Issued by: Office of the Premier
7 OCTOBER 1999
Your Excellencies
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great pleasure for me to be given this platform to address the 24th South Africa Israel Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting. I am honoured, on behalf of the people of Gauteng, to present a few words at this occasion about our efforts to make a better life for all.
I would like to begin by expressing gratitude to the support given to us by the people of Israel during the dark days of apartheid. The subsequent investments in the economy of our country and overseeing of our young democracy have consolidated good friendship between us.
Apart from government to government relations, we are also thankful of the trade between local business people and their Israeli counterparts, as this has contributed to the economic expansion of both countries.
The relationship between government, labour and business represents an alliance of partners whose common interest is the creation of a better society. As our President has said we are 'a nation at work for a better life'. Each one of us has the responsibility to improve the living conditions of the impoverished majority of citizens in our country. The fundamental question is to what extent are we all responding to this call, to commit ourselves to work for a common purpose.
As the economic capital of South Africa, Gauteng is faced with immense pressure to meet the country's major challenges and the expectations of our diverse populace. The Gauteng Provincial Government has vowed never to fail the nation in this regard.
We have been consulting with representatives of political parties, the private sector and community organisations, in order to identify what role they can play in this journey to prosperity.
Amongst some key strategic priorities of our government is the mammoth task of job creation, infrastructure development and economic growth.
The government alone cannot succeed in dealing with these challenges. We encourage you to forge links with us so that together we can tackle them.
In order to realise economic growth, we need to invest in infrastructure development and create a highly skilled labour force. This calls for training on the most recent skills required to meet the challenges of contemporary economic activities. In this sense we will continue to support labour intensive projects, which aim at improving the economic infrastructure of the province.
As the economy has become more and more globally oriented, traditional economic activities have suffered a tremendous blow, living many people jobless. We therefore have a collective task to reshape our economic focus to be in line with contemporary developments, as failure to make correct judgements will affect all of us.
The Gauteng Provincial Government has identified critical areas of economic intervention in order to address these challenges. Together with business and communities we wish to influence real economic activity in the areas of investment, trade and tourism. It also remains our challenge to ensure that such investments and the benefits thereof are in line with our commitment to improve the lot of many disadvantaged people in the country.
We will concentrate on increasing the ownership stake of disadvantaged citizens in the mainstream economy and continue to promote black entrepreneurship. We will also focus on improving consumer access to mechanisms of redress and improve consumer education and awareness.
Whilst we maintain sound financial policies, we will deploy a major stake in our budget towards social services and poverty alleviation. We have learnt the harsh consequences of dishing out cash gifts to poor communities. Thus we have developed poverty relief programmes which are aimed at empowering individuals and communities to help themselves create jobs and sustain their lives.
Through Small, Medium and Macro Enterprises we wish to continue transferring entrepreneurial skills to ordinary people so that they can also enter the economic mainstream. We require the assistance of the private sector in building strong managerial capabilities to run these projects so as to reduce the amount of SMMEs that have collapsed due to lack of proper management and financial viability.
Another important catalyst for economic growth in our province is co-operative governance in economic affairs. Thus the formulation, implementation and monitoring of economic policies ought to be communicated, consulted and collectively managed.
That should characterise the delicate nature of this alliance of partners in its endeavour to transform the economic character of the Gauteng Province.
Ladies and gentlemen, a working nation is made of tireless individuals who will never give up their responsibilities, for what binds them is their permanent desire to change society to be a better place to live in. Let us all play our part, our nation calls on us to be true patriots and do what is best for present and future generations.
Thank You.
Issued by Office of the Premier
For inquiries please contact Thabo Masebe at 082 551 4945