Dear Mr MEC

Gauteng MEC for Finance Mandla Nkomfe is tabling the provincial budget tomorrow. Like his national counterpart Pravin Gordhan, he is widely expected to allocate more money to development, the poor and to fight crime. Sowetan has canvassed a number of Gauteng residents about their wish list for the new financial year. .

THE people of Gauteng are demanding that the MEC for finance should accommodate their various wishes when he presents his budget speech tomorrow.

The residents are hoping that their lives will be drastically improved.

Magauta Thaele, of Judith's Paarl, Johannesburg, says her area is overcrowded and people do not have jobs.

"It is not an excuse for me to vote for the apartheid government, but they had a systematic way of dealing with the influx of foreigners into the country, which worked well.

"What our current government needs to do is devise a system that will work as good as it did then. Our government is building us RDP houses, but why are our government officials allowing foreigners to rent some of these houses?" Thaele says.

Jacob Donald, of Bertrams, Johannesburg, says he wants jobs created in the province.

Donald says he used to work for a company that was contracted to Pikitup, but the Joburg municipality just ended their contract without any explanation. He has since struggled to find a job.

Ndleleni Ndlovu, of Bertrams, lives on Hansa Street. He survives by collecting plastic material from garbage bins and sells them for recycling.

"I'd rather do this than to commit crime because there are no jobs for me," Ndlovu says.

Siyabulela Mlindazwe of Carletonville also wants the Gauteng government to expand the local hospital. Mlindazwe says jobs are still a big challenge in and around the area.

He says he is yet to see the difference since Carletonville was incorporated back into Gauteng.

Bulelwa Mbungele of Carletonville says there are no primary schools in Khutsong South. Mbungele also pays R260 a month for her children to be transported to school on the other side of the township.

"Some of our kids have finished schools and they cannot get jobs. We need jobs," Mbungele says.

Cynthia Marabe of Carletonville says: "Our children obtain matric certificates and diplomas but they still cannot find jobs."

Marabe says the local hospital is overcrowded, with some of the patients being forced to sleep on the floor.

"They must expand the hospital in order to meet the high demands," Marabe says. She says there had been some improvement since the area was moved from North West to the Gauteng.

Lerato Molefe, who has an 8-year-old son, Sandile, wants more grants for her child.

"I am unemployed the child grant I am getting for him is just not enough. In fact, it's too little and I hope the MEC can improve this."

Joyce Mabasa says while she does not have a problem with her RDP house, the dirty streets of Alexandra are giving her sleepless nights.

"The township is dirty and the MEC must do something about this. Hire people to clean our streets."

Manqoba Khumalo says safety is a problem in Alexandra.

"The state first needs to get rid of corrupt police officers and then deal with criminals. Many officers at Alexandra police station are rotten and collude with criminals."

Innocent Dlamini of Alexandra says he would love to see the Gauteng government build houses for his community.

"We are staying in shelters and many people who live around here," he says.

Nkosinamandla Zonke of Alexandra also complains about housing development in the area.

"We want houses because we are staying in a dangerous area here. There are dangerous electricity poles here.

"We need service delivery such as water and sanitation," says Zonke.

CJ van Zylof Johannesburg wants to see the local government intensify its job creation programmes.

"We need jobs for young people and improvement of roads. Hospital services must get better," he says.

Tricia Grootboom of Sandton has more interest in the country's monetary system.

"The problem with the South African currency is that it does not have its own flow, where we can create our own monetary value," she says.

"Government needs to find an alternative method of developing skills for the youth," says Grootboom.

She suggests that government should encourage the youth to go for military training for a year to help improve skills development.

Nompumelelo Mdashe complains that children travelled long distances to get to school.

"We have to pay R350 for transport and we have to pay for some of the books ourselves," Mdashe says.

She also calls for creation of jobs in the area and good open communication with the municipality.

Emmy Malatjie also from Alexandra says the lack of RDP houses in the township is a problem.

"The few houses that have already been built have been occupied by illegal people who bought these houses from corrupt officials. This issue must be sorted out soon."

Zweli Mvelase also complains about the shortage of houses. "That is our priority. Anything else can follow but the MEC must channel most of the budget towards building of RDP houses."

Tshepo Leba also wants RDP houses to be increased.

"In Alexandra our most challenging issue when it comes to service delivery is lack of proper houses and sanitation.

"We share our little space with big rats. Eish, that's a problem."