I want to tell you that it is actually worth fighting for the Western Cape to go forward. This is the crown jewel of the country and so those of us who were charged with political leadership and the business leadership and community leadership and faith leadership, whatever leadership there is, labour, whatever leadership we are charged with, we've got to maximise the opportunities that come with that leadership and that's the opportunity to do good in the Western Cape.
We've included a full copy of the speech for you in your folders that are there at the table. I think that a good summary of it appears on the front page of the Argus today, so those of you who are lazy to read, read the Argus and you'll get a glimpse of what it is and maybe it will entice you to read and to flip through the speech but I'm hoping that what you see in there is the commitment of a government at work. One would never say that the actual things that we list there as achievements, whether in social security, in welfare, in health, in basic services, all of those things, in crime and in the economy, one would never believe that in the midst of all the sound and fury of the politics of the Western Cape, when it appears that we fighting with each other all the time, one would never believe that at the same time we are achieving all of those things and I think that that says that it's a focused government, that it's a government who's sincere in its work and that it's a government who is going to refuse to be distracted by the sound and fury of the politics of the Western Cape.
You know the sound and fury of the politics makes me so scared even to inform you tonight that it is Leonard Ramatlakane's birthday because it may be that tomorrow the newspapers will say "Premier uses government money to give Leonard a birthday bash" or one of the opposition speakers on Tuesday when they debate the Premier's vote will say that that R1-billion to fight crime and gangsterism has been a birthday gift to Leonard Ramatlakane but the fact of the matter is that we are hoping that those of you who have glimpsed into what was spoken about today, those of you who will read the speech or just glance through the speech, those of you who read the newspapers that the overwhelming impression we want you to have is one of hope, is one of optimism and it's one of commitment because I believe that today we have been at our most practical.
We have cut out all talk of policy, we have cut out all talk of strategy and what we've tried to give you is ten areas of action that really matter to the people of the Western Cape. We have shown you a R1 billion to fight crime and drugs and gangsterism in the 50 most affected areas and the 109 most affected schools. I'm hoping that you feel that the fight is on against the gangsters and the drug lords in the Western Cape. I'm hoping that the announcement of the R1, 2 billion for the next three years per year for housing is going to say to you that we may not solve the problem in the short term or even the medium term but the government is committed to house as many people as possible with the money that we have and that we've doubled the budget as a sign of that commitment.
I'm hoping that all the things that we've said about the economy will begin to say to you, "Stay with us. Don't go away. It may be difficult" but I believe more than ever before we are on the threshold of a sound growing, in fact a booming economy in the Western Cape. The President has asked us to reach a growth rate of 6%. I want to tell you as we speak here we are already at 5,7% in the Western Cape. You'd be a fool to leave now. Stay with us, we are perfecting the ways to share the benefits of that economy and there will be people who like the way we share it and there will be people who don't like the way we share it but if a government sits on a property basis of R30 billion, why should we not unlock its potential by using it for housing, by using it for economic growth and by finding transparent, honest and sustainable ways to use that property portfolio and so we're experimenting, for example, with the Somerset Hospital site, not selling it but leasing it.
Not letting BEE play lottery and compete amongst each other by putting up a guaranteed portion for all who qualify for BEE upfront. Whoever wants to develop Somerset Hospital must know that they must do business with a broad base of BEE in the Western Cape and more importantly they must know that you cannot develop Somerset if you don't at the same time build housing, gap housing or social housing for the poor on that precinct as well because the poor have a right to be between the Waterfront and the World Cup Stadium.
Those of you who sit in the traffic jam in the mornings and in the evenings, you may be frustrated. I think you'll be frustrated in Gauteng but we will tell you that by 2010 you will see the basis of a good, safe, reliable public transport system in the Western Cape where commuters can have one ticket and they can get up onto a taxi with that ticket at home, stop at the terminus, get onto a bus, stop at the station and get onto the train with one single ticket. That's the vision we have for the Western Cape and we didn't say this as a dream. We didn't say this as a philosophy. All of these things we've said, we will do it in this time. We will do it with this money and I want to say to all the members of Cabinet, all the heads of departments, all the officials of this government, I want to say to you we are going to be busy for the next three years because we have made our commitments public today and we know that the people who are in this room will trust you to get the job done. The last thing I want to say is that we thought that we will take a debate that we have been avoiding for the last 13 years. We will take that debate by the scruff of the neck.
It is not comfortable to live in a City and to live in a province where your heroes from your community who not recognised. We cannot go home any longer and cross the Hendrik Verwoerd Boulevard to get to a house or the D F Malan Avenue and the Oswald Pirow Boulevard. We've got to be able to say "Our communities in our great diversity have all contributed to this freedom, this democracy and this economic growth that even those who oppressed us before are enjoying. We're asking them and we're asserting to them, it is time for the Western Cape to change and truly to become a home for all reflected in the street names and the public State names.
We're asking you not simply to trust the government to do the running. We've have put into the public domain that the Cape Town International Airport should become the James la Guma International Airport and that's very important because here we go to a comrade who started in the 1920's and was active in struggle even in World War 2. I think that those are the calibre of leadership that we must be able to honour.
I want to thank everyone for the truly collective effort that has resulted in the speech that has been delivered today. This is no false modesty but I simply delivered a speech at Cabinet, the heads of departments and the Ministers and officials at various levels, thrashed out for two days at Goudini on Monday and Tuesday. We were amazed at how much we've done and how much we are capable of doing. I want to thank all of them because as we sat there I could feel a pride emerging in our capability as a government by everyone.
I want to thank people also in my own department, the DG, people in my office. You know Edgar Petersen who helped with the final drafting of the speech and did a lot of the leg work, he was despairing at the beginning of writing the speech when we sat and thought about it two weeks ago. He said "Last year's speech probably said all the things, are we just going to repeat it?"
By last night after we put the final full stop in, we believe that in our turning from strategy to implementation we have been able to find in practicality, the best thing to give to the people of the Western Cape and so, thank you very much for being here. I particularly want to thank Rosieda and my children Taghreer and Tanweer. They've been wondering where I've been the last few nights but Leeuwenhof is quite big. We can be busy downstairs somewhere and be absent completely.
I want to thank all the Rasool families and the Shabodien families who are here. They were duly invited. They didn't smuggle themselves in, so please I ask the DA to be understanding and I particularly want to invite all the leaders and all the friends who are here. I believe the next half of our term up till 2009 is going to be significantly better than the first half was.
