Address by Gauteng Premier Paul Shipokosa Mashatile at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, Johannesburg, October 7 2008
Mr. Speaker, Richard Mdakane,
Deputy Speaker, Sophia Williams De Bruyn,
Honourable Leaders of Political Parties,
Secretary General of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe,
Honourable Members of the Legislature,
Honourable Mayors,
Former Premiers of Gauteng, Tokyo Sexwale, Mathole Motshekga and Mbhazima Shilowa,
The Director General of the Province,
Gauteng Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS,
Heads of Departments and Agencies,
Chairperson of the Gauteng Youth Commission,
Comrades and Friends,
The People of Gauteng
Honourable Speaker
I stand before you humbled by the faith and confidence you have placed in me to lead this province as the Premier of Gauteng.
As I indicated, when I accepted the nomination, I undertook this responsibility fully cognisant of the duties and responsibilities that are attached to this high office, as outlined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the expectations that the people of Gauteng have of the Premier of the Province.
On 27 October is the birthday of the late President of the African National Congress, Oliver Tambo. One of the things we will do this year is to organise various programmes to celebrate the life and times of this great leader of our country.
We will do so because we owe it to this great and selfless leader of our people and his generation that includes Nelson Mandela, the first President of a democratic South Africa, Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, and many others.
This year also marks the 32nd Anniversary of the June 16 Uprising. The generation of June 16 responded to the call by the leadership to swell the ranks of the African National Congress and UmKhonto WeSizwe.
When President Oliver Tambo made a call to make South Africa ungovernable and the apartheid system unworkable, this generation responded with conviction and was at the forefront of the struggle to liberate our people.
As I assume the highest office in the province, I would like to pay tribute to the many heroines and heroes of the 1976 generation and the young lions of the 1980's. Many paid the ultimate price with their lives for the freedom we enjoy today.
These generations stood firm in the face of the oppressive and brutal apartheid regime and were steadfast in their resolve to fight for the liberation of their people. They were always driven by the clarion call, "Freedom in our Life Time".
There are many from this generation who are still alive and are now deployed in various positions of responsibility to continue with the task of selflessly serving our people.
As I perform my duties, I will carry with me their aspirations, courage and determination.
Honourable Speaker, my task between now and the 2009 general elections together with the democratically elected representatives of the people in the Gauteng Legislature is to complete the mandate given to us by our people when they voted for us in the 2004 General Elections.
We are fully aware that this Government derives its mandate from the people, because they have voted overwhelmingly for the ANC. They have done so because they have confidence in us to improve their lives for the better.
We therefore remain committed to "A Peoples contract to create work and fight poverty" together with our people.
In the coming months we will interact with our people in various communities to ensure that we accelerate delivery of services and improve the lives of our people.
Honourable Speaker,
Since 1994, this Government, working with our people, has made significant progress in building a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, united and prosperous society.
Today, many of our people have access to decent housing, receive basic services, water, sanitation and electricity, and we have increased access to social grants and provided quality health care and education.
The Gauteng economy continues to grow. It remains the powerhouse of our country's economy and responsible for over a third of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In Gauteng, unemployment has gone down from 30.8% in 2003 to 22.6% in 2007.
All these would have not been possible if it was not for the solid foundation laid by my predecessors.
Ntate Sexwale, you and your team were the pioneers who laid the foundation, which made it possible for Premier Motshekga and his team to build a house for democratic governance in Gauteng.
Premier Shilowa and your team, you have completed the House, to make it possible for us to build a better Gauteng for our people to enjoy the fruits of freedom.
Premier Shilowa, let me take this opportunity to record my sincere gratitude for the sterling work you done in leading our provincial government since 1999. Your contribution to the work of our government will be remembered and we wish you well in your endeavors.
As my team and I today take over a solid house built on a firm foundation, we will make sure that this house is properly maintained.
Key Priorities
As part of building Gauteng as a Globally Competitive City Region, over the next six months our priority is to ensure a stable and growing economy in the province. The economy should create work and other economic opportunities for the growing number of our people.
Honourable Speaker, we remain on course to achieve our target of 8% growth by 2014. Provincially, we are growing at 5.1%, above the national average.
Education and Skills
Honourable Speaker, to achieve these high levels of growth, we will pay special attention to education and skills development.
Through the Gauteng Global City Region Academy, we will ensure that necessary skills required by the state and our growing economy are produced.
We will also make sure that all public schools become centres of learning and excellence.
In November, the class of 2008 will be starting with their examinations. Let us work hard to ensure that they do even better than the class of 2007. We wish them well.
Fighting Crime
Honourable Speaker, crime is our number one enemy. This is despite the work we have done since 1994 in transforming policing services and mobilizing our people in the fight against crime.
As government, we want our people to live in a crime-free society. With the launch of the "Take Charge Campaign", we have seen many of our people in communities across the province joining hands with the police in the fight against crime.
In the coming months, we will strengthen our crime prevention efforts by building a strong movement against crime in partnership with our people and civil society organisations.
We will also intensify the training of patrollers, because we believe they have a key role to play in the fight against crime.
