Theme: “There are Better Days Before Us & KZN Remains Open for Business”

Programme Director;

Members of the Executive Council of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature;

The Director-General of KwaZulu and all Senior Government Officials;

Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Ambassador Bene M’Poko;

Your Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

 

We deeply appreciate this engagement.

We wish to say thank you to all members of the Diplomatic Corps, Ambassadors, High Commissioners. We thank you for your time and your concern.

Our mission today as the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal is to engage with you and hear you. 

Our mission is also to detail our plan of action to rebuild the Province, uniting our people and addressing the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

To inspire hope, we remain confident that there are better days in the horizon.

We also know that there are better days ahead for the people of California and Canada who are facing wildfires.

Global warming and natural disasters remain a sharp reminder that we are one human family sharing one home which recognises no man-made boundaries. We are immensely proud that South Africa is sending more than 100 firefighters to battle these fires in Canada.

Long before our own July fires and violent storms that engulfed the beautiful province of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, we had plans to meet all of you, Your Excellencies to express our deep sense of appreciation for your contribution to our province, our country, and indeed our continent.

I can safely confirm and say that a number of you here tonight we have met individually and in separate occasion but the common cause of those engagements is the development of the people and for that we thank all of you for your contribution to our country.

We wanted, as the ANC-led government, to pay tribute to you all for the role that you are playing in helping us create a truly united, non-racial, non-sexist, and prosperous society.

Further, we wanted to recognise the role of Africa and the international community in working with us to defeat the tyranny of apartheid and colonialism. Faced with the current challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, we hoped to remind you that when the multiracial Congress adopted the Freedom Charter in 1955, we received messages of solidarity from leaders across the globe.

It was through international solidarity in later years that we were able to end our protracted conflict and negotiated a peaceful settlement.

As government, we want to assure members of the diplomatic corps that more than ever before, we remain determined to unite all our people and create a better life for all.

This is not the time to hesitate or have second thoughts about our province.

Like the ancient reed, the indestructible KwaZulu-Natal will withstand the raging storms by bending, but eventually emerging bruised but wiser, and unbroken.

We are here to invite you to join us on our journey of quickening the tempo to economic recovery and job creation so that we can create a world with a more humane face.

Your Excellencies,

These are distressing times the world over.

In KwaZulu-Natal, we have emerged from the most devastating civil unrest of the democratic era. 

That unanticipated crisis played itself out before all our eyes.

We need not to spell out the details of that calamity.

Suffice to say that the South African government is not alone in being confronted by violent threats to its institutions and economic infrastructure.

Who could have imagined an assault on the Capitol in Washington by right wing insurrectionists this past January?

We deplored that uprising and sent our good wishes to the new Biden administration in the full expectation that institutions of the state and government in the United States would withstand such shocks to its authority.

A decade ago, the United Kingdom was rocked by the London riots.

Television screens across the world blazed with thousands of people rioting in cities and towns across England. 

The looting and arson raged for about six days accompanied by deaths of the British citizens. There was mass deployment of security personnel across the country.

So too in France, India, Kenya and a number of other countries where the authorities were confronted with civil disorder. 

The challenge to governments is to manage such crises and fortify institutions of state and government, to meaningfully respond to legitimate citizen demands and to inspire confidence that there are better days before us. And we are here with that confidence. But we want to assure you that we are not reductionists, we do not take quick changes or quick approaches to victory. We want to build on the solid foundation. Addressing genuine and legitimate demands of the people is always correct but equally deal with opportunists and deal with criminal elements at all cost is a principle that must guide all of us. Therefore, in response to the recent challenge we have faced at the province we are applying both.

We are isolating genuine concerns and we are dealing with genuine concerns in a way that seeks to give an ear and address them genuinely. But criminal elements must be dealt with and harsher through the justice processes.

KwaZulu-Natal is an economic jewel whose overall potential remains largely untapped.

Its natural resources, strategic location as a gateway to SADC and beyond, remarkable diversity of people and talent make the province an enviable proposition. 

Following the unrest, KwaZulu-Natal took just days to reopen for business, to clean up and to press forward. 

We invite you to work with us, invest with us, reap the enormous benefits that will flow out of this season of hope.

Your Excellencies,

We have intensified our efforts in KwaZulu-Natal through building strong social cohesion, advance peace, and promote moral regeneration. We are working with the religious leaders, traditional leaders, civil society organisations and business to address the root causes of the unrest and violence.

