Ke a leboha Modulasetulo. Mopresidente, o ile wa bitsa pitso ya job summi; wa boela wa bitsa pitso ya investment summit; wa boela wa kgetha special investment envoy e etelletsweng pele ke ntate Trevor, mme ...
English:
Out of all those efforts, efforts include your stimulus package, they have not let to any improvements to the economy, job creation and reduction of poverty because your misguided mentality is that we will grow the economy through foreign direct investment with the state sitting on the sideline not doing anything. Where have you ever seen economic growth without state playing the central role?
Sesotho:
Ke a leboha.
Sesotho:
MOPRESIDENTE WA NAHA: Ke a leboha mohlompehi. Ke e utlwile hantle ntho eo o e buang.
English:
Our state plays a key role in the economy of our country. The challenges that we have heard in terms of getting the state to play its best role have been challenges of state capture, where those entities that are meant to play the key driving role had been weakened. Our Eskom which we were talking about earlier has been weakened. But prior to it be weakened, Eskom was able to play a sterling role in driving the electricity project in our country. You will remember prior to 1994, very people in our country had electricity and Eskom was able to spread electrification connections throughout the length and the breadth of our country and made it a point that many of our people have electricity and similarly Transnet which also plays a key role in our economy has been able to lead modernisation efforts in a number of places where it operates our ports, freight, rail and so forth.
The SA National Roads Agency, Sanral, which builds our roads, the country is what it is today in terms of road network largely because Sanral has played that key role. Sanral now faces challenges because of the debts that it carries for a number of reasons were there has
not been sufficient payment. So, I can count quite a number. The state has been playing a key role in the economy of our country.
Now, we have reached the stage where our own resources as a state had become constrained, and because our resources had become constrained the state which is suppose to play, yes, that key role and leading role has been slowed down. The reason why we are trying to increase the capability of the state, to reposition the state is to enable the state to continue playing that very key and critical role. The state should be an entrepreneurial state. It should be an innovative state. It should be a leading state and be able to encourage the private sector to invest.
Now, 70% of our economy is a private sector-led. That's a reality that we cannot run away from. But the state playing that 30% role in our economy has been able to play a very critical role and the improvements that we see with housing, with hospitals, with water reticulation, with electricity, the roads and all that. Who is done it? It's the state that has been leading the role. In doing so, it is actually been driving economic growth. The building of more than 4 million houses has happened because the state played that role.
What came with it was economic growth, yes; manufacturing had to happen for bricks, for cement and all that.
So, I think it's a fallacy to think that the state in our country is not playing a role. It has always played a role. Once to continue playing the role under this administration, the state will play a leading role, an innovative role, an entrepreneurial role and the state will show the way. But it will also be seeking to work with the private sector, and encourage the private sector to invest, we want to crowd the private sector in to invest as much as possible.
So, we see ourselves as a state that needs, but we see ourselves as a state that also works with other role players and particularly the private sector and labour. That's how we want the state to be seen and the role that it should play.
Sesotho:
Jwale, ha o re mmuso ona ha o na karolo eo o e bapalang. Ka nnete, ha ho na nnete mono. Ha ke batle ho bua ntho e tswileng tseleng ke re ke leshano, empa ha ho na nnete e felletseng mono. Ke a leboha. [Mahofi.]
Question 4: