18 March 1998 Ulundi
Mr Speaker, members of the Cabinet and honourable Members, we face a most challenging year. As a government the financial constraints of the Province, will impose on us new issues and concerns. Before we deal with some of these concerns, let me state quite unambiguously that there are numerous positive dimension to our Province which should not be overlooked.
We tend to focus on the negative issues. Meanwhile, many of our departments are delivering social services and infrastructure. A large portion of our civil service and provincial workforce is honest, dedicated and hardworking. Numerous exciting economic initiatives are being pursued and the KwaZulu-Natal region has numerous intrinsic features and strengths which allows us to take this Province forward. We should not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the very real difficulties that we do face. Rather, we should recognise our obstacles and deal with them in a confident manner. Mr Speaker, it is precisely because we are aware of the constraints that face us, that we are able to confront them. We can analyse them and produce solutions. We may not be able to create money or solve our capacity problems overnight, but we have at our disposal the most important asset available to us, namely the people and community of this Province.
Mr Speaker, the current situation makes us realise that we need each other. If we combined the knowledge, experiences and resources of this Province, if we realise that we are dependent upon one another to succeed and make this Province a model of society, we can do so. Government, business, labour, our communities and individuals all live and work in this Province in a mutually inter-dependent fashion. Notwithstanding our opinions about each other, we are all a part of the same economic and social system. The one cannot do without the other. We each have a role. What is important is that we must translate our individual short and long term perspectives into a common long-term perspective. To pursue our agreed Vision for the Province, we must each gain a true understanding of each others needs, requirements and difficulties and pursue the long term benefit and the type of society we all would all like to see in this Province. I reiterate therefore that I believe that we can overcome the current negative aspects of our situation by building on the positive ones.
Mr Speaker, today I am going to address only a few of the more crucial issues that face us. I will attend briefly to some activities of departments. As they will be presenting their budgets to this Parliament, you will have the opportunity to understand more comprehensively what each department is busy with. Perhaps the key constraint facing us at this time, is the cash flow situation of the Provincial Government. This impacts on the demands for services that cannot adequately be met from the available revenue of the Province. During the mentioned debates on individual departmental budgets, the members will hear more of how this impacts on each department. In my Budget Speech on Friday, I will go into this matter more thoroughly. Although our financial situation is of grave concern, it presents us with some opportunities. The most important question facing us is, how are we going to deal with the shortage of funds? Mr Speaker and colleagues, there is no doubt that we will have to cut back on certain of our current services to be able to fund others. As a Government, we will have to reprioritise our Programmes and review the efficiency and effectiveness of current operations. Where necessary, we may be forced to take some more unpopular decisions if that is what is required to achieve objectives of greater priority.
Our Programme for Good Governance envisaged phases commonly known as Strategic Restructuring and Government Re-engineering. We will have to start, as a matter of urgency, the process of moving towards a Government that takes due responsibility for the making of policy, being a catalyst and facilitator, but seeks alternatives methods of delivering services. We need to start to separate the policy- making issues from the 'doing' issues. As a Government, we are often by definition, poorly equipped for the business of 'doing'. Around the world, governments have started to use government owned agencies; government owned companies, the private sector and partnerships to deliver services. The key factor is to ensure that where there is an area of clear responsibility of the Government, that we do not compromise that responsibility. Alternative service delivery options must be investigated with a view to achieving greater efficiency, and to assists in decreasing costs.
This process would require that we start with a serious relook at the current organisation of the Provincial Government, as well as the functioning of existing departments. We would then pursue the identification of components that could become candidates for alternative service delivery models. I have already instructed the team responsible for the Programme for Good Governance to develop a macro-organisational model that could facilitate this process. Whilst the opportunities presented by this approach may be exciting, I do not wish to raise undue expectations. We would have to have due regard for the legal considerations and personnel and other resource issues inherent in such processes. Personnel measures and the ability to deal with serving personnel in an appropriate manner is often the most limiting obstacle in achieving these objectives. We will however ensure that we remain within the law and that we engage with the labour unions in a pro-active manner regarding these issues. I will interact fully with the Cabinet as far as any aspects of re-organisation and new macro-governmental models are concerned.
