Finance MEC calls for unity and clean governance
‘Unity in action’ is the only way to alleviate poverty in the province, stressed KZN MEC for Finance Nomusa Dube-Ncube at the provincial post budget business breakfast at the Golden Horse Casino on Thursday.
Dube-Ncube said the theme 'unity in action' is equally relevant, whether talking about improving the education outcomes in the province, accelerating the provision of essential services to communities, deepening social cohesion or, namely, to bring prosperity to KwaZulu-Natal through allocation of the pro-poor budget.
“It is particularly important for us to realise that, for us to not only survive challenging times, but to strive for greater excellence and prosperity in the face of adversity, we have no option but to ensure that we stand together through unity in action and not only in speech. It is therefore critical for us to remain driven by a strong sense of purpose, focused on a plan of action to achieve a common vision, with clear goals and objectives, without being distracted by prophets of doom. The future is in our hands; if we do not deliver a future of prosperity, no one else will do it for us. Failure is not an option,” said Dube-Ncube.
She named the Pietermaritzburg and Midlands Chamber of Business (PMCB) as one established relationship that is already unified and will provide a ground for working together to reduce poverty.
“The Pietermaritzburg Chamber, together with the relationships we have established with other institutions representing organised business, has enabled us to develop and nurture this relationship to a point where we are already greatly unified in our actions. The task at hand now is to ensure that we work relentlessly to ensure that we remain unified.
“We must agree that our collective efforts, be it in the field of economic development, the development of infrastructure, the field of social development, of governance or of safety and security, we all have to be focused on ensuring that we create employment and reduce poverty,” she said, adding that the budget will be used to strengthen intergovernmental relations structures to ensure better alignment between national, provincial and local government programmes and projects.
Dube-Ncube concluded her speech by calling for the maintenance of law and order in the province.