GAUTENG PROVINCE

OFFICE OF THE PREMIER

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

SPEECH
STATE OF THE PROVINCE ADDRESS DELIVERED BY GAUTENG
PREMIER, HONOURABLE DAVID MAKHURA AT SAUL TSOTETSI
SPORTS COMPLEX IN SEBOKENG TOWNSHIP, SEDIBENG
DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY.
22 February 2016
Madame Speaker and Deputy Speaker;
Members of the Executive Council;
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature and NCOP
Delegates;
Leaders of Political Parties represented in the Legislature;
Judge President Dunstan Mlambo and Esteemed Members of the
Judiciary
Chairperson of SALGA Gauteng, Executive Mayors,
Speakers and Councillors;
Distinguished Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Stalwarts and Veterans of the Liberation Struggle;
Leaders of Faith-Based Organisations;
Captains of Industry and Commerce and Trade Union Leaders;
Representatives of Women, Youth, Arts, Sports and Cultural
Organisations;
Acting Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service and
all Heads of Law Enforcement Agencies;
Director General and Heads of Departments of our provincial
government;
The people of Gauteng;
Dumelang!
Today, the first sitting of our Provincial Legislature this year, takes place
in Sedibeng, the Southern Corridor of the Gauteng City Region.
During the Ntirhisano Community Outreach programme in the Vaal in
October 2015, I made a promise that we will bring the 2016 State of the
Province Address to Sedibeng district.
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A promise made is a promise kept.

It is therefore fitting and proper that we first pay the incalculable debt of
gratitude to the people of the Vaal for their sterling and irrefutable
contribution to the struggle for a united, non-racial, non-sexist,
democratic and prosperous South Africa.
I welcome in this sitting the survivors and families of the victims of
Sharpeville, Sebokeng and Boipatong massacres. I also welcome in
our midst, the leaders of the Vaal Civic Association, the fighting
peoples organisation that spearheaded and championed the
community struggles of the people of the Vaal.
We remember and honour those who died and many who suffered as a
result of these massacres. Their struggles and sacrifices were not in
vain.
We salute them!
Many of you, the people of the Vaal were detained, tortured and
maimed by the apartheid security forces. Today we honour your
seminal role and acknowledge the untold suffering and selfless
sacrifices you made in the struggle for freedom, justice, democracy and
progress in our land.
From the Defiance Campaign of the 1950s to the Anti-Pass Campaign
of 1960, you occupied the centre stage of mass mobilisation and
resistance against apartheid. During the student uprisings of the 1970s,
the rent boycotts and the community struggles of the 1980s, you
remained principled and uncompromising. In the early 1990s, you bore
the brunt of the apartheid regimes violence and mass murders that
preceded our transition to democracy. In the past two decades, of our
freedom and democracy, you have continued to work hard in building a
national democratic society.
The people of the Vaal have always been the mid-wives of peace,
democracy and progress in our country. The Peace Treaty that ended
the Anglo-Boer War was signed here in the Vaal in May 1902. The
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was signed into law and
adopted here in the Vaal in 1996.
The first fully-fledged post-apartheid city, the Vaal River City, is being
built right here in Sedibeng on the banks of the great Vaal River. This is
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a real post-apartheid city that will integrate Sharpeville township into a

new central business district where people will work, live and play.
As we mark the twentieth anniversary of our Constitution, let us always
remember that it is the commitment we have made in the Preamble of
the Constitution that we shall recognise the injustices of our past,
honour those who suffered for justice and freedom; respect those who
have worked to build and develop our country; heal the divisions of the
past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice
and fundamental human rights.
Accordingly, I would like to congratulate the Sedibeng District
Municipality for awarding the Freedom of the District to the three
remaining Rivonia Trialists: Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and
Dennis Goldberg.
We thank the stalwarts and veterans of our liberation struggle for
dedicating their lives to the service of the people of South Africa. We
salute you for continuing to be the moral compass and conscience of
our nation. Through force of example, you teach us the vital lessons of
leadership: humility, loyalty and service to the people.
You teach us to put our country and our people first at all times. You
speak out and call us to order when we, as leaders, do wrong things
that bring our country into disrepute. You gently but firmly show us the
way when we lose our way. You light our hearts and lift our spirits when
our mood is low and when we lose hope.
Once more we salute you!
People of Gauteng, in honouring those who sacrificed for freedom and
democracy and gave us a constitution of which we are deeply proud, I
hereby make a clarion call that we must unite against racism and
xenophobia. Let us fight against racism wherever and whenever it
manifests itself.
Those who call black people baboons are as wrong as those who
threaten to drive white students out of university campuses. There must
be no room for racists in the South Africa of our dreams.
Let us unite to build a non-racial society where every citizen has the
means to realise their dreams.

Let us dismantle all the structural impediments that make it difficult for
our people to live in peace and harmony, by pushing ahead with radical
social and economic transformation.
As the most cosmopolitan and Afropolitan province, Gauteng CAN and
MUST take a lead in building a society that reaffirms our common
humanity and common national identity.
I would like to announce that I will appoint a group of eminent persons
who will work with various civil society initiatives to open honest and
constructive conversations on how we can build a society free from
racism and xenophobia.
As the leadership of this great province, we are neither superstars nor
celebrities. We are simple and humble servants of the people. Our
primary task is to serve YOU the people, in line with prescripts set out
in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the supreme law of
our land.
To us, nothing is such a permanent reminder of our apartheid and
colonial past than the persistent racial exclusion of blacks from the
mainstream of our economy.
Nothing is more urgent than giving hope to our youth through quality
education, decent employment and sustainable entrepreneurship
opportunities.
Nothing is more troubling than the atrocious acts of gender-based
violence perpetrated against millions of women and girl children.
Nothing is more offensive than acts of incompetence and corruption
that feed the racial stereotype that all black people are either inherently
incompetent or corrupt.
Nothing undermines the cosmopolitan and Afropolitan character of our
province more than the resurgence of racism and fermentation of
xenophobia.
Nothing keeps us awake at night more than the knowledge that many
Gauteng residents are gripped by the fear of crime. Nothing angers us
more than the senseless killing of police and traffic officers, who are the
protectors of our citizens and upholders of our law.

Madame Speaker, we cannot bemoan the economic and social

problems plaguing our province. It is within our power to change our
conditions and build a common South African identity based on
equality, liberty and fraternity in our lifetime.
We will restore hope and build unity among the people of Gauteng.
Over the past twenty-one years, the ANC-led government has done a
lot to improve the quality of life of millions of our people. We are fully
aware that we still have a long way to go and we shall not rest until all
South Africans enjoy the full fruits of our freedom and democracy
regardless of race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion or origin.
In the past twenty-one months, the ANC led fifth administration has
been implementing a bold programme of transformation, modernisation
and
re-industrialisation (TMR).
In this State of the Province Address, I will give a report-back on the
progress we are making and the challenges we are facing in
accelerating the implementation of our programme.
Honourable members, the government I have the honour to lead
believes in evidenced-based governance and policy-making. Today, we
provide evidence that our province is increasingly assuming its rightful
place as a pace setter in many areas of government performance.
A clean and competent bureaucracy driven by a high performance
culture is necessary in a developmental state. There is evidence that
through Ntirhisano, we are changing the way government works. The
ability of public officials to deliver on their plans and commitments is
crucial in any thriving democracy because it enhances public
confidence.
Through the open tender system and the promotion of integrity, we are
creating an environment where clean governance will thrive. Gauteng
will become a corruption-free province in our lifetime. It is important to
ensure that public resources are directed to benefit all people. The
State must never be captured by a few individuals or groups for their
own selfish gain.
Even in the midst of a difficult and volatile global and domestic
economic environment, Gautengs economy has enormous potential to
create more jobs and grow in an inclusive manner.
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We remain the industrial hub of our country and the SADC region and
we are taking bold steps in driving infrastructure development,
innovation, investment, regional integration, inclusion, institutionbuilding and industrialisation, in line with the National Development
Plan (NDP) and TMR.

