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Fellow South Africans.

Ten years ago, there were many who doubted the ability of our new province to survive. In fact, the first election in the new province of the Northern Cape and our first encounters with the old Cape administration indicated that there were also those who had their doubts about our chosen course of democracy, reconciliation, and a better life for all. They were not sure they wanted our province or our democracy to survive.

Gathered as we are today in this greatest symbol of our unity in diversity as a province - in our new legislature building - it is safe to say that the doubters and the diehards were proved wrong.

It is safe to say that the rural, almost colonial outpost of the previous Cape of Good Hope we inherited has not only survived as a fully fledged province in its own right, but that we have gone from strength to strength. And, Mr Speaker, we will continue to go from strength to strength!

Today, we proudly take our place alongside the other eight provinces as equals. And in some cases, we even humbly, yet proudly, lead the way.

Where there was no province of the Northern Cape ten years ago, today there is a functioning administration committed to the principles of Batho Pele. Where there was severe economic decline ten years ago, today there is growth and a perspective for the future. Where there was a system based on oppression and the denial of rights ten years ago, there is government by the people for the people today. Government based on a constitution, which guarantees the same human rights for all. Government committed to a people's contract to create work and to fight poverty!

Together we have proven that like our most valuable natural resource, the Northern Cape Province itself was a rough diamond. A rough diamond waiting patiently in our dry earth for its people to be free so that they could polish it and make it sparkle.

To be free and in charge of our own destinies so that we could make the beauty, the strength, and the potential of our beloved province of the Northern Cape visible to all.

Together, we have shown that as much as the decades and centuries of harsh conditions and adversity toughened us, like diamonds, we are capable of sparkling and showing our true worth when given the opportunity.

Our government, led first by our father Nelson Mandela, and now by our great teacher President Thabo Mbeki, has created many opportunities. And from Alexander Bay in the west to Kimberley in the east, from Kuruman in the north to Sutherland in the south, our people are responding by showing that this is a province full of diamonds - a province sparkling with potential.

Ours is a province engaged in forging its identity as a home to all of us, no matter whom we pray to, no matter where our ancestors came from. A province that is rapidly moving down the road of development, growth, and achievement.

We are a province that has not only created opportunity as never before for women, the youth, and disabled people. We are a province whose women, youth, and disabled have taken up the challenges of those opportunities and who are making their rightful and meaningful contributions to our communities! We salute you today!

Mr Speaker,

I thank all who have taken the time to be with us today as we undertake that most natural of ceremonies in a democracy, the opening of the parliamentary session. We are grateful that you are here to share what is still a very special event with us.

Today marks the last session of our second democratically elected provincial parliament. It is an important milestone, because it affords us the opportunity to look back on where we have come from and the work we have done. It allows us to assess and understand the challenges we still face. And it provides us with the forum to identify and refine the measures we must take to meet those challenges.

The house has voted for its own dissolution, paving the way for the third democratic election in a row in the Province of the Northern Cape. By the very normality of that act, we are showing how far we have come as a nation and as a province!

As we celebrate ten years of government for the people by the people, we remember those with gratitude whose lives were dedicated to getting us here.

We remember the man whose name is intertwined with our capital city, Sol Plaatje. He was a visionary, a man who understood that only we ourselves can be the builders of the human dignity and the destiny we all desire.

We remember Tata Walter Sisulu, who left us last May at the end of a long life spent as a great beacon of hope, as a leader of leaders, and as a moral guide to our people.

We remember our own MEC for sport, Brian Hermanus, who unfortunately passed away before his time. His contribution to the building of this province and to sport for all in the Northern Cape remains an inspiration.

We remember too our late Head of the Education Department, Kevin Nkoane. He too left us too quickly. But he left us with an example of how a dedicated public service can make a difference in the lives of our people.

Allow me also to greet three of our mothers who, for many decades, have done for us what only mothers can do. Evelinah De Bruin, Ruth Mompati and Mita Seperepere have set us an example, they have taught us what we know, and inspired us to reach for greater things in the service of our people.

Mr Speaker, Members of the Legislature

These men and women have set an example. It has been our task and it remains our task to follow their example. It was their example, Mr Speaker, which allowed us to get through the very difficult first phase of the establishment of our province and its administration. As a parliament, we had no home. None of us had offices. We had to scrabble for the basics like chairs and desks.

In reality, we had to build a public service from scratch. We had to bring a change of attitude and a willingness to accept each other with our different cultures and our colours and our languages to this often harsh part of the country. I remember one policeman for whom I was not the Premier of the province, but some "piekanien" from the mines he could tell to bugger off.

It was not always easy - I am sure those of you who have come all the way from 1994 will agree. When I wanted to pay pensions, I had to ask Cape Town for the names of the pensioners in my province. When we wanted to provide acceptable conditions in our facilities, our administrators had to write letters to Cape Town requesting toilet paper. Pencils were stocked in Cape Town, paper, telephones, computers, vehicles, everything a functioning province requires had to be signed for and supplied from the capital city of another province 1000 kilometres away. And yet we had been tasked to run a province 20 times the size of Gauteng!

Today we can laugh at how we started off with both hands tied behind our backs. But as we laugh, we remember the sweat and the tears.

When we wanted to provide basic health care for our people, we discovered there were only 15 nurses for every 10 000 residents of the Northern Cape. There were only three doctors for every 100 000 of our people. There were only nine pharmacists. Not nine pharmacists per 10 000 or per 100 000 people - nine pharmacists in the whole province. 24 radiographers, 82 emergency care practitioners, in a province where it takes eight or ten hours to travel by road from the capital to the furthest town.

We faced many challenges. But we were determined. We were determined that democracy would bring the real change our people wanted. Real change for all of the people of the Northern Cape, no matter whom they voted for.

That is why we extended the hand of co-operation to the minority parties. We asked them to work with us, even though we were not required to do so under the interim constitution. We acknowledge them. And we acknowledge the many individuals on the farms and in the towns and the mines who embraced reconciliation and nation building.

And we remember and we recognise the efforts of many of our people inside and outside government without whom the doubters and the diehards might have succeeded in preventing the establishment of our province. And we thank all of them.

Mr Speaker, Members of the Legislature,

The work of the government of the Northern Cape over the past decade has focussed on two essential and complementary broad areas. As a collective, we have put every effort into ensuring that our own resources and skills and those provided to us by national government are directed at human development and at growing our economy. On both fronts, we inherited a painfully under-resourced and run-down province. We were a province that knew very well that the injustice of the past had also been social injustice and economic injustice.

I have already referred to the situation in the health sector. It was no better when it came to our schools; to policing; to women and children; to housing. Our pensioners often had to wait two years after applying before they saw their first cheques. There was not an area that did not need major work and major repairs.

Our job was reconstruction and development in every imaginable field. Because we knew that freedom must also bring meaningful social and economic changes for the majority of our people.

Despite all of the frustrations of the early period, we were very fortunate on two fronts.

Firstly, our people have stood by us as we have walked the chosen road of rebuilding and developing our province. Our people have assisted in removing obstacles, in laying the foundations, and in building our common home, the Northern Cape. Without our people we could not master the challenges history has given us. We thank them - our people from the Karoo, Namaqua, Siyanda, Kgalagadi and Frances Baard.

We thank them too, because we are secondly fortunate that we have always had and continue to have a clear mandate from the people, both at national and here in the province.

As you know, our mandate was given a resounding renewal in 1999, thanks to the leadership of our President and thanks to the real successes our people had begun to see and experience for themselves around the country.

In the Northern Cape, those 1999 election results could not have been clearer. Through discipline, hard work, continual consultation with our people, and a determination to deliver on our mandate, we were able to return to this house full of vigour and drive for the second legislature period, which is now coming to an end.

Our mandate in 1999 was expanded in order to accelerate change for the better. There can be no doubt, Mr Speaker, that this African National Congress (ANC) government has delivered. We have done so for South Africa. And we have delivered like never before in the Northern Cape!

Let me indicate some of the areas in which we have made enormous strides during these past ten years.

Let me start with that major development leg I spoke about earlier, human development. I include all of those areas that can and must contribute to the advancement of our people in body and in mind.

• I mean our schools and colleges ensuring that our young people are equipped to grasp the opportunities that are there for them and, more importantly, to create their own opportunities as independent entrepreneurs;
• I mean our safety and security contributing to a more stable environment and a safer life for all;
• I mean our hospitals, clinics and other health services, ensuring that we can live healthier lives and deal with disease and injury better and more quickly; and
• I mean child care, old age, and disability grants which are sustaining many families in our communities,
  to mention just some, because we have been working at full capacity in all areas affecting human development in our province.

Let us take child support grants as an example. By next month, 71 758 children in the Northern Cape under the age of nine will be supported by state grants. By March 2005, in a year's time, we want to extend those grants to another 35 000 children aged between nine and 11.

We know that for many families, the child support grant is the iron safety net. When all else fails, that grant puts food on the table. For many families, the grant provides just that little bit of extra flexibility to ensure that children get to school or to the clinic if they need to.

We know that many children, women, young people and many of our senior citizens are vulnerable and need support. That is why we have decentralised our social services.

Forty district offices and 20 satellite offices were established with social workers to ensure accessible services. Community-based services including soup kitchens, expanded foster care programs, adolescent development programs, and day care centres have been established throughout the province.

Perhaps most importantly, the pension system has been thoroughly overhauled. It is not right that people must wait for years for pensions after a long and arduous life. We have ensured that those waiting periods when distant administrations took their time to process applications are a thing of the past.

So ook is die lang rye in die vuurwarme son en die yskoue Karoo winteroggende iets van die verlede. Deur nie ons oumense aan die elemente bloot te stel nie, is 'n teken dat ons omgee vir hul gesondheid. Maar dit gaan ook oor die herstel van hul waardigheid in hul latere jare.

We have done all of this because we live in a country and a province that is finally facing up to the harsh realities of centuries of exploitation and underdevelopment. The challenges are still many, but the fact is that the child support grant and the raises in pensions have created a social net as never before in this country.

We have also achieved many successes in the health sector, from the purchase of new and reliable ambulances to the expansion of the patient transport service. That service helps people who could not otherwise afford to get to hospital for routine checkups and treatments. It allows us to use the ambulances for real emergencies.

We have built 50 new clinics. We will be opening new hospitals in Calvinia and Carlsberg in the next three weeks. Unlike the dilapidated structures they replace, these are modern facilities, available to all who need them. We will build a new psychiatric hospital in Kimberley. In Upington, the hospital is now a level two institution able to offer specialist care.

Kimberley hospital has not only received a major overhaul allowing it to become a level three institution, it is now to become a training hospital. That means that for the first time we will have the capacity, together with the University of Brisbane and the Free State University medical school, to train our own people in many medical sciences and skills.

The new management and the expansion of staff numbers at Kimberley hospital, along with the revamp of its infrastructure, has given our medical staff a work environment they can be proud of, and a greater stake in what they are doing. And so our patients are seen more quickly by a nurse, a doctor, or a specialist, and the number of complaints has been drastically reduced.

Critics might say, "Upgrading a hospital in the biggest town is no great thing. What about people who live eight hours or ten hours away and who need specialist attention? Must they continue to suffer as always because the resources go to the big places?"

Our answer is no. We say, if our people are too ill or too poor to go to the big hospitals in the few towns where the specialists or those with scarce skills practice, then we must take those skills and specialisations to our people.

That is the philosophy behind our flying doctor service. That is the philosophy behind a service that says that whether you live in Upington or Aggeneys, Klipwerf or Calvinia, Soebatsfontein or Springbok, you can see a doctor or a dentist or a qualified health professional within a reasonable travelling time and distance from where you live.

The flying doctor service does exactly what its name says. It flies doctors and other skilled medical personnel to where they are needed. And if they are unable to help, the service can fly patients in need of critical care to Kimberley or other hospitals where they can get it.

Part of what makes us able to provide this service is the fact that we have increased the numbers of health professionals in our province dramatically. Instead of nine pharmacists, we now have 24, almost three times that number. We have more than trebled the number of emergency care workers from 82 to 251. We have 50% more nurses. And with the doctors provided through community service and our agreement with the Cuban government, we have been able to multiply the number of doctors serving our communities by almost 15 times!

Why do these numbers matter? Because, Mr Speaker, they tell us that those doctors and nurses and paramedics and clinics and hospitals make a real difference on the ground.

From having the fourth lowest infant mortality rate in the country just six years ago, we have moved up to the second lowest, second only to the Western Cape and equal to Gauteng.

At the same time, our extensive feeding programs combined with a comprehensive child health program have allowed us to reduce malnutrition from 2,5% to 0,5% of under five years olds in just three years.

We are sending fewer of our children to bed hungry. We are burying fewer of our infants and children because of disease and illness. These facts and figures speak of a government that cares because we know where we come from.

That, Mr Speaker, Members of the Legislature, is what delivery is all about. That is what human development is all about. It is about creating services where there were none. It is about bringing health and welfare and education to our people. Because healthy, better-fed, better-educated and socially more stable people are ultimately better able to take care of themselves.

That is what we mean by a people's contract to create work and fight poverty. We mean government intervening at the appropriate levels and where it has the resources, and we mean people grasping those opportunities to make a better life. That is our contract. That is our partnership.

Mr Speaker,

That contract and that partnership apply equally in the economic sphere, which I will come to in a moment. But first let me just review a few of the other human development areas in which we have faced and mastered enormous challenges since 1994.

The house will recall that I spoke of how we have proudly taken our place alongside the other provinces, even to the extent of humbly leading the way in some areas. One of those is education, where for the past three years we have achieved the top matric results of all nine provinces. Last year, the Senior Certificate pass rate was at 90.7%. Only two schools in the whole province recorded a pass percentage lower than 60%.

Those results bear testimony to the skills, patience, and dedication of our learners, teachers, and education administrators. Together, they have shown that the combination of state interventions and resources where they are possible and appropriate coupled with the will to succeed of the individual makes for a winning combination.

