Never again the divisions of April 1952

One day many years ago, at the age of 10, attracted by the sound of brass bands and booming drums, I took one of my cousins to find out what was going on at the nearby Queenstown Agricultural Showgrounds. We could not enter the grounds, and therefore joined others who watched what was going on inside the Showgrounds, standing along the fence enclosing the Grounds.

Inside the Grounds there was a sea of white people participating in all manner of activities that suggested that, clearly, they had come together to enjoy themselves.

We could not stay for too long because that day we had to water the vegetable garden in front of our house in Scanlen Street. We knew that my uncle would not be very pleased with us if on his return home from the school where he taught, he found that we had not done our work.

To our consternation, when we glanced down the road running outside and along the fence of the Showgrounds, we saw my uncle on his bicycle cycling towards the end of the perimeter of the grounds, constantly casting his eyes at the crowd lining the fence.

When he was some distance away from where we were, and with our curiosity having been satisfied that the noise we had heard had to do with some exclusive white activity to which we would not be admitted, we rushed home, hoping that my uncle would find us hard at work, hosepipes in hand, which, to our relief, he did.

But it was not our lucky day. We finished our gardening chores confident that we were safe. But after we had cleaned ourselves to prepare for supper, we were summoned to appear before my uncle. He inquired what we had done in the afternoon, after we returned from school.

Of course we replied firmly that we had immediately attended to the watering of the vegetable garden, determined to say absolutely nothing about the visit to the Agricultural Showgrounds. Unfortunately, my uncle did not believe us. That earned us a few hard spanks on our bottoms for having gone to the Showgrounds.

At that point we did not know what was so grievously wrong about our visit to the Showgrounds, that we should be punished. But, of course, there was no superior court to which we could appeal against what we thought was unjust treatment, merely because we had satisfied our curiosity about the noise of the brass bands and the powerful drums, with no negative effect on the vegetable garden.

Some years later, we discovered that the wrong we had done was that we had been badly misbehaved to have left home to join the spectators who, by their presence along the fence enclosing the Queenstown Agricultural Showgrounds, gave legitimacy to the celebrations that were taking place within the Grounds.

The year was 1952, during the month of April. The whites inside the Queenstown Agricultural Showgrounds were celebrating the tri-centenary of the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck at the Cape of Good Hope.

My cousin and I had erred in that, to demonstrate our opposition to colonialism and apartheid, we should have deliberately ignored the brass bands and the drums that were sounded to celebrate the beginning of the process of the colonisation of our country. In this instance, certainly ignorance was not bliss. It would have been much better to have been wise.

The month of April 2005 has been very different from the April of 1952. 353 years and 3 days after Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape of Good Hope, the Federal Congress of the New National Party (NNP) resolved to dissolve the Party, recommending that its members should join the ANC.

Two days later, on 11 April, our movement, the ANC, held a formal meeting with the Afrikanerbond, the transformed successor of the Afrikaner Broederbond, at Luthuli House, the National Headquarters of the ANC.

These events took place shortly before we celebrate Freedom Day, on 27 April, which will also mark the beginning of our 12th year of freedom. That they took place during the month of Freedom Day makes a powerful and moving statement about what our people are ready and willing to do, to translate into reality the perspective contained in the Freedom Charter and the National Constitution, that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in their diversity.

The arrival of the Dutch settlers at the Cape of Good Hope on 6 April 1652, led by Jan van Riebeeck, marked the beginning of a long period of immense suffering for the black people, and intense bloody conflict among mutually hostile national forces, that formally ended a mere 11 years ago.

In the end, that conflict, an inevitable outcome of the process set afoot by the colonisation that began on 6 April, polarised our people into two opposing camps, ready to fight to the finish. One of these, a product of the suffering of the black masses, grouped around and was led by the ANC.

The other camp, which was an expression of the resolve of the European settlers to secure their domination over these black masses, an objective that had been pursued since the days of van Riebeeck, grouped around and was led by the National Party and the Broederbond.

In reality, the National Party and the Broederbond had been born as a consequence of two historical processes. We have just mentioned one of these - the black/white conflict. The second was the white/white conflict described in historical accounts as the conflict between Boer and Briton.

This second conflict started in the old Cape Province as the British imposed themselves on both the Africans and the Boers. It culminated in the brutal imperialist South African War (Anglo-Boer War), which began in 1899, during which British imperialism successfully sought to subjugate the Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, as it had subjugated the African people in the Cape and Natal Provinces.

The National Party and the Broederbond were therefore also formed to defend and advance the particular interests of the Afrikaner people. They constituted a response to the defeat of the Boer Republics and therefore the defeat of the efforts of the Afrikaners to secure for themselves the right to self determination and independence from British rule, which had found expression in the Boer Republics.

But, of course, both Boer and Briton shared a common objective to subjugate the African majority. Whatever the differences among themselves, they were able to combine their efforts to achieve the goal of white domination, resulting in what came to be categorised by the broad movement for national liberation as colonialism of a special type.

Peace came to our country because the ANC on one hand, and the National Party and the Broederbond on the other, agreed that the time had come to end the bloody tragedy that would inevitably occur, if they and our people as a whole unwisely accepted that our future should be determined by the imperatives dictated by the historical circumstances created by the settlement of Jan van Riebeeck at the Cape of Good Hope.

The April 2005 events we have mentioned, namely, the decision to dissolve the New National Party and the meeting between the ANC and the Afrikanerbond, constitute historically important strides forward, towards breaking with a past that divided our country into two warring and implacably opposed factions, one white and the other black.

At the dissolution Federal Congress, the leader of the NNP, Marthinus van Schalkwyk spoke honestly when he said: "For many of us, today is a day of mixed feelings. It is a liberating day, and at the same time it is tinged by a degree of sadness." He explained: "What we do today is part of our contribution to finally ending the division of the South African soul...The National Party, over the course of decades, restored to Afrikaners their self-respect and their dignity following a period of intense humiliation, but, at the same time, almost destroyed the self-respect and dignity of millions of other South Africans."

He went on to say: "What we do today is liberating because it frees many South Africans, especially from minority communities, to accept full responsibility for building this country without the burden of the past. It empowers us to throw off the yoke of history and to accept a new and important burden - the shared responsibility for building a South Africa that belongs to all who live in it."

When it constituted itself as part of the process of the transformation of the Broederbond, which had worked side by side with the National Party, the Afrikanerbond adopted a 'Credo' which, among others says:

"We, the Afrikaners, are the only people on the continent of Africa that...named ourselves spontaneously and of our own accord after the continent on which we and our forebears were born;...our language, Afrikaans, originated and developed here on African soil and was likewise named after the continent of Africa...

"We hereby declare (that we) are, and want to be children of Africa and, more specifically, children of South Africa; that our loyalty is focused on South Africa as our country and Africa as our continent because South Africa is our past, our present and our future.

"Whereas we are firmly convinced and do believe that our own interests as well as those of our fellow Afrikaners are altogether inseparable from the interests of all other South Africans and every other people in South Africa, and that therefore the interests of all other South Africans are also our interests too: therefore we unreservedly commit ourselves to devote our energies and capabilities to our fatherland without reserve, in order to enhance the quality of life and human dignity of all people in South Africa."

In the past, the Dutch Reformed Church (NGK) had been described as the National Party in prayer. As with the National Party, its leaders were also members of the secret Broederbond. Its Tenth General Synod took place in 1998.

The Pastoral Letter issued at the end of the Synod said that the NGK "dismisses apartheid, which as a repressive system, in a forced manner separated people who are created in the image of God and unjustly benefited one group above another, as being fundamentally sinful. With this the Dutch Reformed Church makes it clear that it has the sincere wish now to meet the challenges of the new South Africa and the new century together with the other Christians in the land, and along with our Reformed partners in the world...

