L Brown: State of the Province Address

13 February 2009

Honourable Speaker
Cabinet colleagues
Leader of the Opposition
Judge President and members of the Judiciary
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Leaders of political parties
Leaders of the African National Congress
Honourable Members
Leaders of local government
Leaders of our social partners
Director-General and Heads of Department
Religious leaders
Community leaders
Comrades and friends
People of the Western Cape

This speech does not contain extravagant promises. Nor does it suggest
miracle cures for the difficult challenges we continue to face. What it does
contain is a pragmatic assessment of five years of progress as a province and a
people; a report-back on our commitment to good governance; and a vision of a
society with the capacity to embrace its diversity, to harness its collective
energy for common good.

This speech asks: What kind of world did you dream of when we celebrated the
birth of our nation's freedom 15 years ago? To what extent have we succeeded in
creating the just and integrated society that Archbishop Desmond Tutu called
the Rainbow Nation?

Honourable Speaker, it is entirely fitting for us to reflect on the progress
we have made. We are proud of the number of houses we have built; the new
schools and clinics; the water, electricity and sewerage connections; the
nutrition programmes and the welfare net we have knitted.

But our pride does not blind us to the reality of the lives of our people.
Our pride cannot blind us to the sprawling shack lands, or the fact that many
of our children require nutrition programmes to avoid malnourishment that
babies born in the City of Cape Town die of diarrhoea.

Yes, our unemployment figure is the lowest in the country. But that fact is
cold comfort to those without jobs, those without skills, those without hope.
We pride ourselves on the scenic splendour of our region, our biodiversity and
the tourist numbers we attract. Who would not be proud of our wine industry,
our sports prowess, our economic development, and our educational
institutions?

But our pride cannot mask the fact that there is much more to be done – that
we cannot work in silos and that together we can do more. This is not political
rhetoric, but a practical necessity. The City of Cape Town is not an island;
nor is the Western Cape.

Take the taxi unrest that unfolded in Cape Town this week. We could have
played politics and referred the problem to the City. But we realised that the
province, not the City, had the capacity to bring all the differences of
opinion together. We took the lead in arranging mediation. We invited the City
to join these talks, so that we could reach sustainable solutions,
together.

Indeed, this co-operative approach to governance has been a key pillar of
all Western Cape Provincial Government operations since I was sworn in as
Premier more than six months ago.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me give you some background.

In September last year, my team of MECs and I met to plot a new way forward.
We emerged from our meeting with renewed vigour and a four-pronged plan. We
said it made sense to exchange views and share ideas with other levels of
government (local and national), and with people and organisations outside
government. Engaging in social dialogue was the first leg of our plan.

We said we must intensify the war on poverty, because the gap between rich
and poor was unsustainably high – this was the second leg of the plan. We said
that our people were justifiably upset about the high levels of crime.
Intensifying the war on crime became the third leg of the plan – and the
results of our efforts to create a safer Summer Season are there for all to
see.

Finally, we agreed on the need to hasten the process of broad-based black
economic empowerment, to find ways to extend the benefits of economic
opportunities to more of our people. Many people will point out that the "devil
is in the detail."

And they would be quite right, of course. Others will yawn and say: "They've
promised all this before." We understand the scepticism. But we're quite
prepared that we should be judged on what we we've achieved.

Good governance

Honourable Speaker, this government has not paid lip service to good
governance. More than anything, what the people expect of their elected
leadership is honesty and integrity. We have not been afraid to remedy those
problems that were negatively affecting our capacity to govern effectively.

One of the first steps we took was to stop the Somerset Hospital Development
Precinct proposal, deciding instead to start a completely new and transparent
tender process. We believe we made the right decision. The original process was
mired in controversy. The value of the land to the citizens of the Western Cape
was too high to allow the development to proceed on those terms.

We've also had to deal with another difficult issue the Erasmus Commission
that was initiated to investigate allegations of illegal political activities
in the City of Cape Town. In October last year, I ordered an investigation into
the circumstances surrounding the appointment of that commission, and its
consequences. The investigation has been completed and I've been presented with
a report. I am presently considering it. Decisions on the findings in the
report and government's response to these will be made known in due course.

Speaker, this government believes the best people to articulate the
aspirations of the youth are the youth, themselves. But when issues relating to
governance of the Western Cape Youth Commission came to light, we were duty
bound to step in and investigate.

