State of the province address

By Tarryn Le Chat
16 February 2007

The streets were filled with marching bands and a guard of honour at the Provincial Building in Wale Street today as everyone waited in anticipation for the arrival of the Premier of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool, to deliver his State of the Province address.

Adderley to Wale Street was barred off and many school children and the public stood along the paths. A marimba band and choir entertained the crowd. At about 10am, the Premier arrived and the national anthem was sung. Everyone then moved into legislature to hear the speech.

Rasool started off his speech by addressing poverty and crime. The eradication of poverty is a priority because many of the youth and society steal and prostitute themselves to be able to put food on the table at home, he said.

A lot of the youth from poorer communities, such as Hanover Park, sees drugs and gangsterism as a way of life. The drug ‘tik’ is the choice for many of these kids. The premier feels that more rehabilitation centres should be opened.

With a backlog of 400 000 for housing, Rasool said the province can meet the demand by 2014. He said, though, that government is prepared to handle this situation.

“Seventy-nine percent of those needing houses earn less that R1 500 per month. However, MEC for local government and housing, Richard Dyantyi is poised to receive an average of R1.2 billion from government a year”, said Rasool.

The taxi-recapitalisation programme was a success according to the premier. He believes more investment from 2010 should result in employment in the construction, leisure, transport, tourism and service sectors.

Benefits do include a dedicated bus and taxi lanes from the R300 right into Cape Town along the N2 and the expansion of the airport through a R2 billion expansion investment.