Makhura to help Reiger Park create jobs

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has urged Reiger Park residents to work with government to create jobs and small enterprises in the township. Image: TruLegal Media

Makhura claimed the provincial government would help the communities by helping those people who have formed small enterprises and cooperatives. He said this was part of the government's plan for radical economic transformation.

"We don't have to wait for big factories to employ people. We are here to support you so you can be self-sufficient," Makhura said during a visit to Reiger Park, settlement about 8.5km from Boksburg.

He and his entourage are holding road shows for township-based businesses that range from construction to building materials suppliers, bakeries, welding services, panel beaters small-scale restaurants and other informal sector retailers.

Makhura, who was flanked by Gauteng Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile, called on communities to mobilise and work with government to turn their lives around as they try to address crime, unemployment, poverty and self- marginalisation.

According to Makhura, Reiger Park has the potential to develop into a R2bn economy by providing building materials and supplying labour.

People urged to work together

"We are here to work, not to talk," he said.

Gauteng's MEC for Economic Development Lebogang Maile says government will provide financial assistance and training to small- and medium-sized enterprises. Image: Jo'burg

The Gauteng provincial government will spend the next five years trying to revitalise township economies across the province.

He said the three pillars of the provincial government's plan of action for the new administration were radical economic transformation including transformation of the spatial landscape along with the modernisation of various local economies in those townships.

Makhura said the provincial government initiative would be driven by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), adding that the launch of township incubation hubs would support this goal.

Maile called on the private sector to join government in this initiative by pledging resources and producing innovative ideas to support township enterprises and claimed the plan involves regenerating old township industrial sites into productive spaces.

"We will refurbish infrastructure and attract private sector investment to these sites so residents can create and produce goods and services and identify markets for the goods they make," he said.

He said the provincial government would finance people those people who formed small enterprises and co-operatives.

Government will also assist with entrepreneurship training which they have identified as one of the key pillars in driving the township economic revitalisation plan.

Turning to the rampant crime levels in Reiger Park, which has come under the spotlight in the province following the recent killing of Cuburne Lavone van Wyk, 3, Makura urged communities to help police rid the community of crime and gangsterism.

Police are still trying to identify the partially burnt body of a child found in a mine dump in Reiger Park, over the weekend that was spotted by a passer-by who alerted police.