The Mpumalanga provincial government says plans are currently being made to encourage investment and growth in the province. The government has allocated roughly R4.3 billion for strategic infrastructure development projects.
Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane says major projects will benefit women, youth, and people with disabilities, among others.
The Economic recovery plan, green economy, employment initiatives and plans to diversify the local economy are but some of the highlights of Mtsweni-Tsipane’s State of the Province Address (SOPA) in Mbombela.
Mtsweni-Tsipane intends to reduce dependency on coal. Small businesses and co-operatives in the mining communities will be supported to benefit from the Green economy.
Mtsweni-Tsipane’s address also touched on the energy crisis. “Our work would be informed by the nine-point plan action that is comprised of the following pillars load shedding and the energy crisis, just energy transition, war room infrastructure showcasing response mechanism for disasters this district model and the state of local government, the SOEs performance review and re-positioning.”
Mpumalanga SOPA | Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane’s address met with mixed reactions:
Clean audit reports
Mtsweni-Tsipane says her government’s ambition is for all departments and State Owned Entities to achieve clean audit reports. She says municipalities are being supported to get unqualified auditor’s reports. This is to ensure that municipalities deliver basic services to the people.
“On good governance, we continue to strive for the achievement of clean audits with all our departments and entities because many of our municipalities remain major for concern. We have committed ourselves to additional support measures this includes quarterly meetings with audit committees of all municipalities areas of improvement will be picked up and auctioned early.”
The Mpumalanga Premier gave an update on the Linah Malatjie Tertiary Hospital in eMalahleni. She says the project is at planning and design.
Mpumalanga State Of the Province Address: Tumelo Machogo updates:
‘Out of touch’
Meanwhile, opposition parties represented in the Provincial Legislature say the Premier is out of touch with the communities.
The provincial leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) provincial, Collen Sedibe, says communities want basic service delivery, not vanity projects.
“The Premier has not said anything today. You can’t come here and tell us about a five-star hotel, who does it benefit? The people of Mpumalanga do not want a five-star hotel. People of Mpumalanga need water, they need houses, they need proper roads, they need clinics that operate 24 hours, they need proper hospitals with medications and property doctors and nurses, not the five-star hotel.”
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, Jane Sithole, says the Premier has failed to address issues of gender-based violence (GBV).
“The Premier has said nothing about gender-based violence. The crimes have increased in Mpumalanga and the Premier said nothing that is disappointing.”
Floods
Mpumalanga is among the seven provinces hit by the floods. The national government declared a national state of disaster to enable an intensive response to the floods. The extent of the damage caused by the heavy rainfall in Mpumalanga is yet to be quantified.