As the pioneers of the township economy revitalisation, we are making

significant progress in empowering township-based enterprises,
cooperatives and SMMEs. We will demonstrate that the township
economy is becoming a beehive of activity with regard to innovation,
entrepreneurship, empowerment and decent employment.
Madame Speaker, we are taking a lead in the modernisation of public
services through the introduction of ICT in education, healthcare,
community safety and general citizen services. During my Inaugural
State of the Province Address delivered in Thokoza Township in June
2014, I made a commitment that we will change the way government
works.
Before the launch of the Ntirhisano community outreach programme,
Gauteng was engulfed by violent community protests on a daily basis.
Evidently, there was a growing dissatisfaction with the way government
interacts with communities. Regardless of how well government was
trying to deliver, it was loud and clear that there was a trust deficit
between communities and government officials.
Essentially, the problem was not only about service delivery but also
about the way development and delivery was being undertaken. The
launch of Ntirhisano has turned around the mood in communities in an
unprecedented manner. Through a proactive and participatory
approach to problem-solving, we are restoring levels of trust and public
confidence on the ground.
Honourable members, Ntirhisano is as much about improving the pace
of service delivery as it is about breaking the mould of bureaucratic
inertia in the state. It is about working together with communities in
solving problems and making government officials and service
providers more accountable.
Ntirhisano has already received independent acknowledgement from
the Municipal IQ Monitor, which reports that service delivery protests in
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Gauteng have decreased from 21% to 15% in the past 12 months, the
most dramatic decline in the past decade and a half.
The 2015 Municipal IQ Report has the following to say about our
province:
It is evident that Gauteng, although still the most conflict-ridden
province in 2015, the level of violent protests has decreased in the
province relative to the past ten and half years...with this kind of
experience, the outcomes of Gauteng Premier David Makhura's war
room - to address grievances of protesting communities before they
spiral into violence - deserves keen attention, especially with the
preliminary signs that levels of violent protest may be receding."
People of Gauteng, this is the testimony that we listen and act on your
concerns, so that together we can grow. Whilst we are encouraged by
these developments, we will not be complacent.
Team Gauteng the MECs; Executive Mayors; and myself will
continue to spend more time out there on the ground solving problems
with communities, unblocking delivery of infrastructure projects and
getting our economy to work for all of you. We are governing with a
greater sense of urgency, integrity and transparency.

People of Gauteng, we know that you are intolerant of government

failure and bureaucratic incompetence. We know that you want a
government that honours its commitments. In this province, failure is
not an option. Incompetence is not permissible and corruption is not
acceptable.
We are particularly encouraged that nineteen of our departments and
agencies, including the Office of the Premier, achieved clean audits in
the 2014/15 financial year. Only one department and one agency got
unsatisfactory audit outcomes.
Although the Department of Health did not receive an unqualified audit,
there is significant improvement in its finances and service delivery. I
am very confident that this department will join the list of clean audits
during our term of office. The leadership of the department has been
placed on very strict performance terms to fix our public healthcare
system.

To demonstrate that we mean business, I have already taken a

decision to change the leadership of G-Fleet (our fleet management
company), for repeatedly obtaining negative audit outcomes from
adverse to a disclaimer in two consecutive years.
Similar action will be taken where departments and agencies show
serial poor performance. There shall be consequences for poor
performance and unethical conduct.
We mean business.
It is important to also report that last year, most of our departments
spent 99% of their infrastructure budgets. This is commendable, given
the history of underspending on infrastructure in this province.
We are also cracking the whip on departments who are not paying
service providers on time. Ten out of fourteen departments achieved
90% compliance with the payment of service providers within 30 days.
The digitisation of invoicing has introduced new efficiencies in our
governance system and is helping us to pay service providers on time.
However, I remain deeply concerned that some of the departments with
big budgets still pay less than 70% of their invoices within 30 days Education,
Health,
Human
Settlements
and
Infrastructure
Development.
The MECs of these departments have assured me that there will be a
turnaround in their performance in the next financial year. They know
that a commitment made, must be a commitment honoured. We cannot
be a government that destroys black businesses and SMMEs through
non-payment or late payment of invoices.
Madame Speaker, we are implementing an integrity management
framework to deter fraud and corruption. We have been taking decisive
disciplinary action against people found guilty of financial misconduct.
The open tender system is one of the most important innovations of this
ANC-led fifth administration in Gauteng. We are leading the country in
ensuring that procurement decisions are taken above aboard. Our new
approach has attracted considerable public attention and widespread
review, including by the National Treasury and other provinces. We are
now extending this transparent system of appointing service providers
to all departments, especially those with big budgets.
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We commend the City of Ekurhuleni for pioneering the introduction of

the open tender system in local government.
I truly believe we can use the procurement policy to achieve genuine
black economic empowerment in all sectors without bribery and
corruption. We must get rid of the perception that any black person who
gets a tender has bribed their way into the corridors of power.
Let us empower black people - contractors and construction
companies; law firms, accounting and audit firms; engineering and
consulting firms; emerging farmers and manufacturers of food products;
industrialists and entrepreneurs unashamedly, transparently and
ethically.
I believe we can.
Honourable members, let me also report that several departments in
our province have received recognition from national government as
top performers among their peers. This is an indication that we are
becoming a centre of excellence and innovation in the public sector.
The Department of Infrastructure Development received the highest
number of awards at the 2015 EPWP excellence awards six awards,
followed by KZN with three awards. The HRD Unit of this department
was awarded the 2015 Best Institutional HRD Unit in the country.
The Department of Roads and Transports Motor Vehicle Registration
Unit has won the first prize at the Centre for Public Service Innovation
for its Revenue Information Management System. The Provincial
Treasury won third prize at the 2015 Centre for Public Service
Innovation Awards for introducing an online payroll certification
application, eliminating delays as well as ghost workers. There are
other centres of excellence to which we will later refer to in this State of
the Province Address.
Madam Speaker, let me now report on our work on the important
question of the economy. I will outline the work we are doing to
transform, modernise and re-industrialise our province as part of
navigating the difficulties in the global and national economy.
Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in Economics had this to
say about the current state of the global economy:

The year 2015 was a hard one all around. Brazil fell into recession.
Chinas economy experienced its first serious bumps after almost four
decades of break neck growth. The Eurozone managed to avoid a
meltdown over Greece, but its near stagnation has continued,
contributing to what surely will be viewed as the lost decade. For the
United States, 2015 was supposed to be the year that finally closed the
book on the Great Recession that began back in 2008, instead the US
recovery has been middling.
During his 2016 State of the Nation Address delivered on 11th
February, President Jacob Zuma, outlined the challenges facing our
economy, given the global and domestic circumstances. He called upon
us to work together in developing a common narrative and further said:
We cannot change the global economic conditions, but we can do a lot
to change the local conditions. Let us work together to turn the situation
around. It can be done.
Madame Speaker, we in the Gauteng City Region are already working
together to transform, modernise, and re-industrialise our provincial
economy for the common good of all our people.
We are conscious of the fact that, by virtue of our strategic position in
the national and SADC economy, our province is best placed in
championing an inclusive and growing economy.
Working together with our cities, the private sector and trade unions, we
can do much more to stimulate growth and trigger a new wave of smart
and green re-industrialisation.
Despite the tough global and national economic conditions, Gauteng
has maintained its position as the economic powerhouse of South
Africa, contributing 35% to the South African economy in 2015, as
compared to 33% in 1997.
Honourable Members, as a result of our interventions, Gauteng
continues to be the leading destination for foreign direct investment in
Africa.
According to the recently released Ernst & Young 2016 Africa
Attractiveness Survey, R30 billion of FDI projects have come into the
Gauteng economy in 2014 and 2015.

