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Programme director,
Colleagues,

I believe our administration has reached a level of maturity and stability that can provide us with a firm platform to take the province further into the future. The period of policy formulation and the drafting of strategic plans are behind us.

During the past six months we put in a tremendous amount of work and effort into our regional economic initiatives. The very successful district summits are proof of the progress we have made.

One of the aims of the district summits was to strengthen the principle of co-operative governance between the provincial and local spheres of government and to focus on developmental governance.

We brought together the most important actors within the respective districts to discuss the economic future of their immediate region and to participate in the drafting of joint development plans and initiatives that can take us another few steps forward.

The next phase will be defined by implementation and action. Within the districts we have to identify the projects that can be implemented, determine the priorities and put in place action plans for implementation.

The province is involved in the implementation of a variety of programmes that often cut across boundaries and involve the participation of various government departments at national and provincial levels, parastatals, district councils and local authorities. These include programmes such as sustainable rural development, integrated development planning, poverty alleviation, local economic development, and community infrastructure development.

I believe one of the major challenges facing us is to ensure that these programmes are co-ordinated and do not operate at cross-purposes with one another. We must avoid duplication and the wasteful spending of public money. Our goal must be to achieve the highest level of co-ordination and co-operation. Secondly, we have to ensure the maximum participation of communities in all programmes.

We need to build capacity within municipalities in order to ensure good governance and the building of local economies.

While I believe that we have made considerable progress over the past six months, it is equally true that much work is yet to be done. The issues that have been on our agenda for a while have to be finalised.

Clearly, we have to complete the restructuring of under-performing assets, which are consequently a drain on our fiscals. Amongst others, this may assist in the revival of agriculture, which has seen a sharp decline. This poses a special challenge given that agriculture is one of the three pillars supporting our economy.

In recent times, there has been considerable progress at national and regional level in the fields of tourism and environment. The concepts of Peace Parks and transfrontier game reserves reaching into Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana have moved from the drawing boards into reality. As we meet, the fences between the Kruger National Park and Mozambique are being removed to create one large transfrontier reserve.

These developments will change the face of tourism in our region, and we in the Northern Province will be at the centre of these developments. We must reposition our province so as to be able to take full advantage of the new opportunities.

Riding the wave of these exciting developments, we can breathe new life into the tourism industry as well as speed up the development of eco and cultural tourism projects such as Mapungubwe and the African Ivory Route.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Our successful initiatives to attract both local and foreign investors to our province are starting to bear fruit. The recent macro-economic survey conducted in the province reports an average annual real growth rate of 5,5 percent - which is significantly higher than the national average of 2,3 percent. While our provincial economy is traditionally based on the agriculture and mining sectors, the survey clearly shows strong growth in the trade, transport and communication sectors.

This new confidence in our future is starting to reflect on the secondary economy of the province. Fewer people are leaving the Northern Province to seek employment opportunities elsewhere. The property market in Pietersburg-Polokwane is experiencing a mini-boom. House prices are up, new shopping centres are being built, the retail sector is on a steady rise and there is growing sense of optimism among the business community.

If this progressive trend continues, it will soon be reflected in social indicators such as employment figures, enrolment in schools, a levelling-off of crime figures and greater stability in the broader social environment. However, we will also be required to strengthen our efforts at ensuring that this economic progress impacts on the lives of the poor by reducing the rising unemployment levels among our youth and alleviating poverty in the rural areas.

I believe we have made tremendous progress even when for the past two years the bulk of our budgets had to be diverted towards emergency repairs and the restoration of flood damaged infrastructure of 2000. We can justifiably be proud of the progress we have made in handling this unforeseen crisis and we have reached a point where we can again look at other infrastructure priorities.

Time and again at the various district summits the availability of reliable infrastructure was identified as a top priority for future economic development. The business sector, the mining sector, agriculture, social services and local communities are equally dependent on a reliable road network and an efficient transport system.

This is the backbone of our economy and for the foreseeable future our focus must be on maintaining existing infrastructure and reducing backlogs.

Already, we have moved quite a long way in the planning of the various SDIs, the Trans-Limpopo, the Phalaborwa and the Dilokong and the East-West corridor. In the case of the Trans-Limpopo we have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding following a series of bilateral meetings with Zimbabwe.

Within the next six to nine months we need to appoint project teams, identify potential projects, determine priorities, liaise with affected communities and local governments and negotiate funding.

If all goes according to schedule, we should be able to hold major investment conferences relating to the SDIs in the first quarter of 2002 and to move rapidly from there with implementation.

In the social sector, we will continue with our programs to extend basic and affordable services to all communities in the province. We must not relax our vigilance on vital issues such as HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, but also continue to focus on the root causes of the problems such as poverty and underdevelopment.

Although we have seen a marked reduction in crimes related to witchcraft, taxi violence and vigilante action there is a disturbing increase of between 6 and 7 percent in the figure of crimes committed in the province in the past 12 months. Of particular concern is the increase in social fabric crimes, domestic violence and vehicle hijacking that is a relative new phenomenon in our province.

Clearly, part of the solution can be found in more effective policing but we also need to address the broader front of social and criminal justice - early identification and counselling of young offenders, probation and alternative sentencing, streamlining of our court system and trauma and counselling centres for the victims of crime.

Programme director,

I trust that we will use our time at this Lekgotla to evaluate our performance against the priorities we set for ourselves at our previous meeting. Within the public sector we must continue to strive for an improvement in the quality of the services we render to the public in line with the Batho Pele principles.

We also need an honest evaluation of the current size of the provincial public service and to seek ways in which we can right size to create an effective and efficient public sector.

We must use this opportunity to refine our programmes as well as to identify resources necessary for success.

I thank you.

Issued by Office of the Premier, Northern Province

2 October 2001