AU Assembly

Together we have made a good beginning

We meet once again under the bright winter sunshine of the African sky, in a land of peoples who have welcomed us with open arms and the most generous of our traditional African hospitality that we have become accustomed to and are proud of.

The past year was again a challenging period in our efforts towards the regeneration of our continent. We continued to experience occasional setbacks as we march forward towards a new era in the evolution of our continent.

At the same time, however, there is no doubt that as a continent we have begun to experience a rebirth. We have started a journey of renewal, of reclaiming our glorious past, of using that which is good and best in our collective experience, for our development and for a prosperous future.

Indeed we have declared this, the 21st century, the African century, knowing the challenges that face our continent as it strives to clamber out of the chasm of despair into which it has been cast by the disheartening history of slavery, imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid, economic exploitation and marginalisation.

We all agree that the new African world that we seek to build is one of democracy, peace and stability, sustainable development and a better life for all our people.

We articulated this rebirth of our continent during our Extraordinary Summit in Sirte on 9 September 1999, when we discussed ways of amending the OAU Charter to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our Organisation. We will recall that we adopted the Sirte Declaration expressing our wish to establish the African Union in conformity with the ultimate objectives of the OAU Charter and the provisions of the Abuja Treaty.

We also decided to accelerate the process of implementing the Abuja Treaty, in particular regarding the shortening of its implementation periods; the speedy establishment of all the institutions provided for in the Abuja Treaty, such as the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Union, the African Court of Justice and in particular, the Pan-African Parliament; and the strengthening and consolidating of regional economic communities as the pillars for achieving the objectives of the African Economic Community and realising the envisaged Union.

Since the historic Summit in Sirte, we adopted the Constitutive Act of the African Union during the Lomé Summit on 11 July 2000 to establish the African Union as the successor organisation to the OAU.

As we know, the establishment of the African Union was declared on 2 March 2001 at a second extraordinary Summit in Sirte. This Summit decided that the Lusaka Summit in July 2001 should take the necessary decisions pertaining to the transformation of the OAU into the African Union, and prepare the necessary draft protocols relating to the organs and institutions of the Union.

The transition period from the OAU to the African Union was concluded with the convening of the inaugural Summit of the African Union that took place in Durban from 9 to 10 July 2002.

Again, we will recall that the Durban Summit was able to debate only the few outstanding issues regarding the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, the Executive Council, the Permanent Representatives Committee, the Statutes of the Commission and the Protocol establishing the Peace and Security Council.

The Durban Summit succeeded to wind down the business of the OAU, this being its last meeting. Subsequently, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government launched the African Union, with some of its key organs in place, during what was the first session of the Assembly of the Union.

This Summit gives us the opportunity to critically assess the achievements that have been made since the establishment of the Union and the challenges still facing us. It would be natural and correct to evaluate progress in terms of quantitative results - such as the number of organs of the Union that have been established, or the number of conflict situations on the continent resolved, or the number of NEPAD projects implemented.

At the same time, it would be appropriate to evaluate the development of the Union since its inaugural summit in terms of other important matters of creating a climate, across the continent, of renewed energy, eagerness and enthusiasm to speed up the development of our continent, and commitment to the objectives contained in the Constitutive Act.

During the year under review, we have been engaged in several processes to establish critical institutions that are to serve as vehicles to realise our aspirations in bringing democracy, peace and stability to our people, based on programmes and projects founded on solid principles of democracy, good political and economic governance, social justice, respect for human rights and a culture of tolerance, transparency and accountability, as stipulated in the Constitutive Act.

The earliest possible signing, ratification and entry into force of the Protocol establishing the Peace and Security Council, the Protocol on the African Economic Community establishing the Pan-African Parliament and the Court of Justice, together with the activation of the African Peer Review Mechanism are central to the consolidation of peace, democracy and development and must therefore receive our urgent attention.

The agenda for regional integration and sustainable development must also be advanced through the harmonisation of our economic policies and movement towards the establishment of the relevant financial institutions.

Since the Union came into being, it has been seized with efforts to resolve a number of conflicts and cases of instability across the continent, namely in the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo], Burundi, Sudan, Comoros, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, CAR [Central African Republic], Somalia and Cote d'Ivoire.

Clearly, conflict resolution is a top priority for the Union. As a consequence, conflicts that have been raging for many years are being tackled with increased determination and many African countries are committing their own resources to conflict prevention, management and resolution.

