News Makhura plans Gauteng’s facelift
people closer to economic hubs.
The provincial bank would allow for a reverse of that model by keeping residents in townships and moving industries closer to them with the creation of industrial parks, which would be financed by the entity.
“Building megacities is important but our people are not going to relocate from where they are located now. Several million of them still live in the old townships so we need to build industrial parks around our existing townships and allow investors to come there. So [we can] create employment right there.”
The facelift promised for Gauteng townships will also involve radical changes to the province’s transport system. This year, the Gauteng government hopes to launch its single transport authority, which will run an integrated public transport network premised on a single ticketing system. This will cover the Gautrain, minibus taxis and bus rapid transits such as Rea Vaya.
The provincial government hopes that, with the new system, “irrational” pricing, particularly in the taxi industry, will be curbed to make transport services more affordable.
Makhura said he also wanted to transform the role of taxi operators by allowing them part-ownership in the Gautrain once the roll-out of its expansion programme has begun. Under the single transport authority, Makhura said he hoped the isolated operation of the taxi industry would be a thing of the past.
“Those transport operators who are in the minibus industry cannot be limited to minibuses. They must also be part of owning the buses. They must also be part of the core ownership of the Gautrain. That’s what true empowerment means. It’s extremely radical; it’s not just that they must keep buying minibuses and getting into debt,” Makhura said.
Despite the plans and progress made to address the province’s economic growth challenges, the quality of service provision and the conduct of public servants and political heads were still areas of concern for Makhura.
During his address the premier announced mandatory lifestyle audits for himself and members of his Cabinet and called on other members of the legislature to participate in the assessment voluntarily.
Makhura said he hoped to work with the public service and administration minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, to find an instrument to compel public servants to undergo lifestyle audits.
“They declare their interests every year but I don’t think that’s enough. It’s easy to hide assets that people are accumulating unlawfully and unethically.
‘‘We need to be able to have agencies of the state that can verify if there is something hidden,” he said.
The audits would form part of an intensified drive to curb corruption in Gauteng. Insisting that he “wants to be watched”, Makhura has appointed a civil society-led dvisory council that will act as a watchdog over public officials and their departments. The body has been mandated to “name and shame” the public servants and departments not exercising their duties effectively.
“We need more players to ensure public office bearers and public servants are saved from themselves,” Makhura said. “So we need more watchdogs, more regulations and more training in ethics.”