Premier David Makhura: Gauteng State of the Province Address 2018

State of the Province Address delivered by Gauteng Premier David Makhura at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in Johannesburg.Madame Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Chief Whip Leaders of Political PartiesbrFellow Members of the Executive Council Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature Distinguished GuestsbrThe people of Gauteng:Dumelang.

Ndi matsheloni. Avusheni, Sanibonani.

Molweni. Lotshani.

Goeie More. Good Morning!The election of President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, on the 15th of February 2018, heralds the new dawn of hope, renewal and change for South Africa.

The President very appropriately described this historic moment during his inaugural State of the Nation Address on the 16th of February 2018:"We should honour Madiba by putting behind us the era of discord, disunity and disillusionment. We should put behind us the era of diminishing trust in public institutions and weakened confidence in leaders.

We should put all the negativity that has dogged our country behind us because a new dawn is upon us. It is a new dawn that is inspired by our collective memory of Nelson Mandela and the changes that are unfolding.

As we rid our minds of all negativity, we should reaffirm our belief that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. For, though we are a diverse people, we are one nation"Fellow South Africans, I sincerely believe President Cyril Ramaphosa is the kind of leader that South Africa needs at this moment, given the nature of the challenges our country faces.

Let us all support him across party-political affiliation and ideological divide.We in Gauteng are deeply humbled and highly encouraged that much of what the President outlined in his State of the Nation Address constitutes the core of our programme for radical Transformation, Modernisation and Re-industrialisation.

Emboldened by President Ramaphosa's call for renewal and change, we shall act with greater determination to increase momentum on the following programmes:Addressing the problem of youth unemployment through Tshepo 1 Million, in partnership with the private sector and the youthStrengthening the partnership with the private sector, labour and civil society to unlock inclusive growth, greater levels of employment and empowerment as well as structural transformation and reindustrialisation of the Gauteng economyIncreasing support for the revitalisation of the township economyHarnessing the opportunities provided by the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution, by modernising key sectors of the economy and the stateSpeeding up the delivery of new infrastructure and paying attention to the maintenance of existing infrastructure across the Gauteng City RegionUpholding ethical leadership and integrity by intensifying the fight against corruption, collusion, maladministration in partnership with civil societyReconnecting with communities and unlocking their energies, for them to become the primary drivers of renewal and changeChanging the culture of the public service so that we treat citizens with dignity and serve the people with compassion and professionalism.brAs a province that played no small role in bringing about this era of change and renewal, Gauteng has a responsibility to conceptually, practically and programmatically unpack the full meaning of the new dawn.

It cannot be business as usual.We must first acknowledge that we are emerging from a period of pain, adversity and despair.

It has been a difficult and trying time for citizens, business and even those of us who have been afforded the opportunity and responsibility to serve the people in government.As a father and a family man living in Gauteng, I know that life has been particularly tough for parents who have the responsibility of putting bread on the table for their families and raising their children.

The price of food, electricity and transport has been sky rocketing placing enormous stress on family finances.This has led to increased incidence of urban poverty and food insecurity in our province.

Our approach to dealing with poverty has to change. It cannot be business as usual.

Despite the fact that our economy created a massive 300 000 jobs between 2014 and 2016, and another 400 000 jobs between 2010 and 2014, this momentum has slowed down in 2017, owing to tough macro- economic conditions.Already, there are clear signals that a new dawn is upon us, instilling renewed confidence in South Africa's economy.

All key players in the economy including labour, business and consumers are willing to work together under the leadership of President Ramaphosa to get South Africa working.The new dawn should usher in the total renewal of the public service and fundamental change in the way citizens experience governance, including strengthening accountability and integrity of public officials and public servants.

I will return to this matter later.The new dawn is about drawing inspiration from the life of Nelson Mandela who had an amazing ability to turn adversity into opportunity war into peace enemies into friends despair into hope and tragedy into a force for positive change.

In his book A Time for New Dreams, Ben Okri, the distinguished African scholar and writer, says the following about learning from adversity and difficult times:"The Aeneid reminds us that great civilisations can be built on great failures. It also reminds us that adversity is not the end of a story but where there is courage and vision, the beginning of a new one, a greater one than before.

Difficult times do one of two things to us: they either break us or they force us to go back to the primal ground of our being. Adversity wakes us up.

It reminds us not who we think we are in our vanity, but who we really are in our simplicity..

It is in difficult times that the great times ahead are dreamt and built, brick by brick, with maturity and the hope that comes from wise action."The new dawn must inspire us to recoil from despair and wake up from the nightmare of a bleak future so that we can rebuild the South Africa of our dreams.

Borrowing from the poetic words of Professor Keorapetse Kgositsile, the new dawn must inspire us to "rehabilitate our wounded dreams, and reclaim and nourish the song of the quality of our vibrant being".The new dawn must also inspire the young people of our province to dream big and aspire to live in a province, a country and a world where there is equality, economic freedom and prosperity for all as well as social and environmental justice.

The youth must follow the wise counsel of President Nelson Mandela that "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." They should know that there is no shortcut to self- development and empowerment.

Education is an act of love.Through education young people will be empowered to play a meaningful role in society and pursue their dreams, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.

As part of preparing our children for a better future, the Gauteng Provincial Government has achieved 95% universal access to Grade R.Providing all children with early childhood development opportunities is part of the South African dream espoused in our National Development Plan.

With regard to basic education, Gauteng runs the second largest public education system after Kwa-Zulu-Natal, with enrolment having grown from 1.3 million in 1994 to 2.

3 million in 2018.Gauteng has also consistently been among the best performing provinces on basic education. Our throughput rate is above 70%.

In the 2017 Grade 12 results Gauteng came second after Free State, while seven of our districts were in the top 10 nationally.The most significant improvement in our basic education system is evident in the turnaround of township schools and the overall performance of learners from townships, especially in gateway subjects such as Mathematics, Science, Technology, Economics and Accounting.

Madame Speaker, Gauteng is the only province that offers all the 11 official languages and 7 international languages. This is consistent with the cosmopolitan and diverse character of our province, which we embrace with both hands.

Gauteng is truly a home for all.As part of preparing our children for the future, in particular for the digital industrial revolution, Gauteng is the leader in the deployment of digital technology for learning and teaching.

In 2017, our province was awarded a Gold prize for artisan skills development by the National Skills Authority, in recognition of the effort we are putting into vocational training that responds to the needs of the economy. Our schools of specialisation represent a major intervention.

The deployment of digital technology has significantly raised the level of interest and has improved digital skills among learners in our public education system.Over the past five years, the Gauteng government has spent R1 billion on bursaries which have benefitted more than 20 000 graduates.

We will continue to invest more resources in the training and development of young people.We welcome the introduction of free higher education for students from working class and poor family backgrounds.

This is truly the dawn of a new era for many parents and young people who have been denied access to higher education simply on the basis of the circumstances of their birth. Several generations of students have fought pitched battles in pursuit of this dream.

Now the ball is in the court of the students, who must work hard to complete their studies so that they do not betray the struggles and sacrifices made over many decades.As I have said before, youth unemployment is the most acute and primary economic problem of our time.

In Gauteng, there are close to 2 million young people, most of whom are neither in employment, education nor training. Some of them are on the verge of losing hope, others have drifted to crime and other social ills such as drug and substance abuse.

In response, we launched Ke Moja which has reached more...