Despite a brief interruption by the EFF, Gauteng Premier David Makhuru was able to deliver his State of the Province Address on 23 February.
Makhuru announced that e-tolls would not be scrapped but promised “major financial relief” to motorists and said consultation processes were under way to make it easy for road users to pay. According to Makhuru, details of the new system will be announced “at the conclusion of discussions”.
On the topic of bettering infrastructure, Makhuru detailed his ambitious plan to build the six new cities in Gauteng as announced in May last year.
“The cities, aimed at boosting job creation, would be built through partnerships with the private sector,” he said.
Billions of rand have been invested in the construction of the Masingita, Rietfontein, Waterfall, Modderfontein, Steyn and Vaal River cities.
Regarding load shedding solutions, it was made clear that Gauteng would continue with plans to build a R7 billion solar plant in partnership with the University of Johannesburg. Earlier in February, City Power announced their goal to remove Gauteng from the Eskom load-shedding schedule by June. Projects like solar panel fitted government buildings and tri-generation technology in six hospitals are in the pipeline. Tri-generation is the simultaneous production of more than one type of energy from a single fuel source, basically the production of cold next to electricity and heat. Heating and cooling output may operate concurrently or alternately, depending on need and system design.
On the matter of education, Makhuru spoke about township schools’ progress but failed to address corruption at schools.
“It is shocking that after several schools in the province had been implicated in corruption and the matric cheating scandal, the premier failed to address the challenge,” said DA Gauteng South chairperson Khume Ramulifho.
It seems government has big plans for South Africa’s most populous province. Let us hope these proposals are not “empty promises” as the EFF’s Mandisa Mashego commented during the address.
