VZCZCXRO2468
RR RUEHJO
DE RUEHJO #0034/01 0511237
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201237Z FEB 08
FM AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6110
INFO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 2866

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JOHANNESBURG 000034 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL FOR ILAB/PWHITE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON EINV ELAB SF
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA: GAUTENG PREMIER SHILOWA REPORTS ON THE STATE 
OF THE PROVINCE 
 
 
Summary 
-------------- 
 
¶1.  Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa addressed the provincial 
legislature on February 18, outlining achievements of the past 
year and setting priorities for 2008.   As in previous years, 
Shilowa's main emphasis on was on service delivery achievements, 
poverty alleviation, and measure taken to promote economic and 
job growth.   However, he led off with an appeal to the 
citizenry to join in fighting crime and in promoting road 
safety, noting both unnecessary road deaths and the tendency of 
mini-bus taxi drivers to see themselves above all traffic laws. 
 His comments that 2010 was not only about building soccer 
stadia but also about having Bafana Bafana become a world-class 
soccer team met with resounding applause.   End Summary. 
 
¶2.  Premier Mbhazima Shilowa opened the 2008 legislative year 
for the Gauteng provincial parliament on February 2008.   The 
audience and members of the legislature were treated to 
entertainment commencing at 6:30 a.m., with live community media 
coverage also starting.  Youth groups provided entertainment, 
although one group of energetic dancers had numerous wardrobe 
malfunctions that were taken in good part by the male members of 
the audience.  Shilowa opened his speech by encouraging the 
citizenry to join hands in the fight against crime and for road 
safety.  Departing from his prepared text, he deplored recent 
incidents of violence among mini-bus taxi-drivers and noted that 
their perception of themselves as being exempt from all traffic 
laws needed to be brought to an end. 
 
Service Delivery and Poverty Alleviation 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶3.  The Premier said that Gauteng had seen a massive 
in-migration into the province, with  10.4 million people now 
residing there or one out of every four South African 
households.  Despite this, the number of residents in informal 
settlements dropped to 22.6 percent.   Gauteng registered the 
highest proportion of electricity users in SA, at 83.5 percent, 
and 97.9 percent of households had access to piped water.   In 
addition to road upgrades and new water works for the Vaal 
region, Gauteng will have delivered 58,552 new houses for the 
year ending in March 2008.   An additional 103,000 dwellings 
were upgraded during the year.   Shilowa said that the adoption 
of the Gauteng Framework on Indigent Policy set out a common 
approach for dealing with the poor across the province.   An 
integrated database was being developed to maximize services for 
the poor, to include free water and electricity, rates rebates, 
social grants, free health care, free education, indigent 
burials, free scholar transport, and home-based care for those 
affected by HIV/AIDS.   Access to skills development and 
economic opportunities would also be addressed. 
 
Economic and Job Growth 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  Shilowa noted that 146,000 new jobs had been created in 
Gauteng for the year ending in March 2007, with a total of 3.4 
million jobs currently in existence in the province.  Shilowa 
said that continued implementation of the growth and development 
strategy, including investment in key economic infrastructure 
and addressing energy and sustainable development, was a 
priority.   He added that the province had agreed on a number of 
energy conservation measures and cited the Gauteng Legislature 
Building as one of three departments that failed to switch off 
lights at night.  Shilowa said he was pleased that large 
investors, such as Ford Motor Company, had not been deterred by 
the electricity crisis and would proceed with a R1.5 billion 
investment in South Africa, including an expansion of the 
assembly plant in Tshwane.   He added that 4404 direct jobs had 
been created at the Automotive Supplier Park between 2002-2007, 
with 70 percent of those jobs going to Historically 
Disadvantaged South Africans.  Gauteng also planned to establish 
a one-stop shop for businesses interested in investing in 
Gauteng, which would reduce red tape and streamline approval 
processes.   Another economic growth effort was the 
implementation of the G-link initiative to provide affordable 
broadband to 95 percent of the population within five years. 
 
