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GEORGE NEWS - Get the economy going and a job in every household. These were some of the aims spelled out by Western Cape Premier Alan Winde when he addressed the Premier's Coordination Forum in George on Tuesday 11 June.
It was the first time Winde addressed the meeting in his new capacity.
The meeting was attended by most of the members of the Western Cape cabinet, senior officials of the Western Cape provincial administration, mayors, municipal managers and senior municipal officials of the province.
Winde used the opportunity to introduce his new cabinet. Winde mentioned the past election campaign and said it is necessary that one gets down to ground level. It really hit him hard to feel the pain of citizens at ground level. He said it was evident that in certain places there were discrepancies.
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However, he emphasised that the election is behind us and from here on the emphasis will be on making a difference in every citizen's life.
There is a lot of work to be done and the reality is that there is no more money. "We are not talking about slow growth. We are talking about no growth. It is going to be worse than in the past." In turn, he said, this will have an impact on taxable income.
Alan Winde, premier of the Western Cape, arrives at the Premier's Coordination Forum that was held at the George Civic Centre. Photo: Eugene Gunning
More innovative ways will have to be found for service providers such as municipalities, to deliver their services. He also stressed that it is important to find ways to make the province and municipalities safer. If this doesn't happen, it won't be possible to attend to problems in other fields such as education.
Winde said the primary objective of everyone should be to get the economy going. "We need to shift people from poverty to middle class."
A job in every household will make a massive difference to human settlements and municipalities, because if more people can pay for services, there will be more money for delivery, which will change everyone's lives.
He invited attendees to make inputs that can be taken to the cabinet bosberaad [indaba] on 11 July for discussion.
Tertuis Simmers (left), Westen Cape Minister of Human Settlements, and Antoinette Steyn, mayor of Breedevallei. Photo: Eugene Gunning 'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
