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Speech by Premier at the launch of new  NCORA Irrigation Scheme
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 Premier's Office

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 EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
SPEECH BY PREMIER STOFILE

AT THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE NEW NCORA IRRIGATION SCHEME

ON 20 OCTOBER 2000



Master of Ceremonies;
 Ladies and Gentlemen:

In September 2000 Statistics South Africa released a report entitled MEASURING POVERTY IN RSA.The report revealed that, the Eastern Cape 
is the poorest province in South Africa (according to monthly household expenditure).The report further states that the poorest magisterial 
district in the country is Elliotdale, followed by Willovale, both in the Eastern Cape.

Some people pretended to be surprised by the findings of the report.They acted as if the newly published levels of poverty in our province 
were a revelation.

In many cases those who commented did not know where Elliotdale is.They had never been involved, whatsoever, with any of the initiatives 
aimed at eradicating poverty and improving the quality of life of our people.

Our response to the report is simple.

1.People in Gugwini village (Jericho) eMzimkhulu do not understand how their lives could be said to be better than those in Willowvale.In 
other words, the whole of the former Transkei region has always experienced abject poverty.People are looking forward to the implementation 
of poverty alleviation programmes in these regions.

2.The declaration of the Eastern Cape as the poorest province in the country does not tell us anything we did not know before.We view the 
statistics as an accurate demonstration of the extent to which our country was systematically plundered by apartheid.

While we want to emphasize that the levels of poverty in our province should be viewed in the correct historical context, by the same token 
we remain committed to realizing the mission and mandate that was given to us through the three previous democratic elections i.e. to 
eradicate poverty and to create schemes like Ncora where people will finally get the opportunity to participate in activities that will 
allow them to support their families and restore their dignity, the best way they know how:- through farming and food production.

In the last six years there have been numerous projects that the government and its partners in the form of parastatals, NGOs, business, 
international donors and others have established projects to address the levels of poverty in our province.Many of the people gathered here 
today have been involved in such initiatives, some have heard about them through the media, so it is not my intention to list them here.

In spite of all these good, visible initiatives we still have to answer two critical questions.The first one is:-

Why is it that so may people in our province remain trapped in poverty?

The answer, as I have indicated before, is that we are dealing with a mountain size backlog and we are still very far from realizing our 
mission of eliminating poverty and advancing rural development>

But we are not discouraged.We shall not rest until all the people of the Eastern Cape can see the material changes in their lives and say, 
in the words of our President Thabo Mbeki.

Indeed, today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will even be better.

The second question we have to answer is:-

What can we, as government and our partners do to improve on the systems and existing programmes to ensure a better, more focused delivery 
of services?

To answer this and other related questions, two weeks ago we convened what was called the Rural Development Summit at Unitra, Umtata.The 
purpose of this summit was:-

* To bring together all role players in rural development with a view of consolidating our actions and rededicate ourselves to a shared 
vision.
* To measure the impact of programmes that have been put in place and review them with the aim of making qualitative changes where 
necessary.

I do not want to pre-empt the official release and publication of the summit resolutions.But there are three very important matters 
discussed there which I find very relevant especially for this gathering.

* Delegates at the summit observed that there has often been a lack of co-operation between the various spheres of government with regard 
to service delivery.
* It was also noted that prospects of investment and economic growth in our province are only confined to Port Elizabeth and East London 
metropolitan areas.We agreed that we need to find creative ways of bringing sustainable economic activity to other parts of the province, 
and the only way of doing that is to revitalize agriculture.This is not a colonial era economy where all produce was taken to the coastal 
towns for processing and export purposes.
* Lastly and very importantly for Ncora, the summit urged government to fastrack the process of converting the agricultural parastatals 
that were liquidated in July 1997 into co-operatives that would be owned by their former workers and communities that live in them.

Now - something very interesting has happened here which I think should be a lesson to all of us.While we were theorizing at UNITRA on how 
best to improve rural development, you simply toiled like oxen for many months to produce this wonderful achievement: The new look NCORA 
IRRIGATION SCHEME.

In 1997 many people criticized government, especially my colleague MEC Mamase for allegedly retrenching workers.They refused to listen to 
any of the reasons we advanced for closing the schemesI hope they will find it in their hearts to admit that they were wrong (even if this 
time they do so privately).

I am advised that after the completion of the entire project, an initial 1203 jobs will be created.Coops that have been created include:

* the dairy co-op which has 150 farmers
* the crop production group with 500 farmers
* a security company with 53 members
* nursery and hydroponics group (art of growing plants without soil in water, to which chemical is then added) 50 members
* road, fencing and renovation of property are some of the identified priorities which will create an additional 250 jobs.

You have also given meaning to the provisions of our constitution by proving that with patience and dedication, the combined efforts of our 
spheres of government together with organs of civil society can deliver very productive results.Here you have the partnership of National 
Department of Public Works, Provincial Departments, the Stormberg District Council, Local TRCs, Eskom, Unitra, USAID, Department of Water 
Affairs (and of course) the Eastern Cape Restructuring Authority.

The Restructuring Authority informs me that after an extensive consultation exercise, the residents of the surrounding villages have 
identified these projects as priority for now.

I am also told that later, we shall have to renovate and activate the canning and dairy factories that already exist here.

For this purpose I want to make a pledge and commitment that the provincial government will have to find funds for such projects.

Our vision is that in the end, all the buildings and equipment in this complex will be refurbished for maximum usage.We shall not allow 
resources to lie in waste.

The re-opening of these processing factories is a subject that is very close to my heart and I will not get tired of repeating it.I hope 
those of you who are not hearing about it for the first time will bear with me.I can never understand why we must continue to export fresh, 
quality produce from our province and then purchase the finished product at exorbitant prices.We cannot allow this to continue forever.

I am told also that at a later stage the Restructuring Authority will withdraw its services and the scheme will be run by the 
communities.This implies that many people have to undergo skills training in the fields of marketing, maintenance, management and other 
expertise related to the sustainable and efficient running of the scheme.Again, government and its partners shall do everything possible to 
make sure that funds are available for the training.

One of the most inspiring lessons of the build up to this launch is the extent to which the community has been involved in determining the 
shape, business content, priorities and future of this scheme.I know that it has not been easy, at times the intensity of the tensions here 
was such that some people were beginning to despair and lose all hope that the scheme will ever be a reality.But the will of the people 
shall always prevail.

Today we are having our launch because people have unanimously asserted that they want to take control of their lives.They also want to be 
involved in determining how their resources will be utilized.I want to assure you that government recognizes the hard work and energies you 
invested in this project.Your aspirations will therefore be always taken into account when we consider the future of the scheme.

I can see that you have already established a security company to protect the assets of the scheme.This is an indication that you view the 
scheme as a very important investment.It is also a signal that you will not allow any corrupt tendencies to prevail here.

CONCLUSION

In about six weeks from now, on December 5 the whole country will be returning to the polling stations, once again to express our hard won 
democratic rights of electing local government authorities and councilors of our choice.

Government has redesigned the Local Government system by inter alia combining some municipalities and reducing the number of Councilors in 
many instances.The purpose of this exercise is to ensure that all communities get an equitable share of infrastructural services and 
furthermore to make it a point that budgets are spent on the delivery of services rather than paying large councils.

This all means that the new local government system will be qualitatively better than what exists now.I therefore urge you to make use of 
these opportunities by turning up on December 5, in your large numbers to vote for representatives of your choice.

Thank you

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