Those winning state interventions have included an approach that says that children should not be excluded from school because their parents cannot afford to send them. It has been important for us to raise the non-personnel, non-capital spending in our education system so that we can support more children at more schools.

For a province that has said it will fight poverty in partnership with the people, that is an entirely appropriate approach. The children of poor people who are educated will always have a better chance to provide for themselves and their families than those who cannot attend school.

The results are visible: The number of school age children not attending school has declined in the Northern Cape by 4,1%. More children at school means more citizens able to read and write and more school leavers with an education that sets them on the road of life.

We are happy with these results, because they say a lot about what we as a province have been able to create through our interventions in our first decade of democratic government.

And we are inspired by the matric results because they also say that we are fortunate enough to count among us young people who are willing to be disciplined, to work hard, and to strive for better things for themselves and their communities.

When I look south to Sutherland or north to Sishen, I am happy that our schools are producing young people who can become our astronomers and engineers. But also business people developing services to the large telescope and its visitors or to the mines. Young people who can take what this province has given them and turn it to the benefit of whole communities.

And I am happy too, looking at the matric results, when I think about the future of our public service. Those results tell us that a pool of bright, educated young people is growing from where we can draw our future administrators and public service providers.

Part of ensuring that they have the right skills is getting our brightest children to university. That is why we have the Premier's bursary fund to assist those who cannot afford university fees. But it is also why we have pursued the dream of an institution of higher education for the province with such vigour.

With the support of our national government we were fortunate enough last year to be able to inaugurate the National Institute for Higher Education. This is an infant we can all be very proud of. Because it is already clear today that this bonny baby will one day grow up to be our very own fully fledged university.

That is important, because with the right training we will not only overcome the lack of a critical mass of skilled people to run the private and the public sectors in the province which has plagued us, we will also have skilled people who come from and understand the communities they are employed to serve.

The same will apply to the additional 1188 new police officers we will recruit this year. They will come from our communities, and they will understand our communities.

They know that our communities have been pleased at the steady reduction of petty and serious crime throughout the province. To further underscore our commitment to the fight against crime we have built five new police stations in the province, with another four currently under construction and a further eight in the planning, making a total of 17 new police stations.

Alongside their existing colleagues, those new police officers will build relationships with the communities, which ensure that the police and the people are together when it comes to fighting crime. They will do this in the spirit of Batho Pele and in the culture of an accountable public. In fact all our public servants will embrace the spirit of Batho Pele as they put the people first.

They will understand and they will work with the communities. But they will show no understanding for the "skelms" and the "tsotsies" who plague the lives of many of our people. We will also not tolerate corruption in the public service. We will work with the national leadership of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to eradicate corruption from all sectors of the Northern Cape.

There is no doubt, Mr Speaker, that decent housing benefits the community. A house is more than just a roof. It is a place for a family to impart the values of a stable society. It is a place where homework is done because there is lighting to read by. It is a place where health and hygiene can be practised because there is clean water and sanitation.

Many houses together can make for stable communities. They give our people a stake in their country. That is why we do not see housing in isolation from all of the other components of integrated development - bulk infrastructure, schools, clinics, and community centres.

When we came here ten years ago, we discovered something called a housing backlog. That was nice language for the fact that many of our people were homeless, living in shacks and informal settlements with little access to clean water or electricity. Some of the most unfortunate individuals who had got themselves onto the wrong side of the fence historically were living in tents, in what must have been the most desolate and barren settlement in South Africa.

Those unfortunate people of the Khu and Kwe had literally been dumped by the old South African Defence Force. Today, they are living in a vibrant community in Platfontein. The army tents have been replaced by proper houses. There is a school that is achieving excellent matric results. There is access to clean water and health care and the normal facilities. For those Khu and Kwe we were supposed to forget, life has certainly changed for the better.

We mention this to remind ourselves of the realities we found when we came here. We mention this because it gives real meaning to a simple statistic of the numbers of houses built for our people since 1994. And we mention this because, once again, our approach to housing makes the concept of the people's contract very clear.

Life has changed for the better for many thousands of our people through the successes of our housing program. Government's intervention has created over 36 000 new housing units in the Northern Cape. That means that 36 000 families, or at least 180 000 people have found new homes since we came to office. That is around 20% of our population, Mr Speaker! One in every five inhabitants of the Northern Cape has moved into a decent new house aided by a government subsidy in the past ten years!

We are reminded of many emotional moments that occurred during the handing over of houses. The tears of an old lady at Delportshoop are fresh in my memory. She said to us: "Nou kan ek uiteindelik sterwe as 'n huiseienaar. Dankie Here, Delportshoop het ook die Mandela-huise gekry".

