14 February 2023

His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa

His  Excellency Deputy President on David Mabuza

Speaker of the National Assembly Hon Nosiviwe Maphisa-Ngqakula

Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces Hon Amos Masondo

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Hon Tsenoli Lechesa

Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP Hon Sylvia Lucas

Cabinet Ministers

Deputy President of the Governing Party, Hon Paul Mashatile

Leaders of Political Parties represented here today

Traditional Leaders

Esteemed Guests

Ladies & Gentlemen

GOOD AFTERNOON!

In his state of the nation address the honourable President stated that  the people of South Africa want action, they want solutions, they want implementation, and they want government to work for them.

In responding to this call and what the people desire, our  province has prioritized accelerated service delivery, and job creation as key focus areas for the next financial year.

The foundation for the success of our Accelerated Service Delivery Programme, requires the building of capacity within government to allow departments and municipalities to discharge their responsibilities. This Accelerated programme can only become reality, when we have functional municipalities. We will consider developments in the local municipality of Naledi to debunk and dispel the falsehood that “there has been lack of development in municipalities under the tenure of president Ramaphosa.”

Ke tswa ko Huhudi, 1602 Mahura Street, ko Vryburg.

Ko gae go na le:

• Toilet e e flashang’
• Tepe ya metsi e mo jarateng,(lefa metsi ana le go sokodisa – ke tla boela gape mo kgang e)
• Motlakase
• Matlakala a tseiwa,
• Seterata sa Mahura Street ga se a tariwa ga se na paving

Ke itumela thata fa distrata tse di dirisiwang ke dikoloi thata jaaka: Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Mosiapoa, Segawana, Hoffman Galeng, le tse dingwe di tsentse tar kgotsa di pavilwe Ke a itse gore batho ba Mahura Street ba ngongoregela that aba re ba batla tar kgotsa paving. Nako ya bone eetla.

The municipality is busy repairing streets, this is happening with the support of the department of public works, in many municipalities. In Colridge, the coloured township, many streets have been repaired.

Mr Cassim from the neighbouring Kismet Park, called me and complained about the condition of the main street in their residential area.  Few days later, he said me a WhatsApp, expressing satisfaction and indicating that the street was getting attention.

Ek weet dat Voortrekkerstraat is n groot problem. Die plek daar voor dokter Van Zyl se sprekkkammers lyk nes klein dammetjies. Ek weet die munisipaliteit is besig daarmee.

I was pleased to notice that the municipality fenced the cemeteries. Fencing of the cemeteries gave people buried there back their dignity. I am sure Mam Ruth Mompati is also happy! We appreciate the impatience of our people and continue to urge municipalities to speed up processes.

 Mr President we are seized with addressing the challenges of the present, as you stated in the STATE of the NATION ADDRESS. We recently received a  report that JOE Morolong Memorial Hospital, did not have water. Loadshedding had affected the supply of water to the hospital. In a short space of time, MEC Sambatha and his staff, filled the reservoir. What really impressed me, is that an old borehole with sufficient water to supply water to the hospital, and other sections of the township was discovered. Remember there’s no problem of water in Colridge, Kismet Park and the town, its only in the township. A legacy of the apartheid racial spatial separation.

Mr President, you are invited   to visit  Vryburg in April in order to officially open a state of the art school, construction will be completed now in March. Maybe you could couple that visit with the opening of the new mall there. The mall came there through the efforts of the municipality, and its going to create much needed jobs. Re dira boikuelo, re ikobile.

Go na le batho ba banang le go emisa go agiwa ga mall, bare  ba batla 30%. Re kopa gore ba buisane le batho ba mall le masepale.  Ba seka ba diya go agiwa ga mmolo.

The situation we depicted above about service delivery in Naledi municipality, obtains in varying degrees in other municipalities. As I indicated DPW&R has embarked on a programms to assist local municipalities with internal roads and streets repairs. Nobody said it was easy, no one said it was a walk in the park, or still a park in the walk.

