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Mr. Speaker Sir and Honourable Members, this new century marks a new beginning for our Provincial Government. Many of the efforts we made in the past are coming to fruition and they mark a clear path ahead. We have developed comprehensive strategies to improve on the quality and quantity of our delivery of government services. The machinery of government is working better and it is preparing itself to produce more and on a much broader range of fields.

In the new stage which now begins, the whole country faces the challenge of ensuring that the new institutions of government may deliver the long sought after economic prosperity, social justice, and progress and stability in each of our communities. The challenge of delivery is indeed the challenge of the future. I am concerned about what our provincial government can do for the people of our province. The needs and aspirations of the people of our Province are intense and demanding. It is the responsibility of the government of our Province to respond to them and try to meet them.

This responsibility is a heavy one and I am sure it cannot be fulfilled unless our collegial government can count on the contribution and support of all the members of this House and operate in internal unity and harmony.

I sincerely hope that in the new parliamentary session unity of purpose and harmony of efforts may characterise the work of the Parliament of KwaZulu-Natal and of its government. The nature of provincial powers and the role of province somehow hang in the balance.

There is uncertainty of how much provinces can do and the extent of the role they can play and the contribution they can make towards the progress and transformation of South Africa. To a great extent, the definition of the role of each province will depend on the capacity of its political leadership in the delivery of government services. A unity of purpose and a harmony of efforts are required of the members of this House to ensure that the province of KwaZulu-Natal and its elected government remain relevant and provide genuine leadership for our people.

If the Province continues to suffer internal divisions, its powers, influence and relevance will be undermined. This will have a ripple effect on its capacity to deliver towards the satisfaction of the needs and aspirations of our people.

I plead that a renewed spirit of unity and harmony engenders members of this House to work together in spite of political differences and disagreements.

All members of this House should recognise that, in spite of different political persuasions they share a common responsibility to ensure that this Parliament becomes increasingly relevant and influential in formulating the policies and in taking the decisions which shape the lives of the people of our Province. I commend the fact that our provincial parties in forming the new government made it widely representative.

I commend the spirit of co-operation, which has led political parties with different backgrounds, policies, and points of view to share the effort of governing our Province and delivering to its people. A lot has been done to achieve harmony, but much more needs to be accomplished.

I have full confidence in the people of this Province and in their chosen and hereditary leaders. We have enormous human, natural and financial resources within our Province, which we can and must put to work to improve on our social and economic conditions. However, I feel that there is need for a new beginning which improves on the mind set with regard to their contribution in our Province, and the role of our Province in the broader context of South Africa. We need to take responsibility and forge the fortune of our future destinies through our hard work, internal harmony and social discipline. The history of our Province proves that through unity we can prosper.

The next five years will present both the needs to come together as well as occasions which may divide us and create internal tensions. The whole country is undergoing a profound process of social and economic transformation, which affects different people differently and raises both warranted and unwarranted fears and expectations. It is only through the realisation that our strength is in our unity that we will be able to deal successfully with both the fears as well as the expectations, and ensure that, whatever cost is to be done today by any relevant segment of our society, it can be accepted in terms of the gains which we envisage in the pursuance of a long-term plan.

Each department has responded enthusiastically to my request to reconsider its field and scope of activities to determine how its functions can be improved upon. My Department, and I, as the Premier, have tried to create a unified vision which can harmonise the activities of various departments. The cornerstones of this vision have been received by each of our departments, which have analysed them to improve on their delivery and reach a little further in developing their functions and changing the way they operate in order to achieve our long-term plan.

The cornerstones of the new policy framework embraced by our departments include efforts to eradicate poverty and reduce the disparities between rich and poor.

In this respect, our policies have approached the problem both from the viewpoint of fostering economic growth as well as enlarging the base of development, empowerment and assistance of our communities. An additional cornerstone of our action can be found in the efforts pursued by many of our departments to uplift our people. We have sought to uplift our people in a variety of ways, including education, training, provision of life skills, financial empowerment and easy access to available opportunities.

Furthermore, we have focused to attention of our Government towards the need of strengthening and, at times, rebuilding the fibre of our communities to make them a better place to live, and the primary venue where problems can be confronted and solved. Undoubtedly, more will need to be done to bring about the co-ordination of our departments and the enhancement of the quality and quantity of our functions and the desired policy direction. However, we can take pride in what has already been achieved and utilise this pride to inspire our efforts to achieve more and better. In fact, we are deeply aware that we are still faced with an ocean of unfulfilled needs.

