Date: 17/11/2005
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molewa: Year end message to Provincial Legislature
North West Premier Edna Molewa’s year end message delivered to the Provincial Legislature
Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Legislature
Honourable colleagues in the Executive Council
Honourable members in the North West Legislature
Distinguished guests and members of the public present
Thank you for this opportunity to deliver this year end message to this august House intended for Members as well as all those who serve this Legislature.
I know that when I stood to deliver this message last year we said that 2004 was the most hectic, especially because we had just been inaugurated owing to the 2004 third democratic elections. I am now tempted to say this year was even more hectic, as we went deeper and with further conviction to our roles as elected Members of both this House and the Executive Council.
In the course of this year alone, we have had to realign not only our Cabinet but the departments themselves that MECs head, all in the interests of accelerated service delivery to the people who mandated us into these chambers.
Because of the new configurations, our departments now stand as follows: Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Department of Developmental Local Government and Housing, Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Department of Education, Department of Finance, Department of Health, Department of Public Works, Department of Safety, Transport and Roads, Department of Social Development and the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
I am therefore delighted to report that because of these alignments, our journey of delivery is on firmer ground, having had cause for reflection and together agreed on the best possible formation for improving both the pace and quality of service delivery.
It is therefore incumbent upon me to thank all the Honourable Members as well as the political parties for their continued commitment to this House and their readiness at all times to serve the people that elected them.
We may have argued and debated issues and pieces of Provincial Legislation, but in the end we are all very proud to have stood united behind the common goal of fighting poverty, alleviating unemployment, ensuring that our people acquire the skills needed by our economy and generally improving the lives of all people of the North West Province.
We did all this, Honourable Speaker, in the manner and demeanour that befits the stature and credibility of this august House and I dare say we are very proud of ourselves indeed.
I must also voice my sense of appreciation for the good inter-relations that all Members of this Legislature have enjoyed and continue to enjoy, despite our obvious and necessary different political orientations. It is really a measure of our political maturity as a constitutional democracy that we have managed to make progress as provincial legislators despite the diverse backgrounds that I have alluded to.
Because the improvement of all our people’s lives is an obligation that can neither be postponed nor derailed, it has been the necessary requirement of every Member of both the Legislature and the Executive to have the capacity to receive and hit the ball running, in the discharging of our responsibilities. Until we achieve a better life for all, there would simply be no time for tourist orientation in this province. Under the circumstances then, we have all distinguished ourselves and for this, I think we deserve a pat on our backs.
As regards the Government wing of our Executive, I am delighted to report we have had a good year, despite continued challenges and that the solid ground we have built since 2004 and indeed since the dawn of democracy in 1994, ensured that we registered achievements in our various departments as reflected in the annual reports that we tabled in this House on 18 October 2005.
These annual reports are those of the departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Developmental Local Government and Housing, Economic Development and Tourism, Education, Finance, Health, Office of the Premier, Public Works, Safety, Transport and Roads, Social Development and the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
All the above annual reports were debated and adopted by this House.
In addition, we also tabled on the same day annual reports of our parastatals and public entities, including the Mmabana Arts, Culture and Sports Foundation, Invest North West, North West Gambling Board, the Youth Development Trust and the North West Development Corporation. This represented a significant improvement from the previous financial year, where none of the entities presented their reports.
As regards the laws passed by this House this year, we are delighted to report five Acts of the Provincial Legislature, namely, the North West Appropriation Act 1, 2005; North West Traditional Leadership and Governance Act 2, 2005; North West House of Traditional Leaders Amendment Act 3, 2005; North West General Law Amendment Act 4, 2005 and the North West Gambling Amendment Act 5, 2005.
Honourable Speaker, that is the only nitty-gritty that I am prepared to detail in this House today, as you know at the beginning of next year we will have ample and appropriate opportunity during the State of the Province Address, where we will reflect on the past six months and the previous year, to see how far we have journeyed in our quest to build a better province and a better life for all.
Finally, I would like to thank all Members of this House for the work they continue to do to ensure that the voices of all people are heard and reflected in the words and actions of the Legislature.
In particular, we would like to thank all of those Members who ventured with us to Taung this year, as we embarked on participatory democracy by taking Parliament to the people as part of our National Council of Provinces (NCOP). Indeed, our words of gratitude also go to the entire staff in the Speaker’s Office, the offices of the Secretary and the Whips, the technical staff of the Legislature, as well as staff members that assist us in the Executive and in our Departments.
May I then take this opportunity to wish you all well this Christmas and Festive Season and hope that we will come back in January with renewed vigour and bucketfuls of energy and eagerness to continue on this historical journey of building a better life for all the people of the North West Province.
In case you have not smelt the air outside, there is a real aura of a North West that is rapidly developing, a province that is gradually but surely attracting investment, people that are at peace with themselves and their surroundings, and most importantly, a collective leadership at work building a province and a country that truly belongs to all. For this, Honourable Speaker and Members, we would like to express our profound gratitude.
We hope that next year we will continue in the same spirit and build on the successes we have registered, while tackling head-on the challenges that still need to be overcome.
Merry Christmas happy and prosperous New Year!
May God be with all of us!
