David Makhura's Sopa address in seven quotes

Gauteng premier David Makhura delivered his annual state of the province address (Sopa) on Tuesday. He outlined the province's plans to improve human settlement and addressed water scarcity, among other issues.

Here's a summary of his address in seven quotes:

Water scarcity 

“Water security is fast becoming an issue of grave concern in our country and in our province. Gauteng is facing major water-security risks. Our water usage is too high and therefore unsustainable. In Gauteng, we use 300 litres per person per day, which is way above the world average of 173 litres and the national average of 235 litres per person per day.”

Load-shedding 

“The current load-shedding by Eskom is destroying the economy and affecting people's lives. Instead of waiting and whinging, we must all act decisively to safeguard energy security and enable a just energy transition to a low-carbon economy.”

Energy sources

“We welcome President (Cyril) Ramaphosa's pronouncement during the state of the nation address which will allow municipalities, the private sector and individual citizens to bring in additional capacity to the grid from renewable energy, hydro power and battery storage. This is in line with the Gauteng energy security strategy.”

New university 

“We welcome the announcement by President Ramaphosa about the building of the Oliver Tambo University of Science and Innovation. This university is a great value proposition and a boost to advancing the manufacturing capabilities of the Ekurhuleni aerotropolis. We are following up to make sure that it becomes a reality during this decade.”

Human settlement

“More than 1.2 million government-subsidised houses have been built in Gauteng, benefiting close to 4-million people. During this decade, we will ensure there are no incomplete housing projects or completed houses that are not allocated.”

Land release

“As part of our commitment to provide 100,000 serviced stands to qualifying Gauteng residents who want to and are able to build their own homes, we will release 10,000 serviced stands across the different corridors between April and June this year. This gives impetus to the rapid land release programme.” 

Education 

“In the last decade, we have significantly changed the face of public education in our province by improving educational outcomes in townships and rural schools. The achievement gap between middle-class suburban schools and schools in the townships has been reduced from 24.1% in 2008 to 2.7% in 2019.”