Our Province is confronted with severe social and economic problems. We also know that our Province holds great potential for social and economic growth. I believe it to be the role of my Government to match problems with opportunities to generate viable and sustainable long-term solutions. In pursuance of our long-term vision, our Department of Economic Development and Tourism is developing a comprehensive plan to position our Government to support the fulfilment of our Province's potential for growth. We have earmarked R1 million for the next financial year to be used to continue specialised investigations relating to the establishment of the proposed international airport at La Mercy.

Part of this allocation will be utilised to facilitate negotiations with international operators who will be engaged in the construction of the proposed airport. This airport will remain an important infrastructural development, which our province plans to acquire in order to induce greater tourism.

We also believe that the airport will have a fundamental impact in promoting the location of new businesses in our Province. For this reason, we have been supporting the proposals to develop an Industrial Development Zone linked to the new airport.

This will be a free customs area engaged in the manufacturing of goods for export markets and, possibly, transhipment. We have allocated R1 million towards the processing of an application for a license for the operation of this Industrial Development Zone to be issued by the Industrial Development Board.

Industrial growth is but one of the many aspects of the comprehensive strategy that our Province is pursuing to promote growth and stimulate employment creation. We believe that we must use a macro-economic approach in considering the development of our Province, in order to ensure stability and sustainable growth.

For this reason, we cannot place emphasis only on enhancing industrial and commercial growth where industrial and commercial activities already exist. We must go behind the poverty line and plant seeds of growth even in the most adverse social and economic conditions.

Tourism offers one of the opportunities we have to create nuclei of commercial activity in areas, which have not yet been touched by commercial development. For instance, the declaration of St Lucia as a World Heritage Site offers the opportunity to enable the surrounding communities to participate in the tourist development opportunities that are likely to arise out of this international recognition.

For this reason, an estimated amount of R500.000 will be set aside as a community resource to enable surrounding communities to acquire equity in tourism related projects in the area as part of the economic empowerment process.

My Government is paying special attention to broadening the economic bases of our Province and ensuring that this function is carried by several departments within their area of authority and responsibility.

For instance, the Department of Welfare has identified economic growth as one of its priorities and, through its functions, it is contributing to enable an increasing number of people to become active participants in the economic process, even in the most neglected and rural areas of our Province. Once again, by doing so, our Government is trying to operate behind the poverty line.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs has made major progress in its efforts to unlock the vast under-utilised agricultural potential of the Province and to enhance food security. With the R46.7 million allocation for the present financial year, just more than a 1000 agricultural projects have been embarked upon. These include:

Community gardens, irrigation schemes, hydroponic vegetables, livestock projects, orchards, marketing facilities, etc

At present, about 27 000 households are participating in these projects, benefiting more than 250 000 people.

Over a 3-year period, R142 million will be utilised for this programme. As more projects are implemented over this period, many thousands more stand to benefit.

The Department has some very appropriate farming systems that, when fully implemented, will have far-reaching beneficial effects. These inter alia include:

* A minimum tillage system, which will result in fewer tractors, needed for ploughing and which also offers increased production at a lower cost.
* Many community gardens have acidic soils that result in reduced production. Liming will remedy this problem and the benefits will accrue to thousands of food secure people.

To unlock the potential the Department will also focus on the following areas:

* Settlement of farmers on state land. Negotiations between Minister Singh and Minister Thoko-Didiza of the National Departments of Agriculture and of Land Affairs should be finalised soon so that this important development can be implemented.
* Development of nodes i.e. the Tugela Valley area, Makhathini Flats etc.
* Facilitation of value adding enterprises such as food processing plants and other Agri-Businesses
* Establishment of Agricultural Information Centres
* Establishment of Farmer Services Centres (including mechanisation)
* Development of Key Performance Indicators and the evaluation of Departmental services by the farmers themselves.

The Department is in the process of drafting:

* An Animal Health Bill and
* KwaZulu-Natal Animal Hygiene Bill. The National Government requested the Province not to promulgate any Act until they revised and promulgated the National Acts to ensure norms and standards are applied uniformly in all Provinces. However, four years have lapsed and they have made no progress and therefore, we have started the process of drafting our own Bills.

We intend to concentrate our efforts in rural and urban areas alike, to combine our approaches to poverty eradication, economic growth and the broadening of the economic basis.

Through the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, we are intensifying our efforts to provide assistance towards the development of more and better small, medium and micro enterprises. New Manufacturing Advice Centres are planned for establishment following the success of the pilot project in Durban.

