Budget Vote speech by Gauteng Premier David Makhura, on the occasion of the tabling of the budget of the Office of the Premier. Gauteng Provincial Legislature
Madame Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Chief Whip Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature
The Director General, Special Advisors and Senior Managers in the Office of the Premier
Distinguished Guests in particular the youth of our province;
Sandile Ngcobo a Researcher at the CSIR, Ernest Tsipa from the Disabled People of South Africa, Khuli Chana Artist and Filmmaker
The People of Gauteng
Two days ago, our country and our province commemorated the 39th Anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Students’ Uprising.
In observing the Youth Day and Youth Month, we paid tribute to the contributions of the youth of different generations to the freedom and democracy we enjoy today. Young people’s acts of bravery, boundless energy, creative intellect, limitless curiosity and innovation constitute a national resource that should be harnessed to change the course of history.
Honourable members, as we pay tribute to the youth of 1976, it is perhaps important to acknowledge the distinct contributions of all generations in line with Frantz Fanon’s dictum that “each generation must discover its mission, fulfil or betray it, in relative obscurity”.
Let us start by acknowledging a young African music composer, Enoch Sontonga, who at the age 24, composed the first verse and chorus of Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika. This song inspired the struggles to build the Africa we want, the Africa and South Africa of our dreams. This creative spirit and artistic ability of our youth is something we must celebrate and harness.
Let us also acknowledge another young man, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, who, at the age of 30, penned two profound articles that changed the course of our history as the African people: “Native Union” and “The Regeneration of Africa”. As a young intellectual, he called for the Regeneration of Africa and later the unity of Africans, and gave momentum to the formation of the South African Native Congress. His message still remains relevant today, almost a century later, as we fight against the spectre of xenophobia and its associated violence.
Let us further acknowledge the contribution of the youth of the 1940s who also changed the course of the liberation struggle when they called for radical methods of struggle against the racist regime that was increasingly resorting to violent suppression of black people - among those young people are Anton Lembede, AP Mda, Willie Nkomo, Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Rev Motlalepule Chabaku and our own Nelson Mandela. They changed the course of history and helped to move our country to a free and democratic society.
Let us pay tribute to the 1976 generation for their bravery and defiant spirit. They faced trigger-happy and heavily armed racist police with their bare hands demanding an end to Bantu Education, only to be met with the brutality that was typical of racist minority rule.
Let us remember the contribution of the Young Lions of the 1980s, whose death-defying and daring attitude forced the apartheid state to negotiate a peaceful settlement to end apartheid oppression.
Let us also acknowledge the contribution of many young white South Africans who, in the 1970s and 1980s, took part in the anti-conscription campaign and joined the ranks of the student movement under the banner of NUSAS, in defiance of the apartheid state. They too contributed to the freedom and democracy we enjoy today.
As we table our Budget, we make a pledge to the current generation of young people that we will work with them and not work for them without their involvement, as they say “Nothing about us, without us”.
We call on the youth to raise their hands and be counted and take their destiny into their own hands. In us, they have a government that will provide a helping hand and a springboard from which they can launch their dreams. We need their creativity, energy, skills, intellect and innovation in order to radically transform, modernise and re-industrialise our province and the country.
Through our comprehensive Gauteng City Region Integrated Youth Development Strategy (2015-2019), the Gauteng provincial government and municipalities are determined to ensure that young people become the main drivers and beneficiaries of our programme to radically Transform, Modernize and Reindustrialize the Gauteng City Region. Over 16 days, 87 000 young people participated in the youth Expo at Nasrec.
I wish to congratulate MEC Lesufi for a job well done on the Youth Exhibition.
In particular we note that this year’s commemorations were done differently in that that they were designed to reach more young people as well as engaging them in a more meaningful way in order to empower them going forward.
We are particularly inspired by the success of the #76 campaign which we will continue to intensify as we advance towards the historic milestone of the 40th anniversary of the 1976 Students’ Uprising.
