Madam Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Madam Premier
Members of the Executive Council (MECs)
Honourable members of the provincial legislature
Representatives from local government
Heads of departments
Government officials, leaders of our entities and agencies
Leaders from the construction industry
Business and community leaders
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen and
People of Gauteng
Madam Speaker,
We celebrate 15 years of democratic rule and governance in our country against a background of being the first country in the continent to be afforded the opportunity to stage the greatest football show in the world.
The awarding of the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosting rights to South Africa was and still is a demonstration of the confidence the world has on us as a people. In more ways than one, it is an expression of confidence in the democratic stability and the potential to develop this aspect of our social and political life beyond the humble achievement we have registered in these 15 years.
We are satisfied to report to this house that the province is ready to host this football spectacular and in particular we have developed a detailed transport plan that will serve as a mass mover of spectators throughout the games in the coming two months.
Starting from 2006, we have developed these plans with the emphasise being on a transport system which is integrated and coordinated between and among all spheres of government, particularly the host cities and including the role played by non host cities.
We now have a revitalised road infrastructure that encompasses the creation of additional lanes on our freeways, construction of intelligent free-flow interchanges, extensive road maintenance and dealing with potholes on our provincial roads.
In addition, together with Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) we have upgraded stations such as Nasrec and Doornfontein to mention but a few. The Albertina Sisulu Beautification project will add to the African theme of our landscape as a Gateway to the province of Gauteng.
Our transport offerings will largely be based on rail as a mass mover and integrating the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), mini and midi bus taxis, semi luxury buses and Gautrain and airline services. These services will transport ticket holding, soccer-loving fans between the host cities and connecting with neighbouring provinces.
We must however emphasise our approach that the department will not subsidise spectators during the world cup games and therefore all these services will be on a commercial basis.
The department is part of an integrated 2010 FIFA World Cup implementation plan that will see us deploying our personnel in various operating centres, managing the event in various sectors such as disaster management, police and traffic operations and health services.
The past 15 years have seen us progress from an inherently oppressive, autocratic and dangerous political system of apartheid rule, with relative ease in comparison with other transitional democracies.
Transition to democratic rule in other parts of the world, notably the former Eastern block, were characterised by a movement away from an egalitarian system of ideals based on an assumption for redistribution of generated wealth and economic opportunity. No doubt in these societies, the state played a central commanding role. The transition was towards a more capitalist and market driven economic mode, which was marketed as being the solution to all the ills that these countries experienced.
By contrast, our transition is based on and heralds the rebirth of a republic principally driven by the democratic ideal of popular and majoritarian rule and democracy, while at the same time, laying the basis for equality in societal endeavours.
The attainment of democracy in our country is reflected by the following:
* We have permanently reversed the undemocratic nature of government rule in successive elections to remove the possibility that we may revert to apartheid style rule.
* The state and government are permanently deprived of the violence, oppression and autocracy. In short, we live in a democracy where constitutionalism and human rights are defining features.
Based on the above, democratic South Africa has in difficult circumstances created political certainty and revolutionary state rule. We have been able to make tremendous progress in the following areas.
The state and government represents the collective will of the nation and in this regard plays a pivotal role in policy formulation, implementation and balancing the interests of society based on the principles of non racialism, non-sexism and fairness, equity and redistribution.
The state has had to recognise its constraints and limits in delivering on its mandate and in large measure; it has delivered positively on aspects where it has control while there has been less delivery on these aspects where it has limited or no control at all.
There has also been recognition that; we are operating in an ever globalising arena where the impact of both international, political and economic governance have dictated that we interact with this phenomenon in a manner that capitalises on our strengths and positions on our country to provide much needed leadership on issues confronting our continent and the world's poor.
In the past 15 years, we have further consolidated our democracy by holding three national and provincial elections and local government elections were held as part of the entrenchment of democratic rule in South Africa. The credibility of those elections was ascertained by the fact that millions of people continued to turn out to cast their vote, particularly in the 2009 general elections.
Parliament, the nine provincial legislatures and local government structures, are the bedrock of democratic participation and nation building. These have been underpinned by extensive institutional and independent checks and balance mechanisms and the office of the public protector, various commissions including the human rights commission.
Over and above this, as a country based on a strong culture of separation of power, we have a very strong and independent judiciary.
