Mpumalanga is home to nearly 5-million people, with mining and agriculture being the mainstay of its economy. Notwithstanding the country’s receding economy, the province has registered significant gains in some of its industries in the past financial year
The Premier of Mpumalanga, Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, delivered her State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Friday, 24 February 2023, at the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature in Mbombela. Among the dignitaries who attended, are Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Amakhosi, Local government leaders, members of the judiciary, luminaries of the society and ordinary citizens.
Hope for a better future
The Premier tabled the SOPA at the backdrop of the recent floods, and conveyed condolences to the bereaved families. “We join the entire nation in mourning the loss of lives and extend our deepest condolences to all the families who have been affected by the recent floods. We also wish a speedy recovery to those injured as a result of these adverse weather patterns,” empathised the premier.
Contextually, the premier also described the period in which she delivered this year’s SOPA as one known for various stages of loadshedding, water shortages, a rapidly rising cost of living, a high rate of youth unemployment, increased dependency on social grants, infrastructure backlogs, and many concerns in communities over safety, crime as well as poor governance.
In this regard, the Mpumalanga Provincial Government has developed nine pillars that will underpin its work in the next financial year. Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane disclosed that the province would focus on the Just Energy Transition, set up a war room for jobs, showcase its infrastructure, devise an efficient disaster response mechanism, strengthen local government, capacitate, and reposition state-owned enterprises, fight crime and its enabling culture, manage immigration, and target clean audits across all departments.
“We are under no illusion that more than three hundred years of oppression and institutionalised discrimination can be overcome overnight. But, we are not about to throw our hands in the air in surrender, nor will we be offering excuses as to why certain things cannot be done at the desired pace. After all, it is not excuses that our people are looking for, it is food, energy, jobs, water and opportunities,” Mtshweni-Tsipane stated.
Youth entrepreneurship a solution to unemployment
Mpumalanga is home to nearly 5-million people, with mining and agriculture being the mainstay of its economy. Notwithstanding the country’s receding economy, the province has registered significant gains in some of its industries in the past financial year.
“Despite this challenging economic growth picture, the Mpumalanga labour market actually performed well between January and September 2022, especially from a job creation point of view. The net job gains for our province was 146 320 in this period, which is a very good achievement under these circumstances,” stated Mtshweni-Tsipane, adding that the provincial unemployment rate in its strict definition improved from 38.6% in Quarter 1 2022 to 35.1% in Quarter 3 of the same year.
Nevertheless, the premier conceded that the current unemployment rate remained a matter of serious concern to her administration. The provincial unemployment rate of youth of working age, who are between the ages of 15–34, is sitting at 46.5%. The rate shoots up to 51.8% in the demographic of young women.
To confront the high rates of youth and graduate unemployment, Mpumalanga Premier’s Youth Development Fund was put in motion, bankrolling a total of 97 youth-owned businesses across all 17 municipalities of the province. According to the Premier, 36 youth entrepreneurs in sectors such as mining, agriculture, manufacturing and transport have been approved for funding in the current financial year, collectively benefitting from the R92.3-million that has been issued so far.
Moreover, Mpumalanga has begun reaping fruits of its Fortune 40 young commercial farmers programme, which started five years ago. Through Fortune 40, beneficiaries such as Treasure Sibaya and Siyabonga Nyembe from Daggakraal in the Gert Sibande District, realised their dream of operating a piggery project. With the help of the Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture, which gave them 21 sows and 1 boar, the budding farmers have now sold nearly 200 weaners and growers to the abattoir in Ermelo. Other Fortune 40 success stories relate to a Barberton-based vegetable farm that supplies big retailers and the community with fresh produce, as well as a poultry farm in the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, which has hatched over 20 jobs.
Mtshweni-Tsipane further emphasised Mpumalanga’s commitment to inclusive economic growth. “We reiterate our commitment, as the Mpumalanga Provincial Government to use public procurement to promote economic participation in order to transform ownership of the means of production. In this regard, 30% of the provincial procurement spend shall be set aside for enterprises owned by women, youth and people with disabilities.”
Strengthening state capacity to boost service delivery
Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane acknowledged that to achieve service delivery targets and transform the economy, Mpumalanga would continue to invest in its human and institutional capabilities, so as to stabilise and professionalise the public sector. This includes filling vacancies, conducting skills audits and upskilling the workforce.
“As part of our vision of building a capable developmental state, we believe in a form of public servant leadership in which public officials become stewards of the rights, values and principles enshrined in the Constitution. Such leadership must be collective in nature with the obligation of senior administrators to shift their thinking toward the mobilisation and empowerment of others to create a governance system based on the fundamental values and principles of the Constitution,” she said.
Mtshweni-Tsipane went on to label the audit outcomes of many municipalities in the province as “a major cause for concern”, saying her government had implemented additional support measures in the form of quarterly meetings with the audit committees of all municipalities to monitor progress and offer necessary interventions.
Unity in prosperity
Mtshweni-Tsipane concluded by reminding Mpumalanga residents that their strength lies in their unity, and that they should choose to be defined by hope even as they battle against challenges such as rising unemployment statistics, snail-paced economic growth, economically brutal power cuts and disasters. She said the province stood at the crossroad where it can choose to work towards shared prosperity or find itself backsliding to extreme hopelessness.
“The belief in our own capabilities to be agents of change than mere spectators and passive recipients, cannot be questioned. I call on all our people to stand united. In our diversity we declare our commitment to hold each other’s hands black and white, poor and rich, young and old, urban and rural to build, protect and defend our democracy in this magnificent province we all call home. We dare not fail,” she said.