Also, towards the end of last year, after considering representations from a
range of interested parties, I stopped a tender process that would have seen
the Sea Point Pavilion being redeveloped. And then there is Chapman's Peak the
source of controversy among the people of the region since its development at
the staggering cost of 40 000 pounds about 90 years ago.

Over the past few weeks, much has been written and said about the general
management of this spectacular mountain route, as well as the public-private
partnership between the government and Entilini Concession (Pty) Ltd.

Yesterday, we announced the composition of a high-level team to investigate
all matters (and I stress the word "all") pertaining to the long-term future of
Chapman's Peak Drive.

Some of these issues have caused us great pain. But I would like to assure
the people of this province that this government will do the right thing.

If, at the conclusion of any of the investigations that are currently being
carried out, we are required to take strong action we will not hesitate to do
so.

Our achievements

Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, this administration is proud of what it has
achieved in a very short time.

I would like to begin with the new liquor legislation that was signed into
law in December last year. In our view, this piece of legislation, properly
managed, will revolutionise our communities. We are convinced that the vast
majority of our people agree with us – that laws relating to the sale of
alcohol from illegal outlets are long overdue.

When police started cracking down on illegal outlets, we expected a
cacophony of protests and threats from the owners of shebeens and taverns. We
weren't wrong. But we will not back down.

There is evidence that some of the worst crimes originate in the abuse of
alcohol. Many women and children are the targets of savage attacks by drunken
louts. Teenage binge drinkers undermine their school careers and life
prospects. A disturbing number of parents spend far too great a portion of
their weekly wages at shebeens, while their children go hungry. And the number
of babies born with foetal alcohol syndrome is cause for grave concern.

We have faced the protesters, listened to their arguments, noted their
issues and shared their concerns relating to shebeen employees losing their
jobs. The matter of alternative employment opportunities is presently being
addressed.

Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, the Western Cape's 400 000 unit housing
shortage is a cause for concern to us all. But the massive backlog should not
mask the fact that the Government of South Africa has built and given away more
free houses than any other country on this earth, including China and
India.

We are mindful that we will always have to find ways to work smarter,
quicker and more economically without forsaking quality. We are doing just that
on the N2 Gateway.

The Western Cape was indeed fortunate to be able to host the N2 Gateway
Pilot Project, a pioneering project to build integrated human settlements with
improved housing options to the people. No longer does our housing policy say:
One size fits all. We now build homes for different sized families, and
families of different subsistence means.

In Delft, Auntie Katie Hoffman became the country's first recipient of a new
specification, two bed-roomed Breaking New Ground Home in June 2007. In Delft,
we are presently busy with the biggest single site housing development in South
Africa – delivering homes, schools, food gardens, economic opportunities,
access to public transport and jobs.

We have come up with an innovation known as the Vulnerability Index. Our
housing experts have drawn up a database of areas within informal settlements
that are particularly prone to fires or floods or, in many cases, both.

Our intentions initially have been to give priority to moving people living
in these areas to new houses. We believe it is a great idea, but we are also
very mindful of the need to refine it over the next few months.

People catch onto government's intentions quite quickly – and we've come
across instances where some families have deliberately built their houses on,
say, a flood plain in the hope of jumping the housing queue.

In addition to this, our Department of Local Government and Housing has
formulated plans to build 20 000 houses on land that it currently owns. Kuils
River, Blue Downs, Eerste River, Kensington, Grassy Park and Woodstock among
other areas have been earmarked for medium to high-density settlements, which
will also include social and commercial facilities.

Many people who lived through the 1970s and 1980s have painful memories of
riot police, with quirts, teargas and shotguns in hand, quelling anti-apartheid
protests with brutality.

I'm pleased to report today that we've found a new role for many of the
veterans of those turbulent times who are still employed by the SA Police
Services. They are currently being trained in the much more charming area of
crowd control for the Cape Town arm of FIFA's 2010 football World Cup
extravaganza. I mention this development because it is yet another reminder of
how much we've changed as a province and as a country since the advent of
democracy in 1994.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're moving ever closer to the start of the world's
greatest sporting extravaganza – the 2010 version of the FIFA World Cup. Today,
I would like to give the assurance that the Western Cape is on track.
Infrastructure is being improved and roads are being built.

An intricate, beautifully designed roof of the stadium at Green Point is now
being placed with absolute precision. Our stadium, which will host eight
matches during the tournament, including a quarterfinal and a semi-final, will
be completed by the end of October this year.

