[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

The Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mofokeng,
Members of the University Community,
Representatives of Billiton and USAid,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to be addressing this important event this evening. I feel honoured to be welcoming all of you to the Platinum Province. I hope you will have an enjoyable and memorable evening as you launch our new Science Foundation.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I find difficulty in finding the appropriate words to describe my excitement. I am excited to be part of a process that paves a way for students, particularly from the disadvantaged communities, to tap into the enormous opportunities that will be presented by the establishment of the Science Foundation. It fills me with even more satisfaction that this wonderful development comes on the heels of the report of the Ministry of Education regarding the future of higher education in our country.

Programme Director, as we all are aware, science education has always been a matter of concern to particularly black people. The apartheid policy was structured in such a way that our children become "hewers of wood and drawers of water. Science/ Mathematics was not for them". This meant that most students from disadvantaged communities were either forced to take subjects that were not science related, or if they chose to do science subjects, they would struggle, as most teachers did not master the subjects themselves.

According to a recent international study on the level of our students competency on Mathematics and Physical Science, our students are ranked close to the bottom rung of participating countries. This is a matter of concern to everyone. This is indeed a wake up call to all of us. No country will survive in the globalised village when its intellectuals cannot grapple with the ever-changing technological developments.

The establishment of our Science Foundation cannot have come at a better time. I believe that the Foundation is a vehicle that will play an ever-increasing role of addressing the legacies of apartheid. I view the foundation as a platform of intervention on various areas, which includes:

* Preparing students who will be entering university to be able to cope with the challenges of science education. This is a critical role to be played since we have and are still experiencing a situation were students fail their studies.

Mr Programme Director, allow me to congratulate the two companies in having had the vision and courage expressed in the accomplishment of the joint venture.

Ladies and gentlemen, our provincial government is motivated by a vision of an open democratic economic system in which the structure, management and resources generated by the economy are optimally utilised to eliminate the disparities between and within regions, between towns and villages, between population groups and between men and women. We are striving for economic equity.

Despite the fact that the North West province is well equipped with modern road network, natural resources, a well managed financial sector, a multiparty system of governance, a stable province and hardworking labour force which places the province in good stead to attract investment, we however are confronted by a number of challenges. Confronted by these challenges, the Department of Finance has further created a number of supply side measures over the past five years, such as the Tax Holiday Scheme, the deregulation of the labour market, the abolition of exchange controls and restructuring of tariffs amongst others.

Last year the province launched the Millennium Development Fund which is going to be implemented by the National Business Initiative to facilitate the growth of the SMME sector.

Despite these initiatives, the major challenge facing our government is the transformation of the economy to ensure equitable distribution and more and qualitative access to the historically disadvantaged. Our province has peculiar conditions obtaining in the economic sector. The major ones are the relative dominance of primary sectors including mining and agriculture over other manufacturing sectors. This leads to the economy not working at full capacity and this inhibits growth, equitable distribution and human development.

In the past, the South African economy was inward looking and isolated, consequently it could not compete globally due to limited access to technology. Faced with the advent of globalisation, this presented an opportunity to access technology hitherto denied to South Africans. Innovative South African businesses now have an opportunity to demonstrate their technological prowess which will stand them in good stead not only to sell their technology but also to attract investment and strategic partnerships.

This therefore means that, deliberate and consistent efforts must be made to level out these disparities. One way is to encourage local and foreign investment in a diverse nature of economic sectors. RG Brose's initiative is but one of the practical steps in doing so. Whilst it is a welcome step, more efforts should be put in attracting even more investment in our province. This must be viewed within the context of ours being not only small but dominated by sectors that are extremely vulnerable to factors beyond our control such as international commodity prices in respect of mining and the weather in respect of agriculture.

We are determined to build an environment conducive to wealth creation, high levels of productivity, opportunities for income generation for those employed and consequently access to ownership of assets by a large proportion of South Africans.

Collectively, both sectors account for more than 50% of total GDP and more than half of total employment outside the civil service. The economy is also characterised by high levels of geographical concentration of economic activities, with over 40% of the final mining, manufacturing and agricultural output produced in the Klerksdorp, Eastern and Rustenburg regions. Diversification into other productive sectors and expansion to other areas of the province are definitely an imperative.

As a measure to meet the challenge of attracting and raising the level of investment as a portion of the GDP, from the current level of about 22% to around 40%, our government through the Department of Economic Affairs and Tourism has established Invest North West. This Section 21 company aims to leverage capital investment and stimulate economic growth. This forms an integral part of our Provincial Strategy for Growth and Development, entitled North West 2001. The strategy is implemented with partners like the National Business Initiative, CSIR, University of the North West, the Mineworkers Development Agency, Potchefstroom University, financial institutions, NGOs, mining authorities and local government.

Talking about investment and economic development amounts to nothing if we do not allude to concrete plans of the government to nurture an environment where all these will prosper. I am happy to announce that our government has set aside R250 million for infrastructure development for the current financial year. There is a major swing by government to improve infrastructure. The Department of Public Works, Transport and Roads is in the process of upgrading roads and other infrastructure in the Greater Brits area. This will ensure easy access to markets and offer support to other industries like tourism. The public transport sector is being revitalised to improve efficiency and safety. The government is not only committing subsidies but is also in the process of recapitalising the taxi industry.

The Brits/Hartebeespoortdam area is strategically located to benefit from the development of the N4 route as part of the Trans-Kalahari initiative that is expected to link the Walvis Bay and the Maputo Harbour. We expect more SDI projects to flow from this major project which will leverage public and private investment.

In addition to all these, the greater Brits area (including Hartebeespoortdam) has been identified as one of the 5 Tourism Icons in the provincial Tourism Master Plan. This means that we will through the North West Parks and Tourism Board roll out a programme of building the tourism industry in this area. The implementation of our plan will be supported by the strategic location of your area in close proximity to the World Heritage site, the Sterkfontein Caves. It is also located on what is termed the Provincial Tourism Corridor that stretches from Hartebees to the Madikwe Game Reserve.

There are a number of key tourism projects that are earmarked through the R1.5 billion Time World Project, Bio-Park and the Heritage Train Project that will link Johannesburg with Magaliesburg, Hartebees, Rustenburg, Sun City and Pretoria. The main aim of all these is stimulation of the economy, job creation, economic empowerment and increasing the market profile of the Brits area as a preferred tourist destination in the province, especially for the Gauteng market. It is my honest belief that we are on track and we will do everything possible to succeed.

As a province, we have identified human resource development as one of the necessary fundamentals to stimulate economic growth. In this regard, education has been identified as the flagship of our delivery priorities this year. This will ensure that we do not only stimulate growth of the economy but that it becomes sustainable to change the quality of life of all South Africans into the future. Secondly, this will put us in better stead to respond to challenges of globalisation where investment follows productivity and good returns.

Ladies and gentlemen, this joint venture that involves a German company, is one of the building bricks in solidifying the economic ties between our country and the European Union, especially coming after the recent signing of the SA-EU trade agreement. We hope that this partnership will serve as a precursor for more investment from Europe to our province.

In closing, I take this opportunity to wish you well in your endeavours and hope that its success will encourage reinvestment by the partnership, as you realise more profits.

I thank you.

Ke a leboga

Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West, 27 March 2001