Premier Mandla Ndlovu does not only dream of turning Mpumalanga into a 3-in-1 province, but also of decreasing the unemployment rate and poverty, and to grow the economy by at least 5% by 2030.
Addressing the province on July 31, Ndlovu shared his vision and dreams, which include having all young graduates in the province working.
“I have a dream, and my wish is to realise my dream in my lifetime. I have a dream, a dream that embrace all of us, you and I, the people of our glorious province, Mpumalanga.
My dream is for Mpumalanga to reach, among others, our provincial targets for 2030; the average economic growth of 5%, unemployment rate decrease of 5%, to have 2.1 million people working, to have 0% young graduates being unemployed, and to not have the poverty rate increase. I want all households to have access to basic services and decent shelter. Our law enforcers to arrest without fear.
A girl from Pienaar should be able to go to school with no fear and come back home safely,” said Ndlovu.
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“I dream to build a tech-savvy generation all over the province. That every girl from rural areas must have access to sanitary towels, and boys to own dignity bags. That the four Jetpatcher teams need to work our roads on a daily basis. To shorten response times for ambulances.
Our community healthcare centres must be open and operate 24 hours. I want to see the complete eradication of pit latrines in all our schools.”
Ndlovu used this address to explain the motivation behind the merger of the departments of human settlements and co-operative governance and traditional affairs.
When he took over office, he announced that these two departments would be merged to become one and has now been renamed as the Department of Co-operative Government, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta).
“This was done, among other reasons, to address the silo effect of building human settlements without bulk infrastructure. We have therefore decided to merge the two departments.
The provision of bulk infrastructure, especially for water and sanitation by municipalities, shall occupy much of our efforts in the next coming 18 months,” said Ndlovu.
He said a thorough analysis of audit outcomes of municipalities has revealed significant gaps in financial reporting, a deteriorating financial health, revenue management issues, inadequate project planning and monitoring skills, poor performance reporting, non-compliance with laws and regulations are some of the key challenges contributing to poor audit outcomes.
“To address these challenges, Coghsta, the South African Local Government Association and the Provincial Treasury, working with these municipalities, will lead, support and monitor the implementation of the Integrated Municipal Support Plan,” he said.
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He went on to state that the ANC’s manifesto priority number one is about creating a jobs plan for the province, which he intends to do.
“To ensure that Mpumalanga contributes in this focus on the primary sector of the economy, we are going to establish a mining school and revive our agricultural schools starting with the one in Marapyane.
In this Seventh Administration, we are going to do our best to industrialise the economy of Mpumalanga, and where possible, leverage the factories in the former homelands that are now unused. Industrialisation is important for both economic growth and job creation,” he announced.
He said the Seventh Administration is committed to addressing all the issues that are of great concern to the people. “This is the message I am bringing to you, the people of Mpumalanga, today. We promise not to disappoint you,” committed Ndlovu.
Mpumalanga News
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