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18 February 2009

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Members of the Legislature
Marena le Dikgosi
Mayors and councillors present
Director-General and all public servants
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen
My dear comrades
People of the Free State

"Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.
History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage,
Need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.
Give birth again"

Honourable Speaker, this passage from a poem by Maya Angelou espouses the spirit of continuity and change. This is so, Honourable Speaker, because five years ago we stood in front of this House to sign a People's Contract to create work and fight poverty.

We observed then, that our first ten years of freedom and democracy have been ten years of unity in action, of peace and stability. We have increasingly made resources available to uplift disadvantaged South Africans, and expanded opportunities to build a better life for all.

We were inspired by the great achievements of our first decade of freedom and were even more optimistic by the conspiring fortunes of our immediate future, made possible by the energy and determination of our people to rise above the indignity and under-development of the past.

Today, Honourable Speaker, we have a caring government with housing programmes for the poor, with social security grants for pensioners, young children, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. We have programmes to redistribute land, quality education that is open to all and other new opportunities for the youth. We have clinics opened closest to where people live, households connected to water and electricity, with more people connected to telecommunications, and with laws to deal with the cancer of racism.

We achieved all of this because of the contract we entered into with our people. The citizens of the Free State claimed their rights and demanded better treatment in government offices. They joined our national call to form partnership for a better life for all.

Our achievements were in part also made possible by our public servants who serve the public with respect and efficiency.

We address this Honourable House today, at the commencement of a year filled with exciting possibilities and developments.

We join millions around the world in congratulating the first ever black President of the United States of America (USA), President Barrack Hussein Obama. His election into office signifies the triumph of democracy.

Honourable Speaker, we also address this House when economic recession is sinking major world economies. Major economies such as Britain, Japan and the United States (US) are facing unprecedented economic challenges with major implications for poorer countries. South Africa will not be immune to this economic meltdown and therefore as we put forward our plans for the next five years, we do so with the necessary caution and anticipation.

In response to this stark reality of our economy, we initiated a major percentage shift in infrastructure expenditure according to our Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) priorities. During the 2007/08 financial year we increased our infrastructure expenditure by 40 percent. It is a bold move by any standard because government has to lead by example in terms of economic revival.

Our major investment drive in infrastructure and productivity will however cushion our economy to some extent. We welcome the boldness of our State President and the Minister of Finance regarding their relentless articulation of a pro-poor economic perspective during the recent Davos world economic forum.

This current crisis calls on all world leaders to move towards a new thinking on how to manage global economies, which must include an end to a cult of greed and excessiveness.

This, Honourable Speaker, it is also a year where our many years of preparations for the FIFA 2010 soccer tournament will be put to test. The Confederations Cup will be an appropriate dress rehearsal for next year.

The 2010 Soccer World Cup represents the greatest gift to our country and our nation's greatest dream. It must serve to unite all our people behind their country, but like Nelson Mandela cautioned: "South Africa must treat this gift with humility and without arrogance, because after all, we are all equal."

We are excited to declare to this House that the Free State is ready to host both these major events. We can say it now with confidence that when the final whistle blows, signalling the end to this global spectacle, the world cup will have contributed to the advancement of our continent's development agenda. We will benefit from the promotion of healthy life styles, sports and infrastructure development, economic spin-offs as well as the appreciation of non-discrimination.

The year 2009 is also a year of our country's fourth democratic general elections. These elections are fundamentally about policies and programmes that will meaningfully improve the lives of the people.

We are confident, Honourable Speaker that the people of the Free State will come out in their large numbers to confirm that ours is a solid democracy based on a dynamic Constitution. The voter registration process is an indication of the overwhelming enthusiasm among our voters regarding these elections. We take this opportunity of our address to this House, to plead for political tolerance and an environment conducive for free and fair elections.

