Remarks by Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Sibusiso Ndebele, during the launch of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Greytown

Programme Director
Minister of Social Development Dr Zola Skweyiya
MEC for Social Welfare and Population Development Dr Meshack Radebe,
Mayor of UMzinyathi, District Cllr, M S Yengwa
Mayor of Umvoti Cllr PMS Ngubane
Inkosi M Zondi
CEO of SASSA, Mr F Makiwane
Ladies and gentlemen

In February this year, we delivered the State of the Province Address. Our theme was "building the economy through partnerships." The thrust of our theme for the whole of this year is that as a province we will rise and fall on the basis of our partnership, the extent to which we are prepared to work together. We must partner in all areas of our lives. We are here today, different departments of one government, as part of that partnership in order to rid our country and province of poverty. In this case we will deal with poverty by bringing services closer to where our people live and by ensuring that all services of government are accessible to the majority of our people.

Extent of Challenges

Our province is home to 21% of the population of South Africa. We have an urban/ rural distribution of 46/54. While it is accepted that there has been an increase in the quality of life for our people, the incidence of poverty in KwaZulu remains one of the highest in the country. Between 1996 and 2002 we had established that unemployment had increased by 9,3% according to the strict definition, and by 9,6% according to the expanded definition. Poverty and unemployment manifest themselves in the villages, townships and cities of our province. It affects human beings.

In particular unemployment amongst women had increased by 3,6%, faster than among men. At any given time we have a female unemployment rate of 54,8% compared with male unemployment rate of 40,2%. We announce every year a higher allocation to education, the highest in the country. We are also dealing with one of the highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the country. Our numbers of orphans, child headed homes are increasing in proportion to the rate of our HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2006, as part of the African Peer Review Mechanism we identified the following indicators of the spatial differentiation of poverty across the districts of our province. In the APRM report we said the following:

* The general trend is that people are living in poverty in KwaZulu-Natal and that poverty has increased over the last five years.
* Poverty is widespread and deep-rooted in the non-urban and rural areas.
* Poverty is more prevalent in Black households than in other race groups. This therefore means that poverty is essentially a Black problem.

Measures to address poverty

* For us to deal with these challenges we have done the following: Local government is now stable and it incorporates traditional leadership. All eleven District Houses of Traditional Leaders were inaugurated in 2006.
* We have also stabilised provincial government and found peace in order to create an environment that is conducive to economic growth. Economic growth is the only sure way of growing the whole pie, so that the standard of living for our people can rise consistently until poverty and unemployment are completely eliminated.
* We are also running a caring and a developmental state which among other things uses its resources wisely to provide social safety nets to the poor and vulnerable. Our government ensures that these safety nets are sustainable over time and do not trap people on that level.

It is for this reason that the eradication of poverty has been at the centre of our policies and programmes since the first democratic elections. In 2004 we identified the goal of halving poverty in South Africa by 2014. We have always said we need to understand where the desperately poor people are concentrated. Then we will develop social safety net interventions and employment creating programmes aimed at limiting dependence on welfare assistance. It is this objective which has driven the integrated basket of government social development and upliftment programmes in extremely poor localities such as Nkandla and Msinga within the framework of Operation Mbo. It is also in the same spirit that we are here today.

Economic Growth through tourism

According to statistics provided by the Tourism Authority of KwaZulu-Natal for the year 2005, KwaZulu-Natal received a total of 11,6 million domestic visitors and 1,6 million international visitors. This translated into a value of R20,7 billion for the provincial economy. It is incumbent upon the people of this municipality and others to ensure that the tourists visit every part of our province. With our heritage and history, tourism is potentially one of the quickest growth sectors going forward. We are told that seven tourists who visit our country create at least one job.

Progress so far

We are pleased that our efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Our people all over the province are able to experience the qualitative improvement in their lives. This is because we have in the face of challenges been able to achieve the following:

The Gross Domestic Product per region (GDP-R) of the province of KwaZulu-Natal is now the second largest in the country after Gauteng and the GDP-R growth rate rose over fivefold from 1,0% in 1999 to 5,3% in 2005. Our provincial economy has the potential to reach a 10% growth rate by the year 2014. We have been able to reduce unemployment from 36,3% in 2003 to 29,9% in 2006. According to Global Insight, the percentage of people in poverty in this province (poverty rate) decreased from 54,0% in 2004 to 51,9% in 2005. These are real steps towards the eventual elimination of poverty and unemployment.

It will however take more than government to reach this goal. It will take a partnership between and among all sectors and all our people. Let us start from the village. Let us talk about what the challenges are, which face us and militate against this march away from poverty. The State of the Village, communities in dialogue programme will help us know why children do not complete Matric. Is it because boys are arrested or killed? Is it because the girls fall pregnant? Poverty is perpetuated by lack of education. Let us deal with this issue in our communities. Next we will do audits of professionals in the Village. How many teachers do we have, taxi drivers, plumbers, bricklayers? Then we can identify opportunities and impediments. We are aware that to deal with this challenge of poverty and unemployment we must tap into our growth areas. These are agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and industry, as well as transportation and logistics where it is relevant.

Masisukume Sakhe iKwaZulu-Natal!

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
21 June 2007