Introduction
We have great cause for celebration. There has never been a better moment to be a South African, and there is no better place to live in South Africa than right here in the Western Cape.
Consider for a moment how far we have come, and how fast we have moved. Ten years is barely sufficient time for the maturation of a great wine; it is less time than it takes to educate a child; it represents one 80th of the age of the giant Outeniqua Yellowwood that towers above the Tsitsikamma Forest. Yet we have accomplished more to bring human dignity to millions in the first ten years of South African democracy than was accomplished in the ten decades that preceded them.
We have seen communities rejoined, hope restored and the creation of a new strength grounded in our determination to build our future together.
The power of the Western Cape lies in the character and disposition of its people. Through hardship and success in our history our people have been formed with stamina, a determination to survive and to live, deeply and loayally rooted in our province and our country.
For centuries there were diamonds that lay buried under the shifting dunes at Kleinsee and Alexander Bay, hidden for generations from those who had no idea of the wealth beneath their feet. Like those diamonds, the hidden potential of our people lay untapped for decades. There were flashes of hope, and those who occasionally rose above their restricted opportunities to shine. It has only been in the last ten years of real freedom, however, and in the last two years when our coalition has governed for all the communities of the Western Cape, that the potential of our people has been truly unearthed. In our commitment to build a World-class Province, we are busy discovering and unlocking the brilliance of rough-diamonds in communities and areas like Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and the Karoo. For the first time the talents of all our people are being harnessed in this building process, and this is a treasure that we must guard with great care.
Speaker, the people of the Karoo and Namaqualand understand the effects of drought. They know too that just below the surface of the Earth lie the seeds in which rests the sleeping potential of their region. With the first rains, even after years of drought, these seeds germinate and this world that was dry and bereft of life becomes a garden of vitality which sustains and supports its people.
And this is the way the people of the Western Cape are. Our people's character and disposition enabled them to survive trying times and hardships. And with the coming of the first rain, that potential of our people and our province opened up into something that grows vigorously, in which everyone can share, and that can only reach new heights. But it is only the beginning of blossoming, and now that the rain has started to fall we should ensure that nothing will spoil the crop.
People of the Karoo know that in that region you find the eight-day grass. The moment it rains, you can bet on it that within eight days the eight-day grass will flourish. Sheep are once again hopeful and run after the new green grass. But the people of the Karoo also know that this represents a false hope, for although the eight-day grass may look fine and green, its nutritional value is very low and it cannot last.
In the Kalahari one also finds the N'abbas. This is a Nama word for a mushroom-like delicacy. It remains under the ground waiting for the right circumstances to grow and to be harvested. Otherwise it disappears again for years. If the N'abbas does not get rain in March, its vitality will never break through the surface. And if it is not picked early in winter, it will be nipped by frost.
In the Karoo and in Namaqualand there is also the gannabos. This bush is tough as leather and has a high nutritional value. The gannabos can also be compared with the symbol of the Griqua people, the kanniedood - a symbol of the Griqua people's ability to keep on growing and to become stronger in spite of hardship. During the drought the plant seems to be dry and lifeless, but as soon as the rain starts to fall, it seems to come to life again. In times of hardship it loses its bloom, but its roots are anchored so firmly in the earth that in the right conditions it may reappear year after year.
In the Western Cape we are indeed showing our character just as the gannabos and the kanniedood do. Now that the rain has started to fall and the conditions are right, the road we have chosen is not one that will bring our people just eight-day grass - in other words only temporary relief and false hope. Economic growth without job creation and sustainability is not good enough for our people. By introducing the right plans at the right time and implementing them with discipline, we will treat our people to N'abbas - the best delicacy there is. Our plans are aimed the establishment of stability and sustainability - dignity for all our people - anchored with vigorous roots as those of the gannabos and kanniedood.
Speaker, our Government represents all the people of the Western Cape. No longer are we divided. Today we have a Government in the Western Cape that governs for all the people of this province. We are illustrating that coloured, white, black and Indian South Africans succeed best when working in partnership to build our shared future.
