ANC Today 

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Volume 6, No. 12, 31 March-6 April 2006
 
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THIS WEEK:

* Letter from the President: The spirit of Solomon Mahlangu must live on! 
* Government programme update #5: Working towards safer communities for all 
* Government programme update #6: Moving faster to address challenges of poverty

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

The spirit of Solomon Mahlangu must live on!

On 6 April, the day before the publication of the next edition of ANC TODAY, we
will commemorate the 27th anniversary of the execution in 1979 of that great
hero of our people, Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu. This important occasion will
assume special significance this year given that this is also the year of the
30th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising.

Solomon Mahlangu was a product of that historic uprising, which the apartheid
regime tried to suppress in the most brutal manner. This led Solomon to leave
our country in 1976 to join Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) to become an armed combatant
for our liberation.

In its short biography of Solomon, the ANC said: "Thousands left the country in
the face of this repression. They left to carry on the struggle from outside the
country. Nineteen year-old Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was among them. He left his
home in the night, not telling even his mother where he was going or if he would
ever return. Determined to fight for change, he sought training as a soldier. A
year later, he returned home as a cadre of the armed wing of the African
National Congress, Umkhonto we Sizwe..."

Speaking of this mission, one of the then commanders of MK, and later Chief of
the SA National Defence Force, Siphiwe Nyanda, said that Solomon Mahlangu
returned to South Africa "to join the thousands of school kids who were
definitely going to remember the day with protests. This time the leaders (of
the ANC) decided the youth would be facing the armed (apartheid) police and army
with their own arms...(Solomon) knew from the underground work he had been
trained for, how important discipline was for missions to be successful. He was
a quiet, unassuming, disciplined young man who would today be part of the
national defence force, protecting the country."

Unfortunately, Solomon was captured by the apartheid forces soon after his
return and therefore could not carry out his mission. As an apartheid court
sentenced him to death in 1978, he shouted - Amandla! His now famous last words
before his jailers took him to the gallows on 6 April 1979, then only 23 years
old, were - "My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of
freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the fight."

Though he did not have the opportunity to ensure that, on the 1st anniversary of
the Soweto Uprising our youth faced the armed apartheid police and army with
their own arms, through his courage and willingness to sacrifice, Solomon
Mahlangu inspired hundreds of thousands of young people to emulate his example.
Thus did his blood indeed nourish the tree that has borne the fruit of our
freedom.

It was therefore most fitting that last year, through our Government, the nation
conferred on Solomon Mahlangu the highest national award for bravery - The Order
of Mendi for Bravery (in Gold). This reflected the high esteem in which the
nation holds this brave young hero, as was indicated in 1979 by our late
President, Oliver Tambo, when he said:

"In his brief but full life Solomon Mahlangu towered like a colossus, unbroken
and unbreakable, over the fascist lair. He, on whom our people have bestowed
accolades worthy of the hero-combatant that he is, has been hanged in Pretoria
like a common murderer. Alone the hangmen buried Solomon, bound by a forbidding
oath that his grave shall remain forever a secret, because, in his death the
spirit of Solomon Mahlangu towers still like a colossus, unbroken and
unbreakable, over the fascist lair.

"To malign him, to malign his comrades and his organisations which have yet to
discharge their historic mission, and which will avenge the assassination of
this and other prisoners of war, the fascist tyrants put out the story that
Solomon had ceased to be as we know him, brave, confident and fearless of death.
But we knew they lied.

"Now the whole world knows that he approached the gallows as befits a loyal and
disciplined combatant of Umkhonto we Sizwe, sworn to liberate his people
whatever the cost, as that Solomon who had volunteered to serve his people until
victory or death...

"Our people inside South Africa have done as we expected them to. Unequivocally
they stood by Solomon to the last moment because to them he was a son, a
brother, their product, his cause theirs, his death a challenge spurring them to
greater efforts to remove the regime which continues to display such callous
disregard of everything that is moral and just and humane.

"At the end of the day, the fascist regime of Botha and Vorster stood alone in
front of all humanity, alone in its regard of the pursuit of freedom as a crime
punishable by death, alone in rejoicing that a life so young and so full of
promise had so suddenly and so brutally been terminated."

As we commemorate the 27th anniversary of the execution of Solomon Mahlangu and
the 30th of the Soweto Uprising, during which many of our youth sacrificed their
lives, we must once again reflect on the important question of the tasks of the
youth. Fortunately, in this regard, we have a rich history from which to draw.