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Our economy has consistently been growing above the national

average, at 4.2% between 2003 and 2013. In 2013 our growth rate was
the highest in the country at 2.6%. However, our growth has slowed
down dramatically in 2015 as a result of the current economic
conditions.
With regard to employment, Gauteng contributes 42% to national
employment and has the highest labour absorption rate. In 1996, there
were 2.5 million people employed in the Gauteng economy. And twenty
years later, there are 5 million people employed in Gauteng.
More interestingly, during the past twelve months of the fifth
administration, 191 000 jobs have been added to the formal Gauteng
economy, while the informal sector has created 150 000 new jobs.
These facts are contained in the September 2015 Quarterly Labour
Force survey.
This means we have doubled the number of people employed in the
provincial economy over the two decades of the ANC-led government!
In addition, we have also created 220 642 job opportunities through the
EPWP since 2014.
This has helped to put bread on the table for many poor households.
We are the province that has made the most gains in employment in
the past twelve months as well as in the past two decades.
However, our province faces huge challenges arising from rapid
urbanisation. Between 2011 and 2016, one million people moved into
Gauteng. In other words, an average of 200 000 people move into our
province every year, with needs for jobs, housing, health, education
and other life-supporting infrastructure.
Despite the impressive achievement in the number of new jobs created,
we still have 2.2 million people unemployed in our province. Similarly,
despite the fact we have provided close to one million housing
opportunities in the past two decades, the housing backlog remains
stubborn.
This means we need to dramatically increase the number of jobs
created and houses delivered on annual basis, if we are to make a dent
on unemployment and the housing backlog.
To cope with rapid urbanisation, persistent unemployment, poverty and
inequality, we have to work doubly hard and do things differently in
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Gauteng with regard to the economy, infrastructure development and

service delivery.
Consequently, our economic interventions should seek to achieve the
following:

Change ownership patterns to bring black people into the

economic mainstream and create black industrialists;

Change the current industrial structure of our economy to

privilege manufacturing through the processing of rich mineral
resources and other raw materials locally;

Develop new modern, innovation-driven industries in the areas

of high-tech, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, the green
economy and blue economy;

Invest hugely in skills development to change the skills profile of

the citizenry in line with the new strategic sectors identified;

Change income distribution to enhance equity and raise the

living standards of all our people;

Transform the apartheid spatial economy and human settlement

patterns to integrate economic opportunities, transport corridors
and human settlements;

Grow the SMME sector as a key driver of growth and revitalise

and mainstream the township economy;

Strengthen the capacity of the state to direct economic

development and enhance the competitiveness of strategic
economic sectors through active industrial policy;

Ensure significant investment in infrastructure as the key

stimulator for inclusive growth and economic development;

Build transformative partnerships between the private and public

sector in addressing the developmental challenges outlined in
the National Development Plan Vision 2030.

The TMR programme is our comprehensive policy response to the

unique conditions and structural challenges facing our economy.
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Madame Speaker, the appropriateness of the TMR as our provincial

development plan and the specific policy choices we have made have
recently been independently validated by important research work done
by different institutions.
The McKinsey Global Institute Report titled South Africas Big Five
Bold Priorities for Inclusive Growth has identified key sectors that have
serious potential to create employment and most of them are located in
the Gauteng economy.
The Brookings Institute and JPMorgan Chase report titled, South
Africas Global Gateway: Profiling the Gauteng City Regions
International Competitiveness and Connections, identifies the
competitive strength of our provincial economy and further confirms the
work we are doing to improve infrastructure, innovation, trade and
talent.
The work we have done with academics from Wits University,
University of Johannesburg (UJ) and University of Pretoria (UP)
regarding industrial policy, re-industrialisation and innovation has
enabled us to identify the true potential of every sector in our economy.
I am happy to report that we have now formulated a new Provincial
Economic Plan that focuses on positioning our province strategically in
relation to the SADC region, African continent, BRICS countries and
major economies in the world, which are compatible with our own
economy.
Our Provincial Economic Plan gives concrete effect to the Nine Point
Plan announced by President Zuma in his 2015 State of the Nation
Address, but takes into account the unique features of our provincial
economy.
In April this year, we will convene an Economic Indaba with business,
labour and civil society to finalise the public consultations on the
Provincial Economic Plan before its public launch in May.
We have now identified the following sectors and sub-sectors which will
be the key drivers of employment, transformation, modernisation and
re-industrialisation:

The services sector is a key driver of huge employment,

empowerment and expansion into the continent. Most of the jobs
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in our provincial economy are being generated from the services

industries. In particular, we will pay attention to finance, trade
and retail, business and professional services, tourism and
hospitality, transport and communication, construction and real
estate as well as business process outsourcing.

Manufacturing and its sub-sectors will continue to receive our

full attention as part of our re-industrialisation drive. We will focus
on those manufacturing sub-sectors and industries, which have
huge employment, empowerment and export potential in our
economy. The automotive industry, mining capital equipment
manufacturing, petro chemical products, rubber and plastic
products, electronics, ICT components, biotechnology and
pharmaceuticals, furniture manufacturing will be priority areas of
work.

Mining - although Gauteng is no longer a mining province, we

are the locomotive of mining services and the manufacturing of
mining equipment. We are investing in industrial infrastructure for
mineral beneficiation to upscale and increase capacity for the
processing of minerals already taking place in our economy.

With regards to agriculture and food production, we will focus

mainly on agro-processing as our key area of our
competitiveness. Small-scale farming and urban food production
will be promoted in corridors where there is potential such as
Sedibeng and West Rand.

We will also pay special attention to the non-traditional sectors

such as the creative and cultural industries as well as the
green economy and smart industries, which also provide
enormous opportunities for employment and empowerment.

We will also ensure that our infrastructure investment

initiatives deliver on employment and empowerment
opportunities.

Together with municipalities, we will provide additional incentives

through effective land use and build industrial infrastructure for specific
clusters of sectors and industries located in different development
corridors of our City Region.
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Honourable members, we have already been taking steps to improve

the ease of doing business and cut red tape. Amongst others, the
Gauteng Investment Centre, our one stop shop, has been very
successful in easing the burden of regulatory compliance for investors.
Members of our Legislatures Economic Development Portfolio
Committee, who visited the Investment Centre last year, had very
positive things to say about the helpfulness and professionalism of the
staff at the centre.
We are making progress in drastically reducing the time taken by
municipalities and provincial government in approving development
applications, a matter of great concern to businesses in our province.
I would like to report that we have reduced the time taken for the
approval of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) from 18-24
months down to three months. We are confident we will reach our
target of approving all EIAs within 30 days. We are addressing other
regulatory hurdles that are within our scope of influence.
We will be paying very close attention to the performance of key
sectors in each of our five development corridors and to support all the
firms and industries that contribute to employment and empowerment.
We will take Ntirhisano into the economy to work with captains of
industry and leaders of organised labour to enhance productivity and
the competitiveness of our economy. We will also promote industrial
clusters for firms and businesses that are involved in complimentary
activities.
We are determined to ensure that the Gauteng economy grows in an
inclusive, labour absorbing and ecologically sustainable manner. We
are committed to ensuring that black people play an active role in the
productive sector of the economy, not only as importers of foreign
manufactured goods, but also as industrialists and local manufacturers.
Madame Speaker, we will use innovation, research and development to
promote smart and green industrialisation.
In December last year, we visited the Gauteng Innovation Hub in
Tshwane. We interacted with some very interesting people who are
doing amazing work of turning ideas and concepts into real start-ups
and sustainable businesses.

15

Many of these innovators are black and white young South Africans
who have given me so much hope about the future of our country. The
success of the Innovation Hub and its contribution to the development
of new businesses and new smart industries must be celebrated.
The Hub has trained over 75 township entrepreneurs through Start-up
Weekends and Bootcamps run in conjunction with eKasi Labs
Innovation Centres in some of our big townships. Ekasi Labs focus on
supporting entrepreneurs and youth with their innovations and fast track
the establishment of sustainable and innovative businesses. These
centres are catalysing innovation among young township entrepreneurs
in our province.
This year, the Innovation Hub will expand its Start-up Weekends and
Bootcamps to train at least 100 entrepreneurs in all our five
development corridors including youth from suburbs.
Due to popular demand, we are expanding the infrastructure of the
Innovation Hub in Tshwane. We are excited that National Treasury has
approved our request to source private sector funding for the expansion
of the Hub. Construction will commence in the next financial year. The
University of Pretoria is a key partner in the expansion of the Hub and
its integration into the entire innovation zone that includes the CSIR and
the City of Tshwane.
In Johannesburg, the Innovation Hub will collaborate with Wits
University on the development of the Tshimologong Precinct with the
aim of supporting unemployed IT and digital media graduates, as well
as township youth in game development and digital innovations. The
City of Joburg is a key partner in this innovation precinct.
We will continue to strengthen partnership with all Gauteng universities
Unisa, Wits University, UJ, UP, Vaal University of Technology (VUT),
Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and Sefako Makgatho - in our
endeavour to collectively drive a progressive development agenda.
Madame Speaker, let me turn my attention to the township economy, a
subject very close to my heart.
As part of our drive for radical economic transformation, we have firmly
placed the township economy revitalisation on the national agenda. We
have put a policy in place and set aside resources. We have made a
clarion call to action and township entrepreneurs have responded
overwhelmingly.
16

In the first full year of the implementation of our Township Economy

Revitalisation Strategy, the provincial government has spent R1.8
billion procuring goods and services from township enterprises.
In addition municipalities are spending R1.6 billion of their procurement
budgets on township enterprises.
We have already reached the 12% target we set for the 2015-16
financial year and are certainly gaining momentum towards spending at
least 30% of our procurement budget on township enterprises by 2019.
Honourable members, you may not be aware that before the adoption
of the Township Economy Revitalsation Strategy only 400 township
enterprises were benefiting from our procurement spend.
As at January this year, 1 805 township enterprises are now benefitting
from our procurement spend. This is more than four times the amount
in the previous years. We have registered 5 321 SMMEs on our
procurement database. We want these enterprises to be sustainable,
grow employment, and be involved in manufacturing and export.
We are pleased to further report that the following township hubs and
industrial parks are undergoing renovation in line with the commitment
we made in the 2015 SOPA: Orlando, Saulsville, Khutsong,
Hammanskraal, Mabopane, Alexandra and Ennerdale. We will
complete this work next month.
We are intervening to support township entrepreneurs in the automotive
sector. Already, our Emergency Medical Services Vehicles Repair Hub
in Winterveldt is repairing, servicing and maintaining our ambulances
using township mechanics.
The Katlehong, Soweto and Kagiso township industrial hubs will be
accredited and open for business before the end of the 2016-17
financial year.
In the West Rand, provincial government is supporting 577 township
enterprises.
Here in Sedibeng, we have supported more than 250 township
enterprises that benefit from our procurement spend in the current
financial year. This region has some of the most dynamic township
17

enterprises involved in local

fabrication and agro processing.

manufacturing,

particularly

metal

Honourable Members the Township Economy Revitalisation is not a

fairy-tale. As we said before, it is becoming a game changer.
We have honoured our commitment to revitalise the township economy.
Behind the figures and numbers we have mentioned, there are real
people and real enterprises. I am happy that some of township
entrepreneurs have taken time away from their busy schedules, to be
here with us today.

Nthabiseng Likotsi, who together with others formed a cooperative bank (YWBN), established for providing financial
services to its 245 members in the construction sector. Her life
and those of her fellow co-operators has changed for the better.

Thokozani Sikhwinyane from Ekurhuleni, who, together with a

group of young entrepreneurs founded Imbali Paints. This is a
worker co-operative which manufactures lead-free paint for
residential and commercial use.

Boitumelo Rampeng, who manages the Garankuwa Ecofurniture co-operative supported by the Department of
Environmental Affairs and the City of Tshwane, which
manufactures school desks and other furniture, using invasive
alien plants.

Eaglet Tsebe and Phindile Masuku, who founded the Kgora

community bakery in Soshanguve, which bakes and supplies
fresh bread to residents and spaza-shops daily in Tshwane.
I had the honour to visit Kgora Bakery and taste their bread and
it is mouth-watering.

Tshepo Rampatla, who established Reiteretse Car Wash cooperative which operates in Mamelodi and also services
Tshwane Metro Police fleet. I also had the honour to launch the
car wash and participate in washing a car of a senior citizen.

Duncan Motsoahae is involved in Plastics Manufacturing in the

City of Johannesburg.

18

And right here in Sedibeng, we have Mrs Msibi from A Re

Apareng Co-operatives and Lerothodi Kabai from Rainbow
Water and Projects.

Madame Speaker, these are real businesses run by real entrepreneurs,

creating real jobs.
A commitment made is a commitment honoured!
Let me now give a progress report on the infrastructure plans that we
announced in 2015.
We indicated that the provincial government would spend R30 billion,
while municipalities would spend R94 billion over the MTEF on
infrastructure. Our focus is on energy, broadband, public transport,
water and sanitation infrastructure.
In July last year we held a successful inaugural Gauteng Infrastructure
Investment Conference to mobilise support and develop a common
approach on the infrastructure requirements of the Gauteng City
Region. We received overwhelming support from key stakeholders on
our infrastructure plans.
With regard to energy security, we are working closely with the City of
Johannesburg and the City of Tshwane to ensure that they finalise the
due processes of appointing private sector partners who will renovate
and upgrade the Kelvin, Pretoria West and Rooiwaal Power Stations.
The two cities will soon announce details on this matter. This
intervention will increase energy capacity by 1200 mega watts in our
city region.
We have received National Treasury approval to implement our
renewable energy projects of installing solar panels on the rooftops of
all government buildings.
The project of tri-generation plants in our hospitals will also be a Public
Private Partnership. These projects will be ready for implementation in
the next financial year.
Madame Speaker, as we said before, public transport is a catalyst in
growing the economy and it contributes to the wellbeing of the people.
It also has a huge impact on the spatial economy and the morphology
of our city region.
19

Our goal remains that of building a modern public transport system that
is integrated, safe reliable, affordable and intermodal.
Significant progress is being made in the expansion of the Bus Rapid
Transit (BRT) Systems, in the metropolitan municipalities.
In the City of Johannesburg, the expansion of the third phase of the
BRT to Alexandra, Sandton, Midrand, Ivory Park and Randburg is
progressing well.
A Re Yeng is now operational in the CBD of Tshwane and it is being
rolled out to Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Soshanguve, Garankuwa and
Mabopane.
In Ekurhuleni, the construction of 3.6 km of dedicated lanes and
stations has been completed. The first phase of Ekurhulenis BRT
system, Harambee, from Tembisa to Isando, is under way and will be
operational in July this year.
All these BRTs will have a positive impact in the quality of the public
transport experience for the people of the Gauteng City Region.
People of Gauteng, the taxi industry transports more than 65% of
commuters. It contributes to our economy, by creating employment and
providing sustainable livelihoods.
Over the past twelve months, we held extensive engagements with the
Taxi Industry on our public transport plans and the place of the industry
in our modern public transport system.
We are also aware that many taxi operators are either operating on
routes that are saturated or are applying for taxi operating licenses for
these routes that are not profitable. This is a recipe for disaster and is
one of the reasons behind the taxi violence.
We will work with the industry to address this challenge.
Honourable Members, the Gautrain is one of the most positive public
transport stories in post-apartheid South Africa, in ecological, social and
economic terms. The Gautrain has so far contributed R20 billion to the
economy of the Gauteng City Region. During its construction 122 000
jobs were created and 600 more jobs during its operation.
20

With over 50 million passenger trips transporting 1.4 million passengers

per month, Gautrain is radically transforming the public transport
experience in our country and especially in Gauteng. More people now
rely on the Gautrain as a convenient means of transport.
In response to the growing demand for Gautrain services, we are
adding 48 new trains to the fleet, at a cost of R 3.5 billion, underwritten
by the Development Bank of Southern Africa. This investment will
create more than 9 000 jobs.
The next phase of the expansion of the Gautrain whose planning we
are currently finalising will radically transform the spatial configuration of
major parts of City Region. It will help us connect the western, northern
and southern corridors to the central corridor.
Madame Speaker, in all our interventions in improving public transport,
we will put the interests of the commuters first.
Public transport is also a key driver of industrialisation and reindustrialisation of the Gauteng City Region.
For example, since 2009, 474 new locomotives have been
manufactured by Transnet in Koedoespoort, Tshwane. In the last
financial year alone 169 Metrorail trains have been refurbished in
Tshwane, Joburg and Ekurhuleni. A total of 2 433 minibus taxis were
assembled in Springs in Ekurhuleni, since 2012. In addition, 608
busses for BRTs, Metrorail and Gautrain are being assembled in the
West Rand and Ekurhuleni.
Madame Speaker, our intention is that the new Gautrain rolling stock be
manufactured locally. We are serious about boosting local
manufacturing capacity and creating sustainable jobs in our economy.
With regard to road infrastructure, we are spending R7.2 billion to
upgrade and expand all major roads that connect and integrate the
different development corridors and key economic nodes of our
province over the next three years.
In Johannesburg, (the Central Corridor), we are upgrading, William
Nicol from PWV5 (Jukskei bridge) to N14 in Diepsloot, which forms a
very important link between the N14 in the North and the N1 in the
South.

21

The N14 from Diepsloot to the Hendrik Potgieter intersection will link
Tshwane, Johannesburg and West Rand communities in a
transformative manner.
Here in Sedibeng, (the Southern Corridor) we are upgrading the R82
Old Vereeniging/Johannesburg Road from a single to a dual
carriageway from Walkerville to De Deur. The road will provide access
to existing and future developments around Walkerville, Eikenhoff and
De Deur.
We will also upgrade Evaton Road, from Adams to Selbourne. We are
building a new interchange on the R42 Barrage Road that will connect
the new Vaal River City and Sharpeville.
In Ekurhuleni (the Eastern Corridor), we are upgrading Heidelberg
Road from Leondale Forsdick Road to Barry Marais Road from a single
carriageway to a dual carriageway. The project will improve
accessibility for future developments in the Vosloorus, Leondale and
Southern Ekurhuleni areas.
All these roads will not be tolled.
As you will recall, we reviewed the impact of e-tolls on the people of our
province and this led to a new dispensation that is currently being
implemented, with significant concessions.
In many meetings I have addressed since the announcement of the
new dispensation, I have heard many motorists who say that they are
not paying e-tolls due to affordability, rather than being part of a
campaign of civil disobedience. Affordability is the issue, not civil
disobedience.
Through the appointment of the Advisory Panel and the new
dispensation, we have tried our best to address the negative impact of
the e-tolls and affordability.
Madame Speaker, the vision of a smart province and the modernisation
of the economy and the public service is taking shape. Broadband
connectivity is growing faster covering all parts of the city region.
Through our partnerships with the municipalities and the private sector
we will reach our goal of 100% connectivity by 2019.

22

The provincial government has connected ten core network sites and
368 local sites that are fully operational, out of a target of 400 for 201516.
In addition, the City of Tshwane has connected 700 free Wi-Fi hotspots,
Johannesburg 408 free Wi-Fi hotspots and Ekurhuleni 408 free Wi-Fi
hotspots.
We commend the City of Tshwane for reaching one million users and
winning the Best Connectivity Solution for Africa Award at the 2015
AfricaCom awards.
We say well done to the Capital city of our Republic!
In order to ensure integration, coordination and coherence across the
Gauteng City Region, we recently established the Department of eGovernment, which will drive our modernisation agenda.
I would like to reiterate our commitment to ensure that the local
manufacturing of ICT products, components and the development of
new applications should take place in our City Region.
Our goal is to build ICT hubs and science and technology parks in all
our development corridors.
Since 1994 we have been responding to the challenge of housing
occasioned by apartheid policies that have displaced our people away
from centres of development.
In response, we have delivered housing opportunities to provide decent
shelter for our people.
Despite the rate of our delivery and interventions many of our people
still do not have access to shelter because of rapid in-migration. Every
year, more than 200 000 people move to Gauteng to seek better socioeconomic opportunities.
Madame Speaker, in the 2015 SOPA, we announced mega human
settlements and new post-apartheid cities that are being undertaken
across the City Region by public and private sector institutions and
developers.
Once more, the evidence that Gauteng is a construction site is
indisputable.
23

The cranes are up and construction is underway at Savannah City,

Sandton City, Steyn City, Waterfall City, Tshwane West Capital, and
Africa Gateway in Centurion.
We are pleased to announce that initial work regarding the
development of the new Lanseria Airport City and Vaal River City has
started. However, delays in the rollout of bulk infrastructure have
slowed down the momentum. We will work with the municipalities to
unblock these delays.
As we have pointed out earlier, the ANC-led government has done
tremendously well in providing housing opportunities to more than
938 000 people in the past twenty years in Gauteng.
The rationale for introducing mega human settlements is to respond the
reality that building a few houses in outlying areas will not address the
spiralling housing backlog.
We need to deliver significantly larger numbers through high-density
human settlements that are integrated into economic nodes and bring
economic nodes closer to existing human settlements.
This requires better capacity in our human settlements departments of
the province and municipalities and partnerships with the private sector.
In the current financial year we have delivered close to 20,000 stands
and housing units in the five corridors and issued 7743 title deeds.
Owing to institutional and capacity constraints, our performance on
housing delivery is not impressive. We have intervened to improve
drastically the administrative and technical capacity of the Gauteng
Department of Human Settlements so that it can drive the programme
of mega human settlements and post-apartheid cities effectively and
effect decisive spatial transformation.
I am very confident that the appointment of MEC Paul Mashatile in this
portfolio will go a long way in improving coordination with municipalities
and fast-tracking the delivery of mega human settlements and postapartheid cities, which will also include student accommodation.
We have done well in setting out the vision for human settlements.

24

Let the cranes go up everywhere in the province. Let the construction

work intensify. Let the handing over of completed houses and
renovated hostels be speeded up.
Madame Speaker, I would like to provide an update on some of the
important developments in our flagship projects in the five development
corridors.
In the Northern Corridor, which accounts for 40% of our national vehicle
production, BMW has invested R6 billion to expand its work on the
BMW X series.
In addition there is an increase in the levels of production at the Nissan
plant in Rosslyn.
Iveco will also produce trucks and busses in the same area.
We are undertaking a feasibility study to build the Automotive City as a
post-apartheid city in Tshwane.
The Automotive City will further strengthen the Northern corridor as an
investment destination of choice for the automotive sector, especially
for further export into the SADC region.
In addition, the construction of the Business Process Outsourcing Park
in Hammanskraal will commence in the coming weeks.
In Johannesburg, the Corridors of Freedom project - to effect spatial
transformation is going very well. In terms of this project infrastructure
upgrades along the Empire/Perth Corridor as well as along Louis Botha
are already underway.
The provincial governments Kopanong Precinct is back on track.
It will contribute to the revitalisation of the Johannesburg central
business district, which will receive a major boost when Kopanong
Precinct begins operation during the next financial year.
The project has received approval form National Treasury as a publicprivate partnership.
The catalytic projects that will boost the development of the Ekurhuleni
Aerotropolis, received overwhelming support from the private sector.
25

In addition there are huge investments in the development of big

factories and warehouses along the R21. These investments will
strengthen the strategic position of Ekurhuleni as a manufacturing,
logistics and transport hub.
We will continue to support the work of attracting investors into the
economy of our manufacturing hub. We welcome initiatives to build the
International Trade Centre in Rhodesfield at an estimated value of R50
billion; the Aviation Simulation and Training Centre estimated at R2
billion and the Green Reef Development estimated at R50 billion.
Madame Speaker, to us the recent discovery of Homo Naledi not only
points to the unique and significant role that Africa plays in the origins
and development of human kind but it is also a game changer.
We congratulate Professor Lee Berger and his team of paleo-scientists
from Wits University for this major scientific discovery.
Homo Naledi has massive positive implications for tourism in the City
Region and in particular the Cradle of Mankind, Maropeng.
The number of visitors to Maropeng more than tripled to 150 000 in the
month that Homo Naledi was on display.
We are now going to fully exploit the tourism potential of Maropeng to
promote tourism in the Western corridor.
Accordingly, over the next three years, we will expand infrastructure
around Maropeng, including ensuring improved access to the site
through public transport.
Here in Sedibeng, we are supporting the agricultural development, and
specifically small-scale farmers, the Vereeniging Fresh Produce Market
is currently being refurbished, upgraded and modernised.
On completion, this facility will improve economic efficiency by providing
the crucial link between farmers, agro- processors and consumers.
In last years State of the Province Address, we made a commitment to
target 32 black farmers for support in planting barley to be supplied to
the Heineken factory; we have now profiled the 32 farmers.
We have also started with the barley cultivar trials in partnership with
the private sector.
26