A charge to keep
I was greatly moved this morning to be greeted by so many children of the Western Cape - from every community - their voices united in song, their faces united in hope, and their futures united in and by South Africa. Ten years old, they are our free-born generation - the most concrete and powerful expression of how far we have come in the first decade of South African democracy.
Last February I committed our Government to making 2003 a year of implementation and delivery, to laying the ground-work for addressing both our short-term challenges and their long-term causes. We introduced iKapa eliHlumayo to promote growth in the Cape so that everyone may share in it - the best vehicle to drive our policies and our actions for the next decade. iKapa eliHlumayo is our vehicle to carry every community with us on the path to being a world-class province. This is our charge to keep.
During the past two years our Coalition of Hope has established a stable platform in the Western Cape. This Coalition is an anchor creating security for foreign and local investors - investors whose partnership we deeply appreciate in the growth and development of our economy so that we may create jobs for our people.
Long-term planning horizon
Apart from stability and breaking down the barriers between our communities, the greatest contribution of this Government to the future success of our province has been the introduction of a long-term planning horizon - putting into place 10 and 15 year plans to address the underlying causes of many of our most serious challenges.
It is fitting that we are able to report, in the last two years of the first decade of democracy, that we have excelled in the creation of solid foundations for expanding our service delivery and building lasting human dignity in the next decade.
Unemployment, migration and job creation
Ensuring the future for our generations to follow requires us to seriously and urgently address the issues of unemployment and poverty. Our provincial population has grown from just less than 4 million in 1996 to well over 4,5 million according to Census 2001 - mainly as a result of migration from other provinces. This means that our provincial population has been growing by about 2,9% annually, compared to national population growth of about 2,1%. More significantly though, the economically active population in our province grew almost twice as fast as it did in South Africa as a whole.
Amongst the most important issues addressed at our recent Cabinet Bosberaad was the need to agree, with our social partners, on micro-economic strategies for the province to meet our targets. Within five years we will ensure R5 billion's new investments and at least 100 000 new job opportunities. We also intend to create 120 000 short-term job and training opportunities by means of extensive public works programmes by 2008.
A delivery-focused MTEF budget with fiscal discipline
Madame Speaker, Minister Rasool and his Departments have presented us with a focused and priority-driven budget that concentrates our spending on the implementation of iKapa eliHlumayo. Ours is a budget emphasising both targeted poverty relief and the development that the Western Cape needs for sustained economic growth and job creation. Our budget embraces real fiscal discipline.
We will not mortgage the future of our free-born generation for short-term gains. In addressing the backlogs of our past, this Government, in our Medium-term Budget Policy Statement, has reduced the budgeted deficit from more than R434 million in 2003/04 to R366 million in 2004/5.
Healthcare 2010
Under the leadership of our Provincial Minister of Health, Piet Meyer, Healthcare 2010 was approved by the Provincial Cabinet in March last year. Healthcare 2010 is designed to ensure that instead of a R1 billion health deficit by 2010, the people of the Western Cape will see improved services. The end result is projected to be an increase in our capacity by an additional 2 million primary health visits every year by 2010.
Amongst the many other successes in health care over the past year has been the in-principle approval of up to US$66 million over five years from the Global Fund to fight HIV/Aids; and the roll-out of our Prevention of Mother-to-child Transmission of Aids Programme to 100% of pregnant women attending public health clinics.
Budget pressures on the Social Safety Net, Health, and housing delivery
It is important, Madame Speaker, for us to understand both the scope of the challenges and the budget pressures facing Ministers Meyer and Fransman, and their Departments, partly as a result of migration, partly because of the restructuring of health care, and partly because of the expanded need for social grants.
The number of social grant beneficiaries has increased from about 362 000 in December 2001 to more than 502 000 this month - and it is projected that the number will reach 550 000 by next year. The single largest driver of this growth is the increase in child support grants - this month we already have 42 479 children between the ages of 8 and 9 receiving these grants. We believe that by the end of the next financial year, more than 93 000 children over the age of 7 will be benefiting from these grants.
