CLOSING REMARKS BY THE PREMIER OF MPUMALANGA AT THE INVESTMENT AND MINING CONFERENCE HELD IN SYDNEY CHOMA BANQUET HALL, STEVE TSHWETE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY IN NKANGALA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY 03 OCTOBER 2025
Programme Director,
Members of the Executive Committee,
Captains of Big Companies,
Royal Leadership,
CEO’s of Mining Companies and Business Leaders,
Representatives from different Municipalities,
Government officials,
Leaders of all the Parastatals ,
Representatives of Political Parties,
Labour Unions present ,
Civil Society,
All Stakeholders,
My Partners in progress
In bold letters, today’s newspapers are reporting that Eskom has made its first profit in eight years. The Minister yesterday promised this gathering that Eskom will make commitment today, but they are not here, why? Eskom is part of our parastatals, they should stop to undermine us or me as the Premier of the Province.
I am also disgusted that the Department of Minerals and Energy Technocrats are also not here. If today in South Africa there is this important meeting and they chose to prioritise something else, also is a problem to me and leaders must learn to lead and allow to be led.
In 2008 Durban hosted the World Economic Forum focusing on Africa. There was an item for discussion titled “South Africa in need of a compass”. The former President Mbeki was not comfortable with the discussion because it was depicting South Africa as a country which did not know where it was going.
I am happy that we did not have such a topic because we do not need a compass, we know where we are, and where we are going.
We have demonstrated yesterday and today, through the conference that the state of our affairs, our trajectory and the future we envision.
Perusal of various reports confirm that we are the best performers in terms of infrastructure delivery in the country. We are number one followed by the Western Cape. We build schools with all facilities, hospitals, clinics, social development offices and libraries.
In the Agricultural space, we are trend setters in terms of Fortune Forty, empowering emerging farmers.
Our Human Settlement portfolio is a trail blazer in terms of Sustainable Integrated Human Settlements, where other provinces learn from.
These successes are not accidental, they are intentional, deliberate and purposeful. We have maintained stability and good governance in our administration. We don’t have a high turnover of government Senior Officials, we appoint officials on the basis of meritocracy, where there are allegations of corruption, malfeasance and maladministration. We investigate and implement consequence management.
We have well-functioning institutional framework with EXCO and its committees frequently meeting, we respect our Chapter Nine institutions and the rule of law etc.
Once more, here in Mpumalanga we do not need a compass because we know where we are, we understand our challenges, we appreciate our resource constraints, we have a plan and we know where we are going.
The voice of the Premier will be voiceless if he convenes an important gathering of captains of industries, all important stakeholders, government, community based organisations and Royal Leaders, to with one item, not two but one, investments, when the gathering rises, there is less investments.
The Premier will not be able even to express the beauty of a beautiful province like Mpumalanga Province where there is Makhonjwa mountain which is 3,5 billion old, the place where God was when he created the earth.
I know you, you promise less and you are least disappointing. I am humbled with all the commitments made in this conference of R242 Billion investments to the economy of the province.
I was not going to have this platform to give an assurance to all the people of Mpumalanga that will track all SLAs and CSIs. We also want to be part of this agreements. Don’t reduce yourself into municipalities, you are investing in the province.
I am happy that the gathering afforded us an opportunity to deal with challenges which are facing emerging miners. It is my wish that they should grow and join big mining companies and start to plough back.
We promise to deal with all the red tapes that slow down or divert investments in the Province.
We have to create an environment conducive for investments in the Province. As Government, we value your commitments but your commitments will be meaningless if as government, we are only available today to receive blessings but not walk side by side with you when you are confronted with challenges
The commitments on the implementation of your social labour plans is welcome and we believe it will be more impactful as it will address the shortcomings as I raised on the first day of the confererence.
When we committed to have 3% economic growth, 25% unemployment rate but zero % youth graduate unemployment rate, 35% poverty rate at the end of the seventh administration, we know that we are not alone. I hope you know the song “Angingedwa”. With you on our side, we dare not fail the people of Mpumalanga.
We thank all the Sponsors of this important gathering, without your contributions, we should not have created a platform for our investors to enter into concord with Mpumalanga Province.
We had a fruitful engagements, we now face forward, we face neither east nor west, we face forward said Nkwane Nkruma.
I thank You