In addition, the provincial government has also decided to intervene

and provide drought relief for emerging and subsistence farmers who
have suffered severe losses as a result of the drought.
Madame Speaker, I want to reassert that education remains the
backbone of radical socio-economic transformation and that a nation
that neglects education, neglects its future.
Education is the most decisive instrument of national and selfcultivation. It is the greatest investment any nation can ever make. It is
our number one priority as the ANC led government.
Honourable Members we run a huge and successful basic education
system that caters for 2, 2 million learners. A total of 77% of the
learners that started Grade 1 in 2004 in our public schools reached
matric in 2015. This represents the highest through-put in the country.
Gauteng has consistently been among the top three performing
provinces over the past ten years in matric results. Between 2012 and
2015, Gauteng outperformed the rest of the provinces and produced
more than 38 000 bachelor passes in 2015. What is particularly unique
is the dramatic improvements in the performance of learners from
township schools.
Madame Speaker, in 2009, fee paying schools led the way with an
average pass rate of 84.2%, while no-fee schools achieved an average
pass rate of 60.1%. This gap has narrowed significantly and currently
stands at 13.3%, down from 24.1% in 2009.
Our township youth are on the move and are breaking racial and class
barriers.
We support 1.1 million learners in the no-fee schools and 1.3 million
learners receive a meal daily.
A total of 82 936 learners who live more than 5 km from the nearest
schools, are being transported to school daily to ensure un-interrupted
schooling.
In line with our commitment of improving early childhood development,
we have reached over 87 000 children through 1 330 funded Early
Childhood Development Centres (ECD). We have also registered more
than 2 000 ECD centres, to regularise them.
27

We have significantly increased the enrolment of Grade R learners from

65 000 in 2009 to close to 113 000 in 2014. We will enrol 200 000
Grade R learners by 2019.
In 2014, we introduced the Classroom of the Future and in 2015 we
only had seven schools connected to our e-learning platform. We now
have 1 861 Grade 12 classrooms, 3 098 Grade 11 classrooms and 42
schools connected to the e-learning system.
Madame Speaker, I had the privilege to visit Protea Glen Secondary
School in July last year and Chief Albert Luthuli Primary School in
January this year to witness how ICT has totally transformed both the
learning experience of our children as well as the teaching experience
of our teachers.
During those visits I met Ms Gugulethu Gumede and Ms Thelma
Mngwevu who are teachers, and Nomkhosi Gumede and Dorah Kilima
who are learners.
They told me that they arrive at school very early and stay much longer
after school due to the increased level of interest generated by selflearning through the tablets we are providing.
In 2016-17, we will expand this to other classes and schools.
In order to provide opportunities to township learners with special
educational needs, we are increasing the number of special schools in
the townships. We have built eight special schools which are currently
functional and will open a further eighteen schools this year.

We are also establishing Schools of Specialisation to strengthen our

skills base especially in critical areas such commerce and
entrepreneurship; Maths; Science and Technology; and other scarce
skills.
In the coming months we will launch a School of Specialisation in
Emndeni, Soweto. We are working towards establishing a school of
specialisation in each of the five corridors.
I would like to report that this ANC-led government is spending more
than R560 million on bursaries, learnerships and internships in order to
equip our youth with the necessary skills and work experience.
28

This will increase to R1 billion over the next two years.

In addition, Gauteng municipalities are spending close to R100 million
to contribute to the education of children from poor households.
These provincial and municipal contributions are over and above the
more than R10 billion that our national government is spending to assist
higher education students from poor households.
We are serious about the education and training of our youth.
In December 2014, we launched a bold initiative to give hope to young
people through a partnership programme called Tshepo 500 000.
The objective of this game changing initiative is to provide skills
training, entrepreneurship development, mentorship and job
placements for youth and unemployed graduates.
Young people are one of the focal priorities of this ANC-led fifth
administration.
In the past thirteen months, we have recruited more than 158 000
young people to participate in the various programmes of Tshepo 500
000. We have facilitated the placement of 37 446 young people who
were trained through our skills development partnership. These are real
people who today have real jobs and are now able to support their
families.
I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all the companies that are
working with us to give hope to young people.
We have also trained more than 19 000 aspiring entrepreneurs, 535 of
whom are now registered entrepreneurs and 79 have fully operational
businesses.
Madame Speaker, the success of our Tshepo 500 000 programme can
best be told by some of the young people who are here with us today.
Obakeng Morapedi, a young aspiring entrepreneur in software
development and Amogelang Sebegoe from Phahama Waste
Management Enterprise, are here with us today as beneficiaries of
Tshepo 500 000.
29

Today, they have proudly been given a hand up, not a hand out.
We want many more young people to know that they too can come out
of unemployment and destructive activities such as drugs to live
meaningful lives.
Apart from the provincial flagship programme, municipalities are
involved in their own initiatives that are aimed at giving young people in
the province hope.
The biggest municipal initiative is the ground-breaking partnership
between the City of Joburg and Harambee (the youth employment
accelerator) which is targeting more than 200 000 young people in the
City by the end of this year.
We will work with Harambee and other youth employment initiatives so
that we can make a much greater impact on the more than 1 million
young people who are unemployed in our province. This can be done!
From my interaction with many business leaders during the CEO Sleep
Out in Sandton in July 2015, I know that many of them are burning with
desire to partner with government in giving our youth hope. We are
following up with all Gauteng-based companies and business
chambers.
As we prepare for the 40th anniversary of the June 1976 Student
Uprisings, let us rally together to make this the hour of hope for youth.
We call upon students, that whilst we must advance the agenda of
transformation within higher education and improve access, they must
also focus on their education and ensure that no time is lost in the
academic year.
We also call upon parents and civil society to work with institutions of
higher learning to ensure that there is stability and that our higher
learning institutions are functional.
Madame Speaker, healthcare is the lifeblood of a productive nation.
Last year, we set ourselves the target that by 2019, we will have 200
out of 375 of our clinics meeting the ideal clinic norms and standards.
Ideal clinics must open on time, be clean, be staffed by health
professionals that practice the values of Batho Pele, do not close until
30

the last patient has been attended to and have reasonable waiting
times.
We are confident that by 2019 all our clinics will be among the top
performers in meeting the norms and standards due to the progress
being made in turning around our public health system.
Also in line with our commitment in last years SOPA, we have now
established a total of 449 Ward-Based Outreach Teams across
Gauteng, far above the target of 400.
These teams are conducting door-to-door work and community
outreach campaigns on health awareness and healthy lifestyles.
We are on track with the modernisation of our public health services.
The digitisation of patient files is currently underway and will be
completed in all public hospitals in Gauteng by 2019. The e-Health
initiative is already improving efficiencies and drastically reducing
waiting times.
In 2015 we reported significant successes in reducing TB incidence.
We achieved a treatment cure rate of 85.1%. In 2016, our TB treatment
success rate has marginally improved to 85, 7%.
Madame Speaker, we are concerned that while the rate of HIV related
deaths has decreased substantially, the rate of new infections remains
stubbornly high. We launched the social mobilisation campaign known
as PASOP to encourage responsible behaviour and to reduce new HIV
infections.
Through PASOP, which stands for Prevent Avoid Stop Overcome and
Protect, we reached an estimated 5 million people across the province.
In line with the NDPs call to have an AIDS-free generation by 2030, we
are investing R3 billion towards implementing education; clinical
services and social initiatives that will help us turn the tide against HIV.
Madame Speaker, our municipalities are also playing a critical role in
the provision of primary healthcare services to communities. The role of
the metros is deeply appreciated in providing quality public healthcare
and most of their clinics are now going digital, with many benefits
accruing to patients on the ground.

