Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu is poised to make Mpumalanga great. Delivering his State of the Province Address (SOPA) in Mbombela, Ndlovu promised to improve the lives of the people of the province.

Ndlovu promised to improve, among others, the delivery of services, create a conducive environment for job creation. The Premier says his government will partner with the private sector to create the much needed jobs in the province.

He also promised to accelerate the completion of infrastructure projects that include the R2 billion International Fresh Produce Market which has been under construction for over a decade.

“The province will focus on driving economic growth to create more job opportunities for the next five years. We will target economic growth that creates approximately 300,000 additional and sustainable work opportunities. For us to achieve these targets, the government will intensify its existing programmes and launch new innovative programmes in the key economic sectors of the provincial economy. We will continue to prioritise farming and forestry.”

The state of municipalities is a cause of concern for the provincial government. Ndlovu says plans are underway to assist municipalities in the province.

He says all government entities must be able to deliver basic services.

“We want to improve our audit outcomes from five clean audits to 80% by the end of the MDD period. At least eight or more municipalities must also achieve clean audits. We would continue to support municipalities in their financial recovery plan, improve their audit outcome and assist them to implement their revenue collection strategy.”

Missed opportunity

Opposition parties say the Premier has missed the opportunity to set the province on the right path. They say Ndlovu has failed to address pertinent issues that include the provision of clean drinking water.

“It was a wish list, nothing would happen. Premier after Premier came from the first administration, they promised us the Moloto Corridor, they promised the people of Mpumalanga dams so that they have water. Where is the dam, including Mbombela dam in Mountain View? They are still not here. They promised us the ICC, where is the ICC? Nothing. So he spoke about the water projects in all the municipalities, but he is saying they are coming to be completed in 2026. People need water now,” explains Provincial Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Collen Sedibe.

ActionSA leader, Thoko Mashiane says it is disappointing that Ndlovu did not speak about the possible re-opening of Lily Mine in his plans to create the much-needed jobs.

“Nothing new, except that there’s one thing that I’ve linked about his speech that has involved the private sector, more especially on infrastructure. But I was disappointed when he talked about job creation and spoke about mining without mentioning Liliy Mine and Bubrook because I was expecting him to say they were going to open those two mines, retrieve that container, we have more jobs around that area.”

The SACP in Mpumalanga is also not impressed. Provincial chairperson Lucky Mbuyane says Ndlovu failed to outline plans to root out corruption in the province.

“But what worried us the most is the production economy where our people must participate in the production of the ecomony because 86% of the economy in South African still belongs to the hands of the few, the government is only having 14% that is not bringing hope to us that would rise up in terms of ownership and control of the ecomony that’s where our worry is, also the issue of corruption in Mpumalnga and issue of crime we think the Premeir was economically on that.”

The Premier’s address will be debated next week.