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Date
: 18/12/2006
Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government
Title: Balindlela: Provincial Day of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving speech by Honourable M S Nosimo Balindlela, Premier of
the Eastern Cape, on the Provincial Day of Thanksgiving
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature
MECs present here today
Mayors and Executive Mayors
Traditional Leaders
Leaders of political parties
All faith based organisations
Business leaders
Organised labour
Ladies and gentlemen
It is my singular honour and privilege that I am addressing you
this morning on this very important day in our province, the day of
thanksgiving. This day offers us a collective opportunity to thank
God for what has happened in our province, our country and our
continent in the year that is now coming to an end.
It is crucial, Programme Director, that we should locate this day
of thanksgiving within the context of the Day of Reconciliation
which was celebrated throughout the length and breadth of our
country this past Saturday. The Project of Reconciliation
represents to us South Africans a special watershed as a people
contemplating our history as we seek to move forward and rebuild
our country as a united people committed to change and
prosperity.
It is my belief that we cannot fully appreciate the road that we
have travelled if we do not keep alive the memory of all those who
suffered for justice, peace and freedom in our land. In that vein I
do wish to acknowledge today the vision of our government in
founding the fountain of memory through the Freedom Park Trust
project. The Trust traces the sacrifices of our people through the
eight periods of conflicts that occurred in our country.
Those conflicts included pre-Colonial Wars, Genocide, Slavery, Wars
of Resistance, Anglo-Boer/South African wars, the World War I,
World War II and the Struggle for Liberation. Isikhumbuto that was
unveiled by our President on Saturday at the Freedom Park is a
striking symbol of this fountain of memory. It will allow all of us
to participate as a society in the project of nation
building.
Closer to home though, I have to thank all of you for having
blessed me and the provincial government, which I have been given
an honour to lead, with your unwavering support. This year has
again been challenging, but it has also been successful to the
extent that we have taken a step forward in partnering with the
people of our province in realising the livelihoods that we could
have only dreamt about a decade ago.
When we started this term of governance and in my State of the
Province address at the beginning of this year we asked you to
support us with prayer and goodwill as the people of the Eastern
Cape. Your response has been heart-warming. As the government we
have felt your support. Your views and your vibrant participation
in public debates on matters that drive governance have been
valuable and have kept us focused in driving the agenda that is
truly pro-poor.
Several poverty alleviation projects and initiatives have been
carried out in the province in the year that is now coming to an
end. The Premier's Poverty Alleviation Fund has enabled a number of
organisations; particularly the community based ones led by women,
to access information and resources. We are aware that much more
help is needed and there are those organisations which we have not
even touched or impacted upon.
These organisations are as important for building social cohesion
as they not only address themselves to the improvement of better
livelihoods, but they are part of the very necessary social fibre
of our communities. The establishment of the Charlotte Maxeke Fund,
whose very important work is going to be rolled out in the New
Year, is a promising project which takes the opportunity of
eulogising our struggle heroines while we improve the livelihoods
of the poorest households in our province. It is a sad fact that
the poorest households continue to be predominantly headed by women
in our province.
We hope that the fund will, in some small way, contribute to
dignifying the lives of women in our province by creating
opportunities for vibrant economic participation by women. We are
grateful for the pledges of support to the Fund by the private
sector. We hope that the fund will continue to grow as a symbol of
resistance and self-improvement reflecting the lifelong dream of
Charlotte Maxeke.
We are also very happy that the statistics that were released this
year show that our province has contributed significantly to the
number of jobs created in the country. The Eastern Cape has
contributed 25% of these jobs mainly through the agricultural
sector. The agrarian transformation programmes within the
Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP) are clearly beginning
to bear some fruit. We hope to sustain and improve this trend in
the future. In particular, we are very hopeful of the massive
growth of the agricultural sector as whole as we begin to roll out
the much awaited Umzimvubu Basin Project in the eastern part of the
province.
In all our endeavours we remain challenged by the scarcity of
skills in critical growth sectors of our province. However, we also
know that there is a lot of under-utilised skills and expertise in
our province. As such, we have been speaking to public and private
sector retirees and attracting them back to come and share their
skills in building the economy of our province and capacitating
those parts of the administration that continue to face skill
shortages. We want to thank these senior citizens and other
volunteers of our province, who in the true spirit of Vuk'zenzele,
are rising to the challenge of working with government in
addressing underdevelopment.
We hope that the private sector will continue to partner with us in
this venture. The role of government in promoting a facilitative
environment for attracting investors has been rewarded with
numerous trade missions to our province this year. The intentions
of diversification of the auto-sector, as expressed in the PGDP,
are rapidly and systematically being realised. The recent Alcan
investment at Coega represents the strongest form of affirmation of
our province by the foreign investor.
We hope that this and other direct investments that happened
recently in our province, including Steinhoff from Germany, among
others will stimulate more confidence among other investors.
Programme Director, provincial government recently launched a
Service Charter for our province. The service charter is our
government's promise to you the people of our province about the
quality of service you can expect to receive from our officials.
Each of the departments will be publishing the sector service
standards before the end of the financial year.
We invite you to work with us and to give us your views as we
pursue our path to continuous improvement of service delivery. As a
developmental government, driven and informed by the will of the
people, we are mindful that we will only succeed if we work hand in
hand with all our partners. We need to combine all our efforts,
talents, approaches and capabilities to reverse the conditions of
marginalisation that are still experienced by a significant number
of our people.
The year that is ending has reaffirmed to us that it is only
through unity of purpose that we can achieve the targets that we
have set for ourselves in changing for the better, the lives of our
people. We again place ourselves in your hands as the people of
this province. We are mindful of our limitations, but strengthened
by the promise of your support.
In conclusion, I wish to thank all of you for gracing us with your
presence today and I wish all of you here as well as all the people
of our province a happy, safe and a blessed festive season and a
very Prosperous 2007.
Thank you
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape Provincial
Government
18 December 2006
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