31 May 2006
The Gauteng Executive Council held its regular meeting today to discuss and
take decisions on a range of issues of importance to the province.
1. Gauteng Youth Commission
The Executive Council endorsed the names of the members of a new statutory
body, the Gauteng Youth Commission (GYC), which was established in line with
the Gauteng Youth Commission Act following an earlier commitment made by the
Premier.
The Gauteng Youth Commission replaces the previous Gauteng Commission on
Youth Development, an advisory body. The decision to establish a statutory body
arose from a review of the work of the Gauteng Youth Development Commission.
The new GYC will be responsible for engaging the public on GPG youth
development policies as well as soliciting the views of young people in the
further development of the provincial governmentâs youth development
strategy.
The process of determining the GYC members involved the placement of
advertisements in the media. Applicants were then interviewed by the Gauteng
Legislatureâs Committee on Gender, Youth and Disability. A shortlist arising
from this process was presented to the Premier, who reached a final
determination on the new GYC members.
MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Barbara Creecy will announce
the names of the new Gauteng Youth Commissioners at a media briefing at 10h00
on Sunday 4 June.
2. Progress on provincial commitments
Discussions were held on progress on commitments made by the Premier in his
state of the province address in February 2006. The reports on progress will be
published on the GPG portal as a measure of accountability to the legislature
and the people of Gauteng on the provincial governmentâs work in fulfilling its
commitments. The information on progress to the end of May 2006 will be
available on the GPG portal (www.gautengonline.gov.za) on Tuesday 6 June
2006.
3. Executive Council retreat
The decisions of the Executive Council retreat held in April 2006 and
attended by the Premier, MECs, executive mayors, municipal managers and Gauteng
Provincial Government (GPG) heads of Departments were ratified. The April
retreat kick-started planning for the period to 2010. It reviewed progress in
the implementation of the GPGâs five-year strategic programme for 2004 to 2009
and the commitments made by the Premier for 2006/7 in his state of the province
address. Priorities were identified which will determine key policy and
programme interventions at provincial and local government levels. These will
be reflected in the provincial governmentâs strategic plans for the three
financial years, 2007/8 to 2009/10, as well as in local government five year
programmes for the period 2006 to 2011.
Priority areas identified included stimulating economic growth, promoting
social and economic inclusion and enhancing the capacity of the state.
4. Gauteng global city region
The Executive Council gave its final stamp of approval for the perspective
on building Gauteng as a globally competitive city region. The initiative has
been under development for some time and is being championed by both the
provinceâs mayors and provincial government leaders. The perspective takes into
account Gautengâs unique economic geography with rapid urbanisation and
densification and high levels of flows of people, goods, services and capital
between the different parts of the province. It argues for an integrated,
seamless approach to development in order to maximise the performance of the
Gauteng economy and enable the province to address growing infrastructure and
social delivery needs.
The Executive Council agreed to embark on a programme of engagement,
together with Gauteng mayors, to further discuss the global city region
initiative with a range of stakeholders prior to its launch in August 2006.
5. Financial support for the UCLGA
The Executive agreed that the provincial government, following consultation
with national government, would make a financial contribution towards the
start-up and consolidation costs of the United Cities and Local Government of
Africa (UCLGA) as a contribution to strengthening good governance and democracy
in Africa.
The UCLGA was launched in Tshwane on 15 May 2005 and elected former Tshwane
Executive Mayor Smangaliso Mkhatshwa as its president. The organisation houses
African local government councillors, mayors, associations and other
stakeholders in a collaborative effort to promote a system of democratic local
government across the continent in order to improve Africansâ quality of
life.
6. GSSC payment systems
The Executive received a report that an investigation was underway into
unauthorised attempts to gain access to the GPG information technology system.
It noted that this may have an impact on the payment of service providers
through the Gauteng Shared Services Centre and asked that members of the public
bear with us and be patient as efforts are made to address the problem by 2
June 2006.
Enquiries:
Annette Griessel
Tel: (011) 355 6859
Cell: 082 563 3614
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
31 May 2006
