Address
by the Honourable Jeff Radebe, MP, Minister in the Presidency for Planning,
Monitoring and Evaluation; at the Community Imbizo, Bantwane Sports Ground,
Ntwane, Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality, Sekhukhune District Municipality;
Limpopo Province
13
OCTOBER 2017
Thank you Programme Director, Cllr
Aaron Machipa
Eminent MEC’s present here
Kgoshi Mohlamme II Mathebe and
other traditional leaders present here
District Mayor, Cllr Stanley
Ramaila
Ward Counsellor, Cllr
Francinah Madisa
Councillors in attendance
Senior citizens and Residents
of Sekhukhune
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
1.
INTRODUCTION
I am here visiting this region
for the second time in less than two months. I was here on an unannounced visit
on 25 August. I must say that I am enthralled by the warm welcome and the
hospitality accorded to me by the people of Limpopo province during these two
visits. Your positive spirit and sense of unity is highly inspirational. After
all, this district is named after the heroic King Sekhukhune, who was the
epitome of unity among the people.
During my last visit here, I
had the privilege of meeting with both the traditional leadership and
government leaders. We did site visits with a team that included the
traditional authority in this village of Ntwane, Kgoshi Mathebe, the Acting
Executive Mayor of Sekhukhune District Municipality, Councillor Mahlake, the
Mayor of Elias Motsaledi Local Municipality, Councillor Julia Mathebe, and
several other local leaders.
This visit was conducted under
the auspices of the Frontline Service Delivery Monitoring (FSDM) programme of
the Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). The DPME is charged with the responsibility of
assessing the quality of service delivery and get a sense of essential
interventions where needed. We pay these visits without announcing so that we
can evaluate the genuine state of facilities.
As the Minister in the
Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, I am duty-bound
to monitor and oversee the progress or lack of it in our communities across the
nine provinces of South Africa. One of my core responsibilities is to play an
oversight role in assessing service delivery across the different sectors of
our society. We strive to ensure that basic facilities are accessible to the
people and that services are rendered as speedily as it is humanly possible.
I have to ensure that the
people receive basic services and that our endeavours are in line with the
targets of the National Development Plan (NDP) as the overarching plan of the
country. The objective of the engagements is to ensure that we collectively
find solutions to pertinent challenges that confront our communities. This is
another way in which government reinforces accountability and participatory
democracy.
The leaders of the community
raised a number of concerns relating to a variety of issues ranging from land
restitution, water shortage, health, education, unemployment, crime, and many
other pertinent issues that must be addressed speedily. You would understand
that much as it is my responsibility to play the oversight role from the
perspective of planning, monitoring and evaluation, some of these
responsibilities fall under the jurisdiction of other Ministries.
At times I am compelled to
refer some of the concerns to relevant departments. I assigned officials to follow
up on some of the issues that were raised by the local leaders. They paid
follow up visits and compiled a report that forms the basis of my engagement
today. I have also informed some of my cabinet colleagues about the issues that
were raised. I am here today in this community Imbizo so that I can hear
directly from the members of the public.
The izimbizo are also a vital
tool to ensure that we collectively find solutions to central challenges that
confront our communities. I am here with senior officials from my Department to
ensure that they record and follow-up on each and every issue that is raised. While
each area is unique, there are perennial challenges that confront us as the
South African society. We have to join hands and fight the triple challenges of
poverty, unemployment and inequality.
2.
SERVICE DELIVERY CONCERNS
I have received preliminary reports
compiled by the officials from my Department who have been working tirelessly in
close collaboration with the Office of the Premier as well as other local
structures. They have brought to my attention wide-ranging issues raised by the
residents and local leaders alike.
This area
is economically depressed as job opportunities are found mainly in the
industrial centres. This forms part of the challenges that we are
facing as the nation, as the issue of economic development and job creation
remain a priority for us as a nation. We need to transform our economy
radically in order to improve the living conditions of our people. One of the most vital elements towards
transformation is the acquisition of land.
It is
disheartening to learn that even those who manage to make land claims
successfully, instead of retaining the land they opt for monetary reward.
Kgoshi Mohlamme shared his concerns with me about the issue of community
members who prefer to be compensated by money instead of taking back their
land. This is a complete reversal of the transformed society that we espouse as
a nation
To date, over 90% of
claims are settled through financial compensation something that perpetuates
dispossession. We are accelerating our land reform programme to erase the
footprints of colonial rule and apartheid that are deeply entrenched in the
contours of our society. We encourage land claimants to accept land instead of
financial compensation.
Other pressing issues
included:
- The shortage of water reticulation in the area
envisaged by the community of Ntwane village whereas there’s Loskop Dam which
is 11Km away from their area however, it only supplies water to the nearby
areas with the exclusion of Ntwane village.
- The
chief also raised the issue of Crime in the village, and requested a
Police Station to be built around this area as it is currently operating
with only one Police Station and the village is very big.