36 000 families now have home ownership and a stake in their own lives as never before. The people's contract has provided those opportunities, and that people's contract now says we will keep our houses in good condition and pay for our services.

These are successes that change lives, Mr Speaker!

These are successes that give a very human dimension to figures that say that we have 37% fewer informal dwellings today than ten years ago; or that we have spent R 2 billion on infrastructure alone between 1994 and 2003.

These are figures that lead us to believe that we are justified in saying that this is a government, which has lived up to its promise of 1999 to speed up delivery and development in the interests of the people!

We use the word "better" when we speak of a better life for all! That approach is no more visible than in the areas of sport, arts and culture.

There may be those who say that government has no business in these areas, that they are "soft" and "personal" and should be left to individuals and clubs.

But we say that sport and arts and culture are about identity, they are about us as the people of the Northern Cape and of South Africa. They are about how we see ourselves, how we express ourselves, and how we find one another.

Dit is waarom ons gevoel het dat dit belangrik was om sport toeganklik te maak vir almal. Dit is waarom ons gesę het die vergete geskiedenis van ons provinsie, van ons gemeenskappe en ons instellings moet her-skryf word. Dit is waarom ons gesę het die musiek en die tale van ons mense moet aangemoedig word, want dit is hoe ons onsself uitdruk.

That is why government has put resources into these areas. That is why we have spent over R35 million on 71 multi purpose facilities across the province since 1994. That is why we have expanded our mobile library services and put PCs into 80 outlying libraries, 40 of them with Internet access.

That is why our Oral History Project, which commenced in 2001, is recording folklore and indigenous legends for all generations to come. That is why the language unit has initiated mother tongue debates and story telling. That is why we have supported the Adam Esau memorial in Calvinia and the memorial at Kinderlę in the Richtersveld to the Nama children killed in the 19th century.

We have seen our development games grow from strength to strength, producing good young sportspeople able to take on the best from the rest of the country. We have seen them bring the medals home - 19 in all, three years ago. We will continue to support them and our teams because they can be role models, they can be a source of pride and inspiration to all of the young in our province.

We will press on with the revamping of the McGregor Museum, the human remains project, and the Alexander Bay Museum because they can all help to restore the dignity of our people and to create a more balanced view of our history.

And we will continue to support the craft centres. Already, four of them are sustaining more than 300 families with their products, which are being exported to Europe and the US.

Mr Speaker,
Members of the Legislature,

Of the R20,6 billion available to us for budgets in the years 1994 to 2003, 80% went into the areas I have grouped under the umbrella of human development. Since 1994, we have spent R16,6 billion on education, social services, health, housing, and basic local government services such as water, electricity and sanitation.

But those achievements must not obscure our view of the challenges we still face.

In the field of human development, they are many, from the fight against HIV and AIDS and other debilitating diseases like diabetes and tuberculosis to the struggle against alcohol and substance abuse.

We will get there. We will get there because we are on the right road.

We know we are on the right road when our Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, tells us this week that the tenders have been issued for the government to buy antiretrovirals and for the testing and support systems that go with rolling them out to HIV and AIDS sufferers across the country.

We know we are on the right road when we see that each of our five districts has a site ready for the rollout of antiretrovirals. These sites are busy with staff training and the visits of the accreditation teams, which look at what they still need to do to be ready for implementation.

And even while they are preparing, we are fighting the opportunistic infections like tuberculosis (TB), SDIs and pneumonia, which accompany HIV and AIDS. We are helped by lay councillors, volunteers, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who have dedicated themselves to ensuring that infected people complete their course of medication.

We have 100 voluntary testing and counselling sites across the province, because the first step to treating HIV and AIDS is for individuals to know their status. And we have 20 sites already treating infected women so that we can prevent mother to child transmission. All of our districts have AIDS councils, just as we have one for the province.

We are working as a public sector, but we are also very pleased by the level of involvement of the private sector on this crucial matter. Business, traditional healers, many of the mines - they are all contributing to our fight against HIV and AIDS.

We are on the right road with our fight against this disease. Just as we are on the right road with our economy, despite the challenges that lie ahead.

Ten years ago, Mr Speaker, the economy of this new province reflected all of the aberrations and injustices of our history.

Many of our people had been dispossessed of their land. Others were without an income as mines and farms mechanised and they lost their jobs. We were too dependent on a few very big mining houses and we were severely under-resourced in terms of individuals and small companies able to expand and grow the local economy.

In fact, the downward slide of the Northern Cape economy was nothing short of dramatic. In 1996, the year in which we were able to fully appreciate the terrible economic legacy we had been handed, our gross domestic product shrunk by 7,8%.

