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6 April 2005

Master of ceremonies
Members of the Executive Council
Heads of departments
Representatives of business
Trade union leaders
Leaders of civil society
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

In November last year we came together as government, business, labour and other stakeholders at the Gauteng Growth and Development Summit to put our heads together and to agree on a broad framework for growth and development for our province.

Arising from this successful summit we were able to enrich the Growth and Development Strategy, which we are now ready to publicly launch.

In doing this we have been mindful of the fact that Gauteng continues to be the economic powerhouse of the country and the continent, responsible for over one third of the country's GDP and 10% of Africa's GDP.

Our actions in Gauteng therefore have a bearing, not just on the quality of life of the residents of our province, but on the success of the country and the continent as a whole.

The economy we inherited from Apartheid in 1994 was characterised by negative growth rates, rising unemployment and racial inequality. Over the past eleven years our country has achieved macro-economic stability and sustained and unprecedented growth. We have taken great strides in setting Gauteng on a sustainable economic growth path. We have poured billions into building a new economy, into strategic economic and social infrastructure and into social services. There is visible economic activity, dramatic urban development and expansion and an increase in the social assets of our people.

Gauteng remains well positioned as the country's financial capital and a preferred home for local and international business. We are leading the South African economy from a primary, commodity-based economy to a tertiary, knowledge-based economy. We have strong information technology, communication and transport infrastructure; a strong public health care and education system with a firm skills base and some of the country's largest and most prestigious academic and research institutions. We have concentrated population centres, significant markets and are responsible for 49,6% of all employee remuneration in the country. Gauteng generates 52% of all turnover of institutions and is a recognised gateway to Africa and the world.

There are early signs that we are beginning to turn the corner in reducing joblessness. According to the recent Labour Force survey, Gauteng continues to provide the most jobs in the country, increasing from an estimated 2,66 million jobs in February 2000 to 3,35 million jobs in March 2004.

While these are all encouraging developments, we know that as a province there is a lot more to be done. Too many of our people still remain trapped in poverty.
While we have seen improved income distribution to black people, too many of our people remain jobless and lack sustainable livelihoods and access to economic opportunities.

To address these challenges and to fulfil the overwhelming mandate we received from the people of Gauteng in the April 2004 election to create work and fight poverty, we developed a five-year strategic programme, which sets out our commitments and our line of march in the period leading up to 2009. The key pillars of this programme are to:

* stimulate faster economic growth and drastically reduce unemployment
* fight poverty and build secure and sustainable communities
* develop healthy, appropriately skilled and productive people
* deepen democracy and nation building and realise the constitutional rights of all the people
* build an effective and caring government.

In the context of this five-year programme we are today launching the Gauteng Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) as a practical, action-oriented framework for integrated and sustainable growth and development in our province. The implementation of this framework will enable the continued restructuring of our economy and guide the actions and programmes of government and our social partners in achieving our growth and development objectives.

The strategic objectives of the GDS in achieving our vision are:

* the provision of social and economic infrastructure and services that will build sustainable communities and contribute to halving poverty
* accelerated, labour absorbing economic growth that increases per annum and that will create long-term sustainable jobs and contribute to halving unemployment
* sustainable socio-economic development
* enhanced government efficiency and co-operative governance
* deepening participatory democracy, provincial and national unity and citizenship
* contributing to the social and economic development of the continent and the successful achievement of New Partnership for Africa's Development's (NEPAD) goals and objectives.

Our strategy places a particular emphasis on economic growth and development as this is a necessity if we are to address underdevelopment and achieve our broader development objectives and in particular, contribute to meeting the national objective of halving unemployment and poverty by 2014.

Our experience over many years has shown that we cannot simply leave this to the market. Government has to play an assertive and leadership role in working with the private sector and other stakeholders to ensure socio-economic development and transformation and to stimulate economic growth.

However, it is important to note that our objective is not simply to increase the rate of economic growth. We need to also ensure that the benefits of this economic growth translate into broad-based income redistribution and a reduction in poverty and inequality

We also need to address the marginalisation and exclusion from the economy of, in particular, black people, women, people with disabilities, and the poorest of the poor. Our Growth and Development Strategy therefore talks about growing and developing the economy for all. It aims to ensure a shared and transformed economy through creating linkages between the first and the second economy, supporting the sustainability of the second economy and assisting previously disadvantaged groups to gain access to the opportunities of a growing economy.

In creating an enabling environment for effective growth, our challenge is also to improve the quality of our health and education system to build healthy, skilled and productive people and make Gauteng a safe and secure place to live.

The Growth and Development Strategy therefore aims to not only fight income poverty but to also invest in the health sector, improve access to education resources and partner with education investors intend on capitalising on the advantages of Gauteng's educational institutions.

The GDS seeks to underpin our strategy to position and develop Gauteng as a globally competitive city region that harnesses the strengths and advantages of the different municipalities and other public and private stakeholders in the province towards greater internal coherence, in order to compete more effectively externally in the global arena.

