His Excellency President Zuma, the Chair and the Deputy Chair of the NCOP, Premier Magashule - our host premier - premiers, MECs and Members of the NCOP, Salga members, mayors, councillors, traditional and religious leaders, and the community of the Free State and neighbouring provinces, we want to thank the NCOP for inviting us to this session and we also want to indicate our appreciation to the President for his address.
I wish to indicate that KwaZulu-Natal is making progress in meeting the priorities of our government in line with the electoral mandate. All national government outcomes have been aligned with departmental plans in KwaZulu-Natal. The signing of service delivery agreements by the premier and the MEC with the Minister signifies KwaZulu-Natal's commitment to ensure that targets set by the President are met. This has necessitated change in the manner of doing business on the part of provincial governments, with more integration and co-operation across departments and all spheres of government. We want to agree with the President that provinces should not behave like independent states. They should respect the fact that in some cases there might be a different party in charge of a province other than the ruling party at national level.
The challenge which was faced by government at the beginning of our term was that of overexpenditure totalling more than R4 billion, mainly due to salary increases and the occupation-specific dispensation in the departments of health and education. The provincial government put in place severe austerity measures to reduce this. The process was uncomfortable and required resolute leadership in implementation, which the provincial government and political leadership provided, with good results. This financial year we face a much better year with no overexpenditure forecast. The province began to stay cash-positive and earned positive praise from the Minister of Finance, who recommended that this model be used for other sectors of government.
A strong effort has been put into combating fraud and corruption in government, with several investigations and progress resulting in several public servants being suspended and internal disciplinary procedures being initiated through a dedicated team led by a retired judge. Several other public servants and private individuals are facing arrest or are already facing courts or have been convicted. The message of zero tolerance against fraud and corruption is loud and clear.
We have committed ourselves to ensuring food security and supporting agrarian and land reform. We embarked on a One Home, One Garden programme, supplying seeds and implements to indigent families to encourage food security. We formed a special vehicle, which we call the Agribusiness Development Agency, to expedite land reform and save emerging farmers and beneficiaries of land reform from losing their farms through repossession by banks. Indications are that the agency is yielding good results, and the mechanisation by our provincial government is assisting farmers on communal land to maximise productivity and move towards self-sufficiency. We have received a lot of support. One example is that of SA Breweries, where we have been able to persuade them to remove beer pictures on a number of township billboards and put up vegetable billboards that say "One Home, One Garden". They also complied with us on a contract of 5 000 tons of maize to be purchased from emerging farmers on communal land.
Crime prevention measures are co-ordinated through our united front against crime, bringing together the police and the community and business leaders to combat crime. This operation has ensured that community safety structures focus on priority crimes, including those in rural areas as well as in the farming community. We have had shocking massacres such as in Ntshongweni where 10 people, including a six-month-old baby, were killed. Police responded with speed in apprehending the perpetrators. Unfortunately two of those suspects were killed in the exchange of fire with the police. The remaining suspect made a full confession to the court on this crime. We commend the police on this and on other cases for a speedy response and firm hand in sending a message that crime does not pay and that the government is serious about fighting crime.
We are embarking on a strong campaign to fight drugs. They seem to be a factor in most of the shocking crimes, especially the type which is locally known as "whoonga". We appeal to our national government to urgently assist in a comprehensive programme to combat drugs, including the rehabilitation of addicts. Our programme will involve community organisations - religious, cultural and others - sports mobilisation and attention on youth development, women and vulnerable groups.
HIV and Aids is most severe in our province. We have embarked on a very strong campaign to deal with this challenge, ensuring that we have united leadership at all levels, which plays a very strong role in leading the campaign. We have designed a programme for implementation in every ward, mobilising all community structures and individuals to work together with public servants to fight the disease. Almost all of 300 clinics have started dispensing antiretroviral treatment and anti-TB treatment together as instructed by the President. We have also initiated male medical circumcision. Up to now - in the past nine months - we have circumcised 18 000 males. Community health workers have been integrated to focus on this important duty as a first line in the fight against diseases in our primary health system, managed jointly by the departments of social development and health.
More than 3 000 new nursing posts have been filled. The community volunteer service programme has been initiated to ensure peer education and behavioural change amongst the youth whilst providing skills and job opportunities. This is what we believe is important in combating the spread of HIV and Aids. It will also deal with problems of crime amongst young people. We thank the Ministers of Defence and of Rural Development and Land Reform for support in this particular programme.
Additional support has also been given to boost education and improve matric results and skills development. We are aggressively addressing infrastructure backlogs to ensure job creation. But we also had block housing projects. We have revived many of these. Yesterday I inspected and handed over a number of successfully completed houses to new owners in eThekwini. Provincial government continues to work together with municipalities to speed up service delivery. Whilst 500 000 houses have been delivered since 1994, we note that 900 000 houses remain as a backlog for the province.
Road construction, especially with regard to access to rural areas, ensures access to public amenities and opens up economic opportunities. The Expanded Public Works Programme has assisted in job creation, and we use infrastructure delivery to keep up the economic growth stimulated by the 2010 World Cup. On 9 and 10 December we will convene a summit on water and energy which will be hosted to speed up delivery of these services together with municipalities.
We continue to face challenges in municipalities and have had to impose section 139 of the Constitution on several municipalities - Msunduzi, Indaka, Tugela and uMhlabuyalingana. This is also showing good results. I just want to indicate that it was the ANC leadership that removed the mayor and executive committee members, taking responsibility for the challenges that were taking place in these municipalities. So, the information of the hon Mr Watson is deficient. KwaZulu-Natal ... [Interjections.]
Thank you very much. We continue to work together to deliver a better life for all. KwaZulu-Natal supports the approach the President has taken. [Time expired.] [Applause.]