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Christmas is a time of celebrating life and all its blessings. It is a significant celebration in which we all indulge every year. People celebrate it in different ways, depending on how significant the day is for them. Some use this time as a way of bringing families to share in the spirit of Christmas by spreading love and joy to those around them. Others use this time to reflect on the past year, to look at the New Year's challenges and to gear themselves towards working even harder in 2003. Christians celebrate God's incemation in the decisive intervention to right relations between the creature and the Creator.

This year has been a challenging year for the Eastern Cape Government, however, great strides have been made and we are happy with our progress. We pride ourselves with the fact that the Eastern Cape has outperformed other provinces in terms of economic growth over the past four years. Statistics South Africa show that we have registered a 13 per cent economic growth rate in the province, as compared to the next province on line, Limpopo, which registered a 9 per cent growth. That is something that we should brag about because it is a positive indication that we are on the right track.

The social needs departments have, during this time, improved their services to citizens. As such they committed themselves to caring for children, the aged and the frail. More than 12 000 children have been registered for child support grant. The Department of Education will join hands with the Department of Health to render a better Primary School Nutrition. To this end we have targeted 900 000 learners from 4 984 schools for 156 days a year. This approach will also empower local groups (especially women) who will feed local schools.

The other people who are doing a good job are the Department of Health who are working hand in hand with people of the Eastern Cape to ensure that we fight against the stigmatisation and the scourge of HIV&AIDS, funds for all services provided by hospitals have been set aside. VCT has been rolled over to 103 sites and 38 trainers have been trained in the province during this financial year. Four hospitals are providing PMTCT including 86 clinics working under the hospitals. Four more hospitals are to start in January, namely St Lucy's Hospital, SS Gida Hospital, Settlers and Frontier Hospitals.

As the government that believes in providing better life for all, the housing delivery service in the province has improved a great deal. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Traditional Affairs has processed all 155 applications of which they approved 129 projects.

While all these departments are busy making an impact in terms of service delivery, we also acknowledge that there are still areas where we need help. To deal with this we requested the president to dispatch a multi-sectoral team to assist our managers. This should further enhance service delivery and confirm to all that we are on track.

The Quality Assurance Council, Umalusi has approved the examination process for grade 12 in the province. This year's results will be released two days after Christmas and we wish our Grade 12 learners, only the best. To those who may not make it, they should remember what Napoleon Hill once said "effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit."

For children Christmas is particularly a special time as they delight in opening up the Christmas presents and enjoying the festivities with their parents and siblings. While some families will this Christmas be enjoying their hard-earned cash, other families will feel the sting of poverty and helplessness. During this Christmas, let's not forget those less fortunate and share even the little that we have with them.

The road carnage on our roads continues to be worrisome. We join both the minister of transport and our president in calling all road users to order. Don't drink and drive. Don't break road rules and speed limits! We thank the emergency workers who are there to alleviate trauma and suffering and salute them for putting Abantu Kuqala (People First).

The eight Batho Pele principles have also been realised through this year's Premier's Good Governance Awards, which were held, at the East London City Hall on 29 November 2002. We congratulate Fanti Gaqa Senior Primary School for taking the first place. Fanti Gaqa is your typical township school facing overcrowding and lack of resources. However, that has not made them despondent, but through the spirit of Vuk' uzenzele, they have managed to use the little resources they have to develop their staff and learners. We take our hats off for them.

Which ever way we are going to enjoy this Christmas please let's look after each other and take care of one another. Those who will be visiting our beautiful province, we say enjoy it and go and tell the world about this province. To those who will be relaxing at our local beaches and entertainment places, please let us be proud of these priceless resources, own them and not vandalise them. Let this Christmas be a time that we will all cherish.

During this year and the coming one let us renew our commitment to work together to push the frontiers of poverty and let us declare the Eastern Cape as a province that is dedicated towards rooting out all forms of corruption.

Merry Christmas to you all!
Best wishes for 2003!
God bless you all

Enquiries: Manelisi Wolela - 082-4147768

Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecprov.gov.za>