Date: 27/01/2007
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government
Title: Peters: Human Resource Development Strategy launch
Speech by Northern Cape Premier, Honourable Mme Dipuo Peters at the launch of the Northern Cape Human Resource Development Strategy, Kimberley
Madam Deputy President, Mme Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Programme Director
MECs
Mayors and Councillors
Government officials
Business representatives
Labour representatives
Distinguished guests
Media representatives
Ladies and gentlemen
Our provincial growth and development strategy mandated us to develop a comprehensive human resource and development strategy. Accordingly in response to that mandate, we are pleased to present to the Northern Cape community this human resource strategy.
Madam Deputy President, we are honoured by your presence here this morning and also excited about the launch of this strategy which seeks to address our fundamental challenges as a province.
The apartheid education system deskilled our people and has therefore failed to produce the human resources required to deal with developmental initiatives.
It is our understanding as the provincial government that human resource development programmes should translate to the empowerment of our people through appropriate education and training, and ensure that they participate fully in all the economic activities.
Ladies and gentlemen, over the past few years, we have witnessed growth and development in our human resources in the country. Human capital is central to any development and public servants are no exception.
Our province in particular, needs imaginative and innovative mechanisms to bring our human resources to the required levels in terms of skills and knowledge so as to be able to fight against poverty and underdevelopment.
Yearly, in my State of the Province Address, we make a commitment to our people, that we will provide them with essential services to improve their lives. What we did was to ask ourselves, do we have people who possess the required skills and knowledge to deliver on all the promises we have made? If not then what have we done to ensure that we create a pool of capacitated men and women who will fulfil our mandates?
We believe that this strategy will provide all of us a conceptual framework for human resource development in our province. The strategy focuses on three institutional sub-systems of the social system, which play an important role in the development of human resources in the Northern Cape.
Ladies and gentlemen, this strategy has its origins in the Reconstruction and Development Programme as one of its key principles that focuses on the development of our human resources. Furthermore, it builds on the foundations that have previously been put in place through the National Human Resource Development Strategy, National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) and the Human Resource Development Strategy for the Public Service.
Madam Deputy President, it is our hope and wish that this strategy should address the major human resource capacity constraints currently hampering the effective and equitable delivery of services across all sectors in our province.
The strategy signals our determination as the provincial government to invest in our human resources, in an attempt to meet the needs of our economy and democratic order. We therefore believe that the objectives contained in the strategy represent appropriate priorities for skills development until 2009.
Ladies and gentlemen, through your active participation in its implementation, we believe that the strategy will open up the opportunity for all of us to benefit from better co-ordination and alignment of developmental initiatives that are already taking place in all sectors in our province.
As the provincial government we have prioritised the growth and development of our economy through all sectors. Human resource development is considered as the engine of economic development. The strategy is the ideal tool that we can collectively use to address socio-economic challenges facing our province.
We have reached an important milestone in locating human resource development in its rightful place in the economy. Education and training may not be a universal remedy for underdevelopment, but is certainly a pre-condition for growth and development.
We have to ensure that our education and training system serves the cause of redress and equity, capacity building and empowerment, social regeneration and cultural enrichment for all our people.
We cannot continue to create an ever-escalating number of unemployed graduates who in most cases have qualifications, which are not needed by the economic realities on the ground.
What we should always be mindful of is that, just as the environmental crisis affects the natural resources on which life ultimately depends, so does the education and training crisis threaten the human resources of knowledge, skills and self-confidence to service our people in accordance with the principles of Batho Pele.
Ladies and gentlemen, the development of our human resources has consequently become a critical component of our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, to grow our economy and create broader participation by our people, especially women, the disabled and the youth.
Unfortunately the restructuring of our economy in the past eleven years has pushed a number of people, particularly the unemployed and unskilled workers, into what we now call the second economy.
The second economy also includes many people who have never had access to the formal first economy and survive though a number of informal income generating activities.
It is incumbent upon all of us in our society to ensure that as our economy grows, and as we develop our province, we do not leave behind those who are in the second economy, nor can we allow the increasing wealth in our society to only benefit a few.
Government therefore envisages an enhanced role for all stakeholders in addressing the issue of support to the second economy as well as increasing the participation of poor people in our economy.
Democracy has created immense opportunities and wealth in our country and yet, those who do not have skills to participate are often left out of the economic benefits. It is therefore a priority that we address the skills development in our country, and increase the participation of those in the second economy.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have to do this as our country will never be able to sustain the growth that we desire without having greater numbers of people participating in our economy.
The important role and benefits of human resource development and the potential they have in contributing to our economy cannot be over-emphasised. That is why I am pleased to be a part of this launch.
