The Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (Ledet) hosted a two-day Economic Development Workshop at Protea Hotel Ranch Resort last Thursday and Friday.
The theme of the workshop was ‘Towards sustainable industrial trajectory: Challenges and prospects for Limpopo Province’ and is the provincial version of the National Development Plan (NDP).
The event was a research-centred, solution-oriented high-level gathering that aimed to attract leading representatives of the business community, academia, civil society, public representatives, senior government officials, captains of industries, decision makers and thought leaders in the province.
Premier, Stan Mathabatha delivered the keynote address at the event attended by, among others, Ledet MEC Thabo Mokone and Director-General in the Office of the Premier, Nape Nchabeleng.
Mathabatha said that he was convinced that the key to the province’s development objectives was partnerships. “The struggle to develop and grow the economy; create jobs and fight unemployment and poverty is one that requires our collective energies and combined intellectual resources. No one or institution acting alone can win the national war against the inherited yet stubborn legacy of unemployment, poverty and inequality,” Mathabatha said.
According to the Premier, the economies of the country and the province were not performing in line with expectations and instead of creating new and sustainable jobs, it was shedding jobs. “This reality comes with increasing levels of unemployment and poverty. The success of the South African revolution is to a greater extent dependent on our ability to address the socio-economic challenges facing our people. Our democracy will mean nothing to the majority of our citizens if they remain trapped in conditions of squalor, poverty and joblessness,” Mathabatha said.
The Premier called on all role players to make a deliberate and a concerted effort to drive the people of the province out of the dehumanising web of abject poverty. “It is in this context, that a sustained economic growth is crucial to enable government to defeat the persisting legacy of inequality, poverty and unemployment. We have to introduce new and innovative measures to stimulate the growth of our provincial economy,” Mathabatha said.
Story: BARRY VILJOEN
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