Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
13 August 1999
Johannesburg
Chairperson
Minister Mufamadi
Councillors
Distinguished guests
There is an inherent danger in meetings such as this. They often end up as talk shows. I hope that this summit will not end up like a talk show where all we have are nice discussions that are quickly forgotten as soon as the meeting ends, and we go on to enjoy food and drinks.
The different stakeholders here present have come with different expectations. Some see this as s summit to sink the process around iGoli 2002, 2010 or any other long-term strategy. Still there are some that have come here to witness an announcement of a wholesale sale of our state assets. Regardless of our differing expectations, I am sure that we are also here because we share a common vision of developing Johannesburg into a world class African City.
We have come here because we all agree that we need to act together as government, business, political organisations, civic organisations, labour and the communities to find solutions to the many problems which threaten to reduce Johannesburg into a ghost city. We cannot allow bickering over minor details to derail the process of rebuilding our city. This would not be in the best interest of anyone. Neither should we ignore the inputs, which are aimed at ensuring that the plan to rebuild our city takes place in the best interest of the community, business and workers in Johannesburg.
A rejuvenated Johannesburg provides an opportunity for economic growth and strengthening of our domestic capital. Such growth should as far as is possible provide for job security, create sustainable jobs, provide infrastructure to benefit the majority of our people who suffer from brutal poverty.
As government and, I would argue, all of us who are here today have noted with concern the exodus by business from the CBD. While we do not agree with their move, and indeed we should do everything in our power to stem the tide, it would be imprudent for us as government or anyone to simply challenge business to remain in the city without attending to the factors compelling such moves.
The central challenge facing all of us therefore is to find solutions to the many factors contributing to the exodus. We must create safer conditions for all key stakeholders in the revitalisation of the city to play the role expected of them to bring back high economic activity in the city.
Crime is obviously one of the factors contributing to the decline of the city of Johannesburg. As government, working together with the law enforcement agencies, communities, business and labour we must commit ourselves to rid Johannesburg of the scourge of crime that threatens all citizens of our beautiful city.
It is our view as government that iGoli 2002 is an important and innovative initiative that deserves the support of all of us. We also have to move beyond support for the initiative to a stage where we commit ourselves to doing our outmost to make a success.
This is not to say that there are no areas that may need to be ironed out.
It just means that we must isolate those areas that require further attention by the local government in order for the plan to succeed. At the same time, even as we debate these differences, we must avoid turning ourselves into a debating society. There must come a time when we must as government, hopefully with the support of all stakeholders, move on with the implementation.
I am encouraging to see the level of commitment to this vision of developing our beautiful city as shown by the work that all the key stakeholders (political organisations, civic organisations, business community and labour) have already done during the past four months.
That process which began four months ago has brought together the resources we have in the greater Johannesburg area to formulate ideas which must now be concretised at this summit. From here we will be in a position to begin the implementation phase.
One of the most important outcomes of this summit will be a time-focussed programme to be implemented by all stakeholders represented here. At the end of this summit each of the stakeholders represented should know exactly what their roles are in the implementation of the resolutions we shall have taken.
What we must never allow is a situation where we are compelled to convene another summit after six months to discuss the same issues and take the same resolutions. We have to move forward with speed. When we meet again in this form we must assess the progress we will have made in pursuit of our objectives.
When opening of Provincial Legislature on 28 June 1999 I made a point that local government has an important role to play in the delivery of services and the implementation of various development programmes.
The policies we formulate at national and provincial levels of government can only make the desired impact to the lives of the ordinary people if we have an effective and efficient local government.
It is for this reason that Gauteng Provincial Government made a commitment to build the capacity of local government structures to enable them to run their affairs more efficiently and effectively and deliver the services they are expected to deliver to the people.
By building and strengthening the capacity of local government we will also be creating more possibilities for the local communities to become directly involved in their own development. The MEC for Development Planning and Local Government, Trevor Fowler, has already began developing a plan to fulfil our commitment to build and strengthen the capacity of local government.
In keeping with our commitment to maintain closer co-operation with local government and closer contact with the communities, we have decided that the Provincial Executive Council should visit all the six regions of Gauteng.
We have already visited two regions, Khayalami and the East Rand. These visits afford local councils an opportunity to interact directly with the Provincial Executive Council. Community leaders also have an opportunity to speak to members of the Executive Council and raise whatever issues they may want to raise with the provincial government. The next visit will be to the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council on the 18th August 1999.
My task today is to open this summit. So I am not going to take much of the time which should be spent discussing what we should do to move forward.
But before I sit down I want to make one last point. As local government closes its last phase of transition, we have to spend the remaining transitional period finalising its structures and systems. We have to find the best system, which will also allow for more participation by the people. We must combine our energies and intellectual resources to make sure that not a single aspect of local government transformation escapes us.
On behalf of the Gauteng Provincial Government and the people of Gauteng I wish summit successful deliberations. Thank you.