9 November 2001
Honourable Speaker
Honourable members
Fellow citizens
Today we present before you the third report back on what we have done to implement the programmes we announced at the beginning of the year, the effect this has had, and what still needs to be done to achieve our stated goal of a better life for all.
We continue to make steady progress in delivering on the commitments we made in our manifesto. As we said before, a promise made is a promise kept. We have no doubt that, together with communities, business and labour, we remain on course to meet the challenges outlined at the beginning of the year.
On Friday 26 October 2001, Martinus Van Schalkwyk announced the withdrawal of the NNP from the Democratic Alliance. He summed up his feelings as follows: "We suddenly found ourselves in a party that had not arrived in a new South Africa."
In a similar vein, Piet Meyer the former MEC for Transport in the Western Cape Provincial Government said: "The DP is leading the Western Cape down a suicidal road."
Thus, a year after the formation of the DA, the NNP leadership came to the same conclusion as the majority of South Africans - that the Democratic Party has yet to arrive at the new South Africa.
We remain hopeful that the day will come when all political parties regardless of their political orientation will one day share a common vision for a transformed South Africa, and avoid a situation described by Christina Qunta, who said:
"The crux of the problem is that the despondency that seems to be gripping young white people is in large part fuelled by the negative spin the DP puts on everything done by black people and the black government.
Instead of allowing white children to embrace the opportunity to grow up without the boundaries and conditioning of apartheid, their parents ensure they experience unnecessary anguish and alienation. This in turn impairs their ability to develop loyalty to the country resulting in a sense of rootlessness."
We need to work together to move away from the notion of everyone for themselves and instead work together as a community to ensure that everyone, not just the privileged few, gets the chance to succeed, based on social justice. Let us together give meaning to the adage that the test of any decent society is not the contentment of the wealthy and strong, but its commitment to the poor and weak.
At the beginning of the year, we recommitted ourselves to an integrated programme to promote a better life for all; a programme to deliver peace and security, link reconstruction and development and deepen democracy.
We outlined a programme focusing on economic growth and development, poverty eradication and bridging the digital divide in the short, medium and long term.
In addition, we indicated the political outcomes that we will strive to achieve between now and the end of our term, thus making it possible for our citizens to jointly assess with us whether we remain on course, what the challenges are and why certain adjustments may be necessary.
The programme and its political outcomes constitute our joint contract with the people to act together for change.
Today we present to the house the progress we have made, the shortcomings and the challenges. Over the past two years, we have come to appreciate the importance of clearly establishing government's priorities, setting them out clearly for people and then focusing on them relentlessly whatever events may come and go. Above all we have come to appreciate the great obligation we have to explain to our citizens very clearly what are the difficult choices and challenges we face and how together we can work our way through them.
Talking to our people everywhere we go as the Executive Council and hearing their concerns, we have realised that while they applaud the direction in which we are going, they want us to move with the greatest speed and as profoundly as we possibly can. This we commit ourselves to.
Every day and every moment, the lives of people in Gauteng are touched by the effective implementation of government programmes and the delivery of services that respond to their needs and expectations.
We continue through our programmes and policies to do everything possible to ameliorate the difficult conditions of the most vulnerable of our citizens. We continue to pay special attention to combating disease, malnutrition and poverty
Our determination to turn Gauteng into a globally competitive smart centre continues unabated and is beginning to bear fruit. Our position as the economic hub of our country and the continent, generating over 40% and 10% of both South Africa and Africa's GDP respectively is undisputed. So too is the fact that we have the highest labour force skills profile and the largest and most prestigious research institutes, foundations and universities in our country.
Our positive economic position places a huge responsibility on us to do more to improve the economic standing of our country and our continent.
Our programme to speak and listen to the people in the form of Roving Executive Council meetings has demonstrated our commitment to the principles of accountability, transparency and people-centred governance.
During this year we have embarked on a vigorous programme to effectively communicate to our people our key priorities. These include business, communities of faith, institutions of higher learning, the media, public servants and communities.
We have also used these occasions to listen to their concerns and suggestions on how to respond decisively to the challenges of building a new society.
Through regular visits to schools, hospitals and pension pay points we were able to see first hand the extent to which service delivery improvements are taking place.
In the majority of cases there is dedication and improvements by management and public servants alike.
While there remain employees whose conduct undermines government work, the majority share with us a vision of a new public service committed to serve the needs of communities.
