Honourable Speaker
Honourable Premier
Honourable Members of the Executive
Honourable Members of the Legislature
Members of the media
The Gauteng citizenry:

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering,” (Ben Okori)

Honourable Speaker, these pressing and poignant words by the Nigerian author captures the resilience in the character of our people who even in their uncertainty and fears remain hopeful that their country is capable and that they too will one day live in a society where social equality, economic liberty and emancipation from poverty and unemployment are not a myth but a reality. It is the very same hope and spirit of anticipation that made these South Africans of goodwill to believe that the announced plans in the 2014 State of the Province Address would be implemented and bore fruits. These South Africans believed that the first State of the Province Address in the fifth term of a democratically elected government would turn their dark reality into a glorious success.

Madam Speaker, indeed these South Africans of goodwill listened attentively to the commitment made by the Premier in his inaugural State of the Province Address, that, “We shall work with municipalities and national government to ensure that all township roads and streets across the length and breadth of our province are tarred; we eradicate the bucket system and that all hostels, including the one next door here, are rebuilt and regenerated into family units, a commitment that has been made again and again without sufficient progress,” (SOPA, 2014).

Honourable Speaker, the Premier’s words gave hope and inspired confidence. And the IFP together with the people of Gauteng hoped that the Honourable Premier would effectively respond to these challenges he identified by acting according to the call- “Business unusual: All hands on deck to speed change.” Yet, the unfortunate reality today, is that hostel residents are still subjected to the same conditions they were last year.

The new promise of providing 100 000 Houses over the next (five) years, would it be adequate in addressing the current backlog estimated at 800 000 households in the demand database; with some households been waiting since 1996/97. Honourable Speaker, one of the key findings by the Auditor General on the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements is that the department had overcommitted financially, which then explains the slow-payment of Contractors. Are there measures put in place to address this, because if there isn’t, then this defeats one of the key elements of ensuring radical economic and decisive spatial transformation. And this is critical in growing the SMME Sector as a key driver of growth and revitalising and mainstreaming the township economy.

Honourable Members, the Housing Sector is fundamental to Local Economic Empowerment as it creates jobs, but when Contractors are not paid the locals bear the brunt. The payment of SMME’s within 30 days should be a non-negotiable performance indicator. The MEC of Human Settlement is yet to indulge us with his ‘Turnaround Strategy’ and we trust that it will be before the budget is brought to us to ‘condone’ as we do not rubberstamp anymore, otherwise our people will continue suffering.

And so, it is the kind of endurance against these painful suffering that Ben Okori describes the strength of humankind. But for how long will this unquestionable “die-hard” attitude of the people be tested? For how long will these people be made to wait in vain?  Can we really claim that we are serving to ensure that the dreams and aspirations of South Africans are realized, when we still have Gauteng citizens living without constitutionally guaranteed basic services such as water, electricity, sanitation? Honourable Members, these are serious questions that really require us to think long and hard before attempting to respond, because any response we give will determine the nature of our leadership.

Madam Speaker, the Honourable Premier said in his 2014 State of the Province Address that, “We want our Province to be a leading economy in the Continent; an economy which is characterised by smart, innovation-driven, and knowledge-based industries, but we also want to build a government that is more accountable, more responsive and more transparent; a government that is clean; a government that promotes an active citizenry.”

Honourable speaker, there is none so blind in this august house to the fact that the Honourable Premier in this passage was spot on in identifying key things that the government needed to do to improve the lives of people in Gauteng. However, the manifestation of the first fruits on this promise made in the State of the Province last year is yet to come and so is the accountability for it. Madam Speaker, while I desire not to set a precedent for scepticism and distrust, the unavoidable burden of responsibility beckons that I remind Honourable Members that, we sat and marvelled at the Ten Pillars introduced by the honourable Premier in the 2014 State of the Province Address. Unfortunately, the Honourable Premier’s Address on Monday did less to account on how this programme has helped to improve the lives of Gauteng people over the past nine months as promised.

In their book titled, Leadership Without Excuses, co-authors, Jeff Grimshaw and Gregg Baron provided an interesting analysis on the issue of accountability which I desire to share with you Honourable Members. They wrote that, “There are three kinds of people: Some are Saints; they are always accountable. Some are Sinners; they are never accountable. But most are Save-ables; they are prone to self-deception.” 

Madam Speaker, the IFP commends the Honourable Premier's for committing approximately R160 million towards revitalising the township economy and the R300 million set out to support township enterprises and cooperatives in the 2015/2016 financial year. The success of township and village enterprises (tve's) and their major contribution towards the overall economy of China is a profound example that should serve to inspire South Africa to invest on its unexplored township economy. The IFP believes that this will not only unlock financial prospects for the people of Gauteng, but also serve to put South Africa on par with other fast growing economies within the 'global bottom' such as Brazil, India and Russia.