31

In response to the growing demands on our health system, we are

investing in infrastructure development in our hospitals including
acquiring state of the art equipment.
In this regard we congratulate Leratong Provincial Hospital for winning
the award in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology onestop-shop project at
the Public Service Innovation Awards in 2015.
In partnership with the government of the Peoples Republic of China,
last year, we unveiled a new technology machine that enables remote
and instant treatment of fibroids without surgery at Chris Hani
Baragwanath Hospital.
This has helped many women who had childbearing difficulties.
Margaret Mlangeni had this to say about her experience:
This disease made my life difficult and I have never had children in my
life. I hope God will now bless me with children as He has blessed me
with this machine.
The Wits Cardiology unit at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital boasts the
highest number of cardiologists in the country.
These are some of the capabilities and centres of excellence that we
have in our public health system.
Madame Speaker, while Gautengs poverty headcount decreased by
more than half from 10, 5% in 2001 to 4, 8% in 2011, we continue to
face significant levels of urban poverty, particularly in our townships
and informal settlements.
Since 2014, the number of people on social grants in Gauteng has
increased from 2.2 million to 2.4 million.

In the face of poverty, inequality and unemployment, the grants make a

big difference in the lives of many people in a province where the cost
of living is very high and even those employed can hardly cope with the
rising cost of housing, food, transport, energy and education.
Accordingly, creating sustainable and decent employment through a
growing and inclusive economy is key in reducing the number of people
on grants. Our flagship programme to move people, especially young
32

women out of welfare into employment is beginning to yield positive

results. Since 2014, we have moved 4 444 people, mainly young
women, into productive and sustainable economic activities.
We are expanding this programme with the aim of reaching over 11,000
people by the end of our term of office.
The impact of our welfare to work initiative is aptly demonstrated by
the words of Ms Doreen Mokoena (22 years old), who is here with us
today, who wrote to us:
Welfare to work has helped improve my life in making me an
independent person. It has taught me to save for important things in life
and also helped me to complete my studies. Skills that I have obtained
during the programme include communication, administration and
problem solving skills. I was in the programme for seven months then I
got a permanent job at Net Wealth Analytics as an administrator.
Madame Speaker, we have also created sustainable livelihoods for the
urban poor by empowering 487 social cooperatives that have more
than 3 000 members, most of whom are women. These women are
involved in food gardening and community-based urban agriculture to
help fight poverty and hunger. They also produce school uniforms to
support children in public schools and provide dignity packs to more
than 4 000 of the poorest households, especially in Sedibeng and the
West Rand.
In the next three years, we will increase our support and facilitate the
growth of more social cooperatives.
In order to intensify the war on urban poverty and hunger, the provincial
government and municipalities have provided food relief to 66 000
households with 227 000 beneficiaries through referrals from the five
food banks established in the Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng, Tshwane, West
Rand and Johannesburg Regions.
We are also providing food parcels to 145 000 people and 39 000
beneficiaries receive daily meals at drop-in centres.
Over the MTEF, we will intensify the War on Poverty with interventions
aimed at over 500 000 of the poorest households in Gauteng. All these
interventions provide some relief to the 22.9% of the poorest
households in our province. In response to household poverty, we will
33

implement a single window that provides a basket of services and

social assistance in a coordinated way.

People of Gauteng, during the 2014 SOPA, we made a commitment to

develop a comprehensive response to the scourge of drug abuse.
Substance abuse is one of the major social ills plaguing the youth in our
communities. Drugs are destroying our youth and robbing us of the
energy and talent we so dearly need in our nation.
The Ke Moja campaign against substance abuse, reached over 1.1
million young people over the past twelve months. We have also
expanded mobile substance abuse services and other innovative new
programmes to deal with this problem.
Crime prevention interventions are being stepped up to deal with the
manufacturers and suppliers of drugs.
There are successes in this regard, these include the establishment of
the Drug Task Team, the arrest of 10 602 suspects and the closing
down of 28 drug laboratories.
We cannot lose the war against drugs. We cannot allow our youth to be
destroyed.
I hereby make a special call to religious leaders to take a lead in the
fight against social ills such as substance abuse.
Let us work together to save our youth.
Madame Speaker, the safety and security of our people remains
paramount.
In 2014 and 2015, we made a commitment on building safer
communities in the Gauteng City Region.
The recent Victims of Crime Survey found that Gauteng had the highest
percentage of households, which felt that violent crime had decreased
in their areas of residence between 2011 and 2014.
However, crime remains one of the major sources of worry among
many of our residents. This is one area where very little progress has
been registered over the past year, owing largely to factors beyond the
control of the provincial government.
34

It is a matter of public knowledge that I have previously raised concerns

about in-fighting and instability in the leadership of the police.
I am deeply troubled by the number of police officers who have been
murdered by criminals. We must make it clear that police killers shall be
hunted and put behind bars.
I would like to report that we have been working hard to ensure that we
strengthen the focus of our law enforcement agencies on priority crimes
that face Gauteng.
The Civilian Secretariat has been appointed to strengthen civilian
oversight over the police.
We are working closely with the Minister of Police and the Acting
National Commissioner to ensure that a new Provincial Commissioner
is appointed soon. This will boost the morale of the hard working
policemen and women who are serving our people loyally, while placing
their own lives at great risk.
We will also take full advantage of the existence of three metro police
departments as force multipliers that will work with SAPS to concentrate
their joint efforts on fighting crime and making Gauteng safe.
Madame Speaker we will continue to conduct un-announced visits to
police stations, as these have been bearing fruits.
We are committed to building safe and secure communities through
strengthening relations between communities and the police. In this
regard, we will support the Memeza Community Police Alarm system
developed by Ms Rirhundzu Munisi.
This innovation was developed at the Innovation Hub in order to find
solutions to some of our community policing challenges. It is currently
being piloted in Diepsloot where it has made a big difference.
Madame Speaker, we have been battling with the problem of illicit
mining.
This crime affects many communities in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and
West Rand who live along the gold mining belt.

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Many of our communities live in fear of marauding armed gangs that

work under the belly of the earth and come out to commit violent
crimes.
Improving overall police performance, visibility and re-establishing
specialised policing units to focus on the problem of drugs, gender
based violence, illicit mining, taxi violence and other priority crimes, will
go a long way in making Gauteng safe.
Madame Speaker we are committed to building safer communities and
we will do everything to ensure that the Gauteng City is safer!
Madame Speaker, Gauteng is the home of champions and the
epicentre of competitive sport on the continent.
It is here that sporting dreams are made and fulfilled.
The provincial government is planning to seriously engage the sporting
fraternity to cement relations through a shared vision and common
programme. This will help to unlock and enhance the potential of sport
in our economy as an important contributor to the reindustrialisation of
our province.
In addition, we are paying attention to school sport.
School sport is important in developing and nurturing sporting talent
among our youth. In supporting school sport, we have provided sporting
equipment and sporting attire to 450 schools in our province. We are
aware that the need is bigger.
We will work with sporting bodies and the private sector to increase the
support we are providing for the development of schools sport.
Currently Gauteng is the best performing province in school sports in
the country and has won the Old Mutual Prestige Cup for three
consecutive years.
I commend our players for representing the Gauteng City Region well in
the South African Schools Sport Games.
I also congratulate Troyeville Primary, Waterkloof Secondary and the
winners of the special school category, Isiphosethu Special School for
winning the Gauteng School Sport Awards for 2015.