Mr Speaker, although I touched on this matter yesterday, I wish to return to an aspect of real concern to me as a parent and as Premier. That is the current situation we face with education. The problem is a national one. What is important is how we in this Province deal with the difficulties that our government experiences with the delivery of quality in education. Mr Speaker, we must be honest with our citizens. We cannot ascribe to desirable and positive initiatives to assist parents and small children by for example providing free health care for small children, but then disadvantage these same children when they come to receive their formal schooling. Our priorities must be aligned, be rational and be practical. We have consistently argued that the strength of the Province in these trying times lies in the capacity of the people of this Province. Our people, combined with the natural resources of our Provinces, are what will make the difference. In the future the strength of this Province will depend on the training and character of the children of today. It imperative that we take education very, very seriously. Perhaps we should make education the first amongst equals of the priorities of our Province. I commit myself to doing so.
Mr Speaker and colleagues let us agree today to make education for our children the first amongst equals. Let us agree today to start the process of establishing an educational environment in this Province that will become the envy of many. Such a change does not come overnight Mr Speaker, but certainly we can start a pro-active process in achieving this ideal. I am to engage with my colleagues in Cabinet on how we can assist the Minister in this process. Mr Speaker, I am indeed grateful in anticipation for the work to be done by Mr Burrows and the task team who are to investigate certain dimensions of education in this Province. In the interim, I believe that we should revisit organisation and structural matters in the Department with a view to optimising management capacity and resources within the limited budget available to the Department.
I am going to request my colleagues in the Cabinet to assist us in providing expertise from their departments to at least start assessing and dealing with certain basic management issues in the Department of Education and Culture. Some of the aspects I have in
Mr Speaker, I wish to state it emphatically to the people of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, that it is not a simple or easy matter to take a decision on the termination of the services of staff, especially an important category of staff such as educators. The reality is that we were highly reluctant to take such a decision in this Province. We realise the additional constraints that this places on many of our schools. In truth, other Provinces had already taken such decisions and I was criticised at a recent National Budget Council-meeting for our reluctance in this matter. Mr Speaker at the end of the day it comes down to the principle of affordability. We simply cannot continue to employ teachers who we cannot afford to remunerate. That in itself would have been a highly irresponsible course of action. I am sure that affordability is a concept that we all can relate to in our own personal budgets.
No matter how deep our desire to retain these educators, we simply could not. We have had to take this decision notwithstanding the fact that during the next financial year we intend providing the Department of Education and Culture with additional financial resources at the expense of other departments and services. More of this will become apparent in the Budget Speech on Friday. Having taken this decision Mr Speaker, we must ensure that the negative affect of this decision is minimised. I intend to personally familiarise myself with the implications of this decision. The Department of Education and Culture has produced a management plan that I referred to yesterday. The plan aims to ensure that education in individual schools is not totally compromised by the reduction of the educator staff complement. It remains important for these schools to continue with their important task. Although I have visited various schools in the recent times to enable me to understand the issues facing them, I intend visiting certain schools in the next few weeks to determine first-hand how these latest decisions impact on their ability to function.
I believe that our schools should provide the first step in providing all of our children with a meaningful future, which will benefit our communities, our Province and our country. It is therefore important that we pay particular attention to those schools that provide for children with special learning needs. These schools give these unique children a sporting chance in life by dealing with their special needs at an early age and enabling them to become fully integrated and better prepared for the adult environment in which they will be expected to function. Consequently I will visit some of the schools that attend to these children. I will start with the Brown's School for Remedial Children in Pinetown and the Vuleka School for the Hearing-Impaired Children at Nkandla.
