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22 October 2007

Speaker
Deputy Speaker
Honourable Members of the Provincial Executive
Honourable Members of the Legislature
Mayors and Councillors of Local Government
Amakhosi present
The Director-Generals
Heads of Department
Heads of Public Entities
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
People of KwaZulu-Natal:

South Africa is increasingly playing a pivotal role in shaping the direction of the world. In a relatively short period of time in the long march of history we have indeed come very far. This year, as a member of the United Nations Security Council, we have taken our place alongside the most influential nations of the world.

The blueprint of our democratic dispensation – The Freedom Charter – reminds us that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white". It went further to call on South Africans to ensure that we would not rest until the ultimate goal of participative democracy is achieved by declaring that "The People shall govern".

In accordance with this principle, the Provincial Legislature convenes here in Vryheid this week in order to be seen bringing government to the people, as spelt out in the Freedom Charter and the subsequent democratic Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Indeed, the people are governing.

Deepening democracy

In this regard we must thank the Speaker of the Legislature, the Honourable Willies Mchunu, and his staff for literally "Taking Parliament to the People'. This is a significant step which ensures that we live up to our commitment as government to ensure that the voice of our people does not only guide us in our policy-making, but also informs our programmes of service delivery.

Members of both the African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) must work together to ensure the deepening of democracy and service delivery in the province. Members of both these parties are largely people who were previously disadvantaged by the previous political dispensation.

Service delivery

Together with our Izimbizo programme, "Taking Parliament to the People" reaches out to our people all over KwaZulu-Natal, irrespective of their political affiliation, race, gender, religion, class or status. This inclusive democracy brings in the collective and individual views of our people, and points us in the correct development path towards a better life for all. While scientific research provides us with the cold statistical evidence to inform our planning, it is the live interaction with the beneficiaries of government programmes which adds significant value and relevance to our work.

Over the past year we have taken government to all corners of KwaZulu-Natal and we have developed a sense of the common areas of concern among our people. The recurrent concerns raised in these Izimbizo have centred on inadequate delivery of services such as water, electricity, sanitation and road infrastructure.

Freedom has brought progress
When crafting the Bill of Rights, the founders of our democracy were mindful of the fact that political rights without a sound socio-economic foundation would be unsustainable.

Our endeavour to eradicate poverty and reducing unemployment has been sustained within our limited resources.

* This year, our government is spending R7,637 billion on housing, road construction and maintenance, agriculture, land reform and restitution, tourism, and corridor development projects in the province.

* The government's purpose is to create jobs.

* The Gross Domestic Product per region (GDP-R), of the province of KwaZulu-Natal has risen five-fold from 1 percent in 1999 to 5,3 percent in 2005, and is now the second largest in the country. Following this trend, the provincial economy is likely to reach a 10 percent growth rate by the year 2014, which is far above the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA) target of 6 percent.

We have begun 2007 with confidence, knowing that delivery on some of the key objectives of Government is on track:

* We have progressively eradicated the bucket toilet system in KwaZulu-Natal to 100 buckets. In 2003 we had 13 605 households utilising the bucket sanitation system. We progressively eradicated the bucket system to 3 226 in 2004, and 100 in 2007. By December 2007 we aim to eradicate the remaining 100 buckets.

* The water and sanitation at clinics programme is aimed at the provision of water and sanitation at the remaining 65 clinics by December 2007.

* The total number of households in the province is 2 272 000. Households supplied with water are 1 740 786. The provincial backlog stands at 531 214. During the first six months of this financial year, 45 440 households were served. In 2005, 1 128 496 consumers received free basic water services compared to 938 634 in 2004. Twenty water purification plants are being installed to provide water to remote rural areas. Out of 10 199 345 of people in KwaZulu-Natal, 2 673 069 are without access to clean water. It is estimated that R3 207 682 800 billion is needed in this province to eradicate water and sanitation backlogs. Processes are underway to enlist assistance from National Government to secure additional funds for the backlogs generated through our historical imbalances.

* In KwaZulu-Natal 1 218 612 households were supplied with sanitation services. During the first six months of this financial year 20 504 households were served. The provincial backlog stands at 1 032 884 households and 433 452 households were targeted in 2004/05.

* The total number of households supplied with electricity is 1 534 125. During the first six months of this financial year 12 900 households were served. The provincial backlog stands at 724 975 households. In 2005, 139 718 consumers received free electricity services compared to 2004, where 35 533 received free electricity services.

* We now have Umzimkhulu in the fold of KwaZulu-Natal, and they are completing our KwaZulu-Natal family.

