Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi says government has made progress in changing the province’s socio-economic landscape from the ‘racialised spatial nightmare’ that it was in 1994.

The Premier was delivering the State of the Province Address (SOPA) at Nasrec in Johannesburg, on Monday evening.

Lesufi reflected that when Gauteng’s first SOPA was delivered in 1994, ‘there was no Gauteng Legislature, or Gauteng Departments to speak of’.

‘At the time, the Mandela Bridge was not even a figment of the imagination; nor was the Blue IQ multibillion investment in economic infrastructure development. At the time, there was no soccer stadium called ‘Soccer City’ – the host venue for the historic 2010 FIFA world cup show piece. At the time, there was no low-cost housing, or what is known as RDP houses, to speak of.

‘Today 30 years later, I am proud to stand before you to report back to this august House and the people of our province on all the milestones which have transfigured the face of our province over the last th
ree decades due to the interventions of this government.

‘The province of Gauteng has changed beyond recognition from the racialised spatial nightmare of our past,’ he said.

He explained that government’s vision of society is driven by the goal of ‘creating a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and just society’.

‘Our vision have been translated by successive ANC-led administrations through the Gauteng Trade and Investment Strategy, the Blue IQ Mega Infrastructure projects, the Ten-pillar Programme of Transformation, Modernisation and Reindustrialisation (TMR), the Growing Gauteng Together (GGT2030) Plan, and now our elevated priorities anchored on Township, Informal Settlements and Hosital (TISH) as we conclude the sixth administration,’ he said.

Strengthened economy

Lesufi said despite the crunching effect that the COVID-19 pandemic had on employment, the province’s economy ‘remained resilient’ and bounced back with some 449 000 jobs.

‘During this past year, Gauteng, as the country’s economic h
ub, experienced an increase of 96 300 jobs, with 31 300 jobs in the last 90 days. We are proud to declare that since the COVID-19 pandemic, our economy is now firmly back on track and we are ready to pump our economy further,’ he said.

The Premier said billions of rands have been attracted to the province which have also led to thousands of jobs.

‘Our province has attracted more than R68 Billion in investments from 261 foreign companies and created about 23 000 direct jobs in our economy. These investments cut across the ten high-growth sectors of our economy.

‘Our province proudly hosted the 5th South African Investment Conference in April last year. In total, this conference realised R1.14 trillion worth of investment commitments across a range of economic sectors, of which R22 Billion is destined for Gauteng,’ he said.

The township economy

Lesufi said the Gauteng government has made concerted efforts to prioritise the ‘economic landscape of our townships’.

He revealed that over the past five years, g
overnment has spent some R15 billion on goods and services sourced from township based businesses.

‘In the last year alone, we spent R2.2 billion on township businesses which demonstrates our substantial investment to empowering township communities, leading to increased economic activities, job creation, and a positive impact on the unemployment rate.

‘As we continue to increase government’s spending in townships, we are equally strengthening the capacity and infrastructure of the township enterprises. In the past year, over 4 000 township retailers have been trained in enterprise development and are now capacitated to operate successful businesses,’ he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency