Gauteng ANC Youth League, Statement, 24 February 2015 SOPA as delivered by Premier Makhura The ANCYL notes and welcomes the State of the Province Address (SOPA) as delivered by Premier David Makhura. It provided clarity on the Executives plans in addressing the provinces socio-economic challenges that affect our citizenry on a daily basis. We are particularly enthusiastic about the Gauteng vision of repositioning and upgrading the province through social and economic infrastructure and the creation of new Cities. As this is what both our National and Provincial economies require to position South Africa as a Gateway into African. Mindful that our economy is struggling to grow at a reasonable rate to create jobs; we are cautiously optimistic that the outlined initiatives as entailed in the ten pillar programme for radical transformation, modernisation and re-industrialisation will add a substantial percentage to our economic growth. Gauteng continues to be a youthful province; as identified within our national statistics. Of great concern is the alarming and ever growing unemployment rate particularly amongst youth. The radical plans the province has are therefore not a nice to have for us, but implementation is critical in drastically dealing with the ever so loudly ticking time bomb of youth unemployment. Team Gauteng as lead by the Premier must hastily deliver on the ten pillars; as we are sick and tired of good plans and little movement in drastically dealing with youth unemployment. In light of our demographic makeup it therefore goes without saying that the development and integration of youth within the economy translates into the development of Gauteng, and this is a point the Premier ought to have emphasized. His silence on youth development is therefore worrisome and problematic to say the least, as the ANCYL in Gauteng we urge the Premier not to create an impression that youth development is a side issue to what he deems as more complex socio-economic challenges facing the Province. In this regard, the ANCYL calls on the Premier to urgently convene a Youth Development Summit where he and his Executive will report on milestones and achievements to date on youth development within the Province and further highlight plans to build black industrialists and the inclusion of youth within the economy. We note the milestones achieved thus far, particularly in reconfiguring the Gauteng City Region's space and economy along five development corridors with distinct economic focuses. We believe this will go a long way in changing and fixing the horrors of Apartheid spatial development planning. Notably the focus and development of many strategic sectors of the economy will ensure the integration of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labour into both short term and long term employment opportunities. In line with our Wanya Tsotsi anti-crime campaign, the Premier has unapologetically emphasised on the issue of crime, we congratulate the bold move taken to create the Community Secretariat, which ought to deal decisively with crime and break the distance between police and communities. We have no doubt that this initiative if properly executed will have a serious impact on the current crime rate, creating safer communities for children to grow in and further eradicating the control delinquents have over communities. We further congratulate the creation and promotion of eLearning as rolled out in a few township schools recently, it’s s a clear indication that indeed we have a plan to transform Gauteng into a modern economic hub using technology to our advantage. The social and economic gains of this roll out go without saying; importantly is the integration of children from poor and working class backgrounds into the mainstream allowing them an opportunity like their richer counterparts to interact with the world and be global citizens. We are further enthusiastic about eHealth which will be rolled out in the near future in our hospitals, as it will have a direct impact in contributing to the increase in life expectancy for all members of the society. We are however disappointed at the silence of the speech on etolls, this remains a burning issue within the province and the Executive must never appear mum or to be renegading on its stance. The ANC Provincial Congress was unambiguous in its call for the scraping of the etolls; when deployed individuals wear their Government hats they must not appear to be watering down the resolution. We appreciate the review process put in place by the Premier and his Executive however we call for greater militancy in dealing with the matter, and look forward to the day when the etoll discussion will be a thing of the past. We commit ourselves to supporting the ANC government in realising and transforming this province. We hope that those employed/deployed to execute these tasks shall do such with integrity, dignity and efficiency, ensuring the realisation of Team Gauteng's promises. We are not naïve to think that this vision will be achieved smoothly however with political will, focus and dedication great strides can be made. With the multitude of programs worth billions of rands the possibility of collusion can’t be left out, in the instance it happens we hope that our law enforcement agencies will take the right steps when countering this possible planned corruption. Black business and youth in particular must claim a lion’s share of the opportunities within the Province’s plans, as a means to ensure the drastic transformation of the economy. We trust that Cde Makhura and his City Mayors will lead these programs to their full realisation. We have also noted few frustrated individuals wearing colourful overalls trying to frustrate the proceedings and we shall patiently await them next year during Local Government Elections. We applaud Cde Mekgwe for displaying leadership in controlling the direction of the House and trust she will serve as an example on how to chair and deal with anarchy. It must be noted that here in Gauteng as youth we will meet anarchy with anarchy. These cheap and unrevolutionary imitations of Thomas Sankara should know that they don’t own monopoly over being anarchic! Released by the ANCYL Provincial Executive Committee Mbali Hlophe -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. 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