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker, when we addressed this House for the first time five years ago, we too, like our predecessors in a democratic South Africa, were guided by the Freedom Charter. The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was our practical plan of action to roll back the accumulated deficits of apartheid. Our vision remains to build a society that is truly united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic.

We committed ourselves to work with communities in forging this people's contract to build a better country. In this, we were inspired by our commitment to democratic consultation, mass participation, volunteerism, moral regeneration and a people centred and people driven development.

We committed ourselves to:

* A growing economy
* Sustainable livelihoods
* Access to services
* Comprehensive social security
* Reduction of crime and corruption
* Constitutional right and governance
* A better Africa and the world

Our priorities were informed by our Vision 2014 which commands us to halve poverty and unemployment.

Honourable Speaker, I am deeply privileged to stand here in this House to present on behalf of all the hard working men and women of our democratic government, an account of this mandate of our people. We say without arrogance, that indeed we have lived up to the mandate and expectations of our people. We have brought closer the dream of a better life for all.

In spite of all these milestones, we are the first to concede that working together we can still do more.

Allow us, Honourable Speaker, to now narrate our journey as ambassadors of the people of the Free State, by giving a cursory view of the last fifteen years and a much more detailed reflection of the last five years.

Reflections of the past five years: Proud of our past and confident of our future.

As we approach the end of the fifteen years of our democracy, there is no doubt that we have made great strides in the direction that defined the essence of our struggle. For our people, freedom will go down in history as the greatest moment infused with a sense of victory and accomplishment.

As we march in celebration of the fruits of our freedom, we should however not forget that we are the heirs of the great legacy laid by of our revolutionary fathers and mothers. The architects of our history who endured decades of pain and suffering in a quest for freedom. As we invoke the genius of their deeds, we today stand tall and proud among nations of the world.

As we look back, we can say with a deep sense of humility and pride that the overreaching ideals of democratic transformation in our country, fostering economic growth, accelerating development and improving the living conditions of our people for the present and the future generations, has been attained. Yet we understand that the road ahead is narrow, long and not easy.

Not only were these priorities about addressing past failures and injustices, they were also about charting a path for the future. In this regard, government has invested time, resources and commitment in ensuring that these goals become the defining traits of our democracy now and forever.

Effective governance and administration: A key to effective service delivery.

The pillars of democracy are now deeply entrenched in the province. These include accountability, integrity, co-operation and high ethical standards. Embedded in these is the extent to which democracy is served by elements of good governance in unravelling development complexities and bringing about desired democratic transformation in line with values of our freedom.

The province has established the following four cluster committees to serve as instruments of integrated service delivery and co-ordination: Governance and administration; social and human development; economic, employment and investment; and justice, crime prevention and security clusters.

This system has proven to be effective and efficient with regard to:
* Effective co-ordination and integration of cross cutting strategic provincial issues.
* Implementation of projects and special focused programmes emanating from the Free State Growth and Development Strategy (FSGDS) and Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and also in support of initiatives such as Accelerated Skills Growth of South Africa (AsgiSA), Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JipSA) and the National Spatial Development Perspectives.
* Effective redress of barrier in supporting lead departments to co-ordinate province-wide projects.
* Implementation of effective evaluation, strategic support and monitoring of departments, municipalities, state-owned enterprises and the private sector.

The cluster system is based on functional specialisation intended to foster synergy between policy development and implementation. We have also established the Premier's Co-ordinating Forum comprising of Executive mayors, mayors, Members of the executive council, South African Local Government Association (SALGA), Traditional Leaders and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) representatives.

We all know that the endless discrimination and inequalities created by the apartheid and homeland systems left no aspect of life, including the public sector, untouched. As we stand here today, we however can proudly say that this changed after 1994.

In the past fifteen years, we have seen far-reaching benefits of these waves of change brought about by our people. Like elsewhere in the country, the provincial government has made tangible progress in ensuring that representivity becomes the hallmark of the public sector. Of the total 58 044 civil servants in the province in June 2008, 85 percent were black while 15 percent were white.

