Gauteng must plan ahead if it wants to ease problems arising from increased migration, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday.
It was clear that metropolitan areas like Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban would attract people ”from elsewhere in the country”, Mbeki said during an imbizo in Braamfontein on Sunday.
”… So it’s something we have to take into account and all the other matters that will be related to human settlement,” he said.
Mbeki said it was necessary to budget at ”rates that are higher than normal”, in these areas.
”Part of the problem with delivery is not institutional weakness as much as wrong things in the planning process,” he said.
Johannesburg’s economic growth impacted on the nation: If the country was to achieve growth of 6%, Johannesburg’s growth rate had to be 9%.
However, if the city was to grow at all, it would have to tackle the problems with its transport and electricity infrastructure, said Mbeki.
The imbizo was part of the government’s imbizo week, themed ”Social mobilisation for development and safe communities”, in which officials and the public discuss the government’s plan of action.
Johannesburg’s mayor Amos Masondo told Mbeki that the city’s population was growing 3,5% a year on average. This was increasing the demand for electricity, water and sanitation and had resulted in a ten-year housing backlog.
The city still had to accommodate 25 000 households in informal settlements, 17 000 people in hostels and 100 000 people living in backyard shacks and derelict buildings.
Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa told Mbeki that 120 000 houses would be built by 2009.
”A big challenge is ensuring you have the means to get where you want to go … my sense is that you’re know where you’re going, but you have to find the means to get there,” the president said.
During the imbizo, Mbeki met the city’s business community and was updated on the progress of the Gautrain and the new Orlando Stadium practice venue for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
A walkabout in downtown Smit and Wolmarans streets was met with cheers from residents, who craned from their windows and balconies to catch a glimpse of the president and lined Smit and Wolmarans streets to shake his hand as he passed by, surrounded by police officers and security guards.
Weak leadership
There is a weakness of leadership in the business sector, Mbeki said at the Metropolitan Centre, responding on Saturday to a presentation by business on the challenges and issues they were facing.
”But one gets the sense that there is no port of call called organised business, there is a problem of weakness of leadership in the business sector itself,” he said.
Members of the business sector highlighted a number of challenges they were currently facing.
T-Sec economist Mike Schussler said there was an urgent need for skills in the city.
More people needed to pass matric and acquire specialised skills, he said.
Road infrastructure, transport and the cost of doing business in the provinces were also cited as challenges.
As the floor was opened to other members of the business sector it became clear that small and medium businesses were not receiving the support they required.
They complained of a lack of monitoring of policy put in place to assist them, and the dominance of big business conglomerates.
Mbeki said it was clear that communication needed to be improved and cited the importance of monitoring those polices which affect small businesses.
He concluded the two-hour interaction by saying: ”I trust that we will all say a bit of a prayer because we need to beat New Zealand.” – Sapa