Premier Mathabatha leads Human Rights Day commemoration in Sekhukhune

Mapodile

The Premier of Limpopo Province, Chupu Stanley Mathabatha, said the province is currently celebrating strides made in building democracy that is founded on equal human rights for all people.

Mathabatha said this during the Human Rights Day Limpopo Provincial commemoration event held at Mapodile Sports Grounds in Fetakgomo-Tubatse Local Municipality (FTLM) on Thursday 21 March, commemorated under the theme: “Three Decades of Respect for and Promotion of Human Rights”.

The history of the annual Human Rights Day is grounded in the Sharpville Massacre that took place on 21 March 1960, where the apartheid police shot and killed 69 people who were demonstrating against pass laws in a peaceful march.

Mathabatha said they decided to take the Human Rights celebration event to Sekhukhune following a significant contribution that was made at the Steelpoort area towards the wars of resistance against the white domination, therefore, its contribution towards the attainment of freedom and democracy cannot be ignored.

“Today, we are gathered here at the birthplace of liberation heroes and heroines like Kgoshi Mampuru, Kgoshi Phasha, Professor Magapatona, the late comrade Montjane, comrade Mateng, to name but a few,” he said.

Mathabatha indicated that through this year’s theme, the province pays tribute to the 30 years anniversary of freedom and democracy.

“We are very proud that the Census 2022 paints a picture of a society on the move, and there have been improvements across most indicators. Census 2022 shows that the provision of housing and basic services such as electricity, water and waste removal has increased steadily over the last three decades,” he said.

The premier emphasized during the 30 years of democracy; provincial government has electrified at least 94.6 per cent of rural households in Limpopo.

“We have built 476 clinics in Limpopo and 216 of those operate 24 hours and the construction of the Limpopo Central Academic Hospitals is well under way. In 2010, we reached 80 per cent access to water, reaching more communities, because of various countervailing factors, we have experienced a decline to 69.1 per cent. We are worried about this,” he said.

According to Mathabatha, the province has improved access to sanitation to 63.1 per cent, from a far lower baseline in 1994 and regarding our tarred road network, they have covered more than 6 thousand kilometres since April 1994, with almost all rural areas in Limpopo are now having tarred road. 

“In education, we have managed to improve from a 38 per cent matric pass rate in 1996, to 79.5% in 2023, a matric pass rate now approximates our 80 per cent target. Notably, Limpopo contributed 7.3 per cent to the national GDP by 2023. The number of our households have increased from just over 911 thousand households in 1996, to over 1.8 million households in 2022. Indeed government has made significant and remarkable strides with regard to addressing socio-economic rights,” explained Mathabatha.

He indicated that among key priority areas, is to fight unemployment, poverty and inequality, particularly, among the youth as they are their major concern.

“We have hope, ours is borne out of the significant contribution that the mining sector is making to our provincial economy. On the other hand, general government services are the second largest contributor to our provincial economy, after mining. The government is followed by finance, real estate and trade, catering and accommodation, reflecting the importance of the tourism sector in Limpopo. However, it is worth noting that, we experienced an increase in employment from 2019 to 2023.  Limpopo is in the top three provinces that have shown rising employment,” he said.

The premier stated that although the province lost 40 000 jobs in the last quarter, they have created 182 000 jobs in 2023, making us the second largest province in job creation.

“In addition, the provincial government has implemented enterprise development and support programmes. The issue of unemployment remains our major concern. That is why our policies and interventions notably include consistent investment mobilisation to increase our total productive capacity as an employment creating strategy,” he said.

Mathabatha pointed out that with the national unemployment rate at 32.1%, while Limpopo’s official unemployment rate is 30.3%, the province’s unemployment declined in the last quarter of 2023, from 30.8 %.

“The Limpopo Provincial Government employs 121 590 people in total. This is a great achievement,” he said.

Mathabatha slammed acts of racism that were seen in various parts of the province recently, calling all sectors of society to collaborate with government and Chapter 9 institutions in implementing anti-racism and anti-discrimination educational campaigns.

“The National Action Plan provides the basis to raise awareness of anti-racism, equality and anti-discrimination issues among public officials, civil society and the public. Let us join the conversation in our places of worship, in our schools, our communities and among our friends to create the building blocks of social cohesion and common understanding,” he said.