Similar challenges are experienced in our rendering of health services - whereas migration to the province alone necessitates the building of up to three new clinics every year. Apart from this, and the fact that an analysis by the National Department of Health indicated that increased financing - amounting to about R150 million per year - for the Western Cape is justified, the ever decreasing conditional allocation for tertiary health services will most probably result in a deficit of about R160 million in real terms.
Minister Hangana and her Department of Housing are facing comparable challenges. In spite of our having almost doubled the Housing Budget from R271 million in 2001 to R514 million last year, we are unable to keep up with the demand. In the City of Cape Town alone, demand increases by about 20 000 units annually, with about 9 000 as the result of new family formations, and 11 000 due to migration from other provinces.
We must address the under-spending of our Housing Budget. This is a country-wide problem because of new national legislation and regulations, as well as a lack of capacity at local government level, but we must also rectify the situation in the Department of Housing so that everybody pulls in the same direction.
Against the background of these pressing budget issues, the Western Cape Government will be engaging constructively this year with the National Government on the composition of the equitable share formula, and the extent of conditional grants arising out of national policy.
The new Draft Strategy for Human Resources and Skills Development
Speaker, we understand that quality education is the key to job creation. In September last year Ministers Rasool and Gaum established a task team under the chairmanship of Dr Franklin Sonn to advise our Government on a strategy for Human Resources Development and Skills Training, to support iKapa eliHlumayo and to encompass all learning activities in the province. The resulting report and recommendations, combined with Minister Gaum and his Department's Vision 2020, will help us to break down the so-called 'silos of learning', emphasising an integrated approach to all provincial education from pre-Grade R, through formal schooling and tertiary education, to work-place learning, Adult Basic Education and Training, and life-long learning.
Last year's increase in the matric pass rate for the third year in a row, to a record of 87,1%, indicates that our education and training initiatives continue to bear fruit.
BEE Conference and Provincial Growth and Development Summit
The Western Cape broke new ground in May last year when we were the first province to host a conference on black economic empowerment to set the tone for the implementation of iKapa eliHlumayo. In the Western Cape black economic empowerment should also include brown economic empowerment.
The Black Economic Empowerment Conference also gave real impetus to the first-ever Provincial Growth and Development Summit which we hosted in November with our social partners. By bringing together Government, business (including agriculture), labour and the community (including women, the youth and the disabled) we achieved not only a framework agreement as the basis of a new social accord for the province, but also reached consensus on the macro-economic strategies for the province.
Strategic Infrastructure Plan
Government realises that our growth strategy must be backed by the necessary physical infrastructure. That is why Minister Essop and her Department are busy with the last finishing touches to our Strategic Infrastructure Plan to strengthen our growth sectors and to direct our expenditure in the first place towards the most critical infrastructure. This will, by means of construction work, also provide job opportunities in the short term and the transfer of knowledge in our poorest communities.
Our key aim is to increase the levels of investment in key social and economic infrastructure from the current 1,1% of GDPR to 2,5% by 2008. To address the estimated R1,4 billion backlog in provincial road infrastructure and maintenance, we will also be pursuing with the National Treasury the implementation of a fuel levy in the Western Cape. The feasibility report has been completed and the Province will embark on a process to consult with industry and the taxpayers through a public hearing process prior to any final representations being made to the National Treasury.
Increasing police numbers by 50%
Madame Speaker, at this very moment we are increasing the number of police officers from 12 000 to 18 000 in the Western Cape. When our coalition government took office in late 2001, there were 11 833 police officers in our province. Last year we announced that 3 212 new police recruits (64% of the national intake) would be added to the SAPS in our province. There are currently more than 16 000 officers protecting our communities and we are well on track to boost this number to 18 000 by the end of this year - a more than 50% increase in just two years. Next month alone will see a further 1 700 new recruits in the province, with another 900 due in May. We have done this to break the grip that criminals have on some of our neighbourhoods, and to secure the streets for our generations born in freedom.
