Date: 26/11/2002
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Title: Mahlangu: Mpumalanga Council of Churches
ADDRESS BY MPUMALANGA PREMIER NJ MAHLANGU, AT THE MPUMALANGA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE, Nelspruit, 26 November 2002
Programme Director
Honourable delegates
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Soon after we took office in 1999, the Mpumalanga Provincial Government called on you to join us in prayer in the Premier's Office.
We did so because of the turmoil and disunity that existed in the province then.
You did not hesitate. You joined hands with us and we asked for the intervention and guidance of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.
At the same time we set ourselves basic priorities to guide the delivery of service in our predominantly rural province.
We promised that we would accelerate our programmes on poverty alleviation, recreation, housing, welfare, healthcare and education.
We have done that.
We have increased the number of care centres for the elderly, for women and children.
We have brought clean drinking water to almost every house in the province.
We have upgraded a number of roads and provided electricity to scores of our people.
We have built more houses, schools, clinics and hospitals.
We have achieved successes in the provision of social and other grants, the building of roads and so forth.
We will continue to address the backlog in sustainable basic water supply, access to basic sanitation and free basic water.
In some parts of our province, especially in the former homeland areas, we are currently experiencing an unprecedented water shortage. For instance in the Nkangala District which includes the former Kwandebele area and part of the former Bophuthatswana areas, in the last four to five years people have at times stayed without water for up to three months in a year.
The same shortage of water is experienced in the Ehlanzeni district in areas such as Nkomazi, Albert Luthuli, Ntsikazi and the surrounding areas. Groblersdal, Moutse east and west also experience the same problem.
In these areas there is virtually no bulk water supply both on the former homeland areas of Mpumalanga.
The little bulk water supply, which was there, is hopelessly inadequate because the population has grown more than five times since the bulk water supply system was installed.
We have approached the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry to either upgrade the bulk water supply system or install new ones. Once that is done we will upgrade the water reticulation.
We have drilled a number of boreholes in areas like the Greater Tubatse and Umjindi municipalities.
The executive council at Greenway Woods during its Budget Lekgotla held between the 5th and 7th of November 2002 approved that an amount of R105 million be set aside to deal with water shortage and the bad state of streets in our rural areas in the various municipalities. And also to address the serious scourge of unemployment especially amongst our young people who are out of school.
In a recent caucus of the Cabinet on 13 November 2002 we were able to put together the sum of R125, 228 million plus R6, 75 million to deal with these problems.
The R6, 75 million is to target job creation and the improvement of recreational centres in the province.
On 13 November 2002 we met municipalities and consulted them on these initiatives.
I must emphasise that the municipalities were very excited about these developments.
They pledged their full co-operation and support for our endeavours.
We are training some of our supernumerary staff in the services of the National Department of Home Affairs and in the Provincial Department of Social Services Population and Development to be able to process identity document applications as well as applications for social grants.
We plan to redeploy these officials by the end of November 2002 to our 56 traditional authority offices to render services.
They are being trained to provide these services nearer to where our rural masses are.
We are purchasing 56 vehicles for the traditional authorities in our province.
The vehicles will assist in the transportation of application and other documents I referred to earlier to the respective district offices.
These vehicles will also enable the traditional leaders to perform their traditional duties in their various tribes and communities effectively.
Programme Director, I can go on and on.
I am glad to announce today that indeed we have gone a long way in pushing back the frontiers of poverty and under-development.
Believe me when I say even with our sound policies, such progress would not have been possible if it had not been for your prayers. But there is a great task ahead of us.
The success we have achieved together with the people bears testimony that when acting together we can, and shall continue to push back the frontiers of poverty and expand access to a better life for all.
We will spare no effort in addressing the housing backlog, focusing on informal settlement development and the provision of rural accommodation.
We still have a long way to go to ensure that we create a better life for all our people.
The struggle to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment in our own province is fundamental to the achievement of our own national goal to build a caring and people-centred society.
Clearly that better life cannot happen in the context of and in a climate of corruption, criminality, tax evasion, fraud, rape, the abuse of women and children, drunkenness, extortion, and family breakdown.
Much of these ills, touched by violence, are the outward forms of a diseased social climate, which affects all of us.
The whole country is passing through a period of transition in which we are seeking to establish a new and successful modern society.
The problems we experience are not different from those in other societies - but at this formative stage of our democracy, we intend to do something to ensure that South Africa becomes a truly moral society.