It was clear that we had to break out of this downward spiral or we would become the basket case of South Africa. To survive, we had to diversify our economy. Otherwise those who had doubted our ability to survive as a province could have been right.

We had to find ways to ensure that our own small suppliers of mining engineering and other supplies and services were not overlooked in favour of big companies on the Witwatersrand. We had to find ways to encourage people to found new companies to provide those supplies and services, and to create work in the process.

Together with our colleagues at national, we had to find ways of opening up mining rights and the minerals sector to communities and individuals who had previously been excluded. We had to make small-scale mining of the many valuable resources we have more attractive.

But we also had to develop alternatives to the mining and minerals sector. We had to look at tourism, at agriculture, and at manufacturing and construction, from food processing to the building of houses.

Just as importantly, we had to work for a real change in attitudes. We had to give life to the people's contract to create work and fight poverty by encouraging our people themselves to become the biggest creators of work and economic opportunity.

We are not completely there yet, but our economy is much healthier. From that terrible shrinkage of 7,8% as a result of inherited weaknesses and shortcomings, we today show growth of over 2%!

That is good. It is particularly good in times when the giant economies of the world in the US or Europe are struggling to achieve growth of 1% or even 0.5%. But because of our legacy of poverty and underdevelopment, it is still not good enough, and we face many challenges in the years ahead.

We are aware of these challenges. That is why we have set up a cabinet committee and a technical team to drive the expanded public works program announced by President Thabo Mbeki.

This program involves all spheres of government and all parastatals. While the national guidelines have said that at least 10% of a project should be labour intensive, our provincial cabinet has said this goal must be at a minimum of 20%.

As an example, the Department of Transport, Roads and Works has launched a program for women in construction and they are involved in projects in places like Prieska/Douglas, Postmasburg and Lime Acres. Another group of women have been appointed to build 15 classrooms worth R2 million.

Those women support whole families. So the labour intensive projects are of immediate benefit to our people, young and old, in even the most outlying communities.

This approach means we are already using fewer machines when we build houses and roads, water pipes and sanitation infrastructure, clinics, schools, and bridges. We are spending more of our budgets employing people to do the digging, the mixing of plaster, the big and the small jobs associated with the creation of an infrastructure which in itself is a contribution to growing the economy.

Take the bridge across the Orange River at Riemvasmaak. Building the bridge means employing people in the building trades, as labourers and drivers. But those jobs are of limited duration, and workers must then either move on to other sites or wait for the next construction project to come to their areas.

That is the narrow view. The broader view we take says that this bridge is an economic asset to the community and the province as a whole. It allows those who farm to transport their produce efficiently to markets. And, even more importantly, it says the region is open for tourism development.

And once again we have said to ourselves, there is no book in the world which says that tourists must restrict their South African travel to Cape Town, the Garden Route, and the Kruger Park, whether they are South Africans or from overseas.

We have said that the Northern Cape is a land full of wonders, from the thunder of Augrabies Falls to the quiet of Pella, from the Big Hole, which bears testimony to the labour of thousands of our forefathers, to the natural wonders of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

And this land of wonders must use its assets, it must mobilise these fascinating resources to bring travellers and tourists to our province, because every rand spent holidaying here is a rand contributed to the growth of our economy.

With the formation of the Northern Cape Tourism Authority, we have created an intervention, which can mobilise the province's tourism potential. A tourism master plan, funded by the Development Bank of South Africa, will provide the framework to ensure that all of the role players, whether they come from the private or the public sector, co-operate to ensure that we grow tourism in the interest of jobs and prosperity.

Our successes in this area indicate the massive potential that is still waiting to be unlocked. We have been growing the numbers of visitors to the Northern Cape by between 11% and 17% each year.

In the past two years alone, we have seen approximately 200 new guesthouses established. Even if they only employ four people each, that has meant 800 new jobs.

In the same two years, the game farm and private nature reserve industry has grown by 25%. Each establishment employs an average of ten staff members, creating 2400 new jobs.

The department of nature conservation has spent R 270 000 training 12 professional hunters and 47 others in related skills. All of them are now equipped to contribute to the growing game farming, hunting, and conservation industry.

More than R 28 million has been spent on at least 92 tourism projects. These include the Gateway to the Universe, which will lure those interested in astronomy to Sutherland; upgraded wine routes; and capital infrastructure spending in all the reserves in the province, to name just a few.

But Mr Speaker,

It is still the mining industry that represents the backbone of our economy.

That is why we have played our part in the formulation of the Mining Charter and the new national legislation on mineral rights and development. It is legislation that democratises ownership of our natural resources and ensures that an equitable portion of the wealth we have inherited is returned to the people.

That is why we have created the preferential procurement initiative in partnership with the more progressive mining houses and with financial institutions. It gives us the ability to support small and medium enterprises in their efforts to become the preferred suppliers to the mining houses.

