WC SOPA 2024: ''A province that is working and striving for better, every day''

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde delivered the State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Monday, in Paarl.

This is where Winde outlines the Western Cape Government's achievements over the past year and announce the province's plans for the next year.

SCREENSHOT: Western cape Premier, Alan Winde, delivering SOPA2024 in Paarl

Winde provided an update on progress made by the Western Cape Government (WCG) over the past year in delivering priorities, such as job creation, safety, healthcare, and education, amongst others.

‘’What an honour this is for me to deliver my last SOPA of this term. This gives me the opportunity to reflect on the last five years – the ups and downs – the difficulties, if you think back of COVID-19, a province that so many south Africans want to move here, a province jobs and opportunities, the fastest growing population in any province in South Africa.’’

Winde says he’s concerned about the growing global shift away from respect for the rule of law and liberal democracy. He reflected on how diverse the Western Cape is

‘’Our province is a melting pot of cultures and beliefs. It is through our unique diversity that we draw our strength. Regardless of the issue at hand, our diversity should bind us and guide us towards tolerance. It is only through talking and engaging each other that we can resolve our differences. We owe it to each other to share our views respectfully and with compassion.’’

‘’Many Western Cape residents and citizens across the world are understandably and rightly deeply affected and concerned by the unfolding crisis in the Middle East. I too am horrified at the violence. My heart breaks for the children, the vulnerable and innocent citizens who have died in this war. Violence against children is completely unacceptable, in any context. Whether they are in the Middle East, Ukraine, or Cape Town, our children must be protected at all costs.’’

‘’My focus as Premier has and will continue to be to ensure that regardless of whatever else is happening in the world, here in the Western Cape, we create the space for diverse views to be shared and expressed and that the rule of law is adhered to. Unlike others who seek to divide residents, my role as Premier is to ensure that every resident who wants to express their views can,’’ said Winde.

Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, also touched on the Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill. The bill aims to empower provincial and local governments to address issues where the national government, what the DA says, has failed to deliver services to residents. Some of those functions include policing, rail, energy and trade.

‘’To maintain the high standard of services we offer our residents, our government is always striving to do better, especially when national government has failed our most vulnerable citizens. It is very clear that 30 years into our democracy national government is unable to deliver on its constitutional mandate. When they fail to keep people safe, offer reliable public transport, grow the economy and keep the lights on, we must take action!’’

‘’The most powerful way to help our residents is for a capable provincial government, like ours, to carry out the functions that Pretoria is failing to deliver. The Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill is about being able to better manage critical functions. We are desperate to fix Cape Town’s central line and get trains back on track. We want to attract private investors to the Port of Cape Town so it can again be an efficient logistics hub that helps create jobs and fuel our economic growth; and we want our citizens in communities like Nyanga, Delft, and Mitchells Plain to be safe and prosperous,’’ he added.

Winde touched on the scourge of gender-based violence.

‘’ While our government is committed to serving all seven and half million people who live in our province, it is the most vulnerable in society who need our help the most.’’

As a caring government, we do all we can to help those most in need. We have a 365-day approach to addressing gender-based violence, and our aim is to do everything that we can to ensure that survivors of violence get the support and assistance they need.’’

Winde said it will continue to feed those in need. The Premier said since 2019, the provincial government provided over 1,1 million cooked meals, through 102 community nutrition and development centres and 358 soup kitchens across the province.

Onto job creation, and Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde said as part of its Growth for Jobs (G4J) strategy to a R1 trillion economy, it aims to grow by between 4% and 6% annually

‘’Reflecting on jobs in this term of office, the Western Cape economy created almost two thirds (64.9%) of all jobs in South Africa. This shows that good governance, forward thinking government policies and a collaborative government – private sector ecosystem enables opportunities for growth and jobs. As a government, we must make it as easy as possible for businesses of all kinds to start up, work and grow in our province.’’