In the 1981 January 8th Statement of our movement, which we observed as the Year
of the Youth, OR Tambo said:

"History has imposed an obligation on the youth of today to occupy the forward
trenches in the final assault on the bastions of racism, apartheid and
colonialism. As the late 'Malome' Moses Kotane said in 1968 in a statement to
the youth of South Africa:

" 'At this hour of destiny your country and your people need you. The future of
South Africa is yours and it will be what you make of it'. On the other hand, a
people, a country, a Movement that does not value its youth does not deserve its
future."

Our people, our country and our movement value our youth. All of us are and must
be concerned about this youth that will determine the future of our country.
Among others, that concern must focus on the contemporary tasks of the youth and
what our society and movement must do to empower the youth to carry out those
tasks. And as we have said, we must, in this regard, continue to draw on our
rich experience.

In March 1944, the founders of the ANC Youth League, organised as its
Provisional Committee, issued the important founding document of the League, the
ANC Youth League Manifesto. In this document these founders, who included Anton
Lembede, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and others said:

"In response to the demands of the times African Youth is laying its services at
the disposal of the national liberation movement, the African National Congress,
in the firm belief, knowledge and conviction that the cause of Africa must and
will triumph...

"The Congress Youth League must be the brains-trust and power-station of the
spirit of African nationalism; the spirit of African self-determination; the
spirit that is so discernible in the thinking of our Youth. It must be an
organisation where young African men and women will meet and exchange ideas in
an atmosphere pervaded by a common hatred of oppression.

"At this power-station the league will be a co-ordinating agency for all
youthful forces employed in rousing popular political consciousness and fighting
oppression and reaction. It will educate the people politically by concentrating
its energies on the African home front to make all sections of our people
Congress-minded and nation-conscious.

"But the Congress Youth League must not be allowed to detract the Youth's
attention from the organisation of Congress. In this regard, it is the first
step to ensure that African Youth has direct connections with the leadership of
Congress...

"Congress is destined for a great purpose and mission, but short sighted
policies will cripple it and make it unable to rise to its destiny. To prevent
this and therefore the setting back of the clock of African progress, African
Youth must join the League in their numbers to strengthen the national movement
in view of the fact that divisions just now are being sown among the people by
sections of the so-called privileged few, while no convincing effort is made to
narrow down and finally eliminate the gulfs that divide our people even by those
who clamour loudest for national unity. Those who sow these divisions direct
their activities against the national unity front in order to make the national
movement incapable of expressing the wishes of the people effectively; they are
the enemies of a free Africa.

"The Congress is the symbol of the African people's common hatred of all
oppression and of their Will to fight it relentlessly as one compact group.
Youth recognises the existence of specialised attitudes and, where these lead to
differences of opinion, that must be strictly a domestic matter within the
national liberation movement and must in no way be allowed to interfere with the
national unity front. The ideal of national unity must be the guiding ideal of
every young African's life!"

Thirty-seven years after the publication of the Youth League Manifesto, in the
1981 January 8th Statement to which we have referred, OR Tambo said that in
observance that year of the 5th and the 20th anniversaries of the Soweto
Uprising and the formation of MK, "we need to accomplish a number of tasks. We
need to ensure that the millions of our youth inside the country -students,
working people, the youth in the rural areas, young women, young Christians -
these millions must be mobilised into the appropriate organisational formations
for the intensification of the mass struggle. The youth must be drawn in even
greater numbers into the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe, inside and outside the
country, to become part of the disciplined vanguard forces of our revolution...

"The youth already in the ranks of the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe must use the
occasion of these two anniversaries to improve their level of competence in all
fields in which they are involved, whether political, military, academic or
administrative. They must seek to raise their level of political understanding
and their discipline, to become better cadres for the victory of the people's
cause. They must use their enormous talent and creative intelligence to
formulate and propose new initiatives for the advancement of the struggle and
actively participate in the solution of all problems facing the revolution.

"The youth at Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, which must develop into a
prototype of the new school that we will construct in a liberated South Africa,
must carry out their responsibilities in a manner befitting the pioneering role
in which history has thrust them. The children at the Charlotte Maxeke Creche
must be brought up to play their role as the new men and women that a free South
Africa will need...

