Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier, Mr DD Mabuza
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature
Executive Mayor, Her Worship Cllr L Shongwe and Members of the Mayoral Committees for Finance and Local Economic Development
Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders, Kgoshi ML Mokoena
Acting Director-General, Mr Thulani Mdakane
Head Official of Provincial Treasury, Ms Nombedesho Nkamba, Heads of Departments and Municipal Manager of Ehlanzeni, Adv Hugh Mbatha
Chairpersons of Boards and Chief Executive Officers of our Public Entities
Business Executive of the Office of the Auditor-General in Mpumalanga
Leadership of the ANC led Alliance 
Representatives of Labour, Business, Civil Society and the Media
Esteemed guests
Beloved People of Mpumalanga

Today is the last day for the people of South Africa to cast their vote in the 11th season of the IdolsSA. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate one of our own, Karabo Mogane for reaching the penultimate of his career dream in music. I urge all people of Mpumalanga to rally behind the talented Karabo by voting on various platforms or by texting 02 to 37400. This is our time Mpumalanga. Remember that victory of Karabo is our victory too.

Honourable Speaker, 2015 marks the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. Its vision and ideals remain the pillar of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

The 2015/16 Adjustments Budget cannot afford to undermine the historic aspiration enshrined in the Freedom Charter and its prerequisite for a better life for all in a free, non-racial and non-sexist democratic South Africa.

These are the ideals for which many of our heroes and heroines have fought for, served jail terms and even laid their lives.

To this end, the third decade of a post-apartheid democratic South Africa is a decade which challenges all patriotic South Africans to reassess the current progress in the light of the ideals of the Freedom Charter.

Hashtag #UniversityFeesMustFall must be understood in this context. Long before it became fashionable to say so, it is the ANC which called for free education, equal access to quality health, housing, water and sanitation, electricity, right to decent jobs and social security net.

These ideals are at the genesis of the confidence placed on the ruling party by the majority of South Africans because ANC’s economic and social policies have drawn its guidance from the Freedom Charter, and the ruling party has progressively implemented these policies since 1994 within the limited resources available to it.

The Freedom Charter continues to give cohesion and clarity in the National Development Plan. It is this perspective, clarity and correctness of the Freedom Charter that will continue to guide Government processes. 

Global and South African Economic Outlook

It is important, Honourable Speaker, to remind ourselves that South Africa economy is not insulated from global impact.

Our performance in delivering the ideals of the Freedom Charter will always take into account the enormous pressure of the global and domestic economy.

There is a saying that when Chinese economy sneezes the whole world economy catches flu. This is so true given the risks to the global economic outlook which have increased against the backdrop of a slowing Chinese economy.

It is anticipated that slower growth and volatility will remain features of the world economy for some time to come.

The South African economic outlook has also deteriorated, following the negative growth rate of 1.3 per cent in the second quarter of this year.

As a result the National Treasury has revised the growth forecast downward to 1.5 per cent for 2015.

Against this difficult backdrop, the South African Reserve Bank has announced an increase in the repo rate by 25 basis point to 6,25 per cent effective from 20 November 2015. The interest rates will therefore increase, which is not good news for consumers in this current difficult environment. Read more [PDF]