Currently, the mines spend R3,4 billion each year on goods and services. Only R400 million, is spent in the Northern Cape. R3 billion goes elsewhere, and we want that to change to the benefit of all in the province.

Those who have joined us in this initiative have agreed to find ways to buy more of what they need in the province. The project will be directed primarily at empowering black businesses, but it will benefit the entire economy through joint ventures and because much more money will be spent in the Northern Cape.

Allow me to mention two major investments by mining houses, which indicate their confidence in the economic and political stability of our province.

De Beers has not only decided to move its headquarters to Kimberley, it has also put in excess of R700 million into the Kimberley Mines Combined Treatment Plant. This extends the life of their operations by at least ten years, securing jobs and contributing to the economy.

Just as Kimberley is benefiting from this display of confidence by De Beers, Namaqualand is gaining from an investment by Trans Hex of R136 million in its central plant at the Baken mine in Sanddrift. Site work at the mine has already begun boosting production levels by more than 30% of highly sought after gem quality diamonds.

We welcome these important investment decisions for their contribution to our economy. And we welcome them as an indication that business knows that it can build on the policies and approaches this provincial government has created in partnership with national government.

Part of that confidence from business comes from our ability to recognise the interdependence of economic and political issues, not just at home, but internationally. That is the basis for our policy of NEPAD, which says that we as Africans must mobilise the political will to do more for ourselves in all spheres, particularly in the economic sphere.

There can be few better examples of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) at work, Mr Speaker, than the Kimberley Process, which aims to eradicate conflict diamonds from world markets. The process is important to our compatriots in places like Sierra Leone and Liberia, because it aims at stopping illegal funding for brutal civil wars.

But it is important to us too, because it says to the world that diamonds should only be bought from mines that operate in a legal framework, which respects law, human rights, and the rights of workers.

We are pleased that our capital city is home to this important process. It says that the Northern Cape can play its role in uplifting our continent.

But even in mining, Mr Speaker, we all know that diamonds are not all the Northern Cape has to offer. We are rich in minerals, and we are moving ahead in mobilising these resources with small and large-scale miners who have the potential and the interest to develop our resources.

Since 2000, the Northern Cape office of the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs has issued 190 mining licenses, most to small-scale operations able to employ local people. The majority of licenses (75%) are for diamonds. Others include tiger-eye, salt, sand and gravel, manganese and rose quartz.

Similarly, our review of the past ten years shows us making important strides in the diversification of agriculture and its associated fields of fishing and mariculture.

In 1998, we formed the Northern Cape Fishing and Mariculture Development Association. With government funding, the organisation has been able to employ a development officer whose job is to identify projects such as oyster farming and to turn them into reality, thereby creating small business and job opportunities on the coast.

The development association has assisted Northern Cape fishers in securing increased quotas. It has played a leading role in establishing a kelp collection and harvesting company, which takes seaweed and makes it available to the cosmetics and other industries. And it is overseeing a pilot project on the viability of small-scale fishery.

This is again a classic example, Mr Speaker, of the people taking the lead in defining their requirements and government assisting them where it can and where it is appropriate. The successes of the Fishing and Mariculture Development Association are benefiting many families and communities. And it is the initiative and the hard work of those communities that have got them where they are today.

In agriculture, we inherited a sector which was largely lacking in imagination, despite the examples set by some on the Orange River and elsewhere of the advantages to be gained from export orientation and concentration on high value products.

The Grape industry is a good example of this. It has been responsible for a significant increase in employment and entry into the export market.

We have launched at least 294 agriculture projects to the value of R189 million. Land claims are being processed and redistribution continues. So far, more than 525 038 Ha has been redistributed by 127 projects which includes commonage and equity schemes with more than 4400 beneficiaries.

We are all aware and we have all rejoiced with those of our people who have been able to go home as a result of these land redistribution programs. We know the importance of having access to one's ancestral lands and of the stability that tenure and ownership can bring to families and communities.

But there is another dimension to land redistribution that is often ignored when we are swept up by the emotions of such tearful returns as those to Riemvasmaak, Schmidsdrift or Majeng. That is the fact that many of us come from a tradition of skilled farming, and the land is an economic factor we must seize to the benefit of all. This too is an area where government intervention over the past ten years has been able to give many of our people a new perspective of food security and economic independence.

Mr Speaker,

Despite all of the economic challenges we face in the Northern Cape, things have never looked brighter. That is because we are well on the road to economic growth and sustainability. And that is because of the very close partnership between our provincial and our national governments in working for economic development in the Northern Cape.

That partnership is visible when we analyse the advantages of the new mining legislation and the mining charter. And it is visible when we consider the potential of the square kilometre array radio telescope.