Honourable Speaker, just over a year ago we took office as this fifth democratic administration and adopted a programme for radical Transformation, Modernisation and Re-industrialisation (TMR) to move the Gauteng City Region forward in line with the National Development Plan, Vision 2030.
We have spent the past twelve months laying a strong foundation for the rollout of the National Development Plan in Gauteng. We have now completed the alignment of all sectoral, departmental five year strategic plans and municipal plans to the TMR programme and priorities.
The Executive Council has also adopted specific sector strategies and plans regarding accelerated social transformation, governance and administration roadmap and radical economic transformation based on the ten pillars of the TMR.
We have prioritised the building of an activist, responsive and clean government; the revitalization and mainstreaming of the township economy; specific economic interventions and infrastructure plans for all the five development corridors of the Gauteng City region.
Honourable members, I’m happy to say we in Gauteng are on the same page with regard to the future of our province. We sing from the same hymn sheet and read from the same script with regards to the future direction and vision for the new Gauteng City Region.
Our vision is to build Gauteng as a seamlessly integrated, socially cohesive, economically inclusive City Region; a leading economy on the African Continent; with smart, innovation-driven, knowledge-based and sustainable industries; an accountable, responsive, transparent and clean government as well as an active citizenry.
Naturally, our focus must now shift to implementation, execution, accountability and performance on the TMR priorities. MECs, Mayors, departmental and municipal officials must be and shall be held accountable on their performance.
The Office of the Premier sits at the strategic apex and must be the principal driver of the TMR. In particular we will focus on ensuring that we increase the scale and impact of our interventions. This includes, enhancing planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation capacity of the Office of the Premier.
In this regard, we are working with national government, state-owned enterprises, municipalities and the private sector to rollout infrastructure investment plans that will catalyse the economies of the five development corridors development in line with the State of the Province Address delivered on 23rd February 2015.
We have also established the Gauteng Infrastructure Coordinating Committee to oversee the implementation of the Gauteng Infrastructure Master Plan and Spatial Development Framework, which will be finalized at the GCR Development Planning Conference in October this year.
Honourable Speaker, investment in infrastructure is critical to the future of our province. Accordingly, our province will host the Inaugural Gauteng Infrastructure Investment Conference on 16-17th July 2015, which will be attended by national, provincial and local government leaders and international and local investors. The aim of the conference will be to expose investors to the huge investment opportunities with regard to the infrastructure needs of our province in the areas of energy and acid mine drainage, public transport and aerotropolis development, human settlements and post-apartheid cities, inner- city regeneration, ICT and Broadband rollout.
Honourable members, I’m glad to report that with regard to energy interventions, we will, after the Gauteng Infrastructure Investment Conference, make major announcements together with the City of Joburg and the City of Tshwane, on the coal-fired stations and solar rooftop panels. We are confident that this will send a clear message that we are taking steps to keep the lights on and power the economy of our province.
All Gauteng municipalities are implementing major initiatives to revitalise the township economy and empower the youth in response to the State of the Province Address.
We also have established several steering committees on: Energy Security; Water and Sanitation; E-Governance and Broadband as well as the Transport Commission Steering Committee which will oversee the integration of all public transport entities; Aerotropolis Political Steering Committee to oversee the implementation of the Aerotropolis Master Plan at OR Tambo International Airport, Lanseria Airport City development and the development of the Wonderboom Airport and Logistics Hub.
The need to strengthen coordination and integration across the Gauteng City Region has given rise to the absolute necessity for a new intergovernmental relations and planning framework in Gauteng. In the next few months, we will table before this House proposed legislation that will formalise the Gauteng City Region cooperative governance structures which are currently more voluntary and informal.
Honourable members, the Service Delivery War Room is now operational across the provincial and local government level and this has significantly improved the government’s response time to issues raised by communities.
Through Ntirhisano Service delivery War Room, we have been able to respond effectively to various issues such as community protests, xenophobic violence, illegal land invasions, crime and corruption incidents. We are taking steps to finalise the infrastructure and human resource capacity of all war rooms so that they can be centres of service excellence.
Honourable Members when we took office, once gain we made a pledge that ours will be a clean government; a government that upholds integrity.
