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KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu has reiterated the importance of ensuring that a budget of R742,125 million allocated to the Office of the Premier is used to strengthen good governance and ensure solid administration over the next years. He was speaking today during the presentation of the Budget Vote 1 of the Office of the Premier in the Provincial Legislature.

Mchunu pointed out: “We are cognizant of the fact that we present this Budget Vote two years before we wrap up the term of office of this government. The next two years will be very challenging following the downgrading of the country’s status to a sub-investment level by two international rating agencies. We have already witnessed the impact this has had on the value of our currency and there are fears of a looming recession, which will obviously have a further negative impact.”

“The multiplicity of social and economic challenges faced by the country and the province during this period, requires astute and mature leadership within government, but also in all sectors of society, to steady this ship. We need to unite and rally behind our key priorities and pursue them with urgency through a set of sustainable interventions and solutions.It goes without saying that we must be focussed on sheltering the poor from the impact of current economic challenges, whilst we stabilise our economy and seek new opportunities for inclusive economic growth.”

“The Leader of Government Business and MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, the Honourable Sihle Zikalala will lead these efforts, assisted by the Provincial Planning Commission and other forums such as Human Resources Development Council and KZN Growth Coalition, to name but a few.”

“The President of the Republic His Excellency J.G Zuma must be commended for meeting with the new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and other role-players to look into these economic challenges and to mitigate any further negative impact.”

“As leaders of government, deployed to oversee the administration of state resources, I urge members of this house to set aside party political differences and to work tirelessly together to achieving the Vision of our Province, namely to be a prosperous Province, with a healthy, secure and skilled population, living in dignity and harmony, acting as a gateway to Africa and the World.”

“It is in challenging times like this that a clear and sound Vision is of critical importance. We need to keep our eye firmly on the proverbial ball and avoid the temptation to play the man. We need to set personal differences aside and focus on what is in the best interest of the communities who elected us to serve them in this house.”

“We cannot expect our communities and broader civil society to be cohesive and tolerant across racial, language, religious, gender, or whatever other differences we may have, if we are not able to unite and be tolerant of one another with mutual respect in this House.”

“Premier and Executive Authority of the Office the Premier, I have committed this Department to play a much more assertive and visible role in providing leadership and coordinating key and priority government programmes that will drive us towards the achievement of our Provincial Vision. Let me hasten to qualify this statement, we are not intending to usurp any functions, roles or responsibilities of other line function departments, but we need to have our finger on the pulse of this province and must be able to intervene where necessary.”

On the issue of radical economic transformation, the Premier pointed out:

“During the State of the Province Address we announced that the radical economic transformation will be the main focus for all government departments and all municipalities. The acknowledgement of the existence of the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality explains why all efforts must be focused on how the economy of the country will be turned around for the better.”

“High unemployment inherited from the apartheid past has not been significantly dented in the past 23 years of our now not so new democracy. It is of concern that in some cases youth unemployment reaches up to 70% in our country, in particular in those areas of our Province where 70% of the population is youth below the age of 35 years.”

“We want to state again that we want enterprises such as SMMEs and Co-operatives, owned by Africans in particular, women and the youth to benefit as they remain excluded from the mainstream economy. When Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana in the 1950`s spoke about the need for Africans to achieve economic independence, his ideas were rooted in creating and developing successful and viable owned small enterprises as a way of achieving the economic freedom he propagated.”

“In one of his addresses, Nkrumah pointed out:  “Thought without practice is empty: and action without thought is blind” .  The Office of the Premier therefore, will monitor and evaluate on a regular basis all provincial government departments, public entities and municipalities in relation to their spending of procurement budgets in line with our radical economic transformation imperatives.”

“It is against this context that I am expecting the Provincial Planning Commission to monitor our progress, not only to the extent that we are able to grow the economy of this Province, but even more importantly, the extent to which we are succeeding in growing a shared economy with broader participation in a diversified economy.”

“Our focus in the Office of the Premier is therefore now to shift from driving the strategic planning agenda, to now also be instrumental in monitoring and evaluating our progress, as well as reporting this in an open and transparent manner to all of government and our development partners so that we are able to proactively take appropriate corrective action where required.”



Issued by the KZN Office of the Premier