A central component of the Growth and Development Strategy is to grow the economy through the development of key growth sectors that have been identified based on their potential to achieve high growth rates and create jobs through multiplier effects. These are: smart industries including ICT and pharmaceuticals, tourism, agriculture including agro-processing and biotechnology, trade and services including finance and film, and manufacturing including steel-related industries, automotive parts and components, and beer and malt.

Promoting broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) at all levels of the economy will improve equitable income redistribution and act as an economic driver. As provincial government, we have made a firm commitment in this regard and will by the middle of the year finalise our work on a comprehensive broad-based BEE strategy for the province in line with national legislation and policy. Transforming big business and multi-nationals to become more representative is a key challenge. The issue is not just at the level of ownership but also in areas such as management control and decision-making, preferential procurement, skills development, employment equity, social responsibility policies and programmes, enterprise development policies and strategies etc.

Public investment in social and economic infrastructure will continue to be one of government's most important mechanisms to stimulate investment and growth and improve the conditions of the people of the province. As we have announced, we will be investing a massive R17 billion in infrastructure over the next three years. However, we have identified the need for a more integrated approach to infrastructure development by the public sector. We will at the end of May be convening an infrastructure summit, which will seek to understand what the different arms of government are planning in Gauteng, what resources have been set aside and to identify synergies so that we can emerge with a holistic infrastructure programme. If we are to bridge the first and second economy, together with the private sector, we should not only be focusing economic development nodes in established areas but in townships as well. We have identified 20 established townships in Gauteng where we will be investing in upgrading infrastructure and we call on the private sector to do the same so that the resources of the working people are also utilized to the benefit of their own communities.

Support for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) is a critical sector to effect poverty reduction, create job opportunities and meaningful economic participation by black people, women, people with disabilities, youth and other marginalised sectors of our society. In this regard we will later this month launch Gauteng's SMME agency, which will provide both financial and non-financial support to SMMEs.

Skills development is a necessity if we are to ensure that we have the appropriate skills base in our province to drive sustainable economic and social development. Our youth development strategy will pay attention to the issue of young people's access to economic opportunities and skills development. Learnerships will be key in this regard, as well as improving the Further Education and Training sector. Together with institutions of higher learning and the private sector we will seek to not just identify skills gaps to sustain future growth but also undertake a provincial skills audit so that investment in skills is in line with the actual skills needed.

Implementing the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), which will create short-term jobs and build social capital by involving communities in socio-economic infrastructure development in their areas. The EPWP will also contribute to skills development, thus increasing job opportunities and enterprise development.

Proactively addressing the needs of women, people with disabilities and youth in social and economic life through mainstreaming and mitigating the effect of and ensuring an effective response to HIV and AIDS will also be critical in meeting our objectives. The Gauteng Workplace AIDS Summit on 5 May involving government, business and labour will be an important step in ensuring that all sectors of the economy are able to effectively perform in this regard.

A further condition for growth and development will be ensuring ease of access to government services, including through the use of information technology, achieving economies of scale and efficiency and better inter-governmental relations. In this regard, we plan to launch in the near future the Gauteng portal, which will be an important milestone in the implementation of our e-government strategy to improve access to government information and services by residents and business.

The GDS further identifies existing strategic levers, which require focused attention and resources. These include the provision of an accessible, affordable and integrate public transport system including the Gautrain project; the provision of housing, investment in sustainable communities and innovative housing finance solutions; public safety and an integrated and improved security system that are critical for economic growth, quality of life of our people and tourism; taking effective advantage of the opportunities presented by the 2010 World Cup; and improving government institutional efficiencies including quality integrated public services and reducing the cost of doing business in Gauteng.

We are mindful of the fact that government actions can positively influence active private sector participation in the economy, in particular through creating macro-economic stability, an environment of openness and transparency, ensuring effective governance and institutions and through investing in infrastructure.

As government we have made a firm commitment to the implementation of this Growth and Development Strategy. However, its success depends on the active participation of all sectors, particularly business. One of our key challenges in ensuring the successful implementation of the strategy will be our ability to catalyse resources from our partners.

To drive the effective involvement of all sectors in the implementation of the Growth and Development Strategy, a multi-sectoral forum will be established. This will spread the responsibility for its implementation to all sectors of society, while strengthening the partnership between the various sectors, for greater coordination and impact.

With the involvement of all sectors and the mobilisation of the necessary resources to the implementation of this strategy, we believe that we can achieve a growth rate of 8% by 2014.

Other key targets which the strategy aims to achieve in Gauteng by 2014 include reducing unemployment to 18%; creating some 800 000 jobs over the next ten years; and increasing the provincial government's procurement spend for broad-based economic empowerment enterprises to 80%.

The future of Gauteng is in our hands. We have the ability to work together as government, the private sector and other civil society sectors to make Gauteng a better place, that is able to compete with the top city regions in the world and meet the needs of all its people. Let's do it.

Thank you.

For more information contact: Annette Griessel
Cell: 082 563 3614

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
6 April 2005