Gauteng Premier David Makhura has called for “all hands on deck” as the province navigates away from the Covid-19 emergency to dealing with the economic and service delivery emergency currently plaguing the province.
Speaking at the opening of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) while delivering his State of the Province Address (Sopa), Premier Makhura said they had learnt many lessons in the battle with the Covid-19 pandemic.
These lessons include mobilisation of social compacting, promptly and decisively acting against crime and corruption in government and society, as well as inter-departmental and inter-governmental cooperation to avoid government working in silos.
“As we make the economy and jobs our number one priority over the next two years, we will also work closely with municipalities and the national government to urgently accelerate service delivery and improve access to housing, electricity, water, sanitation, road maintenance, visible policing, quality education and health,” he said.
Makhura said there was a need to boldly shift the main focus and energies to tackle unemployment through economic recovery and reconstruction. He said the economy had been devastated, and the democratic gains in the quality of lives of the people have substantially been eroded.
“After so much death and destruction of lives and livelihoods, it is time to rebuild and do so with the greatest sense of urgency, single-mindedness and coordination demonstrated during our emergency response to Covid-19,” Makhura said.
He added that the collapse of infrastructure for basic services also required an emergency response.
Makhura delivered his Sopa at the Brixton Multi-purpose Centre on Monday and described it as a landmark address as it takes place eight years since he took office and shortly after the mid-term review of the sixth administration. His address included some highlights of the democratic gains and socio-economic progress made in the pre-pandemic period, and he illustrated how these gains had been eroded by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Makhura said working together as the public and the private sector, 5.3 million people have been vaccinated in Gauteng, with more than 8.6 million vaccine doses administered to date.
“As we meet here today, the Covid-19 pandemic is under control, and the massive vaccination programme has broken the chain between infections, hospital admissions and death. In other words, although many people continue to get infected with Sars CoV-2, the evidence shows that most of those who are vaccinated are more protected from progressing to severe disease or death,” he said.
Political Bureau