In conclusion Mr Speaker, I believe that we will have to take education to our communities in a much more interactive manner. Communities must own our education system. They should become much more pro-active in interacting with their local schools to ensure that they get the quality services that their children deserve. Parents should not interfere with the professional content of the curriculum or in classroom discipline, but parents are entitled to demand that teachers are present and on duty. They are entitled to demand that schools apply sound management procedures and exercise proper financial discipline. Parents are entitled to demand quality education for their children. They can ensure that this is so in their local schools. By getting involved parents could gain a first-hand understanding of the constraints which face our schools and together with the local school boards and teaching staff devise innovative means of co-operation which ensures that they also contribute to a sound quality of education.
By accepting the limitations faced by the Government and entering into a co-operative and understanding partnership with schools, parents could become a part of the positive changes in our provincial education system. In a spirit of co-operation I appeal to parents of children in our more well off schools to understand the need for the Government to direct its activities towards those schools with the greater needs and requirements at this time. I appeal also to our business community to get involved in local schools.
The principle of business enterprises adopting schools should be extended. I hope that KwaZulu-Natal will respond to my appeal for understanding and my challenge for all of us to make education in this Province the first amongst equals.
Mr Speaker, having dealt with the importance and priority of establishing a reputable and enviable education environment in our Province, we must accord due recognition to the many other matters of extreme priority and importance in our Province. On the economic side there are numerous very positive initiatives.
I have been meeting on an ongoing basis with business leaders of the Province. Although many of them express concern about some of the issues I raise in this speech, I am extremely encouraged by their commitment to our Province. They can be assured of my support in trying to ensure that they have a suitable and viable business environment in which to operate. I thank the Minister for Economic Affairs and Tourism for his efforts in this regard.
The Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative between South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland is an example of the many positive economic initiatives which is of special significance and very exciting to us as a Province. Provided that the Province is kept fully involved and is properly recognised in terms of our constitutional rights and obligations, I willingly participate in this Initiative as a lead project that I personally endorse.
The Lubombo SDI is an example of what can be achieved through co-operative action undertaken between governments. We have been holding regular meetings with the national government and the Governments of Mozambique and Swaziland. It is anticipated that this SDI will assist especially the northern areas of our Province to receive the benefits of development in a unique part of the Province that has been developmentally lagging for many years. High unemployment and great poverty prevails amongst the approximately 500 000 people who live in the Lubombo Region of our Province. It is believed that the Lubombo SDI will contribute significantly in supplying this area with much needed infrastructure, such as roads, schools and clinics. The SDI will facilitate the creation of employment opportunities, whilst it will also ensure a process whereby the natural resources of the area will be protected to the benefit not only of the local communities, but all who appreciate the value and beauty of the natural environment.
The SDI will unlock cultural, agricultural, tourism and other economic opportunities in the region. I believe that the proposed declaration of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park as a World Heritage Area will emphasise the unique nature of our Province and will contribute to the development of our Provincial assets in a positive manner from which we all will benefit. This is especially true in so far as it works to the benefit of the local people. It is of critical importance that the development of institutional models take due cognisance of the role and responsibilities of the Province in these areas. We cannot afford to let these important developments to be compromised through the introduction of structures that do not adequately reflect the dynamics of the Region or the Province. I am however confident that these matters are being handled in a comprehensive process, which will suitable accommodate provincial interest in the process.
Mr. Speaker, another dimension of importance to the Province, as with the rest of the country, is that of crime, safety and security. The goal, although difficult to achieve in the most advanced nations of the world, is a crime free society. In terms of such a perspective we must acknowledge that we still have a long way to go. But Mr. Speaker, we are making progress in some areas. The gradual stabilization of the socio-political environment made it possible for the policing focus during 1996/1997 to turn to the broader crime spectrum.
This has contributed to a visible reduction in certain crime categories. The South African Police Services have reported that the crime statistics of 1997, when compared to 1996 shows a decrease of 3,3% in serious crimes in the Province. The same trend was experienced in the priority crimes that showed a decrease of 2,8%. Armed robberies of financial institutions decreased by 54%.
