2011 a year of job creation, says Gauteng premier

Part of the aim is to produce a ”liveable, equitable, accessible, sustainable, prosperous and competitive” Gauteng.

Instrumental to the vision are infrastructure, spatial development, housing, global competitiveness, management of natural resources, renewable energy sources, links and entrenchment in the African continent.

”Vision 2055 will also assist us in identifying the character of the ideal Gauteng resident that we aspire,” said Mokonyane.

Jobs
Within Vision 2055, Mokonyane focused on traditional features of annual national and provincial addresses.

”We are on course in implementing the Gauteng Employment Growth and Development Strategy, through which we will contribute to job creation,” she said.

Mokonyane acknowledged the contribution of farmers towards food security, offering financial help to that sector. ”Technical and advisory support has been given to 131 farmers to help them become viable entrepreneurs.”

She said the provincial government had given materials and equipment to help develop 977 gardens in the province.

More than 51 000 jobs had been created in the current financial year in the housing sector alone, while about 1 500 municipal officials have been trained in scarce skills.

She said the provincial government employs more than 180 000 people.

The global and domestic recession had been a challenge in the quest to create more jobs.

”In improving the efficiency of the economy and capacity to create jobs, we will pay attention to the freight logistics sector.

”We will emphasise the implementation of our industrial policy, including in the sectors of metals and minerals beneficiation; clothing and textiles; leather and footwear; tooling and foundries; business process outsourcing; transport; capital equipment; tourism; the green economy and alternative energy,” said Mokonyane.

”Our new infrastructure programme will create at least 130 000 jobs this year through the construction and maintenance of education and health infrastructure.

”Through the Expanded Public Works Programme, we will create over 175 000 work opportunities of 100 days each, as well as over 88 000 full-time equivalents, targeting one individual per poor household.

”The Community Works Programme will generate at least 6 000 jobs on six sites … with 40% of the jobs reserved for young people,” she said.

The Youth Employability Programme is set to target more than 2 000 post-matric learners.

The National Youth Service will provide 4 000 young people with useful skills to enter the workplace.

”The Accelerated Artisan Training Programme will be expanded to accommodate 500 artisans and we will train 100 young people in the tooling industry,” she said.

The ability of women to access jobs was also set as a priority. ”By the end of the current financial year, over 34 000 women will have benefited form the Expended Public Works Programme. In addition, over 200 women’s cooperatives continue to benefit from job opportunities in the agricultural sector, the production and supply of linen as well as supply of school uniforms.”

More than 5 000 jobs were expected to be created by the roads construction and maintenance programme.

Two-hundred jobs are to be created through the development of ”the Driver Licence Training Centre in Kliptown, as well as the construction of taxi ranks in Bophelong and Zandspruit”.

The Comprehensive Agriculture Support Programme is expected to produce 1 880 direct and indirect jobs.

Through marketing Gauteng as a tourist destination, an estimated 15 000 jobs will be created.

In the housing sector, 15 000 jobs are expected in the next financial year.

”We will continue to tap the job-creation potential of the creative industries with a focus on craft, music, performing arts, visual arts, fashion and film.

”We will identify untapped talent in partnership with local radio stations, individual artists and cultural organisations so as to develop and promote local music — especially Kwaito, Jazz, Hip Hop and House. Emerging artists will be supported with access to professional development, facilities and markets,” said Mokonyane.

Heritage
Mokonyane highlighted the importance of preserving national symbols.

”It is through such selflessness of those who came before us that as the current generation of leaders and people, we embrace and defend our hard-won freedom, including our national symbols representing our unity and diversity.

”Any self-respecting nation will hold its national symbols in high esteem; and ours cannot be an exception to this universal norm.

”The time is now for all of us to show unfettered patriotism by educating ourselves and those who are out to make profit and market themselves that we should show respect, pride and love for our national symbols,” said the premier.

She said that Gauteng was committed to establishing a desk in government that will make matters of veterans of the struggle its main focus.

Furthermore, Mokonyane said, ”We will put in place a Heritage Legislative Framework that will guide the protection, preservation and promotion of heritage in the province.

”We will also develop a monument to celebrate the life of OR Tambo in partnership with the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.