The developmental state we are constituting and shaping is underpinned by a strong commitment to participatory democracy. Citizens have a variety of multi-layered mechanisms and fora for genuine and meaningful interaction, which influence state policy and action. Public participation, parliamentary oversight, chapter nine institutions and the independent judiciary represent the developmental state commitment to openness, transparency and accountability at all times.
Service delivery protests in our communities and the fact that the state and government can be challenged, does not signify the absence of these mechanisms but only help to highlight the gaps that exist in the functioning of those accountability mechanisms.
Where these mechanisms do not function or they are ignored or manipulated for short term gains and narrow group interests, it leads to frustration. So, it cannot with legitimate claim be said that our country suffers from a democracy deficit.
Public service transformation reform and reshaping has taken centre stage. The task of transforming the public sector and state organisations from fragmentation to a coherent national unit catering for and delivering services to the whole population has been achieved with tremendous success.
This has been done through legislative and policy measure and reviews of how best to ensure demographic representation, equality and ensuring the best mixture of skills and competencies, experience and innovations.
Our commitment to a clean government has been elevated through the adoption of a political will and a programme to detect, uncover and deal with corruption decisively. This is underpinned by various policy and legislative measures to ensure we deal with this effectively.
While progress was registered in our transition to democracy, we still face serious challenges that must be attended to consistently, jointly and with national multi-faceted effort.
We have made tremendous strides in ensuring equal and equitable distribution of opportunities and access to basic amenities. Breaking racial barriers of educational and health services has been the centre of our interactions and in this renewed mandate. Their prioritisation has been signalled by allocation of increased and sustained resources.
Social security insurance and an extensive grants programme, coupled with social infrastructure intervention programmes in the form of schools, roads, social housing, transportation services and economic development, contributed towards dealing decisively with poverty and laid the basis for development. However, poverty and unequal wealth distribution and access thereto remain the most pressing of our challenges.
Poverty among women is the defining feature of poverty analysis in our country, and the government is dealing with it in a multifaceted manner. While there has been a reduction in absolute poverty, income gaps and wealth differentiation lead to an appearance of permanency of deprivation in poor communities.
Studies have shown that poverty in South Africa is a function of historical inequality and persistent reproduction of existing patterns of ownership, income, resources and skills and capacity distribution.
No doubt, where inequality exists and is entrenched, this translates to a reduction in the redistributive effects of economic growth, with the benefits accruing to those who are already advantaged.
As a result, income from economic opportunities and the take up of available social services is availed to those who are less disadvantaged among the poor, thus leaving the poorest of the poor out. We need to combine short term interventions with lasting solutions such as improving the human capital of the disadvantaged or already marginalised from the labour market and economic activity.
To compound this, South Africa suffers from serious problems of asset poverty. Land and availability of strategic land use for housing is an impediment for asset creation in our country. Land is often privately owned and inaccessible, and available local government land is often disposed of for short term financial gains by municipalities.
The result is that settlements are often located distances away from economic opportunities, thus creating a mismatch from residential to economic opportunities. In this way, urban sprawl is encouraged. This results in added costs in terms of transportation and infrastructure concentration.
Madam Speaker,
The democratic state made interventions in the economy, which sought to reverse the economic recession of the 90's. These interventions saw fourteen years of unprecedented economic growth until the global recession of 2007/08.
We intervened through special infrastructure programmes and projects, skilling, creating a conducive environment for small business and addressing issues that concern the growth of the economy, encouraging competition and industrial policy including sharpening the capacity of the state.
However, while there has been good economic growth and wealth creation, this has not translated into meaningful employment particularly for poorer communities. Coupled with this, has been the persistence of inequalities we have described as historic and entrenched structurally in the economy. Economic growth must naturally and logically reduce inequality. But in our country, this does not necessarily follow due in large measure to the historical injustice in wealth ownership, access to opportunities and restraints on redistribution.
However, the attempt to advocate as gospel the myth that, the market alone will and should address this must be exposed, the reality is that it has failed and we require a completely different approach. Despite these constraints, we were able in circumstances, to ensure employment growth, macro-economic stability, prudent fiscal and monetary policy, a decade long positive balance of payment and attracted both domestic and foreign investment.
We have also ensured industrial policy, restructured industry and trade policy reform, induced competition regulation and redistribution of state owned enterprises. Our intentions have sought to sustain development and enable the developmental state to play an active role in the economy and also initiate and direct policy intervention.
Members,
China and India are industrialising at a rapid pace and growing their economies, such that their demand for resources and market will change the world in the foreseeable future. China's economy alone is expected to double and expand beyond those of the United States of America and the European Union.
