Speech delivered in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature: State of the Province debate
Madam Speaker
The ANC is proud of its Premier. We were impressed with the State of the Province Address delivered by him on Monday. It was comprehensive, wide-ranging and candid. It provided an honest appraisal of the performance of the 5th ANC administration in our province; highlighting its successes and achievements and acknowledging its weaknesses. More significantly, the Premier signposted the direction that the ANC government will take over the next two years. There is clarity of purpose and clear programme of action.
The Premier spoke at length on the investments on public infrastructure projects made by the ANC government in this province; be it on broadband, roads and public transport, housing and other social amenities such as schools, hospitals and clinics. In the past three years, the total investment in public infrastructure by the Gauteng ANC government exceeded R30 billion. This is not small change. The economic impact of this investment has been vital in keeping the provincial economy going and in creating jobs for our people, particularly the youth. The KPMG Report on public infrastructure investment has found that the ANC government:
- Created 92 000 direct jobs through infrastructure spend;
- raised R15 billion to support household incomes;
- increased provincial revenue by R6 billion; and
- that its infrastructure spend resulted in additional economic activity worth R26 billion.
The ANC’s infrastructure spend has played a decisive role in empowering historically disadvantaged businesses. It has given lifeblood to township enterprises and sustained the livelihood of thousands of families in our communities. It has created jobs and put food on the table of families.
What is equally important is that this huge investment is made on the principles of clean governance, openness and transparency in procurement processes and more effective financial controls. The improved audit outcomes of Gauteng government departments and entities in the past financial year is a living testimony that public funds – our people’s money - is being used more prudently, more efficiently and in their service. Under Premier Makhura, our work on good governance is bearing fruit and our audit outcomes have consistently improved with all departments and entities getting unqualified audit reports; 60 percent of these were clean audits.
Over the next three years the Gauteng ANC government plans to spend a further R42 billion on public infrastructure. The focal points will be infrastructure projects related to roads and public transport, Broadband and e-government services, water and sanitation, mega human settlements and new industrial nodes.
Transport Infrastructure
Public investment in transport infrastructure is integral to the transformation of apartheid spatial form of the Gauteng city-region. Human settlements and transport are mutually interdependent in creating a viable and sustainable environment for our people. Public transport cannot be feasible without the required density from housing developments; whilst human settlements would not be accessible and viable without investment in transport infrastructure. Because of its catalytic nature as an economic stimulant, as well as its emphatic physical footprint, transport influences other investment decisions in manufacturing, trade, industry, commerce and retail.
Premier Makhura announced that the Gauteng ANC government has completed the Feasibility Study on the future expansion of the Gautrain rapid rail system. The Gautrain Management Agency has registered the project with National Treasury as a Public-Private-Partnership project. The Gautrain Phase 2 project is divided into five phases. The proposed alignment will have a link from Mamelodi in Tshwane to Jabulani in Soweto, crossing the N1 freeway at Samrand. Nineteen new Gautrain stations are being planned, including one linked to Lanseria Airport. This project has the capacity to create more than 211 000 direct jobs in our province. An estimated amount of R1.6 billion will be the potential spend on skills development, enterprise development and supplier development projects in the province.
The ANC government has an extensive road construction and rehabilitation programme aimed better mobility, social inclusion and economic growth. For the first time since 1994, the Gauteng ANC government will be constructing a new freeway, namely, the PWV15, to support the development of the Aerotropolis and the Tambo-Springs Inland Port. The PWV15 will not be tolled. It will reduce congestion at the Gillooly’s Interchange and link the N3 to the N12 and R21 road network. In addition, the ANC government will proceed with the construction of Phase 3 of the R82/Old Vereeniging Road; the dual carriageway on Dr Beyers Naude Drive will be extended to the N14 in support of the Spar Distribution Centre to be developed alongside the freeway; and the road networks linked to Waterfall City and River City Developments will commence in the new financial year.The Gauteng ANC government campaign against fraud and corruption, particularly at driver and vehicle testing centres across municipalities in the province, is firmly on track. After an extensive two-year investigation relating to financial irregularities at both municipal and provincial Motor Vehicle Registering Authorities (MVRA), a significant number of officials are facing disciplinary action and/or criminal charges. Today I can indicate that 19 staff members at the Temba, Mabopane and Kliptown DLTCs will be suspended and served with their disciplinary charge sheets.
