State of the Province Address by the Hon Premier Sor
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STATE OF THE PROVINCE ADDRESS BY THE HON PREMIER SOR MAHUMAPELO, MOGWASE STADIUM, 6th March 2015 _________________________________________________________ Hon Speaker of the Provincial Legislature, Hon Members of the Executive Council, Hon Deputy Ministers Present Hon Members of the Provincial Legislature, Foreign Dignitaries, Leaders of Political Parties Represented in this House, Our Esteemed Traditional Leaders, Your Worship Executive Mayors and Mayors of our Municipalities, Speakers of our Councils, Heads of Our Security Agencies, The Acting Director General and Heads of Provincial Departments 1 Leadership of Chapter Nine Institutions Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers of State-Owned Enterprises, Leaders of Labour Movements, Civil Society, Faith Based- Organizations and Business, The South African Local Government Association Chairperson, Comrades and Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mmusa Kgotla, Gompieno ke Letsatsi le le kgethegileng Ke letsatsi le o le laotsweng ke Mmopi Ga go kitla go diragala gape mo ditiragalong tsa lefatshe gore, go nne le pulo se mmuso ya kgotlatheo molao e ya rona e, matsatsi morago ga go goroga ga bo kgakakgolo kgaratlhong e leng Malome Moses Kotane le JB Marks. Ga go kitla go bo go diragala gore, go nne le kgothakgothe ee tswhanang le e, malatsi pele ga tlotlo poloko ya digatlhamela masisi tsa kgaratlhokgolo tsenelela ya Bosetshaba. Ga go kitla go bo go diragala jalo gape. 2 Re bua ka Dikgakakgolo tsa kgaratlho. Batho tota ba o ba tsetsepetseng, ba ema ka leoto le le lengwe kgatlhanong le: • bopelo tshetlha • bonwa madi • bogagapa • mokgwa wa boilakgaka bonwa moro Jaanong bagaetsho, gompieno ke tshimologo ya loeto logolo. Seno ga se bokhutlo jwa kgaratlho. Letsatsi la gompieno ke tshono ya go ithuta, go anya morokotso wa botshelo go tswa mo botshelong jwa digatlhamelamasisi tse pedi tse. Rona, sa rona se o re tshwanetseng ra se ithuta ka kelotlhoko e e tseneletseng, ke gore, re dikgakana. Re dikgakana tsa dikgaka tse pedi tse. Bona ga bana mebala. Mebala ya bona e bonwa go rona Dikgakana. Letlepu le le kanakana le o re leng mo go lona la kgololosego, ke ka ntlha ya bona. Tlotlo e kanakana e dinaga di le di ntsi di re neelang yona, ke ka ntlha ya bona gonne ba re tsheletse, ba re kgaratlhela, ba re sireletsa, ba re direla, 3 ba re ruta mme kwa bofelong ga tsotlhe ba re swela sefapanong sa kgaratlho ya Afrika Borwa. Re kopa Modimo o o tshelang go tswelela go sireletsa mewa ya bona gore e robale ka kagiso. Se se diragalele le rona dikgakana, e kete Modimo o ka tiisa, wa re sireletsa kgatlhanong le baba, mme re se itibale. Ka metlha yotlhe re ikanye thapelo gonne phenyo e mo thapelong. Madame Speaker we thought it was necessary for us to commence this address in the manner in which we did today. As Honourable Members are aware, on the 1 st March 2015 we received the remains of two of our stalwarts Moses Kotane and JB Marks from Moscow in Russia. Today’s sitting is therefore a fitting tribute and honour to be in the midst of the revolutionary spirits of Moses Kotane and JB Marks. In order for this legacy to live forever, we will be initiating a public participation process led by the Provincial Geographic Names Committee, in line with relevant legal prescripts to test the idea of renaming Bokone-Bophirima, the “Moses-Kotane Province”. 4 This Honourable Members, is the little we the beneficiaries of Moses Kotane’s sacrifices can do to repay him and his generation for the gift of freedom they have given us. I would like to take this moment to recognise and pay tribute to Mama Rebecca Kotane who celebrated her 103 rd birthday on 12 th February 2015. We thank God and our ancestors for their enduring love to keep Mme Mma Kotane with us until today, and are proud to have fulfilled your wish to see your beloved laid to rest in the land of his birth. Hon Members, We are a Province on the move towards RRR. To do the best, produce the best and be second to none in the regard. Let us take this opportunity to pay tribute to patriots of Bokone-Bophirima who singularly and collectively put our Province in the map in the last year and recently. The Matric Class of 2014 whose excellence has ensured that we retain our 2 nd position in the national senior certificate results; all Bokone-Bophirima nominees for the National Teacher Awards, Casper Nyovest for winning 5 Metro FM Awards held in Durban last weekend and DONALD for winning the Metro FM Awards Best Stylish Artist Award. Thank you for making us proud and putting us on the map. 5 The year 1994, on the 27th of April, was a culmination of the success of the people`s struggle. This day of Freedom in our