Although the serious crimes and priority crimes indicated a decrease, it is of concern that crimes like armed robbery of cash-in-transit increased by 13,3%, armed robbery with firearm increased by 5,6% and stock theft by 5,9%, whilst attacks on farms and smallholding indicated an increase of 46,9%. Sadly, it is attacks on tourists such as the recent murder of two Swedish nationals, which has lead to the perception that KwaZulu-Natal is unsafe for tourism. Compared, for instances to the Western Cape or Gauteng, this perception is unfounded, especially when confronted by statistics and factual evidence obtainable from the SAPS. Special structural and functional changes have been introduced to address the crime fighting capacity of the SAPS in the Province. Police co-ordinating structures are involving the farming community to address crime intelligence and rural safety. Special taxi violence units have been created. Since the early 1990's, a tourist protection unit was established to deal with all aspects regarding the protection of tourists. This unit maintains a close liaison with other role players in the hospitality industry, and with approximately 40 members maximizes police visibility through brightly coloured reflective clothing while on patrol on foot, on motorcycle and on bicycles. A zero crime tolerance initiative applies in the Durban area, focused on eradicating all petty offences. A multi task force approach is employed by border policing units. This includes pepped-up security at airports (including drug squad, dog unit, receiver of revenue services, internal affairs, custom and excise) and additional manpower is deployed at border posts to address the issue of illegal aliens.
Specific task teams have been formulated to deal with certain specialist crime areas, such as banking and finance crimes. To curb vehicle theft and hijacking a highway patrol unit has been established. In this regard we are thankful to the business community for the donation of vehicles.
The SAPS, as a part of the drive to transform and improve service delivery, has engaged on a Service Delivery Improvement Programme. Through this programme the Belgium Government assists the SAPS in streamlining internal process and procedures at selected stations so as to improve service delivery. The intention is to create sustainable capacity to maintain efficient and effective service delivery. To date 40 stations were involved and a further 45 is to be introduced to the programme in 1998. The objective is to introduce 100 stations to this programme. Other programs aimed at upgrading current level of policing and creating a favorable environment in which to provide a high quality service are also being pursued.
The SAPS has for some time been involved in establishing community safety centers. The police combine forces with the Departments of Correctional Services, Justice, Health and Welfare in these projects. An amount of R15 million has been allocated for this purpose. It is intended to commence the construction of such centers on 1 April 1998. Community safety centers are currently planned in Umbumbulu, Impendle, Emmaus and Polela. New police stations are also planned for Nkumbanyuswa in the Ndwedwe area, Maqumbi in Maphumulo, Nsuze and Hlanzeni in the midlands and Obizo in the Empangeni area.
Business against crime has also become a notable feature of our society. It has become a respected voice to be heard in the fight against crime.
Mr Speaker, it would however be wrong to expect the business community to become responsible for the capacity problems in our police forces. In the fight against crime, we need the support of the local people. Safety and security is also an issue which requires a co-operative partnership between the professional crime fighters, namely the police, those with capacity, resources and organizational expertise, namely the business community, and those who are affected by crime, namely our people, communities and neighborhoods. Mr Speaker, unless local communities accept co-responsibility for public safety, I want to predict that it will be very difficult for our policing structures to overcome the problem. We cannot simply wait for the professional police structures to deal with the problem and to eliminate it. That is to perpetuate a system of dependency. We should instead allow our police structures to become catalysts in assisting our communities to become empowered and with the assistance of the police, to deal with the elimination of crime in our own backyards. We who live in the neighborhoods are best placed to understand the dimensions of crime and threats to our safety. We want to establish strong communities where the police establish warm and functional relationships with local leaders, churches, businesses and schools. These relationships will enable us to deal with the issue of crime and safety in a manner which uniquely addresses the concerns of each of the neighborhoods in which we live. Let us take the fight against crime to our local neighborhoods, where crime and transgression against fellow human beings are just not tolerated. Let us start to protect each other and thereby protect ourselves. I am not for one moment suggesting that communities take the law into their own hands, but by using the professional expertise of the police to back us up in these circumstances, I believe we can win over those who perpetrate crime. I do not believe the throwing of yet more policemen at the problem will resolve the crime situation here or anywhere else in the country. We must become involved as neighborhoods and communities to establish a culture and a way of life that does not tolerate crime in our own neighborhoods and work environments.