We're busy upgrading the Philippi Stadium at a cost of R54-million as a
"venue-specific" training site, in other words, as a practice venue for teams
that will participate in the World Cup. When it's all over, we want the youth
of the Cape Flats to enjoy the legacy of the World Cup, so we're looking for
partners to whom the stadium can be leased.

The final draw on 4 December this year at the Cape Town International
Convention Centre is expected to attract a worldwide TV viewership of
700-million people. Such global coverage, as well as small and medium business
opportunities, will prove a useful ally in our efforts to weather the financial
turbulence in an uncertain world.

Speaking of financial turbulence, I would now like to turn to our provincial
economy – and the vexing question of whether we will be dragged into a deep
recession by the economic meltdown in other parts of the world. The consensus
is that our economy won't be bludgeoned to the same extent as economies in the
USA, the UK, Japan, France, Germany and many other countries.

But we will not escape unscathed. The Western Cape will shed jobs and its
economic growth will drastically be curtailed. We would like to assure the
people of the province that this government would not sit on its hands – and
watch as events unfold. Together with the Congress of SA Trade Unions, we have
already formulated a plan that we will implement should our economy drift into
recession.

We intend to save as many jobs as we can.

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe there is a lot about which we and the people
of this province should feel good about.

New activists

Speaker, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, on your arrival here
this morning you would have been struck by the prominence of a single word that
greeted you: Activist.

I hope you took up the offer of wearing one of the t-shirts on which the
word appears. But beware, it comes with some responsibility. My call is for a
new spirit of activism to permeate our society an activism that says: I will
work with government and the people to create a better world.

If we agree there remains much to be done, the obvious question is how do we
do it? I think one of the mistakes we have made as government, over the years
is to keep calling on the people to work with us, without necessarily creating
easy and accessible platforms.

Yes, important Public Private Partnerships have been forged. Companies have
developed social responsibility programmes. And we have a vibrant non-profit
organisation sector in our province. But I suspect there are a whole lot of
civic-minded individuals out there who would work with us if we made it simple
for them to do so.

The reason that the people in mid-western towns of America come together to
construct barns when they are needed is because the people are organised and
accustomed to working together. I have no doubt that our people would help us
build barns in the Western Cape, if we asked them to and were organised.

It is to this community spirit that I appeal today in my call for a Western
Cape of activists. Let us identify worthy projects in our communities, across
government departments, and fast track their implementation with the
people.

The Housing Department has already experimented with so-called community
builds; our national Minister of Housing is on record saying where communities
are willing to help build their own homes government will organise expertise
and materials to enable it.

The Public Works Department maintains our schools and clinics. Where
communities are willing to assist in the upkeep of their facilities, this
assistance should be harnessed and enabled. The same applies to landscaping, to
planting of trees and grass and food gardens. There is so much we could do if
we worked together.

Let us start today!

Instead of inviting you all to a gala dinner tonight, and instead of
spending money on pageantry for this Opening of the Provincial Legislature, I
am going to invite you to work with us on an activist project.

Provincial departments have been challenged to come up with meaningful
projects that are already in the pipeline, that we can fast track them
together.

Certainly, as I stand here before you, I can see (in my mind's eye) the
faces of dozens of potential activists. For instance, I know that there are
thousands of boys and girls throughout the Western Cape, who would be thrilled
beyond words, were they to be given a motivational talk and perhaps even a few
minutes of impromptu coaching by some of the Stormers rugby players.

As patron of the Western Province Rugby Union, I want to direct a sincere
appeal to our stars: "Get involved, more often. Become activists."

Frankly, I would rather have Luke Watson acting as a real, live,
"standing-right-next-to-you" role model for a promising young flanker from
Manenberg or Gugulethu than vomiting on his Springbok jersey.

I know that players such as Jean de Villiers, Gcobani Bobo, Schalk Burger
and Conrad Jantjies have the profiles to do the world of good in our townships.
Far too many boys and girls from poor communities turn to drugs and gangsterism
as vehicles to escape horrendous home life. Others have had their lives turned
around and here former Springbok wing Ashwin Willemse comes to mind.

This is what I would like to see happen in our communities someone who got
the breaks and is sitting somewhere near the top offering a helping hand or
even a kick up the backside to a fellow citizen in need of rescuing. JP Duminy
and Graeme Smith: You have made us so proud. Andre Petim, Brett Evans: Walk
with us.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are also other types of activism initiated by
government that have worked very well. I'm speaking about the service delivery
jamborees that we started rolling out about two years ago.

These are a one-stop-shop type of operation, where citizens access a range
of services made available by government close to where they live. Citizens
gather in a central space, where they are able to have blood pressure and
cholesterol checks, apply for identity documents or passports, access
information on bursaries or starting a business, certify documents and apply
for grants and pensions.

At last count, 16 Western Cape couples have used the services of Home
Affairs at these jamborees to get married. The jamboree project is aimed at
expanding access to services and is underpinned by the principles of Batho
Pele: We care. We serve. We belong.

Over the past two years, 98 231 citizens have accessed services at 31
service delivery jamborees. Nineteen more will be held at various locations
over the next few weeks. Still on the subject of activism, the Cape Access
Project brings together a dedicated team of public servants with e-Community
Forums, comprising community members.

The project consists of 13 information and communications technology (ICT)
centres in places such as Elim, George, Oudtshoorn, Vanrhynsdorp and
Genadendal. These centres provide residents access to government information
and are places where people get to know more about government tenders and
bursary and training opportunities, among other things.

Protecting our legacy of 1994

As we close in on the 15th anniversary of democracy, it is opportune to
recall the words of Nelson Mandela in his first State of the Nation
address.

He said: "Our single most important challenge was to help establish a social
order in which the freedom of the individual will truly mean the freedom of the
individual.

"Our definition of the freedom of the individual must be instructed by the
fundamental objective to restore the human dignity of every South African.

"This requires that we speak not only of political freedoms.

"My government's commitment to create a people-centred society of liberty
binds us to the pursuit of the goals of freedom from want, freedom from hunger,
freedom from deprivation, freedom from ignorance, freedom from suppression and
freedom from fear."

Honourable Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, we still have work to do.

Yes, we are widely regarded as one of the world's top tourism destinations.
Yes, over the past five years, our provincial economy has consistently
outperformed the national average.

Yes, our Grade 12 learners achieved a pass rate of 78,6 percent in 2008, the
highest in the country and all our schools offering Grades 10 to 12 have
computer laboratories. Yes, we have the lowest unemployment rate in the country
19,7 percent (as of September 2008), compared with the national average of 23,2
percent.

Yes, under the capable leadership of former Premier Ebrahim Rasool, we
pioneered the rollout of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment and the introduction
of the highly active ARVs from 2004. Consequently, in 2007/08, an estimated 62
percent of those who required ARVs were already receiving the treatment.

These are admirable achievements, but still some way off from where we
really want to be. What these figures tell us is that we have laid a strong
foundation on which to continue building.

We cannot and will not allow the rewards of democracy to pass our people by.
It is imperative that we continue working to create hope and opportunities for
those who currently have little or none. Our message to those who have been
pushed to the fringes of our society are: "For the sake of your children and
their children do not give up now."

Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, this government is a strong supporter of
partnerships – between different levels of government between government and
business between government and communities and between government and
individuals.

Many of my colleagues have (like me) lived in townships. We know what it's
like to be on a housing waiting list. We know what it's like to live in
overcrowded conditions. We've witnessed the effects of poverty and unemployment
on family life. And we know what it's like to agonise over the future of sons
or daughters in areas ravaged by the activities of gangsters and the ready
availability of drugs such as tik, heroin and cocaine.

We can identify with young families who, day after day, cling to the hope
that, perhaps, tomorrow they will be able to move from their backyard structure
or their shack in an informal settlement to a house they can call their
own.

The possibility of owning a home, having a job or simply living a "normal"
life sits at the heart of the existence of tens of thousands of residents of
the Western Cape. It is our job to bring these possibilities that they yearn
for closer to reality.

Building partnerships

One of the vehicles that we've devised and implemented to foster growth is
the Social Transformation Programme (STP), an intervention rooted in our
Provincial Growth and Development Strategy.

Key to the success of the programme is the concept of a "partnership"
between government and representatives of the vulnerable communities. The STP
seeks to address poverty, social ills and the marginalisation of 27 of our most
vulnerable communities by helping them to organise themselves. We believe that
communities themselves must play a leading role in determining the type of
service delivery they get and how this is implemented. Reports from our
monitoring and evaluation experts indicate that interaction between government
and poor communities is already beginning to pay dividends.

Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to stress here today that the
ideal of this government is to go beyond the act of just supplying a family
with a house or a grant. We want to change the mindset of communities under
threat.

We know that this may be asking a lot, but we want parents and their
children to help break the spiral of poverty that has crushed the spirits of so
many families. What we can least afford as a province is to see, over a period
of many years, generations of the same family mother, father, son or daughter,
grandson or granddaughter joining a housing waiting list.