Honourable Speaker, let me however alert the House that within these targeted townships economies still exist marginalised hostels communities which are significant pockets of unemployment, poverty and inequality. The question in our hearts as IFP is that why is it so difficult to reintegrate these by giving those qualifying RDP housing in the adjacent ‘green-fields projects or by converting these wherever possible into family RDP units other than them standing unoccupied and prone to invasion and vandalism as recently seen with the Mzimhlophe fracas. Though the office of the MEC permits us to see the radical approach and commitment to review the Hostels Redevelopment Programme and critique openly the shortcomings of the Community Residential Units (CRU) Policy. We are now tired of hearing the Department of Human Settlement’s lamentation on this on a quarterly basis; we want action as driven by the Premier.  Honourable Members, as people languish in dehumanising conditions within the old hostels and backyards, it is painful to watch ‘modernised townhouses’ that were built at the expense of their expectations remaining ‘white elephants’.

Madam Speaker, while we acknowledge the superiority of the Gauteng economy and its contribution to overall economy of the country, the SADC region and the continent at large. We are also mindful of a recent research study by Dr Thami Mazwai which illustrates that the country's economic development strategy is likely to sustain socio-economic apartheid than improve lives. It is our view that this is the reason why the majority of black people, women and youth remain at the periphery of the economic sector while spatial inequalities continue to swell. Therefore, the IFP concurs with Dr Mazwai’s proposal that we should support economic policies that focus on value-add industries in the townships and encourage co-operation between business, labour, government, universities and the SMME's. Likewise, the IFP welcomes the by-in of local government on the intervention to revitalising the township economy together with the commitment to reconfiguring the Gauteng City Region space. However, the IFP caution that this should not be done at the peril of displacing inner-city residents. The investment in better buildings; clean streets; and greening the Cities’ open spaces investors should benefit all those who live and work in the Cities.  Those who require affordable rental housing should not be compromised and room must be made to accommodate vulnerable street vendors in this commitment.

Honourable Members, it goes without saying that we cannot discuss the issue of revitalising the economy distinctively from the public transport infrastructure. The IFP participated in the reviewing of the e-tolling system where we clearly stated that e-tolling will impact greatly on low-income people particularly single moms who depend solely on public transport to get to work on time to avoid losing their jobs. Honourable Speaker, the sad reality in our country today is that over 39% of the children are raised by these single mothers as recently shown by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). It is against this, that we hope that government will do an honourable thing and consider the weeps of Gauteng residents in the resolve of this matter.

Madam Speaker, we are pleased that the Jabulani District Hospital and Natalspruit Regional Hospital were officially opened in 2014 as pledged by the Honourable Premier. The IFP commends this move but also wishes to express concern at the recent reports depicting a trail of unfriendly services in public health facilities that has often resulted in the loss of life, case in point, the Lenasia South clinic saga. Honourable Members, while we clean the outside of the cup we also need to do the same on the inside. We need to rid off the tendency to treat people in hospitals, clinics or any public facility with disdain and disrespect.

This growing sense of intolerance and disrespect has now been extended to those we like to call “foreigners”. Madam Speaker, the looting and torturing of Somalians and other foreign nationals is fast becoming a way of life in this country, and Gauteng is leading the pack in this regard. While, the attacks continue to be perceived as ‘ordinary criminality’ foreign nationals continue to live in constant fear of falling victim to those South Africans who have vowed to vent their frustration over economic exclusion. By last year, the African Diaspora Forum revealed that 900 foreign nationals had perished in these violent attacks since 2008 in South Africa. Which begs the question- Is the government’s denialism and inaction not symptomatic of the fact that these shameful events are xenophobic, as the Editor of Independent Newspapers imply?

Honourable Speaker, the truth of the matter is that this situation is getting out of control and decisive intervention is needed. We need to restore the dignity of our province, and one way to do this is to move away from only condemning bad deeds, but going an extra mile in finding the root causes and dealing with them accordingly. We need to be true to ourselves and ask ourselves the hardest question of whether these social unrests are not born out of bad policy in dealing with unemployment, drug abuse, poverty and other social ills that are gradually eating away the good character and moral fibre of the people of Gauteng.

Honourable Speaker, let me conclude this address by quoting the former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin who said: “... I shall always trust the instincts of our democratic people. They may come a little late, but my word, they come with a certainty when they do come; they come with unity not imposed from the top, not imposed by force, but a unity that nothing can break. ...I believe today that, whatever differences there may be among us on various questions – as there must be – the conviction is biting deep into our society, with all its love of peace, that there must be no retreat on our resolutions, but an obligation to meet any possible peril from whatever quarter it may come. That feeling is coupled with our shared feeling of anxiety to see all our social evils addressed. But until that day comes, nothing will shake the resolution either of this House or of our people.”