Gauteng to build 100 schools and six hospitals in 10 years – Makhura

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has promised to build 100 schools and six hospitals in the next 10 years, reopening 70 township schools which were not attracting enrollment numbers.

Makhura made the announcement during his State of the Province address (Sopa) in Tshwane on Tuesday.

He said this will be done to address the shortage of classrooms in the province as more people move to Gauteng each year.

Despite attempts to streamline the placement of children at schools, the system remains overburdened with parents scrambling each year for places at top-performing schools.

Makhura said the provincial government will expand the offerings in technical skills through investment in technical schools and schools of specialisation.

“By 2025, every district will have at least two schools of specialisation that are linked to the 10 high-growth sectors.”

This venture will form part of the province’s R60bn spend on building and maintaining infrastructure, contributing to the creation of an additional 100,000 jobs and will facilitate the development of 50 black industrialists.

“We will upscale our Welfare to Work programme to enable 100,000 unemployed young women who currently depend on state grants, to graduate to self-employment in the township economy.”

He said government will spend R4bn per annum to buy goods and services from 2,000 township enterprises and support 50 black industrialists enabling them to participate in the 10 high-growth sectors of the Gauteng economy.

Other black businesses which will receive support included 50 emerging farmers and 20 agro-processors to help them turn their businesses into full-scale commercial agri-food enterprises.

With the province’s growing demand for health services, the premier said 10 priority hospitals will undergo major renovations in the next 24 months. Six new hospitals will also be built in the next five years.

“We will also complete the construction of five new clinics and new community health centres in the various corridors so that they can provide much-needed health services during this year. Madame Speaker, Gauteng’s migration pressures require that we build new hospitals and reopen those that were decommissioned.”

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