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As expected, Premier Panyaza Lesufi, has not offered any solutions to the service delivery issues faced by Gauteng residents , instead he kept on making promises that will never materialise.

During his State of the Province Address (SOPA) this evening, Premier Lesufi once again highlighted the same promises as in his previous speech earlier this year.

However, the reality on the ground is that there has been no improvement in our resident's living conditions in the townships. Corruption continues to run rampant.

Once again, the Premier outlined his plans to improve the townships, informal settlements, hostels and the Johannesburg CBD yet there is no tangible action plan on how he will implement and fund the projects.

Hostels across this province remain in an uninhabitable state and in dire need of urgent maintenance. The Premier wants to hold a summit to discuss the state of hostels in the province. A summit is not needed but action needs to be taken to fix and maintain the hostels.

What is clearly lacking is a detailed plan on where all the money for these elevated promises will come from. Many departments have had their budget cuts and the ambitious plans shared by the Premier will struggle to come to fruition.

Furthermore, by not clamping down on the rising crime, corruption and the poor road conditions the economy of this province will struggle to grow.

The Premier's lofty plans to grow the economy will remain a pipe dream if the core issues deterring investment are not fixed.

As much as government has job creation targets set for each department, a conducive environment for investment must be created.

The Nasi Ispani programme is clearly not working as the unemployment rate in Gauteng has increased. 32 000 teacher assistants have had their contracts terminated despite a promise by the Premier that it will be extended by another 12 months. Over 400 visible policing cars and three helicopters have been added to the tools to fight crime but, more needs to be done to ensure that all police stations are adequately equipped with sufficient resources to prevent and fight crime.

Residents living in areas like Eldorado Park, Westbury and Reiger Park continue to live in fear because of the gang violence they experience daily. The crime safety wardens deployed by Lesufi are not making any difference in these communities.

While we welcome the scrapping of e-Tolls we still do not know how this province will be paying for its portion of the debt.

Despite loadshedding being curbed for some time there are still fears that it will reoccur. Gauteng still needs a proper plan in place to generate additional electricity.

Premier Lesufi claims he has the lifestyle audit reports; however this must be made public, and we need to know what consequence management will take place where officials have failed the lifestyle audit process.

In addition, the Premier plans to establish a new forensic unit in the province and extend this service to municipalities to clamp down on corruption and crime. While this is a step in the right direction, we can only believe that this new unit will make a difference once all the forensic reports that are complete are made available to the public.

We still maintain that the proposed two new state entities, the provincial state-owned bank and provincial state-owned pharmaceutical company is a waste of money. Instead, the existing entities like the Gauteng Finance Infrastructure Agency and the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller must be given the resources to fulfil their mandate.

It is not the first time that Premier Lesufi speaks about a speed train that will link Gauteng and Limpopo. However, we need to first get the basics in our own province right first. Potholes need to be fixed, and our roads need to be maintained properly.

Our Special Economic Zones and Industrial Parks need to be maintained on an ongoing basis. Many of these facilities are not in a good state. Valuable job opportunities and investment are being lost because of this.

Covid-19 has changed the way we work. Remote work and studying online has become a trend. It has also highlighted the need for this province to be more technology savvy. However, the department of e-Government is constantly failing to meet its targets for the rollout of LAN sites in various areas across the province. Upskilling our unemployed and equipping them with skills such as coding will remain a fantasy if this department does not meet its targets.

Asbestos schools have still not been eradicated, despite several promises by Premier Lesufi to do so and million of rands spent towards this objective

We welcome the acknowledgement by Premier Lesufi regarding abandoned hijacked buildings in the Johannesburg CBD, however he failed to provide a proper plan to deal with this challenge.

The DA will monitor all the promises made by the Premier today and hold him accountable to ensure that Gauteng residents get the service delivery they deserve. Furthermore we
will ensure that when service providers are appointed to build critical infrastructure projects, they complete these projects on time and within budget. These projects cannot become a cash cow for optimistic businesses who want to milk the state's coffers.

We will continue to be a proactive opposition and hold this government accountable to ensure that all departments meet their targets set particularly for job creation as set out by the Annual Performance Plans.

The DA will ensure that the people of Gauteng know that there is a viable alternative to the ANC-minority government as we provide realistic solutions to rescue Gauteng on top of our role of oversight in the provincial legislature.

Issued by Solly Msimanga MPL - Official Leader of the Opposition- Gauteng