For this approach to be successful, a precondition is that our people must have faith in the police. There is a perception that there is a large criminal element to be found even in our policing structures. This discredits those policemen who are hardworking men and woman. Communities need to ensure that local police authorities are accountable to them. It would be appropriate for community policing systems to allow for the local police structures to report on crime and success rates to their neighborhoods on a regular basis. The local people are aware of the crime tendencies in their own areas and would quickly hold police structures that are ineffective accountable for their ineffectiveness, where this is true. A provincial summit on the national crime prevention strategy was held in this Province during November 1997. This summit resulted in the establishment of the KwaZulu-Natal crime prevention committee mandated to correlate all proposals into a programme of action. This was followed by a summit on the reduction of crime and promotion of tourism and investment in KwaZulu-Natal on 6 March 1998. I am confident that with the establishment of these partnerships that crime will be further reduced. But let us take these initiatives even further into our neighborhoods. The recent success of the Sekusile Youth Anti Crime campaign (which was a one month programme aimed at bringing the youth to an awareness about the possible dangers of crime), has paved a way for a programme that must involve all communities, and especially the youth, to become partners in the fight against crime. The KwaZulu-Natal crime safety project will begin to educate communities about the causes, consequences and effects of crime to our society and also solutions to the issue of crime. The project will be known and published as the Mayibuye KwaZulu-Natal Crime Safety Programme. The programme is aimed at reclaiming the Province from criminal activities currently surrounding it. We need to go further than merely educating communities, but they should become involved in pro-active initiatives against crime. Within Government we are dealing very pro-actively with corruption and fraud. We have established the toll-free Anti-Corruption Line. This has been tremendously successful and we have had significant successes. Recently I announced that we have secured 27 convictions in court from cases successfully prosecuted. It is however time that we take this initiative into the next phase. We are currently dealing with additional initiatives to take the Anti-Fraud and Corruption campaign to the next phase. As soon as further details are available I will make suitable announcements.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately time does not allow me to deal with all the activities of the Province in great detail. I have addressed a couple of matters of great importance rather extensively. Each debate on the votes of departments will produce more extensive debate on their activities. I can however highlight a few of the many initiatives that are currently being undertaken by certain departments.
The Department of Social Welfare is to engage in the preregistration of social beneficiaries (pensioners). More than 600 000 beneficiaries of social pensions are involved. The aim of this exercise is to "clean" the social system of what can be regarded as "dead wood". It is envisaged that this will make a saving of between 5 to 8 percent of the social benefit bulge. It is trusted that by 1 June 1998 re-registration will commence in all the 3 social welfare regions of KwaZulu-Natal. On 1 April 1998 the Department will change from the traditional maintenance grants to the new form of a grant called the "child support grant". The child support grant will hopefully benefit more persons than the maintenance grant. The release of the youths from prisons in terms of the new correctional services legislation, has forced the Department to make extensive preparations. These include the preparing of secure care places to accommodate the released youth and the re-training of social welfare officers to deal with the new circumstances.
The Department of Works is in the process of winding down its major capital works program for the various clients. Apart from the new Durban academic hospital, there are very few new buildings being built. The clinic building program has completed 82 clinics projects over the last two year and 936 classrooms have been built. For the national public works program, R33m has been spent on community projects through the Province.
