Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae has announced that the next five years will be a period of great revival and a completely new society for the province.
She spoke at the official opening of the seventh session of the Free State Legislative Assembly in Bloemfontein.
Letsoha-Mathae was elected as the province’s 8th premier in June, following general elections in May.
In her maiden address on the state of the province, Letsoha-Mathae stressed that unemployment in the province has been exacerbated by low economic growth and remains a crisis.
The Free State government’s implementation strategy is expected to change things dramatically.
It is said to be more decisive and aggressive.
Letsoha-Mathae stressed the need to grow the provincial economy, create more jobs, reduce poverty and build a capable government.
“Given our experience, we now know what works better, what doesn’t work and what needs to be done. Valuable lessons have been learned. We will tackle unemployment, revive economic growth, eradicate poverty and reduce inequality.”
“These goals go beyond intentions; they reflect our unwavering commitment to creating a better life for everyone. We dare not fail, because we have come too far. Looking back over the past 30 years, we have made strides and changed our society for the better,” she adds.
The prime minister also warned of the alarming increase in incidents of gender-based violence in the province.
She says more resources will be made available for shelters and safe houses, among other things.
Letsoha-Mathae also read the riot act to corrupt government officials, saying they would be dealt with and efforts would be made to recover money wrongly paid to service providers.
“[I note] regarding the practice of facilitating payments to service providers without any work being done. We will initiate a process to recover all monies wrongly paid to service providers. We are outraged by elements who have resorted to vandalism, intimidation and extortion to get a share of projects from contractors without doing any work.”
“These are criminals with no respect for law and order. To address these challenges, we will work with law enforcement agencies,” Letsoha-Mathae added.
Below you will find the full speech of the Prime Minister
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