PRO-ACTIVE FUNDING
Section 2A (3) of the lotteries act states that “the Commission may, upon request by the Minister, board or its initiative in consultation with the board, conduct research on worthy good causes that may be funded without lodging an application prescribed in terms of the Act”.
The inclusion of section 2A (3) in the Lotteries Act 57 of 1997 as amended opened an opportunity for the Commission, Board of Directors and the Minister to pro-actively fund worthy good causes that are aligned to broader developmental agenda of the country such as National Development Plan (NDP), Government’s Nine (9) Point Plan etc.
Aspen plant in Gqeberha.
Despite this unprecedented investment, he acknowledged that the unemployment crisis in the province stood at 47% and that about 50% of the provincial population relied on social grants.
Mabuyane said to propel the provincial economic growth, roads infrastructure is the wheels of the economy and the national government was currently implementing about 18 major road infrastructure projects in the Eastern Cape worth R7-billion.
These include the construction of Msikaba Bridge as part of the Wild Coast N2 Toll Road, which is set to reduce travelling between the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-natal by three hours.
However, there are still issues over that project with the Amadiba community, which opposes the Sanral route map.
The community wants the road to be constructed at about 10km away from the coastal shore.
Mabuyane said Eastern Cape would also leverage on tourism and would prioritise tarring and maintenance of roads leading to tourist destinations.
Dr Andile Nontso of the Eastern Cape Chamber of Business, who attended breakfast, said the Eastern Cape government must play a part in facilitating mineral exploration as there were various minerals that could be available in the province other than titanium in Xolobeni.
He said: “There’s uranium in Ntabankulu, white marble in Port St Johns, black marble in centane, coal in Barkley East, nickel at Ntsizwa and cement at Lusikisiki. Can we have our own way of exploring these?”
Nontso said the province also needed to do something about the deadlock between Shell and certain communities that had taken Shell to court and halted the exploration of oil and gas in the Wild Coast.
He said as the government developed legislation regarding the commercialisation of cannabis, black people who had been farming dagga for years must be prioritised, given free licences and be supported to enter its commercial market.