Programme Director, Ms S. Ngxongo

Minister of Human Settlements, Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi

MEC of Public Works and Human Settlements, Mr S.C Nkosi

Mayor of Harry Gwala District Municipality, Cllr Z.D Nxumalo

Mayor of Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality, Cllr E.B Ngubo

Other Mayors, speakers, and Cllrs present here.

Our Traditional Leadership, Amakhosi

Inkosi P.D.H Chiliza and Inkosi M.P Ngcobo

Representatives of various government departments at all levels

Let me extend warm greetings to you all and express our gratitude to Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi for inviting us here.

Mayor Ngubo, I stand before you today satisfied that we witnessed at first-hand government fulfilling its commitment to the people of Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality.

More fulfilling to me is that, as we handed over the houses, we did so with them having been electrified through the Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP). This is a government programme aimed at ensuring that the people of South Africa have access to electricity, irrespective of where they stay – be it rural or urban.

I am certain that you heard the story of Tintswalo as narrated by President Cyril Ramaphosa in the State of the Nation Address (SONA), during which the President spoke of Tintswalo’s family that formed part of the 66% of South Africans who were denied access to electricity pre-1994.

Thanks to the INEP, Tintswalo’s family, including families in the Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality, they today have access to electricity and form part of the 92% South Africans with access to electricity, which is a significant increase from the 34% recorded in 1994.

We know that as we meet here today, we are challenged by intermittent electricity supply (loadshedding). I can assure you that government, working with all sectors of society, is working with the necessary speed to ensure that the people of South Africa see an end to loadshedding in the shortest possible time.

Notwithstanding this challenge, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) continues to connect more families to electricity. Our statistics indicate that we have reached 99% access to electricity in both Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality and Harry Gwala District Municipality, which adds to the 93% access to electricity in KwaZulu-Natal. We are now dealing with infills and new growth areas as the population increases. 

Despite pressure from anti-transformation forces who want us to stop connecting people to electricity, government will continue with this programme until we reach universal access to electricity.

Without further ado, programme director, allow me to introduce to the people of Harry Gwala another Tintswalo.

I am certain that Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi is well known to many of us here, but for those who may not know; Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi is a member of the National Executive Committee and the National Working Committee of the governing party - the African National Congress (ANC), where she also serves as the Chairperson of its Economic Transformation Sub-Committee.

Before her deployment as the Minister of Human Settlements, she served as a Minister in five other portfolios, that being: Tourism, Science and Technology, Communications and Energy, and further acted as a Minister of Health at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A PhD candidate in corporate governance, and a master’s degree graduate in public and development management, Minister Kubayi also serves as the Co-Chairperson of Economic Sectors, Employment, and Infrastructure Development (ESEID) cluster in Cabinet.  

People of Harry Gwala District Municipality, help me welcome the Minister of Human Settlements, Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi to the podium with a big round of applause.