Premier Es Mchunu: Kwazulu-natal State of the Province Address

His Majesty the King, Hlanga Lomhlabathi Madam Speaker

The First Lady of KwaZuluNatal

Honourable Minister of Small Business Development Honourable Members of the Provincial Executive Honourable Members of the Legislature

Members of the Royal Family Mayors

Amakhosi and Members of Traditional Councils present Councillors of Local Government

Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps The DirectorGeneral

Heads of Department and Public Entities Business Leaders

Religious Leaders

Leaders representing the Youth, Women and the Disabled; Distinguished Guests

Fellow South Africans Citizens of KwaZuluNatal Ladies and Gentlemen

I greet you.

This month of February marks twenty five (25) years since the world witnessed a historic moment of Nelson Mandela's release from Victor Verster Prison. He walked as a free man with his fist clenched high in victory salute. Mandela's release on 11 February 1990 was not only a triumph of human spirit, but a moment that set in motion our march to a truly democratic South Africa.

As he addressed us from the balcony in Cape Town, he reminded us of the values of servant leadership and humility that came to define his life and the time he spent with us as a free man.

Mandela's life was about justice.

We thank him for reminding us that "poverty just like slavery and apartheid is not natural. But is manmade and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings."

We thus want to use the symbolism of that historic day in 1990, as our own journey towards freedom from the bondage of poverty and underdevelopment. It will not be easy and may look impossible. That journey starts with this State of the Province Address.

Madam Speaker and Honourable Members, I stand before you to deliver on behalf of our Provincial Executive Council, the State of the Province Address of 2015. Firstly, let me express our appreciation to His Majesty for his address at the opening of our Legislature yesterday. We also thank His Majesty for gracing us with his presence here today. We have noted your words of wisdom, the concerns you have raised and the comments you made in yesterday's address. We have a firm belief in working in harmony as government with the Royal Household as we seek to develop our Province to be a world class place to live in.

Madam Speaker, during our last State of the Province Address, we juxtaposed the current reality of our country and Province with the endless possibilities they hold for current and future generations. These realities are on the main, issues of variable development and are informed by our unpleasant past. Despite the prevalence of poverty and other socioeconomic challenges that are facing us, KwaZuluNatal remains a province with endless possibilities. This is what we will be dealing with here today.

Niccolo Machiavelli author of the famous book, "The Prince" once wrote, "It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things."

We have initiated new things Madam Speaker, and have stumbled here and there, but our resilience paid off. We were able to deliver on all those commitments we had undertaken to do in the first One Hundred days. It was precisely this reason that as the Executive Council, we resolved to have rolling programme of 365 Days commitment aimed at keeping our eyes firmly on the ball. We have done this to ensure that all new things we have initiated produce the results we strive for.

Madam Speaker, this government has continued to do what is possible and what we believe can change the lives of the people of our Province. To borrow words from the Russian Philosopher who was deeply opposed to imperialism and colonisation in Europe, Mikhail Alexander Bakunin, I quote, "By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. Those who have cautiously done no more than they believed possible have never taken a single step forward."

This government has taken not one, but several steps forward because we believe that our collective wisdom, together with the people, can take this province and the country forward.

We are doing this inspired by messages of support we received from the public. On the 24th February we had our Provincial Prayer Day in Ladysmith, where interfaith religious leaders prayed for our Province, its people and all its elected leadership. We stand before you filled with divine strength and hope for a better tomorrow. The scripture in the book of Proverbs correctly teaches us that "when the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan."

We thank those who wrote to us and made calls to suggest what we should prioritise. We have listened to you, and we believe that our plan and our identified interventions for the Province, will respond in a meaningful way to your concerns and wishes. Whilst we are moving forward with speed in service delivery, we are mindful of the mammoth task and expectations that our people have placed on this government. Failure is not an option. We are happy that we are unlocking with vigour new potential areas to make this Province better than before.

Compatriots, the remains of the son of the soil, and renowned journalist Mr Nat Nakasa have been brought home from USA, and buried in the Heroes Acre. Thanks to this government of KwaZuluNatal together with national Department of Arts and Culture. The journalist who not so long ago was known as a "Citizen from No Where" is now known to be a citizen from Chesterville, KwaZulu Natal, in the Republic of South Africa. We further commend His Excellency President Jacob Zuma for facilitating the repatriation of the remains of JB Marks and Moses Kotane from Moscow, for reburial in the land of their birth.

Madam Speaker and Honourable Members, the 2015 State of the Province Address is being delivered in the absence of one of our own, the late Honourable Mtholephi Mthimkhulu. We remain indebted to his family for allowing us to share with them a father, a companion and a brother. This House is less richer without his dynamism and resolve. We sincerely hope that the Mthimkhulu family will always find solace in knowing that his time in the Legislature and in the Executive Council took our Province to a higher level. Engathi umphefumulo wakho Makhulukhulu ungaphumula ngokuthula.

We thank eThekwini Municipality and the people of KwaZuluNatal as a whole for the support extended to the Meyiwa family. You truly demonstrated "Ubuntu" and gave it a better meaning. Senzo Meyiwa carried the flag of KwaZuluNatal high, and inspired many aspirant football players. In his moment of eternal silence, he united our nation in their condemnation of acts of crime and violence. He remains a true national hero.

We take this opportunity to convey our deepest condolences to all the families of the nine victims who died in Nongoma and a further two in Mthonjaneni, all because of the lightning incident. The Provincial Government of KwaZuluNatal assisted these families to bury their loved ones in dignity. We also remember the eight school children who died when the bakkie they were travelling on crashed onto the wall at Imbali Township. We further remember the families who lost their loved ones in a church collapse in Nigeria. Our thoughts are also with all those in our beloved Province who lost their loved ones since the last State of the Province Address. May their souls rest in eternal peace.

Madame Speaker, it is my singular honour and to rise before this house here today to deliver the 2015 State of the Province Address and to announce that the theme of this address is

"Consolidating progress we have made, and stepping up the pace to achieve radical socioeconomic transformation to end Poverty in our Lifetime"

We do so with due recognition that 2015 is the year of the Freedom Charter. As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of this Charter, we do so in the full knowledge that this charter remains the beacon we use to ensure that we remain grounded and on course to deliver a better future for all the people of the Province of KwaZuluNatal. It is our roadmap to full liberty!

Among us we have K. Swaminathan Gounden who is one of the few remaining political activists who participated in the Congress of the People in Kliptown in 1955. That gathering drafted the Freedom Charter that forms the basis of the South African Constitution. Gounden was fired from his job in a shoe factory in Jacobs after he returned from Kliptown. His activism goes back to the 1940s in the Magazine Barracks where his family was politically active.

He joined the Communist Party in 1944, marking 70 years in the organisation in 2014. Trade union activity was also central to his work. He was active in the underground structures of the African National Congress for which he was detained for three months in the mid1960s.With the revival of the Natal Indian Congress in the 1970s, he served on its executive. He was among those selected to attend the launch of the United Democratic Front in Cape Town in 1983. Gounden is the author and coauthor of several articles and books on community struggles and trade unionism. He is now 86 and lives in Asherville.

Today, just as 60 years ago, we remain steadfast in our resolve and commitment to pursue the noble goals of ensuring that the people shall govern, to have equal rights, equality before the law, a shared economy and access to land for those who work it, a right to work, to education, to housing, security and comfort, in an environment of peace and friendship.

Building on the progress we have made thus far

Madam Speaker, this State of the Province Address is a special one as it marks the end of the first five year cycle in the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) and our own Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP). The significance of this is that we have now moved into the first...