Southern Africa must press ahead with integration

Early this week, SADC held its regular annual Summit meeting in Blantyre, Malawi. As is normal, the meeting carried out a review of the situation in our region and of the Community itself since the last Summit meeting and the Extraordinary Summit meeting held in Namibia in March.

It is clear that the Development Community is evolving into an important instrument of political, economic, security and social governance in our region resulting in ever more integration and cooperation among the countries of Southern Africa. Even as the meeting opened, the current chairperson of the Development Community, President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, made the correct observation that 'SADC belongs to the people'.

Indeed, from the day of our arrival until we left, the population of Blantyre lined the streets of this commercial capital of Malawi to greet the participants at the Summit as they moved to and from the meeting. There could be no doubt that these masses consider SADC as belonging to them.

It is clear that more work will have to be done in all the member states of the Development Community to popularise SADC among the people and to draw them into the work of the Community. Apart from anything else, this is necessitated by the fact that, as we have said, the Community is playing an ever-increasing role in the lives of the citizens of each of our countries.

In addition to this, it is necessary that we carry out the necessary work among the people to focus their attention on the critical issue of regional integration. Necessarily, this integration cannot consist only in cooperation among the governments of our region. It has to include relations from-people-to-people, consistent with the reality that the peoples of Southern Africa share a common destiny.

Of great significance in this regard is contemporary global experience with regard to the formation of regional blocs. Some of the most important among these are the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), the Association of East African Nations (ASEAN), MERCOSUR in Latin America, and the African regional formations such as SADC, COMESA, covering East and Southern Africa and ECOWAS, encompassing the countries of West Africa.

It is clear that in the context of current developments in world politics and the global economy, countries have recognised the fact that all countries, regardless of their individual strength, would be better served if they belong to such regional organisations as we have cited. Of interest in this regard is the fact that even countries as powerful as the United States and the major countries of Western Europe have felt compelled to form and enter into regional blocs to enhance especially their own capacity to develop their economies and thus create the wealth without which it is impossible to improve the living standards of the people.

This should send a warning signal to us whose economies are much smaller and less robust than those of the developed countries of the North. This would also be true of the countries of South East Asia, if on a smaller scale. The point however is that if these countries that are more developed than our own, need regional associations, we, who are weaker, are in even greater need of regional cooperation and integration. We have to communicate this message to the masses of our people continuously and take all necessary steps to ensure that the people themselves participate in this process.

In this regard, our region enjoys many advantages. One of these is that, in reality, our countries share a common history, a common culture and common languages. Accordingly, ours are not peoples that are foreign one to the other. This serves as a factor that bonds the region together at the critically important level of the people themselves. In this context, and in the light of forthcoming World Conference on Racism, we must make the point that our people do not have a history of xenophobia, in any substantial way. For a very long time, they have accepted that our population is, in part, composed of people who migrated into South Africa for various reasons.

Historically, even the European settlers were accepted into the country without problems, except in the instance that these acted in a manner which the indigenous population considered hostile. This posture has been sustained through the centuries, as when the political proposition - 'drive the white man into the sea' - failed to gain any mass support.

Whatever the derogatory language used sometimes against foreign Africans, historically this did not result in any serious offensive action against these Africans. For decades, many of our urban settlements, such as Alexandra Township in Johannesburg, have been used to the significant presence of Africans originating from the rest of our region. It was partly on this basis that the Malawian, Clement Kadalie of the ICU, was accepted by our people as their leader.

I make these comments to urge that we should build on this history and tradition, firmly to entrench the understanding among our people that the peoples of Southern Africa and Africa are our brothers and sisters, against whom it would be wrong to show any sign of hostility. In any case, which is our next point, these Africans also made enormous sacrifices to ensure that, as South Africans, we achieve our goal of the defeat of the system of apartheid.

