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For it is not true that the work of man is finished
That man has nothing more to do in the world
but be a parasite in the world
That all we now need is to keep in step with the world

But the work of man is only just beginning and it remains
to man to conquer all the violence entrenched in the recesses of his passion

And no race possesses the monopoly of beauty,
of intelligence, of force, and there is
a place for all in the rendezvous
Of victory

Aime' Cesaire - Return to my Native Land

Introduction

Mr Speaker,
Honourable Premier
Honourable Members of the Legislature
Fellow citizens,

We refer to Aime' Cesaire's poetry because it best describes the acute challenge of our country and province and illuminates our path to change - of course through nothing but our conscious efforts.

This is the challenge of increasing economic growth, reducing the scourge of poverty, inequality and accompanying vulnerability. Never has our province been so strategically positioned to tackle this challenge than now.

At the end of this seating, we shall have adequately demonstrated this unique strategic position.

In so far as we have not yet reached our destiny, our work cannot cease for it is not yet over. There is still, as Cesaire counsels, "more to do in [our] world."

And because our work is not over, we return to this House for the eighth time to reaffirm our commitment to the citizens of the Limpopo Province. In doing so, we start by proclaiming that our original vision as envisaged and outlined in the Reconstruction and Development Programme, remains un-obscured even under changing and trying circumstances in the global world and global economy.

Our source of inspiration from which we derive inspiration is the increasing consciousness of our people, poor people and powerless people that they (ordinary people) have a right to live in a world, which is better and meaningful to them.

This realisation underlines the principles, policies and foundations of a developmental agenda of their government, that their government is but a moral enterprise.

We are therefore critical of the existing conditions and circumstances of the majority of our people, particularly the poor, women and children living in the rural hinterland of our country.

Through this budget we argue for greater sensitivity towards meeting the basic needs of our people.

The objective of this budget is to increase economic growth accompanied by real change, reduction of poverty, inequality and vulnerability. It seeks to reduce the widening gulf between the poor and rich, seeks to protect the weak and the poor - our women, children and the elderly.

Mr Speaker, the deepening of democracy in our society demands of us to act in a transparent and accountable manner to the general public and to be loyal and caring to our children and the aged. It also demands that we exercise maximum discipline especially in areas of the management of public resources.

We owe it to our people to inform them of how the resources they have entrusted in our hands have been utilised and how we are going to disburse them in future. We owe it to them to demonstrate the difference between the present and the past, the past that acted with impunity against the poor, the weak and the indefensible.

Economic Overview

In examining the performance of our economy, we need to start by reminding one another about certain basic structural truths which are obvious, but require repetition nonetheless.

The provincial economy is part of the South African economy, which is, in turn, rapidly integrating into the world economy. For the first time in a period of 20 years, the world's three biggest economies - Europe, Japan and the United States - have experienced a significant slowdown.

Moving from the premise that we cannot insulate ourselves from these factors in as much as our economy affects other economies, it follows that the South African economy would be affected somewhat.

It is important to understand these basic truths so that we can emerge with an objective appraisal of what it is we can and cannot do in the larger context of an economy whose performance is no longer only determined by national policies.

We refer here to the phenomenon of 'globalisation'.

Owing, to some extent, to this context, the South African economy grew by 2.2% in 2001. Due to the correctness of our economic fundamentals, the economy is expected to grow by around 2.3% in the next fiscal year. On the basis of the firmness of our fundamentals, we have been able to record and deliver benefits to our people year after year

Further good news is that government finances remain healthy. The budget deficit is to be 1.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rising to 2.1% of Gross Domestic Product in 2002/03 and declining to 1.7% in 2004.

The Limpopo Economy

In the period between January and December 2001, the Tender Board awarded a total of 417 contracts to the value of R660 million. Of these, 367 contracts were awarded to historically disadvantaged individuals valued at R365 million. In the period between July and December, 13 contracts were awarded to women entrepreneurs. These were valued at R11,2 million.