Another investigation focusing on privately-owned vehicles testing stations is also complete and will result in further action against government officials and business owners, who are issuing vehicle roadworthy certificates for cars that were not even brought into the testing stations. Public servants and citizens in Gauteng should get the message that fraud and corruption does not pay; you will be caught out and action will be taken against the perpetrators who aim to corrode our democracy and corrupt the system.
Broadband Infrastructure
Madam Speaker, Premier Makhura emphasised that across the globe a new technological revolution is taking shape; a revolution, the scale, scope and complexity of which we are only starting to recognize. So significant is its impact on humankind that analysts are predicting it will fundamentally change the way we live and work. The breakthrough human society will make in the next ten years will cover every aspect of life from artificial intelligence to driverless vehicles on the land and in the sky. Business and government will not be immune from these changes and already we are seeing the power of disruptive innovations and the reshaping of production, transportation, marketing and consumption. In short, the global changes we are currently living through are nothing short of a Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The ANC government will use innovation, research and development emanating from the Fourth Industrial Revolution to promote a smart province. It, therefore, is investing heavily in ICT infrastructure and e-government services. ICT-enabled public service delivery offers an opportunity to improve efficiency and access to services; develops the transparency and accountability of government and empowers citizens to better participate in decision making processes.
This House must be reminded that the Gauteng ANC government was the first to establish a Department of e-Government. It is guided by the need to be at the forefront of developments in technology and innovation for three reasons:
- Firstly, to deliver optimal technological security, agility and efficiency in our daily operations;
- Secondly, to reduce the cost of operating a large state machinery and maximize the use of limited government resources, and
- Thirdly, to provide the necessary business intelligence to assist the administration to make evidence-based decisions to drive the GCR forward.
The ANC government’s rollout of the Gauteng Broadband Network is on track. Already, it has spent R1 billion on a 1500km fibre network linking almost 900 government buildings, schools, hospitals, clinics and Thusong centres covering the five developmental corridors within the Gauteng city-region. The ANC provincial government is not alone in rolling out broadband access in the city-region. Prior to last year’s local government elections, the ANC-led metropolitan municipalities had rolled out 2252 kms of fibre network in order to connect various government buildings. To bridge the digital divide and to ensure that ordinary citizens that cannot afford private connectivity have access to the internet, the three metros had connected 1550 public Wi-Fi hotspots; 400 in Johannesburg; 450 in Ekurhuleni and 700 in Tshwane. In view of the unfolding Fourth Industrial Revolution, only downright political fools will shut down the free wi-fi hotspots in our cities and deny our people the benefits of modern-day technology.
At a more practical level, the Gauteng ANC government has connected the Ga-Rankuwa eKasi Lab; the Soweto eKasi Lab; the Mohlakeng Enterprise hub; the Alex ICT Centre; the Winterveld Enterprise Hub; the Innovation Hub; and the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct with the explicit purpose of supporting the growth of townships. The Gauteng ANC government’s approach is threefold: firstly to invest in building skills linked to science, technology and design so that we enable citizens to be tech-savvy and to work with ever-smarter machines. Secondly, it wants to close the gap between the affluent and the poor in our least developed townships as it understands that innovation and new technologies are a resource for combatting poverty and achieving equity. And thirdly, we want to incubate entrepreneurs, particularly in the digital economy in townships. In these endeavours our partners include the Innovation Hub, the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering at Wits University, Harambee and Sci-Bono, all of which are helping to build Gauteng’s ICT skills base and helping to create opportunities.
What is important about these developments is that it brings the technological benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution at the very doorstep of residents in our townships and helps to narrow the gap between rich and poor in society. Similarly, road and transport infrastructure and the new housing development projects are being designed to promote densification, transit-oriented development, ease of mobility and integration of communities across the lines of colour and class. They are about creating jobs, promoting economic growth, reducing inequality in society and improving the quality of life of ordinary people.
The Gauteng ANC government is on track in achieving these broader societal goals. This is borne out by the most recent survey looking at the performance of national and provincial governments. Our Premier remains among the more popular in the eyes of the people; more people believe that the Gauteng ANC government is doing well or fairly well in managing public affairs in this province; and more people are confident of their future in this province. So for those opposition political parties in Gauteng that think they can capture power in the next general elections, think again. Gauteng is not up for political grabs. In the Gauteng ANC and in this provincial government led by the ANC, you have a formidable force with which to contend.
Madam Speaker, as I look in the eyes of members in the opposition benches, I already can see the signs of desperate losers. They don’t talk of capturing state power in 2019; instead they flimflam about forming coalitions to ‘Keep the ANC Out’. 2019, bring it on, the Gauteng ANC is ready!