We have all of us from these sectors agreed that the pillars of our economic recovery in the aftermath of both Covid-19 and the violence we have seen include the following:

• Restoration of Law and order and enforcement of property rights- we will not compromise on that;

• Achieving stability, peace and tranquillity – we have gone back to normality right now but we are working together with all stakeholders to ensure that we build social cohesion and have that social compacting and educate our people to take responsibility and to be in charge of their localities and to provide strong leadership;

• Providing a climate conducive for rebuilding and investment in this regard we are working with affected companies to ensure they receive incentives and receive support to recover and get back to operations;

• Devising strategies to detect and deter future unrests so that we are not caught unprepared in future;

• Attaining commonality of purpose and social compacting to derive long lasting solutions of dealing with the causal factors;

• At the centre of the recovery plan, is a coordinated approach that seeks to ensure that the economy can rebound.  We acknowledge that our biggest failure was our inability to have a coordinated and swift response in our approach. We acknowledge that it took time to respond to the unrest, but we are saying we have learned and never again shall that happen.

We are improving communication and ensuring visible leadership throughout KwaZulu-Natal. Our programme is focusing on citizen’s health and wellbeing, securing food stability, providing capital, and liquidity, and credit to our residents and entrepreneurs.

The urgent steps we took to stabilise and reopen our economy included:

• Reenforcing the rule of law including paying attention to the role of private security companies;

• Providing security at National Key Points e.g., Ports and airports, and strategic industries;

• Securing critical infrastructure e.g., water, oil refineries, power & hospitals;

• Increasing visible security at critical manufacturing and distribution sites;

• Re-establishing critical supply chains – e.g. Fuel, Food, support for water treatment, basic municipal services, etc.

• Identifying of the affected Traders ( in CBDs) and Spaza Shops (in Townships);

• Re-opening of the N3 & N2 for free flow to limit stoppages;

• Restoring public transport (taxis, buses and train services);

• Restoring the port of Durban and Richards Bay to optimal functioning

• Securing warehouses, distribution centres and wholesalers to improve logistical chains

• Safeguarding critical medical supplies.

As a province, we are deeply invested in seeing local businesses recover and back in operation. Our focus is to provide relief to business through the Business Revival Fund. In this regard, we are

Re-invigorating the Business Support fund managed by TIKZN.

Utilising Zimele trader’s fund targeting support to Spaza shops in townships and rural areas

Recapitalising the KZN enterprise development fund (managed by IDFC)- increase accessibility to SMMEs (Low interest rates, Interest payment holidays);

Tweak Operation Vula Fund (OVF) –for faster turnover and implementation;

Fastrack Operation Vula Fund roll-out in the districts as part of reigniting the economy;

Accelerate implementation of Cooperative Development Programme.

We are also paying greater attention to our Business Retention Programmes. Our focus is on the following:

Ongoing engagements with industry towards economic recovery;

Providing Business Support/ and Rapid response desk– This will include an online platform aimed at supporting business that require information and security;

Prioritise strategic industries (Automotive, Energy, Food);

Roll-out the Business Support Fund to companies in distress;

Through our new #KZNRaising Campaign and the Presidential Investment Envoys, we seek to restore investment confidence.

Our measures for long term growth and sustainability growth include the following:

Finance- Reprioritisation of budgets and prudential use of the Provincial Contingency Fund.

Urban Renewal and Regeneration-Infrastructure support to small towns and most affected Municipalities through the Small Towns rehabilitation programme;

Speedy implementation of the Road to Rail logistics strategy;

Establish the Small Towns Rehabilitation Fund to target towns that have been impacted negatively by the unrest;

Unlock and fast track implementation of Township economy strategy;

Partnerships with DFIs (especially the Development Bank of Southern Africa) for rapid infrastructure development;

Fast track programmes identified in the KZN Economic Reconstruction and Transformation plan;

Speedy implementation of all infrastructure programmes;

Vigorous Tourism Marketing and development programmes;

Support programmes to advance regional integration and export development.

In the midst of Covid-19, we developed the KwaZulu-Natal Economic Reconstruction and Transformation Plan. This is a plan that promotes Public-Private Partnership to accelerate inclusive economic growth and distribution and create employment.

To successfully implement the economic recovery plan, we have disaggregated our economy into 15 critical or priority sectors to attract investments and drive exports. These are:

Agriculture and Agro-Processing

Clothing and Textiles

Creative Industries

Finance and Services

Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), ICT and Innovation

Health Innovation and Manufacturing

Industrial Development

Informal Sector

Infrastructure Development (Water, Energy and Sanitation)

Investment and Trade

Manufacturing (Automotive, paper and pulp)

Mining and Mineral Beneficiation

Activation of the untapped opportunities in the Oceans Economy

Tourism

Transport and Logistics (Rail, Road and Air) 

Your Excellencies, Africa with its population of more than a billion people and a youthful, enterprising population remains the new growth frontier in the world.

The advent of the Africa Free Continental Area Agreement (AfCFTA ) since 01 January 2020 presents possibilities for cross-country trade, and companies in the KZN region are encouraged to export directly or indirectly into the continent.  This is taking advantage of the proximity to market and economies of scale.

The free-trade area is the largest in the world in terms of the number of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimates that the agreement will boost intra-African trade by 52 percent if implemented successfully.

