Minister Essop Pahad
Address: The Presidency Dept Budget Vote 2005/06
25 May 2005
Madame Speaker,
Cde President,
Cde Deputy President,
Honourable members
Madame Speaker,
The year 2005 is imbued with deep national and international significance.
This is the year in which we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the adoption of the South African Freedom Charter in 1955 - the year of the destruction of Sophiatown and the accompanying forced removals
This also is the year in which we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Asian-African Conference ,which was held in Bandung, Indonesia.
As we enter our second decade of freedom, this is the moment strongly to focus on the basics of our statehood.
The Freedom Charter was adopted at the "Congress of the People" held in Kliptown, Johannesburg, on 26 June 1955. It laid out a compelling vision of a non-racist, non-sexist South Africa that belonged to all who live in it. It was a vision that threatened the very core of apartheid, and all other forms of racial tyranny.
Between 18 and 24 April 1955, the Asian-African Conference was held in Bandung, Indonesia. All independent states of Asia and Africa attended. A delegation from South Africa, composed of Moses Kotane of the African National Congress (ANC) and Molvi Cachalia of the South African Indian Congress, attended as observers and met with many of the delegates. The Bandung Declaration deplored “the policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination” not only in South Africa but everywhere. Indeed, the Declaration extended the global hand of solidarity to the people of South Africa in their struggles against colonialism, racism and apartheid.
The rights and freedoms, articulated in the Freedom Charter, now form the bedrock of our Constitution, which places an obligation on government to protect and advance the rights of citizens.
Opposition parties in this House are many, and the leading one is being led astray – even when judged by its own avowed philosophy. In a speech in April 2005 titled Liberalism and its Discontents (A more apt title would have been “Diatribe by an illiberal liberal”), the Honourable Tony Leon was being highly disingenuous when he said “Liberalism in post-apartheid South Africa faces many of the same challenges it faced under apartheid”. To equate apartheid South Africa with post-apartheid free and democratic South Africa is a sham and a calumny. It echoes the most destructive thinking in present-day South Africa.
The speech has all the hallmarks of a person who fails to understand liberalism and who is aimlessly wandering in an ideological fog. He promotes some vague notion of unfettered individual rights, attacks transformation yet notes that the very survival of his own party depends on embracing diversity and fundamentally thus needs transformation. He complains that “transformation” does not appear once in the Constitution, and misses the point that the whole Constitution is about transformation.
Apartheid ensured that the overwhelming majority of our people were excluded from enjoying, rights and freedoms not as individuals but as members of so called racial groups. The history of apartheid is the history of a white minority using state power to oppress and suppress the masses based on racial categorisation.
When he sanctifies the rights of the possessive individual, he seeks to protect the rights and privileges of the privileged who reaped tremendous benefits under apartheid. For black South Africa poverty was not a choice; it was an imposed way of life. These historical, racially enforced, inequalities in opportunity and outcome are incompatible with democracy.
Not doing anything about the legacy of apartheid is absolutely incompatible with democracy. Racism is undemocratic; it robs individuals from historically disadvantaged communities of their rights, freedoms, dignity and self-worth. That is why the Preamble to our Constitution notes that we “Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”. And we must strive to improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person.
Democracy in South Africa is inseparable not from unfettered markets but from the struggle against racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination.
In a different place and time it could be refreshing to assist the Honourable Leader of the Opposition better to understand liberalism, which is far from unified on the place of private property, individual liberty and the market order.
Markets are inherently unstable; they generate inequalities of power and wealth and an ever growing gap between rich and poor. So a market-based economy which does not balance rights with responsibilities is an inadequate foundation for a stable, free and democratic South Africa. In this context a fixation on individual rights to the exclusion of the redress of social justice claims is nothing more than an attempt at ossifying the pre-1994 status quo.
Promoting equality of opportunity; creating a better life for all our citizens and promoting diversity and social inclusion means engaging in transformation structurally and with resolve. It means implementing public policies directly aimed at eradicating poverty and under development. And this requires decisive intervention by a strong developmental state. It is with respect to our understanding of the need for a strong not a weak state that we see some of the critical elements of the strategic, the political, and the ideological divides between our government and the Democratic Alliance. And Madame Speaker, the people of South Africa recognise this.
Yes, our Constitution may not use the word “transformation” as such, but the whole meaning of the Constitution requires us to engage in transformation. This is what a genuine commitment to diversity requires. It is a far cry from the glib lip service paid to diversity in other quarters.
Ours is a more profound conception of the intricate relationships between democracy, freedoms and the role of the state. Our government under the leadership of President Thabo Mbeki initiated and has acted on a sustained programme of transformation of which we should be proud not churlish.