It is heartening to note that during the 2001/02 financial year there has been additional investment flow of approximately R4,5 billion which created 4870 permanent jobs. The highest number of jobs was created in mining (2900) and agriculture (1615).

The Limpopo economy grew at an average of 5.5% in real terms between 1995 and 2000. The growth rate in 2000 alone reached 3.9% in real terms and the Gross Geographic Product (GGP) is estimated at R39 billion.

Government shares the largest part of the GGP. However there are encouraging trends of a 0.6% decline of government's share of the economy from 30% to 29.4% between the periods 1998 to 2000. This means that the other sectors of the economy are beginning to grow satisfactorily. It refers to the competing for dominance by other sectors in the economy.

The trade sector has been the fastest growing sector, registering a 0.7% increase from 17.6% to 18.3% of GGP. This reflects the existence of a strong local demand for goods and services as well as growth in the tourism sector and provides great potential for a thriving manufacturing sector to emerge.

Mining is showing signs of recovery from 18.5% of GGP to 19% over the period 1998 to 2000. In view of the investments currently flowing in the mining industry, we expect substantial growth in this sector over the next three years.

Unemployment continued to decline and bottomed up in the year 2000. During this period, Limpopo also saw an encouraging 0.9% increase in employment. However, it fell below the population growth rate of 2.3% per annum.

Mr Speaker, we are aware that much more still needs to be done to confront the scourge of poverty, to create employment, provide sustainable social care and to guarantee political and social stability. We are therefore determined to accelerate the increase in employment opportunities for all the people of the Limpopo.

Mr Speaker, the 2002/03 budget we are tabling today is but a consolidation and continuation of the good work and progress made thus far in the last seven years.

2001/02 Budget Outcome

Let me therefore; take this moment to highlight some of the tasks and programmes carried out by this government during the 2001/02 financial year.

The Social Cluster

This cluster was allocated an adjusted amount of R12.5 billion. It is with a sense of satisfaction to highlight the following: -

Education

Mr Speaker, it is hard for a leopard to hide its spots. They are conspicuous and beautiful. So is the education history of this, our Limpopo Province. This is the Province that once had an education capable of producing leaders of today. We are on the way to regaining that competitive edge of cradling tomorrow's leaders of nations.

Human resource development is a fundamental cornerstone for the success of any institution. Guided by this understanding, the bulk of our resources have always been allocated to the Department of Education. We are already beginning to reap the fruits of this investment as indicated by last year's 60% matric pass rate - a far cry from the 33% of 1994.

Last year, some 460 new classrooms were built. More learners will never again be subjected to the dehumanising position of having to study beneath trees and open roofless grounds.

Welfare

An additional 108 981 people were added into the social welfare pension payroll. This brought the total number of beneficiaries to 621 231. The total cost of this provision was R2.7 billion.

Health

Mr Speaker, there is currently no known cure for AIDS. There is none. Our fight against HIV/AIDS has always been a comprehensive one. We do not see it any other way.

Our approach has been to ensure access to an appropriate and effective integrated system of prevention on the one hand and care and support for those affected and infected with HIV/AIDS.

In the last financial year, 5 950 people benefited from community home based care. 34 non-governmental organisations involved in HIV/AIDS work in communities have been funded. 2 800 women benefited from the prevention of mother-to-child transmission programmes.

Infrastructure Cluster

The Infrastructure Cluster was accorded an amount of R1.72 billion. 1 700 km of flood damaged roads have been repaired. 14 major and 17 minor bridges have been repaired. On the road maintenance side, 6 500km of tarred road and 16 400km of gravel roads have been maintained.

Significant progress has also been made in the provision of housing. An amount of R417 155 million was provided towards the building of 16,643 additional houses in the province. This benefited 102 858 people.

Economic Cluster

Over the years, and through prudent fiscal management, we have reduced the provincial debt by R600 million. This means that the province is able to use R600 million more in the budget today than it could have been the case in 1997. Projections confirm that in the 2003/04 the debt will be fully repaid. The provincial budget will carry a zero debt balance in 2004/05.

These funds will be re-routed to prioritised social and economic infrastructure areas.