There is no country in our region that did not pay a heavy price for hosting South African refugees and participating even diplomatically and politically, in the struggle to end the system of apartheid. Among these, it is clear that Angola and Mozambique paid the highest price. For this reason, we owe these countries and peoples a permanent debt of gratitude. However, this does not diminish the contribution and the sacrifices made by everybody else in our region, even as far afield as Tanzania.

Because the peoples of our region were tied together in a common struggle for the total liberation on our continent, strong ties of friendship developed among them. Accordingly, this is yet another factor that underlines the favourable circumstances we enjoy, which facilitate the process of the integration of our region. We can therefore have no excuse if we fail to work among the people to show them the importance of SADC to the future of our own country.

Recognising this interdependence among ourselves, the SADC Summit meeting discussed, among others, the issue of Zimbabwe. In its communiqué it said: "Summit expressed concern on the effects of the Zimbabwe economic situation on the region, and indicated its readiness to engage in a dialogue with the Government of Zimbabwe and other cooperating partners to resolve the situation. Summit established a task force comprising the SADC Troika, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa, to work with the Government of Zimbabwe on the economic and political issues affecting Zimbabwe."

I am convinced that this important decision will be acted upon without undue delay to ensure that our region makes its contribution in assisting the people of Zimbabwe to overcome their problems. This is in the interests both of Zimbabwe and the other countries of our region.

The Summit meeting also approved a Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation that will enable the Development Community to address issues of peace and stability that remain a matter of concern to all our peoples, throughout our region. The Protocol was duly signed by the member states of the Community. Again, this reflected the common resolve of the sister countries of Southern Africa to ensure that each of our countries remains a place of democracy and peace and to limit the possibility that any of our countries becomes a factor of instability and insecurity for our region as a whole.

In this context, we must mention that apart from encouraging the peace process in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Summit meeting also agreed that we should all get together to discuss the issue of land reform. As the communiqué said: "Summit therefore noted the urgent need for member States to share strategies and experiences, with a view to adopting common approaches and strategies."

We will share our own approach and strategy on this important question with all our colleagues in the region, as will others. Among other things, this discussion must address the matter mentioned in the communiqué, that: "The question of the distribution of land, and how it is utilised as a productive asset, has a direct impact on rural poverty." The issue of food security also arose in the context of impending maize shortages in the majority of the countries of our region. Again this urgent matter will be handled by the region collectively to find ways of addressing the deficits confronting our fellow member states of the Development Community.

Yet another issue that was discussed seriously was the progress being made in the region towards gender equality and the emancipation of women. The Community had earlier taken a decision that by the year 2005, women should occupy at least 30 percent in politics and other decision-making structures. Given the seriousness of this matter, it was agreed that it should be a standing item in all future Summit meetings to ensure that the necessary progress is actually achieved. In addition, it agreed that: "Member States should establish mechanisms which would accelerate an increase in the numbers of women in political and decision-making positions (and) urged member States to seize the opportunity presented by elections, cabinet reshuffles, and other opportunities where vacancies occur, to nominate women to positions of decision-making."

The communiqué also states that "Summit received a progress report from the Council of Ministers on the implementation of the Review of the Operations of SADC institutions". Good progress has been in achieved in this regard, to give the Community the necessary capacity to promote regional integration with even more vigour.

We have mentioned only some of the matters considered by the Summit meeting. Nevertheless, it is certain that SADC is developing into an important instrument for the promotion of democracy, peace and progress in our region. It will also be central to the involvement of our region in the promotion of the objectives of both the African Union and MAP. For all these reasons, we must indeed ensure that SADC does belong to the people

MORE INFORMATION:

• SADC Summit 2001 Communiqué
• 'South Africa and the SADC', Department of Foreign Affairs, June 2001

Apartheid's legacy I

Racial inequality deeply embedded in South Africa

The racial division of South African society did not die with the last National Party government. Seven years after the country's first democratic election, the legacy of apartheid continues to dominate all facets of society, particularly the distribution of resources and opportunity, according to the ANC submission to the World Conference against Racism NGO Forum.

