Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
8 October 1999
Mayor Sambo
MEC's
Councillors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
The Gauteng Provincial Government and its people are greatly humbled by this gesture of support. We sincerely thank the Greater Germiston Council for extending such a welcome and pledge of support to the government. This underscores your commitment to democracy. This gesture simply says that you accept that the people have spoken and that the government in place is a legitimate government elected by the people for the people. We must use this occasion to consolidate relations between ourselves as the elected representatives of the people.
The strategic objective of the South African revolution and therefore the work of government remain that of building a truly non-racial, non-sexist, united and democratic South Africa. This entails a radical programme of social transformation, which while aimed at all South Africans, must be biased towards women, youth, blacks, the poor and disadvantaged. All South Africans regardless of race and social status have a responsibility to ensure the attainment of this goal.
Through the election Manifesto, the ANC has clearly spelt out the tasks for the next five years. Having carefully studied this manifesto, nearly two thirds of the people of South Africa agreed that only the ANC has a workable programme that can radically transform South Africa to be a better place to live in. More than two thirds in Gauteng overwhelming entrusted the ANC with the mandate to govern, despite the scare tactics of all opposition parties. The people of Gauteng granted us this unequivocal mandate because they share our vision of:
This is the vision that will guide our daily work in our determination to change people's lives, faster.
We are committed to a clean, effective and transparent government. All departments have put in place systems to detect and to prevent corruption.
Should anyone be proved to have been involved in corruption, we will act swiftly and fearlessly. The same will apply to companies who may be found to have either paid bribes or attempted to bribe any official or politician.
They will be prosecuted and in future prevented from any involvement in government contracts. The same will apply to shareholders of such companies.
As part of our commitment to create a safe and secure environment, we will work together with the national government to ensure the effective deployment of resources and personnel to combat crime. While the police should arrest criminals and rapists, communities need to help us root out such elements from society by working closely with the police.
The East Rand police are amongst our best in arresting criminals involved in cash heists and car hijackings. We send our condolences to the family members of police killed on and off duty. We know that criminals want to deter them from their sterling work. This we will not allow.
In line with the ANC's promise, to govern through a partnership with the people, we have spent the past four months holding our cabinet meetings in communities so that we could truly be in touch with the people and continue to consult them on our programmes and initiatives. We will continue with this initiative in order to remain true to the principle of a people's government.
Building a new patriotism requires of us to reclaim the ownership of our communities. All of us should feel individually obliged to participate in this tremendous task of building our nation and the Gauteng Province in particular.
The major challenge that faces us is that of providing the necessary space and ground for people to have direct participation on matters of government.
That challenge is especially relevant to local government as the one tier of government closest to the people. It is only through intergovernmental initiatives and collaboration that we will truly triumph and meet the expectations of the thousands of masses who have full confidence in our leadership.
It is our efforts of well-integrated delivery plans, which will make us move faster and closer to a better life for all the citizens of this province, wherever they may be.
Today the Deputy President reminded us of the pledge we made through our various formations on October 9 last year, to work in partnership to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS.
When we made the pledge and decided to form the partnership to fight this scourge we did so because we were aware that HIV/AIDS was not only a problem for the health sector but a problem for the entire nation.
Looking back at the time when we made the pledge we can see that more of us have been made aware of the danger of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and more people continue to join the campaign.
The war against HIV/AIDS has to be won. If we lose it our future will be doomed.
Chairperson, I am aware that while we are grappling with an agenda for social transformation, there are parties who have yet to accept that this government has a mandate to govern based not on their whims, but on the will of the people. The so-called leaders of such parties continue to behave as if the electorate has not spoken.
Having failed to convince the electorate of the validity of their policies in the elections, they now seek to dictate the agenda for change, as well as the pace. This we will not allow. We will also not allow a situation where we are held hostage by minuscule parties in the name of transparency and accountability. We are accountable to the citizens of Gauteng and not to the opposition. They may not like it, but this is what the electorate has decided.
I wish to reiterate what we have said all along - we will co-operate with the opposition insofar as they respect our mandate. We will listen to issues they raise insofar as they are part of our mandate. We will however not succumb or yield to pressure to accept failed proposals no matter how much or loud the opposition may scream. In any case they said that they want to be an effective opposition. Let them oppose, we will govern. Let them destroy. We will build. In the end, with the support of communities, the private sector and labour, we will emerge victorious!
Once more, thank you for honouring us this evening. I would like to reiterate that we are only a team of comrades whose primary responsibility is to liberate our people from starvation, joblessness and poverty. The strength of our success is the people for whom we will work tirelessly, honestly and without any sense of timidity.
Thank You.
Issued by Thabo Masebe
Spokesperson for the Premier
Gauteng Provincial Government
Tel: 082 551 4945