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Date : 28/01/05
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government
Title: Essop at the Mini Growth and Development Summit

Speech Delivered by Minister Tasneem Essop at the Mini Growth and Development Summit Essop, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning at Cape Town International Convention Centre

28 January 2005


GOVERNMENTS PROGRESS REPORT

Director of Ceremonies Premier Mayors and Councillors present MEC’s Leaders of Labour, Business and Civil Society Ladies and Gentlemen:


In November 2003 the Social Partners here today came together in the historic Western Cape Growth and Development Summit and signed the Framework Agreement for Growth and Development in the Western Cape. We pledged our commitment to implementing this Agreement and to actively work together in the interests of all our people in the Province. We set ourselves very ambitious targets. We are here today, just over a year later, to report on the progress we made, to be held accountable in a transparent way and to do this in as frank a conversation as possible, identifying where we have done well and acknowledging where we still need to improve.

In this report I will look at the seven key themes of the Framework Agreement and discuss the progress made by Government on some of the critical areas within these. I will conclude by highlighting some of the challenges we face as social partners in the year to come.

At the outset I want to say that emerging from the GDS, government set about delivering on the two immediate and critical commitments made, namely that of amending legislation to provide for the new institutional arrangements for social dialogue and the second being to realign our budget to enable for the resourcing of our commitments. I am pleased to inform this Mini-GDS that the Provincial Development Council Amendment Bill was approved by the Provincial Parliament on 16 September 2004 and promulgated into law by Premier Rasool on the 30 September 2004. I want to thank all our social partners for their contributions to this process. Furthermore, the Provincial Government commenced with the process of realigning the Budget during the Adjustments Budget which prepared the way for further reprioritization of our Medium Term Budgets. All departments in the Provincial Government were required to align their budgets to meet the objectives of Ikapa Elihlumayo and the Framework Agreement on Growth and Development.

VISION, MISSION AND STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES In promoting a transparent and accountable public sector this government hosted a number of provincial-wide imbizos and letsemas last year and this will remain an ongoing programme for government. In addition to this we launched the Cape Gateway which gives everyone easy access to government via the internet, over the phone or at our walk-in centre.

Our commitment to making the Western Cape a world-class region that provides a safe and secure social and economic infrastructure and environment is reflected in the Provincial Governments Strategy of Ikapa Elihlumayo which has as its key strategic thrusts the Micro-Economic and Development Strategy (MEDS), the Strategic Infrastructure Plan, the Provincial Spatial Development Framework, HRD strategy and a Social Capital Strategy. This Summit will recognize that these strategic thrusts have directly emanated from the Framework Agreement signed in November 2003. MORE JOBS, BETTER JOBS, DECENT WORK FOR ALL
Ten out of the 11 sector bodies have entered into dialogue in order to achieve the target set of creating 100 000 jobs by 2008. We have to ensure that we get this dialogue going in the Tourism sector as a matter of urgency. An initial framework to track job-creation through sector bodies has also been developed. As government we have identified the enormous potential in certain sectors such as the call centre industry, the film studio, and oil and gas sector.

The fledgling Bio-tech sector has also received a much needed hand-up with the establishment of the Cape Bio-tech Trust. To date the trust has funded projects worth R50 million.

The process of an inclusive Agriculture Sector initiative was launched at a Summit in April 2004.

In order to assist with monitoring job creation, job losses, training and retraining, an initiative to ensure that effective provincial statistics are available to monitor these indicators is underway and will be operational by mid-year.

Provincial Government has played a central role in pioneering an approach to rapidly respond to firms in distress. As an example of its success our Premier and MEC Brown sourced investment to re-open the Novel Garments plant in Atlantis last year. This unit is dealing with two more cases right now. This initiative will form part of a labour retention strategy for the province.

THE INVESTMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE AND LOGISTICAL CHALLENGE
In order to respond to the challenges of increasing levels of investment, of maintaining and developing economic and social infrastructure, of reducing the cost of doing business and to increase the competitiveness of the economy the provincial government has made some of the following interventions:
* the development of a Strategic Infrastructure Plan which will identify key infrastructural initiatives as well as delivery and funding mechanisms. The Plan will be finalised by June 2005
* a Symposium on “Investment in Economic Infrastructure” will be hosted by Wesgro early this year
* the development of the MEDS will seek to address the challenges of ensuring that the goods we produce reaches the market along efficient supply chains
* our Agricultural sector now has the benefit of enhanced Provincial capacity to inspect and certify animal products for export, in this way we are managing trade sensitivity when it comes to animal diseases.

* a provincial Freight Strategy is being developed which identify freight corridors and routes and the required infrastructure upgrades will be prioritised and linked to the SIP
* our budget has been directed to building schools, clinics, and the upgrading and maintenance of roads in order to achieve the target set of increasing investment in infrastructure to 2.5% of the Gross Regional Product. Housing projects, like the N2 Gateway project, has also given this a boost.

* the finalisation of the Provincial Spatial Development Framework together with the Integrated Law Reform process will respond to the need to cut the red tape currently viewed as obstacles to enhancing competitiveness and cutting the costs of doing business in the province. Our successful November Provincial Spatial Development Summit brought us one step closer to completing the framework and we are confident that our deadline set for June for the finalisation of this framework will be achieved. We will also have the first draft of the Integrated Law Reform ready for comment and public participation by April this year.

* Wesgro facilitated R900 million worth of investment last year as they work to the goal of attracting R5 billion worth of investment by 2006.