For example, it was because of the advent of a democratic South Africa and our government's initiatives that there has been a significant structural shift in the concentrated patterns of ownership. The result is that the holdings of the big five groups slipped from control of companies accounting for 85.7 percent of the market capitalisation of the JSE in 1992 to 59.8 percent by 2002. This is what transformation and wealth redistribution is about.
In this regard ownership equity is only one part of a much broader project. Skills development, employment equity, and medium and small business development are at the beating heart of this process.
Transformation, like justice, has to be seen to be done.
So, in other spheres of transformation we have made our public institutions far more representative than ever before in history. Our track record speaks volumes about our commitment to gender equality, representivity and transformation.
For emphasis in this regard let me say what I said last year on this occasion: “this house seriously should consider and debate the possibility of legislation so as to ensure one third representation for women in elected legislatures”. I believe we can no longer delay the start of this debate.
Our government realises that large numbers of women and persons with disabilities still live within the second economy. They are adversely affected by poverty, unemployment, lack of financial and capital resources and technical and professional skills. Their household incomes are still low on average and their participation in the broader economy contributes a smaller percentage to GDP.
In the past decade, South Africa has been able to respond appropriately to international instruments that deal with gender, disability and children's (GDC) issues. Currently we are part of the preparatory processes of providing input to the United Nations (UN) Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, a process we hope that will reach conclusion by no later than the end of 2006.
We participated in the 49th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The Office on the Status of Women (OSW) and the entire gender machinery were extremely busy in preparing our country report for this session.
The Office on the Status of Disabled Persons (OSDP) continues to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the Integrated National Disability Strategy and South Africa is host to the Secretariat for the African Decade for Disabled People.
Preparations are underway for the 7th Disabled Peoples' International World Assembly which South Africa will host in December 2006, the first such meeting on the continent and enormously important for the development of the disability rights movement in Africa.
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. We are currently completing our second Country Report to the UN Committee.
With respect to gender, children and youth, and persons with disabilities we have exceptional policy frameworks in place, we have good programs but we are now more mindful than ever of the need for effective implementation. The capacity of our government to monitor and report on progress on critical indicators of transformation is well developed. Our challenge in the year to come is to build on the capacity of local government to deliver programmes and services to those who are the most marginalised and excluded in our society.
Our government continues to work tirelessly for a better South Africa, a better Africa and a better world. Within our continent, there are growing expectations on South Africa constructively to contribute towards peace, stability and development. This is a task which both our President and Deputy President are deeply committed to.
On Africa Day, let us say with pride, that over the past year, President Mbeki has been called upon by fellow Africans to help resolve various conflicts and crises on the continent. Late last year, as instability in the Ivory Coast mounted, the African Union (AU) urgently requested the President to act as its Mediator to expedite the Ivorian peace process, which had by then largely stalled. In April the President hosted the full Ivorian political leadership in South Africa, at which time they signed the Pretoria Agreement reaffirming their commitment to the peace process; to disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration; and to national reconciliation. This will pave the way for elections to be held later this year.
This same spirit was demonstrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where, in the presence of Presidents Kabila and Mbeki, the Congolese people opened an historical new chapter in their country's history with the adoption of a new constitution. The President continues to encourage and engage all parties in the DRC to ensure that the peace process is consolidated; post-conflict reconstruction is prioritised; and that democratic elections, the first in over 40 years, takes place.
South Africa strongly supports the peace and post-conflict reconstruction process in Sudan. The President observed the historic signing of the Permanent Ceasefire Agreement and the Protocol on Implementation Modalities in Naivasha in December 2004. South Africa will step up efforts to ensure that the reconstruction, development and growth of this important country are prioritised.
Our Deputy President has been widely praised for his constructive role as the facilitator and guarantor of the peace process in Burundi. He hosted various meetings of the Burundi parties within the framework of the 2000 Arusha Accord. In the past year, various key milestones have been achieved. These include the Power Sharing Agreement signed last August and most importantly the recent announcement of a time-table for elections.
In October this year the Progressive Governance Heads of State and Government Summit will for the first time meet in Africa. The President has invited his counterparts of progressive political parties, in government in their respective countries, to join him for these discussions, further to build international consensus and share experiences in ensuring that the progressive developmental state, as a viable alternative, becomes a permanent fixture on the international political landscape.
We are making transformation real, while others quibble about the meaning of the word and its place in the Constitution.
Striving to create a non-racist, non-sexist, inclusive South Africa, constitutes, as our President has said, “...the central architecture of our policies and programmes, intended to ensure that South Africa truly belongs to all who live in it, black and white”.
Let us all be seized by the immense possibilities in this wonderful land of ours.
Madame Speaker, I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude for the work and commitment of the Director-General and Cabinet Secretary, Rev Frank Chikane, and staff at all levels in the Presidency. A special word of appreciation also goes to the Presidency Internal Audit Committee for their commitment to ensure accountability. Issued by: The Presidency
25 May 2005
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