Change did however not only end there. Also striking were measures to ensure gender representivity. Within the provincial government, women now constitute 27,3 percent of the 330 senior managers. Unparallel commitment to representivity stretches beyond the margins of race balance to disability. Whilst the percentage of people with disability was 0,3 percent in 2006, it now stands at 1,2 percent.

The provincial government also placed emphasis on leadership as an essential ingredient to build organisational capacity. The eleven Heads of Department (HoD) positions have been filled. Equally important, all Heads of Department annually sign their performance agreements as the sign of their commitment to service delivery.

Although there were plans to develop and invest in human capital in the province prior to 2004, numerous difficulties were experienced. The provincial government was marred by the challenges of attracting and retaining scares skills. With time and lessons leant, this has changed.

Envisioned in this strategy is the fact that human capital is fundamental to effective service delivery. It is the strength of separate yet interdependent and shared elements of governance intended to revolutionise the public service. A vivid commitment of this strategy is the Free State Training and Development Institute which is concerned with facilitating province-wide interventions to build capacity, including implementing an integrated human resource development strategy, employment equity plan and retention strategy.

Participatory governance is another enduring trait of good governance in the province. The province had the third highest voter turn-out of 90,99 percent in 2004. Party representation at provincial, but primarily local government reflects various ideological strands present in South Africa's political landscape. Beyond political representation, other participatory democracy forums include Izimbizo and EXCO-Meets-the-People campaigns.

The provincial government also takes seriously ethical conduct in its everyday business which stretches to issues of corruption. By its nature, corruption imposes a high premium on the poor by denying them access to basic human security needs. As a consequence, the provincial government has embarked on a number of campaigns over the years to turn the tide against scourge.

An examination of financial misconduct reports by the Public Service Commission between 2001 and 2007 have shown that provincial departments have been highly responsive in their submission of finalised cases, where this has seen 100 percent reporting compared to 80 percent of departments in 2001/2002.

These achievements reverberate in the minds of our people of whom many are satisfied with the provincial government. In a study conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in 2007 for the provincial government, over 58 percent of the respondents indicated that they were satisfied with the performance of the provincial government. A total of 57 percent ranked the provincial government officials as the friendliest. More gratifying was that a similar percentage of the respondents also felt that government services were easily accessible, including inputs by persons with disability in the province.

You will note, Honourable Speaker that we make reference to independent studies made by independent and credible organisations so that our performance evaluation is both credible and objective.

We are growing an economy that benefits all.

Of the many responsibilities of government, we have seen the need to build a robust economy characterised by equal distribution of wealth. Decades of economic planning based on the needs of apartheid not only shattered prospects for economic growth, but mainly the equal distribution of resources.

Impelled by the destiny of democracy fifteen years ago, the most important task for the African National Congress (ANC)-led government was to engineer a radical redistribution of wealth programmes and to create a stable economic climate. This entailed breaking the structural features of poverty by widening economic opportunities through employment creation and attracting investment towards the fulfilment of the promise that all shall share in the wealth of the country.

In November 2004, the province embarked on a rigorous consultative process to map the provincial shared growth and development landscape. This process culminated in the development of the Free State Growth and Development Strategy (FSGDS), which was launched in May 2005 and reviewed in 2006 in line with the National Spatial Development Perspective.

Beyond mapping the provincial development perspective, the FSGDS combines an approach to shape integrated governance which includes creating institutional mechanisms crucial for shared growth. It has created synergy between development and implementation in attaining shared development outcomes based on the province's development needs and priorities.

The FSGDS is however an end product of a quest for integrated governing planning, as well as defining the relationship between departmental co-ordination and sector specific priorities. This process started with the development of the Free State Development Plan 2002/05 following the establishment of the Premier's Economic Advisory Council in 2001 to explore ways and means towards meaningful economic development in the province.