We will continue to ensure that instances of neglect and the uncaring attitudes of some of our workers are dealt with appropriately, through training, counselling and, where necessary, disciplinary action.
We remain committed, working together with the private sector, to ensure that economic growth and development remains at the forefront of our efforts to rebuild our economy and to provide infrastructure aimed at enhancing sustainable job creation underpinned by good governance.
This will in turn make it possible for us to deal with high unemployment rates and the provision of shelter, running water, electricity and sewerage.
Like the rest of Africa, we increasingly face a significantly altered international environment that has implications for our economic future. As the author Janine Aron puts it,
"revolutions in information and communications technology have facilitated international transactions in trade and finance, and the mobility of capital and industry amongst countries has consequently risen strongly. Science and technological changes are more easily transferable, creating pressures for exporters to innovate, diversify and adapt".
Provincial economic growth figures for 2000, recently released by economic consultancy DRI-WEFA, provide a picture of improved provincial economic growth in South Africa. The statistics confirm a significant turnaround in the fortunes of certain provinces, with the highlight being Gauteng, achieving a remarkable growth rate of 4,8%.
"Equally remarkable," according to DRI-WEFA, "is the fact that this rate of growth took place in spite of the province's mining output having declined by an estimated 11,8% during the year. This reflects the relatively low importance of mining, and especially gold mining in the province's economic activities nowadays. Mining activity is estimated to account for a mere 2,6% of Gauteng's economic output".
A study by the World Bank of Africa and Indian Ocean Islands on population, gross national product and purchasing power parity in 1999 showed that Gauteng with 7.8 million people had a GNP of 50.2 billion US dollars and a purchasing power of 132 billion US dollars. This placed us third after South Africa and Egypt, with 62 million people, a GNP of 87.55 US dollars and a purchasing power of 206 billion US dollars.
While this economic data presents only a small picture of the economy, it continues to reinforce the priorities of economic development, poverty alleviation and job creation that the province has set out for this term of office.
As positive as this picture is, we should not underestimate the possible negative impact that the tragic events of 11 September 2001 in the United States could have on us in the future.
We remain on course on all 10 Blue IQ projects focussing on tourism, technology, transport and high value-added manufacturing.
Together with the private sector, we will turn Gauteng into a smart centre making it possible for us to become globally competitive. Together with the private sector we can make a difference in the lives of our people, by making a contribution to economic growth and job creation.
Through the Blue IQ projects we can create a strong and balanced economy in order to eliminate poverty, develop a dynamic human resource capacity and facilitate the creation of a prosperous Gauteng.
A successful "Blue IQ Means Business Week" was held last month culminating in the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Bank of Malaysia, thereby ensuring access to a database of investors in South East Asia. This is in addition to the cooperation with TEMASEK of Singapore, which will help us access funds through their R100 million South African Investment Fund.
Significant progress has been made in terms of the accessing of land at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and the provision of bulk infrastructure, roads and public utilities at both the World Heritage Site and Dinokeng.
We finally have the certificate of the World Heritage Committee declaring this very small but important area a World Heritage Site. This is indeed a major success story for the African people as well as a clear testimony that the journey for Africa to reclaim its history and destiny is quickly gaining momentum.
The generous donation of land by Standard Bank will go a long way towards turning the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site into both a local and an international tourism mecca, one which is able to offer a unique and unparalleled tourist and educational experience.
A number of disease-free buffalo have been purchased and released into the Dinokeng park area.
The Innovation Hub, which was officially launched in March this year, has established Hub2B pilot site for the Innovation Hub Incubator with seven high-tech start-up companies in operation.
We have launched a CoachLab Leadership Programme through ITCoachLab. Together with St Albans and Mamelodi High School we have launched 'Technopreneurship at Schools'. We have two GODISA incubators in place focussing on software and bio-technology.
We have lodged an initial application for IDZ designation of Johannesburg International Airport, including a preliminary application for IDZ provisional operator permit. This has been gazetted. The design of the Atlas Road Upgrade and construction of R21/K90 Interchange is already in progress.
The same applies to the City Deep Container depot. The construction of the Rosherville West Road has commenced and will be completed this year. Work is underway for the adjudication of tenders for the upgrade of Lower Germiston Road and design of Clevelend Link Road respectively.
Following our international road show and the successful international conference attended by more than 350 international and local delegates, the Gautrain rail Link is now ready to leave the station.