We want to say to heads of households in our poorest communities (and we
know that the majority of these are single-parent mothers): Make sure that your
children go to school. Encourage them to study hard. Encourage them to dream
big. And then help them to turn these dreams into reality, even if the only
help that you can provide is a reassuring hug or the offer of a shoulder on
which to cry.

Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, like all developing countries, South Africa –
including the region of the Western Cape province has an abundance of unskilled
workers, and an acute shortage of skilled workers. In order to grow, in order
to create jobs, in order to provide decent housing, the Western Cape needs
engineers, doctors, teachers, quantity surveyors and artisans, among
others.

In other words, it needs skilled people to help build a province of which we
can all be proud.

We want to say to the children of Delft, Khayelitsha, Lavender Hill,
Gugulethu and Philippi to the children of Imizamo Yethu, Tafelsig, Bonteheuwel,
Bridgetown and Masiphumelele to the children of Zoar, Ladismith, Vanwyksdorp,
Calitzdorp and Riversdale to the children of Pacaltsdorp, Mossel Bay, George,
Knysna and Oudtshoorn to the children of Vredenburg, Vredendal, Hopefield,
Malmesbury, Saldanha Bay and Riebeek-Kasteel to the children of every town and
village of our province.

We know your circumstances are difficult. We know that obstacles always
appear to block your way. But we believe that perseverance is always
rewarded.

Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, many years ago, the German pastor, Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, wrote: "The test of the morality of a society is what it does for
its children." I agree.

For our children

The question I would like to pose is: "Are we doing enough for our
children?"

Not enough, I would suggest.

In December, we hosted a Christmas Party at Leeuwenhof for the old and the
young of our province. There, the tragedy of the AIDS pandemic was (again)
driven home in a manner that beggared belief. A community activist from Langa
spoke about the growing number of children running households in the township
because both parents had died of AIDS. What she had to say was heart
wrenching.

It's not right that children who are barely in their teens should have to
take the responsibility of being mother and father to younger siblings. Even in
an imperfect world, children should be allowed to be children. They should have
the freedom to enjoy the things that children have always enjoyed such as the
freedom to laugh and to play, and to be hugged and to hug.

In many instances, grandmothers have put up their hands and agreed to become
mothers again to their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren. And I salute them for
this.

But more needs to be done and that is why I'm agitating so strongly for a
spirit of activism to take root in the Western Cape. And that is why I will
always listen closely and sympathetically to calls for the formation of
partnerships between government and civil society.

Intensifying the fight against poverty

Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to highlight some of the
initiatives undertaken over the past five years beginning with the fight
against poverty. This government has always believed that a good education is
the key to breaking the shackles of poverty in countless downtrodden
communities throughout the Western Cape.

There's unanimity among us that it would be unforgivable for any government
authority to allow even one child to drop out of school "because there was no
money for fees".

In 2004, this province didn't have a single "no-fee" school. In 2007/08, we
had 653 schools (out of 1,452), with 346,139 learners benefiting from this new
dispensation. In 2009, the figure had risen to 655 (also out of 1,452), with
344,481 beneficiaries. The Department's projection for 2009/10 is 651 (out of
1,448) "no fee" schools, with 347,582 beneficiaries goes beyond the national
target.

In 2004, the Department of Education's School Nutrition Programme had fed
152,839 learners; by 2007, this figure had risen to 204,000 learners and last
year, the programme had fed 293,534 learners.

In 2004, the Department of Education's School Nutrition Programme fed 152
839 learners; by 2007, this figure had risen to 204 000 learners and last year,
the programme had fed 293,534 learners.

In an excellent example of social dialogue (between our education, health
and agriculture departments), a project to establish food gardens at schools
throughout the province was launched and quickly gathered momentum. By 2009,
the total number of school food gardens had reached 278. Between 2004 to
January 2009, we built 50 schools, many of them in poor areas.

Ladies and gentlemen, during the apartheid era, black people were forced to
live in townships without even the most basic of facilities. The Western Cape
Government has long expressed the view that facilities should be built in close
proximity to the people. But it has only been in recent times that we've been
able to give expression to this intention.

Two hospitals totalling close to R1-billion in Khayelitsha and Mitchell's
Plain were recently given the go-ahead. Construction of the Khayelitsha
Hospital has already started; tenders were recently evaluated for the building
of the Mitchell's Plain Hospital. Both hospitals are scheduled for completion
in 2012.