We are convinced that more of our people can provide a contribution to the overall growth and prosperity of our Province if they are sufficiently assisted to do so. Richard's Bay and Pietermaritzburg have been identified, as the first new venues for Manufacturing Advice Centres and about R500.000 will be budgeted for their establishment.

We are committed to enable our people to express the full measure of their contribution to our growth and prosperity. It is our goal to empower them with knowledge, opportunities and, when necessary, financial assistance.

For this reason, a Private Equity Fund has been established to ensure equitable access to risk capital by small and medium enterprises and to invest in small and medium sized enterprises with high growth potentials. We expect the Fund to begin operating from April, after its manager has been identified and appointed. We are also trying to support the growth of small, medium and micro enterprises by assisting them in identifying and capturing business opportunities. Micro-manufacturing centres will be established in Ladysmith and Durban to conduct feasibility analysis to identify business opportunities, which have high potential for growth and job creation.

The Department of Works will endeavour to assist small contractors and worker-owned companies within its tendering procedures.

We are committed to ensuring that economic growth and the pursuance of the goal of social justice go hand in hand. For this reason, the participation of women in the Emerging Contractors Programme has been prioritised. We have targeted rural towns such as Pongola, Nqutu, Eshowe and Ulundi to organise their women's groups into business entities and to link them to available business opportunities in the construction sector.

We will also increase the outreach of our Tender Advice Centres and increase their number; to ensure that broader segments of our population may be empowered to take advantage of the economic opportunities offered by government's purchasing.

Our Provinces intends to support whoever has the capacity and the willingness to make a contribution towards our prosperity. But at the same time, we realise that we must broaden our function of social welfare and population development, not only because it is a righteous moral imperative for our balanced economic growth.

For this reason, our Department of Social Welfare and Population Development has restructured its vision to broaden it over and above the delivery of specific services, such as pension benefits and disability grants. The new vision of the Department is that of fostering sustainable development to eradicate poverty and, to this end, the Department has embraced the mission to support the human growth of individuals and communities alike, to maximise their inherent potential

We cannot grow and prosper unless our families and communities become healthy and productive. The Department of Welfare is developing programmes to eradicate crime and violence from our communities, especially violence against women and children. We are also trying to improve on the social infrastructure of communities by encouraging social solidarity and better internal management. For instance, we are assisting the development of Village Banks, to encourage micro-saving programmes.

Special attention is also being given to the development of children and youth through family reunification and the assistance given to communities to provide community based recreational activities. We are aware that, unless our communities are healthy, the Province will not succeed, and that the best way to secure their long-term health is that of promoting preventive measures. Entertainment and recreation at community level, and other programmes, which enhance the quality of life and the ties of social solidarity, are amongst such preventive measures.

In addition to preventive measures, it is the responsibility of our Province to rescue and assist in the case of need. We are increasing the number and the reach of Places of Safety and Care Centres. We are also actively developing the Victim Empowerment Programme which we intend to widen, to make it available to all those who have suffered because of major forms of crime and violence.

We are also striving to go beyond the mandatory 2% employment rate of people with disabilities. We are setting in place tailored training programmes for people with disabilities. We wish to prove that this is a province committed to growth and care.

We shall move ahead faster, without leaving anyone behind. Directly and indirectly, our Department of Welfare is funding 388 development projects in excess of R30 million, and we count on launching an additional five projects during this financial year.

In the exercise of our functions, we are mindful that we are serving people, not figures or statistics. For this reason, I have personally requested that the re-registration process of all social pensioners, which we have conducted, does not end up disenfranchising those who were entitled to the benefits.

A number of people who were erroneously struck from the system are going to be reinstated, while we are satisfied that we have eliminated the names of those who were not entitled to the benefits, duplications and erroneous entries. Currently, over 600,000 people are in receipt of pensions and over 31,000 children are beneficiaries of grants.

The image, the reality and the hope of a province that cares for its less fortunate citizens cannot be created by government's efforts alone. For this reason, our Government will continue to co-ordinate its activities with any entity of goodwill within our civil society, including NGOs, community-based organisations, churches and associations.

It is my intention to continue to promote voluntarism and private actions, and actions of goodwill, as I have done since I took up the responsibility of the Premiership of this Province. Both economic growth and social solidarity cannot be the exclusive responsibility of our Government. In many respects, we can at best be a catalyst of what we, as a province, must perform together and bring about together.

