PRESENTING his first State of the Province Address earlier today, Premier Willies Mchunu did not sugarcoat KZN’s biggest challenges, but spoke enthusiastically about overcoming the province’s obstacles ‘through unity in action’.
‘We want to communicate a strong message that the people of KZN are one big family united in diversity.
‘It has by no means been a period of moonshine and roses since the delivery of the last State of the Province Address.
‘We have had to carefully manage a range of challenges which posed serious risks for the growth and development prospects of KZN.’
By this, he referred to international geopolitical uncertainties caused by Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US President, as well as low levels of economic growth and the persistent drought.
‘Over the years, the economy of this province has been integrated with economies of the world, making us vulnerable to external shocks.
‘Economists and commentators are uncertain about the long-term impact caused by Britain’s exit from the European Union.
‘South Africa, as UK’s largest Africa’s trading partner, will surely face the brunt of Brexit should it happen to have negative consequences.
‘When the UK finally leaves the European Union, trade and investment ties will have to be to renegotiated, leaving a period of heightened uncertainty.
‘One thing we are certain about, is that potential weaker trade and investment ties with traditional overseas markets, mean less job creation and increased unemployment.’
Mchunu revealed KZN’s contribution to GDP contracted by 0.16% in the third quarter of last year.
During the same period the manufacturing sector, as a key labour creating sector in the KZN economy, contracted by 3.1%
‘Matters are further compounded by the fact that the outlook for the coming financial year is not much better.
‘It is anticipated that the KZN economy will grow by 1.8% in 2017, which is slightly above the national average forecast of 1.6%.
‘Sluggish economic growth undoubtedly has wide ranging knock-on effects in our province.
‘One of the most severe impacts has been on the ability of the provincial economy to not only sustain and retain existing jobs in the province, but also to grow the job market and reduce unemployment.
‘Unfortunately we have to report that the unemployment rate in KZN regressed to a high of 23.7% in the third quarter of 2016, which is slightly below the national unemployment rate of 27.1%.’
Continued drought
Mchunu said while the drought has somewhat abated since it was twice declared a provincial State of Disaster in October 2014 and November 2015, drastic measures will have to be taken to avert serious damage and even loss of life.
‘Even though the province has recently received good rainfall, we all understand that we are approaching the end of our rain season and most of our major dam levels still remain low.
‘According to the Department of Water and Sanitation, the current average levels of our dams in KZN is still 13% below what it was in the corresponding period last year.
‘This disaster situation has had a devastating impact, not only on our economy and commercial demand for water, but also on human access to potable drinking water, water for livestock and game farms, crop production and food security, as well as the state of the environment in general.
‘This has also contributed to a 6.3% reduction in the number of households directly involved in agriculture over the period 2011 to 2016 and has thus further contributed to increased urbanisation in KZN.’
He said more than R503-million was spent in the 2015/2016 financial year, and the Department of Water and Sanitation has prioritised a further R700-million for the 2016/2017 financial year for drought interventions.
‘Although we are proud of what has been done to mitigate our risks related to this drought thus far, we believe that we still have to do much more.
‘It is noted that despite mass mobilisation and awareness campaigns, we are still not achieving our water saving targets.
‘Too many people in our province still do not appear to understand the severity of the situation and are not responding positively to calls to adhere to water restriction measures.’
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