To embed inter-governmental planning convergence amongst all varying spheres of government, all district municipalities have aligned their spatial development frameworks with the FSGDS. This process also includes continuous review and alignment of the integrated development plans (IDPs) with the FSGDS. District municipalities have also in the past years convened their Growth and Development Summits to invigorate growth and development.

In the past five years, the ideals of the FSGDS have produced laudable results. Marking a break with the past, the provincial economy has achieved sustained growth rates of between 4,2 percent and 4,3 percent in 2004 and 2006 respectively.

2004 Economic Growth Rate: 4,2 percent
2005 Economic Growth Rate: 3,9 percent
2006 Economic Growth Rate: 4,3 percent

As the economy grew, so did employment opportunities. The tide and burden of unemployment was markedly reversed.

2005 Unemployment Rate: 28,3 percent
2006 Unemployment Rate: 25,4 percent
2007 Unemployment Rate: 23,6 percent

As mentioned earlier, the province will however not be immune to the current economic global meltdown.

The yearning for freedom also meant bridging the divide between the first and the second economy. Measures to stimulate economic growth in the second economy included Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) development. At the heart of this intent is the breaking the cycle of economic discrimination that created barriers to economic prosperity for many people.

The provincial government has developed a number of strategies and policy documents to bring about shared benefits of freedom in the economic front. These include the policy to support SMMEs and supply chain management policy to ensure preferential procurement. In line with these policies and many other strategies, by June 2008, the Free State Development Corporation had approved loans totalling over R32 million primarily for SMMEs.

We must mention, Honourable Speaker, that through our land reform programme, we have concluded a total of 703 projects with a total of 7 672 beneficiaries of whom 2 071 were women.

We have to date invested a total amount of R157 million in agricultural and related infrastructure as well as successfully settling 3 049 of the 3 081 claims which benefited 5 831 households.

Our emphasis on skills development especially for youth, has ensured that through the JipSA and other interventions we have gone a long way in attending to the production of scarce skills. Our National Skills Development Programme which we do in partnership with the Department of Labour (DoL), is well on course.

National Youth Service Programme was another important intervention. Through this programme, we support nation-building programmes by involving youth in delivery of services, whilst at the same time it enables them to acquire and apply skills to access economic opportunities upon completion of the programme. The first phase of this programme produced 341 beneficiaries who were successfully placed in government.

Social and Human Development: A better life for all.

Social development is about the formation of human capabilities and the creation of space for the deployment of such capabilities for humanity to thrive. It demands of the government to turn the tide against deprivation and injustices that have for decades defined our country's landscape.

Today the frontiers of poverty have been redefined. Figures available through Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) point to notable strides in the provision of the building blocks of a better society that we are today.

Households with access to piped water
Year 2001: 95,7 percent
Year 2007: 97,3 percent

Households with access to piped water within 200 meters
Year 2001: 84,2 percent
Year 2007: 89,6 percent

This implies that nine in ten households in the province had access to piped water within 200 meters of the households.

The war on poverty was launched in Xhariep in August 2008 by the former Deputy President. As a province, we have developed and commenced with the implementation of the Provincial Poverty Alleviation Strategy.

Over 226 outreach campaigns have been successfully rendered throughout the province through, amongst others, public meetings, social relief of distress distributions, and door-to-door campaigns. Food and clothing banks have been established in all five districts.

Honourable Speaker, may we remind this House that the Free State had the largest backlog of 160 000 buckets which we committed to eradicate. From this original backlog we have eradicated 136 030 buckets and the remaining 23 970 will be eradicated by the end of March 2009.

Sanitation has implications not only on the living conditions of the people, but also on health. Unpleasant toilet facilities could lead to the outbreak of diseases. Of the total 802 872 households in the province in 2007, 61,4 percent had flush toilets. More plausible is that households without any form of toilet facilities dropped from 9,7 percent in 2001 to 3,2 percent in 2007.

