
=====================================================================
End of the year statement by  Premier
=====================================================================

Speeches and Media Releases
 Premier's Office

[         w

EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

END OF THE YEAR STATEMENT

BY REV MA. STOFILE PREMIER AND CHAIRPERSON OF THE ANC IN THE PROVINCE OF THE  EASTERN CAPE

ON THE  22nd DECEMBER 1999



Fellow citizens of the Eastern Cape,

The story of our quest to renew our mandate is well known and its results have been fully documented. The people of South Africa not only 
renewed the mandate of the ANC to govern but also demonstrated an increased confidence in our organisation and the government it leads. For 
this we thank our people. We thank them because they once more said that the Movement which produced the Albert Luthulis, the Lilian 
Ngoyis, the Oliver Tambos, the Helen Josephs, the Nelson Mandelas, Sharlotte Maxeke, Sissy Gool, Florence Matomela is the only movement 
willing and capable of realising their aspirations.

What then do we intend to do with the mandate that the people have given us? As we reported at our recently held Provincial General 
Council, in the coming period we intend to accelerate change and bring into being a better standard of living for the previously down 
trodden masses of South Africa. We aim to create conditions, which will make it possible for them to advance in all spheres of life and 
have equal opportunities.

Our most important commitment to the people who gave us a mandate to govern is never to allow them to suffer under the scourge of poverty, 
repression and oppression as in the past.

What the past year has demonstrated to us is that as patient our people are in their nature, they are however impatient to see that real 
change in their lives does occur. We therefore cannot gamble with their patience and we intend to do exactly what they require!

Achievements of the outgoing year, decade and century.

One of the greatest achievements of this century has been the triumph of our struggle against apartheid. The mere resolve of our people to 
fight and defeat apartheid can and will be said by future generations who will live in the next millennium, to have been a demonstration of 
the human spirit which is inimical to that which confines freedoms of humanity. The same goes for the bedrock foundation laid over the 
first term of democratic governance, for a faster pace of transformation.

Within this context 1999 will also go down in history as a year we made significant progress in dealing with the vexing challenges facing 
our people. As an instrument for delivery of better services to our people, the civil service has reached better levels of organisation, 
with improved management of finances, human resources and public resources. Our vision and integrated development efforts have earned us 
improved investor and business confidence. We continue to occupy greater heights on such areas as tourism, agriculture, small business 
development etc.

Yet these developments have yet to register the desired level of job creation. With the high rate of unemployment in the province and the 
lag between investments and jobs created, our challenge is to ensure that sustainable quality employment opportunities are created.

The positive developments which are a feature of our province have been marred by a decline in the society's moral fibre and values that 
manifests itself in increased violent crimes, violence against women and children, corruption and abuse of substances such as drugs. On 
this front too there is greater integration of all efforts of anti-crime agencies and positive trends are already emerging. These include 
the successes that are registered by the Scorpions unit in the Province and the recently held Anti-Corruption Summit in East London at 
which all stakeholders made a commitment to work together to end all forms of corruption. In the New Year, we are confident that we will 
see more concrete results of these efforts.

Our message for this period and the coming year

One of the most tragic accompaniments of every festive season is the carnage on our roads. Already many people have perished in our 
Province and nation-wide as a result of unscrupulous road users. Again our province remains one of those with the highest death toll as a 
result of the accidents this year. Many will be orphaned and widowed as a result of the accidents. One more death on the roads is one too 
much. We therefore appeal to all road users to be extra careful.

We also appeal to the law enforcement agencies to be extra strict during this period and show no mercy on those who infringe road 
regulations. Don't drink and drive!

Of equal importance during the festive season is the high rate of crime. This includes the murders and the breaking into our homes. We 
appeal to all our people to remain extra-vigilant against these social ills. We know that in many of our areas we have Community Policing 
for a and Neighbourhood Watches. It is these structures that must be at the forefront of our people's assault against all forms of crime.

Challenges of the New Year

When the year 2000 begins, we will also be beginning a new academic year. Part of our challenge for the New Year is to ensure a smooth 
school year for our students so that we have the educational results, which will make us proud at the end of the year. This challenge is 
made much more important because we shall be beginning a New Year, Century and Millennium. It is incumbent that when history books are 
written it shall be said that the people of the Eastern Cape turned a new page as far as education is concerned when the new millennium 
began.

The second challenge we face as the province is, of course, the fact that our province remains one of those with the highest rates of HIV / 
Aids infection. On this we can never over emphasise the need for every one of us to practice safe sex. Our youth are particularly 
vulnerable. We must take the anti HIV/Aids campaign to new heights in the New Year to ensure that we reduce and finally bring to a halt the 
spread of HIV / Aids.

Despite the ground breaking legal and policy changes across our country we continue to experience high levels of domestic violence, abuse 
of women and children and substance abuse. These threaten to erode the gains made in our democratic struggle, which was also about building 
the integrity of our nation, building the nation's pride, adoption and internalisation of moral values that would leave no room for 
collaboration with child abusers, crime and corruption. We must build a South Africa with higher morals and nobler values.

Real development can only be registered when it changes the lives of the rural poor who compose over 60% of our population. To this end our 
provincial administration has developed an integrated rural and urban renewal strategy to ensure synergy of all government and other 
stakeholder development programmes. The Tombo Multi Purpose Community Centre was recently launched as a showpiece of co-operative 
governance and sustainable development. It is around such plans that we expect all South Africans to put their shoulders behind the wheel 
to accelerate change for a better life for all.

The much talked about Y2K bug has also necessitated that we, as a province, put in place measures that will ensure that technology does not 
fail us. In this regard significant progress has been made in ensuring the compliance of our technology with the Y2K phenomenon. In 
addition contingency plans are in place to deal with any possible disaster that may emerge if the scare becomes a reality.

These are challenges, I believe are shared by all South Africans and around which national consensus can be built.

Local Government elections.

Next year we shall be holding elections for that primary layer of governance, the local government. Once more we appeal to all our people 
to participate in these elections as this is the closest sphere of government to them and therefore of primary importance. You will know 
that the ANC took a decision at its Provincial General Council two weeks ago to ensure that we have the best people running local 
government by designating the Provincial Chairperson to appoint the Mayors in consultation with the local communities. This is a 
demonstration of how much importance the ANC regards this sphere of government.

Of equal importance during the run up to the elections will be the campaign itself. Except for minor incidents, all parties ran the 
campaign for the June 2 general elections in a responsible manner. The ANC pledges to run a clean campaign as we did last year. We 
challenge other parties to make the same pledge. The Provincial Government will also work with the IEC to ensure free and fair elections.

The Government and the ANC wish all the people of the Eastern Cape a Merry Christmas, a Prosperous New Century and millennium as well as a 
better life for the coming period. We face the future with confidence.

END

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Home | About the Eastern Cape | Economy
 Structures | International Relations | Documents
 Premier's Office | Speeches & Media Releases
 Top of Page

---------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Eastern Cape

Premier's Office

Structures

Documents

Speeches & Media Releases

International Relations

Economy