I also have exciting news about Early Childhood Development (ECD). In 2004,
there were 568 ECD sites; in 2008/09, this figure rose to 1 624. The outbreak
of xenophobia-related violence last year had displaced 19 500 people. The
Department of Social Development provided humanitarian aid or emergency relief
for the victims, at a cost of R21 million.

Between 2004/05 and 2008/09, the Department of Transport and Public Works
had invested R3,4-billion on 34 233 kilometres of roads for upgrading,
rehabilitation, resealing, regravelling, and routine maintenance of roads. The
Department's Expanded Public Works programme created 172,000 work opportunities
by the end of December 2008.

The Department also runs a very successful bursary programme known as the
Masakh' iSizwe Centre of Excellence. In 2009, the Department increased this
bursary awards programme for individuals studying scarce skills to 300. This is
a bursary collaboration venture with the private sector and the higher
education sector.

Since 1994, the Farmworkers Development Programme of the Department of
Agriculture funded 68 projects at a cost of R12,3 million. More than 150 000
farm workers benefited from these projects. In addition to this, over the past
12 months or so, the Department implemented 100 food security projects and also
developed a plan to upgrade and maintain existing food gardens.

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning is working
with Cape Nature to implement a Poverty Alleviation programme that currently
operates on three pillars – Working for Water, Working for Fire and Alien
Vegetation eradication.

In 2008/09, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning
installed 270 solar water geysers in Elsies River (100), Atlantis (160), and
Nyanga (10). The department also launched a Climate Change Strategy for the
Western Cape.

In 2004/05, the Department of Local Government and Housing spent just over
R590 million on housing; in 2008, this figure had shot up to R1,3 billion. Over
the past five years, the Department built 72,729 houses at a cost of just over
R3,95 billion. Over the same period, we serviced 84 526 sites.

Intensifying the fight against crime

Speaker, this government is determined to stamp out criminal activity in the
Western Cape. Here are some of the anti-crime initiatives that have been
launched by the Departments of Community Safety, Education, and the South
African Police Service.

In a bid to stamp our vandalism, we installed CCTV in 60 high risk schools.
In 2008, a campaign initiated by the Department of Education saw burglary and
vandalism reduced by half during the end of the year holidays. Between 2004 and
2008, incidents of contact crime decreased by 39 976 cases from 131 217 in
2003/04 to 91 241 in 2007/08.

In 2004/05, there were 107 community policing forums and 16 sub-forums; in
2008/09, there were 192 community policing forums and 45 sub-forums. Before
2003, there were two Child Protection Units – in Goodwood and Mitchell's Plain.
Currently, there are 13 Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences
Units serving all communities in the province.

The number of SAPS employees has increased by almost a thousand from 19 434
to 20 244. Police Service points (police stations, satellite stations and
contact points) had increased from 171 in 2004 to 181 in January 2009.

The police's vehicle fleet had increased from 4,368 in 2004 to 5,839 in
December 2008. I would now like to touch on the issue of Broad-Based Black
Economic Empowerment.

Speeding up broad-based black economic empowerment

The Western Cape Government, through the Department of Economic Development
and Tourism, is establishing mutually beneficial relationships between
departments and medium-sized and large firms. The purpose of these
relationships is to generate crossover opportunities for small suppliers, and
skills development opportunities for workers. This methodology will assist
medium and large businesses meet their BBBEE scorecard requirements.

Between 2004 and 2008, the Department of Agriculture instituted a
comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme. The programme consisted of 450
projects, had 20 701 beneficiaries and cost R120-million. The department
supported 93 461 emerging farmers; of these, 11 815 were women, 37 408 were
youth and 266 were people with disabilities. Many of these people were involved
in the export market.

When the Department of Economic Development and Tourism started a new
project in 2003, it was known as the Red Initiative, with "RED" being an
acronym for "Real Enterprise Development". It has now become the RED Door
programme.

Presently, we have 12 RED Door offices and six mobile RED Door vehicles
spread across the province offering small businesses and co-operatives loans,
skills training, business advice and financial help for them to obtain
specialised advice.

We have spent R78-million on the RED Door and the mobile RED Door operation,
with a focus on survivalist, micro and small businesses employing between one
and 15 people. In addition we have provided R23 million of direct financial
support and R38 million of non-financial support to small business and
cooperatives since 2004, bringing the total package of direct support to small
businesses to close to R140 million. At present, even after five years of
existence, demand is so great that more than 1 100 citizens are coming through
a RED Door every month.