"The youth of our country, especially in recent times, have already won
international recognition as dedicated and gallant fighters in the leading ranks
of our revolutionary struggle. Their contribution is already manifest in the
changed and changing fortunes of apartheid rule within South Africa. They are
already playing their part in giving shape to the South Africa of the future."

The selfless sacrifices made by Solomon Mahlangu and countless young people did
indeed radically change the fortunes of apartheid rule in our country, leading
to its defeat. Through that historic contribution, they played a central part in
giving shape to the South Africa of the future.

The Revolutionary Youth of 1944 helped to mobilise and unite the youth of our
country behind the perspective that the goal of national unity must be the
guiding ideal of every young African's life, and that our youth must rally
behind the ANC, which was "destined for a great purpose and mission", and which
was "the symbol of the African people's common hatred of all oppression and of
their Will to fight it relentlessly as one compact group".

The Revolutionary Youth of 1976 helped to mobilise and unite the youth of our
country to become part of the disciplined vanguard forces of our revolution,
under the leadership of the ANC, serving as dedicated and gallant fighters in
the forward ranks of our revolutionary struggle, while continuously improving
their level of competence in all fields in which they were involved, whether
political, military, academic or administrative.

Like the Revolutionary Youth of 1944, the central task facing the Revolutionary
Youth of 2006 is to help mobilise our youth and people to act in unity to
achieve the goal of the fundamental social transformation of our country,
understanding, still, that "Congress is destined for a great purpose and
mission".

Like the Revolutionary Youth of 1976, the central task facing the Revolutionary
Youth of 2006 is to help mobilise our youth to improve their level of competence
in all fields in which they are involved, whether political, military, academic
or administrative, to raise their level of political understanding and their
discipline, and to empower them to become better cadres for the victory of the
people's cause, focused on achieving a better life for all and building a
winning nation.

Truly to demonstrate that they are the authentic successors of Solomon Mahlangu,
of the martyrs of June 16th, and the pioneers of 1944, the members of the ANC
Youth League and the rest of the progressive youth of our country have a
responsibility to carry out these tasks - the specific tasks of the contemporary
generation of young patriots.

The gift of freedom bestowed on our people by the sacrifices of the youth of
1944 and 1976 has placed the additional responsibility on the youth of 2006 to
defend and help entrench the value system that inspired the earlier generations
of our youth. That value system was based on a set of moral injunctions that
prescribed that our revolutionary youth must be inspired by one objective and
one objective only - to serve the people of South Africa, with no expectation of
reward in terms personal wealth, power, position or prestige.

The ANC Youth League, the rest of the progressive youth and our movement as a
whole have a revolutionary duty to honour the memory of Solomon Mahlangu, the
martyrs of June 16th and the pioneers of 1944 by focusing on the uncompleted and
"great purpose and mission" of the ANC - which is to secure the genuine and all-
round emancipation of all our people within the context of the vision spelt out
in the Freedom Charter.

Those who act in a manner contrary to the noble and heroic example set by
Solomon Mahlangu, the martyrs of June 16th and the pioneers of 1944, and seek to
divert us away from the daily struggle to realise the goal of the genuine
emancipation of our people, necessarily define themselves as being outside of
and separate from the mass movement for the fundamental social transformation of
our country.

That mass movement calls for cadres who are "loyal and disciplined combatants"
for the people's cause that is "moral and just and humane", who are "sworn to
liberate our people whatever the cost", who have the humility to serve the
people as "quiet, unassuming, disciplined" young people, who are accepted by the
masses as their sons and daughters and brothers and sisters, their products,
sharing with them a common cause, who are defined by their practical deeds,
rather than deceitful words, as "unbroken and unbreakable" colossi. It calls for
such actions by the Revolutionary Youth of 2006 as would define them as true
representatives of the heroic and glorious legacy of Solomon Mahlangu.

Thabo Mbeki

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GOVERNMENT PROGRAMME UPDATE #5

Working towards safer communities for all

Following the state of the nation address in February, cabinet ministers
addressed a number of briefings on progress in the implementation of
government's programme of action. This week, in the last of the series, we
publish edited extracts of the briefing on justice, crime prevention and
security, and, below, on the social cluster.

In the past year, significant successes have been scored in the creation of a
just, safer and more secure environment for all including the reduction of key
categories of crimes and the strengthening of the criminal justice system. This
paves the way towards our ultimate goal ­- to create conditions for peace and
stability in our country.