Ten key stations between Johannesburg International Airport, Sandton, and Pretoria have been identified. A political committee of the EXCO comprising of MEC's Moleketi, Mosunkutu, Mashatile and Fowler has been established to oversee the overall process. We remain on course to finalise the short-listing of consortia at the end of this year.
As part of our commitment to sustainable development and preservation of the environment, Bohlweki Environmental has been appointed to conduct an environmental impact assessment study.
The Gautrain project will lead to an improved transportation system on the one hand and on the other will also help ensure that the long-term economic development goals of the province are met.
Various infrastructure developments, road signage and several road infrastructure projects are underway at the Wadeville Alrode Industrial Corridor. The Gauteng Manufacturing Advice Centre (GAUMAC) - a Section 21 company - to facilitate the province's SMME policy was launched in October 2001 during Blue IQ means business week and is now fully operational. We are finalising plans for community launches in Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng and the West Rand.
We will begin with the construction of shelters for informal traders once the Ekurhuleni council has appointed a contractor. Taxi lay byes in Wadeville complete. Work for the design and construction of various roads in the area are at various stages of completion.
The Gauteng Automotive Cluster was launched in May this year in partnership with the industry, key tertiary institutions and local and international research institutions. The tertiary institutions are currently developing curricular. Our dream to turn Gauteng into a world class automotive centre for manufacturing of cars and components has finally been realised.
Work for the construction of the Constitutional Court has began in earnest last month and is scheduled for completion in 2003. This project linked to our work in the Newtown Cultural precinct, Dinokeng and WHS will enhance the province's status as a tourism destination.
Anyone who ever doubted our commitment to turn Gauteng into a construction site should visit the Newtown Cultural precinct. Construction of the Metro Market including taxi rank, market and retail space has commenced and is scheduled for completion in 2002.
Construction of the Mary Fitzgerald Square has commenced and will be completed in December 2001. The Square redevelopment will be officially opened with a mega jazz concert featuring some of the best of South Africa's musicians on 17 December 2001. Through increased lighting in the Square we will attract more people to the cultural precinct who recognise the safe environment created thus far. This in addition to the current construction of on and off ramps into Newtown.
Work for the construction of the Mandela Bridge, whose unique design was unveiled in July this year, is underway. This unique bridge is scheduled for completion in 2003 and will be officially opened on 18 July 2001.
All of these projects have delivered infrastructure, training and much needed jobs to the people of Gauteng. A foundation has been laid. Blue IQ is the buzzword among local and international business. We must make it a buzzword amongst our people.
We will continue to link economic growth strategies to our development objectives.
We remain committed to the promotion of SMME's in our procurement and tender processes.
At the same time we will continue to root out companies that exploit our commitment to SMME's by establishing front companies with the aim of getting government contracts. To date 18 companies have been exposed and dealt with effectively.
To ensure that SMME's understand and are exposed to our tender processes, the Tender Board has undertaken a number of road shows to interact with various stakeholders.
While we were not able to launch the Main Street portal due to circumstances beyond our control, we remain committed to put in place a system, working with the private sector and institutions serving SMME's to develop a portal which will improve SMME access to contracts.
Tourism has important potential as a source of prosperity for SMME's in the province. We have spent 3.1 million Rand on infrastructure, development and training for tourism projects in Tshwane, the city of Johannesburg and the West Rand. Further assistance has been provided in the form of marketing efforts through their inclusion in the provincial brochures and their participation n tourism exhibition.
We have adopted an integrated quality social services delivery strategy aimed at the integration of social services, improvement of quality social service delivery and the strengthening of quality assurance programmes in the province.
Social services impact most directly on those in need and the bulk of the provincial government's budget is devoted to social service delivery. In addition, the social services cluster employs by far the most staff in the province and is responsible for the development and maintenance of vast public infrastructure. These services aim to reach the broad citizenry of Gauteng with a range of interventions that include building, maintenance and provision of schools, hospitals, clinics, social welfare grants, libraries, multi-purpose community centres, trauma centres and many other services. All of these services are aimed at improving the quality of life of the poor in our province.
In adopting the integrated quality social service delivery strategy, we agreed that a central focus of the strategy would be on the most vulnerable in our society: children, the elderly, people with disabilities, women, youth and the unemployed.
We also took a decision that all social service departments must set quality social service standards by the end of this year. These decisions where taken to give more meaning to our commitment to the Batho Pele principles.