Ladies and gentlemen, the biggest single achievement in the tourism industry
has been the establishment of a single destination marketing organisation that
we market to the world as "Cape Town and The Western Cape".

Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) is the vehicle through which the Joint
Marketing Initiative concept was realised. This was supported by all
municipalities, all political parties, and many business and marketing
organisations in 2003.

As you are aware, the concept of a single destination-marketing organisation
has now come under threat. In mid-2008, the City of Cape Town took away half of
the funding of CTRU. This would have meant CRTU having to severely cut back its
marketing activities in the year before the FIFA World Cup tickets were due to
go on sale. We cut other programmes to make available an additional grant of
R3,5 million in November to help it finance additional 2010 marketing
programmes.

Since 2004, when CTRU opened its doors, the Western Cape Government has
invested more than R90 million in the vehicle. It has a long list of
achievements, the most notable of which is the fact that its conventions bureau
submitted 83 detailed bids to host conferences in the Western Cape.

Collectively, the 41 successful bids had a combined impact of about
R950-million on the Western Cape economy. CTRU represented the Western Cape at
48 international shows, where it engaged directly with about 8 500 tour
operators and supported 367 provincial events. It also tried (and by and large
succeeding) to make the destination attractive to visitors and to support local
economic development.

I have some good news and puzzling news about our trade and investment
vehicle, Wesgro. Since 2004, it has facilitated and recruited R9,3 billion
worth of investments into the Western Cape, exceeding the target it was set by
more than R4.8-billion. The newly established firms created more than 22 000
jobs in our economy. More than 85 percent of the business is within the
jurisdiction of the City of Cape Town, making the City Council's 2008 decision
to cease funding Wesgro baffling, to say the least.

Nevertheless, in November, the Provincial Government put together an
R5-million rescue package to keep the wheels of the organisation turning. I
have been told that the latest investment facilitated by Wesgro in the last
quarter of 2008 is worth an astounding R3-billion. The investor has asked us to
keep details under wraps for another few weeks. It was a relief that sanity
prevailed this week; the City announced that it would continue to fund
Wesgro.

Speaker, local economic development is hard and slow work. To create
economic opportunity in rural and peri-urban areas, we have put in place an
initiative called Die Plek Plan. Plek is a contraction of the words "Plaaslike"
and "Ekonomiese."

Die Plek Plan works with B and C municipalities and communities to identify
projects that can create economic opportunity. These are then put through a
rigorous evaluation process. And if they are found to be viable, we fund their
development through the Rural Economic Assistance Fund (REAF) that has been
capitalised to the tune of R20 million.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to tell you about our Micro-economic
Development Strategy or MEDS as it is known in the Department of Economic
Development and Tourism.

It is one of the crowning achievements of this government. It has given
Government and the taxpayer the comfort of knowing that our interventions in
the economy are always informed by quality and comprehensive evidence and
analysis. Based on this research and analysis, we have identified the oil and
gas industry services and support, tourism, information communication
technology (ICT), business process outsourcing (BPO) and call centres, human
resource development (HRD) and small business development as our highest
priority sectors for development.

Increasing social dialogue

The Department of Local Government and Housing describes its Built
Environment Support Programme as "perhaps the most critical lever for
restructuring our urban areas."

Key to its Isidima Strategy is community participation in the development of
human settlements. Through this programme, the department is providing
intensive support to six leader municipalities, Knysna, George, Overstrand,
Drakenstein, Stellenbosch and Saldanha Bay to help them put credible plans in
place for human settlements, sustainable economic development and housing
delivery.

The six were chosen on grounds of economic potential and growth, and the
extent of poverty in each of the respective areas. The programme came into
existence via a partnership with the Department of Environmental Affairs and
Development Planning.

The Provincial Developmental Council is a forum in which government enters
into dialogue with our social partners on issues of strategic importance for
the province. Business, civil society and labour are represented on the
Council.

The province also holds imbizos to interact with communities and listen to
their problems and try to resolve them together. Cabinet also interacts with
business, labour and the higher education sector to discuss the development of
the province. The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport established a
Western Cape Sports Forum consisting of 99 sports federations. It invested
R61.884-million in a schools' mass participation programme.

It also backed the "Stars in their Eyes" programme in which 80 football
coaches were trained, and a "Legends in Sport" programme. The department has
supported 654 cultural organisations during the past five years, from the
established classical arts and cultural organisations, such as the Cape Town
Opera, the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, Jazzart Dance Company and Cape Town
Ballet to new organisations, in both the Cape Metro and other districts.