Whilst 86,6 percent of the households in the province were using electricity for lighting, 47 percent were using it for cooking and 54,6 percent for heating.

Honourable Speaker, housing provision is about the intertwined web of social and economic dynamics central to sustainable livelihoods. It is also a demonstration of the provincial government's profound determination to rid the province of impoverishment as a means towards the attainment of a better life for all.

We are proud to announce that to date, we have completed 48 995 houses.

The gap between the level of education and poverty is enormous. Education has intrinsic value as it improves the quality of life. Good quality education enhances development. In the same way, limited or lack of education and the resultant negative consequence exacerbates poverty.

Education at the foundation stage is also high on the list of priorities. By 2007, the provincial government registered 1 318 early childhood development (ECD) sites providing services to 82 003 children. Financial support was also provided to 434 ECD sites benefiting 28 558 children from poor families in 2007 throughout the province.

We are also proud to report that as of May this year, we would have eliminated all platoon schools as part of our commitment to ensuring that no learner receives education under a tree. We are equally mindful of challenges associated with learner transport at the moment and we wish to make a commitment that this government will soon find a lasting solution to this challenge.

More reassuring is that access to quality healthcare has seen immense progress. Over six million people accessed the primary healthcare services by 2007. Healthcare was also extended to rural areas through mobile clinics. Quality assurance programmes were implemented in all hospitals.

Honourable Speaker, we are very proud of the medical team that performed a successful operation at the Universitas Academic Hospital to separate the Siamese twins born at Bongani Hospital. We are equally proud of the team that performed the first ever bone marrow transplant in the Free State.

Our pilot project to provide Aero-Medical services is well on course and based on its success, we can ever rule out future possibilities of expansion.

The magnitude of social relief interventions in the province is substantial. By February 2009, 756 958 people were benefiting from social grants.

Old Age: 141 220 beneficiaries
Disability: 1 00 553 beneficiaries
Foster Care: 44 139 beneficiaries
Care Dependency: 4 250 beneficiaries
Child Support: 466 758 beneficiaries

At the same time, an amount of R4,1 million was spent on social relief programme benefiting 8 373 households. The national school nutrition programme benefits 413 546 learners whilst 10 821 are beneficiaries of the orphan-support programme.

All these accomplishments have not gone unnoticed by our people. The HSRC study reveals that almost one in every three respondents said that life in the province has improved. Over 60 percent were also optimistic that life in the future will improve. A total of 67 percent of the respondents indicated that they were satisfied with the housing available to them.

Positive response also extended to the provision of basic services. A total of 80 percent of the respondents said that water provided in the province was of high quality. Similarly, 66 percent said that they were satisfied with the toilet and sewage facilities available in the households.

Whilst 82 percent were satisfied with the provision of education, 80 percent felt that the provision of education in the past five years in the province has improved. More gratifying is the fact that 81 percent of the respondents reported that at no one time in the past year were they or members of their family went hungry because there was not enough food

Ensuring a safe and secure environment!

Honourable Speaker, I am happy to report that the Free State is one of the safest provinces in the country. While we acknowledge that more still need to be done, we have managed to reduce the levels of crime over the last five years even though we may not have met our targets of reducing contact crimes by between seven to ten percent per annum.

Incidents of murder dropped from 902 between April 2004 and March 2005 to 879 between April 2007 and March 2008. These constitute a decrease of 2,5 percent, while attempted murder decreased by 29,1 percent. The same trend was discernable with regards to rape where 29,1 percent decrease was registered. With respect to common assault 21,1 percent decrease was achieved.

Credit for these achievements must be given not only to the men and women in uniform but also to members of the community who continue to play a pivotal role in mobilising our people to take active part in the fight against crime. Community police forums (CPF), police reservists, victim support volunteers and other members of the community sacrifice their time and energy in ensuring that the Free State is a safer province for all. School Safety also received attention where by 520 officials were trained on Safer School Campaign.