The Department of Health can be described as an output driven entity that has as its main thrust the accessibility to affordable and equitable health care for all the citizens in the Province. To realise this goal, the Primary Health Care has been placed within far more accessible reach of every citizen. Hospital services have been streamlined and rationalised with the various sectors that previously operated in this province being successfully incorporated into a single Department of approximately 50 000 people.

The District Health Systems central to delivery of health care and for this reason 25 districts have been established, to render health care services outside hospitals in respect of mother and child/family planning, health promotion, geriatric, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, paediatrics, speech therapy, nutrition, port health, environmental health, oral health, communicable diseases, chronic diseases and mental health.

District hospitals form part of this service by providing care at General Practitioner level. A budget of R244 million has been allocated for this purpose for the year 2000/2001.

The foundation for the future has been firmly laid and the department now faces a period of building for future generations. Leading this development is the New Durban Academic hospital, which was renamed the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital at a ceremony in December 1999. The hospital will function at a tertiary and quaternary level and as such, will become the major referral hospital at these levels for the whole of KwaZulu Natal Province. The hospital will consist of 846 beds in total, incorporating, amongst others, a Burns Unit, ICU, High Care, Operating theatres and a "Red Code" Trauma Unit.

It is envisaged that the hand over will take place in April 2000, with the process of commissioning being completed in 2001. Patient care will take effect in the year 2001.

The Department has also embarked on the development of an Epidemiology and Health Indicator Unit. The main focus of the Unit is to appraise the existing information system, analyse the Epidemiological Profile with respect to Health Status Indicators, Demographic Profile, Socio-economic indicators and Performance Indicators.

Information gathered is vital for future planning which will ultimately result in the reduction/elimination of particular diseases/illnesses in particular areas.

Together, we must confront the many challenges, which may undermine the work of our Government and the prospect of success, which our Province holds. Unless people in this House and the rest of our Provincial citizenry act in unity of purpose and with harmony of efforts, it will not be possible to overcome these challenges. We must take pride in our Province and in our being its citizens.

Within that pride, we must find the inspiration and determination to do things differently and better. Unless things change in work places, at community level and in families, government alone cannot win against challenges such as those posed by criminality, the HIV/AIDS infection and the need of uplifting the human and social condition of our people through education training and exposure.

The statistics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our Province are terrifying, even though they seem to be levelling off. An estimated 33 - 35% of our population is infected. It is estimated that, amongst the black population, half of the deaths now registered are caused by AIDS related illness, and that the same proportion applies to the total admission to hospitals. One third of HIV positive people admitted to hospital have tuberculosis or a related disease, which shows how the HIV/AIDS epidemic may cause the spread of other infections diseases.

The Departments of Health and Welfare are leading the efforts of our Government to deal with this national crisis. Counselling services, residential care and distribution of condoms have been intensified. Our services are trying to reach beyond the range of hospitals, and the use of mobile clinics has been extended throughout the territory. We are actively participating in the programmes captured by the slogan "Towards an AIDS free generation". To underpin the need of creating co-ordination amongst all sectors of society in the struggle against AIDS, a Provincial AIDS Council will soon be established, and will comprise of members from both the private and public sectors.

We can and we must defeat the spread of HIV/AIDS infection, which is totally preventable if people adopt the required preventative measures.

There is more that we as a society can do to prevent the greatest evil bedevilling our communities and overburdening the limited resources of our Government. It is significant that after HIV/AIDS related illness, the main causes of admissions to our hospitals are trauma cases resulting from gunshot wounds, stab wounds and motor vehicle accidents. We can and we should bring this figure down and improve the quality of life of our Province accordingly.

Our Province has been the only one to set aside a significant proportion of its budget for a dedicated road safety programme. We are sending out the message that, in KwaZulu-Natal, the laws regulating traffic are indeed enforced and road safety will become a reality. We are aiming at being one of the provinces with the strictest system of traffic law enforcement and relative safety standards.

The department of Transport initiated and administers the Asiphephe Programme, which brings about a reduction in rate of road deaths relative to vehicle density and kilometres travelled in the provinces.