In this context, we have also been working with the G8 group of countries to develop a plan for strengthening the capacity of peace support operations at the African Union and in the regions. The G8 countries have made a commitment to support the plan.

We will soon establish the Peace and Security Council as a standing decision-making organ for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts. As we are aware, the Council will be a collective security and early-warning arrangement to facilitate timely and efficient responses to conflicts and crisis situations in Africa, supported by the Commission, a Panel of the Wise, a Continental Early Warning System, an African Standby Force and a Special Fund.

In terms of the operationalisation of the Peace and Security Council, we will during this Summit consider the rules of procedure for the Council, as well as other issues, such as the composition of the Panel of the Wise; the membership of the Council; the modalities for the Standby Force and its actual establishment; and funding the activities of the Council.

In Lusaka we confirmed the Regional Economic Communities as the building blocks of the Union, necessitating the need for their close involvement in the formulation and implementation of all programmes of the Union. In this context, the Union must co-ordinate and take decisions on policies in areas of common interest to the member states, as well as co-ordinate and harmonise policies between the existing and future regional economic communities, for the gradual attainment of the objectives of the Union.

A major development for our new organisation was the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa's Development by the Lusaka Summit as Africa's principal agenda for development, providing a holistic, comprehensive and integrated strategic framework for the socio-economic development of the continent, within the institutional framework of the African Union.

• The creation of NEPAD has helped to place Africa at the apex of the global agenda, by:
• Creating an instrument for advancing people-centred sustainable development in Africa;
• Using the rich natural resources and people for the benefit of Africans and ensuring that these masses are themselves the agents of change; and,
• Providing a common African platform from which to engage the rest of the international community in a dynamic partnership that holds real prospects for creating a better life for all.

The work that we continue to do around NEPAD has helped us to change the development paradigm such that we engage our development partners as equals based on programmes drawn up by Africans.

There is an on-going challenge to ensure that we advance the vision of the African Union to build a partnership between governments and all segments of civil society, in order to strengthen solidarity and cohesion among the peoples of Africa.

Undoubtedly, the active involvement of African non-governmental organisations, professional associations and civil society organisations, in particular women, youth, trade unions and the private sector are required in Africa's integration process as well as in the formulation and implementation of programmes of the African Union.

In this context, there is a particular weakness in what we have managed to achieve thus far. The organs of the African Union that have been launched so far are all state related. We should be concerned that we have not made sufficient progress with regard to the formation of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC). I think we would all agree that this situation is undesirable, because in the various Union meetings held during the past year, concern about alienating the people in the establishment of the Union has been expressed.

We must act to live up to our commitment to ensure the urgent involvement of civil society organisations and professional bodies in the processes of the Union. Accordingly, it is necessary to finalise the proposals for the launching of ECOSOCC.

We are still faced with many challenges for us to make this continental organisation a vibrant and effective instrument for the development of our continent. To achieve this we would have to dedicate more time, energy and resources to the AU. We have to place our individual national interests within the context of our continental and collective interests. The issue of funding the budget of the Union through a revised scale of assessments, as well as investigating alternate sources of funding must therefore be important matters for our consideration.

Even though we will defend our interests as member states in the various organs of the Union, we must at the same time be obliged to take into account the objectives and needs of the Union as a whole. I am confident that we will continue to work within the organs of the Union on the understanding that these are continental institutions for the benefit of all our countries.

Consequently, we should not aspire to seek the lowest common denominator between us in our deliberations within each organ, but rather work towards an optimum balance between the Union's and the member states' interests.

The expectations of the masses of our people have been raised to higher levels. The peoples of the rest of the world are greatly moved at the common effort in which we are engaged, to take our destiny into our hands, creating for ourselves a continent of peace, democracy, prosperity and African and human solidarity. Together we have made a good beginning. Together, let us move forward faster to build a life of hope for the children of Africa and the African Diaspora.

* This is an edited version of the opening statement by President Thabo Mbeki at the Second Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly, Maputo, 10 July 2003

Census 2001

Transformation is on track

The Census 2001 results, released in Pretoria this week, confirm that the transformation of South Africa is on track, and that the policies of the ANC are having a positive impact on the living conditions of our people.

By providing accurate and detailed information on the state of the South African population, the results will immeasurably strengthen efforts to further push back the frontiers of poverty and build a better life for all South Africans.

A comparison of the 1996 and 2001 census results indicate that significant progress is being made across a number of critical social development spheres, including education, housing, electrification, water and sanitation.

While these results enable an appraisal of what has been achieved over the five year period, they also highlight areas where more work needs to be done.

