Premier calls on citizens to help build a great province during Freedom Day celebration
The government has urged the private sector, to join the efforts to massify employment opportunities in the province.
Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane in delivering her keynote address during the Freedom Day celebration said that the people of Mpumalanga need to unite to develop the province we want.
The Premier was speaking during the Freedom Day celebration held at Sy Mtimunye Stadium on Thursday, April 27.
The theme was: “Consolidating and Safeguarding our Democratic Gains”.
She said as the rainbow nation, freedom means that the nation would be able to develop a legal framework that would entrench the principles of unity and the eradication of discrimination and the promotion of human rights.
She added to say that in terms of service delivery, the government was able to build around 36 415 housing units for the people of Mpumalanga since 2019.
Though they have a backlog of around 7% of households that are still in informal dwellings, the backlog will be eradicated before the end of this 6th Administration of the Mpumalanga Provincial Government.
“Around 86% of people in Mpumalanga have access to piped water and a further 90% of our people reside in electrified dwellings.
We have recently completed the construction of Empumelelweni Extensions 7 and 9 internal sewers in Emalahleni to improve sewage-related challenges in the area.
Through the Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP), we have secured R110 Million for the electrification of Siyanqoba, which will commence in the weeks ahead.
We are making progress with the construction of the Linah Malatjie tertiary hospital.
We have completed the environmental impact studies and construction is set to commence during this year.
Over the past 29 years, we have demonstrated our responsive character, by responding to the needs and cries of our people.
The traffic congestion complaints at Emalahleni City Centre, are, but one classical example.
We will construct a bridge from Emalahleni City Centre leading to Pine Ridge, Klarinet, Siyanqoba and Verena to improve safety and ease traffic flow in that area.
The celebration of this milestone also serves as an opportunity to reflect on how far we have progressed in the mammoth task of improving the lives of our people, since democracy.
We acknowledge that much more still needs to be done.
However, the steady progress of improving the quality of the lives of the poorest, must encourage us to move with greater speed to bring a better life to all our people, to finally defeat poverty and underdevelopment within our province,” said the premier.
The Premier added to say that they were aware that unemployment is a ticking time bomb, and they are determined to confront it, through the creation of sustainable employment opportunities.
The government has set itself, a target of creating at-least 90 000 youth job opportunities within the next 15 months.
These opportunities will come from 21 empowerment programmes across sector departments in the provincial government.
The government has urged the private sector, to join the efforts to massify employment opportunities in the province.
Working together with municipalities, they are determined to achieve the target of sustainable and dignified employment opportunities, bearing in mind that another untapped area which has the potential to be a game changer in the province is the just energy transition.
“As we commemorate Freedom Day, we must spare a thought for people whose freedom and dignity are eroded by the scourge of gender-based violence.
I sometimes bury my head in shame, when I realise that eMalahleni has earned such an unfortunate reputation for a high prevalence of gender-based violence cases.
Not a day passes by without gory stories in the media that depict this place in a bad manner.
We cannot proudly proclaim to be a province that recognises the rights enshrined in the constitution if the weakest amongst us are perennial victims of gender-based violence.
To overcome this problem, we will invest significant resources in initiatives that will advance affirmative social values and mend the social fabric that is torn by uncouth behaviour.
We call upon every citizen, who calls Mpumalanga their home, to help fight against the scourge of GBVF.
We call upon all of you to contribute towards building a great province that protects the most vulnerable in our society,” concluded the Premier.
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