"While the salvation in Christ is stressed, there is also the vocation to promote reconciliation between people and, in the transition to a new South Africa, to participate in society in a way which may even exceed that which is normally asked of citizens."

Thus have three central pillars of Afrikanerdom transformed themselves to give expression to the noble vision contained in the Freedom Charter and our National Constitution, that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in their diversity.

The dissolution of the NNP is a logical outcome of this historic and extraordinary process that seeks to give expression to the affirmation made by the NGK, that all our people, black and white, "are created in the image of God". As Marthinus van Schalkwyk explained: "The scope and extent of (the suffering brought about through a system grounded in injustice) was such that no party and no person could hope to successfully atone and move ahead in the same vehicle."

Recently, I received a moving and instructive letter from a leading Afrikaner and South African, in which he discussed the language issue. He wrote: "I fail to see how we as a country can take pride in the destruction of great African languages like Xhosa, Zulu and Sotho. A language also serves as a cultural anchor and by blithely adopting a European one like English as a sole home language, our people are turning their backs on the African heritage as inferior...Far from making them better citizens, the rejection of Afrikaans in a white family is often indicative of a rejection of their African roots and of their emotional bond with this country."

It is because they share common African roots and are tied to our country by an emotional bond that it is possible for the ANC and the Afrikanerbond to work together, and for members of the NNP to join the ANC.

In their joint statement, the ANC and the Afrikanerbond said they "agree that through dialogue with one another, consensus is achievable in creating a South Africa that works for all its people. Through direct dialogue misconceptions can be removed and contributions can be made in forming the policy and processes that drive our nation...

"Both parties again committed themselves to creating a shared patriotism, and to actively work towards nation-building and reconciliation and the transformation of our society to give effect and meaning to the country's motto, 'Diverse People Unite'."

The patriots who met at the Federal Congress of the NNP and at Luthuli House are determined that we will never again experience an April month like the April of 1952. During this and all the April months that are yet to come, all our people will come together to celebrate freedom for all, in a country they will build together into a winning nation.

State owned enterprises

Driving growth and development in the coming years

A new phase in the economic transformation of South Africa is unfolding. When the new democratic government took office in 1994 we inherited an economy in a state of stagnation and decline. This was particularly dangerous in a world where the highly competitive process of globalisation was racing ahead. So the first phase of reform was to clean out the economic cobwebs, identify structural damage in the economy and start to rebuild the whole basis of economic activity. In the public sector this meant major structural surgery to the enterprises we found operating there. To do this we sought strategic equity partners in some cases and sold off assets in other cases. We are now well into a new phase of using strategic state owned enterprises (SOEs) to undertake a major investment and efficiency programme designed to boost economic growth and enhance development.

For the SOE to invest they have to themselves be financially strong and this was the first challenge. The past financial year has been a challenging one for the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and the SOEs that report to it. However, at the end of the year we can feel confident about the future and pleased at the progress we are making in the vast majority of areas.

In the case of Transnet a number of factors came together to severely weaken its 2003/04 balance sheet with the net assets reducing by R8, 7 billion. South African Airways (SAA) also experienced a major problem - losses of some R15 billion over two years - and accordingly the two enterprises added little value to each other's balance sheet. This presented a potential strategic problem as government was seeking to significantly increase the level of investment carried out by the SOE. The President's State of the Nation Address had set a September 2004 target for the announcement of an investment programme. In addition a thriving economy also needs a thriving airline.

Denel also reported poor results and its position weakened in comparison to previous years. Eskom was and is financially sound but important policy issues had to be solved.

Immediate tasks therefore faced the Ministry and indeed the economy. In the case of Transnet, including SAA, we had to stop the haemorrhaging, stabilise the finances and plan realistic investment programmes. We have achieved these objectives and are now moving beyond to greater efficiency. We cannot turn such large corporations around in a single year but we are definitely now facing the right direction.

Denel faces very different sets of challenges and despite good work done by the new Board and the CEO we still face an adverse operational and financial situation. The defence-related industry that Denel operates in has specific characteristics here in South Africa and worldwide. These factors make a short-term turnaround nearly impossible and accordingly there was no expectation of a magic turnaround by Denel in the last year.

In the case of Eskom the problems were not financial. We had to deal with major strategic, economic and policy choices. The energy sector is undergoing a long-term reform process in its structure - generation, transmission and distribution - and in the diversification of energy sources. To meet the growing demand for energy Cabinet agreed in October last year that Eskom would build at least 70% of the capacity required in the next two decades. Alongside this process, using Eskom's purchasing power, we would introduce the first significant independent power producers (IPPs). The year has therefore seen us clarify the role and expectation of Eskom to a large degree but there is one last lap to go in the next few months.

Drivers of growth and development

A key role for the SOEs is to be drivers of growth and development, working closely with the private sector. The SOEs reporting to DPE had a combined turnover of R83.7 billion (larger than the combined turnover of BHP, Anglogold and Telkom) in 2004 and combined assets of R175.5 billion. The SOEs employ around 136,000 people constituting some 1,2% of formal sector employment of 11 million in 2004. These are very large companies that require professional management and their economic impact is decisive for the South African economy.

Transnet is at the centre of freight transportation and thereby the national logistics system; SAA in the airline industry (including airfreight); Eskom in energy and Denel in the defence and technology related industries.

We are now embarking on a major investment drive. In electricity some R95 billion and in Transnet some R37 billion are currently on the drawing board for the next five years. These investment programmes will include the rehabilitation of the three power stations and the construction of two peaking plants, translating into R15 billion in investment. In Durban Harbour the expansion and redesign of Pier 1 and the widening of the entrance will cost R2.9 billion. The container terminal at Ngqura and the expansion of the Cape Town Container Terminal will cost R2.6 and R1.4 billion respectively. The new multipurpose pipeline from Durban to Gauteng will be a R3 billion investment.

In product terms a rough estimate of Eskom's demand for steel and cement per annum in the next few years is 60,000 and one million tons respectively. In rail, aerospace and engineering equipment all the SOEs will make further impacts on demand and production. Spoornet will spend some R8 billion on locomotives, wagons and equipment.

This investment can be coordinated to have major impacts on a number of urban and rural economies. We will engage the metropolitan councils of Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Durban, Nelson Mandela and Cape Town by the end of July to reach memorandums of understanding on the interface between port, rail and energy infrastructure and their own urban development plans.

In the 'Second Economy' we are commencing two projects that are particularly interesting and exciting. The first is the refurbishment of the famous Phelophepha Train, with completion expected in 2006, and the building of a second such health train to commence operations in January 2007. The second is a pilot project to locate a modern call centre operation in a rural area using Eskom and Transnet infrastructure and call centre expertise from the Dimension Data subsidiary, Merchants. This is expected to go live by September 2005.

Denel

Production, product development and order finalisation are all lengthy cycles in the defence related industry. Assessing the position now it is doubtful that Denel was sufficiently capitalised as a company when the previous government hastily formed it. The structural position of Denel has also changed as South Africa's defence needs changed. In 2004 some 58% of turnover was exports. The impact of rand movements has therefore been hard-felt and it is not easy to adjust to such volatile pressure when everything else in the commercial calculation moves slowly.

However, Denel has within its operations very valuable capacity - both human and technological. It does and will play an important role in the development of South Africa's technological capacity. Denel can play an important role in the provision of the defence and security equipment needs of the South African National Defence Force and other branches of our security services. This applies particularly to important equipment that would enhance our peacekeeping capacity in Africa.

The state therefore sees the enterprise as being strategic and will retain it in state hands. An additional factor in this decision is the possibility of important strategic production alliances with companies in India and Brazil. We also have to strengthen and expand existing alliances with European defence companies. These strategic initiatives will result in an improvement in Denel's financial standing. We wish to fasttrack the disposal of non-core assets, which could realise up to R730 million.

