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Date : 11/03/2004
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Title: N Mahlangu: Opening of Amsterdam Clinic


REMARKS BY MPUMALANGA PREMIER AT OPENING OF AMSTERDAM CLINIC, 11 March 2004

Programme Director
MEC for Health
Head of the Department
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am so grateful to your invitation to be part of this occasion wherein we are to unveil another milestone of the ever-turning tide of improving the lives of our people.

Indeed we meant it when we said together with you we will bring change and improve lives of our people to the better. Not only for the people of Amsterdam, but for all the people of the province.

We all know what the situation was ten years ago, especially on health, until the African National Congress took over power to govern. Many of you had to walk or travel more than sixty kilometres to have access to a clinic.

Many of you could not afford to pay for services such as primary health care.

Since the beginning of 1994, we worked together, you the people of Amsterdam and the rest of Mpumalanga and your government to create a better life for all.

Almost a decade ago we set ourselves the noble task of creating a society where all people of this province and country regardless of race, colour, gender, class and age would enjoy equal freedom, opportunities and prosperity.

Considering the hatred, suspicion and divisions at the time, many doubted that we would be able to usher in the humane and people-centred society we all desired.

But many of us joined hands in tearing down the walls that divided us and worked for progress, peace and stability.

In the past decade all of us who embraced change and democracy, have walked together, one step at a time, on our journey towards growth, towards learning, towards reconstruction, towards solidarity, towards reconciliation, towards prosperity, towards development, towards freedom.

We have stayed together because we wanted to lift our people from the depths of human suffering, deprivation, hunger, illiteracy, homelessness, harassment, diseases and death.

Because we correctly understood and remained true to our obligations to the masses of our people, we can proudly proclaim that the past decade has been ten years of improving the lives of our people.

It has been ten years of growing unity in action; ten years of peace and stability; ten years of increasingly making resources in the hands of the state available to uplift disadvantaged South Africans; ten years of expanding opportunities to build a better life for all.

And indeed we are on course in creating a better life for all.

We constructed extra health care facilities.

There are 239 fixed primary health care facilities and 80 mobile clinics in the province. Since 1994, 19 new clinics have been built and 7 clinics are in the process of construction.

In the Nkangala district we built the Moloto and Mmamethlake Health Care Centres and the Verena, Lefiso, Phake, Seabe, and Nokaneng clinics.

We also upgraded and renovated Mmamethlake, Kwamhlanga and Witbank hospitals. The latter is currently in its second phase of upgrading. The next phase of upgrading Witbank Hospital is expected to commence in the coming years.

In this region, the Gert Sibande district, we spent more than R140 million to build the Piet Retief Hospital, which we hope to complete in the next financial year.

We also built health centres at Perdekop including this one that we are opening today here at Amsterdam, and we are in the process of erecting a clinic at Bhuga. We renovated and upgraded the Ermelo and Embhuleni hospitals and we will soon start work on the Evander hospital.

In the Ehlanzeni district we upgraded the Tonga, Shongwe, Rob Ferreira and Themba hospitals. We hope to further upgrade these facilities in the next financial years.

In the Sekhukhune district we have upgraded the Groblersdal and Philadelphia hospitals.

We also brought health facilities closer to the people of Moutse west in the deep rural areas of Greater Marble Hall municipality by building a clinic there.

The clinic will be operational quite soon. We have also started to erect a clinic in the Moutse East area.

Ladies and gentlemen, combating HIV and AIDS is still one of our top priorities. That is why we budgeted more than R36,3 million to further strengthen the provincial HIV and AIDS Programmes.

Our plans to establish at least one major hospital, and one hospice per district are on course. We have presently identified 12 sites to be used to pilot the anti-retroviral programme.

There are 27 completed hospitals in Mpumalanga and two under construction, 21 hospitals and 19 clinics are providing Nevirapine.

The challenge now is for us the people of Amsterdam, to look after and take good care of these facilities. We must protect and secure these facilities because they belong to us.

In the 2004/2005 financial year we plan to increase these sites at which Nevirapine is provided to 55 sites and R35 million has been set aside to deal with HIV/AIDS programs during this period.

But many of the things that need to be done, such as: development; the fight against HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, diabetes, hypertension, malnutrition and other illnesses cannot be carried out by government acting alone.

We need to work together to build a healthier nation with programmes to defeat malnutrition, TB, malaria and other diseases and turn the tide against HIV and AIDS.

Each one of us has a role to play in the fight to achieve a better life for all.

We have as South Africans and people of this province made progress in building a caring society; and a caring society we have to become, by working together to turn our ideals into practical reality.

This we can and shall do, as a united nation, bound together in a People's Contract to Create Work and Fight Poverty.

Programme Director, as we celebrate the opening of this clinic, at the same time we are celebrating our freedom and democracy, and let us remember that we are continuing and have to continue to create a better life for the people of Amsterdam and surrounding areas.

The successes we have achieved make a clear statement that acting together, we can and shall continue to push back the frontiers of poverty and expand access to a better life.

It also shows that giving the ANC a further mandate to lead transformation in government can only benefit the people of this province, black and white.

Please make sure that when you are called upon to decide on your future and that of your children on 14 April, you make a decision that will make you gain the respect of your unborn grandchildren and their children.

Ikhona indlela eyaphambili enthuthukweni. Uyosala wena uma ungafuni inthuthuko. Mazibuye emadlelweni aluhlaza.

Programme Director I now take this opportunity to open this facility and hand it over to the community of Amsterdam for their benefit.

I thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
11 March 2004
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
(http://mpumalanga.mpu.gov.za)

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