informed by the Eastern Cape Provincial Development Plan (EC-PDP) - Our Vision 2030. As committed in the
EC-PDP, we must address the unemployment challenge
which sits at 47.4%, affecting men, women, and the youth
of our province. We must end the sea of poverty that we
see with our own eyes, with 12.7 % of households living in
poverty. We must also end the inequality that persists in
our democratic order, which affects mainly Black people in
all the facets of socio-economic life" Premier said.
"In response to this reality, we are implementing the
Provincial Medium Term Strategic Framework (P-MTSF),
to contribute towards addressing unemployment, poverty,
and inequality. In our plan we said, to address these three
challenges, we must:
• Build a capable, ethical, and developmental state
• Transform the economy and create jobs
• Invest in Education, Skills and Health
• Consolidate the social wage through reliable and
quality basic services
• Integrate spatial planning, rural economy, and
local government
• Build social cohesion and safe communities and
lastly
• Build a better Africa and the World" he added.
Premier alluded "We believe that, through these seven priorities, we are
building the Eastern Cape we want, by creating jobs for
the jobless, reducing unemployment, enhancing food security, alleviating hunger, and building equal
opportunities for all our citizens.
While we were implementing programmes to achieve
these priorities, the Covid-19 pandemic hit our shores. It
exposed the weaknesses in our government and the
inequalities in our communities. We had to adjust our sails
to navigate the worst health crisis of the 21st century. The
pandemic not only claimed lives, but impacted negatively
on the economy. We then developed a Provincial
Economic Recovery Plan to resuscitate our economy."