A platform has now been built for further consolidation and partnership formation in Denel. We will develop a focussed defence industry enterprise and will now give priority to strengthening our partnerships with other international companies.

Eskom

The expansion of our energy supply is basic to our future economic growth, development and prosperity. The current peak demand is 34,000MW megawatts and Eskom capacity is 35,000MW. The R12 billion rehabilitation programmes of Camden, Grootvlei and Komati is now underway and will result in some 3,612MW in new capacity when complete. The two peaking stations will provide 2,000MW by 2009.

In the last year we have also given decisive impetus to the Pebble-Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) project. This project is now factored into our future energy planning and we are negotiating a major intention to purchase agreement between Eskom and the PBMR. This is probably a world first and forms the foundation for the further development and industrialisation of this technology. Given the urgency with which we now have to address climate change and the hopes for future hydrogen energy sources the PBMR now assumes a key place in our long term planning. It will place South Africa at the forefront of energy technology.

Transnet

This has been a challenging year for Transnet, but also a year of achievement. The discussion as to what the 'end state' of Transnet will be has been settled and we are working toward it at a steady pace. Transnet will focus on freight. It will consist of Spoornet, National Ports Authority (NPA), South African Port Operations (SAPO) and Petronet. For the present Transwerk will remain in Transnet as we consider its optimal location but the state will retain a controlling interest in Transwerk for the foreseeable future. Propnet will also remain in Transnet for the present as we assess its optimal location.

The passage of the NPA Bill has now provided a more predictable environment for the operation of our ports.

We are in the process of moving SAA off the Transnet balance sheet and it will become a stand-alone enterprise reporting to the Ministry of Public Enterprises. All commuter rail assets will also be moved into a new entity that will consolidate rail commuter traffic and report to the Ministry of Transport.

Some 13 non-core entities with an estimated combined asset value of R6, 7 billion will be disposed of over the next 18 months. These will constitute a major boost to broad-based black economic empowerment.

SAA

In the previous two years SAA went through a tumultuous period both in its financial position and operations. The hard work of the strengthened board has SAA flying firmly on the right compass bearing. The finances are improving, reserves are up, load factors are up by 5%, new routes are opening and new alliances are being formed. A key factor is the focus on people, with new training introduced to raise morale and service levels. There is renewed emphasis of recapturing patronage and improving the travel experience for our passengers.

An exciting development is the attention now paid to Africa. These are profitable routes and currently Africa makes up 16% of the SAA revenue. The importance of a growing and stable African airline industry is central to improving mobility and leisure in Africa. SAA intends playing a key role in this process and in doing so it will continue to build partnerships with other African companies. We are applying to increase our routes into Africa. We are also expanding our reach into India.

Next year the Star Alliance will launch its Visit Southern Africa Campaign. This will promote Southern Africa year round with the 250 million passengers flying on our 16 partner airlines. SAA's passengers now have access to over 700 destinations worldwide. As we build up to the 2010 World Cup the importance of this massive marketing exercise cannot be underestimated. SAA will be working closely with SA Tourism to maximise the benefit of this campaign.

The task of the DPE is to build up the state owned enterprises, promote growth and development and most important of all to develop the people in these enterprises as they are the basis for their success.

** Alec Erwin is an ANC National Executive Committee member and Minister of Public Enterprises.

More Information:

• Department of Public Enterprises

Slum dwellers

The Holy See offers prayers while the rich offer opposition

Last week, from 4-8 April, the 92 members states of the UN-HABITAT Governing Council met in Nairobi to consider, among other things, the implementation of the goal of the UN Millennium Declaration on improving the lives of slum dwellers.

Led by an African woman from Tanzania, Anna Tibaijuka, the UN-HABITAT has over the years been key in systemically raising the plight of slum dwellers worldwide. In recognition of its role the UN General Assembly upgraded it to a fully-fledged UN programme in January 2002.