Many of the victims of apartheid immorality found themselves in a situation in which they could only exist by breaking the law, by telling lies about their belief and actions, or stealing in order to survive oppression.
Those who were victims of State immorality rebelled against it, and developed a culture of disrespect for the law.
African family life was broken into fragments by migrant labour, poverty, ill health, and a total lack of consideration.
Whole generations of children have been reared without proper parenting, nurtured in inhuman situations, denied the experience of respect and morality in the home.
The democratic election of 1994 marked a profound, fundamental change, a complex and tumultuous process of transition from one society to another.
The diverse riches of all humanity have emerged to replace the subordination of society to a white, male, 'Christian' elite. Respect for every person has ousted disrespect for other groups.
Transition in any society is inevitably a time of great upheaval for organisations and persons. It has happened throughout history.
Change brings hope, but it also brings tension, confusion and fear.
The old has gone, but the new is not yet truly and fully established.
Religion has an important role to play in the transition from an immoral society to a just society with basic moral values.
As religious leaders we must accept responsibility for ourselves, not by blaming others.
We must build a nation with a sound ethical base. Good people make good nations.
Rediscovering faith in ourselves and nurturing the spirit of ubuntu in our nation drive out cynicism, fear and frustration.
We need a provincial and national obsession to banish poverty instead of merely to accumulate wealth.
Greed and corruption have no place in nation building.
We encourage every part, especially the Mpumalanga Council of Churches, to engage in their own analysis of causes and solutions to the ethical challenge, particularly within their own field of responsibility.
Our people are moral! Our cultural backgrounds are strong! Much of this transition is happening already!
Let us accelerate the RDP of the soul.
We must create a climate in our province hostile to crime, including crimes against the elderly, women, children and the disabled.
We must all take a stand in unison and say NO to the heinous crimes committed against women and children.
Remember, solving the problems of poverty and greed, violence and corruption, is a deeply spiritual challenge.
Help us to create a better life for all our people.
As government we believe that if political and economic practices are to serve the nation, they must be based on justice not charity, honesty not deceit, transparency not corruption.
Help us to achieve that.
Let me; in conclusion, wish you well in your deliberations.
Thank you.
Issued by Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga
26 November 2002
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Title: Mahlangu: Mpumalanga Council of Churches
ADDRESS BY MPUMALANGA PREMIER NJ MAHLANGU, AT THE MPUMALANGA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE, Nelspruit, 26 November 2002
Programme Director
Honourable delegates
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Soon after we took office in 1999, the Mpumalanga Provincial Government called on you to join us in prayer in the Premier's Office.
We did so because of the turmoil and disunity that existed in the province then.
You did not hesitate. You joined hands with us and we asked for the intervention and guidance of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.
At the same time we set ourselves basic priorities to guide the delivery of service in our predominantly rural province.
We promised that we would accelerate our programmes on poverty alleviation, recreation, housing, welfare, healthcare and education.
We have done that.
We have increased the number of care centres for the elderly, for women and children.
We have brought clean drinking water to almost every house in the province.
We have upgraded a number of roads and provided electricity to scores of our people.
We have built more houses, schools, clinics and hospitals.
We have achieved successes in the provision of social and other grants, the building of roads and so forth.
We will continue to address the backlog in sustainable basic water supply, access to basic sanitation and free basic water.
In some parts of our province, especially in the former homeland areas, we are currently experiencing an unprecedented water shortage. For instance in the Nkangala District which includes the former Kwandebele area and part of the former Bophuthatswana areas, in the last four to five years people have at times stayed without water for up to three months in a year.
The same shortage of water is experienced in the Ehlanzeni district in areas such as Nkomazi, Albert Luthuli, Ntsikazi and the surrounding areas. Groblersdal, Moutse east and west also experience the same problem.
In these areas there is virtually no bulk water supply both on the former homeland areas of Mpumalanga.
The little bulk water supply, which was there, is hopelessly inadequate because the population has grown more than five times since the bulk water supply system was installed.
We have approached the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry to either upgrade the bulk water supply system or install new ones. Once that is done we will upgrade the water reticulation.
We have drilled a number of boreholes in areas like the Greater Tubatse and Umjindi municipalities.
The executive council at Greenway Woods during its Budget Lekgotla held between the 5th and 7th of November 2002 approved that an amount of R105 million be set aside to deal with water shortage and the bad state of streets in our rural areas in the various municipalities. And also to address the serious scourge of unemployment especially amongst our young people who are out of school.