Business unusual approach

In line with the "business unusual approach", the following critical objectives were set as resolutions following the Selbourne Indaba:

* Firstly to ensure the targets of basic service provisions is met
* To ensure the strengthening of monitoring and evaluation of government projects, with regular reports being submitted on progress made
* Prioritisation of 24 Cluster Apex Programmes adopted by Cabinet in October 2007 will be underlined by the intensification of the fight against poverty, with an added emphasis on improving the ability of the poor to access government services.

Comprehensive approach in treatment of HIV and AIDS, TB and STIs (HAST)

A comprehensive approach to the treatment programmes of HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) has been adopted involving the community, other sector departments as well as local government. This includes maintenance of the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) Programme, the Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) programme for rape victims and staff, and the Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) and Anti Retroviral (ARV) programmes, as well as the multi drug resistance (MDR), extreme drug resistance (XDR) and Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) programmes.

Eighty percent of the primary healthcare (PHC) facilities have community-based governance structures. 4 246 Home Based Care (HBC) teams are providing services at community level. 72 national integrated pilot (NIP) sites are established, with 24 soup kitchens for the provision of cooked meals to some 1 300 families.

Sixty-nine ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) service points are accredited with a total of 110 249 ART patients registered, with the target of 120 000 for this year well in sight. 100 percent of babies that qualified received Nevirapine doses. In order to improve the comprehensive of the programme, TB clients are offered VCT whilst HIV positive patients are screened for TB. Nutritional support packs are provided for patients on TB and ARV treatment, with 81 230 adults and 14 561 children benefiting from this programme during this reporting period.

The TB Control programme prioritised areas for strengthening of the programme in order to improve delivery, implementation and management of TB patients. The overall initial impact of these interventions has seen the following improvements:

* the provinces bacterial coverage in diagnosis has increased from 75 percent to 78 percent
* the smear conversion rate improved from 54 to 60 percent
* the cure rate improved from 35 to 42 percent
* the defaulter rate decreased from 16 to 13 percent
* the number of TB cases in the reporting and recording system not evaluated has decreased from 20 to 12 percent.

The number of beds required for the treatment of patients presenting with TB has been based on the following:

* There are currently 92 000 TB cases. The length of stay for TB treatment is between seven to 14 days. At least 50 percent of patients are diagnosed at PHC Clinics and Community Health Centre (CHC) level and 50 percent at Hospitals. At least 50 percent of patients diagnosed at hospitals are admitted and require care for an average of 10 days.
* At least 15 percent of the TB cases (13 800) require re-treatment and the average length of stay is 75 days.
* For MDR and XDR TB there are 683 registered cases. The average length of stay is 180 days in hospitals.

Masifundisane (Lets educate each other)

The government has allocated R100 million in its campaign to end illiteracy and innumeracy in this province hence the on-going programme of Masifundisane hopes to eradicate the problem of illiteracy by 2009.

Heritage

In 2008 the government will continue to implement its heritage programme by commemorating important historical events such as 180 years since the death of King Shaka, the commemoration of Impi yaseNcome (Battle of Blood River), 40 years since the death of King Cyprian and father of the reigning King Goodwill Zwelithini, and 100 years since the sentencing of King Dinuzulu for treason at Greytown following the Bhambatha uprising in 1906.

The 2010 Football World Cup

Structures:

Fundamental to the successful implementation of the provincial strategy are sound working arrangements of all structures within the provincial government. In addition these structures have to cement the working together of the three spheres of government to deliver a successful 2010 World Cup in the province.

For this reason it has been necessary to create a hierarchical structure of governance and technical task teams in the province to co-ordinate all activities and aspects related to the World Cup. The most important governance and co-ordinating structures are:

1. The Political Oversight Committee

In August 2006 the Premier-in-Cabinet appointed the MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Dr ZL Mkhize to chair the 2010 Political Oversight Committee (POC), supported by the MEC for Sport and Recreation, Mr A Rajbansi.

The other MECs in the POC are the MECs for: Transport, Safety and Security; Local Government and Traditional Affairs; Education; and Arts, Culture and Tourism.

The POC's terms of reference include:

* to provide political leadership, direction and interface between the 2010 Local Organising Committee (2010 LOC), the national government and the municipalities involved in the 2010 World Cup
* to oversee the continuous improvement of the 2010 Framework Document of the Province and its implementation
* to facilitate and co-ordinate the involvement of external stakeholders
* to receive and evaluate all project management reports emanating from the various technical committees and task teams on all facets of the 2010 World Cup project
* to ensure compliance with FIFA and 2010 LOC requirements
* to lead and guide the Technical Committee to ensure successful preparation for the 2010 World Cup; and
* to report to Cabinet and the Legislature as and when required to do so.

