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9 December 2004

Programme Director
The Mayor, His Worship Councillor
Honourable MEC
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Senior government officials
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

The purpose of our visit this morning is to honour the contract we entered into with the people of this province and the country as a whole, that we will create jobs and improve the quality of life.

As government we want to say, we have heard your voices and we are here to honour the mandate you gave to us when you cast your vote during the April general elections.

We are here to fulfil the promise we made to you.

This programme was nationally launched by President Thabo Mbeki in May this year. He expressed his desire to see the provinces embracing this Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) by contributing to social development and growth.

We are pleased that we were the first province to launch this programme in August this year.

Ladies and gentlemen this is an initiative of government to create jobs, develop skills, improve our communities and take marginalized poor people out of the spiral of poverty.

EPWP emphasises the use of available government funds in the fulfilment of essential services and including infrastructure development using labour intensive methods to create as many job opportunities as possible.

On regular basis, government spends millions of rand to buy goods and services from the private sector including the public.

Given the shortage of jobs, government has conceptualized the idea of EPWP as a way for government to use its financial resources in programmes that have the potential to use labour-intensive methods, thereby opening job opportunities for many of our people.

Allow me therefore, Honourable Mayor, to announce that through this EPWP:

* each municipality will receive funding for the surfacing of 500 metres of an identified street
* each municipality will then be tasked to identify a road, which has an economic impact in the town or region, for re-gravelling
* the project is set to start on Monday, 13 December, this year with recess in between and again resume on 10 January 2005
* 100 jobs will be creates in each municipality in the first phase of surfacing the 500 metre street for a period of six months
* additional employees will be introduced in the second phase of regraveling an access road
* each municipality will receive over nine hundred thousand for the project (i.e. R925 000)
* the project will create 4230 jobs throughout the province.

EPWP is by no means the only initiative of government poverty relief.

Poverty has many causes and also manifests itself in various ways. Poverty is characterised by lack of access to means of production including land, jobs skills, infrastructure and essential social services.

In response government has, since 1994, come up with a multifaceted approach to fighting poverty.

Social grants, affordable public health care, free basic services, free education, crime prevention, urban renewal and rural development are some of government interventions to create a better life for all and turn the tide against poverty.

As our progress over the last ten years gathers momentum, our prospects will depend on our ability as a nation, to move from poverty to ability, as one writer once wrote ‘we have built our democracy, now we need to build trust’.

Various sector education and training authorities (SETAs) are leaving no stone unturned in their effort to roll out learnership programmes as part of skills development.

Through the National Youth Service Programme, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund is funding training of labour-intensive construction supervisors in some provinces.

At the Provincial Growth and Development Summit two months ago, we presented the EPWP framework as part of our position as government to facilitate growth and create jobs. Both business and labour amplified their support for the programme.

As the provincial government we will continue to engage with both stakeholders to make EPWP a truly national affair. We therefore appeal to our local authorities to make this programme a success.

Most sectors under the EPWP are making a remarkable progress. The infrastructure sector is expected to generate thousands of job opportunities in the next five years primarily from conditional infrastructure grants allocated to provinces and municipalities.

These numbers might increase with the adoption of EPWP labour-intensive guidelines by other programmes such as electrification, public infrastructure maintenance and the construction of civil infrastructure for housing programmes.

In conclusion,

Let me also use this opportunity to wish you a ‘crime free festive season’, and further appeal to you to refrain from consuming excessive alcohol and in some instances unhealthy concoctions.

Let us revive our health home brewed beer and refrain from using additives which have detrimental effects on our health.

Let us contribute meaningfully towards the on-going campaign of 16 Days of Activism for non-violence against women and children.

The festive season is a time of love and sharing, let us spread good will and refrain from stabbings and domestic violence.

We cannot and will not afford to continue making headlines for the wrong reasons. We need to be a nation that is driven by the spirit of LETSEMA and Vuk’ uzenzele, working together for a common good and taking initiatives to improve our lives.

In discharging our responsibilities we should be driven by the understanding that service to the public is of extreme importance.

I am confident that there are many people in Postmasburg and in our province as whole, who not only want to see our beautiful province achieve a better life for all, but who are also prepared to do whatever is necessary to help the build our country.

I have no doubt that we will redouble our efforts to work together for the common goal, that of creating jobs and eradicating poverty.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

Batho Pele

I thank you all

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
9 December 2004