SMME development should essentially focus on programmes regarding tourism business development, small-scale mining, small-scale farming, small-scale manufacturing and construction as well as general procurement.

Provincial Revenue

There are three main sources of revenue for provinces. These are revenue from the equitable share of national fund, revenue that accrues to provinces from specific national departments in order to fulfil key national programmes and revenue from own revenue.

The National Revenue is shared within the three spheres of government according to priorities. The budget for 2002/03 is divided among the spheres as national government R 96,106 billion (40%), provincial government R132, 420 (56%) billion and local government R8, 580 billion (4%)

The constitution assigns exclusive and concurrent powers to each government spheres. The national government performs functions that cross provincial boundaries like protection services, Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs and economic services.

The challenges facing all spheres of government include: reducing poverty, inequality and vulnerability. The provincial sphere receives most of its funds from National Treasury. Provincial own revenue accounts for about 3% of total provincial revenue.

The sphere of local government performs the primary function of providing basic services. The challenges of the local government sphere include among others the provision of basic services, housing, water, electricity and so forth.

Provincial spheres perform the function of implementing both national and provincial priorities, collect own revenue and manage resources, approves policies, which address provincial needs.

Provincial challenges include accelerating service delivery and improving public service in line with government priorities of reducing poverty, inequality and vulnerability, through economic growth and job creation, expansion of early childhood development, increased investment in infrastructure, education and health, increased take up of child support grant beneficiaries and the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Provincial revenue from the above sources is as follows: -

* Equitable Share: R16. 145bn
* Conditional Grants: 1. 245bn
* Own revenue: 273bn

TOTAL REVENUE: R17. 663bn

Having outlined our total revenue amounts, let us now move towards the proposed spending framework.

2002/03 Budget Framework

The 2002/3 budget we are tabling today is but a consolidation of the good work and progress made thus far in the last seven years:

This budget seeks to: -

* mobilise domestic and international investment into the province with special focus on areas that will create jobs and sustain existing employment levels in areas such as agro-processing, mining and tourism.
* maintain and expand existing social and economic infrastructure.
* build the capacity of the public service geared towards servicing the citizens of our country - Batho Pele.
* We shall attempt to clear existing social backlogs as well as allocate resources to respond to the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS.

Social Cluster

* Education: R7,385 billion
* Health: R2,913 billion
* Welfare: R3,699 billion
* Sport, Arts and Culture: R34 million
* Safety, Security and Liaison: R10 million

TOTAL ALLOCATION: R14, 041billion

The total social cluster budget is R14,041 billion or 79% of the total provincial budget. This amount includes infrastructure and flood reconstruction allocation of R157, 67 million and R92 million for hospital revitalisation. It also carries the new conditional grants for national tertiary services of R44, 8 million; integrated nutrition programme of R106,0 million; health professional training of R34,1 million and HIV/AIDS of R45,3 million. Included in the social cluster budget is also R712,4 million increases on the welfare budget.

Education

Limpopo Province is a young province that has an immense potential for sustainable wealth creation. However, this potential can be unleashed through ploughing sufficient resources in the development of skills of our youth.

Skills development remains one of our priorities. It is an important contributor to our economic competitiveness and development. As a result, 41, 8% of this budget - the largest portion - is allocated to education. Expenditure rises from R6,8 billion in 2001/02 to R7,3 billion in 2002/03. In the next financial year, it is expected to increase by 6,8%, reaching R8,4 billion by 2004/05.

Welfare

Social welfare spending will substantially increase from R2,9 billion in 2001/02 to R3,6 billion in 2002/03. This represents an increase of R712 million. Social welfare grants will, as a result, increase by above the inflation rate. We shall also seek to eliminate backlogs in social welfare grants and ready ourselves for the challenging task of absorbing new entrants as and when they apply for this important grant. In this regard, increases will, starting from this year, be effected as from the 1st of April instead of the 1st of July.