In addition to the provincial political representatives in the political oversight committee, the Mayor of the host city is invited as a permanent representative, while it is also the intention to invite the Mayors of the District Municipalities identified as potential base camps training venues from time to time as the need arises.

2. Technical Committee

To support and feed into the Political Oversight Committee, there is a technical committee at provincial level, made up of Heads of Departments represented in the Political Oversight Committee and convened by the Director-General in the Office of the Premier. Its terms of reference are:

* to provide technical and managerial support to the Political Oversight Committee particularly as it relates to the implementation of the Framework Document for 2010
* to co-ordinate the full implementation of all activities within the province to prepare for 2010 within guidelines set by the Political Oversight Committee
* to develop a detailed strategic plan and to determine specific projects within the department’s areas of work together with the attendant budgets. For instance, the Department of Transport needs to provide a people movement strategy within the province and its budget.
* to establish and guide various sub-committee/task teams that are required to oversee work streams emanating from the 2010 Framework Document; and
* to provide a realistic timetable for activities that must be finalised in the short, medium and long-term to ensure compliance with the FIFA and local organising committee (LOC) deadlines.

As directed by Cabinet, the Technical Committee is convened by the Director-General, who is also responsible for overall co-ordination of 2010 preparations within the provincial government. The DG reports directly to the Political Oversight Committee. In addition, the DG uses this Committee to facilitate the bringing together of all relevant stakeholders, including the Municipal Manager of eThekwini and the targeted District Municipalities, so that the province has an integrated approach in all matters related to 2010.

3. Provincial Co-ordinator

The Office of the Premier has contracted a full-time co-ordinator to manage the football development programme in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). In addition, a contract post at the level of Chief Director has been filled to co-ordinate all 2010-related activities within the provincial government, reporting to the DDG: Special projects and Director-General: the Office of the Premier.

The establishment of a full-time provincial 2010 Office headed by the provincial Co-ordinator is regarded as critical to the successful implementation of the provincial 2010 WC strategy. The co-ordinator is a custodian of the Provincial Strategic Framework, both from a context and content point of view. To this end the Co-ordinator will create a provincial link with all key role players at the provincial and national levels. As such the co-ordinator will drive the technical work streams which prepare work that is finalised by the Technical Committee.

Municipal technical committees

At municipal level, in the eThekwini Metro and in the four district municipalities which receive provincial infrastructure grant funding to prepare for 2010, similar technical committees to co-ordinate activities within that municipality.

Programmes

* Consolidating a provincial 2010 business plan, incorporating the work/projects of government departments and the identified municipalities.
* The province is also working on a Provincial Marketing Strategy to help position KZN as a world-class tourist destination and to influence decisions by qualifying teams to set up base camps in the province.
* On the 7 and 8 November the province will host the 2nd Provincial 2010 Indaba at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC.
* Durban will host the 2010 Football World Cup Preliminary Draw on the 25th of November this year, drawing over 3000 delegates and journalists from 204 confirmed countries. This will afford us an opportunity to position and showcase ourselves from the tourism and investment point of view. The presence of 200 international journalists means the event will be beamed live across the globe, providing a huge marketing opportunity for us as a province.
* Soccerex is an international soccer exhibition to be held in Johannesburg from 26 to 28 November, and KZN will participate in this, another opportunity to market the province to an international audience
* KZN is already engaging a number of top footballing countries to convince them to set up base camps in the province, the most recent being Germany.
* 2010 will be the first FIFA Football World Cup event in the African continent hosted by KZN.
* The King Senzakhona International Airport will cost R6,8 billion and the Moses Mabhida Stadium – which it is hoped will host one of the semi-final matches – R2,2 billion, a total of R9,0 billion – a first for the Continent of Africa to be spent in this province.

The new King Senzangakhona International Airport in La Mercy is expected to be operational by the time the World Cup kicks-off. Thousands of soccer lovers from all corners of the globe will attend, benefiting not only the established hospitality industry, but to enterprises such as B and Bs, the small beading industry, small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and others.

All this goes to prove that the 2010 Football World Cup showcase will not just a frivolous money-gobbling exercise, but will bring about unprecedented economic and social benefits to provide a rich legacy for generations to come.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
22 October 2007