Premier determined to tackle extreme poverty

The Mpumalanga premier, Mandla Ndlovu, said more than half of the people in the province are living below the breadline.

This was during the Mpumalanga provincial budget breakfast session which was held on Wednesday, March 19, at the Emnotweni Arena.

Ndlovu discussed various issues faced by the people of Mpumalanga and also presented some of the plans that the government has to address them.

The Mpumalanga provincial budget for the 2025/26 financial year was tabled by the MEC for finance, Bonakele Majuba, last Tuesday. He hosted the breakfast session.

Ndlovu said: “34,7% of our people are unemployed. What is worse is that youth unemployment is exponentially increasing. It is a ticking time bomb. Our youth graduates are unable to be absorbed into our industries, while the cost of living is extremely high.”

“Our budget has to address these challenges. If you scrutinise the allocations to the departments, you will realise that the biggest allocation of the budget goes to social spending, which includes the Department of Education with the biggest share, followed by the Department of Health and all departments that deal with social welfare and social infrastructure.”

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The budget focuses on allocating resources and implementing policies that directly benefit the poor and address poverty, inequality and unemployment, while aiming to improve their living standards. It promotes social justice by ensuring that the poor have access to essential basic services like clean water, refuse removal, quality sewer systems and accessible road infrastructure.

Ndlovu said the government needs to invest massively in infrastructural development.

“Infrastructure is a catalyst for economic growth. The provincial targets make it clear that we need to facilitate large-scale infrastructure investment to achieve our socio-economic objectives of a 35% poverty rate, a 25% unemployment rate and drastically reduce inequality by 2029.”

He said they also need to invest in skills development, taking into consideration the evolving nature of the working environment that is now driven by emerging technologies.

“In today’s fast evolving business and work-related landscape, the importance of skilling, reskilling and upskilling cannot be overemphasised. As technology advances, government and companies must ensure that workers have the necessary skills to remain competitive.

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Ndlovu said the province faces several economic challenges, among which are the high unemployment rate; dependency on mining, especially coal mining which suffers from supply and demand instability largely caused by poor logistics and international markets price fluctuations. “Other challenges are high rates of poverty and inequality that are more prevalent among township and rural communities; and skills mismatch, which are a legacy of the government’s past, but also due to our own shortcomings in addressing this challenge. Inadequate infrastructure, whether transport or energy, and environmental concerns are also challenges,” he said

According to Ndlovu, to help close the gap between available public resources and the growing infrastructure needs, government’s economic recovery plan includes immediate measures to boost investor confidence and longer-term reforms that promote sustained economic growth.

“Higher and more effective infrastructure spending is central to our plan.
“We must improve the lives of all our people in this province.”