Minister Essop Pahad
Address: Presidency
budget vote, National Assembly
18
June 2003
Madame Speaker,
Cde President,
Cde Deputy President,
Honourable members
However unwelcome
the passing years might be to all of us, we are once again able, in
this debate, to offer Mr Thabo Mbeki our warmest birthday wishes on
reaching another milestone.
As we approach the 10th anniversary of our democracy, it is worth
noting how far the building blocks of progressive statehood have
been put in place.
Things are vastly better, and those South Africans - small in
mind and numbers - who wish to hark back to the "old days"
should appreciate their luck in sharing in one of the world's recognised
democracies which is forging ahead, instead of living in a country
which a former editor of the Burger described as the "polecat
of the world".
This "harking back" increasingly rears its head as some
fire their first election campaign salvoes.
For example, last Sunday, the Leader of the Official Opposition
got onto a podium and made claims regarding what he termed too high
a cost for the President's security.
I need not deal with the gross anomalies in his so-called facts.
He himself must calculate whether the vast amounts he pays researchers
are worth it - in this case to feed him with misinformation regarding
the Johannesburg Metro Police budget. A basic misreading of a speech
by the Johannesburg Mayor, it seems, led the honourable member to
proclaim that the total budget of the Metro Police for 2003/4 is
only R14M, when indeed this budget is over R400M after a healthy
22% increase on the previous year. Even a cursory reading of the
Mayor's speech shows that the Mayor merely indicated that as part
of this 22% increase, R14M is allocated and set aside for capacity
building for Metro Police officers.
The issue is the security of the President of the Republic. To
compromise on this, the least I would argue, would be to undermine
the stability we sought to build since 1994. The Leader of the Official
Opposition may wish to hog the headlines on any issue as is his
wont; but I do not think he seriously would like our government
to compromise the security of his President, our President! The
question is, is the life of a black President less valuable than
even that of former Apartheid presidents.
Madame Speaker despite these efforts to hark back and misinform,
there are everywhere firm signs of progress - the tide has turned.
Let me take a few instances of integrated and interactive governance
led by the Presidency.
The imbizo programme, as the President outlined in this
House on 5 June, is up and running. Since 2001, no fewer than five
provinces have had this special attention by the President and four
by the Deputy President. Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers,
Provincial MECs, Mayors and local councillors have played their
part too, including in four National Focus Weeks, not to speak of
provincial executive outreach programmes. It has indeed become a
way of life for this government.
I believe the real effect of this Imbizo way of life is
still to be fully understood and will form part of many a postgraduate
study and research topic regarding communications and governance
in the years to come.
One has but to see the enthusiasm of our people when presented
the opportunity to interact with and directly question our President
and Deputy President, or others in the executive. Our people seem
to more eagerly speak their minds and raise difficult issues.
Things happen when people and government interact directly that
we do not see anywhere else, whether in political meetings or at
conferences. The President has a tendency to respond and intervene
on the spot. Recently in the North West, to the consternation of
his security, the Rev Chikane and myself, he jumped from the stage
in response to a speaker living with HIV who had been struggling
to meet his MEC on HIV and Aids issues. There in the hall, while
the Imbizo was proceeding, he brought the MEC and this person
together and had the MEC agree to a meeting. That meeting has already
taken place and the issues are being resolved.
Equally, the young man who said to the President at another Imbizo
in the North West: "We need projects - we have hands - we can
do it ourselves," was expressing sentiments heard over and
over again at izimbizo, as a people's contract for development
takes shape in the spirit of vuk'uzenzele and letsema.
The success of Imbizo and its rapid growth means that we
as government will have to increasingly deal with the issues raised
and the resulting action required.
The working and advisory groups set up by the Presidency covering,
for instance, big business, organised labour, black business, commercial
agriculture, international investment, religious communities, are
now part of the routine backup for executive governance in an interactive
democratic setting - indeed they are another aspect of imbizo.
Recently we officially launched the first New Partnership for
Africa's Development (NEPAD) cultural project between South Africa
and Mali, which stems from the President's state visit to Mali,
and commitments he made there, last year. The South Africa/Mali
Timbuktu project is looking at ways in which to ensure that this
rich part of the history of our continent and its peoples remain
intact for our children.
Honourable Members
There is an unwritten convention in a number of countries that,
the leading figures of the executive as well as leading figures
in the opposition, when travelling abroad they do not deliberately,
wilfully and shamelessly undermine their own country. What is worse
is when the Leader of the Official Opposition, the honourable Mr
Tony Leon, actually parades distortions as political analysis.
Here are some of the choice comments and quotes of what this honourable
member said at a conference in Mexico during April 2003. After hearing
what he said, I invite the House to make up its own mind:
"…
the overwhelming majority of South Africans say that they are
unhappy with the way the country is governed."
"The
future of the DA will depend on the success of its efforts"
- to eat into the support of the ANC -"… and we are
making rapid progress"
"…
many of the ANC's new cheerleaders, by their own admission, are
keen to ride the government gravy train."