In line with the decision of the ruling party, the community police forums are busy with the process of establishing street committees, village committees and patrol committees. These initiatives will further strengthen police and community relations as well as their capacity to fight crime.

As a means to further enhance endeavours to deal with crime, three specialised courts dealing with the abuse of women and children have been established in Bloemfontein, Welkom and Phuthaditjhaba. A specialised court was established in Bloemfontein to handle incidents of commercial crimes. The crime prevention efforts also include awareness campaigns where communities are mobilised to get involved in various crime prevention activities and initiatives.

The provincial Anti-Corruption Strategy was developed and approved by the Executive Council (EXCO) in February 2008. The strategy was presented at the Premier's Co-ordinating Forum in April 2008. To embed the strategy at district level, District Anti-corruption steering committees have been appointed to aid in the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy.

The reduction in road carnages in the Free State is thanks to the good work done by our law enforcement agencies. Accordingly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our people for their corporation with law enforcement agencies and for heeding our Arrive Alive call.

Building a better Africa and the world: international relations and economic diplomacy

The work on the international relations and economic diplomacy front has been pursued vigorously in the last five years. The focus in the last five years was to align the work of the province with the work of the national government. Our mandate was to ensure that often unco-ordinated visits are properly co-co-ordinated and aligned with the national priorities.

The province has been marketed extensively in the international arena. It is known for its relative peace, abundance of natural resources, unmatched beauty and offering the best of both worlds, rural tranquillity and urban flair.

South Africa has therefore positioned itself for a targeted approach than a general one used from 1994 to 1999. The targeted approach of clustered regions focuses on specific cohorts and important regional players in the world.

The focus for our country included the traditional markets such as the European Union and the USA; Africa with specific attention to SADC countries, influential countries within the regional economic blocks and war-torn countries; and The Gulf States; emerging markets particularly, Brazil and India in line with the IBSA Tri-lateral agreement.

Our province conducted an audit of all foreign visits and relations that were undertaken since 2004 and began the process of aligning these with those of the national priorities. As a result of this work, a total of 14 Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) were signed with various provincial governments and non-governmental organisations in various countries.

These include MoUs with the following provincial governments: Jiangsu Province in the People's Republic of China, Shaanxi Province in the People's Republic of China, Saskatchewan Province in Canada, River Nile State in Sudan, The Free State of Saxony in the Federal Republic of Germany, Province of Antwerp in the Kingdom of Belgium, Province of Matanzas in Cuba, Bie Province in Angola, State of Mato Grosso in Brazil.

The Free State province has also signed purpose specific documents with a number of international associations including the Veeruin Deutsch Ingenuire (VDI) being the German Association of Engineering and with the Minnesota-South Africa Business Council. Other specific provincial government departments were also twinned to maximize impact. These include the twinning agreement of the Free State Department of Health (FSDoH) and the Indiana State Department of Health in the USA.

The province also hosted and visited a number of other provincial governments in the last five years. Some of the major fruits the province has yielded as a direct outflow of this work include the training of paramedics and emergency staff in Antwerp in Belgium. In strengthening our relations with Belgium, the province of East Flanders and its capital city, the City of Gent which is a sister city to Mangaung invited our province to be a guest of honour at the Accenta Trade Fair in 2007. This was one of the biggest successes and international exposures that our province had ever had, with more than 200 000 European citizens going through the Free State exhibition stall.

The partnership with the German Association of Engineers has also yielded positive fruits on an exchange programme that placed 10 engineering graduates from the Free State in German companies in the provinces of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The provincial Department of Public Works has been co-ordinating this programme and these students are still placed with these companies and will return home to plough back in their communities particularly in municipalities that need these skills the most. Ten post-graduate engineering students will also be placed here in the Free State and accommodated by Eskom.