This offers South Africa the opportunity to engage in trade in goods and services in order to ensure its growth. As a country, we need to take advantage of this by tapping on our economic advantage in the continent and integrating with regional economies in the continent. We must seek to provide a lead in this regard.
The second reality is that; with such tremendous economic growth, there is going to be a constraint on availability of and access to resources, particularly fossil fuels. This will increase the efforts towards seeking alternative energy sources. In the foreseeable future nuclear, hydrogen, solar and wind will dominate as alternative sources of energy.
This means that we must make greater efforts as a country to increase our economic performance and competitiveness by ensuring that we become more productive than we currently are. This effort should be dynamically linked to ensuring that the fruits of this economy are equitably and fairly distributed to our people, particularly the poor.
The intervention that we choose must ensure that we reverse the rapid decline in the mining, agricultural and manufacturing sectors. We are confident that our government remains a legitimate one and that there are no immediate threats to our sovereignty and we therefore have a responsibility to ensure that our abilities, competencies and efficiencies in government are improved.
This should be done through the promotion of national competitiveness and vigorously drive employment creating economic growth. Government must not inhibit innovation productivity and social cohesion.
What we have done in the past 15 years is to lay a basis for creating a positive national good through instilling a sense of pride, engaging in the national narrative and standing for the highest good. This has found expression in a variety of social engagements with all stakeholders and the adoption of a variety of anti corruption measures.
We believe, as the transport sector, that we have responded to this challenge by creating a roads and transport infrastructure that holds the possibility of catalysing local economic development and establishing viable economic nodes on a sustainable basis.
In this regard, as we move towards the second wave of roads infrastructure development, we have to critically innovate on strategic transport initiatives that must respond to the movement of more than 14 million people who will occupy the Gauteng space by 2015. These intervention strategies must be based on the principle of developing public transport as a catalyst for moving people.
We are already conceptualising and developing transport policies that will introduce a variety of transport modes including among others, the creation of a rail subway, monorail, light rail, and expanding on Gautrain to address particularly poor areas.
This great vision will definitely not be implemented in our political term but will introduce meaningful debate in the transportation economics of the province.
Madam Speaker,
The department had to delay the following projects in the transport branch:
* Intelligent Transport System
* The Integrated Ticketing System
* The establishment of Transport Operating Licence Administrative Bodies (TOLABS) and
* The construction of drivers licence testing centres (DLTCs) in the 20 PTP
This was due to the funding of the 2009 Confederations Cup which was not budgeted for and led to over commitment by the department. This resulted in accruals due to poor management capacity that existed in the department.
The following commitments were not delivered to their completion in the Roads branch due to financial constraints as a result of accruals from the 2008/09 financial year:
* The upgrading of Cayman Road
* Construction of Voortrekker Road
* R55 Voortrekker Road
* K29 phase three Malibongwe Drive
* D374 Beyers Naude
* Bolani Road
In 2010/11, our focus will be on accelerating delivery on the following tangible priorities, some of which are carried over from the previous financial year: delivering on the transport plan for the 2010 FIFA world cup, the Taxi Recapitalisation programme, implementation of the intelligent number plate system, the establishment of Transport Operating License Administration Bodies (TOLABS), our commitment to the integrated ticketing system, finalising the intelligent public transport network (IPTN) designs, continuation and completion of road network infrastructure projects including road maintenance, rehabilitation and upgrading, the implementation of mobile and scholar Driver Learner Testing programme, continuing our corporation with the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) in delivering phase two of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement programme.
In the previous financial year, we successfully completed the second phase of K29, the route between Cosmo City and N14 and in this regard phase three is already under construction and will be completed by the end of November 2010.
Upgrading of the following roads into dual carriageways is now completed and these roads are now open for traffic:
* Beyers Naude from Honeydew to Zandspruit
* Phase two of Adcock Road (K15) from Leratong (K198) to Bambayi (K102);
Phase three of Adcock Road will be constructed in this financial year, along with following:
* R55 (K71)
* P126 (Pine Haven Interchange)
* R82 (The Old Vereeniging Road)
* K46 (William Nichol)
For the construction of these roads, an amount of R830 million has been allocated. In this project we envisage that 1 432 jobs for women, 613 for the youth and 34 jobs for people with disabilities.
In our previous engagements with the house, we indicated that we inherited an ageing road networks system that required extensive maintenance, rehabilitation. Coupled with that was the challenge of constructing new roads and upgrading the current infrastructure.