We continue to be seized on the three priorities of better crime prevention and
public safety, the strengthening of the criminal justice system and improvement
of our national security.

Crime prevention and public safety

The past three years saw a marked increase in the number of appointments of
various members of the peace and security cluster. The Justice, Crime Prevention
and Security (JCPS) cluster has established a Human Resource Study Task Team to
investigate the "knock-on effect" on the other departments in the cluster given
the rise in the numbers of the police who join the South African Police Service
(SAPS) and the increased rate of arrests of criminals. As a consequence of
better investigations more cases go to our courts and more sentenced offenders
go to our correctional detention centres.

To deal with that type of a problem the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)
will employ more personnel in addition to the 2,187 prosecutors and 196 senior
public prosecutors that it has who deal with criminal cases in the lower courts.
The NPA last year handled approximately a million cases.

The expansion of the work of the NPA presupposes the building of new courts by
the Department of Justice and the employment of more magistrates and
administrative support staff. This year 25 district courts will be opened and 15
regional court magistrates will be appointed. Over the next three years 890
additional prosecutors posts will have to be created which will allow for the
deployment of at least two prosecutors per court.

The complements of the departments of correctional services and safety and
security were also increased last year. Correctional Services recruited an
additional 3,000 members while the SAPS raised their numbers to 152,236.

The police have redefined the system of police reservists among other things to
consolidate SAPS's sector policing programme. The main thrust of the revised
system is to create a part-time professional police service. The police
reservists are being recruited from the communities where they live. The system
also provides for the call-up and payment of reservists, based on the identified
policing needs at provincial, area or station level. The reservists will be paid
only when they are called up and according to their ranks.

The search for and confiscation of illegal firearms continues to inform our
project to reduce by seven and 10% the levels of serious and violent crimes.
Since July 2004, when the Firearms Control Act was implemented in its entirety,
we have collected 144,639 firearms, of which 47,550 were illegal.

The Department of Social Development has completed its task of formulating a new
National Drug Master Plan, which will be submitted to Cabinet for approval soon.
The plan will inform government's response to the matter of drug and substance
abuse, which is one of the biggest generators of social crime.

Security

The priority concern of the intelligence services is to safeguard our
constitutional democracy and ensure our sovereignty. Building capacity of the
intelligence services to play a greater role in supporting law enforcement
agencies to combat threats such as corruption, organised crime (drugs and
vehicle-related crime) and international terrorism are some of the ongoing
priorities.

The priority to develop greater capacity is underpinned by a cross-cutting
programme to inculcate the value of respect for the rule of law and deepen the
understanding by members of the intelligence community the constitutional rights
of citizens.

The Minister of Intelligence recently initiated a review of intelligence
legislation, internal regulations and operating procedures. Thus far, the review
committee has identified areas requiring attention with a view to tightening the
framework within which the intelligence services operate.

The Department of Home Affairs has noted that the movement of travellers has
contributed to the increase in congestion at border posts during certain
periods. Given this reality and the need to continue to provide the requisite
public service the department has deployed enough immigration officials to
assist travellers.

With the recent launch of the National Immigration Branch of Home Affairs,
government seeks to create a credible immigration regime, which is effective,
efficient, professional and friendlier in the facilitation of movement of goods,
services and people into and out of the country.

One of the main challenges facing the Department of Home Affairs relates to the
backlog of applications for asylum - presently at around 105,000. The existence
of such a large backlog has a detrimental effect on those who are genuinely in
need of protection, as without refugee status and an identity document they find
local integration difficult. A project designed to accurately determine the
extent of the backlog and to make a significant impact in reducing the backlog
will be implemented shortly. The Department of Home Affairs has also taken note
of the judgments of the Cape Town and Pretoria High courts respectively, in
which the department has been required to make dramatic improvements to ensure
that asylum seekers have access to the asylum determination process. The backlog
project is one of the means by which the department intends responding to the
concerns raised by the courts.

Fraud and Corruption

Corruption in all its forms - whether it manifests itself as bribery,
embezzlement, fraud, extortion, abuse of power, conflict of interest, insider
trading, abuse of privileged information, favouritism or nepotism -tends to
undermine sustainable development and leads to a loss of confidence in public
institutions.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development piloted the Prevention
and Combating of Corrupt Activities Bill in Parliament last year. The Bill
became part of our legal instruments towards the end of the year and has been
used in the fight against corruption.

