{"id":108,"date":"2013-09-09T15:48:13","date_gmt":"2013-09-09T15:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/2013\/09\/09\/motsepe-foundation-speech-by-the-nc-premier\/"},"modified":"2013-09-09T15:48:13","modified_gmt":"2013-09-09T15:48:13","slug":"motsepe-foundation-speech-by-the-nc-premier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/2013\/09\/09\/motsepe-foundation-speech-by-the-nc-premier\/","title":{"rendered":"Motsepe Foundation Speech by the NC Premier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Address By The Premier Of The Northern Cape, Ms  Sylvia Lucas, On The Occasion Of The Roadshow Of The Motsepe Foundation,  At The Gasegonyana Banquet Hall, 20 June 2013<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Programme Director&#8217;s<br \/>MEC&#8217;s Present<br \/>Mayors and Councillors<br \/>Chairman and Founder of the Motsepe Foundation, <br \/>Mr. Patrice Motsepe<br \/>Trustees of the Motsepe Foundation<br \/>Distinguished Guests<br \/>Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">It is a great pleasure for me to attend today&#8217;s  road show and witness the historic step and the determination by the  Motsepe Foundation to improve the lives of our people. We salute Mr  Motsepe for being an outstanding South African to share the proceeds of  his hard earned business interests with the poor South Africans through  the Motsepe Foundation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">We believe that this gesture of philanthropy will  assist many destitute South Africans to experience some relief that  compliments government initiative through the social safety net that has  been a policy instrument to mitigate poverty and indigency. We hope  that this gesture of generosity will send a clear message to our  corporate citizenry of responsive consciousness in building cohesion and  collaborative development.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Indeed Ladies and Gentlemen, the Motsepe Foundation  has vowed to inspire our people to act in unison and help find  solutions communities with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. I  would like to convey my sincere appreciation for the efforts and  dedication of the Foundation which will give new life to ordinary South  Africans. As government we are indeed very grateful and encouraged by  the goodwill gestures of the Motsepe Foundation to improve the  lifestyles and living conditions of the poor, disabled, unemployed,  women, youth, workers and marginalised South Africans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">This laudable initiative by the Motsepe Foundation  is testament to what can be achieved when government, business and  communities work<br \/>together to give hope and promise to build a better  and brighter future for all our people. We believe that business is an  essential partner in<br \/>development and in confronting socio-economic  challenges like poverty and unemployment. The approach to address our  social problems is based on the common<br \/>recognition by our social partners that we need to address underdevelopment, create more jobs for our people and help improve<br \/>the quality of life of all South Africans especially the poor and marginalise sectors of our society.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Ladies and Gentlemen, we are confident that these  laudable efforts will significantly impact on the lives of our people  especially the poor, the<br \/>youth, women and people with disabilities. The benefits that will be derived from this initiative will reach many more<br \/>people through sustainable, decent work and economic opportunities, rural development, climate change, health and education etc.<br \/>I  want to thank the Motsepe Foundation for stepping up to the plate in a  time of great need. The charitable sector is an important and  fascinating<br \/>one, economically, socially and culturally. Everyone of  the world&#8217;s great religions emphasizes the moral imperative of  charitable giving. There is<br \/>no code of ethics, whether religiously  based or secular, that does not mandate the strong to look after the  weak. The work that you have set out to do is vitally important and will  undoubtedly contribute and advance social upliftment of our  communities. Being kind and generous in helping others is the common<br \/>merits  deep-rooted in the culture of our African society. There&#8217;s a proverb  that goes like this, &#8216;Give a man a fish; feed him for a day. Teach<br \/>a man to fish; feed him for a lifetime&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">This is exactly what the Foundation committed  itself to accomplish. Our communities, especially in the underdeveloped  rural areas require<br \/>an array of amenities that support the social  fabric of the societies they live in and build the capabilities of  community residents.<br \/>The Motsepe Foundation will complement our  efforts to help transform the lives of those with disabilities who have  not yet been given such<br \/>opportunity to be nurtured and their everyday lives made much more convenient, productive and enjoyable.<\/p>\n<p>It  will also afford our young people ample opportunities to transform  their lives and become productive and responsible citizens who will  contribute<br \/>to the wellbeing of our society. It will further help  empower the women of our society to play a meaningful and integrated  role in all spheres of society.<br \/>It commits in particular to improve  education and training opportunities for our young people, who represent  the future of our country. On the other, long-run economic development  and growth, which is a core interest for all these parties, can only be  sustained if more people, and especially more ordinary South Africans,  see the benefits. None of us can hope for a peaceful, united and  prosperous South Africa unless we work together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Programme Director, I wish to take this opportunity  to encourage all the members of our society to make use and grab the  countless opportunities that this Foundation presents to us. It will  certainly change lives from that of despair to one of hope. I am  confident that this Foundation will make a meaningful difference in our  circumstances no matter where we live.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">My personal appreciation of the importance of  charity comes from my Christian family background that shaped me. To  help others is a<br \/>vocation and a calling. And I wish you the very best  in your future pursuits of your noble goals. With that in mind, Mr  Patrice Motsepe and his family should be lauded<br \/>for exemplary  leadership that can be seen as reflecting new realism and the role of  business in their social commitment to eradicating deep seated poverty  that confronts under developed countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I am confident that with the insights you provide,  together with the opportunities to learn from the experiences of other  communities, you<br \/>will be better prepared and thus more successful in meeting the very difficult challenges our communities face.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I thank you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Address By The Premier Of The Northern Cape, Ms Sylvia Lucas, On The Occasion Of The Roadshow Of The Motsepe Foundation, At The Gasegonyana Banquet Hall, 20 June 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speeches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northerncape.gov.za\/otp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}