Education

The Census 2001 results showed that more people were being reached by education than 1996. The proportion of people over 20 years with no education has declined across all provinces from 19 to 18 percent. And the number of people over 19 years who have completed matric has increased from 16.3 to 20.4 percent.

More than eight percent of South Africans had higher education qualifications in 2001, compared to six percent in 1996. Almost 30 percent of whites, nearly 15 percent of Indians, five percent of coloureds and just over five percent of blacks had such qualifications in 2001.

One of the results of compulsory schooling was that children were going to school at an earlier age in 2001 than in 1996, and that there were fewer people over the age of 18 in school.

Households

In the five years between 1996 and 2001, the percentage of people living in formal dwellings grew from 57.5 percent to 63.8 percent. The proportion of people living in traditional and backyard dwellings has dropped over the five years, while the proportion of people living in informal dwellings has increased slightly (by 0.4 percent).

Around 85 percent of South African households had access to clean, piped water by October 2001. Just over 32 percent had water in their dwelling and 29 percent in their yard. Some 6.5 percent got their water from a river or stream and 2.4 percent from a borehole.

While the number of households with piped water on site had increased over the five years, Statistics SA said it was not possible to compare the Census 2001 figure with that of 1996 because the questions asked in the surveys differed too much.

The percentage of South African households using electricity for lighting increased significantly from 58 percent in 1996 to almost 70 percent in 2001. There has also been an increase, from 44.5 to 49 percent, in the number of households that use electricity for heating, and a similar rise for cooking.

By 2001, a fifth of South African households were still using wood for cooking and a quarter were it for heating. Almost 23 percent used candles for lighting.

Telecommunications

There was also a dramatic increase in the proportion of South African households with a telephone or a cellphone. This figure increased from 29 percent in 1996 to 42 percent in 2001.

Nearly 1.6-million of the country's 11.2-million households had both a phone in the home and a cellphone. A further two-million had only a cellphone, and 1.1-million had only a fixed line phone in the home. Almost 670,000 households had no access to a telephone or cellphone.

The census results indicate that 73 percent of South Africa's households had a radio in working order, 53.8 percent a television set, 51.2 percent a refrigerator and 8.6 percent a computer.

The digital divide is evident in that less than two percent of African-headed households had a computer, as opposed to 46 percent of white-headed households.

Unemployment

The Census 2001 results confirm the ANC's view that unemployment is the most important challenge facing our country today, with unemployment reflected at around 24 percent. While this is higher than the figures from the Labour Force Survey of September 2001, which Statistics SA says provides a more accurate picture, this result underlines the need to tackle unemployment.

While the country is not experiencing jobless growth, the number of jobs being created are not enough to meet the growth in the number of people seeking jobs. Unemployment was rising among younger people without experience, but dropping among older people. There was also a shift in jobs away from primary sectors like mining to more skill intensive sectors like finance and trade. This underpins the need to tackle unemployment through raising the skills level in the country.

The census results confirm the approach of the recent Growth and Development Summit, which identified job creation as a massive, national undertaking, towards which all stakeholders need to make a concerted and coordinated effort. While this is necessarily a long-term effort, a number of immediate steps have been identified to boost economic growth and increase the number of people the job market can accommodate.

Population

The census results show that South Africa had 44.8 million inhabitants in October. This indicates a population growth of 10 percent between 1996 and 2001, which is about two percent or 800,000 individuals a year.

Gauteng showed the strongest increase with 20 percent, followed by the Western Cape with 14 percent. The Northern Cape had a 2.1 percent drop. KwaZulu Natal had the largest population with 9.4 million people, followed by Gauteng with 8.8-million people. The Northern Cape had just over 800,000 inhabitants.

The census found a 2.2 percent drop in the proportion of the population below 14 years, and a 0.1 percent increase in the group 65 years and older.

Statistics SA conceded that about one in six South Africans were not counted. However it had made adjustments to accommodate this undercount. It said the margin of error on the final figures was less than one percent.

The progress made in this five year period points to some of the key achievements of the first decade of freedom. It is a signal of the growing momentum and increasing pace of social and economic change in this country.

In a statement released following the results, the ANC extended its congratulations to Statistics SA and the thousands of people who worked on Census 2001 "for a job well done". The ANC also thanked the millions of South Africans who stood up to be counted in October 2001: "In doing so, they have helped place the country in a better position to achieve its transformation and development goals".

• Census 2001, Statistics SA

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