Hundreds of officials from all state organs were investigated and the guilty
arrested or dismissed in accordance with the gravity of the cases they were
facing and millions of rands were recovered.

President Thabo Mbeki is currently studying the Report of the Jali Commission on
fraud and corruption at correctional services facilities. At an appropriate time
the findings will be made public, including implementation strategies in
response to the recommendations.

Home Affairs last year appointed a Committee of Inquiry to conduct an
investigation into the circumstances surrounding deaths at the Lindela
Repatriation Centre. The committee made recommendations to the Minister with
regard to the implementation of systems and protocols to deal with illegal
foreigners awaiting deportation. These included matters such as the spread of
some diseases, overcrowding and deaths. The department has responded positively
to the recommendations and has started a programme to provide adequate
infrastructure and human resources at Lindela. Since the committee's report and
the implementation of its recommendations there has been a significant reduction
in the numbers of illnesses and fatalities.

Criminal Justice System

Some important elements of the Service Charter for Victims of Crime are in place
and working well. They include toll-free lines installed in all provinces;
training of victim assistance staff who will assume duty at service delivery
points by 2007/08; and a set of complaints mechanisms.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill is before Cabinet and will be submitted
to Parliament to start the necessary consultation and hearings at that level. It
is crucial that the Bill be finalised for enactment this year as it will be one
of the most important pieces in our arsenal against the sexual abuse of women
and children, especial the girl child.

In our work to ensure justice services for all, we will finalise the re-
demarcation process and provision of service points in areas of need by 2007/08
and finalise the establishment of High Courts for Mpumalanga and Limpopo over
the next few years

The management of awaiting trial detainees, including children in conflict with
the law, will be placed under the spotlight of the cluster with the aim of
finding sustainable solutions to challenges associated with the incarceration of
this category of inmates. Following the implementation of a special remission of
sentence in 2005, numbers of sentenced offenders declined to about 110,000,
while the number of awaiting trial detainees stood at 44,000.

A cluster task team led by the Department of Correctional Services has been
assigned to review the management of awaiting trial detainees, who constitute
over 28% of the current offender population in our centres. The team is expected
to consider a range of mechanisms of managing the incarceration of the alleged
offenders, levels of threat against society, alternative accommodation and human
resources requirements.

Regarding children awaiting trial in detention centres, the cluster has
undertaken to intensify the great work done in 2005 of reducing by over 65%
(from 1,700 to 1,100) the number of children in detention. Developments in this
regard will be periodically assessed by the JCPS and its partners in government,
including the Department of Social Development. 

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GOVERNMENT PROGRAMME UPDATE #6

Moving faster to address challenges of poverty

We begin this year with a clear mandate to move faster to address the challenges
of poverty, underdevelopment and marginalisation confronting those caught within
the Second Economy.

We must sustain and improve the effectiveness of our social security system
targeted at providing a cushion of support to those most exposed to the threat
of abject poverty. Government is committed to respond with all necessary
seriousness and determination to all these challenges and play its role to give
new content to our age of hope.

Health

While progress is being made to improve primary healthcare and hospital
infrastructure, we have to continue to pay particular attention to the
expenditure on capital projects. We need to increase expenditure particularly as
this relates to the hospital revitalisation conditional grant, where we need to
ensure that we monitor and assist provinces that are struggling to optimally use
the allocated resources.

We are also finalising the Hospital Improvement Plan, which should address
issues of maintenance of buildings, the provision and maintenance of equipment,
and historical backlog as a result of neglect in psychiatric hospitals. The plan
will also deal with issues of governance of hospitals and improvement of the
quality of care. Working together with the provinces, we will determine
additional authority that will be delegated to hospital management to ensure
they are held accountable for the functioning of hospitals by September this
year.

The functioning of the health system is dependent on the adequate supply and
equitable distribution of health workers. On 7 April, which is World Health Day,
we will be launching the Human Resource Plan for Health. This document will
illustrate training needs for the country and outline interventions that have to
be made to improve the supply of health workers in the country.

We will be reopening some nursing colleges to improve output in this area. The
challenge we are addressing is the recruitment of tutors who exited the public
service. We are discussing with the Department of Public Service and
Administration to ensure that even those who took voluntary severance packages
can be considered as part of this recruitment drive.