* agriculture is completing three infrastructure projects worth R2.27 million for historically disadvantaged communities A further R33 million has gone to 31 land care and 10 infrastructure projects in historically disadvantaged communities. The land reform process also gained impetus with 110 land reform and infrastructure projects valued at R33,7 million being initiated and a further 27 LRAD projects to the value of R9,4 million underway
* the Cape Town International Airport domestic hall will be upgraded, and the Cape Town and Saldanha Bay harbours have been identified as needing upgrading.

* the Real Enterprise Development (RED Door) initiative was launched last year as a response to addressing the commitment to broad-based BEE and addressing constraints faced by SMME’s. A commitment to invest a minimum of R35 million in a fund for financing SMME’s and co-operatives over the next 5 years has been made.

* we have already exceeded the target of ensuring that 30% of our procurement goes to women, youth and people with disabilities.

* Wesgro will identify the top 10 obstacles to investment by February 2005.

ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
A set of comprehensive interventions to address SMME development, skills development and broad-based BEE has been embarked on. Some of these include:
* development of a provincial SMME strategy which will be launched at a BEE conference to be held in April 2005
* the RED Door initiative together with the MEDS is geared towards addressing a comprehensive package of supply side measures in prioritized sectors
* the Further Education and Training budget has been increased to encourage skills development in line with the economic and social development in the province
* an agricultural broad based black economic empowerment strategy will form part of an agricultural sector strategy which is under development.

* a pilot incubator system was successfully launched and the diagnosis of companies needs was completed in December 2004. This year customised assistance packages will be made available to the 118 participating enterprises. We are also proud to announce that we exceeded the 30% target for participation of women-owned enterprises. Well done MEC Brown!
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
The Provincial Human Resources Development Strategy, with a focus on the youth has been developed. The strategy will ensure high levels of literacy and numeracy in the general education level and skills development at the further education level.

The social partners will develop the Learning Cape Initiative to guide and monitor progression.

A learner tracking system at schools, FET colleges and at Adult Basic Education and Training Centres will be implemented this year.

The launch of the Provincial ABET Transversal Policy took place in December 2004 and government has established an ABET Board on which all role-players are represented. In co-ordination with all other provinces and the national department of education Government has developed a five-year strategic plan for ABET in line with President Thabo Mbeki’s vision for ABET.

Poor learners are now able to apply for funding, to attend FET colleges, from a R20 million loan scheme established by the department of education and additional funds have been found to ensure that courses are affordable.

We are also in constant dialogue with higher education institutions to match the demand of the economy and society.

However as government we have to admit that we have made very slow progress with regards to achieving the target of 1000 learnerships as part our commitment towards the overall target of 10 000 learnerships for the Province. This was largely due to the significant resources and efforts needed to establish learnerships. We do make a commitment to seriously address this weakness in this year.

GOVERNANCE AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
The Red Door and the Provincial Spatial Development Framework will assist in encouraging organised informal trading to allow micro enterprises an opportunity to grow.

Under Die Plek Plan for non-Metro municipalities an empowered economic development agent will be available on the ground in each municipality to maximise service delivery by fast tracking local development initiatives and will be fully supported by Provincial Government.

Our commitment to supporting LED initiatives is borne out in the establishment of the Agri-business fund, the RED Door, Red Finance, and Die Plek Plan; these are all guided by the Micro Economic Strategy. Wesgro has also developed an active strategy to address the marketing component of LED initiatives.

Government has established a PPP support unit and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the DBSA in order to unlock external resources capital expenditure. We also work closely with the IDC in this respect.

There is improved delivery in the rural development node of the Central Karoo through ISRDP initiatives and the improvements in providing basic services, as we strive to ensure our people have access to basic services.

The Community Access Roads Projects (CARP) is creating jobs and alleviating poverty through the upgrading of rural roads.

The RED Door and economic empowerment strategies also actively promotes local broad-based empowerment. The 1 000 X 1 000 campaign is geared to give 1 000 unemployed people a chance to start their own micro business.

More than 100 000 child grant beneficiaries were registered last year as Government continues to provide accessible social services.

CHALLENGES AHEAD
We have highlighted in this input some of the achievements of government in implementing the Framework Agreement. The detailed progress report forms part of the Progress Report tabled at this Summit. I would like to, in concluding, turn to some of the challenges I believe we need to address as social partners in the year ahead.

* amending the PDC Amendment Act in order to address the issue of representation of other critical partners like the tertiary education sector, Development Financial Institutions and Parastatals. The current legislation also does not provide for the drawing up of Regulations. There might be a need in future to provide a regulatory framework for some of the work we do. This will be based on our experiences of possible gaps.

* enhancing the capacity of social partners to effectively participate in the work of the PDC and its specialist committees, with a special emphasis on assisting our Civil Society Partner
* we need to look at developing a set of protocols for our engagement in social dialogue
* Social Partners would have to actively look at how to take the work we do to our relevant constituencies and how to encourage broader and active participation in our dialogue
* the biggest challenge to us all is of course enhancing and fast-tracking the implementation of our Framework Agreement
I believe Chairperson, that we have all the ingredients for overcoming these challenges, for addressing our weaknesses and for ensuring success. We have committed partners who all have a deep desire to see this historic project succeed. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners for their hard work and dedication which allowed us to arrive at this point today. I also would like to thank the Chairperson, CEO and all the staff of the PDC for their ongoing dedication and professionalism in providing support and leadership to this new, exciting and somewhat fragile process.

I would like to end off by quoting from our Premier’s message “It is now time for us to assess our progress, acknowledge failings, appreciate successes and renew our resolve to do our utmost to achieve our shared objectives” I thank you.
 

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