Eastern Cape communities are pinning their hopes on Premier Oscar Mabuyane to come up with tangible and practical solutions to address socio-economic challenges plaguing the province.
Mabuyane will be delivering his State of the Province Address (SOPA) for the seventh administration on Friday.
Poverty, crime and a high unemployment rate continue to hamper the economic development in the province.
Lulama Ntlanganiso is amongst the 47% of people who are unemployed in the province.
She decided to start her informal business after years of struggling to find a decent job. She has been in this sector for over 30 years.
Despite her efforts to receive financial support to boost her business, nothing has come to light.
“The questions that are asked there, is they need us to have business plans. We know we are doing business. Some of us don’t understand this thing of business plans. They must just sort it out and make it easy for all of us who are hawkers, especially us because they are supporting big businesses. But what about hawkers? Because they are ones who are struggling the most,” says Ntlanganiso.
Alarming crime rate
The business sector is concerned about the alarming crime rate in the province.
“As a business sector our expectations from the Premier is we would like to see what the Premier is going to address when it comes to the safety and security in the Eastern Cape. We saw how tourists were cancelling their vacations when it came to the kidnapping of our tourists. People were cancelling their accommodations, they were cancelling their vacations and the Eastern Cape had become a bit notorious for crime,” Lizelle Maurice, the CEO of Border Kei Business Chamber elaborates.
There are calls for government to strengthen relations with the private sector in order to create much needed jobs.
Political analyst Prof. Ntsikelelo Breakfast weighs in: “Another problem for the Eastern Cape, which feeds into underdevelopment, is the fact that the Cape economy is diversified. If you look for an instance, cities like Buffalo City Municipality and Nelson Mandela Bay, the majority of its people are employed in the automotive sector. So, there is a need for diversification in the economy.”
Mabuyane will deliver his State of the Province Address under the theme, “30 years, a commitment of renewal and service, the people shall govern”.