The process of reviewing remuneration packages for healthcare professionals
should be completed this year and we hope that it will go a long way in
improving our ability to attract and retain health professionals in the public
sectors and rural areas in particular.

After playing a leading role in World Health Organisation discussions on
declaring Tuberculosis (TB) a crisis and declaring 2006 as the year of
accelerated HIV prevention, we are ready to lead by example in implementing
these resolutions.

We have developed a TB Crisis Management Plan that identifies at least four
districts that are facing the most challenges in terms of the prevalence of TB
and low cure rates. A new communication and social mobilisation campaign should
focus on improving awareness and TB cure rates and have messages targeted at
specific groups that still pose a challenge in terms of the prevalence of HIV.

This year, we want to ensure that prevention reassumes its rightful position in
the response to HIV and AIDS as we observe the year of accelerated HIV
prevention. Our aim is to increase the number of facilities that provide
voluntary counselling and testing, prevention of mother-to-child-transmission
programmes and the management of sexually transmitted infections, especially
herpes.

We will continue the care and treatment of those who are infected and affected
through the Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and
AIDS. At least 374,000 people have benefited from the nutrition component of
this programme. An accumulative number of people initiated on antiretroviral
therapy in the 229 accredited sites in the country was more than 100,000 by the
end of December 2005. Concerted efforts have to be made to strengthen our
patient information system to ensure we are able to track patient compliance and
establish the impact of this programme.

We will make additional resources available for the research and development of
traditional medicines that have the potential to add much value in the
management of HIV and AIDS and other diseases. We will continue our efforts to
make medicine more affordable. The Pricing Committee and the Department of
Health has consulted extensively with stakeholders on the issue of the
dispensing fee that can be charged by pharmacists.

Much work has been done to make South Africans to be more conscious of the
importance of caring for their health. This has included efforts to promote
regular physical activity and good nutrition while discouraging risky behaviours
such as smoking, alcohol abuse and unsafe sexual practices. Through the healthy
lifestyle awareness campaign, we want to deal with most of the main causes of
ill-health and death in the country.

Safe water and sanitation

Government is committed to ensuring that everyone in South Africa has access to
functioning basic water supply services and that everyone has access to a
functioning basic sanitation facility by 2010. Government is also committed to
the eradication of the bucket system in formal settlements by the end of 2007.

In 1994, 15.9 million people out of a population of 39.8 million people did not
have access to basic water supply. By April 2005 government had provided clean
safe water to a total of 15 million people, which includes those served at
higher levels than the basic level of service. Of this, 10 million people were
served with a basic water supply service to Reconstruction and Development
Programme (RDP) level.

The backlog for water supply as at April 2005 was 3.7 million people who have no
access to any form of water supply infrastructure plus 5.4 million people who
have some access but who have to be brought up to a basic level of service. The
water supply target for 2006/07 is that 1.5 million additional people be
provided with basic water supply.

A national survey reflects that 63 % of municipalities could not confirm whether
they complied with drinking water quality standards. Following the outbreak of
typhoid in Delmas, the Department of Water Affairs Forestry followed this up
with a more detailed survey and the development of a monthly reporting system.

In cases where drinking water quality does not meet standards the department
will provide the necessary support. As the national regulator for water
services, the department will report on the performance of all municipalities
through a report to be published in April.

The Free Basic Water programme is making a huge difference to the poor. Over 15
million poor people are receiving free basic water via formal infrastructure,
some with infrastructure slightly below the basic level. A further four million
have infrastructure and although they do not yet have a formalised FBW
administrative system in place, are getting their water free. In total, 35.3
million people or 73% of the population are receiving free basic water.

In 1994, 20.4 million people were without adequate sanitation services. By April
2005, with an average estimated population growth of 1.98% per annum, the
backlog is estimated at 16 million people or 3.9 million households. The target
for 2006/07 is to provide 300,000 toilets serving an estimated 1.2 million
people.

The sanitation backlog in schools has been reduced from 4,300 in September 2004
to 2,505 by December 2005.

Government will continue with its programme of ensuring all South Africans have
access to basic services including health, water and proper sanitation. No group
should be excluded. The free basic services programme plays a vital role as it
ensures that all South Africans have access to basic necessities. 

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