To address this, the department has secured donor funding from international agencies to the value of R5.5 billion. In this regard we are in discussions with the Gauteng Funding Agency to create an institutional mechanism to manage these funds and accountability thereof.
This is a breakthrough in leveraging donor funding for roads infrastructure development. It signifies availability of resources in a form of a grant to ensure roads construction, maintenance and rehabilitation and will enable us to significantly address the backlog.
The provincial government has committed itself to an outcome based delivery approach. This is in part, compliance with the national government's emphasis on monitoring and evaluation of performance.
In our view, the creation of decent work and sustainable livelihood means that the developmental state must create a safety net for its citizens, particularly those who are in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder to protect them from the harshness of the historically economic injustice.
We are committed to contributing to the effort of ensuring that every citizen of Gauteng is able to sustain their livelihood through employment. Our economic development path must ensure that the jobs that we create are secure, sustainable and based on decent work and job opportunities.
When we introduced the Gautrain project, we envisaged the promotion of the use of public transport, alleviation of congestion on our roads and stimulation of our economic growth through infrastructure development and job creation.
The completion of the project will see enhanced integration of public transport modes which comprises of the BRT, taxis, buses and the train itself. From its inception to date, the project has created a total of 93 000 direct and indirect jobs.
The Gautrain project will be completed in this financial year and will be ready for handover in March 2011. To fund the operations of the Gautrain after completion in 2011/12, an allocation of R6.2 billion is earmarked over the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) period.
The department will continue as part of building a world class transportation and roads system and network, to explore on other mass movers of people. This vision is shared by the National Minister, Mr Sibusiso Ndebele, and is evidenced by the fact that the issue of Moloto Rail link and the Johannesburg to Durban rapid rail link has been put back on the agenda in the recent budget vote of the national minister.
The Moloto Rail intervention will also contribute in bettering the lives of the people who utilise that road and deal with the number of accidents in that particular road, which might also be the result the wrong mode of transport being used in that stretch of road.
As government, we condemn the recent shootings commuters on the BRT systems with the strongest possible terms. We visited the homes of those that were injured and the family of the young and promising, deceased breadwinner who has left behind a one year old. I am disappointed about the leadership of the taxi industry whose silence on the condemnation of such cowardly acts has been deafening.
In early June 2010, the honourable premier and the national Minister of Transport will join me in the opening of the Oliver Tambo International Airport to Sandton link which constitutes phase one of the Greenfields project.
This will come as further cap in the transportation fields for the international and local guests of the greatest soccer world cup ever to be held. This was achieved without any additional resources being added now and in the future to the budget of the project.
I wish to extend my commendation to the Mbombela Consortium and the Chief Executive Officer of the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) for this achievement and this once again confirms that when called upon to place national interest above narrow business and individual interests, South Africans always rise to the occasion.
In the next five years, government has prioritised the stimulation of equitable and rural urban development. Our experience over the last 15 years, demonstrates the need to improve our road infrastructure systems particularly in the rural and urban areas.
While a lot has been done to achieve this objective, strategic interventions are required to stimulate economic growth. We commit to proper planning, construction, maintenance and protection of the provincial road networks including in the rural areas.
The reality of challenges facing provincial road networks is that of heavy traffic, which carries between 5 000 to 10 000 vehicles per day on approximately 18 percent of our road network. The province has authority over 1 418 kilometres of paved provincial roads that carry more than 10 000 vehicles.
Thus the maintenance of the road network in Gauteng remains of great importance. The benefits of constantly improving our road network systems puts Gauteng at an advantage of competing at a global level to be a city region thereby stimulating the province economic growth.
In this financial year alone, we have set aside R400 million for road maintenance. In response to a balanced and equitable road network in the province, we are continuing with our prioritised township programme which aims to rehabilitate the state of our roads, storm-water drainage and sidewalks in the townships.
Working with the municipalities, the programme will continue re-aligning arterial roads in rural and urban townships. We will upgrade 80 kilometres of roads in the prioritised township using ultra thin reinforced concrete pavement technology. This technology has been tried and tested through the completion of the Soshanguve and Atteridgeville and the Mamelodi projects. We initiated these programmes, mindful of the fact that we target the poorest wards in Gauteng.
