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Date : 09/07/2004
Source: Department of Public Works
Title: S Sigcau: Hand over of Steve Tshwete Police Station


SPEECH DELIVERED BY MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS MS SN SIGCAU, MP, DURING THE HAND OVER OF THE STEVE VUKILE TSHWETE POLICE STATION IN EDONQABA, FRANKFURT, 9 July 2004

Minister of Safety and Security, Mr Charles Nqakula
Premier of the Eastern Cape Province, Ms Nosimo Balindlela
MEC for Public Works, Safety and Transport, Mr Thobile Mhlahlo
Deputy National Commissioner Hlela
Deputy Provincial Commissioner Dlani
Assistant Commissioner Hloba
The Mayor of the Municipality, Mr Jonas
All Protocols Observed

The police station that the Department of Public Works is handing over to Safety and Security today is a fitting tribute to the legacy of one man who dedicated his life so we, our children and grand-children could live like normal human beings.

This police station is to be known as the Steve Vukile Tshwete police station because it presents all the things that Comrade Steve, uThangana, stood for.

During his colourful life Cde Steve had many roles. As Minister of Sports and Recreation, he fought for the whole-scale transformation of our country. Who can forget that photograph of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in which former president Nelson Mandela appears clapping hands next to a victorious Springbok captain Francois Pienaar. Tshwete appears in that historic photograph in his trademark smile, deservedly savouring every moment. It was Cde Steve who had prepared the ground to ensure that when the Springboks played the final, the whole country would be behind them and thus hasten the pace of reconciliation.

If photographs tell a thousand words, that historic image will in time come to be regarded in significance in the same vein as those snaking queues we all remember so well, of the masses voting for the first time in 1994. That 1995 Springbok victory photograph tells the fairytale story of a country whose greatest blessing are not only its abundant mineral wealth but also its people and leadership of a unique kind.

Cde Steve represented that calibre of leadership, which was the product of a socio-political environment in which through no fault of our own, we found we were born into.

It is in the rural hinterland of eNkqonkqweni in the former Ciskei that Tshwete spent his formative years and it was there that he started displaying skills that would stand him in good stead in the hallowed capitals of the world, as leader of the ANC during the struggle and as Minister in a liberated South Africa.

A keen reader from an early age, Tshwete took to the literary works of his own people such as Dr WB Rubusana and Ebenezer Majombozi with the same vigour that he had taken to mastering the traditional art of stick fighting.

If as a competent rugby flank for Border, Cde Tshwete was serving his early apprenticeship to become the first Minister of Sport and Recreation in the new South Africa, as Army Commissar for MK he was preparing for his role as Minister of Safety and Security after liberation.

Tshwete displayed similar rigour when at the University of Fort Hare, he ploughed through the great philosophical works of Goethe, De Kat, Kant with the same amount of energy he displayed when reading Marxist Leninist works such as the voluminous Das Kapital while dreaming of changing the world order for the better.

Tshwete, like the ANC led government today, believed that political freedom without economic freedom would make real freedom an illusion.

In this regard, government in a bid to ensure that Steve Vukile Tshwete's dream becomes a reality on 18 May this year announced a programme whose aim is to create jobs and to eradicate poverty. This programme, the Expanded Public Works Programme, will draw significant numbers of our people into productive employment provide them with wages and more importantly with skills necessary for them to increase their chances of moving from the Second Economy to take their part in the First Economy.

Comrade Steve also believed in the power of the collective. He also once compared black people to a bull, which allowed to be chased up and down the countryside by a young boy because it did not believe it had the power to overcome.

It was because we recognised the metaphorical bull in ourselves that this year we are celebrating ten years of democracy.

In that time we have often taken the bull by its horns and many a times we have come out victorious. Winning the right to host World Cup 2010 and to become the official site for the headquarters of the African Union parliament are just some of the achievements, which demonstrate our tenacity and give impetus to the role South Africa will play in pursuance of the African Renaissance.

The Department of Public Works is responsible for three distinct functions, namely the life cycle management of the state's immovable assets including buildings and land. My department acquires, maintains and disposes of these properties on behalf of government, its departments or its agencies.

We are also responsible for the regulation of the South African construction industry with a view to align it with the goals of the country through the promotion of its growth and transformation.

My department also runs the much talked about Expanded Public Works Programme, which is one of government's programmes to create jobs and to alleviate poverty.

With regard to this police station, all national departments of government rely on Public Works to find accommodation for them and also to maintain and dispose of the buildings once they have been determined to have come to the end of their useful life.

In fulfilment of the above mandate, since 1999 the Department has completed 6670 Capital Works projects, which cost more than R5.8billion. Among our top client departments are Correctional Services, Justice and Constitutional Development, and the Department of Defence and of course the South African Police Service.

As Minister of Public Works, I am responsible for the regulation and development of construction and property sectors. With regard to the construction industry, we are glad to say that after experiencing a decline over the past 10 years, the industry now looks set to benefit from public sector led economic activity in the country over the next 5 to six years.

At least three conditions, which are necessary for this growth, are already there. There is sustained economic growth over the past three years. Secondly there is a declining budget deficit and thirdly when the people returned the ANC to power in the 14 April elections, we gave the markets necessary assurance that we are a stable democracy. Fourthly, the African Renaissance and the New Partnership for Africa's Development are taking off. Analysts now forecast more positive growth for the whole continent in the next year.

Government plans to spend increasing amounts on developing the infrastructure of the country. At least R20billion out of the total EPWP expenditure will come from the infrastructure sector. We now have the added fortune of having been given the right to host the Soccer World Cup in 2010.

World Cup-related construction activity will come from the construction of new stadiums and the renovation of existing ones. It will also come from the construction of roads, new houses and other public facilities over the period leading up to and following the World Cup. This will stimulate activity in the sector and will contribute significantly to the fight against poverty and unemployment.

Our government also announced during the African Union summit, which is being held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, that South Africa had been awarded the honour and privilege of hosting the first Assembly of the African Union. Our nation has as its centre democratic values and an unheralded commitment to reconciliation and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. We do not doubt that those are some of the considerations, which worked in our favour when the AU had to make its decision on who would host the continental parliament, known as the Pan African Parliament.

My department is responsible for the provision and maintenance of accommodation to government departments. Under our Prestige Portfolio we look after the Union Buildings, Parliament and Ministerial Residences. Because of our experience and expertise in this area, we are the best agency available in the country to carry out the honour of costing, procuring and maintaining the new headquarters of the 265-member AU Pan African Parliament (PAP). The cost of providing building, facilities and equipment for PAP will come from our government, but other private sector activities such as the construction of private accommodation and hotels will be part of the benefits of hosting PAP. The announcement is yet another boost to both the property and construction industries in this country.

The building of this police station as well has given a boost to the local economy. The project consists of the construction of a new police station on the site that used to be a Post Office. The structure now consists of holding cells and official living quarters for members of the South African Police Services.

Although the initial allocation amounted to three point six million (R3.6) in January 2003, by January 2004 the total expenditure amounted to four point three million (R4.3 million). During the construction process, a total number of 65 workers were employed on site, thus putting food on the tables of our people and contributing to the alleviation of poverty. This police station is also my Department's contribution to the fight against crime. I now hand over the key to Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Public Works
9 July 2004

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