At the opening of the Governing Council's 20th Session in Nairobi, Tibaijuka noted the modesty of the Millennium Declaration slum target of achieving "improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers" by 2020, given that there are presently already one billion slum dwellers in the world and 160 million in Africa. The number of slum dwellers is projected to increase to 1.6 billion by 2020 and to two billion by 2030. Since the current slum target covers only 10% of slum dwellers she therefore asked that a recommendation be provided to the UN General Assembly that the slum target be reformulated to read "to halve, between 1999 and 2020, the proportion of slum dwellers in the urban population".

A report of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers notes: "Increasing numbers of the world's poor will be city dwellers. Poorer families consistently have higher birth rates (due in part to inadequate reproductive health services), and most rural-urban migrants are poor. This implies that the percentage of the poor in the cities and towns of low-income countries will increase. But even if the percentage of slum dwellers in these cities remains the same, by 2030 almost 1.7 billion of the expected approximately 3.9 billion urban dwellers in low and middle-income countries will be living in slums. According to this pessimistic no-action scenario, the slum population in low and middle-income countries is likely to double in less than 30 years."

When Tibaijuka raised the matter, South Africa supported her request for the recommendation to the UN General Assembly.

But in the drafting committee, which was formulating the resolutions of the Governing Council, the United Sates (US), Norway and the European Union (EU) objected to the recommendation being made. The committee chairperson, Vice President Jose Luis Casal of Argentina, requested South Africa, USA, EU and Norway to negotiate among themselves an amicable resolution.

The only delegate of the Holy See, Father Jeffery, offered support to South Africa's position, citing the 'ethical grounds' of the recommendation. The group of G77 countries and China gave South Africa a mandate to pursue the adoption of the recommendation for a reformulation of the slum target.

Two full days of negotiations on the slum target with the EU, Norway and the US however did not produce any results. Their view was that a reformulation of the slum target would lead to the re-opening and eventual collapse of the entire package of the Millennium Development Goals. The recommendation for the reformulation of the target would indicate a direct challenge and criticism of the heads of state who in 2000 signed the Millennium Declaration, they argued.

South Africa based its position on the fact that the Millennium Development Goals were a significant advance in the global agenda concerning the challenge of development and the fight against poverty. What was therefore needed was further progress, which took into account information that had just recently been made available on the full extent of the challenge of slums.

South Africa pointed out that at the time of the setting of the slum target proper research had not been done to indicate the extent of the slum challenge; the recommendation for a reformulation would not be unprecedented in UN history; and as a fully-fledged programme of the United Nations, UN-HABITAT was acting fully within its mandate to advise the General Assembly.

Having been convinced by these arguments Norway withdrew its opposition and it was left to South Africa, EU and the US to sort out their differences.

Even the intervention of the Governing Council president could produce no settlement. With no agreement in sight the only prospect was to determine the matter through voting, something that was unprecedented for UN-HABITAT. As difficult as the prospect was, the G77 and China were determined not to let the EU and the US solely decide the final outcome of the negotiations. Father Jeffery of the Holy See at this point told the delegation: "I will pray for you".

At this critical stage the drafting committee chairperson introduced a last formulation of the resolution. Even though it was still not satisfactory the formulation averted voting. At the closing session, the Governing Council president withdrew the resolution in its entirety. Instead he included the issue as one of the things to be considered at the next session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

The experience of the UN-HABITAT Governing Council nevertheless underlined the tasks and the role that South Africa needs to play in international forums to help advance and defend the interests of Africa and other developing countries. It provided important lessons on the cohesion of G77 and China, and the Africa Group, both of which are determined to refuse to bow to pressure from those that are powerful to remain silent on the critical challenges they face. The South African delegation, together with the delegations from Africa, the G77 countries and China, will need to build and strengthen this cohesion at the next session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

More Information:

• UN-HABITAT

Return to Index