Gauteng premier delivers Sopa

David Makhura is talking service delivery and growth in his state of the province address in the provincial legislature on Monday morning.

The Gauteng government plans to grow the economy, create jobs as well as fight crime and corruption in 2018. He is also expected to focus on education in his speech.

Watch a live stream of the speech below.

However, uneasy bedfellows the DA and EFF, who together managed to wrest control of most Gauteng urban metros from the ANC in the 2016 elections, are not buying it.

They protested in the chilly weather outside the provincial legislature on Monday.

They accuse the ANC of having stolen from the poor through corruption and mismanagement. During the past term, wasteful and irregular expenditure has continued to rise, according to the Auditor-General, including in the Gauteng province.

Ahead of the 2016 elections, Makhura implored voters not to punish the ANC in the province for their dissatisfaction with then president Jacob Zuma. The ANC in Gauteng had consistently opposed Zuma’s leadership and several Gauteng leaders were at the forefront of his ousting following the December ANC elective conference.

Premier Makhura has arrived #GPSOPA18 pic.twitter.com/6QIV76bbiS

— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) February 26, 2018

The DA has repeatedly expressed its ambition to take over the running of its second province in 2019. It already governs the Western Cape.

Follow some of Makhura’s comments from his speech below:

#Makhura says the new dawn is about drawing inspiration from the life of Nelson Mandela who who turned adversity into opportunity; war into peace; enemies into friends; despair into hope; tragedy into a force for positive change. #GPSOPA18

— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) February 26, 2018

#Makhura: President Ramaphosa is the kind of leader that SA needs given the nature of the challenges our country faces. Let us all support him across party-political affiliation and ideological divide #GPSOPA18

— Inside Education (@Inside_Edu) February 26, 2018

Quoting he late National Poet Laureate, Keorapetse Kgositsile , #Makhura says The new dawn must inspire us to “rehabilitate our wounded dreams, and reclaim and nourish the song of the quality of our vibrant being” #GPSOPA18

— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) February 26, 2018

#GPSOPA2018

Cde Makhura: The new dawn must also inspire the young people of our province to dream big and aspire to live in a province, a country and a world where there is equality, economic freedom and prosperity for all as well as social and environmental justice.

— Gauteng ANC #VoteANC (@GautengANC) February 26, 2018

#SOPAGP #SOPA2018

"We need to rehabilitate our broken dreams."-Makhura

— POWER987News (@POWER987News) February 26, 2018

https://twitter.com/verashni/status/968039456547790848