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Today we commemorate the arrest of former President Nelson Mandela.  He was arrested on the 5th August 1962 in Howick, outside Pietermaritzburg.

The Mandela Capture Site has become a destination for tourists from across the country and the globe. We extend an invitation to the people of this country to visit this place and reconnect with Madiba. When international travel restrictions are lifted, we are looking forward to hosting tourists from across the globe at the Mandela Capture Site.

Madiba remains a global brand very few can compete with. He touched the hearts of many people across the globe and brought hope to the less privileged and the oppressed. 

As we commemorate this day, I have asked all categories of staff in the department to pause for few minutes and think deeply about their contribution towards the creation of a prosperous South Africa.

It was Madiba, as the first President of a democratic South Africa who spearheaded the transformation of the Public Service. After his inauguration in 1994, Madiba ensured that the new democratic government embarked on a process designed to fundamentally reshape the public service to fulfill its role in the new dispensation.

He ensured that country’s constitution guaranteed human rights for all, the right to a minimum standard of life, including the right to access health, education, social security, food and water.

As we commemorate this day I am reminding the staff in the department that they have a responsibility to live according to the values of Mandela. 

When we talk about being loyal to the Constitution of the Republic and its people it is when we are able to use government as an instrument to transform the lives of the people. 

Importantly, it is when we all understand that ours is a modern government founded on the will of the people. It is the people who must taste the fruits of democracy which Mandela fought for.

 On this important day we must reaffirm the lesson of our centuries of struggle led by Madiba, that there can be no prosperity in our land unless all enjoy access to economic opportunities. 

Myself and all categories of staff in the department and its entities, we rededicate ourselves to the total emancipation of the people of this province. We undertake to use the department and all entities as engines that drives socio-economic development. This is part of the entrepreneurship revolution. 

On this historic day, we pledge to double our efforts to lift ordinary members of society out of abject poverty.

I wish to emphasise on the importance of professional and ethical service and pride in the fulfilment of the will of the people of this province. 

I have always emphasized that, as an elected public representative and all employees of the department and entities, need to view the service to community as sacrosanct and an honour. 

I understand that all of us have been assigned to the positions of trust over the resources destined to alleviate the suffering of the population. In this regard, we will double our efforts to create a province in which all can experience an improved quality of life and enjoy equal access to economic opportunities.

Issued by KZN MEC for Economic Development, Tourism And Environmental Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube