ANC Today ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 6, No. 27, 14-20 July 2006 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: * Letter from the President: From Germany to South Africa - namkelekile! * Growth and employment: Strategic projects aim to increase employment * Governance and administration: Strengthening the developmental state ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT From Germany to South Africa - namkelekile! During half-time and at the end of the 2006 FIFA Soccer World Cup final match on 9 July, between Italy and France, at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, FIFA broadcast a message to those present at the stadium and those watching on television throughout the world, inviting the peoples of the world to meet in South Africa in 2010. Truly the moment had come when our country would take the baton from Germany as the host of the next FIFA Soccer World Cup. In a way, the journey to this moment had begun in 1994, when we achieved our liberation. Interviewed shortly before our first democratic elections of that year, the then President of the United States, Bill Clinton, said: "(Against the background of the ethnic conflict then tearing Yugoslavia apart), I think if this election comes off, it will send a message around the world that that there is another way to deal with these problems, and that if it can be done in South Africa, how you justify the old-fashioned killing and fighting and dying over a piece of land, over divisions which are not as important as what unites people in other places. I mean, it's amazing. Contrast what we see in Goradze with what we see about to happen in South Africa. It is a matter of enormous historical impact." These sentiments surfaced again when we launched the logo for the 2010 Soccer World Cup on 7 July in Berlin. The FIFA headed the statement commenting on this launch - "A symbol of hope". Among other things, it said: "South Africa has certainly got out of the blocks quickly and made an impressive start. The speakers at the event included Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, FIFA President Sepp Blatter and President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki. "They all spoke of the continent's immense pride in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup on African soil, and the need to 'Win in Africa, with Africa'. Indeed, CAF President and FIFA Vice President, Issa Hayatou is so optimistic about the success of Africa in 2010, he declared it will 'mark the renaissance of Africa.'...Meanwhile, Mr Blatter reiterated his belief and confidence in the Host Country saying: 'There are more than one billion people behind the FIFA family who have said yes to South Africa, we trust South Africa.'" Michael Palmer, head of the FIFA 2010 World Cup office said in an interview: "But we have bigger hopes for this, that the 2010 World Cup will change the world's perceptions of the African continent and provide wonderful opportunities for people in the future. The hope is that it will be the sporting event that does the most good for a country and a continent." When FIFA decided to rotate the World Cup among the continents, it took into account that it would be difficult for many countries, including African countries, to compete successfully against the developed countries of the North in terms of hosting the World Cup. FIFA also understood that the Soccer World Cup and soccer in general were about more than scoring goals and winning matches. Given the popularity of the sport, it understood that soccer also plays an important role with regard to such issues as national unity and reconciliation, social and economic development, the promotion of peace, and the encouragement of mutually beneficial cooperation among the nations. When it decided that the 2010 Soccer World Cup should be hosted by Africa, it sought to promote precisely these objectives. Issa Hayatou was therefore correct when he said our hosting of the 2010 World Cup would 'mark the renaissance of Africa.' Similarly, Michael Palmer was also correct when he said "the 2010 World Cup will change the world's perceptions of the African continent and provide wonderful opportunities for people in the future." When the FIFA Executive Committee decided that South Africa should host the 2010 World Cup it took into account our logistical and financial capacity to discharge this obligation. However, the distinguished members of this Committee would also have been mindful of the need for the African Host to provide the best possible circumstances for the tournament truly to mark the renaissance of Africa, as Issa Hayatou said. And thus it is that we come back to the comment made by President Clinton in 1994, when he said our peaceful transition to democracy would be "amazing...(and would be) a matter of enormous historical impact." The victory we achieved in this regard in 1994 created the basis for us to stand out as perhaps a very relevant Host for the 2010 World Cup, capable of providing the setting that would turn this tournament into a "symbol of hope" that would "do the most good for a country and a continent." As we take on the task to prepare our country for an outstanding 2010 World Cup, inspired by the fact that "more than one billion people behind the FIFA family who have said yes to South Africa, we trust South Africa", as President Sepp Blatter said, we must recall that not everybody was convinced that we had the capacity to achieve a peaceful transition to democracy. In his book, "Partner to History", Princeton Lyman, the former US Ambassador to South Africa who served in our country as we achieved our transition to democracy, said correctly: "The weeks preceding the election had been filled with concerns. There were rumours that even if the election went smoothly, it would be followed by a complete collapse of services, utilities and governance. Among some elements of the white population, there were preparations for disaster... "Among the blacks, there was worry as well but of a different kind: a lingering concern about the loyalty of the security forces, especially in the event of any serious armed white resistance. The ANC was particularly anxious in these final days to allay the concerns of the white population and to secure the loyalty of the security forces... "It is hard to convey the joy, relief, enthusiasm and euphoria that swept over the country when the election actually did take place, free of all that people feared. Millions of people stood in line for hours, patiently, to cast their votes. All fears of low turnout, of widespread violence, of intimidation or disorder vanished in the national outpouring of support for change." And now, as we prepare to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, as happened in 1994, there are again some who doubt that we will succeed to turn this tournament into "a matter of enormous historical impact." Instead, they are making predictions based on nothing but prejudice, that we will fail. For instance, recently a German publication wrote among other things that: "With only four years to go before the kick-off for the 2010 World Cup, South Africa still has a massive amount of preparation to do. Its stadiums are crumbling or unbuilt, security poses a real problem and organisers are way behind schedule. But FIFA is confident that the first World Cup to take place in Africa will still be fine... "Four years before the World Cup in Germany, things were so organised that officials even knew what streets to close off before games, but in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, chaos and perplexity are currently the order of the day. 'They're totally behind schedule,' said Delron Buckley, a South African player in Germany's Bundesliga professional league who just returned from a two-week vacation in his homeland. 'They're neither building nor renovating anything.' "Originally, the South Africans proposed holding the games in 13 different stadiums. Then that was reduced to 10 arenas, of which five would have to be built from scratch and the rest renovated. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Most of the existing facilities where the matches are to be held were designed for rugby or cricket. Some of these stadiums are ramshackle, with dubious structural stability and zero provisions for providing security. "It also remains unclear the extent to which white South Africans will identify with the World Cup. More and more are being pushed out of civil service positions and their interest in sports is mostly limited to cricket, rugby and golfing. In their minds, football is a sport for blacks. And with the lowest ticket prices currently set at $20 per seat, the majority of South Africa's predominantly black population will be priced out of the World Cup... "Global football governing body FIFA's decision to hold the next World Cup in South Africa was a political one. The organisation, which likes to tout itself as a moral superpower, is holding the games there under the slogan 'Football for a Better World'. It's the first time the global spectacle has ever been held in Africa... "The problem is that even 12 years after the official end of apartheid, South Africa is still a developing country, some areas lack the infrastructure and the country has never before hosted an event on this scale." The doomsayers' message in 2006 is the same as it was in 1994 - that the fact that we are African means that we are incapable of achieving success! The final match of the 2006 Soccer World Cup was played in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. This stadium was built by the Nazi regime for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. Hitler and his fellow Nazis were determined to use these Games to show the superiority of their evil ideology, the supremacy of the "Aryan race", and, especially the inferiority of people of African descent. The intentions of the Nazis were thrown into disarray when the outstanding African-American athlete, Jesse Owens, won four gold medals, shattering the insulting illusion that people of African descent were incapable of achieving success. Enraged, Adolf Hitler refused to hand out the medals to the winners, to avoid having to shake hands with a black athlete. Conscious of the fact that the scourge of racism continues to haunt the world, FIFA launched its campaign "Say No to Racism" during the 2006 Soccer World Cup, at the same Olympic Stadium in Berlin, where Hitler had refused to shake hands with Jesse Owens. Our own Tokyo Sexwale participated in this launch, carrying the responsibility to work as one of the FIFA champions against racism. The 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, held in a country and continent that know the true meaning racism, will strike a powerful blow against this scourge, as Jesse Owens struck a powerful blow against racism through his athletic prowess. As black and white united in our country in 1994 to ensure the peaceful elections that President Clinton said would signify "a matter of enormous historical impact", so will we act in unity once more, to ensure that the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the first to be held in Africa, truly "marks the renaissance of Africa", as the President of the African Football Confederation, Issa Hayatou, said Thabo Mbeki ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GROWTH AND EMPLOYMENT Strategic Projects Aim to Increase Employment Government is making significant progress in key strategic projects aimed at increasing still further the economic growth rate and creating new employment opportunities. This was one of the highlights of a recent briefing by the economic, investment and employment cluster on implementation of government’s programme of action, in line with cabinet’s two-monthly monitoring and evaluation cycle. The cluster is on track to present its industrial strategy framework to the cabinet lekgotla in July. It has also taken steps to reduce the constraints to faster growth, including measures to reduce the cost of doing business. Much of this has been focused on bringing down costs in the area of telecommunications and information and communication technology (ICT). These include reducing the cost of international connectivity through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) terrestrial and sub-marine broadband network; increasing access and services through wireless broadband; removing the monopoly on the ‘last mile’ of telephone service provision; removing the monopoly on international gateway access; and the establishment of a broadband task team. Government is positive and committed to ensure that that these efforts will result in a substantial decline, on the cost side, of an already established and reliable network. In addition to lowering the costs for doing business, government has developed and is implementing programmes to actively encourage the development of economic sectors that show potential for rapid growth and creation of employment opportunities. The strategy for business process outsourcing – which includes services like call centres – currently includes marketing, incentive package design, skills development, quality assurance and industry mobilisation. The potential of the sector has been confirmed with growing interest in South Africa as an outsourcing destination. The first targeted company has indicated its intention to set up a 2,500-seat centre. In addition a training programme has been designed for 4,000 matriculants. This will go towards addressing the skills shortage that exists in the sector. An assistance programme has been designed for the business process outsourcing sector and will be offered to companies that are to invest in the sector. As part of a project aimed at the development of call centres in five poor communities, a number of benefits – such as subsidised training and low cost building infrastructure – have been packaged for small businesses. To further this project, government is to determine specific policy directives to encourage the use of rural call centres and to finalise the design of specific industrial incentives. In another strategic labour-intensive sector, tourism, the launch of the Tourism Enterprise Programme, with funding of R185 million over the next three financial years, has been given the go-ahead. The Business Trust has committed an additional R43 million to this project. Government has completed the economic modelling of a tax incentive for private sector spending on research and development. This is part of the effort to increase overall spending on research and development to at least 1% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The cluster is looking at how to better use the capital expenditure procurement of state owned enterprises to promote local economic growth and development. A Competitive South African Supplier Development Programme will be ready for Cabinet consideration in July. A challenge that the team is taking into consideration is to develop a procurement policy that will give local industry preference but not result in significantly higher price. The focus is therefore on local supplier upgrading rather than local industry protection. The cluster is also looking at how government procurement can be targeted to assist small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). The Department of Trade and Industry is currently analysing data on government procurement to identify a list of relevant products and services that can be procured from SMMEs. Government is sensitive to ensuring that financial and non-financial support for SMMEs is addressed at the same time. Therefore the cluster has asked the relevant departments to increase their explicit emphasis on linking financial and non-financial support so that the chances of enterprise success are increased. In focusing on support to the second economy, the Department of Provincial and Local Government is leading a team that is seeking to improve street trading infrastructure. This project is expected to impact directly on around a million street traders. The team is reviewing municipal by-laws to better accommodate street trading infrastructure and seeking the best way to fund initiatives. All of these strategic projects are dependent on the availability of suitably- skilled people. Work has begun on a framework of occupations to assist in the identification of scarce and critical skills, aligned to the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA). Since its launch, JIPSA has been resourced with a full-time secretariat. Consultations have begun to develop a better picture of the skills requirements underpinning projects that are part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (ASGISA). Priorities include focusing on an operational plan for skills requirements for tourism and business process outsourcing, and the identification of cross-cutting skills in finance, project management and management in general. Strategies are being finalised for the acquisition of intermediate artisan and technical skills for ASGISA infrastructure, ICT and unemployed graduates. The Department of Education has identified 400 ‘Dinaledi’ schools for intensive support in maths and science – which will increase to 529 in 2007. Additional textbooks and teacher support packs have been delivered to schools and 40,000 calculators have been procured and delivered. An audit of ICT facilities has been completed and Dinaledi Schools are to receive priority. Government has approved a teacher incentive programme and it is to be piloted in Dinaledi schools. The Quality of Education Programme has begun the phased provision of essential equipment to 24,000 schools serving poor. More Information: Economic Cluster Programme Update, July 2006 http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/poa/report/economic.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Strengthening The Developmental State Intensive work is well advanced to ensure that government is properly equipped to fulfil the requirements of a developmental state, capable of playing a leading and active role in the reconstruction and development of South Africa. This was one of the areas covered by Governance and Administration Cluster in a recent briefing on the implementation of its programme of action. A detailed assessment of capacity in the public service is followed by specific measures to address areas of weakness. At its lekgotla in January this year, cabinet considered the capacity assessments of the economic, health, education, justice and housing sectors, and adopted recommendations relating to these five sectors and crosscutting issues. The cluster formed a task team on capacity assessments and 34 projects were identified and implemented. In the economic sector, the cluster has prepared an assessment of the rollout of Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (ASGISA) infrastructure projects, with a focus on the transport sector and more particularly on the Durban-Gauteng Corridor. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has 21 entities that report to it, including development finance institutions (like the Industrial Development Corporation), regulatory institutions (like the Competition Commission) and specialist service institutions (like the South African Bureau of Standards). Following work done by the Cluster on the governance of public entities in general, a study was undertaken on how to strengthen the DTI’s oversight of these institutions and a governance model was developed, which includes proposals for the strengthening of capacity within the department. In anticipation of the coming into force of the new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations developed in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has identified capacity challenges within the system and has developed recommendations on the strengthening of structures and staffing of the relevant components in provincial departments. In the health sector, substantial work has been done on the job descriptions and grading of the posts of hospital Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). Nine hospitals were visited and the findings made will be used to refine the existing benchmark job description for hospital CEOs. A revised grading structure is being developed. An implementation strategy for implementing delegations to hospital CEOs will be finalised by August. An assessment of the existing infrastructure and staffing of nursing colleges was undertaken. Findings and recommendations have been developed and will be presented to the cabinet lekgotla in July. In the education sector, an assessment of the roles, responsibilities and job descriptions of school principals has been undertaken and recommendations developed that will be presented to the lekgotla. Similarly an assessment of the roles and responsibilities of district and circuit managers has been conducted. Proposals regarding staffing levels and capacity building have been made. The educator performance management system was assessed and proposals on the strengthening of monitoring capacity have been made. A report on the skills gaps in the Senior Management Service (SMS) in education has been prepared. Findings included that there are gaps in the skills of existing personnel, challenges in filling key vacancies and a shortage of posts in some areas. An assessment of the application of the SMS Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) in the provincial Departments of Education and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has been conducted. Results have shown challenges in implementing the system and poor levels of compliance in some instances. In the justice sector, work has been done to assess the capacity to implement the Superior Courts Bill. The need for the strengthening of capacity to enable the effective implementation of the Bill has been identified. A strategy to address backlogs is also proposed. The Justice Footprint Project, which matches supply of judicial services with the demand for them, is near completion. In the housing sector, a comprehensive report of the housing development and delivery process has been drafted. Key challenges and corrective interventions have been identified and are being implemented. The organisational structure will be reviewed in line with the ‘Breaking New Ground’ policy. A comprehensive review of the public entities in housing has been conducted and they will be restructured in line with the ‘Breaking New Ground’ policy. The accelerated development programme for middle managers is under implementation in the provinces of KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape and in five national departments. A draft implementation guide has been approved and departments are currently submitting their nominations for participants in the programme. The review of the Public Service Human Resource Development (HRD) Strategy has commenced. This makes an assessment whether government has been successful in implementing the strategy and building capacity in the public sector. Based on the review, a second edition of the Human Resource Development Strategy will be developed for the period 2007 to 2011. More Information: Governance and Administration Cluster Programme Update, July 2006 http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/poa/report/govadmin.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of ANC Today is available from the ANC web site at: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2006/at27.htm To receive ANC Today free of charge by e-mail each week go to: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/subscribe.html To unsubscribe yourself from the ANC Today mailing list go to: http://lists.anc.org.za/mailman/listinfo/anctoday