February 13, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini and Lucky Sindane
SOWETO will benefit from a Gauteng community development programme that will see the township being turned into a vibrant, dynamic and sustainable area.
Speaking at the opening of the Gauteng Legislature on Monday, 13 February, Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said the province over the next three years will embark on one of the most comprehensive community development programmes Gauteng "has ever seen".
An amount of R3-billion will be invested in 20 major townships "to build better communities and upgrade local social and economic infrastructure", said Shilowa to loud applause from the house.
The funding for the programme will come from province, with further funding from municipalities, national government departments and parastatals.
Preimer Mbhazima Shilowa and the MEC finance and economic affairs Paul Mashatile at the opening of the Gauteng Legislature
Other townships set to benefit include Atteridgeville, Daveyton, Kagiso, KwaThema, Tembisa and Soshanguve.
"We want our townships to be places in which people take pride; where people live, not because they have no alternative, but because they choose to live there," Shilowa said.
The 20 townships initiative is linked to the upgrading of backyard shacks. A feasibility study, and the registration of these shacks, is at an advanced stage and a pilot project to upgrade 1 500 backyard shacks in Orlando East and Boipatong, south of Johannesburg, has commenced, according to Shilowa.
The renewal of the 20 townships is also in addition to ongoing initiatives to renew previously disadvantaged areas like Alexandra, where "extensive progress" has been made on the Alexandra Renewal Project and Kliptown.
Among the guests attending the opening of the Legislature were Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo and Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Duma Nkosi.
Shilowa said the province is faced with the challenge of bridging the gap between a wealthy and thriving first economy and a poor and struggling second economy with inadequate and unsatisfactory infrastructure and resources.
"The spatial manifestation of this is evident in the persistence of predominantly white and wealthy suburbs on the one hand and the predominantly black and poorer townships and informal settlements on the other. Our challenge in the period 2014 is to fundamentally alter these settlement patterns and the unequal distribution of infrastructure and amenities that prevailed under apartheid."
Gauteng will work to:
- increase the rate of productive investment, economic growth and development;
- reduce the levels of unemployment through preserving jobs and job creation;
- develop micro, small and medium enterprises;
- promote investment and social economic infrastructure to promote development in underdeveloped areas;
- improve education and training, including early childhood development, primary and high school education, further education and training, tertiary education and skills development;
- improve and accelerate service delivery,
- reduce poverty and racial, gender and spatial inequality,
- encourage and improve trade with Africa; and
- improve the management and functioning of local government.
Specifically, the province will focus on beautifying the townships, providing decent schools, clinics, sport and recreation facilities, lighting, storm water grains, multi-purpose community centres, libraries, taxi and bus ranks.
An estimated R25,7-billion has been set-aside for infrastructural projects, including the maintenance and upgrading of existing infrastructure and provision of new infrastructure.
In particular, Shilowa said the province will ensure that all roads in these townships are tarred by 2009 and that each area has "a vibrant commercial and transport hub".
"We will, with immediate effect, appoint a project manager who will oversee a project team with representatives from health, education, transport and public works and municipalities. Implementation will proceed in phases, with the completion of the first set of integrated urban renewal plans in place by September this year."
The initiative will benefit the communities in many ways. Shilowa said it will boost short-term jobs through the expanded public works programme. "More economic opportunities will be created through tenders and contracts which will prioritise youth, women, people with disabilies and unemployed graduates as well as SMMEs and local entrepreneurs," he said.
"In line with our agreement with metro and district mayors, we will create more capacity for the coordination of the global city region and integrated planning. One of the priorities will be the development of an implementation plan on the integrated provision of infrastructure in Gauteng by June 2006," said Shilowa.
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