In Local Government the coming year promises to be of particular significance in the sense that it will mark a new era in the relationship between this government and local government. With the national White Paper on Local Government nearing completion, it is evident that the national government is intent on securing direct control over local government. Provincial competencies in respect of local government have been reduced to that of "support, monitoring and capacity building". However, the success of this Province depends largely on the successes of its municipalities. It is for this reason that the Department for Local Government and Housing has embarked upon a number of municipal support programs. The social empowerment function, which may be seen as vital to the creation of a stable, peaceful, and self-sufficient community in our Province, is in the process of being devolved to the local level and most municipalities are currently supported in the preparation of their local development plans. Regional councils are also supported to assume their operational and service providing functions in the non-TLC areas, while the provision of bulk water and electricity is being transferred to the Department of Water Affairs and Eskom respectively.
The KwaZulu-Natal Province has been leading most other Provinces in the field of development planning. Being the first Province to have completed its Provincial Growth and Development Strategy and its spatial framework, it has also made huge strides in the implementation thereof. During this session of Parliament, KwaZulu-Natal will become the first Province to pass its own Planning and Development Act.
This legislation will rationalize the current fragmented planning and development legal framework and will bring together planning and development in the entire Province under one law. We will also, during this session of Parliament, have to consider nominations for appointment to the development tribunal and appeals tribunal as the final steps towards implementing the Development Facilitation Act in this Province. The newly created legal framework will equip this Province to become more facilitators in the development process, and we may look forward to a more streamlined and user friendly development application process. We have also made good progress with, and, in fact, will finalize in this year a provincial policy and White Paper on Rural Development. This white paper will give direction to the improvement of the quality of life of nearly half the population of this Province.
KwaZulu-Natal is well on the way to spend fully the allocated budget of R 815m for the year ending March 1998, making it one of the best performances in the country, especially if one takes into account that most of the other Provinces will be unable to achieve their targets. Housing schemes, a relic of the previous dispensation, are in the process of being finalized, and should be wound up during 1998/99. New projects or subsidy expenditure has grown from R208m in 1996/97 to R476m in 1997/98, and is projected to continue at this growth rate in future years. Unfortunately, we will not achieve our goal of delivering 195 000 houses by 1999. This is due to financial and fiscal constraints at national level. Having regard to the funding constraints that are being imposed by national housing, as well as the possible detrimental effect these could have on new development in the Province, the Department is designing a business plan which will include all stakeholders, address key problem areas and constrains in order to manage a process that will strive to ensure that housing delivery targets are achieved in the most suitable manner.
The Department of Finance has negotiated a new banking contract with ABSA Bank, which will take effect on 01 April 1998. The Department is busy with a programme of intensive training involving financial role players in all provincial departments in an attempt to enhance financial management skills. The implementation of the biometric access system will ensure strict control over the generation of payments on the financial management system throughout the Administration. Implementation is progressing according to plan. This system is expected to have a considerable impact on the prevention of fraudulent activities.
Mr Speaker, the Department of Agriculture is busy with various exciting initiatives. Special emphasis is placed on small-scale farmers and the upliftment of rural communities. The Department has identified food security projects as a priority. Over the past year 105 703 contacts with the rural and agricultural communities, involving 22909 groups of up to 30 people were made. My Minister of Agriculture launched various projects involving entrant farmers. These include projects such as the cashew nut grower project in Ubombo where 600 farmers and their families will be settled. He also launched the Indumu, an irrigation project where 104 farming families will settle. Minister Singh launched the St. Michael's irrigation scheme in the Vulamehlo District that will benefit 85 farming families. It is the intention to build on the success of projects such as these and to develop many such food security projects in the future.
Minister Singh has taken a special interest in home industries. As part of his Xoshindlala Campaign he has bought sewing machines, over lockers and sewing kits with part of his RDP-discretionary fund. These will be donated to some up-and-coming home industry clubs in need of development. The Department also has a Programme to assist the disabled to start producing vegetables.