- Philadelphia Hospital has only two feeder
Clinics which are Marapong and Ntwane Clinics, their primary focus is to
provide Primary Health Care however, people still prefer to go to the hospital
due to the believe that they will get quality and proper service there. Primary
Health Care facilities be extended to other neighbouring clinics such as Moteti
and Mpheleng to reduce the influx at the hospital.
- The Executive Mayor highlighted the challenges
they experience with regards to monitoring and evaluation of services within
the municipality. On the issue of lack of water reticulation in the
Municipality due to limited funds, she mentioned that the problem affects the
operations of Schools around and the Hospital negatively in the area.
- The slow response of the police when called by
the citizens to crime scenes was also raised as a matter of serious concern. The
unfortunate thing is that the Community Policing forum is no longer active due
to problems related to compensations and lack of resources. I instructed the
area commissioner and station commander to see to it that this important
structure of our community is re-established. I will be getting progress report
in this regard soon.
3.
ACTIVE CITIZENRY
I want to challenge you as the
members of this community not to wait for help to come from outside. As
citizens, you must be actively involved in improving your living conditions
through active involvement in structures such as the CPF.
The success of the NDP and
other government interventions is dependent largely on active citizenry and
direct involvement of people from all sectors of society. Active citizenry is
key to effective and efficient service delivery.
We
recently launched the NDP Youth Brand Ambassador programme as an intervention aimed
at promoting youth entrepreneurship to boost economic growth, increase
employment, and reduce poverty and inequality. We envisioned the programme as a
significant contributor towards the attainment of the national imperatives of
creating an inclusive and more dynamic economic landscape.
I am proud to say some of the
ambassadors featured in this programme are descendants of Limpopo province. Ndivhuwo
Prudence Mudau founded an NGO called Phenomenal Women South Africa. The NGO aims
to advocate the rights of women and address challenges faced by young girls in
particular. Ndivhuwo will be donating 400 sanitary towels.
We also have Promise
Machimane, an award winning business person and motivational speaker. She is
the founder and managing director of MIA Sanitary towel. She started MIA as a
sanitary towel manufacturing company in 2012, and the company currently boasts
of total of 8 products in its line. The company has created 87 jobs directly
and indirectly.
As we all know, sanitary
towels are a necessity in the lives of women. They must be able to take care of
themselves when that time of the month comes. Menstruation is a natural
phenomenon and women should not feel ashamed when it happens. Lack of funds
should not mean they can’t have access to sanitary towels. This is another way
in which we restore dignity especially to young girls who cannot afford to buy
sanitary towels.
As government, our doors are
always open for engagement with the populace. Instruments such as the Presidential
Hotline are established with the objective of assisting members of the public to
raise their concerns regarding services rendered by government departments and associated
agencies.
I am proud to say that one of
the complaints that was raised by a citizen of this area has been addressed. Mr
Walter Mutshabi, a visually impaired young adult who logged a query with the
presidential Hotline. Following assiduous engagements with government officials
from the various structures of Limpopo province, Mr Mutshabi’s matter was
resolved, and now he is a proud owner of a decent home provided by the
provincial government.
This is one of many cases that
have been resolved through the Presidential Hotline. This also shows that our
interventions are quite pragmatic, and are aimed at restoring human dignity and
creating better living conditions for all our citizens. We must continue to
foster cooperation between the three spheres of government so that we have many
success stories like this one.
What I
find disheartening is to learn that many learners in this area are not
committed to their work, and that they capitalize on the QP (Qualified
Progression) Programme. The programme only gives an opportunity to a learner to
move to the next grade, if the learner has repeated the same grade for two
years.
As many learners will be
writing their final exams in the next few weeks, I want to urge their
commitment towards their studies and for the support of their families and
friends. It is through education that we can change our lives for the better.
Education underpins development in all sectors
of society and is the key to success. Education and skills enhancement are
paramount in any society seeking meaningful growth and development. Let us
derive inspiration from the wise words of the late President Nelson Mandela,
who once said:
“It is through
education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a
mine worker can become the head of the mine,that the child of farm workers can
become the president of the nation.”
The performance of
learners tends to improve when parents are actively involved and take interest
in their children’s education. All stakeholders should support the common goal
of achieving good educational outcomes that are responsive to community needs
and economic development.
4.
CONCLUSION
I believe that you cannot
resolve anything without the involvement of the people who are directly
affected by the situation. That is why izimbizo are an essential tool to bridge
the gap between government and members of the public.
At this stage I want to hand
over to you, members of the public, so that you can share your views and voice
your concerns. My visit today is about us as leaders listening to you so that
we can collectively find ways of resolving our challenges in this municipality.
When we leave this room today,
we must do so with a clear mandate to go out there and find answers to your
questions and concerns. As I said, I have started engaging my cabinet
colleagues on some of the matters that were raised by the local leaders. We now
provide an opportunity to you as members of the community to voice your
concerns.
Ke a leboga! Thank you!