"But
for now the SA democracy is looking fragile. The ANC now possesses,
without the aid of its coalition partners, a two-thirds majority
in the National Assembly. This means it has the power to amend
the Constitution at will, in addition in passing any laws it likes.
If the courts declare legislation unconstitutional - well then
the ANC can simply change the Constitution. It is in short, colonising
the Constitution's checks and balances."
"The
ANC is now more centralised and hierarchical than ever before,
complacent about its constituents' concerns and hyperactive in
extending its reach into every area of state."
"Today
the ANC tolerates the idea of political opposition, but insists
that opposition outside the orbit of the ruling party is illegitimate.
The ANC wants to select and control its political interlocutors."
This is dishonourable, honourable Leader of the Official Opposition.
Madame Speaker;
Regarding the rights of children, gender equality and women's
empowerment, the concerns of people with disabilities and the youth,
we have significantly moved forward and are ready to face remaining
challenges.
Government recently adopted a policy framework for a National
Youth Service (NYS) Programme and the implementation plan will soon
go to Cabinet for approval. The very positive response government
departments have made will ensure that the NYS Programme is implemented
as part of ongoing interventions to roll back the frontiers of poverty.
The NYS Programme will play a catalytic role in enhancing the
skills of our youth whilst they are involved in community development
initiatives and other programmes. The Growth and Development Summit
(GDS) committed to 72 000 learnerships by 2005, 95% of which are
to be under the age of 35. GDS commitments around the Expanded Public
Works Programmes will increasingly benefit young people. In 2000/1
and 2001/2, 15% of beneficiaries of the Community Based Public Works
and the Working for Water Programmes were young people.
The National Youth Commission further strengthened the partnership
with the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the South African Youth Council.
This troika interacts with government at all levels to provide ideas
and better co-ordination for interventions to benefit our young people.
The Office on the Status of Women (OSW) continues to put women's
empowerment and gender equality foremost on government's agenda.
As part of ongoing work with the NEPAD Secretariat, the OSW and
the NEPAD Secretariat co-hosted a Gender and NEPAD conference in
April this year.
Recently we launched the South African Panel for the African Gender
and Development Index. South Africa is one of 13 countries piloting
this initiative of the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission in
Africa. It will establish a baseline across Africa against which
we can measure advances and identify areas for intervention.
The Gender Machinery convened regular consultative meetings in
the past year, promoting co-ordinated responses by all - as in last
year's very successful 16 Days Campaign of No Violence against Women
and Children.
Similarly the OSW and other gender structures will constructively
engage in the processes towards the 10 year celebrations when they
convene soon to initiate a broad based conversation amongst women
- "Towards 10 Years of Freedom …What it has Meant to Women".
The first three-year training programme run by the OSW with the
UN Economic Commission on Africa and the UN Development Programme
concluded last month. The University of Pretoria now accredits this
as a certificate course and the OSW has initiated development of
a training manual on gender issues for South African Management
and Development Institute (SAMDI) to incorporate into public servant
training modules.
Although our co-ordination Framework is in place we have not yet
met all our targets for representation of women at all levels of
public service employment In terms of the 30% target for women employed
at management level we set ourselves in 1995, the figures at the
end of 2002 indicates that we have not reached this yet and that
there is a 6% gap to breach before we reach this target Government
is committed to ensure that this happens. Ensuring that the private
sector mirrors these employment equity commitments remains a major
challenge.
On that point Cde President, if I look at the African National
Congress (ANC) benches in this House I see represented here that
diverse nation that we are, including a more representative gender
balance. When looking to my left, all I see is a collection of pale,
male faces. Surely we need to do something, more accurately to reflect
in these ranks the race, class and gender diversity of our nation.
The ANC has a minimum of one-third women representatives and the
official opposition seems woefully backward on this question. Should
the relevant portfolio committee not consider making this minimum
one-third representation of women a statutory obligation for all
parties who wish to be represented in this House?
The Office on the Status of Disabled Persons (OSDP) continues
to co-ordinate the Integrated National Disability Strategy. In the
past year the Office further enhanced government capacity by training
officials and providing advice on integrating disability into mainstream
society. As with the OSW, SAMDI will ultimately take over responsibility
for training trainers to integrate disability in all SAMDI curricula.
The recent African Regional Consultation made decisions on implementing
strategic plans for the African Decade for the Disabled. South Africa
has been requested to host the Secretariat for the African Decade
and we expect it to be functioning by August/September this year.
We have confirmed donor funding for the Secretariat as well as for
the initial roll out of the Decade plans.
South Africa's contribution to the development of a UN Convention
on Rights of Disabled Persons is well established and continues.
With the assistance of Flemish Government funding the OSDP will
roll out a public awareness campaign in coming months. As with gender
equity, we must work harder to reach the target of 2% people with
disabilities employed in the public service in the next 2 years.