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
17 November 2005
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molewa: Year end message to Provincial Legislature
North West Premier Edna Molewa’s year end message delivered to the Provincial Legislature
Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Legislature
Honourable colleagues in the Executive Council
Honourable members in the North West Legislature
Distinguished guests and members of the public present
Thank you for this opportunity to deliver this year end message to this august House intended for Members as well as all those who serve this Legislature.
I know that when I stood to deliver this message last year we said that 2004 was the most hectic, especially because we had just been inaugurated owing to the 2004 third democratic elections. I am now tempted to say this year was even more hectic, as we went deeper and with further conviction to our roles as elected Members of both this House and the Executive Council.
In the course of this year alone, we have had to realign not only our Cabinet but the departments themselves that MECs head, all in the interests of accelerated service delivery to the people who mandated us into these chambers.
Because of the new configurations, our departments now stand as follows: Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Department of Developmental Local Government and Housing, Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Department of Education, Department of Finance, Department of Health, Department of Public Works, Department of Safety, Transport and Roads, Department of Social Development and the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
I am therefore delighted to report that because of these alignments, our journey of delivery is on firmer ground, having had cause for reflection and together agreed on the best possible formation for improving both the pace and quality of service delivery.
It is therefore incumbent upon me to thank all the Honourable Members as well as the political parties for their continued commitment to this House and their readiness at all times to serve the people that elected them.
We may have argued and debated issues and pieces of Provincial Legislation, but in the end we are all very proud to have stood united behind the common goal of fighting poverty, alleviating unemployment, ensuring that our people acquire the skills needed by our economy and generally improving the lives of all people of the North West Province.
We did all this, Honourable Speaker, in the manner and demeanour that befits the stature and credibility of this august House and I dare say we are very proud of ourselves indeed.
I must also voice my sense of appreciation for the good inter-relations that all Members of this Legislature have enjoyed and continue to enjoy, despite our obvious and necessary different political orientations. It is really a measure of our political maturity as a constitutional democracy that we have managed to make progress as provincial legislators despite the diverse backgrounds that I have alluded to.
Because the improvement of all our people’s lives is an obligation that can neither be postponed nor derailed, it has been the necessary requirement of every Member of both the Legislature and the Executive to have the capacity to receive and hit the ball running, in the discharging of our responsibilities. Until we achieve a better life for all, there would simply be no time for tourist orientation in this province. Under the circumstances then, we have all distinguished ourselves and for this, I think we deserve a pat on our backs.
As regards the Government wing of our Executive, I am delighted to report we have had a good year, despite continued challenges and that the solid ground we have built since 2004 and indeed since the dawn of democracy in 1994, ensured that we registered achievements in our various departments as reflected in the annual reports that we tabled in this House on 18 October 2005.
These annual reports are those of the departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Developmental Local Government and Housing, Economic Development and Tourism, Education, Finance, Health, Office of the Premier, Public Works, Safety, Transport and Roads, Social Development and the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
All the above annual reports were debated and adopted by this House.
In addition, we also tabled on the same day annual reports of our parastatals and public entities, including the Mmabana Arts, Culture and Sports Foundation, Invest North West, North West Gambling Board, the Youth Development Trust and the North West Development Corporation. This represented a significant improvement from the previous financial year, where none of the entities presented their reports.
As regards the laws passed by this House this year, we are delighted to report five Acts of the Provincial Legislature, namely, the North West Appropriation Act 1, 2005; North West Traditional Leadership and Governance Act 2, 2005; North West House of Traditional Leaders Amendment Act 3, 2005; North West General Law Amendment Act 4, 2005 and the North West Gambling Amendment Act 5, 2005.
Honourable Speaker, that is the only nitty-gritty that I am prepared to detail in this House today, as you know at the beginning of next year we will have ample and appropriate opportunity during the State of the Province Address, where we will reflect on the past six months and the previous year, to see how far we have journeyed in our quest to build a better province and a better life for all.
Finally, I would like to thank all Members of this House for the work they continue to do to ensure that the voices of all people are heard and reflected in the words and actions of the Legislature.
In particular, we would like to thank all of those Members who ventured with us to Taung this year, as we embarked on participatory democracy by taking Parliament to the people as part of our National Council of Provinces (NCOP). Indeed, our words of gratitude also go to the entire staff in the Speaker’s Office, the offices of the Secretary and the Whips, the technical staff of the Legislature, as well as staff members that assist us in the Executive and in our Departments.
May I then take this opportunity to wish you all well this Christmas and Festive Season and hope that we will come back in January with renewed vigour and bucketfuls of energy and eagerness to continue on this historical journey of building a better life for all the people of the North West Province.
In case you have not smelt the air outside, there is a real aura of a North West that is rapidly developing, a province that is gradually but surely attracting investment, people that are at peace with themselves and their surroundings, and most importantly, a collective leadership at work building a province and a country that truly belongs to all. For this, Honourable Speaker and Members, we would like to express our profound gratitude.
We hope that next year we will continue in the same spirit and build on the successes we have registered, while tackling head-on the challenges that still need to be overcome.
Merry Christmas happy and prosperous New Year!
May God be with all of us!
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
17 November 2005
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