Nandi Mayathula-Khoza
When the significance of providing and maintaining public infrastructure and playing a vital role in terms of socioeconomic development was recognised in 2009, the Gauteng department of infrastructure development was formed.
In 2014, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza was deployed by the ANC as the department’s MEC after a track record of career successes in the public sector, including recognition by the African Farmer’s Association of South Africa for being the best MEC in supporting emerging and small holder famers, despite a very small budget. Her appointment could not have come at a more crucial time, with much criticism levelled at the department.
Mayathula-Khoza has had to address a history of misaligned budget spending against outstanding outputs, chronic understaffing by people with suitable skills and a lack of provision of value-for-money offerings within agreed standards and set delivery time frames to the education, health and agriculture sectors.
Presenting at a dinner in Sandton on Friday last week, the MEC said: “Transformation of infrastructure will happen through innovation and partnerships, and key milestones have already been achieved. This department must not be seen as a department of tenders and there will also be zero tolerance for corruption.
“We are proud of our contribution to the local economic development of our people and the department continues to play a critical role in planning, designing, constructing, maintaining and managing infrastructure resources in Gauteng, from hospitals to churches, boarding facilities and heritage sites.”
Mayathula-Khoza outlined some procurement milestones, with 82% of procurement spent on black-owned companies, 37% spent on youth-owned companies, 31% on black women-owned companies and 20 co-operatives provided with technical and other non-financial support.
Youth development
“We are very busy with the expanded public works programme (EPWP) and have already created 51?190 work opportunities in Gauteng province government departments and another 74?664 in municipal projects. This is a very important avenue of labour absorption and income translation to poor households in the short- to medium-term.”
She also said the department is committed to paying service providers within 30 days.
An MEC with specific interest in the development of the youth, Mayathula-Khoza’s pride was tangible when she mentioned that since the launch in December 2014 of the Gauteng Tshepo 500 000 employment creation and entrepreneurship development programme — 9 169 participants have already registered, with 1 265 participants placed and 155 participants trained. (Tshepo 500 000 aims to train, skill and mentor 500 000 young people over the next five years).
“We have also piloted the first ‘smart school’ in the eastern development corridor, where learners are using tablets and the educators are equipped with laptops, with provision for other audio visual learning methods,” she said. “We now have nine beautiful new schools and have carried out 23 school restorative repairs.”
Combining education with innovation, Mayathula-Khoza outlined five projects that have evolved from the department’s Knowledge and Innovation Hub. They have been developed and manufactured by local, young entrepreneurs, and three of the projects are particularly eco-friendly.
Mayathula-Khoza also said that the department is now “operationalised to deliver on the Gauteng goal of transformation, modernisation and reindustrialisation”. She described an accelerated programme of radical economic, decisive spatial and accelerated social transformation of the state and governance. In addition, she raised modernisation of the public service, public transport infrastructure, economy, human settlements and urban development and re-industrialisation of Gauteng province, and taking the lead in Africa’s new industrial revolution.
Township economies
“It is not about hand-outs, but a hand up,” she stressed. “Intervention to give hope, sustainable jobs and entrepreneurial skills to the youth, women, people with disabillities and military veterans.
“We must recognise the importance of SMMEs and township economy revitalisation and embrace and support those making cakes, bread, mattresses and more in the townships. For example, in Tembisa we now have a company producing LED lights which wilwl be used to replace lighting in government departments towards improved energy efficiency.”
Hand-in-hand with the department’s modernisation programme is its green agenda and the MEC said the department is working on such aspects as changing the boilers in public hospitals to natural gas and installing solar panels in government-owned buildings.
“Gauteng is striving towards an integrated city-region, characterised by social cohesion and economic inclusion. A leading economy on the continent underpinned by smart and green industrial and socioeconomic development.”
Entrepreneurial needs
With a maturity far beyond his 20 years, the first guest speaker, Moneytree Group’s director of operations and strategy, Tokologo Phetla, stated his intention to add practical value to infrastructure development, aligned to the transformation agenda to enable an environment that encourages entrepreneurship and equality.
Phetla and his partners have been working on a specific mobile application that will use intelligence through consumer buying patterns and feedback on service to drive more clients towards entrepreneurs who tick all the boxes — from BEE compliance, competitive pricing, customer attitude to after-sales support.
“There are five things an entrepreneur requires access to,” explained Phetla. “These are transport, the telephone and internet, financing, mentorship and a client base.
“The taxi industry goes places where buses don’t go and citizens are not always comfortable using buses, but this industry needs to professionalise.
“We also need to be practical in the way we position entrepreneurship incubation centres so that they provide access to the other four elements. However, many entrepreneurs fail because of the fifth aspect and that is access to clients, which is a must-have.
“There is nothing special about working hard. Everyone works hard. The only thing that matters is what we are working towards,” he said.
Financing development
The second guest speaker, Old Mutual Group’s head of stakeholder relations, Sbusiso Kumalo, underlined how far removed from simply providing insurance services the group is.
“The investment Old Mutual has made in such arenas as renewable energy and education is substantial,” said Kumalo. “It is fascinating for me to be in this business and to see and be involved in so many great opportunities that exist in this country.
“The subject of finance comes up time and time again. I believe many people put a lot of effort into products and projects, but [these often] fall short in terms of their feasibility.”
Kumalo mentioned Masisizane as an option to explore for finance. This non-profit organisation set up by Old Mutual provides financial support to community development initiatives in South Africa, with funding already granted to over 1?000 diverse development projects.
“The over-riding criterion is viability, and that will determine whether the finance seeker may benefit from a loan or a grant,” stressed Kumalo.