Improving the Performance of Municipalities

Having the recent past history of  Ditsobotla in mind, We agree with you Mr President, that poor performance of many municipalities remains an area of concern. We in the North West, have had our fair share of challenges, but we are acting and taking decisions however difficult or unpopular as demonstrated in the disbandment of Ditsobotla Local Municipality.

Some people shout glibly on the side line that section 139 does not work. Before we invoked section 139(1c) and 139(1b) in the municipalities of Ditsobotla and Kagisano-Molopo respectively, both municipalities had a pair of Mayors, pair of speakers and a pair of municipal managers. The pair of municipal managers were engaged in a bitter fight to be the authorised signatories to their respective municipalities bank account. After intervention that situation does not obtain anymore. We are not saying we are there yet. Only the blind will argue that this government is not working.

In addressing the President’s, and our concerns’ about local government, we are enlisting the support of the University of the North West, the DBSA and Infrastructure South Africa to help develop the required capacity in municipalities, particular emphasis will be placed on financial management and project preparation and implementation skills.

Construction of Roads in the province

Mr President, as you said in your SONA, we are a nation hard at work addressing challenges of the present. I often hear people proclaiming that there are no roads in the North West. I travel more regularly in the province than people who utter such statements. I travel from:

• Mafikeng to Rustenburg
• Mafikeng to Klerksdorp
• Mafikeng to Schweizer Reneke
• Mafikeng to Madibogo

It is true that there a are  roads that are not in good condition, in as much as there are other that are  in excellent condition. Boere bel my dikwels en kla oor die pad tussen Hartebeesfontein, Ottosdal en Delareyville, die pad tussen Wolmaranstad en Schweizer Reneke, en die pad tussen Koster en Lichtenburg.

Ons het begin met die pad tussen Hartebeesfontein en Ottosdal. Die stuk wat klaar gemaak is uitstekend. Ons is nou besig met die res van die pad. Ek is bly daaroor.

There are a number of gravel roads, found in rural villages in all the districts, that are being upgraded to surfaced roads. A few examples will suffice, Makolokwe/Bethani, Kgomokgomo/Lebotlwane, Austrey/Goodhoop, Vragas/Madinonyane, Madibogo/Madibogopan.

Two weeks ago we introduced the contractors appointed to redo the road from Pelindaba to Pecanwood. One lady requested to speak at the end of the presentation, and just explained that she wanted to thank government for repairing that road. The Wolmaranstad-Schweizer Reneke, and Koster-Lichtenburg form deel van ons program vir die nuwe geldjaar.

We have agreed with SANRAL to transfer some of our roads to them as we have done with the N12 in JB Marks, Matlosana, Maquassie Hills and Lekwa Teemane Local Municipalities.

 Yes, we do have good and bad roads, like many jurisdictions. We are however giving our bad roads intense attention. We are joined by the private sector in maintaining our roads. We can report that the North West Kooperasie (NWK) has to date used their own resources to matain over 500 km of gravel roads. More of these roads will be identified and necessary legal access granted to allow private sector to invest on these roads.

We have developed and costed a ten-year (10) Provincial Roads Master Plan which when fully implemented will respond in a comprehensive manner to the challenges of construction and maintenance of roads in the Province.

We  consider the narrative that there are no roads in the North West, to be hyperbole intended to make us look bad. Maar re a  be swabisa, re a dira.

Minister Mchunu is hard at work helping us to solve our water problems. I dismissed as unfounded township legend and figment of the imagination when told that there were people who deliberately destroy water infrastructure in Ramotshere Moiloa. I am pleased that MEC Lehare and Commissioner Kwena acted swiftly and the suspects were apprehended.

Hon  members, The section 100 intervention in the North West province is in the final stages of the phased exit announced at the early part of 2022. The province is effectively under the full control of the Provincial Executive.

The intervention which was in place since 2018 has achieved its mission to stabilise the North West provincial government

Supporting local economic development in the province and social compacting  

Hon Members, President Ramaphosa should be credited for his unique governance approach based on building relationships and collaboration between Government and social partners in business, labour and civil society.