country, culminated in the triumph of good over evil. The man made, constructed and concocted evil which sought to perpetuate the impossible was defeated. The impossible was represented by an ailing legislated philosophy that sought to present white people as having inherent superior genes of intellect to blacks in general and Africans in particular. As a people, we need to praise ourselves that both black and white in this country rose against this philosophy and defeated it in 1994. The spectacular defeat of the impossible philosophy of whites superiority was as a result of the resolve by the people`s struggle, when Moses Kotane, JB Marks and their generations, declared in June 1955 that, South Africa belongs to all who live in it black and white. We concur with the call made by President Jacob Zuma in this regard, when he said during the state of the Nation Address “This is also the year of rededicating ourselves to eradicate racism and all related intolerances in our country ”. 6 The people`s revolution, executed in precision and single mindedness, emerged triumphant in 1994. This was a consequence of the people's resolve that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people. So, we can all now say, indeed on 27 April 1994, a government that could claim legitimate authority was born because, it was based on the will of the people. Madame Speaker, the people`s revolutionary triumph in 1994 was not the end of the revolution itself. The election of a democratic Government marked the beginning of a protracted second phase of transformation for the reconstruction and development of our country. We do hereby say today that, a nation that does not engage in necessary reflections about its future which is dependent and shaped by its past, is like a journey whose direction is based on a malfunctioning compass . In the past twenty years, collectively as a people of this province, we have held successful democratic, transparent, free and fair elections because in 1955, our forebears declared that the people shall govern in the Freedom Charter. 7 In the past twenty years, Madame Speaker, as a province we have been part of an all-round agenda to entrench through legislation and various policies, the culture of accountability as part of the 1955 Freedom Charter declaration; That the People Shall Govern. Part of the comfort the Freedom Charter Declared and called for in 1955, resulted in 84.9% households gaining access to electricity, for the first time in their lives and this brought dignity to them. Hon Members, the Freedom Charter has declared that, the Door of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened to All. In pursuance of this commitment, the democratic government has opened the doors of learning for all South Africa’s Children in the last 20 years. The number of children receiving free education has increased significantly. The percentage of people in the Province without any formal education has decreased to only 8% by 2013. 8 As part of our resolve, commitment and resoluteness to ensure that we pursue the objectives of the Freedom Charter, over the last twenty years we have increased access by the people to health and roll-out infrastructure to bring services closer to the communities. Even if we still have some challenges in this area of our work, the reality is that more people than ever before in this province have access to improved health services. Madame Speaker and Hon Members, we have already indicated that a society that does not do the necessary self reflection on its future dependent on its past, is like a journey with a malfunctioning compass. For purposes of predictability and certainty, our compass in this regard is to pursue the objectives of the National Development Plan, RRR, ACT, RHR, Setsokotsane and Bua Le Puso. This is our compass! In response to the general challenges we face and in particular, poverty, unemployment and inequality, our visionary President JG Zuma developed a necessary all-round consultative process, out of which the National Development Plan (NDP) emerged. 9 We as the province of Bokone Bophirima, are not denialists. Whilst we report that a lot of work has been done in the last twenty years to respond to the accumulated legacy challenges of 352 years of apartheid and colonialism, a lot still needs to be done. The complexity of our current phase of struggle as a nation is in no measure a reflection of our failure, but a demonstration of our necessary character and resilience as a people. Collectively as a province we face challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. The massive programme of cooperatives we intend to roll out as a transition from the Extended Public Works Programmes, is intended to target youth and women in particular.