The Gauteng Provincial Government continues to manage its financial affairs in a responsible and prudent manner. The 2001 Annual Fiscal Review published by the National Treasury recently highlights the fact that Gauteng ranks highest amongst the nine provinces in terms of own revenue generated and that, since 1997, the province has made the greatest progress in reducing personnel spending. The positive balance between personnel and capital expenditure has enabled the province to implement significant infrastructure development programmes.
Gauteng continues to maintain high levels of service, with staff to population ratios such as 5,5 health workers per 1000 people and one educator to every 31 learners.
We are pleased to report that we have met the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act. The implementation of BAS has been successfully completed across all GPG departments. Chief Financial Officers have been appointed or contracted in all departments. In order to allow for peer review and shared experiences, a CFO forum has been initiated, along with an intensive training programme to improve financial management capacity in the province.
Cluster audit committees have been appointed for all departments and internal audit charters have been finalized. Audit plans have been completed based on risk assessments done in each department.
A successful revenue strategy has been implemented, with the Department of Health exceeding its R30 million target in the previous financial year. A shared debt centre within the department is currently being scoped and is likely to be implemented in the next 18 months.
A financial management capacity building programme for health institutions has been implemented comprising:
At the Chris Hani Baragwanath, Pretoria Academic, Johannesburg and GaRankuwa hospitals we have appointed CEO's to develop effective internal control mechanisms and operational plans to modernize these institutions.
We must work hard to eliminate the many old demarcations, especially between nurses, doctors and consultants that allow for too little use of the potential of new technology, too much bureaucracy, too many outdated practices, too great an adherence to 'the way we've always done it' rather than the way public servants would like to do it if they got the time to think and the freedom to act.
We must say to all our public servants that it is not public sector reform that is the enemy of public servants. It is the status quo. While we have made important improvements in our service delivery, we know that we have not yet reached our destination. We need more change and we need change at a faster pace. Public servants are integral to this vision.
One of our innovations in our endeavour to improve the efficiency of government and therefore our service delivery has been the Shared Services Centre. I am pleased to announce that the Shared Services Centre has been established as a department of Gauteng Provincial Government and will henceforth be known as the Gauteng Shared Services Centre, with its own budget vote and HOD. MEC Moleketi has been assigned the political authority while Mike Rossous is the Accounting Officer. Progress has also been made in the appointment of staff in key strategic management posts with regard to the Shared Services Centre. The internal audit unit is fully operational, with assignments being undertaken on risk assessments, working within the framework created by the Cluster Audit Committees and the Provincial Internal Audit Committee.
The GPG has initiated a process to address the misuse of GG vehicles, combating fraud and corruption, improving service delivery and contributing to the government's SMME and black empowerment objectives. Actions taken include:
Central to improved service delivery and the development of the skills we need for development and economic growth is a comprehensive Human Resource Development Strategy for the province. This strategy should be firmly located within the national HRD strategy and should include an HRD strategy for the Gauteng Provincial Government.
I am concerned that this HRD strategy has not yet been completed and I have asked the Forum of Heads of Department in the province to ensure its speedy finalisation. The core components of the strategy should include:
The strategy will prioritise HRD for women, out of school youth and people with disabilities, building community spirit through volunteer programmes and researching the impact of HIV/Aids on the skill profile of the province.
Our Community Based Public Works Programme is progressing smoothly with a total of 33 projects to the value of R18 million implemented this year. We remain concerned about the slow pace in ensuring that as far as is possible, the provision of infrastructure utilises labour intensive methods so as to provide much needed employment opportunities to poor communities.
In the course of this year, four road rehabilitations, two road resurfacings, three new roads and one road network with a value of over R150 million have been completed. We have also awarded contracts for five road rehabilitations, six road resurfacings and one new road to the value of over R236 million.
We are committed to continue to build more schools and ensure that schools in poor communities are renovated and refurbished. By the end of the financial year, the renovation and refurbishment of 26 schools will be complete, representing an infrastructure investment of R32 million.
Tender documents for a further nine schools are ready for publication. A critical aspect of the renovations is the provision of physical infrastructure to make education institutions more accessible to learners with disabilities.
Our relations with local government continue to grow stronger, spurred by a common commitment to improve the delivery of services to our people. The Gauteng Intergovernmental Forum (GIGF) and the Premier's Coordinating Committee (PCC) have played an important role in this regard.