‘’Our Red Tape Reduction unit is tearing up bureaucratic red tape. Over the past 5 years, the unit has helped save the economy R2.4 billion. While all businesses are being pummeled by load shedding and crime, small businesses often bear the brunt. We must offer support to them in any way we can. Our SMME Booster Fund has since 2019 assisted over 860 SMMEs, sustaining 4 977 jobs.  The Booster Fund has helped these SMMEs grow, creating an additional 651 jobs.’’

Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, says it is investing in resources into learning for children.

‘’Economic growth needs an educated and skilled population. This is one of the many reasons why we invest vast sums of our resources into providing dignified, safe places of teaching and learning for our children. To keep up with an ever-growing education population, through our Rapid School Build Programme - launched in 2022 – we have built 25 schools, 16 replacement schools and over 1 200 classrooms.’’

‘’To maintain quality education standards, the Western Cape is the only province to conduct systemic testing in Mathematics and Language. And our unique collaboration school model is delivering high-quality no-fee education to learners in poor communities. We are now building on this success and exploring additional models of public-private partnerships and drawing private investment into the education sector through Edu Invest.’’

 

 

 

Winde says they are pushing for more private sector involvement and more control of the port of Cape Town. He says growth in agricultural exports has the potential to create another 20 000 jobs and generate an additional R22 billion.

With regards to crime and safety, and Winde says creating jobs has become as critical as fighting crime. He says Poverty and unemployment are the main contributors to crime

‘’Safety and jobs are intertwined; one, cannot work optimally without the other. Safety cannot be achieved in isolation. Creating jobs has become as critical as fighting crime. A safe community is a prosperous one. Our war on crime involves data, evidence and innovation, which see our women and men in blue fight crime smarter and more efficiently.’’

‘’By building a safe province we enable more jobs. I have said it before and will emphasise it continuously: nothing stops a bullet like a job. Nothing gives you dignity like a job. Our Safety Plan, launched in 2019, guides how we utilise policing resources to have the most impact. Rooted in data, evidence and technology it looks at a smarter more effective deployment of resources. Our LEAP programme sees more than 1300 women and men deployed every day to murder hotspots in Cape Town.’’

Onto mobility, or transport, and Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, has once again called for the devolution for rail, in order for trains to run in the province. Winde highlighted the importance of the minibus taxi Industry. He recognized the value this industry brings to residents

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde says they are investing heavily to rid the province of load shedding. He says load shedding on the Western Cape's economy, in stage 4, costed the provincial government about R43 million per day

‘’We are building an energy ecosystem to bring more private sector role players into the fold to help us overcome the power crisis. Phelan Energy is one such company that is tapping into the green hydrogen (GH2) sector. We have worked tirelessly to ensure that our hospitals and clinics can operate during load shedding. 193 of our health facilities have generator capacity to continue essential services during load shedding, 9 of our clinics have completed inverter installations, and 10 of our hospitals have been exempted from up to Stage 6 load shedding.’’

 

‘’Numerous municipalities’ efforts to ameliorate mass power outages are also well under way. Twenty-five municipalities have seen a remarkable surge in embedded generation installations,’’ said Winde.

Winde says the nationals budget cut to different sectors to the province has a detrimental effect on the economy of the province. The provincial government  declared an inter-governmental dispute. About R1.1 billion was cut from the province. He also expressed concern about the mismanagement of some of the province’s municipalities.

‘’Our residents deserve better than mountains of refuse left uncollected for weeks, sewage flowing down streets and ongoing water supply disruptions! These scenes of collapsing service delivery are a blight on our province’s solid track record of good governance.’’

‘’The Western Cape Government is assisting struggling municipalities. We must first help them to help themselves. Where there is dysfunction, we must as the provincial government, intervene but at the same time respecting that this is an independent sphere of government that was elected by those residents, who must ultimately hold their municipalities accountable,’’ said Alan Winde, Western Cape Premier.

SOPA was held the same day the sixth session of the sixth Parliament of the Provincial Government opened for the 2024 year.

For Bush Radio News, I’m Mitchum George