Motor vehicle licence fees constitute the Gauteng provincial government's major revenue stream. The impact of the recession on vehicle sales has resulted in a reduction in the collection of license fees compared to the projection made by department. The vehicle population of Gauteng as at June 2009 contributed 38 percent of the country's total vehicle population. In this current year the department proposes an increase in all categories of the motor vehicle licences by an average of 10.3 percent as 1 July 2010.
The department working closely with our municipalities through inter-governmental processes, will seek new and innovative ways of improving revenue collection, thus improving service delivery in the driver learning testing stations.
This year, our plans will amongst other things include the establishment of four new driving licence testing centres (DLTCs) within the 20 prioritised townships. This will include the construction as a Green Fields project of some of the DLTCs, as part of the original idea of increasing capital assets in the township and creating economic activity in these areas.
The new DLTCs will be opened in Kliptown, Kagiso, Mamelodi and Kwa-Tsaduza. This is done as part of bringing services that improve the quality of life closer to our citizens.
The department will integrate in its programme the priority that was agreed to in the Executive Council to the renewal of Thembisa in Ekurhuleni and Winterveld in Tshwane. We are ready to do work in these areas as part of our work in the 20 townships programme, but also developing integrated plans with the relevant municipalities on other work e.g. building of inter-modal transport facilities and the renewal of train stations.
In the current financial year, we are planning to open an additional 145 Post Offices for the renewal of vehicle licenses with the assistance of South African Post Office (SAPO). The experience of this partnership has contributed to improvement in service delivery.
Our contribution to the proposal by the national Minister of Transport, about the introduction of the School Driver Training programme which mandates us to provide learners in high school the opportunity to matriculate with a valid driver's license, the department working with the Department of Education are at an advanced stage in developing plans towards this goal.
The proposed plan will involve among other things, the training of driver training instructors who will be employed on a permanent basis in order to sustain this programme. We will also engage with driving schools on enriching processes of this project.
In October, the department will launch the intelligent number plate (INP) system. The department has set aside R25 million for this project in this financial year. The process has gone past the drafting of regulations where motorists in the province participated in giving their inputs and comments, which have shaped the entire process thus far.
We pride ourselves in being the lead province in this regard as national government through the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) would like to learn from our experience for a national roll out. This project will not only replace the current number plate system which will soon phase out but also holds the best security features which will address the problematic issue of car theft and duplications of vehicles, further enhancing our efforts of fighting crime.
A task team has been appointed which consists of our department officials and other stakeholders to work on the specifications of the tender process in appointing a competent service provider for the project. We will allow the market to determine the price of the plate and are convinced that it will be a price affordable to all motorists.
The month of October further marks our annual Transport Month, which will be celebrated under the umbrella of the legacy of investment in transport infrastructure. We intend to celebrate it under the theme of "Transport Contributing to a Cleaner and Sustainable Environment".
Whilst many South Africans were disappointed by the lack of an agreement to the climate change negotiations that took place in Copenhagen, we need to begin walking the talk.
This programme will receive pre-eminence beyond the October Transport Month (OTM). We are on a quest of finding ways to create a clean environment for our future generations and as such, are in support of the national government’s announcement of an ad valorem carbon emissions tax on new passenger cars.
The Department of Roads and Transport together with the Department of Agriculture Rural Development and other stakeholders such as the South African National Energy Research Institute (SANERI) are in the process of developing a strategy on green transport.
One of the important campaigns for transport month is Car Free Day which takes place every year on 20 October and, will this year appear in the calendar as 2010.
Our objective will be aimed at mobilising the largest numbers of stakeholders to participate in the campaign. Our ambition is to broaden our campaign and mount the biggest Car Free Day ever, thus encouraging and raising consciousness to our citizens about the importance of public transport in growing the economy and ensuring the seamless movement of people, goods and services, in an endeavour to make Gauteng a globally competitive city region.
The Department of Roads and Transport has the responsibility to address access and mobility challenges facing learners who walk long distances to and from school daily.
The primary beneficiaries are learners in rural, semi-rural and peri-urban areas who have no access to public transport. In this regard, we are planning to deliver 3 000 bicycles to communities through the Shova Kalula project during the October Transport Month. This is our way of lending a hand as government and we are hopeful that the little that we do will make a difference.
The most important attribute of a developmental state is the strategic capacity of creating an environment of a people centred and people driven change. In this regard, we are expected to unite for a common goal of achieving our national agenda and mobilised societies that are participative in the implementation process of our government.
Corruption poses a serious threat to our struggle to build a caring society, and it erodes the moral fabric of our society. It is a threat that must be fought both inside and outside the state. In this regard, we are committed to an anti-corruption stance.