When we were informed about the intention of CLOVER to disinvest from Lichtenburg in Ditsobotla Municipality, we established a task-team with business, to address concerns raised. Among the committed and able leaders of this task-team, was Paul Daphney, whom we buried last week. The private sector members of the task-team committed to repairing streets in Lichtenburg, they even fixed faulty traffic lights.

We regarded the task-team as our own social compacting experiment at local level.

Let me put the record straight about Clover. The true reasons for disinvestment in Lichtenburg is contained in various litigation papers, in the matter between the company and the unions. In court papers Clover stated that “the company has been operating in a difficult environment.” (and concluded by stating that)… “ hence the need to embark on a restructuring process.”

They ended up relocating from Milnerton, City Deep, Heilbron, Frankfurt and Lichtenburg, to KZN.

Someone from members of the opposition alleged that “there is nothing working in the country”, another one claimed that “the president presided over disastrous five years”. Only the blind can utter such statements.  Let me share with honourable members how we mobilize business to collaborate with governments in efforts to create jobs. Our first contact with the mine bosses was initiated by minister Gwede Mantashe. In the Moses Kotane Local Municipality we met with Pilanesburg Platinum Mine, which announced a commitment to invest R9,4bn in  the expansion of its operations. The mine’s expansion and the Kell smelter, when fully operational, will create at least 3300 jobs over its life cycle from construction until operation.

In addition, this smelter will contribute to sustainable energy use by reducing its reliance on Eskom grid.

 We have already started consultations for collaboration between PPM and neighbouring mining houses as part of our Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the area. Other mining houses we met include SAMANCOR, HARMONY. We continue to engage other mining houses.

Hon members, towards the end of 2022, the Country Bird Holdings, operating as Supreme Chickens in the Matlosana Local Municipality in Tigane invested over R180m to expand their plant by 35% whilst at the same time creating 100 additional jobs in the area. Through this and many similar investments in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District, the North West has become the centre of the poultry Master Plan in the Country.

 Nobody said it was easy, no one said it was a walk in the park, or even a park in the walk!

We can state without any equivocation that Ditsobotla and Lichtenburg in particular remains one of the critical economic nodal areas of our Province boasting major investments worth billions in the agriculture, and cement manufacturing sectors. To date this area is home to SEPHAKU, AFRISAM, LAFARGE and NWK etc, all of which remain operational in the town investing billions to create much needed jobs and support livelihoods ofthousands of our communities.

Presently two Solar PV projects are being implemented in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality valued at R2,0bn and R2,1bn respectively through the Solar Group Company

Agriculture constitute a key sector in the province. We have a sound  relationship with farmers. Ons gesels gereeld met Naude Pienaar end Boeta Du Toit van Agri North West. Our other important focus is the development of infrastructure in the parks and other tourism facilities. The legal problems bedevilling our two airports are receiving attention.

Deelpan

 Hon Members. The floods created debilitating difficulties for communities and ourselves in Deelpan. Government gave allround support to the communities in those areas. This support is ongoing. The only outstanding matter is the relocation of the villagers, to avoid a repeat of this unfortunate incident. The relocation is made a little intractable due to opposition to relocation by other members of the community. The National Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), the Office of the Premier and the North West University (NWU) are collaborating through a social facilitation process to resolve this impasse.

We would like to thank the Deputy Ministers, (Hon Pinky Kekana, Hon Dhlomo, Hon Bapela and Hon Tshwete who join hands with the province to make sure that the programme is monitored. Nobody said it was going to be easy, no one said it was a walk in the park, or even a park in the walk!

Some among members of the opposition rely on howling, yelling, screaming, shouting and rude disruptions to communicate their views and ideas. I suspect they resort to these methods, in order to conceal the fact that, they have nothing to say. Someone must advise them that they just attract derision and disdain from the citizens. I have never seen a so-called revolutionary movement that  behaves like Hitler’s brown shirts. You don’t know honourable Malema, but I know you from honourable Kenny Morolong and Keneetswe Mosenogi. I was a schoolteacher before my friend Amos Masondo, and my leader and friend Wally Serote made Mangope dismiss me.