* In 1999/2000, KwaZulu Natal was the only province to set aside a significant proportion of its budget for a dedicated road safety programme. In 1999/2000, R15 million was allocated to road safety through the Asiphephe - Let Us Be Safe programme
* R3.6 million was spent on new enforcement equipment and the overtime wages for additional law enforcement on our roads.
* A permanent Traffic Camera Office was established in Pinetown allowing law enforcers to issue five times the number of infringement notices.
* R3.5 million was spent on TV, radio and billboard advertising to support the enforcement of speed and alcohol testing.
* Nine low cost engineering projects have been completed in rural areas.
* In September a very comprehensive evaluation of all road safety initiatives was undertaken by the CSIR and Australian road safety experts.
* While the final research has not yet been completed, all indications show that KwaZulu-Natal has been successful in decreasing road deaths relative to the high vehicle volumes, and inclement weather experienced over the last year. Initial provincial statistics indicate that we are going to achieve more than our target of 10% reduction of deaths on our roads.
* Asiphephe is cited by World Bank reports as a success story for road safety in a developing country.

Plans for Asiphephe in 2000/2001 will continue to include the road safety elements necessary to effect a saving of lives on our roads. Enforcement, advertising support to enforcement activities, public relations, education, engineering all based on research and backed up by evaluation will continue to assist us in goal of a 50% reduction in deaths, serious injuries and crashes on the provincial road network by 2002.

In addition, the promulgation of the national AARTO legislation (The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences), which places the onus on the offender to prove innocence in the case of traffic infringements, will free up our judicial system and allow the administrative penalisation of traffic offenders. The Department of Transport has a partnership with the National Roads Agency to enforce overloading freight vehicles, which not only cause immense damage to roads, but also severely threaten road safety. Traffic enforcement agencies will also heavily target public transport vehicles for speed, roadworthiness and compliance with permit regulations in 2000/2001.

* In 1999/2000, the Department of Transport refined its Emerging Contractor programme, which develops emerging entrepreneurs in developing business skills. This is a phased advancement programme that protects and mentors contractors through three stages of development, until they can compete in the open market.
* In 1999/2000, Department of Transport issued 232 Stage one contracts, to a value of
* R21 million. It issued 142 Stage Two Contracts, valued at R15 million and seventeen Stage Three Contracts to the value of R54 million.
* Also in this financial year, the planning stages of the John Ross Highway were completed.
* In addition to this, in 1999/2000, the KwaZulu-Natal Roads Bill and all its regulations were complete and approved by Cabinet.
* In 1999/2000, the Department launched its Zibambele (Meaning Doing it for ourselves) programme. Zibambele is the isiZulu name given to our adaptation of the Lengthman Contract System, which was first developed in Kenya. 2 700 Lengthman contracts were issued to the poorest households to maintain specific lengths of road near their homes. The contract value is R10 million.
* By the end of the financial year, R6 million will have been spent on eighteen projects in the Nkandla area in keeping with Department of Transport promise of providing a basket of funding to this poorest of poor areas. This includes one 25km stretch of road where five stage one contractors are working.
* There are over ten emerging contractors working in Nkandla and there are thirteen labour intensive Stage one contracts busy at present. Nearly one hundred Zimbambele (Lengthman) contracts have been issued to the poorest households in this area.

Plans for the year 2000 include the following:

* The passing of the Roads Bill through parliament
* The issuing of 6000 Zibambeleni contracts to the value of R18 million
* A continued Emerging Contract Programme targeting rural roads throughout the province
* The continued building of feeder roads for the SDI road to Ponto D'Ouro

We now turn our attention to the facilitation of a public transport programme and balancing economic developing with commuter needs.

* In 1999/2000, the Department of Transport implemented the KwaZulu-Natal Interim Minibus Taxi Act, passed the previous financial year, leading to the registration of 17 935 taxis with the taxi registrar. Route-specific permits are now being issued without problems.
* The foundations for an economic success story for the taxi industry was laid through the formation of taxi co-operatives in our major urban centres. Taxi co-operatives combine the financial clout of geographically clustered taxi associations into powerful bargaining bodies that access social and economic investment. Work began on the first taxi city, which will be in Pietermaritzburg.
* Large bus contracts were broken up for SMME development - e.g. the KwaZulu Transport workers in Pietermaritzburg and Ladysmith, and Washesha Bus service workers
* In addition to this, the Department has supported the provincial taxi industry as it has positioned itself to become a major player in the public transport industry through the establishment of Umthombo Investment Company
* This year, the Department of Transport will complete the formation of a properly elected Provincial Taxi Council, which will ensure democratic representation and interaction with government. The democratisation process will ensure that decisions taken at local and regional association level enjoy the support of all operators in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Department of Housing has been allocated an amount of R550 million for the 2000/2001 financial year.