The KZN Cabinet recently adopted KZN Export Strategy and Implementation Plan. The strategy has identified the top twenty (20) products with the potential to be exported to the continent, which is out of a list of over 104 products. It has mapped-out the applicable products to the top 21 African countries with huge export potential.

We have no doubt that this strategy will open up opportunities to grow the market share for KZN companies in already established African markets for their matured products or less matured products and a conduit into entering existing African markets with new products.

You Excellencies, one of our hard-hit industries since Covid-19 has been our tourism industry and hospitality sector. We want to plead with you to join us on our road to the recovery of this critical sector in job creation in the midst of the pandemic.

The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has projected that global tourism recovery will take another two years, and as KwaZulu-Natal we are hard at work in ensuring that our destination is ready to welcome back our international visitors to our shores. This we do by ensuring that we improve the tourism infrastructure to ensure it is world-class, that our tourism experiences are like no other and that our service that are offered are truly memorable.

Among government tourism infrastructure investments is a brand-new Durban Cruise Terminal which will be opened in the next couple of months. We are working with the Mediterranean Shipping Company, MSC, as they will be resuming their cruise tour between KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique, and KwaZulu-Natal and Mauritius during the forthcoming summer season. That proves that we are working to open the economy for the world.

In as far as Covid-19, the vaccination roll-out plan is in full steam, and we have started working with South African Tourism to get back our international markets.

KwaZulu-Natal is undoubtedly one of the most unique destinations in the world. The province boasts two iconic World Heritage Sites, being the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg which is the home to the original Khoisan paintings as well as Isimangaliso Wetland Park, which truly makes KwaZulu-Natal a bucket list destination for travelers across the globe.

In the words, of our former President Nelson Mandela who once visited these two Heritage Sites where he remarked: “Isimangaliso must be the only place on the globe where the oldest land mammal, the rhino and the biggest terrestrial mammal, the elephant share the ecosystem with the oldest fish and the world biggest mammal, the whale”. This truly symbolizes the uniqueness of the Zulu Kingdom and therefore we will want to welcome you and ensure that you continue to be our ambassadors as the province.

You will also recall that former President Mandela cast his first vote on 27 April 1994 at Ohlange Institute, in Inanda, Durban.

KwaZulu-Natal has a myriad of tourism experiences to meet any traveler’s needs, be it adventure, safari, beach, adventure, culture, heritage, cuisine, luxury or an all-round family holiday. It is for this reason that we say, the KwaZulu-Natal is the place to be.

To cap it all, KwaZulu-Natal has warm weather all year round, equally warm people, amazing landscapes, diverse cultural experiences, and we are a value-for-money destination.

A variety of world-class tourism investment opportunities are available in the province both in cultural and nature-based tourism. They include but not limited to the following:

• Development of Woodstock Dam Resort in the Drakensberg in Bergville.

• Development of Shakaland Resort and Cultural Village in eShowe.

• Development of Tourism and Cultural Centre in Amatata Mountain in Ethekwini, Durban.

• Development of Balele Game Reserve in Emadlangeni, Utrecht.

• Establishment of Durban Eye Ferris Wheel in Ethekwini along the beach front.

• Development of world-class accommodation facilities in and around iSimangaliso World Heritage Site.

These tourism investment opportunities are currently being prepared through planning activities in order make them ready for investors.

But tourism is not the only thing we officer, but we are very rich in manufacturing and industrialization.In addition to tourism is our two Special Economic Zones, the Dube Trade Port and the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zones which offer tax incentives to investors, we are working on establishing the Clothing and Textile Special Economic Zone and that will be located in the corridor from Newcastle but the main hub will be in Ladysmith. We are also continually improving the ease of doing business through our One-Stop Shops. We want investors to come in through the red carpet and we don’t want red tapes.

Your Excellencies,

From the recent tragedy of the ugly scenes of violence, death, and destruction, we are determined to use this experience to make KwaZulu-Natal a mecca of peace and development.

We must use this as an advantage to prosper but to preach peace, not only in the country but in the content and the world over. We will be steaming ahead with the project of ensuring deepening peace in KwaZulu-Natal is advanced but doing so also to become one of the epitome and example in the world as a whole.

We will position ourselves as place for healing, reconciliation, and justice.

We are determined to make the world come live with us or visit us to learn from us how lasting peace is forged and sustained.

We will, in due course, have the annual festival or carnival in the beautiful and hospitable KwaZulu-Natal dedicated on peace promotion.

We know that you will be with us as we tell this story and inspire the world that peace and development must always be humanity’s passion and objective.

KwaZulu-Natal is open for business and is ready to contribute to lasting peace.

There are better days before us. That is our assurance to all of you today.

Together Growing KwaZulu-Natal! The world as a whole must grow and prosper.

I thank you!