President Cyril Ramaphosa: Meeting between National Executive and Northern Cape Provincial Executive Council

Programme director, minister Velenkosini Hlabisa,
Premier of the Northern Cape, Dr Zamani Saul,
Ministers and deputy ministers,
MECs,
Executive mayors and members of councils,
Officials,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning.

This is the sixth formal engagement that the national executive is having with a provincial executive.

We have previously met with the executive councils of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and most recently, the Eastern Cape.

We hope to have met with the leadership of the remaining provinces over the next few months.

Advancing cooperative governance is mandated by our Constitution. As the government of national unity, we see this as an important part of building a capable, ethical and developmental state.

One of the driving forces behind the district development model that we established in 2019 was to ultimately do away with two persistent challenges that have been holding back our progress as a government.

The first challenge is that of working in silos. This has been a particular problem when it comes to the interface between the national, provincial and local spheres of government.

The second is what I have termed ‘parachuted development’. This refers to projects and programmes being initiated, scoped and budgeted for at national level without due consideration to the realities of implementation on the ground, or even to whether that particular initiative meets community needs.

These challenges have been time-consuming and costly. They have also contributed to a widening trust deficit between government and communities when these ventures fail to take flight or encounter implementation challenges.

Structured engagements between the national and provincial executives are designed to narrow and ultimately close these gaps. They are meant to help us work together more efficiently, to resolve challenges together and to plan smarter.

I have said on a number of occasions that the Northern Cape is an economic pioneer and a frontier of innovation.

Last year, the Pultizer Centre published a profile that characterised the province as South Africa’s emerging powerhouse – quite literally.

The Northern Cape is at the forefront of the clean energy revolution and experiencing a significant surge in power projects, notably solar and green hydrogen.

The province’s green hydrogen masterplan is ambitious in both scope and potential benefits – not just for the Northern Cape but for the national economy, for the SADC region, for the continent and globally.

In recent months I, together with a number of members of the national executive, have participated in multilateral discussions and business forums where we have been articulating our vision of South Africa being a leader in the renewable energy revolution.

And, to quote the Pulitzer Centre report, once the energy transition unfolds as envisaged, the Northern Cape could be the new heartbeat of the economy.

Besides the strides being made in the energy sector, we note that the Northern Cape is working to become an industrial hub.

This is supported by traditional industries like mining, but is being expanded through special economic zone development, industrial park development and major infrastructure developments, notably in port and rail.

While the economy of the province has been growing and creating jobs, and there has been important progress in areas like education, public infrastructure and basic services, persistent challenges remain.

The National Treasury’s 2024 provincial socio-economic review points to an increase in the percentage of people living in poverty and to a drop in the number of households with access to basic services like water.

Unemployment, especially youth unemployment, remains high.

Fiscal constraints are holding back a number of projects particularly at a municipal level, including for disaster response, asbestos eradication, land restitution, rural electrification and public housing.

With respect to infrastructure development, we will need to find ways to support high impact projects like the Northern Cape Industrial Corridor, the R1 billion housing programme and the Kimberley Big Hole precinct as examples.

We will also need find creative funding mechanisms for projects like the Boegoebaai harbour. We need an urgent relook at the current delivery model to enable regulatory approval and investment activation.

Integrated planning between national, provincial and local government must involve state-owned enterprises as important stakeholders with significant capabilities.

The integration of provincial planning into national priority planning must be prioritised through the district development model and aligned with the medium-term development plan.

We are keen to discuss how the province is addressing the issue of climate change and its state of readiness to respond to natural disasters.

Another challenge is the increasing municipal debt and what measures are in place to improve revenue collection.

Furthermore, how can the province leverage its key tourism attractions?

These are among the issues that we will deliberate on today.

Allow me to once again thank you all for your attendance. I look forward to our discussions.

I thank you.