In a recent caucus of the Cabinet on 13 November 2002 we were able to put together the sum of R125, 228 million plus R6, 75 million to deal with these problems.
The R6, 75 million is to target job creation and the improvement of recreational centres in the province.
On 13 November 2002 we met municipalities and consulted them on these initiatives.
I must emphasise that the municipalities were very excited about these developments.
They pledged their full co-operation and support for our endeavours.
We are training some of our supernumerary staff in the services of the National Department of Home Affairs and in the Provincial Department of Social Services Population and Development to be able to process identity document applications as well as applications for social grants.
We plan to redeploy these officials by the end of November 2002 to our 56 traditional authority offices to render services.
They are being trained to provide these services nearer to where our rural masses are.
We are purchasing 56 vehicles for the traditional authorities in our province.
The vehicles will assist in the transportation of application and other documents I referred to earlier to the respective district offices.
These vehicles will also enable the traditional leaders to perform their traditional duties in their various tribes and communities effectively.
Programme Director, I can go on and on.
I am glad to announce today that indeed we have gone a long way in pushing back the frontiers of poverty and under-development.
Believe me when I say even with our sound policies, such progress would not have been possible if it had not been for your prayers. But there is a great task ahead of us.
The success we have achieved together with the people bears testimony that when acting together we can, and shall continue to push back the frontiers of poverty and expand access to a better life for all.
We will spare no effort in addressing the housing backlog, focusing on informal settlement development and the provision of rural accommodation.
We still have a long way to go to ensure that we create a better life for all our people.
The struggle to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment in our own province is fundamental to the achievement of our own national goal to build a caring and people-centred society.
Clearly that better life cannot happen in the context of and in a climate of corruption, criminality, tax evasion, fraud, rape, the abuse of women and children, drunkenness, extortion, and family breakdown.
Much of these ills, touched by violence, are the outward forms of a diseased social climate, which affects all of us.
The whole country is passing through a period of transition in which we are seeking to establish a new and successful modern society.
The problems we experience are not different from those in other societies - but at this formative stage of our democracy, we intend to do something to ensure that South Africa becomes a truly moral society.
Many of the victims of apartheid immorality found themselves in a situation in which they could only exist by breaking the law, by telling lies about their belief and actions, or stealing in order to survive oppression.
Those who were victims of State immorality rebelled against it, and developed a culture of disrespect for the law.
African family life was broken into fragments by migrant labour, poverty, ill health, and a total lack of consideration.
Whole generations of children have been reared without proper parenting, nurtured in inhuman situations, denied the experience of respect and morality in the home.
The democratic election of 1994 marked a profound, fundamental change, a complex and tumultuous process of transition from one society to another.
The diverse riches of all humanity have emerged to replace the subordination of society to a white, male, 'Christian' elite. Respect for every person has ousted disrespect for other groups.
Transition in any society is inevitably a time of great upheaval for organisations and persons. It has happened throughout history.
Change brings hope, but it also brings tension, confusion and fear.
The old has gone, but the new is not yet truly and fully established.
Religion has an important role to play in the transition from an immoral society to a just society with basic moral values.
As religious leaders we must accept responsibility for ourselves, not by blaming others.
We must build a nation with a sound ethical base. Good people make good nations.
Rediscovering faith in ourselves and nurturing the spirit of ubuntu in our nation drive out cynicism, fear and frustration.
We need a provincial and national obsession to banish poverty instead of merely to accumulate wealth.
Greed and corruption have no place in nation building.
We encourage every part, especially the Mpumalanga Council of Churches, to engage in their own analysis of causes and solutions to the ethical challenge, particularly within their own field of responsibility.
Our people are moral! Our cultural backgrounds are strong! Much of this transition is happening already!
Let us accelerate the RDP of the soul.
We must create a climate in our province hostile to crime, including crimes against the elderly, women, children and the disabled.
We must all take a stand in unison and say NO to the heinous crimes committed against women and children.
Remember, solving the problems of poverty and greed, violence and corruption, is a deeply spiritual challenge.
Help us to create a better life for all our people.
As government we believe that if political and economic practices are to serve the nation, they must be based on justice not charity, honesty not deceit, transparency not corruption.
Help us to achieve that.
Let me; in conclusion, wish you well in your deliberations.
Thank you.
Issued by Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga
26 November 2002
Advertisement
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE FEEDBACK
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
