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It is not surprising that there is nothing new in Premier David Makhura’s State of the Province Address (SOPA) today.

We have heard similar promises before of our township economy being revitalized and instead of proactively investing and empowering our entrepreneurs through the current Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) a new bill is now instead being introduced.

While Gauteng is supposed to be the economic hub of our country, our unemployment particularly amongst the youth is at the highest.

In his speech, Premier Makhura claims that the province has exceeded the target set of creating 3228 jobs and instead created 3440 jobs but the Stats SA statistics show a different picture of our unemployment which is now sitting at 37%. So, who is the Premier fooling?

We are tired of hearing about the establishment of various war rooms as these rooms do not yield any results and are just a waste of our taxpayers’ money which could be put to better use by creating employment opportunities for our unemployed residents and youth.

The latest war room established by the Premier is one that needs to assist our province in reigniting the economy, surely our current legislation is supposed to assist with this?

The Tshepo 1 Million programme is meant to create employment opportunities for our youth and should be implemented in all departments, yet we only have the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development that reports on this goal and does not meet the job creation goals set.

For a long time now, we know that the situation with the Vaal River needs to be attended to , yet we are hearing about what provincial government intends to do and not what has already been done. We need action now, not in a few years’ time.

Critical infrastructure projects are not completed on time because the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) is incapable of managing its project properly because of a lack of skills and expertise.

This is not a problem that only existed during the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s been a problem since the establishment of DID.

This issue with DID should have been fixed a long time ago as our residents are the ones suffering because they are unable to access basic service delivery. The maintenance of our infrastructure like hospitals, clinics, schools, libraries and roads is critical if we want to have an economy that grows and is able to attract investment from the private sector not just locally but also internationally.

Yet the Premier acknowledges that there is a challenge with regards to the delays in infrastructure projects, yet there is no tangible solution, so why establish a war room to assist in reigniting the economy?

Furthermore, Premier Makhura vows that they are not going to do away with DID which is an insult to taxpayers as we are aware of its incompetency.

Premier Makhura, the time for talk is over - it is time to start doing. Our residents cannot wait another two more years for all your pipe dreams to become reality.

We need this to be a reality today. We need asbestos schools to be eradicated now, we need to have sufficient schools in our townships so that our children are not subjected to an environment where overcrowding is the order of the day. Effective teaching and learning can only take place in a conducive environment, and this cannot happen if DID continues to drag its tail on critical infrastructure projects.

Our roads are in a bad state, one pothole after the other, yet there is no time frame as to when the roads that are currently under rehabilitation will be completed and if this will be done within budget.

In terms of crime, the Premier has made no mention of making our Gauteng Traffic Police a 24-hour service. This is critical if we want to reduce hijackings that take place on our roads particularly where spike strips are being used.

Sadly, all the Premier has done is to tweak the words of previous speeches delivered, with a change in programmes acknowledging that his government has failed to provide basic services to our residents in Gauteng. It is high-time that the Premier stops establishing more committees and war rooms and do the work that his appointed MECs should be doing.

Premier Makhura has admitted right at the start of his speech that his government has failed, so it’s time that he whips his government into line and hold them to account and where there is dead weight, he should get rid of that dead weight immediately.

We can change the current situation facing this province by adopting the DA solutions to deliver adequate service delivery and rejuvenate the economy.

Issued by official Leader of the Opposition- Gauteng, Solly Msimanga MPL