We have created the capacity to deal with corruption in all the programmes of the department, particularly in the DLTC's, G-fleet and operating licenses. This initiative has already yielded results which have led to exposing theft of government vehicles and has led to disciplinary processes and processes in the court of law.
The approach in DLTC's will involve the rotation of examiners unannounced visits and investment in e governance to reduce the human element and in process of learner and driver testing.
Further to this, through inefficient procurement; poor planning and in some instances, corrupt planning and collusion by the private sector, our people get a raw deal from the type of purchases and services that we acquire as a department.
We have in this regard, improved our procurement systems, management capability, governance enforcement and oversight in government and in the business sector. In the previous financial year, we initiated and completed a process of reviewing contracts with service providers.
To combat corruption in the past financial year, we have initiated disciplinary action, opened cases and are currently investigating alleged corruption activities together with national treasury and the special investigating unit.
In advocating renewal in the Gauteng service delivery strategy, we promptly acted upon the premier statement of working with the private sector. A breakfast meeting was held between the department and business people where we engaged business on the role of the Roads and Transport Department and this proved to be a fruitful exercise. The meeting concerned itself with strengthening relations between government and private sector which proved mutual given the level of engagement on our programmes.
The department is encouraged by vision 2020 of the South African National Taxi Council which envisions the transformation of taxi industry business of offering a single mode of transport into a multi-modal industry. This is the meeting of the minds because this is a vision that we and the industry share and should be celebrated contributing towards our development goals.
It is such strides of corporation, that enhance the provision of a world class roads and transport infrastructure networks and systems that facilitate mobility of people goods and services within Gauteng.
Madam Speaker,
The departmental split of the Department of Roads and Transport from the erstwhile Department of Roads, Transport and Public Works has reached its conclusion in March 2010 and the process of matching and planning was completed.
As part of restructuring and reprioritisation in the department, we have de-established two of our entities namely, Urban Transport Fund (UTF) and the Gauteng Transport Management Authority (GTMA) including their boards. In both cases, it was found that these entities performed duties that were supposed to be performed by the department without being mandated.
Necessary legislative process will follow to ensure that we comply with the law. Furthermore, we have also de-established Impophoma. The department is now looking into filling vacant posts to become a complete and functioning Roads and Transport Department. This process has been driven by the change management principle thus deepening the capacity of the developmental state and creating a culture of faster service delivery to our people.
The new structure that now exists elevates three elements to the top of our programme of action which incorporates:
* Monitoring and evaluation which is in line with the model of national government under the leadership of President Zuma. This is done in a way that ensures monitoring and evaluation systems shape every programme and project delivered by the department.
* Strategic planning and project management, this process will facilitate the department's strategic plan and make certain that short to medium term plans of the department are synergised to the long term planning of the Gauteng Planning Commission. The programme will further seek to re-engineer the systems within the department and ensure good programme management by implementing the best practises on resources, skills and technology to achieve business objectives and required quality within budgets.
In conclusion, we believe, given the economic situation and the position of the province, we will be able to deliver on our mandate of providing an efficient public transport system in an environmentally safe manner and provide an extensive roads infrastructure network that encourages connectivity of economic nodes and catalyses growth and employment.
This is the first budget of the new term which builds on the achievements of the past 15 years and creates a bridgehead for realisation of the outcomes driven strategic objectives.
We are ready to play our part in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup and welcoming the world to our province. We bank on the support of this house and the Gauteng population as we continue to work together in this term.
The hosting of this event is already creating a benefit of intangibles such as patriotism, as evidenced by the flags and the honouring of Football Friday in all sectors of our society. The house should join me in wishing Bafana-Bafana a successful world cup.
Let me take this opportunity to thank the Honourable Premier, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane, for guidance and support in endeavours to deliver on our mandate, my colleagues in the Executive Council for the continued collective engagement in the work of the Gauteng provincial government.
I also wish to appreciate and thank the professional and efficient work of the Head of Department, Ms Benedicta Manching Monama whom announce today as the head of the new department, I extend equal recognition of the senior management in the department including all our staff members, wherever they are located.
Lastly, I wish to thank the able leadership and critical oversight of the Portfolio Committee led by the efficient and effective Chairperson, Mr Mxolisi Xayiya, members and staff of the committee.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Gauteng Provincial Government
17 May 2010
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gautengonline.gov.za/)