While South Africa is a middle-income country, 61 percent of Africans are poor, while only one percent of whites are poor. "Virtually every social indicator betrays the extreme inequalities that define South African society. Measured by the Gini coefficient, inequality in South Africa is among the highest in the world. The experience of extreme poverty is dramatically concentrated among Africans," according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The poorest 40 percent of citizens remain overwhelmingly African, female and rural, it says.

South Africa is a country divided by its history into two nations. Describing this division President Thabo Mbeki said: "One of these nations is white, relatively prosperous, regardless of gender or geographic dispersal. It has ready access to a developed economic, physical, educational, communication and other infrastructure.

"The second and larger nation of South Africa is the black and poor, with the worst affected being women in the rural areas, the black rural population in general and the disabled. This nation lives under conditions of a grossly underdeveloped economic, physical, educational, communication and other infrastructure. It has virtually no possibility to exercise what in reality amounts to a theoretical right to equal opportunity, with that right being equal within this black nation only to the extent that it is equally incapable of realisation."

The roots of this material division of society are to be found in the particular history of colonial and apartheid rule. In 1969 the ANC characterised apartheid South Africa as 'colonialism of a special type': "It is not a colony, yet it has, in regard to the overwhelming majority of its people, most of the features of the classical colonial structures. Conquest and domination by an alien people, a system of discrimination and exploitation based on race, a technique of indirect rule; these and more are the traditional trappings of the classical colonial framework."

"Whilst at the one level it is an 'independent' national state, at another level it is a country subjugated by a minority race. What makes the structure unique and adds to its complexity is that the exploiting nation is not, as in the classical imperialist relationships, situated in a geographically distinct mother country, but is settled within the borders. What is more, the roots of the dominant nation have been embedded in our country by more than three centuries of presence. It is thus an alien body only in the historical sense."

The resolution of the conflict therefore required the destruction of the racist regime in order to build single nation out of the oppressed and the oppressor groups. Unlike the racial question in many developed countries, South Africa's is not a struggle to ensure the protection or inclusion of a marginalised minority. Rather, it is to ensure the advancement of an excluded majority.

Since racial inequality in South Africa is not a set of isolated aberrations that can be corrected by the equal application of the law, or the re-education of pathological individuals, it is not sufficient to simply tamper with or reform the system. It requires instead the complete and progressive transformation of society. The late ANC President Oliver Tambo said it was necessary to "to break down barriers of division and create a country where there will be neither whites nor blacks, just South Africans, free and united in diversity".

The achievement of majority rule in 1994 was a decisive step in dismantling the legacy of apartheid. It constituted a platform from which to launch a programme of social transformation. In doing so it is important to draw a link between the material realities of racism, and the ideologies that strive to maintain it. While the ideology of non-racialism has been triumphant, ideas that offer a sense of legitimacy to continuing inequality remain common. Current racist ideology in South Africa includes ideas and practices that endorse the notion that racial discrimination and prejudice no longer pose a significant social problem. Some argue that since the attainment of formal equality, the main racial problem in society is that blacks are becoming too demanding and that their demands unfairly disadvantage whites. Such arguments overlook or seek to deny the continuing patterns of racial inequality in our country and the world. At the apex of such views is the idea that even to discuss the question of racism is itself an act of racism.

Responding to racism in South Africa today therefore means addressing both the material inequalities that are its legacy and those ideas which seek to justify its continuation. While it will take time to create the material base for nation building and reconciliation, South Africans have already taken steps in the immediate term to change racial attitudes and breed a culture of mutual respect and tolerance. These steps must, according to President Mbeki, be "accompanied by tangible progress in the creation of the new material base, which must take the lead in sustaining the hope and conviction among the people that the project of reconciliation and national building will succeed". South Africa is making remarkable progress in both areas.