Put differently, we shall increase old age pension grants from R570 to R620 a month. The Child Support Grant will similarly increase from R110 to R130 a month. During this financial year, the Child Support Grant will be extended to a further 156 959 children. This will increase the number of beneficiaries from 243 041 to 400 000 children.

In rural and poverty stricken provinces such as our own, social welfare grants address many and crucial exigencies thrown in by the difficult question of survival in the context of unemployment.

We are determined not to allow the situation in which our people, who have suffered for too long, continue to choke and perish in the poverty that is not of their own making. Doing otherwise would amount to a dereliction of duty at which future generations would not hesitate to point fingers accusingly.

Health

We need healthy people to build the economy, to progress and to succeed as a nation. Spending on health is also an investment in human capital.

Mr Speaker, our doctor population ratio in the Limpopo Province is a cause for concern. There is currently one doctor to 11 000 people. The department aims to lower the ratio from 1: 11 000 to 1: 8000 in 2004.

During the 2001/02 fiscal year, the health infrastructure budget was R20, 072 million. A conditional grant of R88 million was provided for hospital revitalisation.

During this financial year, health infrastructure spending will increase by R18,9 million from R20,072 million to R38,993 million. It is expected to rise to R72,134 million in 2004/05. Over and above the infrastructure grant of R38,993 million, the department will also receive a further hospital revitalisation grant of R92 million during this financial year. This means that we shall spend, this year alone, R130,993 million in improving our public health facilities. The hospital revitalisation grant will increase to R101,9 million in 2004/05.

The Health Budget increases by 7,18% from the current R2, 19bn to R2,914bn this coming year. The budget increases by R480m to R3,394bn over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework period.

Government has an elaborate programme for combating HIV/AIDS and other opportunistic diseases such as Tubercle Bacteria, and other sexually transmitted diseases. In order for the provincial government to implement the National Programme on HIV/AIDS we allocated an increased budget from R10,475 million in 2001/02 to R40,734 million in 2002/03 reaching R69,658 million in 2004/05. This budget for the next financial year has increased threefold.

Safety and Security

The budget of Safety and Security has been increased by 47% to R10, 4m and increases further to R11,5 million in 2003/4. There is need for Limpopo to remain crime-free in order to attract investments in all sectors of our economy, particularly in the tourism industry. As we all know peace and stability is a necessary precondition for sustainable development.

Sports and Recreation

Sports, arts and culture propel the spirit of being a nation and of identity. It is about Ubuntu and embraces the concept of Letsema. It is compatible with the movement of people from one place to another. It promotes both trade and tourism.

The budget of Sports, Arts and Culture increases from R33,6 million to R34,6 million. In the year 2003/4 the budget increases steeply to R48,5m.

Economic Cluster

* Finance, Economic Affairs & Tourism: R692,2 million
* Agriculture: R707, 4 million
* Transport: R287, 1 million

The total budget of this cluster amounts to R1,686 billion of which R25,8 million is for infrastructure and flood rehabilitation and R5 million for poverty relief. The cluster budget represents 9,5% of the total provincial budget.

In pursuance of the Preferential Procurement Act, government is targeting 50% of total capital expenditure to be allocated to SMMEs. We shall closely monitor the implementation of this so that this objective is realised.

Infrastructure Cluster.

* Public Works: R1,026 billion
* Local Government and Housing: R 0,734 million

The total budget of the cluster is R1,760 billion and represents 9,9% of the total provincial budget. Included in the allocation is South African Housing fund of R381,7 million and R277,0 million for infrastructure and flood rehabilitation. The allocation also includes R11,0 million for human settlement and R15,1 million for local government support.

No less that 24 500 housing units will be completed in the next year. Some 6481km of tarred roads and 16 418 of gravel road will be maintained. 39km of new roads will be tarred.

Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy

Anchor Projects have been identified from various departments for the two nodal areas, namely Sekhukhune and Bohlabela.

The projects are identified in the fields of health, agriculture, tourism, road tarring and water. The total value of the Sekhukhune project is R2,2 billion. Of this, R72,6 million is already committed and implementation will begin before the end of March 2002.