Agricultural development is very important in KwaZulu-Natal. Compared to the rest of South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal has a very favorable ratio of arable land to grazing land. The Province accounts for over 90% of South Africa's sugar production, 46% of dairy products, 39% of confectionery production and 25% of beverage production. In total some 16-20% of the Provinces GGP is grounded on agricultural production. It is important to note that the potential to increase agricultural output is phenomenal and is conservatively estimated to be 366% compared to the present production. This means that agriculture has the potential to contribute far more towards the provincial GGP and also give far more people a livelihood. The Department aims to realize this potential by the year 2020. The Department of Health has continued to render services under trying conditions.
They serve KwaZulu-Natal with approximately 27 500 beds in 60 state hospitals, 15 state-aided hospitals, 375 clinics and 162 mobile clinics. The Department was the first to introduce free primary health care services, with 137 565 deliveries undertaken. Nearly 44 000 out-patient consultations took place. The Department is attending to its Primary Health Care policy and is providing more access to health care through the provision of clinics. At the end of 1997 137 clinics had been built or upgraded. HIV/AIDS is a high priority area for the Department. The Cabinet is actively involved in this initiative, and partakes in a Cabinet Initiative against AIDS.
Mr Speaker, we are also proceeding well with the Casino approval process for the Province. 25 firms have given notice of their participation in the bid for the 5 casino licences of the Province. We hope to announce the preferred applicants by October 1998.
Mr Speaker, I believe that the Department of Traditional and Environmental Affairs is making good progress with the amalgamation of the provincial conservation authorities. The Department is also in the process of developing a provincial waste management policy and a report on the State of the Environment in KwaZulu-Natal. We look forward to the results of these endeavours. Mr Speaker, I have a special concern with the development needs of our tribal authority areas. We need to ensure that these areas benefit from our rural development programmes. They need to benefit from small scale agricultural development projects that provide sustainable sources of income. Development needs of the tribal authorities need to be addressed in a comprehensive manner. They require planning expertise and must be supported with establishing suitable administrative and infrastructure capacity. I am going to request that the Department of Traditional and Environmental Affairs, together with other relevant departments, such as Agriculture, study this matter and provide the Cabinet with a full Report.
Having spoken my mind Mr Speaker on several issues of importance in the Province, it is time that I conclude my thoughts. At this time I wish to take the opportunity of complimenting one of our local newspapers. Without compromising their editorial integrity, the Mercury has chosen to acknowledge that, despite many difficulties, there is much to be positive about in this Province. We commend them on the supplement entitled "The High Road". It will appear for the first time on 25 March 1998. We believe that this supplement will make a contribution towards informing the provincial, national and even international community about positive features of our Province. My Department has estimated that it is much more cost-effective to purchase run-ons of this supplement for distribution to governments and other communities with whom we interact, than what it would be to publish our own external publication. The supplement would be available on a monthly basis and would have the benefit of the independence of the formal newspaper industry in promoting positive aspects of the Province. Mr Speaker, this speech recognises some of the difficulties facing us as a Province. We can choose to be overwhelmed by these difficulties, which is often natural, or we can choose to face these circumstances and deal with them. Nobody else will look after our Province but ourselves. It is important that we take the resources that we have, that we work together and make the most of our situation. We do have a bright future in this Province.
Mr Speaker, let us agree to work together for the benefit of our Province. Let us agree to be bold and act with a view to the future. Let's together create a Province to be proud of. I do not suggest that we should compromise our individual opinions as political entities. But we should not act for short-term political gain. Whilst we have an election looming one year from now, let's us act as leaders and conduct ourselves in a manner which will make the community of KwaZulu-Natal proud of us. Let us create a confidence in this Parliament and in the Government, notwithstanding divergent political viewpoints. Whilst we may differ as parties and publicly state that, let our differences of opinion inform the people, but let it not negatively impact on the perceptions of where KwaZulu-Natal as a Province is headed. The people of KwaZulu-Natal must know that their political leaders we are truly here to create a better future. Let us practise humility, let us try to understand each other (although we may differ), let us make service to KwaZulu-Natal our priority.
Never before has it been so important as now to state "Sukumani, Siye Phambili" or "Arise, let us go forward".