Hon Chairperson, may I join those who have spoken before me in commending the members of the NCOP for very successfully working together on the fast improvement of delivery of services and living conditions in this NCOP Provincial Week. I also confirm the fact that during the visit to the province of Mpumalanga the members of the NCOP met with the legislature, members of the executive council, the SA Local Government Association, Salga and four municipalities, as well as the public.
Several matters were raised by the municipalities, the executive and all forums that were present. Amongst them were the issues of a shortage of water, poverty, problems with the ward demarcations, scholar transport, health and education, joblessness, interventions in the municipalities in terms of section 139, and concerns on how those matters are being dealt with. I would like to confirm here that the matters contained in the report are indeed being taken seriously by the province, at the level of both the executive and the legislature and the municipalities.
As we are converging here today, the province is embarking on taking the legislature to the people in one of the municipalities, but it is not one of the municipalities that we visited. The municipality that we visited was actually visited earlier on, towards the end of last year, and I guess some of the issues that were raised with the members of the NCOP were reconfirmed by the people, and the province continues to intervene to assist in these situations. All of us will agree that at the centre of addressing these matters lies the question of our economy. Therefore, the economy lays a very firm foundation for creating jobs, dealing with problems and turning the tide, and improving the livelihoods of our people. We have made a commitment as a province that we need to work very hard, in line with what was said by the President and the Minister of Finance about improving the economic situation in the province, so that we are able to address the social ills that our people are confronted with.
Amongst the interventions that have been employed, in line with the national government's decisions, is the crafting of our own economic growth and development path, which seeks to deal with the problems relating to joblessness.
Some of the problems that have been identified are the challenges in the labour market, which are exacerbated by the low levels of skills and the high levels of unemployment among youth and women. The province recognises the strides made by government towards the provision of basic services, but also identifies the growing income inequalities and low infrastructure investment in rural areas as a legacy of apartheid, to which some of the speakers have already alluded.
Our challenge therefore is to support the national initiative of creating jobs. We will be working as a legislature and executive and municipalities in ensuring that we develop people who are in the labour market and therefore reduce the unemployment in the province.
There are certain plans that we have embarked upon, which are in line with the vision of the ANC. During the period of implementing the new Mpumalanga Economic Growth and Development Path, or MEGDP, the province will strengthen massive job creation in the areas of agriculture, agro- processing and forestry; mining, energy and mineral beneficiation; tourism and cultural industries; and manufacturing, especially in tooling, plastics, chemicals and biofuels.
With regard to the infrastructure, we hope to give serious attention to the Moloto Corridor in the Nkangala District; the establishment of industrial parks in the Govan Mbeki and Steve Tshwete Municipalities; the rehabilitation of the coal haulage road network in the area of Nkangala and Gert Sibande; the construction of the Kusile Power Station; and the rehabilitation of municipal utilities such as water, sewerage, drainage and electricity. I hope, for our province, that the next visit by the NCOP will go to this area where we are confronted by the huge destruction of our infrastructure by initiatives to generate power for our country and the subregion.
Ours continues to be a journey of determination and commitment to reducing unemployment and poverty. In order to realise the vision of decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods, we believe that Eskom's recommissioning of the three power stations in Camden, Grootvlei and Komati, and the construction of the Kusile Power Station in the province will go a long way towards contributing to job creation for our people.
During the state of the province address last Friday, Premier Mabuza announced that his government had created almost 30 000 job opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme, thereby providing much-needed relief to the poor in our province.
It should be noted that the mining, agriculture and manufacturing sectors remain some of the important drivers of economic growth and job creation in our province. The advent of the green economy also provides us with an opportunity to create more jobs in this emerging sector; hence the province will explore and exploit this lucrative sector.
In continuing to realise the Freedom Charter commitment of ensuring that the "mineral wealth beneath the soil ... shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole", we were humbled and honoured by the launch of the first-ever state mining company in Vlakfontein in Ogies by President Zuma last Saturday. We believe that the launch of the mine will create much-needed job opportunities for our people, especially unemployed youth, women and people with disabilities.
We are also positive that the establishment of the proposed University of Mpumalanga and the provincial tertiary hospital will also contribute towards increasing the required skills base for much-needed economic growth. We are informed that the process of establishing the said institutions is at an advanced stage.
President Zuma has declared 2011 the year of creating jobs. In order to fast-track this, the premier also announced measures to meet the national government halfway regarding the rolling out of projects and funding those projects for the province.
Amongst other issues that have been identified for funding are road construction and maintenance, particularly for the roads in Piet Retief, Witbank, Ermelo and Mashishing, which is one of the areas that members visited and where they raised several concerns; the paving of streets in human settlement areas; maintenance of public institutions such clinics, schools and government buildings; construction of schools and community health centres in rural areas and the People's Housing Process programme; and bulk water infrastructure. These, amongst other issues, were raised by communities, municipalities and members who attended the Provincial Week.
Our fight against poverty and the creation of sustainable livelihoods through food security remains the top priority on our list, especially for the people in the deep rural areas of our province. Through our Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, Masibuyele Emasimini, more poverty-stricken families are beginning to benefit. The programme encourages our people to till their land and produce food for their own livelihood; it also provides technical and infrastructure mechanisation, fencing and irrigation to the identified beneficiaries, which includes providing training for youth.
Our interventions through this strategy have also ensured investment in human capital development, good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. This programme has been piloted in the deep rural Mkhondo municipality over the last two years, and the pilot phase is coming to an end at the end of this month.
The provincial administration has committed itself to rolling out interventions in six municipalities, which include Albert Luthuli, Bushbuckridge and Nkomazi, which was visited by the committee.
As I conclude, hon Chairperson, I would like to quote words that were delivered by one of our liberation stalwarts, Inkosi Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli, when addressing a public meeting organised by the SA Congress of Democrats in Johannesburg in 1958 ... [Interjections.]