ANC Today --------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 8, No. 28, 18-24 July 2008 --------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: * Madiba 90th Birthday: He who has laid the foundation of kindness * Medium Term Priorities: Looking towards the future --------------------------------------------------------------------- MADIBA 90TH BIRTHDAY He who has laid the foundation of kindness Allow me to join the millions of our people and the people of the world who proclaim their respect and admiration for our leader and former President of South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. His birthday is on 18 July and that is a special day in his life. And we wish him many happier returns as well as bountiful good health. But to us, every day of his life is very precious. Therefore we celebrate today, we will celebrate tomorrow, we will celebrate on 18 July, we will celebrate on 2 August, when the ANC hosts a rally in his honour, and of course, generations to come will celebrate his centenary and for ever thereafter. Throughout his life, Mandela, has been in harness of the struggle for liberation from colonialism and national oppression. From his predecessors he learned about discipline, dedication, humility and sacrifice. He learned never to demand of others what he himself would not be prepared to do. As a student he involved himself in the struggles of students and that resulted in his expulsion from Fort Hare University. He played an active part in the formation of the ANC youth league in 1944. He was instrumental in crafting and canvassing support for the adoption of the Programme of Action at the 35th National Conference of the ANC in 1949. He became the volunteer in chief during the 1952 Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign. He was among those charged for sedition. He was banned and debarred from participating in meetings and conferences of the ANC. He was one of 157 treason trialists in 1956. I say 157 because the Guardian newspaper was also an accused in that trial. When time for armed struggle came he led from the front and was among the first of our militants to receive military training in Algeria. He became the commander in chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He was the first accused in the Rivonia Trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment which he served on Robben Island and Pollsmoor prison. For all of the 27 years that he spent behind bars, his family was subjected to unrelenting persecution and harassment at the hands of the state security branch. The movement waged the struggle under four pillars; the first being the international mobilisation and isolation of the apartheid regime and the second being the legal mass work, and the third being the underground organisation, and the fourth being the armed struggle. It was once the regime banned the ANC that 48 years of peaceful forms of struggle came to an end. As Nelson Mandela put it, the leadership took the view that "there comes a time in the life of every nation when the choice is to surrender or to continue the struggle", and the choice they made was to continue the struggle. Mandela participated in all those four pillars. That is why he is so special in our hearts, because he was the first to be sent by the movement to prepare the ground for those who would end up in exile. And he taught most of the African states that were on the eve of attaining their independence from colonisation about our struggle. He addressed the first meeting of PAFMECSA, which preceded the formation of the Organisation of African Unity. His comrade, friend, brother and partner at law, Oliver Tambo, led the campaign for the isolation of the apartheid regime. Not once did Oliver Tambo accept an award in his own right and his own name because he understood the power and the symbolism of those who were behind bars. Everywhere he went all the awards were received in the name of Nelson Mandela. It is those efforts by Oliver Tambo which made Nelson Mandela an international icon, a world-renowned struggle leader and revolutionary. Nelson Mandela waded through his years in prison with fortitude and remained an inspiration to those of us who were young; remained an inspiration to our combatants in the camps; and remained an inspiration to our people, even in the remotest of villages. It was from that same prison confinement that he initiated discussions with the regime. The first meeting was with Kobie Coetzee, who was Minister of Justice, to communicate to him the very important message that when all is said and done, the struggle of our people was surely going to triumph. That was the beginning of the talks about talks. So, Mandela, having played a leading role in the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe, in the recruitment of combatants, took up arms not because he was a violent person; he took up arms because it was necessary to defeat the monster of apartheid. Our historical obligation In his poem, To Posterity, the world-renowned German poet Bertolt Brecht says, "To those who shall emerge from this flood into which we are sinking" remember that those who took up arms did so in order "to lay down the foundation of kindness". But they themselves could not be kind because they had to confront a brutal regime. Therefore, to the younger generations, to posterity, to those of us who have benefited from the efforts of the generation of Nelson Mandela, we have to choose very carefully our historical obligation, because we cannot take up arms when we have a democratic constitution and country. Mandela led in efforts to attain the strategic objective of uniting our people and he bent backwards at certain times - even at the risk of being criticised by some among our own ranks. He bent backwards to reach out to the former ruling bloc, which oppressed us, which discriminated against us. He gave meaning to the preamble of the Freedom Charter when it says: South Africa belongs to all who live in it - black and white - and that no government can claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people. He gave meaning to that very, very important aspiration of our people articulated at the Congress of the People in 1955. Every generation has to select for itself its own historical obligations. Our obligation is to build a united democratic, non-sexist, non-racist, and prosperous South Africa. If all of us put our efforts towards the attainment of this objective, our children will inherit a prosperous democratic, non-racial, non-sexist country. Currently we are facing grinding poverty and unemployment. The continent and other parts of the world face wars and violent crimes, malnutrition and disease, HIV and AIDS, climate change and natural disasters, land hunger and homelessness, ignorance and lack of skills, inequality and discrimination, sexism and ethnic chauvinism, spiraling inflation and debts. These converge and conspire to produce an environment which is very similar to what Bertolt Brecht described in his poem when he said, "To those of you who shall emerge from this flood into which we are sinking", because it leaves many people with a sense that we are sinking into a flood of all of these negative happenings. It is the burden of leadership to wade through all of these challenges and remain positive in a way which inspires our people. Nelson Mandela has had a very rich life. Even when he said he was retiring from government and the leadership of the movement, all he meant was that he was slowing down, because he did not retire. He continued to mobilise resources to build schools in remote villages where there are no schools; where children still learn under trees. I cannot forget how, once, he took me with him to Zeerust where the community had only one high school and they were, therefore, compelled to resort to a platoon system of learning: two schools, in essence, with two sets of teachers, two principals who had to share one building. Nelson Mandela showed his passion and I remember when the little aircraft that we were flying in landed on the landing strip outside of Zeerust. Because he was President of the Republic, the military was there to protect him and they had taken up positions behind the shrubs and the trees. As he emerged from the aircraft, in his own style he walked straight to one that he saw under a tree, shot out his hand and said: "How are you? How are you?" As he was shaking that hand, he saw the other one, went to him and said: "How are you? How are you?" To the chagrin of the commanders of that platoon, he left them in complete disarray, but out of the power of love and compassion. ** Kgalema Motlanthe is the Deputy President of the ANC. This is an edited extract from a speech in the National Assembly on the 90th birthday of Nelson Mandela. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MEDIUM TERM PRIORITIES Looking towards the future The ANC National Executive Committee (NEC), meeting in Johannesburg last weekend, agreed on a set of medium term priorities that would guide government's programme towards the 2009 elections, and would form the basis for the mandate that the ANC would seek from voters for the administration that comes into office after the elections. These priorities will guide deployees attending the Cabinet Lekgotla later this month and in the preparation of budget estimates towards the 2009/10 Budget. This is to ensure that the resolutions of the ANC's Polokwane Conference are reflected in government's programme for the remainder of the term of this government and into the term of the new administration. The NEC said the central task of the current period is the eradication of poverty, high levels of unemployment and inequality. The Polokwane Conference emphasised the need to build a developmental state that has the capacity to intervene in the economy in the interest of higher rates of growth and sustainable development. Considerably more resources should be directed towards strategies aimed at creating decent jobs. The establishment of a government-wide centre for economic planning is an important component of developing the capacity for effective intervention. This will allow for better coordination of the various strategies aimed at economic development. Initiatives in terms of the Industrial Policy Framework should be sufficiently resourced and supported by all arms of government. There should be increased emphasis on programmes that promote small business, micro-enterprises, small- scale agriculture and cooperative forms of ownership. It said government should embark on an integrated programme of rural development, land reform and agrarian reform, including the provision of social and economic infrastructure and the extension of quality government services, particularly health and education, to rural areas. Another component is to bring about fundamental changes in the patterns of land ownership through the redistribution of 30% of agricultural land before 2014. This must include a comprehensive support programme, ensuring attainment of food security and revenue generation for small-scale farmers. Continued resources should be committed to ensuring sustainable and secure provision of sufficient energy to meet the country's economic and developmental needs, and pursuing an energy mix that includes clean and renewable sources. Work must continue towards the integration of the South African economy on a fair and equitable basis with the economies in the Southern African region and building stronger economic linkages across the continent of Africa. South Africa needs to continue and sharpen its participation in world trade negotiations, pursuing strategic partnerships with countries of the south and agitating for a fairer world trade system. This should be accompanied by compulsory training for public representatives and their support staff on matters of international trade. Fighting poverty There needs to be a significant expansion of the public works programmes linked to the expansion of economic infrastructure and meeting social needs, including increased home-based care and early childhood development on a massive scale. Government must pursue a much larger national youth service programme and ensure the linkage of industrial strategy with key youth development programmes in the form of an integrated Youth Development Strategy. It is necessary to put the resources behind the Polokwane decision to make education the key social transformation priority for the next five years. This should include: * improving the quality of schooling, particularly performance in maths, science and technology, * improving access to education by ensuring that 60% of school are no-fee schools by 2009, as part of the process towards the realisation of free and compulsory education, * reviving the role of state owned enterprises in skills development and training, * placing Further Education and Training colleges at the centre of a popular drive to transfer skills to our people. Progress needs to be made in developing the National Health Insurance System by further strengthening the public health care system and ensuring adequate provision of funding. Government needs to improve the quality of healthcare services and accelerate programmes for hospital revitalisation, including through partnerships with the private sector, as part of the broader ongoing programme to improve the quality of care and expanding access to health services. It also needs to dedicate the requisite financial and human resources to implement the Strategic Plan for Comprehensive Management of HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and STIs for South Africa 2007-2011. Considerable resources should be allocated to improving the social wage through ensuring universal and subsidised access to basic services, health care, affordable transport and access to government information. It will be necessary, particularly in light of prevailing economic conditions, to maintain and where appropriate expand the provision of social grants, alongside the expansion of other programmes to alleviate the burdens of low income earners. Polokwane resolved to accelerate the revamp of the criminal justice system with a view to further capacitate it to be able to respond to the challenge of crime. Resources need to be made available to facilitate greater community participation in the crime fighting effort and in building partnerships between the police and other stakeholders. Resources should also be allocated to better equip and remunerate those tasked with police and judicial services duties. Following the dissolution of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) and the incorporation of its functions into the SAPS, government needs to pay particular attention to ensuring the SAPS is capacitated to respond more effectively to priority crimes. These are just some of the priority areas that will need to be factored into government planning for the medium term, in line with the decisions of Polokwane, and in pursuit of the objective of a better life for all. --------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of ANC Today is available from the ANC web site at: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2008/at28.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