I advise you honourable Sello Malema, that you may find Lenin’s seminal work Leftwing Communism: An Infantile Disorder, interesting read. Honourable Shivumba, you will like the section in chapter 3, that says something like occasionally there is a necessity for splits and expulsions in the party, in order for the party to refine itself.

Honourable Steenhuizen you are lucky you don’t have the experience of a Black person living under apartheid.  For instance our names and surnames could be willy-nilly changed without reason. Mthimkulu could instantly be transformed into Grootboom. Steenhuizen could maybe become Brickshouse, or further bastardized to become Bricksomething!

My concern is not what Bricksomething they may have called you. I am more worried by your glib talk about the people, you do that in patronizing and paternalistic fashion. I suspect you think of people, as Black people who are to vote for you and your party. And NOT to lead you! Some of us get offended when we discern crypto or residual racism, in your behaviour or utterances!  Please stop it!

Honourable Steenhuizen you may find a book on Amilcar Cabral’s Speeches and Writings: Unity and Struggle informative and instructive. In it he defines what is meant by the people, unfortunately you and those who belong to a party of your ilk, are not regarded as part of the people, but its antithesis.

Where does this mythical fiction of the DA outperforming other provinces emanate from? Let us consider matric results and Covid-19 vaccination %, where does the Western Cape they stand. When they battle with Day Zero, in terms of water in the Western Cape, it’s a challenge. When its other people confronted with the same challenge, they are impudently described as lazy, inept, incompetent, by the DA! What childish poppycock! To borrow the word  from Umtwana, Ushenge!

Goeie genade! Wat is verkeerd met agbare Groenewald en Du Toit. Hulle skuil van die waardheid, en verberg hullself agter verdraaings. Hulle is nie eerlik nie. They stand before us, with sanctimonious and holier-than-thou pretence and criticise and reject affirmative action and BEE. Vertel tog die waardheid and wees eerlik. You are the direct beneficiaries of regstellende aksie. Goie hemel! I have never seen such hypocrisy. Mr Du Toit wants to blame us “vir die konsetrasie kampe.”

Ons was nie daar nie agabare Du Toit, dit was julle en die Britse. Praat met  Louis Botha en Jan Smuts,  who represented you at the Vereeniging Peace Talks, in 1902.

Agbare Du Toit, ek is nog jammer en ek voel altyd hartseer, wanneer ek daar op die monument lees Zelda Steenkamp 6 maande oud, Maria De Beer 8 maande oud, en so aan. Ek bid dat dit nooit weer gebeur nie. Agbare Du Toit have you ever shown remorse for  thousand of infants who died and continue die, from kwashikor, marasmus and other curable diseases,  in modern day concentration camps euphemistically referred to   as African townships. For a better grasp, of how the land was taken from Africans, sometimes with brute force, read Sol Plaatjie, lees ook vir C De Kiewiet se boek, the Imperial Factor.

Many of us, black and white,  acknowledge the past without attempting to distort it, we want to avoid mistakes of the past, but we don’t wish to be captive to the past, we don’t want to live in the past. Agbare Groenewald and Du Toit, moenie maak dat ons kinders in die verlede lewe nie.  Ons stel nie belang in ons en hulle manier van dink nie! Ons mik op die huidige en die toekoms. Ons will graag n beter Suid Afrika vir alamal skep.

Conclusion 

As North West, we agree with you Mr President that there are things we have achieved as a nation over the past year, despite our challenges, and that on its own, MUST remind us that the promise of South Africa is alive.

We remain hopeful that we can do better and more, to make sure that the people of South Africa get the services they deserve.

We do listen even to those whose speciality is inane criticism. We however get inspiration from those who join hands with us  to build a better province, and a better South Africa.