this democratic government has to contend with and restore the dignity of these communities. It is not an 
easy task but it can be done perhaps not overnight as some want to suggest. I sketch this background to help again those who easily forget.

In our partnership with both national and local government we have begun a concerted effort aimed at reversing the situation as painted 
above. This partnership at work is already yielding positive results as there is now better planning and co-ordination of resource 
distribution. In that way the resources from the taxpayer are optimally utilised.

Under the flagship of the integrated, sustainable rural development strategy, we are making serious in-roads in attacking the scour age of 
poverty that continues to be a defining feature of our country side. The wild coast SDI is but an example of co-ordinated planning and 
implementation between national, provincial and local government spheres with the view to maximising the economic potential of our 
province.

CORRUPTION

The Premier has made the point about corruption that remains endemic in our society. Corruption exists not only inside government but also 
outside of government. The commitment therefore has to come from each and every citizen of this province. We do not need statements now any 
more but we need action.

In the nature of our department, many of these tempting situations are abound. I take this opportunity provided by the Premier's address to 
inform members of this Legislature and the public about our endeavours to rid ourselves of this corruption. We shall be establishing help 
desks in our major district offices and a toll free number where people can report incidents of corruption within our department. Details 
of these shall be publicised very soon from now.



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