The department has also made a major contribution towards cultural tourism
and arts and culture festivals by contributing towards events such as Cape Town
Jazz Festival, the KKNK, the Suidoosterfees, the Hermanus Whale Festival and
the UDF celebrations in 2008, among others.

To provide communities in deep rural communities and farm communities that
are currently deprived of an established library service, the department
developed a model by which two movable book trolleys (wheelie wagons) are
provided to these communities. At present, 34 communities make use of this
facility.

Finally, Honourable Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, and perhaps most
importantly, we acknowledged that the tit-for-tatting that characterised the
relationship between the Provincial Government and the City of Cape Town for
more than two years served no useful purpose. It diverted our attention from
other, really important matters.

We committed ourselves to co-operation with municipalities, particularly
those run by other political parties to serious dialogue with the various
communities of this province and to an urgent resolution of those issues that
were festering away and (let's be honest about this) bedevilling the workings
of our administration.

Rather than squabble, we said to politicians, councillors, communities and
ordinary men- and women-in-the-street: "If we can work together, brick-by-brick
and step-by-step, we will build a Western Cape that offers comfort, security
and opportunities to all who live here."

The way forward

Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, this administration is about to complete its
current term of office on the eve of an interesting period in the history of
the Western Cape.

The countdown to what we all are referring to simply as "2010" is being
chalked off at unbelievable speed. And all the time, predictions of a World Cup
bonanza for South Africa's top tourist destination abound.

Key to the Western Cape's future prospects, though, is the period that will
become known as "post-2010" five 10 years after the World Cup. It is then that
the new face of the province will be defined – and, make no mistake, it will be
a new face.

Many developments that will run its course during this period will be the
progression of a process that started a long time ago. Old challenges are
likely to grow bigger post-2010, with just one example being an increased
demand for decent housing, the consequence of a maturing population and a
continuing influx of mainly poor people from other parts of the country.

Those who ignore the aspirations of the poor do so at their peril. Matters
such as climate change and accompanying concerns relating to food security and
possible job losses will tax the resolve of the decision-makers. The Western
Cape remains a water-scarce province despite the good winter rains that the
province has had for the last few years.

Municipalities in the Eden District in the South Cape were in the past few
weeks considering proclaiming a drought disaster. The more than 100 veld fires
in and around Cape Town last week put enormous pressure on the city's water
resources, highlighting the need for great care in how we use water as a
province.

And there will be mounting pressure to close the gap between the very poor
and the very rich – or even between the very poor and the moderately well off.
This government believes that the programme of integrated human settlements
should be stepped up and indeed, expanded. Outstanding land restitution matters
must be finalised as a matter of urgency.

Poor families must be given opportunities to live closer to essential
facilities. Our cities and towns must be integrated not only racially, but
socially and functionally people must be able to live close to public transport
and places of economic opportunity and recreation; schools, clinics, libraries
and playing fields must be within easy reach.

By its actions, government must convince the poor that they are part of
South Africa. At the same time, it must be made clear that the Western Cape is
not a last chance saloon for South Africans who have fundamental political
difficulties about living in other parts of the country. It would probably be
an understatement to say that we live in interesting times. But we wouldn't
want to have it any other way.

Speaker, I've come to the part where I have to say thank you – and I have a
long list of people to acknowledge. Firstly, I want to thank my family, who are
always there for me and believe me, it is not always easy being the family of
the Premier.

I want to give special thanks to my dad, who some of you may know is ill and
therefore not present today.

I also want to thank:
* the ANC for giving me the opportunity to lead this magnificent province
* my Cabinet colleagues
* The Director-General and my entire team in the Department of the
Premier
* The staff in my office
* All Heads of Departments and the entire staff of the Provincial
Government
* The People of the Western Cape for helping us to help them
* The Speaker and his team for their hard work
* The little people in my life who make it all worthwhile - Chandre, Keshia,
Lyle, Mathew, Laylah, Taariq and Caitlyn.

I would like to end this address with a quote from our first President,
Nelson Mandela.

"We are at the beginning of an arduous and protracted struggle for a better
quality of life. In the course of this struggle, we shall have immediate
successes; we shall have setbacks; but we shall certainly progress inch by inch
towards our goal."

Our goal is to create a Western Cape united in a noble quest to provide a
better life for all its citizens.

Thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Western Cape Provincial Government
13 February 2009