The next GIGF, this month, will focus on how municipalities can align their Integrated Development Plans (IDP's) to provincial strategies and plans including the Blue IQ projects.
Taking into account the fact that an estimated 25% of Gauteng households do not yet have access to water borne sewerage, clean running water, we are finalizing plans to ensure the provision of these basic services within the next three years. This will require a close working relationship and joint planning with national and local government. Municipalities will also have to commit resources for infrastructure as well as for the maintenance of these services once they have been provided
While most municipalities were able to provide effective delivery of services, including the provision of minimum amounts of free water and electricity, those of our people whose electricity is provided by Eskom have yet to receive free electricity - an issue we are currently dealing with nationally.
The PCC has agreed on the need, as a matter of urgency, to deal with the challenge of ensuring cross border municipalities provide uniform quality services across provincial boundaries. We are also looking at how to ensure that municipalities have the capacity to deal effectively with issues such as the collection of licence fees on behalf of two provinces which may have differing rates.
A number of municipalities have put in place more effective billing systems in their areas of jurisdiction, including Nokeng Tsa Taemane, Tshwane, East Rand, Lesedi and Westonaria. We will continue to assist municipalities that are struggling with the implementation of effective billing systems
Improvement in service delivery and ensuring accountability are the most important aspects of the new system of local government. Most municipalities have finalized their establishment of ward committees.
Draft proposals on the economic regeneration of the Metsweding, Sedibeng and West Rand District Municipalities are currently being looked at to help us develop economic plans and identify key economic drivers in these areas. While the provincial government has an important role to play, it is the responsibility of municipalities to develop plans for local economic development.
The importance of education as one of the tools to achieve the objective of a smart province cannot be over emphasised. This is what propelled Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation to say that, "…the key to the future of any country is not its physical resources or industrial capital; rather, it is human capital that will fund the health and the growth of nations in the next thousand years."
While financial capital is a measure of present and past success, human capital represents the potential for the future. The brains, the skills and the entrepreneurial spirit of its citizens are a country's most precious and powerful asset. Industries and technologies, while important, must never be valued over the people who run them. Societies must learn to consider the value of people to be concrete value, the true wealth of nations. Hence the need to invest in our children's education.
The child with a good education flourishes. The child given a poor education lives with it for the rest of their life. Poor education is a personal tragedy and a national scandal that must never be allowed to take root in our province.
This is the reason we launched Gauteng Online, a project which will connect all learners in public schools to the Internet by 2006 and which enables our schools to harness the advances in information and communication technology for their own benefit, as well as that of their communities and our economy.
In addition to the identification of 25 schools and a teacher per identified school to participate in the pilot project, we have also completed a comprehensive stakeholder analysis that included curriculum delivery, human resources management, infrastructure, industry and marketing considerations.
Initial designs for the facility, software and hardware have been identified. Work has begun on the development of a Gauteng Department of Education intranet that will be integrated with other GPG systems. Initial meetings with industry role players have been held and partners for the pilot projects have been secured. What we need is further technical support from academic institutions to ensure its sustainability, especially in the areas of knowledge provision through the training of teachers and tertiary students.
We must however admit that more could have been done to avoid the delay connected to the full implementation, including having a dedicated server for the project.
This year 115 600 candidates have registered to write the Gauteng Senior Certificate Examination which commenced on 15 October 2001. Notwithstanding incidents involving of the leak of exam papers, we are confident that we will deliver a credible examination. Our greatest thanks to MEC Jacobs, his staff, communities and police for taking decisive action.
All schools in our province are currently implementing Curriculum 2005 in Grades 4 and 8, while preparation for teachers for its implementation in Grades 5 and 9 in the 2002 academic year has been completed.
We have successfully launched the '100 schools project' that focuses on promoting Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in schools to encourage and develop learners' interest in these areas, given the critical need for these skills in the new global economy and in other life opportunities.
The study on the state of schools in rural and farm areas has been concluded. We are currently in discussions with farmers and parents in these areas to ensure that these 201 schools, with a learner population of 84 497, are improved and consolidated. Our aim is to ensure that children are not disadvantaged simply because of their area of residence.
We are doing everything in our power to ensure that all learner support materials are available when schools open next year to ensure that teaching and learning takes place on day one. We call on all communities to help ensure that current learners return all materials at the end of the year.