The partnership with Matanzas province in the Republic of Cuba, has seen the placement of specialists in the Free State Department of Local Government and Housing. A few of our students have also been placed in universities in Cuba to study medicine. Consequently, our province has also in the last five years been a beneficiary of the Cuban Doctors placed in our hospitals.

The province of Saskatchewan had sent a consultant appointed at their own cost to assist the Free State with the Human Resource Development Strategy. This person who is the former Director-General of the province of Saskatchewan visited our province in 2005 and worked closely with our administration. Today with the work started in partnership with Saskatchewan and later supported by the Central University of Technology, the province has been able to produce the Human Resource Development Strategy adopted by the executive council.

We have also signed an agreement with the Flanders International Co-operation Agreement (FICA). The funded programmes include the R20 million over a three year period for HIV and AIDS and the SMME development support programmes. The FICA programme is also funding a Youth and Community Wellness programme. While we acknowledge the challenges in the implementation of these programmes, we are confident that these will be revolved soon.

We have also signed a MoU with the province of Bie in Angola. The Governor of Bie also addressed a successful Free State business seminar on the opportunities available in Bie. The Free State Department of Agriculture will lead a technical delegation to finalise details regarding the possibility of Free State farmers to farm on state land in this province.

Special programmes and social cohesion

In the last five years a concerted effort was made to ensure that the legislation and policies targeting vulnerable groups result in direct benefits. Consequently these policies focus on increased representation, job creation, elimination of poverty, eradication of violence and the promotion and protection of the human rights of targeted groups. Implementing these policies and programmes has had a significant impact on special programmes directed at the following vulnerable groups:

* people living with HIV and AIDS,
* children,
* youth,
* persons with disabilities,
* women, and
* the elderly.

Some of the specific interventions in the last five years included the following:

HIV and AIDS monitoring and co-ordination office

The provincial government working with civil society, re-constituted the Provincial Council on AIDS (PCA). This was reconfigured based on the national model of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC). This council has been advising government on the most appropriate intervention in dealing with the pandemic on all fronts.

This approach has improved the co-ordination effort and has also ensured that HIV and AIDS are looked at more broadly than just as a health matter. We have during this ending term begun to build the necessary capacity and machinery required to fight the pandemic. We have established sectoral partnerships and developed with the stakeholders the sectoral plans of action which are currently under implementation.

Office on the rights of a child

During the last five years we had sought to drive the implementation of the Children's Act with specific focus on the institutional machinery required to drive the process and the protection of the rights of children. We have also as part of the government outreach programmes worked with communities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in improving the lives of children.

Various other small and focused initiatives were undertaken including the donation of uniforms to needy children, provision of food to needy children and children's Christmas parties.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes were fast tracked. This work focused on training, accreditation and funding of ECD centres. These centres have begun the process of providing a head start to children in literacy and numeracy.

Office on the status of women

We have also focused on building partnerships and social networks with women to ensure their empowerment and equality. Various sectoral programmes have been undertaken in the last five years to impact positively on the lives of women.

These include amongst others, facilitation and provision of victim empowerment centres, a specialised focus programme on young women and their needs. The provincial government also facilitated a number of sectoral engagements with women and these have helped to shape government responses in the last five years. Today more women are represented in decision making structures and the programmes targeting the girl child have had a huge impact in the lives of young girls.

Office on the status of disabled persons

Mr Speaker, in the last five years, we began implementing a strategy of designating jobs for purposes of achieving the required set targets of at least two percent of the public service to be people with disabilities. Currently, people with disability constitute 1,2 percent of the total public service workforce.

We completed an audit of disability friendliness of government and private buildings utilised by government departments. At the time of the audit, most buildings remained non-compliant and steps were introduced to work towards compliance.

Office on the status of older persons

We also introduced a new office to deal specifically with the needs of older persons. This followed the passing of the Older Persons Act by the National Parliament. Accordingly, we have begun implementing some of the key tenets of this act including a campaign to encourage active ageing. This saw the introduction of the Free State Golden Games.