Services for Children 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  The percentage of children between ages 5 and 24 attending 
educational institutions increased from 66.9 in 2001 to 68.8 in 
¶2007.   The Bana Pele program continued to provide services to 
the poorest children in the province, such as exemption from 
school fees, free transport to and from school, health care and 
school feeding programs.  Under this program, 80,000 free school 
uniforms had been distributed during the financial year, up from 
24,700 the previous year.  Priority areas included phasing in 
 
JOHANNESBU 00000034  002 OF 002 
 
 
Grade R (reception aka kindergarten) and making it compulsory. 
41,736 children were currently attending publicly funded grade R 
and the number of sites offering preschool education had 
increased from 960 to 1360 in 20007.   School fees in the 
poorest schools had been eliminated as of January 2007, 
benefiting 378,000 children in 426 schools.   As of April 2008, 
49 percent of students would no longer be required to pay school 
fees, thus benefiting 865,000 children.   In addition, there 
were programs to ensure a quality education and an emphasis on 
science and math.   In addition the province would offer free 
immunizations against preventable diseases such as measles and 
polio to all children under age one. 
 
Health care and HIV/AIDS 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  On health care, the premier said that Gauteng would 
introduce multiple therapy to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS 
from mother to child as of April 2008, and aim to reduce 
transmission rates to less than 5 percent.   Gauteng had 
exceeded its target to train 3000 community health workers, and 
now had 3500 on the rolls, with then number of sites offering 
comprehensive care due to increase to 63 from 52 currently 
established.  Shilowa also noted that currently 104,560 persons, 
including 10,195 children, were receiving anti-retrovirals in 
the province. 
 
Crime and Corruption 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶7.   In addition to leading off with the condemnation of road 
safety and violence among taxi drivers, Shilowa also condemned 
recent price fixing scandals in the bread, milk and 
pharmaceutical industries.   He said that further expansion of 
the public call centers was planned, which allow citizens to 
access a variety of services including bookings for drivers' 
licenses.  Shilowa noted that there had been issues with call 
center operators and people working in testing centers to 
undermine the centralized booking system in order to receive 
bribes.  Shilowa committed to rooting out fraud, corruption and 
unethical behavior in the public and private sectors. 
 
¶8.  On crime, Premier Shilowa said rates for some crimes had 
been falling but remained unacceptably high, and said that he 
was horrified by the extent of violence associated with crimes 
committed in the province.  He noted that the 10111 emergency 
call center was now operational in Midrand and that vehicle 
location systems had been installed in 1800 to allow faster 
dispatch to the sites of emergencies.   Shilowa said that all 
6200 provincial vehicles would be fitted with monitoring units 
before the end of the financial year.   In addition to 
increasing community safety volunteers, Gauteng was increasing 
social crime prevention and improving and expanding its police 
performance system. 
 
Preparations for 2010 
------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  Shilowa said that Gauteng had successfully hosted Soccerex, 
the convention on the business of football, in November 2007, 
and progress had been made in making Gauteng the home of 
competitive sport.  Tourism facilities were also being upgraded, 
with 100 percent grading of accommodations to be completed by 
¶2010.   There had been a threefold increase of facilities around 
Dinokeng and the Cradle of Humankind.  Departing from his 
prepared text, Shilowa noted that building soccer stadia was 
only one part of the 2010 preparation and the other part 
involved having a national soccer team of a caliber that brought 
the nation together behind it, and Bafana Bafana needed to get 
its act together.  Most members of his audience appeared to 
agree with Shilowa's assessment. 
 
Foreign Relations 
--------------------------- 
 
¶10.  Shilowa said the province had signed a declaration of 
intent with Katanga province in the Congo and would participate 
in an economic summit in Lubumbashi in April 2008.   Gauteng had 
also signed a cooperation agreement with Moscow Oblast and 
renewed agreements with Ile de France, Bavaria and Baden 
Wurttemberg.   He said the agreement with Moscow would provide 
capacity in nanotechnology and space technology.   Shilowa said 
that he expected to strengthen relations with Beijing, Ontario 
and Havana in 2008. 
COFFMAN