Together with national and local government in the province, we are working very hard to ensure the successful hosting of the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg in 2002. A pre-summit provincial conference hosted earlier this year developed a plan of action for Gauteng for implementation prior to and after the summit. In addition, it was agreed that we need to engage in the following programme of action as a matter of urgency:
In addition, a clean schools competition was announced which will be linked to the clean cities competition announced by Minister Moosa.
In efforts to regulate and protect the environment a number of processes have been initiated, including among others:
As part of our commitment to monitor the roadworthiness of cars, and prevent accidents and overloading all year round, the province's driver's license testing centres were inspected, resulting in the suspension of 15 examiners and the cancellation of 104 licenses.
Through the allocation of an additional R25 million, important improvements in traffic management have been achieved, reducing road accidents and saving lives. This includes the appointment of 151 additional traffic officers, contributing to a reduction in road fatalities by 19,2% compared to last year.
We are now devoting an additional 186% of man-hours to overload control, a factor that significantly impacts on the quality and safety of roads in Gauteng, resulting in a decrease in overloading of vehicles from 66% in April 2000 to 42% in June 2001.
More importantly, road accidents and fatalities have decreased significantly, with resultant savings to the national and provincial economies and reduced pressure on the provincial health system.
A comprehensive report on the work of the provincial government and its partners on HIV/AIDS was released and debated extensively in this house two months ago.
There are early indications that there is stabilization of new HIV infections amongst people under 20, indicating that the programmes implemented by our government to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS are having a major impact.
The "Partnership Against Aids" campaign has been most effective, with the leadership in all sectors of society embracing the Gauteng Plan of Action Against Aids. The partnership includes faith-based organizations, traditional healers, parastatals, youth groups, women's groups and representatives from the private sector.
All Metro's and District Council in the province have programmes focussing on combating the spread of the epidemic through awareness campaigns. We salute the city of Johannesburg for their establishment of the Johannesburg AIDS council.
Workplace Aids programmes within GPG departments have also made significant progress this year, kicking off with "train-the-trainer" programmes and general staff training exercises.
In the private sector, the workplace programme has benefited 150 companies that have received training, advice and materials on HIV/Aids prevention and management in the working environment.
More than 80% of clinics in the province provide basic AIDS care, counselling and HIV tests, while STI services and TB treatment are provided in 89% of clinics.
Approximately 1000 lay counsellors have been trained to service the eight Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) sites that have been established. By the end of the financial year, 10 sites will be operational.
Home-based Care services have increased, spreading across 80% of local districts. Trained volunteers visit homes to assist families who are caring for the ill, providing counselling, support and referrals to other services where necessary.
The Provincial Health Information System has been expanded to the Johannesburg Hospital and the Pretoria Academic Hospital. Mamelodi Hospital is also part of the expansion plan.
In terms of sport, recreation, arts and culture, providing adequate facilities to address the backlogs in recreational, sports and cultural infrastructure has been a major priority this year. To date four new libraries have been built and two upgraded. Eight cultural facilities have been built and 46 sports facilities have been earmarked for development.
A total of 27 community libraries have been "wired", giving communities access to the Internet, exceeding targets by 50%. This year's Heritage month celebrations were extremely successful.
There is no issue that touches our citizens more deeply than crime and law and order on our streets.
Our primary focus remains the monitoring of police work, ensuring that society deals effectively with social crime, especially violence against women, children and the elderly as well as assisting municipalities in setting up metro police.
A number of police officers have been trained in Tembisa, Katlehong and Alexandra to handle cases of domestic violence. We are currently working on a strategy to enlist volunteers to assist with the counselling of victims.
Through our interventions, we have been able to secure an agreement with the SAPS and the Department of Justice to allow victims to report cases of violence and to get court orders and protection from the nearest police station or magistrate court.
Ann Ribierts, who had been in an abusive relationship for 17 years, had the perpetrator sentenced to 17 years through our intervention. We remain committed to assist all victims in reporting and following up cases to secure the conviction and sentencing of those in our society who continue to perpetrate these crimes.
Gauteng currently has an estimated backlog of 500 000 housing units, increasing at a rate of 50 000 units annually, due mainly to natural population growth and internal migration.
Together with national government we continue to use a range of options to provide shelter to the needy, employed and unemployed, as well as to help middle income earners gain access to resources that allow them to buy or rent decent houses.