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To strengthen social cohesion, we will create platforms where people

from diverse backgrounds and localities can interact and compete in
different sporting codes.
We will continue to support major sporting events in our province, these
include: Gauteng Marathon; Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day;
Soweto Marathon; Under 17 Future Champions; Gauteng Champions
Parade; the 1 Cup Game; Wheelchair tennis South Africa; Soccerex
Africa Forum; as well as the South African, Joburg and Tshwane Open.
I would like to congratulate Municipalities for installing gym parks in the
townships. This has made keeping fit fashionable. It has also helped
reduce the burden of diseases.
In addition to sport, Arts and Culture also play a major role in
contributing towards nation building and social cohesion.
The Gauteng Carnival, which brings together different sectors of society
to celebrate our cultural diversity, continues to grow. Just last year it
attracted more than 30 000 participants and spectators. We estimate
that more than 3000 jobs were created prior to and during the Gauteng
Carnival last year.
Going forward we will expand the Carnival in order to showcase our
cosmopolitanism and Afropolitanism as a cultural melting pot of Africa
and the world.
Gauteng is also the home of the creative industries.
It is here where creative juices of our dancers, filmmakers, poets,
musicians, designers, publishers, painters and sculptors flow in
abundance. It also here, where we can create opportunities for the
creatives to flourish and become economically empowered.
According to the Gauteng Creative Mapping project, produced in 2007
by Wits University,, it is estimated that directly and indirectly, the
creative industries contribute R33.3 billion to the Gauteng economy and
employs over 182 000 people.
It for this reason that the creative and cultural industries will be one of
the sectors we will focus on both to promote social cohesion as well as
inclusive economic growth.

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In 2014 and 2015 we made a commitment to preserve and promote our

rich cultural heritage. This includes developing a Gauteng liberation
heritage route to preserve sites of struggle and promote the tangible
and intangible heritage.
Working with national government and the City of Tshwane, in 2015 we
launched the National Heritage Monument (NHM).
The establishment of this Monument serves as a living memory of the
South African Liberation Struggle. This monumental heritage site will
contribute to the overall objective of building a national democratic
society that is non-racial, non-sexist, united and prosperous.
Since 2014 we have honoured some of our struggle stalwarts including
Mama Bertha Gxowa whom we honoured with a life-size statue and
have declared the graves of David Bopape, Sam Ntuli, Dolly Rathebe
and Selope Thema as provincial heritage sites. More work will be done
to honour other unsung heroes and heroines.
Through Ntirhisano, we have interacted with and listened to the
concerns of senior citizens in our province.
Many of them complained about neglect or abuse by family members,
lack of programmes and facilities to promote aging with dignity, the cost
of public transport.
We would like to reassure our senior citizens that Gauteng province is
their home and we will do everything in our power to support and
protect them.
One of the exciting programmes we will support is the participation of
the elderly in sport and recreation.
Last year, I personally had an exciting moment with senior citizens at a
gym in Soweto. I found most of our elderly people exceptionally fit for
their age. Some of them participate regularly in fun walks, aerobics and
soccer. We congratulate the Johannesburg team of elderly women who
beat the famous Limpopo team, Bakgekolo Bakgekolo.
This is a team that went to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
We need to create more opportunities for the elderly to participate in
sport and recreation, because this is good for their well-being.
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Madame Speaker, this year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1956
womens march against the pass laws and oppression of women.
The emancipation of women remains a critical task that must be tackled
with consistency and urgency. We will unveil the womens monument in
Tshwane during the womens month in August.
The womens monument will be an eternal and living tribute of the
contribution and role of women in the struggle for freedom and
democracy and towards development.
We have exceeded the 30% target with regards to the empowerment of
women through our procurement policy and we are well on our way to
reach 50% by 2020. Currently 400 enterprises owned and run by
women benefit from our procurement spend.
Our programmes for radical transformation, modernisation and
reindustrialisation such as the township revitalisation, Tshepo 500 000,
welfare to work, women cooperatives are among the key programmes
that are aimed at women development.
We will also continue to ensure that women play a leading role in
decision making structures especially in the public sector. Wathinta
Abafazi! Wathintha imbokodo!
Madame Speaker, in 2013 Gauteng had the poorest performance with
regard to employment targets for people with disabilities, achieving only
0.7%. This has improved, in October 2015, Gauteng is now the best
performing province, achieving 1.6% employment equity out of the
target of 2%. We are well on our way to surpass the 2% target during
the term of this administration.
In addition we have already surpassed the 30% target of allocating
houses to people with disabilities and are now at 38%.
We agree with the rallying call made at the 2015 Disability Rights
Month that nothing about us without us.
Madame Speaker, in 2014 we said we will take active measures to
ensure that military veterans are mainstreamed into existing
socioeconomic and governance programmes.

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We have developed and adopted a programme of action on Military

Veterans in line with the passing of the Military Veterans Act, 18 of
2011 in Parliament.
According to the Department of Military Veterans (DMV) about 5390
military veterans live in Gauteng.
We will ensure that we include military veterans in our programme for
transformation, modernisation and reindustrialisation.
We are also working with the military veterans to ensure that they
participate in the mainstream economy, including ensuring that they
benefit from our township revitalisation programmes. We will this year
ensure military veterans benefit from our human settlements projects in
line with the set standards.
Madame Speaker, this year we will hold local government elections.
We are proud of the work that many of our municipalities have been
doing since 2011 to deliver services to our people, build infrastructure
and drive the reindustrialisation of our local economies.
Local government is the most important sphere, which is closest to the
people.
We congratulate our municipalities for achieving clean audits and other
national and international awards.
As already pointed out, the City Tshwane has won an award on its
outstanding work on the roll out of free wi-fi in the city and for being
South Africas 2015 Earth Hour capital.
The City of Johannesburg has won the C40 Cities Award for its
leadership in tackling climate change through its green bond initiative.
The City of Ekurhuleni has received the blue drop water status for the
quality of its drinking water. Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng District, Mogale City
and Midvaal have made us proud for achieving clean audits.
Madame Speaker, last year we made a commitment to clean and green
our cities and towns.
We have now re-launched Bontle ke Botho campaign, to mobilise
communities to take care of their environment and to participate in
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efforts to beautify their streets, cities and towns as well as to derive

work and other economic opportunities from recycling waste.
Apart from the environmental benefits, the waste economy has
enormous potential to create employment and generate entrepreneurial
opportunities for thousands of the unemployed in our communities.
The people of Gauteng, before I conclude my speech, I would like to
outline lessons we have learnt in the past twenty-one months of the fifth
administration.
It is possible to restore public confidence and a common narrative if we
as government honour our commitments and implement agreed plans.
We know that our people are tired of excuses and empty promises.
The commitments we make must be the commitments we honour.
It is also possible to build productive and mutually beneficial
partnerships with various sectors of society to tackle specific social and
economic challenges.
Preliminary indications are that our call for partnerships with the private
sector on infrastructure projects has received lots of concrete support
from investors and business people who now investing in our major
infrastructure initiatives.
We can successfully resolve the structural problems of our economy if
we work together in a systematic and coordinated manner.
We can solve the problem of youth unemployment and drug abuse if
we build the right partnerships that give hope to our youth.
I would like to call upon all of you to join us to work for a better Gauteng
for all.
Given these lessons, we have decided to take Ntirhisano conversations
and the suburbs so that we can also deal with specifically problems and
challenges facing the middle strata and youth in the suburbs.
We need to mobilise all the people of our province to come together
and make sure that this province is truly a home for all black and
white, rich and poor, men and women, young and old.
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Let me conclude by thanking a number of thank all those who continue

to dream and work hard to ensure that we build a society where all
people can live meaningful lives, in peace and harmony.
I would to thank my family, particularly my wife Mpho and the children,
for understanding my difficult choice of a life of service to the people
and for their unwavering support.
I would to thank Team Gauteng City Region, MECs and Executive
Mayors, for their commitment, collaboration and loyal service to the
people of our City Region.
I would like to thank the Director General, my Special Advisors and all
the staff in the Office of the Premier for their hard work and support.
I would like to thank members of this Legislature for holding us
accountable.
We are not perfect. We value your guidance and criticism.
Please work with us to place our province at the cutting edge of clean
governance, social transformation and inclusive economic growth.
I do believe that, with the unity of purpose, we can mobilise all the
people of our province to come together and build Gauteng into a true
home for all.
I truly believe we can. I thank you.

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