4 May 2007, Ga-Rankuwa, Pretoria
Programme Director
Executive Mayor of the host City, Dr. Gwen Ramakgopa
The minister
Members of the Mayoral Committee and Councillors present
Officials from the various spheres of Government
People of Tshwane
Invited guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great pleasure to be here and, together with you, to celebrate the delivery of another important infrastructure - an infrastructure that is aimed at enhancing the lives of all our people.
Without any doubt, this facility will make it that much easier for our people to access the various services that government is putting forward as part of its commitment to improve the status of our people.
Officials from the various Government Departments should, operating from this infrastructure, be better able to assist the people of Ga-Rankuwa to gain access to poverty alleviation programmes and to job creation opportunities that Government is putting at their disposal. The youth, people with disabilities and the women of Ga-Rankuwa should, from henceforth, be better placed not only to gain access to survival projects that are at their disposal, but should also be able to gain information about available business, social and academic opportunities that awaits.
This facility should indeed make it that much easier for the people of Tshwane to directly participate in the complex process of transforming for the better their social, political and economic conditions. Gone are those days when ordinary citizens and our elders had to travel long distances to access government services. People should now be able to walk five minutes from their homes to access services of the Departments of Home Affairs, Social Services and the Department of Labour, as an example of services that will be availed from this service station. From this centre, people should also be able to pay for their municipal services such water and electricity.
It is also encouraging to note that the services in this centre have not been determined by government alone. The people of Ga-Rankuwa identified the services that they wanted and needed from this facility.
The Thusong Service Centre was established through collaboration between our National Government, through GCIS, the Gauteng Provincial Government and the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. This correctly reflects the spirit of co-operative governance as demanded by the constitution of our country. Co-operative governance directs all spheres of government to foster friendly relations, assist and support one another to ensure that service delivery takes place in partnership with local people.
Today we are proud, as Government, to extend services in an integrated manner, where the communities of Ga-Rankuwa and the surrounding areas will able to:
In conclusion I wish to note that this service centre is the 28th multi-purpose community centre to be established by this government - a factor that certainly reinforces my confidence in that together we shall succeed to create more jobs and fight poverty for a better life for all.
I thank you