The allocation will be prioritised as follows:

Rural Housing Development - 40% of budget
Urban Development & existing projects - 60% of budget
Hostel re-development programme - R20 million of the 60% from Urban Development
Finalisation of previous dispensation - R40 million of the 60% from Urban Development

In order to translate its policies to facilitate service delivery the department has enacted the Provincial Housing Act, (Act 12 of 1998), assented to on 20 January 1999.

The primary purpose of the Provincial Housing Act is to provide for sustainable housing developing in the Province within the framework of national and provincial housing policy and to establish the KwaZulu Natal-Housing Development Board.

A KwaZulu-Natal Housing Amendment Bill has been drafted and is currently in the legislative process for enactment to an Act. The primary purpose of the KwaZulu-Natal Housing Amendment Act is to lay down applicable general principles; to set out powers and duties of the Minister of Housing; disestablish the KwaZulu-Natal Housing Advisory Board; to disestablish the KwaZulu-Natal Housing Development Board; to dispose of its assets by transferring them to the Department of Housing and to provide for consultation and matters incidental thereto.

Regulations required in terms of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Housing Act, (Act 12 of 1998) are in the process of being drafted.

During the mid-1999/2000 financial year, the Department of Finance upgraded its Internal Audit Directorate to a Chief Directorate, with expanded responsibilities and duties, including contract and forensic auditing.

An Internal Audit Committee comprising of the Director-General of the Province, Head of Department of Finance and three people from the private sector (two accountants and one attorney) has been established and based in the Department of Finance. The Provincial Auditor General sits on the Committee as an ex-officio member.

A Chief Director for the Internal Audit Chief Directorate was appointed some few weeks ago but turned down the appointment on 3 February 2000. The Head of Department of Finance is engaged in serious discussion with some accounting firms, with the view to securing someone on secondment to the Department until such a time that a new full time Chief Director is appointed.

A Director for contract auditing has also been appointed and hopes to assume duty before the end of the financial year. This will bring to two, the directors in the Internal Audit Chief Directorate.

It is envisaged that all internal audit functions in the administration will be put under the jurisdiction of the Department of Finance to (1) avoid proliferation of Internal Audit Units, (2) ensure uniformity in the application of standards, and utilise the services of the Internal Audit Committee.

The Minister of Finance intends to submit a Provincial Internal Audit Bill to Parliament for consideration and approval before or in the early part of the next financial year.

In terms of assistance to departments, Treasury has issued a circular to departments to take steps to establish proper Finance Units and appoint Chief Financial Officers to head these units. Funds are also available for the financial management capacity building.

The Department of Education and Culture has implemented the national norms and standards for school funding with:

* The public funding of public schools-in terms of section 35 of the Act,
* The exemption of parents who are unable to pay school fees - in terms of section 39(4) of the Act; and
* Public subsidies to Independent Schools - in terms of section 48(1) of the Act.

The basic principles of state funding of public schools are derived from the constitutional guarantee of equality and recognition of the right to redress. The South African Schools Act (section 34(1) provides that:

"the State must fund public schools from public revenue on an equitable basis in order to ensure the proper exercise of the rights of learners to education and the redress of past inequalities in educational provision".

The norms state that it is a matter of urgent priority to effect redress and equity in school funding, with a view to progressively improving the quality of school education. This should take place within a framework of greater efficiency in organising and providing education services.

These principles underlie the National Norms and Standards for School Funding and prepare the way for the allocation of resources and expenditure by specifically targeting the needs of the poorest. The need for redress and improving equity requires all provincial departments to undertake considerable budget and financial analysis and to use information intensively. The norms deal only with school level expenditure and do not cover personnel expenditure nor the department's school related administrative and development expenditure.

Private Schools registered with the department are presently paid a subsidy equivalent to 50% of the cost of educating a child in this Province.

The department allocates resources to support schools with special education needs which cater for sensory handicapped, neurologically handicapped, mentally retarded, physically handicapped and pedagogically neglected. At present 59 schools cater for the needs for special education. Efforts are being made to cater for certain categories of pupils with special education needs in main stream education. As far as teacher education is concerned the department presently controls 15 colleges.

To implement its mandate the Department will initiate the following bills:

(a) KwaZulu-Natal Archives Bill
(b) KwaZulu-Natal Arts Council Bill
(c) KwaZulu-Natal Culture Institutions Bill
(d) KwaZulu-Natal Culture Promotion Bill

Due to the poor matric results all Secondary Schools that obtained 0-50% will begin school one hour before the stipulated time every morning five days a week in order to afford their learners an opportunity to read silently.