”A Women’s Monument in Tshwane will be developed in conjunction with the national department of arts and culture.”

Sport
The success of the Soccer World Cup has seen the provincial government hosting more sporting events. Added to last year’s sporting successes was the 2010 Confederation of African Football Women’s Championship.

”Gauteng broke new grounds by hosting the first rugby game held in Soweto at Orlando Stadium. Our people, both black and white, were united in support of the championship,” said Mokonyane.

She said recently the province also hosted the South African Open Tennis Championship and it had committed to host the finals of the Vodacom Challenge rugby tournament in July.

Education
Though acknowledging that the 2010 public-sector strike had an effect on matric results, Mokonyane said: ”The class of 2010 was able to make us proud.

”For the first time in the history of Gauteng, we are proud to occupy the number one spot in the matric results in the country,” which rose from 71,8% in 2009 to 78,6% in 2010.

The provincial government highlighted early childhood development, a focus on grade 10 to 12 learners, school nutrition programmes at no-fee paying secondary schools, and school health services.

”The education of the African child must be everybody’s business and concern,” she said.

The local government intends building 13 new schools to be delivered in the 2012/13 financial year, and a total of 30 schools will be renovated.

”The provision of quality education does not only refer to producing young individuals who can read, write and think on their feet; it also encapsulates the development of our scholars’ physical well-being.

”With effect from the next financial year, Wednesday afternoons will be sports days in all public schools,” said Mokonyane.

Alcohol
”Through the department of economic development we will ensure that the Liquor Act is more effectively enforced to prevent liquor trading within a 500m radius of schools and prevent under-age access to alcohol.

”We will also review the opening of liquor outlets on Sundays and the operating hours of liquor outlets and shebeens across the province,” said Mokonyane.

Crime and policing
The premier recognised the effect of visible policing in Gauteng.

”We have strengthened the partnership in crime prevention and have begun to build on the legacy of the World Cup where the criminal justice system was swift and effective.

”The efficacy of our social crime-prevention programme will be measured by the extent to which we reach out to communities and conduct community-based safety campaigns,” she said.

On top of the 13 Green Door sites established in 2010/11 as safe receptions for victims of domestic violence and abuse, an additional 19 sites will be added this year.

Other programmes for crime prevention will also receive priority this year. These include the Men As Safety Promoters programme, the Take Charge Campaign, Community Safety Forum as well as the implementation of the Rural Safety Plan.

Health
Improvement in public health was also on the agenda. Mokonyane thanked the public community and private sector for their assistance during the public-sector strike in 2010.

As part of the improvements, 21 community health centres now provide 24-hour service, and queue marshals have been appointed to deal with chronic and old-age patients visiting health centres.

”The availability of essential medicines has improved, with dedicated vehicles to assist with emergency medication deliveries to the health institutions.

Also highlighted as priority were maternal and infant mortality, vaccination as a key in reducing infant and child mortality, the improvement of neo-natal wards as well as adding staff and beds in neo-natal ICUs.

She said this year the provincial government would focus on strengthening primary healthcare and improving hospital management.

Mokonyane said: ”We … need to re-engineer our primary health system and take better quality primary health services closer to where people live.

”One of our most important interventions will be the establishment of a network of localised Health Service Posts providing community-based outreach and door-to-door services.”

The first phase of these will focus on the 50 poorest wards in 20 priority townships.

”Increasing numbers of people in our society have adopted unhealthy lifestyles leading to high incidents of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and numerous other health problems, which place an undue burden on the health system. We cannot just keep treating these problems but should be focusing on preventing ill health especially that which is self-inflicted,” she said.

HIV/Aids and TB
HIV/Aids and TB were also set as priorities. ”By the end of 2010 we were providing over 357 000 people with antiretroviral treatment against our target of 400 000 by the end of the financial year,” said the premier.

There has been a reduction in children born with HIV due to the introduction of ”multi-dose therapy to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV”.

The premier said more than a million people in the province have tested for HIV.

”Access to antiretroviral treatment has been extended to 206 public health facilities across Gauteng. In the coming year we plan to extend this even further to 366 facilities, reaching 520 000 people.