As the provincial government we have a commitment to support developmental initiatives as they have the potential to create and develop income generating activities and sustainable, decent employment. Through this strategy we will be able to develop human resource capacities, increase savings and investments and improve the social and economic well being of our people.
It is our aim to ensure that through our human resources development we establish and expand a viable and dynamic distinctive sector of the economy that responds that responds to the social and economic conditions of our people.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is our understanding that we will amass much needed support from all of you as stakeholders, and together promote and develop a greater number of economic opportunities for our people.
What is critical is that because of our overlapping needs, we should be able to utilise some of the support mechanisms to provide assistance to all sectors.
This strategy will be one essential component of the emerging human resources developmental strategy. It must be considered therefore that plans to improve schooling and the work of higher and further education as well as with research and entrepreneurial initiatives within the provincial economy will always be a priority. I hope and wish that each and every individual attending this launch this morning will join hands with us in contributing towards making this strategy a living reality so that it should successfully contribute towards employment creation and alleviating poverty in our communities.
The targets of our success indicators that are proposed in this strategy are ambitious but not cast in stone. Each year the provincial government and stakeholders will assess the progress being made in achieving the success indicators and it will report and make public its findings.
It may also suggest amendments to the success indicators in the light of experience. The implementation of this strategy is a dynamic and active process but it will only succeed if it is truly a provincial commitment. We believe all these are possible and we are committed to working together with our colleagues and stakeholders to ensure that we create an enabling human resource development environment to ensure a province at work for a better life for all our people.
I am convinced that our education and training has been a seedbed for our national renewal, and I further believe that we all have an obligation to further ensure that this seedbed in the public sector is well tended for a better life for all, in order to ensure sustainable livelihoods of our people and communities.
In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, allow me to quote a famous writer, Alan Paton, who wrote in his book 'Cry the beloved country':
"It was permissible to develop the economy with the aid of whatever labour we could find and had It was permissible to use unskilled labour to do unskilled work It was permissible to use skilled labour to do skilled work But it was not permissible to keep labour unskilled for the sake of unskilled labour"
So let us not keep our people down by not re-skilling the skilled who are without jobs and growth prospects, and keeping the unskilled out of employability by not creating training opportunities.
I thank you
Ndiyabulela
Baie dankie
Ke a leboga
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
27 January 2007
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government
Title: Peters: Human Resource Development Strategy launch
Speech by Northern Cape Premier, Honourable Mme Dipuo Peters at the launch of the Northern Cape Human Resource Development Strategy, Kimberley
Madam Deputy President, Mme Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Programme Director
MECs
Mayors and Councillors
Government officials
Business representatives
Labour representatives
Distinguished guests
Media representatives
Ladies and gentlemen
Our provincial growth and development strategy mandated us to develop a comprehensive human resource and development strategy. Accordingly in response to that mandate, we are pleased to present to the Northern Cape community this human resource strategy.
Madam Deputy President, we are honoured by your presence here this morning and also excited about the launch of this strategy which seeks to address our fundamental challenges as a province.
The apartheid education system deskilled our people and has therefore failed to produce the human resources required to deal with developmental initiatives.
It is our understanding as the provincial government that human resource development programmes should translate to the empowerment of our people through appropriate education and training, and ensure that they participate fully in all the economic activities.
Ladies and gentlemen, over the past few years, we have witnessed growth and development in our human resources in the country. Human capital is central to any development and public servants are no exception.
Our province in particular, needs imaginative and innovative mechanisms to bring our human resources to the required levels in terms of skills and knowledge so as to be able to fight against poverty and underdevelopment.
Yearly, in my State of the Province Address, we make a commitment to our people, that we will provide them with essential services to improve their lives. What we did was to ask ourselves, do we have people who possess the required skills and knowledge to deliver on all the promises we have made? If not then what have we done to ensure that we create a pool of capacitated men and women who will fulfil our mandates?
We believe that this strategy will provide all of us a conceptual framework for human resource development in our province. The strategy focuses on three institutional sub-systems of the social system, which play an important role in the development of human resources in the Northern Cape.
Ladies and gentlemen, this strategy has its origins in the Reconstruction and Development Programme as one of its key principles that focuses on the development of our human resources. Furthermore, it builds on the foundations that have previously been put in place through the National Human Resource Development Strategy, National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) and the Human Resource Development Strategy for the Public Service.
Madam Deputy President, it is our hope and wish that this strategy should address the major human resource capacity constraints currently hampering the effective and equitable delivery of services across all sectors in our province.
