Business leader Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster, who was unveiled as the Gauteng premier candidate for Build One SA (Bosa), a political party she cofounded with leader Mmusi Maimane, said her party would establish a R5bn “jobs and justice fund” to boost the township economy, address unemployment and help college graduates to start their own enterprises in a quest to put a job in every home.
She was speaking on Tuesday at Uncle Tom’s community centre at Orlando West in Soweto, Johannesburg, moments after Maimane presented her as the candidate that would lead the party’s campaign to form a new government in SA’s economic and financial hub.
Gauteng, which contributes nearly 40% to national GDP, is expected to be a battleground province in the May 29 national and provincial elections as opposition leaders including Hlazo-Webster, DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga, ActionSA Gauteng chair Funzi Ngobeni, EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and Rise Mzansi national chair Vuyiswa Ramokgopa are positioning themselves to replace ANC Gauteng chair Panyaza Lesufi as premier.
Several surveys including those by Standard Bank, Ipsos, Wits University, Social Research Foundation, the ANC and the Brenthurst Foundation all indicate the ANC’s electoral support could fall below 50% for the first time since 1994 during the general elections.
The ANC, which is dogged by financial, operational and administrative challenges has conceded it could lose Gauteng — buffeted by violent crime, high joblessness, crumbling public infrastructure, a housing backlog and entrenched inequality — during the elections.
Hlazo-Webster, founder of the SA Women’s Commission, which assembles women from all walks of life to collaborate in contributing to change in SA, said her administration would focus on the township economy; build innovation hubs across the province; ramp up housing delivery; solve the crippling water crisis and enhance safety and security in communities.
SA’s township economy is valued at R400bn, equivalent to almost 8% of GDP annually and employs about 2.6-million people. The ANC-run provincial government passed the Gauteng Township Economic Development Act to ostensibly create a conducive environment for township businesses to thrive.
Hlazo-Webster said there was “so much that’s wrong in Gauteng”. “If you build Gauteng, you build the rest of the country,” she said. Gauteng was a shell of its former glory. Raw sewage flowed on the streets, there was no water in homes and businesses and crumbling schools were abandoned, leaving pupils in the lurch, said Hlazo-Webster.
“Gauteng is a place of diminishing hope and deferred dreams. But today we stand to draw a line in the sand. Today we declare we will build Gauteng to be a place of hope ... It will be a place where there is innovation... but before we do that, we need to [put] a job in every home.”
She said the jobs and justice fund would pool resources from the public and private sectors to address socioeconomic issues dogging Gauteng.
Maimane said he believed in his deputy’s capabilities and leadership acumen. Under Hlazo-Webster’s leadership the province would be a place of prosperity, he said.
“It cannot be a place of gold when so many are lingering in poverty. It must be a place where there is a job in every home. I’m sick and tired of the poverty that confronts our beautiful province,” said Maimane.
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