This year alone we have provided shelter to more than 85 000 people while 20 000 received services. In addition, 12 000 properties were transferred to their owners, giving permanent shelter to at least 48 000 people. As part of our commitment to improve the living conditions in hostels, we have provided 1707 new hostel beds.
We continue to develop policies and programmes targeted toward vulnerable groups such as people living with AIDS, people with disabilities and women.
The Alexandra Urban Renewal Project that will see the construction of 56 000 housing units remains on course. We have secured land for 8 000 units and discussions are underway with other landowners for the acquisition of additional land. To date more than 2900 houses to accommodate some of the people that were removed from the river banks have been built. Work will soon begin to build an additional 7800 houses.
A total of 4521 households have been relocated to sites in Diepsloot and Braamfischerville.
Contractors have been appointed to remove rubble and to grade the banks in order to commence with greening activities in the area.
We are working with the Department of Labour to identify current and future business opportunities necessary to foster economic development in the area.
While our strategy to build the economy and create jobs is the central pillar in eradicating poverty, social security remains for now our main weapon against poverty. We will continue to ensure that resources are available to address the plight of the poorest of the poor, especially women, children, people with disabilities and the elderly.
Through our primary school nutrition programme and the community-based nutrition programme, we provide at least one solid meal to more than 250 000 children a day.
More than 800 social workers provide support to family welfare organisations and children's homes, supporting and caring for more than 17 000 children, some of whom are in places of safety.
All beneficiaries of grants issued by the government continue to receive their monthly grants due to them.
More than 204 000 children have been lifted out of poverty. But if we are to meet our goal of ending child poverty we need to do more. That is why we continue to take more children onto the child support grant, foster care grant and care dependency grants as well as take steps to eliminate unnecessary red tape.
More than 294 362 elderly people benefited from old age grants, war veterans grants and disability grants.
As a whole, government has through grants touched the lives of least half a million poor people in our province.
As we grow the economy, we will also have to accept that our welfare system needs to change so as to separate very clearly those who cannot work and who need security and protection from those who can work but at present do not have jobs. These we must help move from living on social grants to productive work.
As part of our commitment to foster nation building, patriotism and reconciliation we have continued to mobilise communities, especially schools, to join us in celebrations of national days. In this regard we had successful celebrations of Human Rights Day, Freedom Day, Youth Day, Heritage Day as well as Women's Day, when a number of women achievers were honoured.
Plans are at an advanced stage to celebrate the Day of Reconciliation combined with the opening of the Mary Fitzgerald Square on 17 December 2001. We call on all our citizens to join hands with us in the celebrations of the opening of the square and to dedicate ourselves to the building of a non-racial, non-sexist, united, and prosperous democratic South Africa.
We commend the positive approach by the IFP leadership whose commitment to the new order has been demonstrated through the mobilisation of their membership to attend and celebrate national days. They have demonstrated in action that being in opposition is not incompatible with being committed to building a nation.
We will continue to ensure that government functions as one instead of separate departments each pursuing its own programme without due regard to the impact on other government programmes, and on our service delivery to the people.
While a lot still needs to be done, we should not underestimate our achievements as well as why we were voted into power. We have a proud record:
We are working towards a stable economy that is growing steadily.
Our programmes are creating jobs albeit at a slower pace
We have the best teacher to learner ratio.
We have better public health care.
We have made a real start in eradicating poverty.
We provide education to 1 496 million learners.
We provide social grants to more than 307 959 elderly people.
We assist more than 421 380 children to cope with poverty.
Most of our achievements today were in the past ANC demands over many decades. It took an ANC government to make them a reality. Hence the saying that the politics of ideas go hand in hand with the politics of organization.
We did it because the victims of economic incompetence over many decades - high interest rates, unemployment, and high inflation - are hard-working families. They are the ones that should benefit from the economy and even more so now, with tough times ahead.
These are the facts. In countless meetings our people have made their own observations. Thus we are able to say together with them that all our programmes are being implemented. We are also agreed that, where progress has been too slow, measures are being put in place to ensure they too are implemented fully.
We are however under no illusion. We still have a long way to go to meet our goal of a full growing economy that creates sustainable jobs, builds sustainable communities, provides quality services to communities, especially in health, education, social welfare and housing. We still have a long way to go to ensure that our commitments in the constitution to build a non-racial and non-sexist society that respects children is fully realised.
While we should ensure that the story we tell is exciting, we must never tell it in opaque political-speak.
I thank you.