The figures at the end of 2002 indicate that we have a 1.99% gap
to breach before we are there. Important is to ensure that in breaching
this gap people with disabilities are also employed at management
level.
The Office on the Rights of the Child (ORC) was established with
a mandate to monitor implementation of the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child by ensuring that our government structures advance
the interests of children. Stakeholders are currently considering
a draft of our second Country Report to the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child.
South Africa's participation at the UN General Assembly Special
Session for Children last year saw our renewed commitment to ensuring
that what is outlined in the document "A World Fit For Children"
is implemented in our country over the next decade.
Whilst legislation helps realise the rights of the child, the
ORC and its partners in the National Programme of Action is mindful
of the need for effective implementation. In this respect, 29 sexual
offences courts, 5 one-stop multi-disciplinary centres and 64 Victim
Friendly Facilities have already been established. There has been
extensive collaboration and partnership with the Non-Governmental
Sector and structures working with children.
To help deal with the rape of children the CSIR, in partnership
with the ORC and government departments, developed a website to
capture information from volunteers. This will enhance the service
to abused children, matching volunteer skills to needs of organisations.
The Child Volunteer Network, which is supported by the Joint Monitoring
Committee in this House, was launched in October 2002.
Although much has been done to improve the lives of children,
many challenges remain. One of them is to mainstream children's
rights. This requires that we design programmes, practices and responses
based on the premise of the child as the most important actor. In
line with this the ORC and its partners are looking at how to strengthen
the National Programme of Action, Provincial Programmes of Action
and to ensure that every local and district council develops a Programme
of Action for Children.
Indeed, for all these vulnerable groups, steady progress has been
made. While challenges remain, we can confidently say that as we
move towards 2004, South Africa is an infinitely better place today
than before.
All instant analysts are in danger of oversimplifying the short
term and underrating longer-term trends. South Africans should take
this advice to heart, and I make no apology for developing ideas
I raised in this debate a year ago.
If we look at the broad sweep of history, we will be vastly buoyed
by what we see. We see an average real growth rate for one and a
half decades of around 1,5% (1976-92); then a percentage point more
for 1993-1999; and in the past two years around 3%. Even if the
current figure, under global pressures, falls back to 2,5%, this
in no sense negates the medium- and long-term improvement, one that
measures well against global trends.
We see real per capita income increasing by 3,3% cumulatively
from 2000 to 2002, up on the 2,2% from 1994 to 1999.
The point is for us to look at longer-term trends. And let us
not look simply at cash wages, but at the whole spectrum including
the social wage, which underpins the poor and has helped to boost
the living conditions of very many South Africans.
Of course, there are major pools of poverty. And, of course, there
is a revolution of rising expectation that prompts people who now
have a house instead of a shack, to demand a proper ceiling, good
construction, security, etc. Naturally, in life success breeds new
expectation.
But, faced with these challenges, let us as a nation put shoulder
to the wheel and do something to ensure that the disempowered are
equipped to secure their share of what South African democracy has
to offer, to secure their pensions and child support grants, to
visit the health care facilities that are now there, to access the
care now available for HIV and Aids, Tuberculosis, Malaria and other
opportunistic infections, and all the time to put pressure on their
public representatives - which means me and you - to do more for
the people.
In less than a year, the nation will celebrate 10 years of freedom.
27 April 2004 will be both celebration and dedication - celebrating
the end, a decade ago, of many years of repression and super exploitation
of labour power; and dedicating our nation to rise to greater heights.
As we move towards this important point in our evolving history,
let us together build our nation and find common answers to our
challenges.
The preparations are underway and we call on all groups, institutions
and individuals in the land to collaborate in ensuring that this
milestone contributes to the future well being of a united nation.
Indeed to make it a national celebration.
We need in the way we mark this historic birthday to draw on the
immense creativity of our people. We should honour the children
born not in bondage but in freedom, since 27 April 1994. They are
harbingers of our hopes for the future. We wish to share our national
joy and sense of achievement with others, from other countries -
particularly those who contributed so much to our liberation. We
want to pause next year, and reflect, so that we can move forward
- like our Everest mountaineers, our polar explorers and winners
of the Comrades marathon - to the continuing challenges that present
themselves.
All members of this House are part of this great process. All
members will have something to offer.
Madame Speaker
My thanks and appreciation go to the JMC on the Status and Quality
of Life of Women and the JMC on the Status and Quality of Life of
Children, Youth and People with Disabilities. It has been a pleasure
working with these committees and their chairpersons.
Similarly it has been a pleasure to work with the Chairperson,
Commissioners and staff of the National Youth Commission during
the past year.
And then, my deep appreciation and gratitude for the work and
commitment of the Director-General specifically and staff in the
Presidency in general.
Comrade President
You are a credit to this House;
You are a credit to the ANC;
You are a credit to the country;
But above all comrade President;
You are a credit to those who have nourished you and continue to
sustain you - the masses of our people!
Issued by
The Presidency
18 May 2003
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