MORE INFORMATION:

• 'Non-racialism in Action', ANC Submission to the World Conference against Racism NGO Forum, August 2001
• 'Reconciliation and Nation Building', Thabo Mbeki, May 1998

Apartheid's legacy II

Building strong foundations for a non-racial society

The creation of a non-racial South Africa rests on the country's ability to eradicate the vast wealth gap between black and white. This task has guided the African National Congress since it entered government in 1994, and underpinned its approach to drafting the country's new democratic constitution, adopted two years later.

The concept of equality in the constitution extends beyond the guarantee of rights to endorse the need for social redress. In an unequal society, positive action is needed to overcome the continuing effects of past discrimination. This can be achieved only by recognising and addressing the injustice that is inherent in any unequal society.

In the words of the Constitutional Court: "The prohibition on unfair discrimination in the interim Constitution seeks not only to avoid discrimination against people who are members of disadvantaged groups. It seeks more than that. At the heart of the prohibition of unfair discrimination lies recognition that the purpose of our new constitutional and democratic order is the establishment of a society in which all human beings will be accorded equal dignity and respect regardless of membership of particular groups. The achievement of such a society in the context of our deeply inegalitarian past will not be easy, but that that is the goal of the Constitution should not be forgotten or overlooked.

The constitution also provides for numerous mechanisms to monitor and enforce the ongoing transformation of society while ensuring the protection of individual rights. These include a Human Rights Commission, a Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities and a Commission for Gender Equality.

The ANC-led government has embarked on a sustained programme to address inequality and injustice in society, and to build non-racialism.

A central component has been the restructuring of the state to create a democratic, representative state from the remnants of an institution created and developed as an instrument of white minority rule. The civil service, the judiciary, the army, the police and the intelligence structures were all moulded to safeguard minority privilege. Much work has therefore been done to change the doctrines, composition and management style of all these structures to reflect and serve South African society as a whole. This includes the involvement of greater numbers of those who were discriminated against, especially blacks, women and the disabled. It also involves the creation of democratic and non-racial structures of governance at all levels.

Government has pursued a wide-ranging legislative programme aimed at addressing the legacy of apartheid through affirmative action and special protection for the historically disadvantaged. Central to this programme is the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, through which every minister and level of government is to implement measures aimed at the achievement of equality. Such measures include the repeal of any law, policy or practice that results in the perpetuation of inequality. Ministers are also required to draw up clear plans for eradicating inequality. The Employment Equity Act is an instrument to address the legacy of the workplace colour bar, which excluded black from jobs above a basic level.

Directed developmental interventions have been made to address the huge social backlog which exists for the poorest of the poor, the vast majority of whom are African and women. Such interventions include the recently launched Integrated Rural Development Programme and the various Urban Renewal Initiatives. Priority land reform programmes are also crucial to address racial and gender disparities.

Access for the poor to services is being expanded by the supply of water, sanitation, housing, health care and other public goods through directed government programmes. A recent Statistics South Africa report found that access to and use of housing, clean water, electricity, telephones and health care has increased since the achievement of a democratic government.

The development of the country's human resources is regarded as both an end and a means to an end. A central component of apartheid was an education system to create in the African population people who only aspired to be 'hewers of wood and drawers of water'. Current educational programmes include the implementation of measures to redistribute educational resources in favour of the majority, the building of a culture of teaching and learning, the introduction of a new curriculum in line with the country's needs and the development of teachers.

The government's economic policies aim to both stimulate economic growth and equalise the distribution of income between population groups. An important component of this are programmes to deracialise the ownership of assets, such as land and private equity. Currently, black people own less than two percent of the equity listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange. Government is, through affirmative procurement, strategic engagement, the restructuring of state assets and other measures continuing to support the growth of black enterprise at all levels, including providing more and more opportunities for small business.

The existence of formal constitutional rights, and the action of government to address the terrible legacy of apartheid and expand the floor of social economic access, are crucial for the building of a non-racial South Africa. But the people themselves, through acts of self-empowerment, through conscious organisation and participation, must lead the process of transformation and people-centred development - and thereby end the divisive legacy of apartheid.

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