The strategy signals our determination as the provincial government to invest in our human resources, in an attempt to meet the needs of our economy and democratic order. We therefore believe that the objectives contained in the strategy represent appropriate priorities for skills development until 2009.
Ladies and gentlemen, through your active participation in its implementation, we believe that the strategy will open up the opportunity for all of us to benefit from better co-ordination and alignment of developmental initiatives that are already taking place in all sectors in our province.
As the provincial government we have prioritised the growth and development of our economy through all sectors. Human resource development is considered as the engine of economic development. The strategy is the ideal tool that we can collectively use to address socio-economic challenges facing our province.
We have reached an important milestone in locating human resource development in its rightful place in the economy. Education and training may not be a universal remedy for underdevelopment, but is certainly a pre-condition for growth and development.
We have to ensure that our education and training system serves the cause of redress and equity, capacity building and empowerment, social regeneration and cultural enrichment for all our people.
We cannot continue to create an ever-escalating number of unemployed graduates who in most cases have qualifications, which are not needed by the economic realities on the ground.
What we should always be mindful of is that, just as the environmental crisis affects the natural resources on which life ultimately depends, so does the education and training crisis threaten the human resources of knowledge, skills and self-confidence to service our people in accordance with the principles of Batho Pele.
Ladies and gentlemen, the development of our human resources has consequently become a critical component of our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, to grow our economy and create broader participation by our people, especially women, the disabled and the youth.
Unfortunately the restructuring of our economy in the past eleven years has pushed a number of people, particularly the unemployed and unskilled workers, into what we now call the second economy.
The second economy also includes many people who have never had access to the formal first economy and survive though a number of informal income generating activities.
It is incumbent upon all of us in our society to ensure that as our economy grows, and as we develop our province, we do not leave behind those who are in the second economy, nor can we allow the increasing wealth in our society to only benefit a few.
Government therefore envisages an enhanced role for all stakeholders in addressing the issue of support to the second economy as well as increasing the participation of poor people in our economy.
Democracy has created immense opportunities and wealth in our country and yet, those who do not have skills to participate are often left out of the economic benefits. It is therefore a priority that we address the skills development in our country, and increase the participation of those in the second economy.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have to do this as our country will never be able to sustain the growth that we desire without having greater numbers of people participating in our economy.
The important role and benefits of human resource development and the potential they have in contributing to our economy cannot be over-emphasised. That is why I am pleased to be a part of this launch.
As the provincial government we have a commitment to support developmental initiatives as they have the potential to create and develop income generating activities and sustainable, decent employment. Through this strategy we will be able to develop human resource capacities, increase savings and investments and improve the social and economic well being of our people.
It is our aim to ensure that through our human resources development we establish and expand a viable and dynamic distinctive sector of the economy that responds that responds to the social and economic conditions of our people.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is our understanding that we will amass much needed support from all of you as stakeholders, and together promote and develop a greater number of economic opportunities for our people.
What is critical is that because of our overlapping needs, we should be able to utilise some of the support mechanisms to provide assistance to all sectors.
This strategy will be one essential component of the emerging human resources developmental strategy. It must be considered therefore that plans to improve schooling and the work of higher and further education as well as with research and entrepreneurial initiatives within the provincial economy will always be a priority. I hope and wish that each and every individual attending this launch this morning will join hands with us in contributing towards making this strategy a living reality so that it should successfully contribute towards employment creation and alleviating poverty in our communities.
The targets of our success indicators that are proposed in this strategy are ambitious but not cast in stone. Each year the provincial government and stakeholders will assess the progress being made in achieving the success indicators and it will report and make public its findings.
It may also suggest amendments to the success indicators in the light of experience. The implementation of this strategy is a dynamic and active process but it will only succeed if it is truly a provincial commitment. We believe all these are possible and we are committed to working together with our colleagues and stakeholders to ensure that we create an enabling human resource development environment to ensure a province at work for a better life for all our people.
I am convinced that our education and training has been a seedbed for our national renewal, and I further believe that we all have an obligation to further ensure that this seedbed in the public sector is well tended for a better life for all, in order to ensure sustainable livelihoods of our people and communities.
In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, allow me to quote a famous writer, Alan Paton, who wrote in his book 'Cry the beloved country':
"It was permissible to develop the economy with the aid of whatever labour we could find and had It was permissible to use unskilled labour to do unskilled work It was permissible to use skilled labour to do skilled work But it was not permissible to keep labour unskilled for the sake of unskilled labour"
So let us not keep our people down by not re-skilling the skilled who are without jobs and growth prospects, and keeping the unskilled out of employability by not creating training opportunities.
I thank you
Ndiyabulela
Baie dankie
Ke a leboga
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
27 January 2007
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