Mr Speaker, Richard Mdakane
Deputy speaker, Sophia Williams De Bruyn
Honourable leaders of political parties
Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC), Gwede Mantashe
Honourable members of the legislature
Honourable mayors
Former Premiers of Gauteng, Tokyo Sexwale, Mathole Motshekga and Mbhazima Shilowa
The Director-General of the province
Gauteng Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS)
Heads of departments and agencies
Chairperson of the Gauteng Youth Commission
Comrades and friends
The people of Gauteng
Honourable speaker

I stand before you humbled by the faith and confidence you have placed in me to lead this province as the Premier of Gauteng.

As I indicated, when I accepted the nomination, I undertook this responsibility fully cognisant of the duties and responsibilities that are attached to this high office, as outlined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the expectations that the people of Gauteng have of the Premier of the province.

On 27 October is the birthday of the late President of the African National Congress, Oliver Tambo. One of the things we will do this year is to organise various programmes to celebrate the life and times of this great leader of our country.

We will do so because we owe it to this great and selfless leader of our people and his generation that includes Nelson Mandela, the first President of a Democratic South Africa, Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, and many others.

This year also marks the 32nd anniversary of the 16 June uprising.

The generation of 16 June responded to the call by the leadership to swell the ranks of the African National Congress and UmKhonto WeSizwe.

When President Oliver Tambo made a call to make South Africa ungovernable and the apartheid system unworkable, this generation responded with conviction and was at the forefront of the struggle to liberate our people.

As I assume the highest office in the province, I would like to pay tribute to the many heroines and heroes of the 1976 generation and the young lions of the 1980's. Many paid the ultimate price with their lives for the freedom we enjoy today.

These generations stood firm in the face of the oppressive and brutal apartheid regime and were steadfast in their resolve to fight for the liberation of their people. They were always driven by the clarion call, "Freedom in our Life Time."

There are many from this generation who are still alive and are now deployed in various positions of responsibility to continue with the task of selflessly serving our people.

As I perform my duties, I will carry with me their aspirations, courage and determination.

Honourable speaker, my task between now and the 2009 general elections together with the democratically elected representatives of the people in the Gauteng Legislature is to complete the mandate given to us by our people when they voted for us in the 2004 general elections.

We are fully aware that this government derives its mandate from the people, because they have voted overwhelmingly for the ANC. They have done so because they have confidence in us to improve their lives for the better.

We therefore remain committed to "A Peoples contract to create work and fight poverty" together with our people.

In the coming months we will interact with our people in various communities to ensure that we accelerate delivery of services and improve the lives of our people.

Honourable speaker,

Since 1994, this government, working with our people, has made significant progress in building a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, united and prosperous society.

Today, many of our people have access to decent housing, receive basic services, water, sanitation and electricity, and we have increased access to social grants and provided quality health care and education.

The Gauteng economy continues to grow. It remains the powerhouse of our country's economy and responsible for over a third of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In Gauteng, unemployment has gone down from 30,8 percent in 2003 to 22,6 percent in 2007.

All these would have not been possible if it was not for the solid foundation laid by my predecessors.

Ntate Sexwale, you and your team were the pioneers who laid the foundation, which made it possible for Premier Motshekga and his team to build a house for democratic governance in Gauteng.

Premier Shilowa and your team, you have completed the house, to make it possible for us to build a better Gauteng for our people to enjoy the fruits of freedom.

Premier Shilowa, let me take this opportunity to record my sincere gratitude for the sterling work you done in leading our provincial government since 1999. Your contribution to the work of our government will be remembered and we wish you well in your endeavours.

As my team and I today take over a solid house built on a firm foundation, we will make sure that this house is properly maintained.

Key priorities

As part of building Gauteng as a Globally Competitive City Region, over the next six months our priority is to ensure a stable and growing economy in the province. The economy should create work and other economic opportunities for the growing number of our people.

Honourable speaker, we remain on course to achieve our target of eight percent growth by 2014. Provincially, we are growing at 5,1 percent, above the national average.

Education and skills

Honourable speaker, to achieve these high levels of growth, we will pay special attention to education and skills development.

Through the Gauteng Global City Region Academy, we will ensure that necessary skills required by the state and our growing economy are produced.

We will also make sure that all public schools become centres of learning and excellence.

In November, the class of 2008 will be starting with their examinations. Let us work hard to ensure that they do even better than the class of 2007. We wish them well.

Fighting crime

Honourable speaker, crime is our number one enemy. This is despite the work we have done since 1994 in transforming policing services and mobilising our people in the fight against crime.

As government, we want our people to live in a crime-free society.

With the launch of the "Take Charge Campaign," we have seen many of our people in communities across the province joining hands with the police in the fight against crime.

In the coming months, we will strengthen our crime prevention efforts by building a strong movement against crime in partnership with our people and civil society organisations.

We will also intensify the training of patrollers, because we believe they have a key role to play in the fight against crime.

Whereas progress has been made in reducing other forms of crime, violent crime remains a particular challenge. We will in the coming months work with the police and indeed our people to strengthen this area of work.

In the coming months we will strengthen the criminal justice system.

In doing so, we have established a crime management centre focusing on collecting and analysing information on crime to ensure that there is effective policing and prosecution.