Gauteng finds itself in the middle of a serious financial and economic crisis. The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) issued this warning yesterday during the debate on the Gauteng Treasury’s 2026/27 budget.
This crisis is reflected in the province’s rising unemployment rate. By contrast, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was listed last Friday in what became the largest initial public offering in history.
While the world celebrates such breakthroughs, Gauteng is moving in the opposite direction.
It is therefore necessary to ask what has gone wrong in Gauteng and how the tide can be turned to make the province an attractive destination for job-creating investments and a place where ideas are developed into patents and profitable products.
Given Gauteng’s natural resources and large workforce, there is little reason why the province cannot follow the growth trajectory of the world’s most successful economies.
The growing unemployment rate is a clear warning sign that continuing with the same approach will not deliver better results.
The province therefore needs a better strategy than the one currently being followed.
One factor within the province’s control is the allocation of budgets to departments.
The Department of Economic Development – the department directly responsible for economic growth and sustainable job creation – continues to receive a relatively small and insufficient annual budget.
The first correct step would therefore be to review this department’s programmes and significantly increase its budget in order to strengthen the positive impact of an improved business environment.
The Provincial Treasury can play a decisive role in this regard.
FF+ Manifesto on Fiscal prudence: Responsible management of public finances and reducing debt.
Petite Beauty
Braai – a barbecue [brr-rye] Also known as a barbecue where steak, lamb chops and of course ‘boerewors’ is cooked on a grid over wood and flames. Add some salads, rolls and ‘melktert’ for dessert and you are set for a traditional South African braai.
Day Hawk
Fun South African Fact: Vilakazi Street in Soweto has been home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners. A tour through Soweto will always stop at Vilakazi Street to reveal a number of heritage sites of great importance to democratic South Africa. Both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived here at some point in their lives. In 1984, Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for his non-violent fight against the apartheid regime. Nine years later in 1993, Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize with then-president F.W. de Klerk as an award for their role in bringing about the peaceful end of apartheid. Nelson Mandela then went on to become South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994.