We are still in the international bidding phase for the telescope, but the Northern Cape offers ideal conditions for this giant leap forward for astronomy, and there are many in the international scientific community who want to see this huge and powerful array of instruments for observing the stars in our province.

It is estimated that about R 7 billion will be spent on this radio telescope, with perhaps half going to the country which wins the bid to host it. That means that South Africa could see inward investment of R 3.5 billion if we win the bid. And a huge proportion of that will come here, to the Northern Cape.

If we win - and things are looking good because of the efforts from our scientific and diplomatic communities - if we win, there will be hundreds of millions of rands pouring into the Northern Cape for roads, cable tunnels, housing, and other infrastructure. There will be technical jobs, and there will be service jobs.

The square kilometre array will not only put us on the international scientific map, it will allow us to reach for the stars.

Mr Speaker,

The house is aware that under the democratic constitution of the Republic of South Africa this has been my last State of the Province speech. This has been my last speech as Premier officially opening a legislative session.

On Tuesday next week, we will launch our ten-year provincial review. Our launch of the ten-year review will be an important part of our celebrations of ten years of freedom. Because our message must be that we have something real to celebrate. And we will celebrate with our people!

We start today with a wonderful concert with many of our own top musicians from both the province and national. They will entertain us after this official opening of parliament.

And we are taking our freedom celebrations to the people. Next week we have the sod turning ceremony for the Mayibuye Multi-purpose Centre. After that the sod turning for the Hopetown Multi-purpose Sport Facility, which is an infrastructure development project worth R3.3m creating approximately 320 temporary jobs.

We celebrate with our teachers in Principals Conferences in Upington and Kimberley and by turning the sod for new schools and the opening of classrooms in Rietvale and Kgabang.

In early March I will be fortunate enough to officiate at the Premier's excellence awards for service delivery based on Batho Pele principles in the Northern Cape administration.

The list of celebrating events is long. It includes events in Britstown, Colesberg, Noupoort, Valspan, Hartswater, GaseGonyana, Bankara-Bodulong, Riemvasmaak, Garies, Port Nolloth, the Richtersveld, and Upington. We will open bridges and sports facilities, classrooms and craft projects, and each and every time we will celebrate with our people that 10 years of freedom has meant ten years of progress for the Northern Cape.

Most importantly, we will celebrate the inauguration of our new President on the birthday of our free and democratic South Africa with live broadcasts of the proceedings from the Union Buildings. We will have an opportunity to rejoice in music and dance.

Mr Speaker, Members of the Legislature, Friends,

I leave office with one tearful and one smiling eye. I leave with a tearful eye because this is my home and you all are my Northern Cape family. And I leave with a smiling eye because I know I leave the province in very good hands. I have had the great good luck to spend the past ten years of my life working with a dedicated collective, a team of comrades who care as much about our people in this province as I do.

And I wish to thank all those who have contributed to the successes we have been able to achieve in the province. These successes are your successes!

It is in the best traditions of the Congress that I should have absolutely no concerns about handing over the baton. Because I am confident that the comrades who will take the baton have the strength and the skills and the dedication to continue with the marathon we have started - the marathon of development and upliftment of our province.

Whoever takes my place in leading the government of this province will have the backing and the support of a party, which in ten years has shown that it understands the will of the people of the Northern Cape. A party that has shown it has the skill and the determination to improve the lives of all of our people.

And that person will have the backing of our people. Because it is the deep relationship of trust between our people and ourselves which has brought us this far.

I leave with a smiling and a tearful eye because you are sending me to represent you and to serve you in a different capacity and because I will be home more often than you think. I will keep Kimberley as my home base. I will continue my ANC work in the Northern Cape. And wherever else I am deployed, I will be a voice for our beloved province!

Mr Speaker,

Ten years is not a long time. It is certainly not long enough to repair the damage and pain inflicted by centuries of colonialism and apartheid neglect and injustice.

But while there are still many challenges to be overcome, we stand before the people of the Northern Cape today proud of the significant progress towards achieving our goal of a better life. At the same time, we acknowledge that while a lot has been done to improve the condition of our people, life remains a struggle for many.

And still, they know and we in this house know that the Northern Cape is a better place today than it was ten years ago. And as we enter the second decade of our democracy, we remain committed to working in partnership with all sectors in making even greater strides.

Mr Speaker,

The struggle for a non-racist, non-sexist South Africa remains the central objective of our people and of our government. I will serve that ideal as long as I live in just the same way that I am sure all of us will continue to serve that ideal.

We will do so aware of where we come from. Aware that we have overcome great adversity to polish the rough diamond we found ten years ago into the gem we see emerging today. Aware that our people can indeed reach for the stars!

Thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
20 February 2004