In this regard, we continue to strengthen our interventions aimed at achieving 100% disclosure of financial interest by our Senior Management Members. Linked to this is the adoption of the Gauteng City Region Anti-Corruption Strategy.
We are strengthening capacity to investigate and prevent acts of corruption particularly in Departments that have a track record of high incidents of corruption in our province, Departments of Roads and Transport; Infrastructure Development, Human Settlements; Department of Community Safety on bribery; Education on SGBs; Economic Development agencies.
In addition to the rollout of the open tender system and the introduction of integrity champions in key departments that have high incidents of corruption, we will soon launch anti-corruption campaigns in which we will work with municipalities and civil society and law enforcement agencies.
Our anti-corruption operations will target departments, and agencies that have high incidents of corruption DLTCs, School Governing Bodies, Traffic and Police Officers and other government offices. We will also identify private sector companies prone to corruption.
Honourable Members, the recent Executive Council Extra-ordinary Lekgotla held in May adopted a comprehensive Gauteng Governance and Administration Roadmap to clean up the administration of all fraudsters and build a high- performance team of civil servants, which is a catalyst for the realisation of the GCR vision and TMR programme.
We are determined to build a highly motivated team of administrators who are accountable and empowered to play and full their role without political interference.
This Roadmap will help us to strengthen management capacity within all departments, modernise the public service and transform the state into a capable instrument of transformation, modernisation and re-industrialisation.
The Office of the Premier is also being strengthened to intervene and turnaround Departments that have a history of poor performance. Over the past twelve months, we have been hard at work to change the culture and image of these departments by insisting on a new performance culture and holding MECs and Officials accountable – Department of Health, Department of Infrastructure Development, Department of Human Settlements and Department of Economic Development.
We are already on the road to recovery. Gauteng Department of Health is now getting out of administration and there is a major improvement in its financial management and service delivery.
The Department of Infrastructure Development has increased its technical capacity and this has led to a major turnaround in spending and delivery of infrastructure projects - 99% of our infrastructure budgets spent by the end of March 2015.
We are now turning our attention to building the capacity of the Departments of Human Settlements and Economic Development so that they can deliver on their respective mandates. There is no time to waste.
The People of Gauteng, we wish to assure you that a year later since taking office as the fifth administration, we are indeed on course and the goals we have set for ourselves are within reach.
Madam Speaker, when we spoke during the 2014 SOPA, we made a commitment that we will work with all sectors of society and confront challenges facing our people. This included addressing the socioeconomic impact of the E-tolls on our people and the economy.
As promised, we have indeed set up the Review Panel on the Socio-economic impact of the E-tolls.
We are pleased to announce that after thorough consultation, we now have a new dispensation on the E-tolls, which provides major relief to the people of Gauteng.
I would like thank the people of Gauteng and the rest of society for the contributions they have made towards the new dispensation on the E-Tolls.
We urge motorists and the people of Gauteng to support the new dispensation and pay their tariffs. Any concerns on the new dispensation will be addressed if they are raised with us. Problems of democracy must be addressed through more democracy, not anarchy and lawlessness.
As I conclude, I wish to indicate that the Office of the Premier will continue to play its strategic leadership role in ensuring that as GPG we sustain the momentum we have built thus far and that we move with speed towards achieving the goals we have set for ourselves.
My sincere gratitude goes to Members of the Executive Council for continuing to work as an activist Provincial Cabinet team that is visible, proactive and responsive.
I have full confidence in all of you. Contrary to some media reports, I have no intention to reshuffle the Gauteng Cabinet in the near future.
I would like to conclude by thanking the Oversight Committee on the Office of the Premier and Legislature and the entire Legislature for keeping us on our toes and holding us accountable.
Lastly, I would like to thank the DG, Senior Managers, my Special Advisors and staff in the Office of the Premier for continuing to serve the people our beautiful province with dedication and distinction.
Honourable members, this Budget will go a long way in helping the Office to fulfil its vast responsibilities to the people of Gauteng. I commend this Budget to the House.
Thank you.