The lack of the Culture of Reading is one of the major factors, which contributes to poor comprehension of grade 12 work.

In an attempt to ensure that all schools in the category 0%-50% progress at the pace which will enable them to complete the syllabus by the second week of August and teach at the correct level, the Ministry and Department have decided to subject these schools to vigorous monitoring and systematised evaluation of work at quarterly intervals.

Preparations for the first quarterly test are under way, as this will be written on the 13-17 March 2000.

The tests are set by panels of subject advisors and moderated with the assistance of the Examinations Directorate.

Principals will control the writing of these tests in the same strict manner as they preside over the writing of the end of the year Matric examination. Industrial subject educators will mark the subjects relevant to them and then send their scripts to subject advisors for moderation.

We hope these will indicate weaknesses well in advance in schools so that remedial measures can be taken before the final examination.

Regions have also been instructed to conduct similar system of testing for Grade 7 (Std 5). Results from these reach Head Office only twice a year.

In June and September, full-scale examinations will be conducted in the subjects that have been targeted.

Group A
IsiZulu 1st Lang HG P1,2
English 2nd Lang HG P1,2,3

Group B
Mathematics HG/SG P1&2

Group C
Physical Science HG/SG P1&2
Biology HG/SG

Group E
History HG/SG
Geography HG/SG P2
Biblical Studies HG/SG

Group F
Agricultural Science HG/SG

The Department has deregistered twenty-eight KwaZulu-Natal Senior Certificate Centres where the school has obtained 0-50%, despite assistance that has been given the school. Grade 12 classes have been closed with immediate effect as from 10 February 2000.

Regions have been instructed to see to it that affected learners are placed in neighbouring schools.

It is the firm belief of the Department that all the twenty-eight schools are neither ready nor capable of offering matric work.

Further letters have been written to Principals and Governing Bodies of Public Secondary Schools informing them thus:

"All schools that enter candidate for the 2000 Senior Certificate Examination and which do not achieve a pass rate of at least 15, will have their Grade 12 classes closed in 2001."

"A further investigation of the competence of the school to offer Grade 10 and 11 will follow. It is only after a school has improved teaching in Grade 10 and 11 and learners proved their competence in a standardised Grade 11 examination that the school will be registered for Grade 12."

If all segments of our society work together, we can make a difference in making KwaZulu-Natal the province with some of the levels of crime in South Africa. Unfortunately, in terms of the Constitution, our Province does not have significant powers in respect of police and policing. However, the least powers and functions we do have are critical to making a difference where it matters the most, that is on how communities operate and relate to the reality of crime in their midst.

Our Province will be promoting additional social crime prevention programmes which will include the broader participation of different spheres and branches of government, the business sector, non-governmental and other community organisations, and community members, in developing strategies to reduce crime in their respective areas of service delivery. We need to develop a feeling of rejection and deep-rooted revulsion for the notion, the reality and the practice of crime, so that no one in our communities will tolerate, hide, condone or indulge in criminal activities.

Our Department of Safety and Security has established a Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy Committee, which will be building the necessary partnerships to prevent and deter crime. These partnerships will implement the Manual for Community Based Crime Prevention, which we launched last November. We must ensure that the present local government and the new municipalities will become leading players in this integrated strategy of crime prevention. Our Department of Safety and Security will remain pro-active in ensuring monitoring and oversight of the police force to promote accountability and better relationships with the community. We believe that it is the role of our Province to identify priority areas and goals around which law enforcement policies and police activities should be focused. It is only through this bottom up process that the battle against crime can be won.

I am pleased that our Province has taken the lead in identifying KwaMashu as a pilot project, following from the President's initiative. Our Province has been monitoring the interventions in KwaMashu and, with its expertise, will continue to provide information to ensure that policies and decisions taken at central level remain consistent with the interests of our people. Community policing fora have come of age and are beginning to yield tangible results. More will be established and those in existence will be strengthened so that the police can count on the assistance of communities to develop its law enforcement policies and investigate criminal activities.

Mindful that the fight against crime is also the responsibility of the people, a rural "safety indaba" was held last year to reach to rural communities and sensitive them on ways and means to prevent and deter crime. These initiatives will continue, as they have proven successful.