The province also interacted with older persons in various fronts; these included amongst others the World Elderly Abuse Awareness Day that was celebrated in Vredefort in 2008. In addition, we have built greater relationships and partnerships with organisations of older persons and those representing the interests of older persons. Furthermore, we facilitated the launching of the luncheon clubs for older persons where they were non-existent.

Free State Youth Commission

Mr Speaker, in the last five years we also re-confirmed our commitment to the development of youth. We re-affirmed the Free State Youth Commission (FSYC) as a catalyst for youth development in our province. Our role was to strengthen and support the FSYC to guide and facilitate the development of youth working through and closely with government departments and state agencies.

We significantly improved the funding of the FSYC to enable it to consolidate and improve on the good work it has been performing. Whereas a lot has been achieved on this front, a lot more needs to be done.

We launched the Provincial Youth Fund for young entrepreneurs as one of the interventions to ensure that young people participate meaningfully in the provincial economy. These programmes were launched in partnership with Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the Free State Development Corporation.

We have consistently over the last five years applauded and recognised talents and pockets of distinction amongst the youth of our province through the Premier's Youth Awards.

The youth of our province and country represent the future of our nation, we dare not fail them. It is for this reason that we have made massive investment in their education, skills development and in assisting them to ensure that the transition from childhood to adulthood is as smooth as it can be.

We hope to give an integrated expression to youth development in the province and we are keenly observing the process of the formation of the National Youth Development Agency, following the adoption by parliament of the National Youth Development Agency Bill. The agency will be responsible for advocacy, funding and implementation of an integrated youth development programme.

In conclusion

Allow me Honourable Speaker, as I conclude, to pay tribute to the people of the Free State. They are a people with extraordinary resilience and what they call in Afrikaans "deursettingsvermoë". I am humbled to have had an opportunity to be of service to this province. I leave this highest office of the Free State Provincial Government, much wiser as a result of collective counsel, advice and objective mentorship.

I wish to thank the private sector for their generous partnerships, the churches for their moral compass, the NGOs and community based organisations (CBOs) for their extension of government services, the youth and women formations for their lobby and advocacy as well as organised labour for their support and thorough engagements. I thank you all for who you are and what you have made us to be.

Honourable Speaker, let me also take this opportunity to thank my organisation, the African National Congress, for entrusting me with the responsibility of leading government for the last five years. It has been five years of hard work, of tears and joy and of sweat in the service of the people. I thank my organisation for continued support and leadership in keeping all of us focused on the fundamental vision of the Freedom Charter.

I want to thank the members of this Honourable House for the support and dedicated oversight in keeping us in the executive accountable to the mandate of our people.

Let me also thank Members of the Executive Council who together with myself had the privilege of executing the programme of action based on our Free State Growth and Development Strategy. Furthermore, I want to thank these men and women who put an extraordinary effort and went beyond the call of duty to be at the disposal of their people. It has been an exceptionally rewarding time to serve with this Honourable team. Let also take this opportunity to thank the Director-General, Heads of Department and all the officials for their dedication and loyal service.

Honourable Speaker, let me also take this time to thank my family who have stood by me through thick and thin. Their love and support has carried me through and I am highly indebted to their endless sacrifices.

I know that the cause, for which our forebears laid down their lives, will triumph. I know that we shall overcome the stormy waters and we shall emerge victorious. I also know that with our programme of action arising out of my party manifesto and 8 January statement, we will move with speed to create a better life for all. Our focus on education crime, on rural development, on creating decent work and affordable quality healthcare, will add more momentum to our forward march.

Honourable Speaker, in conclusion, let me once again borrow from Maya Angelou's words:

"We have lived a painful history,
we know the shameful past,
but [let's] keep on marching forward."

Honourable Speaker and Members of the House, I thank you most profoundly!

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Free State Provincial Government
18 February 2009