”Good progress is being made in improving Gauteng’s tuberculosis (TB) cure rate, which stood at 80,7% by November 2010. We will in the coming year prioritise interventions to reduce TB even further,” said Mokonyane.

Housing and infrastructure
”Compared with other provinces, Gauteng has limited land available for the establishment of new human settlements. In this financial year, we have acquired 52 land parcels from the private sector at a cost of R220-million … A further 30 land parcels in Gauteng will be bought at a cost of R252-million for key human settlement projects,” said Mokonyane.

The premier said that the provincial government had delivered 665 000 housing units in Gauteng since 1994.

”Gauteng remains a leading province in the development of sustainable human settlements, albeit with minimal resources at our disposal and the high cost of land development in our province,” said Mokonyane.

More than R2-million had been invested for infrastructure development through the Alexandra Renewal Programme.

Ongoing projects included the rehabilitation of the banks of the Jukskei River and the recreation parks.

”A-state-of-the-art police station was built in partnership with Vodacom, as well as the Pan African Development Mall,” she said.

”As part of the Evaton Urban Renewal we are building new houses and upgrading old ones.

”The Mafatshane Thusong Service Centre has been completed.

”Work in Evaton will continue with the installation of solar-powered street lighting, the development of the commercial precinct, the eradication of the dehumanising bucket system and improved waste management services.”

A number of road infrastructure projects will be done in partnership with the private sector.

”We are proud to announce that the OR Tambo Industrial Development Zone [IDZ] has been approved … This development will generate diverse economic activities, which will include among others a jewellery precinct as part of mineral beneficiation.”

Mokonyane said, ”Vision 2055 … will develop a 25-year transport master plan that integrates different modes of transport in Gauteng, including the Gautrain.

”We believe this project will lend a lot of expertise, knowledge and experience to other major infrastructure projects, including the proposed speed train between Johannesburg and eThekwini.”

The premier said: ”Over the past few years, we successfully implemented the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Plan, which has drastically transformed the state of our highways in the province.”

Mokonyane criticised the new e-tolling system, rolled out by the South African National Roads Agency Limited and the national department of transport.

But she said the provincial government was not opposed to the idea of tolling as a cost recovery mechanism. ”We have observed with serious concern the announcement of the implementation of the tolling strategy which has been made in isolation from a comprehensive, viable, public transport plan and with a lack of consultation, in particular with the Gauteng provincial government.

”We are concerned at the manner it is to be implemented, including the pricing and its impact on the economy of our province,” she said.

She also said six housing projects accommodating informal settlements had been developed for different locations around the province.

”We have produced a Master Plan for Tembisa, which we will initiate this year. The plan includes housing development, road construction, storm water drainage, beautification and development of commercial and public precincts.”

Business and infrastructure
Township business programmes will be developed to ”support the informal business sector by creating automotive repair hubs, enterprise hubs with car washes, hair salons and internet cafes, as well as light industrial hubs focusing on metalwork, carpentry and others”, she said.

Mokonyane said other areas that would be developed for business included Krugersdorp, Vereeniging, and Germiston.

Energy and greening
”Efforts to ensure energy efficiency by rolling out solar geysers have seen Ekurhuleni installing 500 solar water heaters out of 1 000 units targeted for this financial year.

”The City of Tshwane, in partnership with Eskom, has also committed to install close to 16 000 units by the end of April 2011,” said the premier.

She said the province had a role to play in developing the green economy.

”We will in the next six months finalise our Green Economy Plan, which will promote light industries to manufacture green products and [promote] the waste sector, including buy-back centres for waste recycling.

”This is part of a larger programme aimed at ensuring that we reduce, reuse and recycle our waste as well as sorting waste at source.”

Mokonyane said there will be continued interaction with renewable energy experts on gas, solar power and biomass projects.

”We are working towards creating capacity for the big public hospitals to generate their own energy supply sourced from recycling of medical waste using new technology. This will help reduce reliance on coal to generate steam.”

Elections
To conclude, Mokonyane urged new voters and new Gauteng residents to use the opportunity to register on March 5 and 6. ”The right to vote is another way of holding your government accountable,” she said.