The total value for Bohlabela is R1,04 billion. Of this, R46 million has been committed. Concerted effort will be made to raise the necessary funding ensure continuous implementation of the project.

We also express our support for the initiative to establish a R500 million sugar cane processing plant in the Bohlabela district.

Capital Budget

Mr Speaker, the capital budget contained in the budget estimates we are tabling today amounts to R1,4 billion. The proposed allocations are as follows:

Social Cluster: R489 million
Economic Cluster: R127 million
Infrastructure Cluster: R798 million
Admin and Transformation Cluster: R5 million
________________
Total: R1,4 billion

Contracts to the value of at least half of this amount, i.e. R710 million will be allocated to the SMMEs. The Provincial Treasury and the SMME desk will monitor the allocation of these contracts.

In order to improve on service delivery, the current Provincial Tender Board Act will be repealed.

This process has already started and is aimed at phasing out the Tender Board by October this year.

From now henceforth, departments will handle procurement of goods and services to the tune of R1 million. We believe this will reduce the workload of the Tender Board.

Summary of the Budget - who stands to benefit?

Mr Speaker, let us summarise the key elements of the budget. In this way, we would like to invite your indulgence in a concise examination of who stands to benefit. The budget seeks to increase economic growth, reduce the scourge of poverty, inequality and vulnerability through, among other measures, the following:

* The implementation of the Integrated and Sustainable Rural Development Strategy, for which R118 million is budgeted this year,
* The support and development of SMMEs, which will result in R710 million worth of contracts awarded to the SMME sector.
* Investment attraction with a specific focus on the development of the tourism, mining and agricultural sectors. Included in the agriculture budget is an amount of R50 million to build capacity within communities that are being re-settled through the land redistribution programme as well as a strong emphasis in building co-operatives,
* Improving health services with a special focus to reducing the doctor patient ratio from 1: 11 000 to 1: 8000 by 2004 and accelerating the fight against HIV/AIDS mainly through strengthening preventative measures. The HIV/AIDS budget increases from R10 million to R46 million. It is expected to raise to R70 million in the next financial year,
* Increasing the amount of social welfare grants and the numbers of beneficiaries. Hundred and fifty-nine, nine hundred and fifty nine children more children will be supported through the Child Support Grant. This will bring the number of child beneficiaries to 400 000 at a cost of R2, 9 billion, rising to R3, 6 billion in the next financial year. This represents an increase of R750 million. Furthermore, six hundred and twenty one, two hundred and eighty one old age pensioners stand to benefit from the increase in pension grants,
* Reforming procurement policy in the province; which includes, but not limited to phasing out the Tender Board by October 2002 as well as ensuring that more SMMEs benefit from government tenders.

Conclusion

This budget is an expression of the images of our dreams. It simultaneously seeks to discard the images of our nightmares. Accordingly, our vision for a better life for all our people is on track.

Mr Speaker, allow me to convey my appreciation of and profound gratitude to the following people:

* The Honourable Premier for his visionary leadership, unending guidance and encouragement to me as a person and the entire collective.
* The Executive Council for the collective leadership and wisdom in putting this budget together,
* The legislature's Portfolio Committee on Finance,
* The legislature's Public Accounts Committee,
* The South African Council of Churches, the Northern Province Business Forum and other organs of civil society who participated in the consultation process convened by the Department of Finance, Economic Affairs and Tourism. We are grateful for the support conveyed by these patriots and wish to encourage them to sustain their good work for the people of the Limpopo.
* The Auditor General and his team,
* The Director General, Ms Manching Monama and her team of Heads of Department,
* The Superintendent General of the Department of Finance, Economic Affairs and Tourism, Mr. Morore Mphahlele for his brilliant leadership of the department,
* Senior Managers of the Department of Finance, Economic Affairs and Tourism for their valuable work,
* My family for their support and understanding and each one of you for having come to listen to what we had to say today.

Mr Speaker, the work of man is just beginning.

I thank you.

Issued by Finance, Economic Affairs and Tourism, Northern Province

5 March 2002