Whereas progress has been made in reducing other forms of crime, violent crime remains a particular challenge. We will in the coming months work with the police and indeed our people to strengthen this area of work.
In the coming months we will strengthen the criminal justice system.
In doing so, we have established a crime management centre focusing on collecting and analyzing information on crime to ensure that there is effective policing and prosecution.
Building Sustainable Communities
Honourable Speaker, since, 1994, we have delivered more than 680 000 housing opportunities in the province. We are on course in responding to the challenge of housing backlogs in the province, despite growing demand resulting from continuing high levels of in-migration.
With the launch of the top 20 township programme, we are on track in revitalising our communities and in changing the apartheid spatial settlement patterns in the old townships.
We are confident that by 2009 and beyond our townships will be better than they were before.
In the next six months, we will continue to pay attention to fulfill our commitment to formalise and eradicate informal settlements identified in 2004.
We will strengthen our programme for the renewal of hostels and convert them into family units.
Delivery of Services
Honourable Speaker, our government since 1994 has dramatically expanded access to social grants. In the coming months we will work with national government to ensure that all those who are eligible have access to social grants.
Together with other social services, this has provided a safety net for the poorest of our people and has helped many more of our people to escape the indignity of poverty and put food on the table and most importantly, they can be able to see the next day.
We are aware of recent protests, about service delivery in the province. As we have indicated above, we will be interacting with municipalities and our people because, together with them, we can resolve these challenges.
We remain committed to building a province in which the war against poverty is won and sustainable livelihoods become the daily reality for all of our people.
Health for All
Honourable Speaker, since 1994, we have made enormous strides in ensuring universal access to health care. Our goal remains that of improving the quality of health care services and ensuring a minimum level of services at clinics and hospitals across the province.
To date we have increased the percentage of mothers receiving antenatal care from 74.3% in 2000, to 77.5% in 2002. The number of children under the age of six years accessing free health care continues to increase.
The scourge of HIV and AIDS remains the critical challenge, which threatens to weaken the quality of our growth and development. In the period ahead, we will focus our energies on implementing a comprehensive HIV and Aids programme focusing on prevention, treatment and care.
Overall we will ensure that many of our people in particular the poor have access to quality health care.
Youth, Women and People with Disabilities
Honourable Speaker, in the coming months, we will work with the Youth Commission as part of strengthening our focus on youth development in our province.
We will also work with organisations of women and people with disabilities in ensuring that we improve their conditions.
Our focus is to ensure that we have an integrated approach in delivering services for these important sectors.
Labour
Honourable Speaker, in the coming months we will strengthen our relations with the labour movement. We will do so because we believe that unions play a major role in implementing the peoples contract to create work and fight poverty.
Preparing for 2010
Honourable Speaker, in the province we have witnessed a lot of interest by our people and the world on the hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
I must indicate that we are on course in undertaking the necessary preparations to host the 2009 Confederations Cup and a highly successful FIFA World Cup in 2010. As a province we will host both the opening and closing matches.
There will be a number of activities that we will organise for our visitors and our people. These will include fan parks and other tourist attractions.
We have to date made significant progress in the building of stadia. There is also progress in improving the transport system and most importantly transport infrastructure, including Gautrain, for the World Cup.
We will ensure that our people enjoy the FIFA World Cup legacy beyond 2010.
Voter Registration in November
Honourable Speaker, on the weekend of 8 & 9 November there will be voter registration in preparation for the 2009 General Elections. I therefore wish to make a special call to all the people of Gauteng, especially the youth, to register in order to vote in the 2009 general elections.
Honourable Speaker
I have outlined some of the progress we have made since 2004 and the tasks ahead to complete the mandate of the term of this government.
In realising this I would like to introduce the team of women and men, with whom I will work to serve our people until the next elections in 2009.
In deciding on the team I had to ensure that the work of government continue to improve the lives of our people remains on course;
Members of the Executive Council are;
- MEC for Education; Angelina Motshekga
- MEC for Housing; Nomvula Mokonyane
- MEC for Health; Brian Hlongwa
- MEC for Public Transport Roads and Works: Ignatius Jacobs
- MEC for Agriculture, Conservation and Environment: Khabisi Mosunkutu
- MEC for Local Government: Qedani Mahlangu
- MEC for Sports Recreation Arts and Culture: Barbara Creecy
- MEC for Social Development: Kgaogelo Lekgoro
- MEC for Community Safety: Firoz Cachalia
- MEC for Finance and Economic Affairs: Mandla Nkomfe
With the appointment of current Chief Whip as MEC, we are pleased to announce that the Honourable Lindiwe Maseko as the Chief Whip of the Majority party.
My team and I from this week will visit communities throughout the province. On Thursday, we will visit the community of Orange Farm. It is important that we go and listen to people and hear what difficulties are they faced with. Where there are things that need to be fixed we will fix them.
Finally, I would like to thank my family for their love and support, in particular my wife Manzi and my children, Palesa; Tinyiko; Thabiso and Ayanda.
There are many challenges that lie ahead but we are ready to tackle them, we will not fail our people.
I thank you
Issued by the Gauteng Provincial Government October 7 2008