That is why we have had the safest festive season in a decade. I would like to congratulate Minister Ramatlakane, Provincial Police Commissioner Petros, the men and women of the SAPS, our EMS and traffic staff, and every volunteer whose hard work led to this outstanding achievement. Murder dropped by 34%, robbery was down 24% and total crime fell by 18,2%. With other policing initiatives like the roll-out of 36 new CCTV cameras at a cost of R11 million to new areas like Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha, the strengthening of our Child Protection Units around the province, and our plans to train neighbourhood street committees this year, we are turning the tide against crime.
Officially breaking the barrier of 1 million overseas tourists
For the first time in history more than 1 million foreign tourists travelled to our province last year, thereby boosting our local economy directly by about R17 billion. This is attributable to Minister Witbooi and her Department, whose efforts to ensure long-term tourism growth are already bearing fruit. With milestones like the opening of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the successful staging of the Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony and the golfing President's Cup, increased numbers of direct flights to Cape Town, and our plans to launch our Western Cape Tourist Guide Registration System in the next two weeks, tourism in the province is on the move. We also plan to pass the new Western Cape Tourism Act this year and to launch our new Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO). It is clear that tourism, as one of our most important growth sectors, is poised to reach even greater heights in 2004 with projected growth of about 6%. We remain committed to our target of attracting 3 million tourists a year by 2010.
Fast-tracked and sustainable land reform
Since August 2001 there have been more than 4 400 beneficiaries of agricultural land reform in the Western Cape and we are planning to have this number increased to 7 000 in the next few years. Minister Gelderblom and his Department, in partnership with the National Government, have also succeeded in ensuring that 54% of these beneficiaries are women and 40% young people, making land reform one of the most important tools of direct empowerment in our province. To ensure their long-term success, we have also opened a new agricultural training centre at George. This will be followed by the opening of a similar centre at Oudtshoorn early this year, and a third at Vredendal next year.
Renewed urban and rural development focus
Speaker, guided by Minister Dowry, the Provincial Cabinet has now approved the business plans for the ongoing development of Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha through the Urban Renewal Programme. In partnership with the City of Cape Town we will be developing central business districts in these two development nodes to a value of more than R580 million over five years. We will also be renewing our focus on rural development in areas like the Central Karoo, to ensure that our provincial growth benefits all Western Cape communities, and not only those in urban areas. In the past year we have also made much progress in strengthening the cooperation and coordination between our Provincial Government and the municipalities of the Western Cape.
Our efforts to bring development and increased opportunity to our areas in greatest need have also been a focus for Minister McKenzie and his Department. Through major events like the Cricket World Cup and also through grass-roots initiatives like the Sports Stepping Stones Project, we continue to bring all communities onto the path to world-class quality.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Madame Speaker, many of us living in the Western Cape fall into the trap of forgetting how good life is in our province. We forget that the inflow of people from all parts of South Africa, and from around the world, is testimony to our ongoing success. We forget that we have every right to be proud of the Western Cape and that we should be proud to live and work here. That said, we must always remember that much work still needs to be done to raise the standard of living for thousands in our poorest communities.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my personal appreciation to the leader of our coalition partner in Government, Minister Rasool. Nowhere has it been more apparent how positive this coalition is for the Western Cape than during our Provincial Imbizo Focus Week and the Presidential Imbizo last year, where the people of the province in vast numbers endorsed our Government and expressed their appreciation for our willingness to work together in the interests of their communities.
I also take pride in the public service in our province under the leaderhip of our Director-General, Dr Gilbert Lawrence, and the Heads of Departments. The people of the Western Cape can be proud to have the about 68 000 extremely competent men and women in our public service, and on behalf of the Government and the people of the province I wish to thank them. Tonight at a gala dinner in Paarl we will honour our public servants for their excellent service during the first ten years of democracy.
In remembering our first decade of democracy, and in celebrating our first free-born generation, we should also remember that the challenges we must still face will be overcome through the same strong partnerships that have brought us this far.
In the words of one of the Western Cape's most respected sons, Dr Franklin Sonn: "The best is yet to be."
When black, white and coloured people take hands and put their heads together, we succeed best in improving the lives of all.
Let us join hands to build our world-class province. Together we are securing a fair share for our sons and daughters in the Western Cape.
