Good morning ladies and gentlemen and members of the media.
The purpose of this media briefing is to elaborate on Premier David Makhura’s State of the Province Address on 23 February 2015.
At the centre of Gauteng’s social transformation is our determination to improve the quality of education and healthcare, provide social protection to the vulnerable - in particular women and children - implement anti-poverty programmes and build social cohesion and social solidarity.
Skills development
The launch of paperless classrooms is testament to our desire to radically transform and modernise our education. We will continue to allocate resources to strengthen and develop future skills. A total budget of R2.6 billion has been allocated for education infrastructure delivery.
Gauteng is converting existing schools into smart schools. In addition to a pilot project of seven schools which was launched in December, six more schools have been identified. The provincial government has provided 88,000 tablets for use in schools and will continue to advance the e-learning initiative.
As part of building schools as centres of excellence, the provincial government will continue to work with parents, communities and teachers in creating an environment in which all our learners thrive.
The province is making inroads in achieving the universal access to Grade R. The number of learners in Grade R was close to 113 000 in 2014. By 2019, we aim to have achieved full access to Grade R with over 200,000 learners in public and private facilities.
Some of our achievements in education, including matric results are due to our interventions through programmes such as the Secondary School Interventions Programme and the role of civil society and communities in supporting and monitoring of schools and learners in their areas and contributing to creating conditions to achieve quality education.
Improving healthcare services
The Department of Health continues to make substantial progress in improving performance in financial management and administration since the introduction of the Health Turnaround Strategy and we anticipate that things will return to normality by May 2015. This includes stabilising finances and other aspects of administration.
Gauteng was rated at 75.6% against the national average of 65.8% in the assessment of compliance with national core standards of health making it the best performing province in the country.
As part of the modernisation of public health services, we will prioritise the development of e-health systems to reduce queues and improve efficiency in our healthcare facilities.
We are proud to announce that in two hospitals Zola-Jabulani and New Natalspruit are now on e-health programme, which includes the introduction of electronic patient record.
This will reduce queues and improve the efficiency of our health facilities. We are also working towards rolling out this programme throughout the province.
Primary Health Care remains the backbone of our health system and it is the first point of contact for our communities. There are now 375 primary health care facilities in Gauteng, and by 2019, we will have over 200 clinics which comply with norms and standards. We will also increase the number of ward-based primary health care teams to over 400.
As part of improving our health infrastructure, we will commence with the building of new hospitals in Soshanguve and Lilian Ngoyi, as well as the revitalisation of Jubilee, Kalafong, Sebokeng, Yusuf Dadoo, Tambo Memorial and Khayalami (Kempton Park) hospitals.
Mega projects/ New Cities
In order to change human settlement patterns over the next five years, 140 000 housing units will be built in Lion Park, in Diepsloot East, in Fluerhof, Cosmo City, Malibongwe, Goud Rand.
In addition, we are working with the private sector and City of Johannesburg on the following initiatives to radically change the landscape of the Central Corridor - Masingita City, Rietfontein, Waterfall City, Modderfontein City and Steyn City.
Rietfontein is a mixed node with more than 8000 proposed residential units, including commercial property, retail and education facilities.
Furthermore, more than 100 000 housing units will be delivered over the next five years in Ekurhuleni in areas such as Chief Albert Luthuli, John Dube, Tsakane, Germiston South, Leeuwpoort, Rietfontein and Clayville.
In Tshwane, more than 160 000 houses in Hamanskraal, Winterveldt, Sterwater, Lady Selbourne, Soutpan, Lotus Garden, Fortwest, Danville Zithobeni will be built over the same period.
Gauteng is transforming the spatial human settlement patterns in all the economic corridors through the development of new cities and economic nodes through public private partnerships. We are building new cities in the City Region to be known as Mega Projects. This is a bold decisive action which will create economically self-sufficient cities - supported by local industries – in order to further bring poor people closer to employment and work opportunities.
These Mega projects will yield no less than 15 000 units - either as an existing development, cluster or as a new nodal development project. The new cities will promote social, racial and cultural integration, as well as improving access to basic services such as shelter, water, electricity, roads and social amenities.
A total of 19 Nodes or Precincts have been identified across all the corridors and will benefit communities in including Diepsloot, Lion Park, Clayville, Germiston South, Chief Albert Luthuli, Lady Selbourne, Nellmapius, Ratanda, Chief Mogale, Mohlakeng and many others.
These are but a few housing projects that will contribute towards improving the lives of our people.
Poverty alleviation strategy
We have adopted a comprehensive strategy against urban poverty. This includes the provision of food parcels to the most vulnerable and children in the poorest wards; support for small-scale farmers and cooperatives and the training of 14 500 youth beneficiaries through our 40 job centres in the province.
An additional 4 000 beneficiaries will be provided with economic, entrepreneurial opportunities and skills. As part of our efforts to improve access to productive economic activities and in order to reduce dependency, we will link more than 3 600 beneficiaries to employment opportunities and other economic activities. We will also work with township enterprises to engage those in need in the production of goods such as paper towels, plastic, furniture, tombstones, bricks, upholstery, hydroponics, paint, condoms and baked goods.
To reduce poverty, hunger and food insecurity, we will expand urban agriculture, including community and school food gardens to ensure that our people have the capacity to produce their own food.
Gauteng will contribute to the national target of 6 million work opportunities by creating 1 million of such work opportunities by 2019, with specific focus on women, youth and people with disabilities. Already the Gauteng Government has created 42 284 work opportunities. Our municipalities have created 64 960 work opportunities.
Other social ills
Furthermore, the provincial government has designed a prototype treatment centre which will serve as a one stop centre to provide integrated and comprehensive treatment of substance abuse and improve access. Building of the first centre will commence in 2016 and we will complete centres in each of the province’s five regions.
We will continue to mobilise communities and civil society organisations, in particular men, to join in the fight against gender based violence. Victim support services and places of refuge for victims of abuse will be expanded, bringing green doors in the province to 50 over the next few years. Ikhaya Lethemba will continue to provide support to victims of gender violence. We will further upscale the number of victims of abuse who are assisted with access to economic opportunities.
Following the recent violence against foreign nationals, as part of Africa Day celebrations, Gauteng will organise dialogues with the foreign nationals to discuss how everyone can live and work together contributing to the growth and development of this province.
Heritage
As part of our commitment to preserve and promote our heritage, we are investing in preserving the museum at the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication and will convert the house of Mme Charlotte Maxeke in Kliptown into a museum and an interpretation centre. This year we will complete and handover the Women’s Monument in Tshwane, in August to coincide with the celebration of Women’s Day. As part of celebrating the heroes and heroines of our struggle, we will officially unveil the statue of Mme Bertha Gxowa at Ditselane Cultural Village in Vosloorus.
As part of our efforts to build social cohesion we will build two multi-disciplinary sporting codes facilities (known as “Operation Mabaleng”) in Westbury and Mamelodi. These facilities will promote regular physical activity among young people in under-resourced Gauteng communities through construction of sporting facilities for different sporting codes. It is a 5 year programme which targets out-of-school youth and those in school.
For more information contact:
Gauteng Provincial Government spokesperson Thabo Masebe
Cell: 082 410 8087
Tel: 011 355 6878
E-mail: Thabo.Masebe@gauteng.gov.za
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