BIRTHDAY SPEECH BY THE MEC FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & TOURISM, HONOURABLE MMAPHEFO MATSEMELA ON THE OCCASION OF HER BIRTHDAY AT THE SLURRY PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MAFIKENG

ON THE 11 JUNE 2009

Programme Director

Representative of Slurry Cement

Representative of SlurryPrimary School

Head of the Department

Officials from my Department

Representatives from Media

Distinguished Guest

Programme Director, it will be recalled that we are just out of the national elections and that some of us had to hit the ground running. It will also be recalled that the African National Congress, which has had a resounding victory over elections and is currently the governing party, has during the electioneering period adopted a slogan that says “working together we can do more”.

Also mentioned by the State President in his State of the Nation Address, Honourable Jacob Zuma , he has said that many households and communities remain trapped in that poverty and unemployment remains stubbornly high. He also mentioned that inequality has increased and workers' share of the national income has been declining and this is also accompanied by the rising cost of living for many of our people.

On this occasion of my birthday however, I would like to reiterate the message of my Party, the ANC, that TOGETHER, WE CAN DO MORE towards beating the odds facing us. We can overcome these challenges if only we stood and worked together.

Programme Director, although the North WestProvince is well endowed with minerals and other raw materials, it remains an impoverished Province and Mafikeng will remain a rural town. From the analysis made, one of the major obstacles is the low levels of education and the absence of skills that culminates in our inability to be creative towards wealth creation. As President Zuma has said in his live media broadcast of the 7th June 2009, education remains a number one priority for the majority of our people in the country. He has indicated that unless we ensure that circle of illiteracy is broken, our people will never emerge from the poverty trap that they find themselves in.

Programme Director, it may be that today I sound like the MEC for Education, be that as it may, the issues are education, education, education which also encompass skills development. You will agree with me that it cannot be overlooked as education underpins the secret to our emancipation from poverty and squalor.

This is also a need that was identified almost a century ago when our forefathers wrote in the Freedom Charter in 1912 that “We need to invest in the education of the population to be able to grow our economy and improve the socio-economic status of our people”. Fifteen years down the line after the inception of the democratically elected and popular government, we still need to attain this cardinal objective, yet TOGETHER, WE CAN DO MORE! Notwithstanding, Programme Director, we will support and abide by the commitment made by our ruling party, the African National Congress that the need to improve the access of poor South Africans to quality education, is a must.

All of us know the current economic recession in the World and in particular how it has affected our country, and as department we are on the mission of building bridges - to enhance initiatives or good intentions with PPC.

This first meeting with you today will really ensure that we find one another in terms of achieving the objectives of public – private partnership. In the spirit that I have decide as the newly appointed MEC for Economic Development and Tourism to start to strengthen and build this partnership that a have indicateddemand for cement product as not been seriously affected as a result of bow m in Housing or construction, the best performance were in construction, which grew 9.4%, government service at 4.1% and personal services, which grew 3.1%. Electricity, gas and water contracted by nearly 8%.

We are however concern about statistics indicating that the will be more job losses, the indication is that

i)300 000 – expected to lose jobs this year

ii)112 000 – have already lost jobs since November

iii)50 000 – the number of jobs the mining sector expects to lose by the end of this year

iv)47 000 – the number of jobs lost by the automotive sector since last year

We believe that effective partnership between private/public will assist in containing this pressure ultimately turning situation around

We therefore aged PPC management to tirelessly to support us as government in building the economy of our province

It will benefit both of us when the economy is favorable

I am very happy therefore that I am standing here today, celebrating my birthday in partnership with the Slurry (PPC) and the SlurryPrimary School. In my language which is Setswana, there is an expression that says “ntime, fela o mphele ngwana”. True to this idiomatic expression that says in English that “rather the children than us, parents”, I also, on this day which is my birthday and in partnership with the Management of PPC, would like to extend this gesture of goodwill as our contribution towards facilitating the learning process of the children of Slurry. I have been told that this Primary School has 54 learners and starts from Grade 1 to Grade 7 subsequent to which they proceed to OnkgopotseComprehensiveSchool.

Programme Director, ke batla go bua thata le batsadi ba bana ba ke re, re a itse gore ka moso, bangwe ba lona ba tla bo ba amogile bana diaparo tsa bone tsa sekole, mme dia aparwa ke bona. Mme ke a lo lopa, tswee-tswee, lo se ka lwa ba lwa dira se, le ka motlha ole mongwe. A re itimeng batsadi, bogolo re rotloetse bana gore ba ithute. Re tlogele go ba roma bojalwa le go ba nosa. Fa lo batla botshelo jo bo botoka jo bo edileng jwa ka moso, itshokeng, mme lo tla bona maungo a boitshoko jwa lona.

To the Management of the PPC Company, I know that you have deep pockets. While I really appreciate this partnership and the privilege and honour bestowed to me on this my sacred day, which is today the 11th June, in Setswana we say, “le ka moso” which means in short, “tomorrow again it will be my birthday”. This being the case therefore, this partnership may have to be taken to a higher level which means that this should not be the end of the road.

To the educators, I do not have to remind you of the formidable task facing you. As you heard from my profile, I am an educator by profession and I know the challenges you have. What is however important is to encourage you not to loose focus in terms of the goals that have been set within this noble profession you have chosen. You are also aware that the message that comes from ANC Leadership is that we must all work together and harder. There is no room for idleness or free riding. We know that we can depend and therefore with this few words I say “happy birthday to me”.

I thank you all!!

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