We are pleased that the Department of Justice has confirmed the jurisdiction of traditional leaders in civil and criminal matters. This will be of great assistance in maintaining social stability throughout the Province. We must ensure that, throughout our Province, the role, function and powers of traditional leaders are maintained and respected. Our Province will need to work closely with traditional leaders as we go through a transformation following from the next local government elections at the end of this year. Traditional leadership should play an important role, which fosters economic development and social transformation while ensuring stability.

We are taking very seriously the challenge of increasing the level of local government services throughout the Province to improve the quality of life of previously disadvantaged communities. The construction of bulk water facilities, sewer reticulation, stormwater drainage and access roads are the top priorities of our Department of Traditional and Local Government Affairs. There are currently 145 such projects in progress, while 24 have already been completed. We have made significant progress in the drafting of our Planning and Development Regulations, which will go hand in hand with the forthcoming environmental regulations to ensure better spatial and environmental governance of our territory. We hope that these regulations may be finalised by July this year.

It has been my concern that funding for rural areas, especially traditional areas, has lagged far behind the funding for urban areas. This is so notwithstanding the fact that 52% of our population live in rural areas.

For this reason, I chose to link Traditional Affairs and Local Government in one portfolio and in one department, which has already led to financial and logistical adjustments. An important aspect of this merger is the extent of assistance provided to the Ingonyama Trust Board, which expresses the partnership between the national and provincial governments.

This partnership has led the newly formed department to issue permissions to occupy under delegation from the Board, and has enabled it to provide the Board with a valuable database and other administrative capacity. In this context, the Ingonyama Trust is significantly increasing its capacity of promoting social and economic development within the context of our indigenous land tenure system, based on communalism.

Our commitment remains to ensure that our Government can work better faster and more effectively. None of our goals will be achieved unless the goal of making government work better becomes our first priority. Substantial improvements have been brought about and more are contemplated in the Department of Works, which is a service department to our entire government. We need to ensure that the Department of Works can achieve more with what it has available to upgrade hospitals, schools and government buildings. At present, 72 hospitals are being upgraded and 19 new clinics are planned, while 305 schools are being targeted for repairs.

The Department of the Premier will work closely with the Department of Works to ensure that its services can be expedited.

More generally, the Department of the Premier intends to continue to exercise a supervisory role throughout the administration of our Government, to ensure that our Government can work faster, better and more effectively. Through our Chief Directorate of Government Policy and Co-ordination we will continue in co-ordinating provincial policies and priorities. We bear the primary responsibility of implementing our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, adopted in 1995. Through our office, we are also co-ordinating the activities of poverty reduction within the Province.

Last year, poverty workshops recommended a stage of evaluation of all activities of our government, which are related to the upliftment of our communities and the eradication of poverty. The audit of all our programmes from the viewpoint of poverty eradication is being conducted and we expect greater efficiency to emerge once we are in the position of co-ordinating, harmonising and synchronising all the existing programmes. This will also form the basis for the development of effective mechanisms which mobilise communities to work side by side with our Government, to become by themselves the primary engines of their development, growth and upliftment.

My Department is concerned about levels of output. Hence we are developing an effective mechanism for monitoring progress, output and performance throughout our Government. For this reason, we have identified Key Result Areas, which we have entrusted to the responsibility of each of my ministers for immediate delivery and performance auditing. In respect of each of these, the Minister will be responsible for co-ordinating activities and reporting problems. The identification of these Key Result Areas is part of the formulation of a long-term macro-provincial plan. I invite members of this House through their relevant portfolio committees to work closely with my Government to monitor these Key Result Areas. This project offers opportunities to prove that we can all be equally responsible for the success of our Province and for improving its delivery of services.

In addition to the co-ordination of all poverty reduction programmes, my Department will also co-ordinate the implementation of the Batho Pele principles, aimed at improving the quality of service delivery. To this purpose, we have developed and implemented a non-monetary awards scheme to recognise and encourage service excellence, which we are implementing in partnership with businesses and stakeholders. We shall co-ordinate programmes relating to disabilities, youth affairs and gender issues. By the same token, the fight against fraud and corruption within my government will remain my top priority and I will co-ordinate it directly from my office.

The dawn of a new beginning will depend on our willingness to become a province, which commits itself to work, to study and to learn, and to grow as fast and as fairly as possible through this process. If we can find unity of purpose in this direction, our government will be able to formulate a long-term plan to make this dream a reality. If we are willing to contribute towards the realisation of this dream the efforts required to make it come true, KwaZulu-Natal will indeed become the best place in the world to work, play and raise a family, not only for a fortunate few, but indeed for all the sons and daughters of God Almighty.

Issued by the Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal