ANC Today ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Vol 9 No 36, 11 - 17 September 2009 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INSIDE THIS EDITION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VIEWPOINT BY MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK Travel domestically and explore our heritage, cultural diversity and special gems By travelling at home, South Africans contribute meaningfully to the tourism industry, its competitiveness as well as local economic growth and job creation. Domestic tourism is also less volatile and it offers the economy a steady and reliable income stream. >>> More VIEWPOINT BY DINA PULE Mobilise for maximum participation in Digital Broadcasting Migration of the airwaves The ANC led Alliance must engage in an extensive mass mobilisation programme to bring support for and awareness regarding the digital broadcasting migration. Such a massive digital broadcasting awareness campaign is critical and must target our rural and urban masses who have limited access to information, particular people in the rural areas. >>> More OUR CADRES SHOULD FAMILIARISE THEMSELVES WITH The Green Paper on National Strategic Planning and the Policy Document on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation ANC members are invited to familiarise themselves with the Green Paper on National Strategic Planning and the Policy Document on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. They must discuss them in the branch meetings and make submissions to The Presidency to help government improve its overall effectiveness and enable it to better meets its development objectives in both the short- and longer-term. >>> More ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EVENTS IN HISTORY ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 September 1906; Mahatma Gandhi led the Satyagraha Passive Resistance Campaign against the introduction of the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance in Transvaal. The law stipulated that every Indian male, female and child over eight years had to register in the registrar of the Asiatics and had to show registration certificate to any policeman who asked to see it. 12 September 1977; Bantu Steven Biko died in police custody. He we was arrested in the outskirts of Grahamstown on 18 August 1977 and detained in Port Elizabeth police cells where he was tortured, stripped naked, chained to a grill at night and left to lie in urine-soaked blankets. 14 September 1991; A National Peace Accord was signed by all major political organisations. The peace accord called on all political parties to end political violence and lay down their weapons to create an environment conducive for free and fair negotiations. 15 September 1988; senior members of the UDF took refuge in the United States consul general's office after escaping from detention in Johannesburg Prison. They demanded that the government lift the State of Emergency, which had been in force since 1986, release of all detained people and to be allowed to leave the consulate without threat or possible re-detention. 16 September 1985; Angola , Botswana , Mozambique , Tanzania , Zambia and Zimbabwe called on apartheid government to release Nelson Mandela and all political prisoners. They also urged the government to lift its ban on political parties and further urged the United States and other European countries to increase their pressure on South Africa and push it towards negotiations. 17 September 1987; religious leaders from South Africa's Hindu and Muslim communities held talks with the ANC in Zambia to convince the ANC to abandon the armed struggle and consider a negotiated settlement. This was due to fear of renewed attacks by Umkhonto weSizwe guerrillas within the country. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WEEK IN REVIEW ---------------------------------------------------------------------- President Jacob Zuma hosts Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt President Zuma hosted Swedish Prime Minister for a bilateral political, economic and trade discussions. This was the first visit by a foreign head of government since President Zuma assumed office. African Union considers sanctions against Madagascar AU condemned Madagascar’s Andry Rajoelina’s decision to unilaterally appoint a new government and said it may impose sanctions on government authorities and their supporters. President Zuma concludes his working visit in the DRC President Jacob Zuma concluded two day working visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo where he attended the 29th SADC Ordinary Summit of the Heads of States and Government. He also handed over the Chairmanship of SADC to the President of DRC. Ministers visit Balfour Minister in The Presidency responsible for Performances Monitoring and Evaluation led a delegation of Ministers to Siyethemba in Balfour as part of the follow up to the earlier surprise visit that was undertaken by President Jacob Zuma. They together with local leadership agreed on short, medium and long-term interventions to address challenges and concerns of communities. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- STATEMENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ANC Eastern Cape Provincial Conference preparations in full swing, 10 September 2009 http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc=ancdocs/pr/2009/pr0910.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SPEECHES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toast remarks by President Jacob Zuma on the occasion of the official dinner hosted in honour of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden, 10 September 2009 http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/show.asp?include=president/pr/2009/pr0910919 .htm&ID=1779&type=pr Address by African National Congress Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, at Tshwane University Of Technology, 8 September 2009 http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc=ancdocs/speeches/2009/sp0908.html Statement at the Official Opening of the 29th SADC Ordinary Summit, 7 September 2009 http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc=ancdocs/history/zuma/2009/jz0907.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ARTICLES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VIEWPOINT BY MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK Travel domestically and explore our heritage, cultural diversity and special gems Tourism Month is celebrated annually in September in South Africa together with Heritage Month. They are very important initiatives in the drive to encourage South Africans to explore our diversity which makes us a rich country and travel domestically. During Tourism Month, the focus is placed on domestic travel experiences as well as the tourism offerings in lesser visited provinces of our country. Each of our nine provinces holds special gems, heritage sites and cultural experiences that will be profiled during Tourism Month to give provinces a wonderful opportunity to show off their riches and give South Africans a good opportunity to experience those treasures. This year’s Tourism Month will culminate in World Tourism Day celebrations in Kimberley on 29 September. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) Tourism Day celebration theme this year is - Tourism Celebrating Diversity. Events in Kimberly will hone in on South Africa’s great and remarkable destination diversity and will celebrate the richness and texture of our country as a tourism destination. Domestic and regional tourism is the backbone of a sustainable and robust tourism industry. In 2008, the total number of tourists in South Africa was 42.5 million, of which 9.5 million were foreign arrivals. Domestic tourists accounted for 77% of all tourists in South Africa last year. Over the three-year period from 2006 to 2008 domestic tourists accounted for, on average, 79.6% of all tourists in South Africa. By travelling at home, South Africans contribute meaningfully to the tourism industry, its competitiveness as well as local economic growth and job creation. Domestic tourism is also less volatile and it offers the economy a steady and reliable income stream. In comparison to 2007, more South Africans travelled domestically in 2008. About 46% of the adult South African population travelled in 2008, which represents a figure of about 14 million domestic tourists, compared to about 13 million domestic tourists in 2007. The total annual spend on domestic tourism increased from R20 billion in 2007 to R25.8 billion in 2008, which represents an increase in nominal terms of 29%. Even when this figure is adjusted for inflation, the real growth in revenue generated from domestic tourism was 17% over 2007, which represents healthy growth, especially given that it was achieved under difficult market conditions. The average spend per trip also increased from R550 in 2007 to R780 in 2008 in nominal terms and R720 in 2007 in real terms. Value for money has always been a key driver when packaging travel for the local market. Tourism Month is one way we use to remind the nation of our country’s superior status as an exciting holiday destination, to get more South Africans to travel in and around South Africa more often and to celebrate the enormous contribution that the tourism industry makes to national economic growth, to development and to job creation. Our very successful Sho’t Left campaign focuses specifically on encouraging South Africans to explore their own country. We have entered into a number of additional partnerships with the private sector as part of our Sho’t Left campaign. Our new partners - the Peermont group, Flight Centre and Computicket Travel - will help is to make domestic travel exciting, accessible and affordable to more South Africans. We will work with these new partners - as well as our existing partners, namely Kulula.com, Southern Sun and Thompson’s Tours - to bring South Africans great deals. As you travel your own country, you learn more about its diversity and tourism offerings. You also help to improve service levels and the competitiveness of the industry as a whole. This will make us better hosts of regional and foreign visitors. Every South African has reason to be proud not only of the destination, but also of the industry. We offer a beautiful, varied, capable and friendly holiday destination. Last year South Africa welcomed 9,591,828 foreign visitors. 14 million adult South Africans undertook a trip in South Africa over the same period. Our vision for the future of tourism in South Africa is threefold. Firstly, that it is valued as one of the leading economic contributors to a sustainable South African economy; secondly that it is a dynamic, innovative and highly respected sector that offers a positive and memorable experience exceeding consumer expectations; and thirdly that tourism dynamically contributes to the improvement of the quality of life of every South African. As a country, we should continue to seek answers as to how we can add value to our tourism products and attractions. We must continue to exploit new markets and find new ways to distinguish and enhance our brand as we meet the challenges of the future. We believe tourism is the new gold that drives job creation, development and economic growth. Tourism as a sector has already overtaken gold in terms of export revenue. Its contribution to the economy has almost doubled from 4.3% in 1993 to 8.5% in 2008. In 2008, tourism contributed more than 1 million jobs (directly and indirectly) to the South African economy. The Department of Tourism has committed itself to finalising, by early next year, the first ever comprehensive tourism sector strategy for the country in partnership with business and civil society. This sector strategy will serve as a road map for guiding the sector in the future and will be premised in the need to grow tourism sustainably, provide quality experiences to visitors, protect the environment and spread the benefits of tourism to all levels of society. South Africa is on the brink of one of the most significant global events in its history, namely the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup will draw about 450,000 fans to South Africa which would bring the total number of visitors next year to 10 million. The World Cup affords us an once-in-a-lifetime chance to showcase the best we have as a tourism destination: our people, our heritage, cultural diversity, our world class infrastructure and a sense of place that fills all of us with pride. Together with exposure to billions of television viewers, 2010 provides an unparalleled opportunity to enhance the brand awareness of South Africa as a premier tourist destination. Although we already have world class physical infrastructure and access, we will be taking this to new heights in the next eight months. We are witnessing not only huge public sector investment in stadium and precinct development, transport, telecommunications, safety and security and ports of entry infrastructure, but also massive new investment in hotel and resort developments by the tourism industry itself. These investments will also leave a lasting legacy beyond 2010. Likewise, 2010 brings a myriad of opportunities for Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and emerging tourism entrepreneurs. The development of good quality direct access to all provinces is still the major impediment to balanced geographic spread. We will however continue to engage with the Department of Transport to ensure that tourism issues are taken into consideration when planning for transport infrastructure. Another challenge is brand alignment across provinces and local governments. As a government we are addressing this issue. Tourism will continue to feature prominently in future government planning and investment. We need to develop a plan that will improve tourism investment in all provinces. One of our priorities for future strategy will be the further development of niche products and experiences. These will be developed through consumer research, consultation and close scrutiny of existing operations. The South African tourism industry cannot develop and grow through the efforts of government alone. It needs a four-way partnership with the private sector, communities and labour, with initiatives being government led, industry driven, labour conscious and community based. We can only achieve more for the sector if we work together. There is a lot we can do to ensure that this sector delivers hope to the many South Africans who face unemployment and poverty. (Marthinus van Schalkwyk is an ANC Member of Parliament and Minister of Tourism) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIEWPOINT BY DINA PULE Mobilise for maximum participation in Digital Broadcasting Migration of the airwaves The ANC Strategy and Tactics document adopted at our 2007 Polokwane Conference is instructive on the issue of building social cohesion and national identity, an area that the communications and media sector plays a critical role in. It states that; “In promoting the intelligentsia, media freedom, and the diversity of views, the ANC will encourage appreciation by the media fraternity and the intelligentsia as a whole of the role that they can play in promoting human solidarity and a caring society. The same applies to the arts including music, oral and written words, craft, theatre and films”. In the recent past, it was imaginary to think of accessing television services using mobile phones, something that has become a reality today. We never imagined that it might be possible to access more than twelve free-to-air channels on the SABC as compared to the three channels that are currently provided on analogue platform. In line with the global trend and in keeping abreast with technological developments, our democratic government is leading a process to migrate broadcasting systems from analogue in order for the television and radio broadcasting services to be offered in digital formats. This means that the capacity we currently use for one channel, for example the current single SABC 1 channel, will multiply by up to six digital channels. Digital broadcasting means the transmission of programming and content through digital means. It is similar to moving from a gravel road to a highway which takes more traffic at a fast speed. The Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) Policy of South Africa issued in September 2008 defines broadcasting digital migration as “the process of moving the broadcasting of television and radio from analogue to digital”. The need to migrate broadcasting services from analogue to digital is mainly necessitated by the decision of the United Nations Agency for Communication, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which requires member countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting services by June 2015. The ITU’s decisions are binding to all member countries and South Africa as a member state subscribes to ITU’s global agreements. Our national target is to migrate by 2011. This timeline is important because after the 2015 ITU’s deadline, member states that fail to comply will not enjoy protection of their airwaves from harmful interference including signal theft. It should be stated upfront that the success of the digital broadcasting migration programme depend on our ability to mobilise maximum participation of all the citizenry to support this initiative by taking the necessary action. All South Africans will be required to acquire set-top-boxes. A set-top-box is a decoder which “convert the transmitted digital signal to analogue” (BDM Policy of South Africa, 3:2008), for reception by an analogue television set. The President of the ANC and the Republic, Cde Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, in his maiden State of the Nation Address on 03 June 2009, stated that, “Another development which should boost the World Cup is the roll-out of the Digital Broadcasting Infrastructure and signal distribution transmitters... He further stated “we have to ensure that we do not leave rural areas behind in these exciting developments”. Therefore, this means that the impact of this process has to reach all households in the country particularly in rural areas. The ANC-led Alliance and the mass mobilisation structures should engage in an extensive mass mobilisation programme with an intention to bring support for and awareness regarding the digital broadcasting migration to ensure high adoption of digital television. This popular campaign should be taken to the factories and production firms, mines, schools, higher education institutions, on the trains, buses and taxis, on radio and television, and at all levels of our society. Such a massive digital broadcasting awareness campaign is critical and must target our rural and urban masses who have limited access to information, particular people in the rural areas. This paradigm shift of the airwaves also calls for an inclusive ongoing national discourse on our continued transformation agenda, as it relates to the democratisation of the media including print media, and in particular television and radio as the prime targets of the digital migration programme. The good news for the South African population is that the ANC-led government has taken adequate steps to subsidise up to 70 per cent of the price of the set- top-box (STB), targeting the poor to ensure that every member of our society acquires it and enjoy the outputs of the digital revolution. All television households who rely on terrestrial television broadcasters such as SABC and etv will be required to acquire STB in order to access the digital broadcasting channels using the current analogue television sets. The government subsidy for digital migration will go a long way in ensuring that our people especially the urban and the rural poor, and the working class continue to enjoy a great variety of programming whilst accessing public information and interactivity using the STB. As we have committed in our election manifesto, the migration process should assist the ANC-led government to create decent jobs in the electronic manufacturing, whilst opening new business streams for the benefit of small and medium operators. The objective of improving accessing to information for all, and particularly, the people living with disability, especially those who may read but may not hear (the deaf) will be able to enjoy television programmes through a closed captioning capability. In this case, the STB remote control will allow viewers to follow the broadcast by reading on the screen thereby enjoying amongst others, drama, movies and other talk shows programming. In the Freedom Charter, we declared that, “the aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace”. In our manifesto we have also prioritised amongst others the area of education and learning. The ANC-led government should accelerate the achievement of these goals including that of ensuring broadcasting services inform, educate, and entertain”. In this regard, certain public channels should be dedicated to educating our people about our culture and heritage, our human rights and responsibilities as citizens, our democratic values and systems, responding to our linguistic diversity needs. At the 52nd Polokwane Conference, the ANC resolved that, “to encourage a more representative and diverse media environment which must also address the qualitative transformation of the newsrooms that reflect the transformation agenda of the country”. The ANC-led Government is investing up to R2.4 Billion over a three years period for Sentech's signal distribution infrastructure upgrade. We are making a clarion call for a people-driven, and people-centred, inclusive digital broadcasting migration, where our people are the determinant and the beneficiaries of this venture both socially and economically. The migration process is not only about technology, but is indeed about the economic and social benefits which would accrue from these progressive developments championed by our ANC-led government. We must ensure that our people share with pride on these benefits. In addition, digital technologies because of their efficient use of radio frequency spectrum (which is a scarce resource) means that more frequency spectrum will be freed-up which is also referred to as “digital dividend”. The migration to digital switch-over process, also presents the country with an opportunity to advance the transformation agenda, in particular, media ownership and control, to further curtail the influence of untransformed white controlled media, whose aim is to continue an ideological offensive to undermining the National Democratic Revolution (NDR), by creating a negative image of the democratic dispensation in our country. The 2007 Polokwane Conference resolution is instructive on the allocation of radio frequency spectrum that such allocations must indeed contribute to the promotion of national interests, development and diversity. Such a freed-up spectrum must further contribute towards growing the country's economy through the licensing of additional television and radio stations, particularly those that are community-based. Our television content must advance the goal of democratising South African society, to build nationhood, diversity, and common national identity. This means that our imminent multi-channel digital television services must be biased towards local content production and programming and growing the local content production industry. Fundamentally, a political assessment of our transformation agenda in the communications and media is required. A second Jabulani Freedom of the Airwaves Summit which should draw the participation of progressive media houses and related business operators is proposed, which could be held in the next coming months. The first Jabulani Freedom of the Airwaves Conference was convened and hosted by Radio Freedom and Dutch Radio Omroep in 1991. The outcome of the conference laid the foundation for the current legislative environment, including the advent of independent regulator, the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (ICASA) today. The should be a discussion on the future trajectory of our national media environment amid the persistent technological development and international media movement towards the Southern Hemisphere, which may pollute our broadcasting landscape with foreign and harmful content. We should discuss the operationalisation of the Polokwane resolution on the establishment of the Media Appeals Tribunal, self-regulatory mechanisms and assess new opportunities which lies ahead, as well as, to set new policy goals for adoption by the next ANC National Policy Conference. We also need to strengthen the participation of all structures of the ANC, the alliance, the Mass Democratic Movement structures, business, civil society and professional establishment in the ongoing discourse on building and advanced the Information Society. (Dina Pule is an ANC NEC member and Deputy Minister of Communications) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUR CADRES SHOULD FAMILIARISE THEMSELVES WITH The Green Paper on National Strategic Planning and the Policy Document on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Last week, the ANC-led government released two discussion documents, a Green Paper on National Strategic Planning and Policy Document on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. These discussion documents are part of a wider effort by President Jacob Zuma to improve the performance of government through enhancing coherence and coordination in government, managing the performance of the state and communicating better with the public. The Green Paper on National Strategic Planning outlines the tasks of the national planning function. It deals with the concept of national strategic planning, as well as processes and structures. The rationale for planning is that government and the nation at large requires a longer-term perspective to enhance policy coherence and to help guide shorter- term policy trade-offs. The development of a long-term plan for the country will help entities across all the spheres of government to develop programmes and operational plans to meet society’s broader developmental objectives. The plan would articulate the type of society we seek to create and outline the path towards a more inclusive society where the fruits of development benefit all South Africans, particularly the poor. The planning function is to be coordinated by the Minister in The Presidency for National Planning. The planning function is to develop a long term vision for South Africa, called Vision 2025, which would be an articulation of our national aspirations regarding the society we seek - and help us confront the key challenges and trade-offs required to achieve those goals. A National Planning Commission comprising of external commissioners who are experts in relevant fields would be created to play a key role in developing the national plan. The development of a National Plan would require broader societal consultation and existing forums would be used for this purpose. The Minister in The Presidency will coordinate these engagements and also serve as a link between the Commission and Government, feeding the work of the Commission into government. It is envisaged that the planning function in The Presidency will undertake research and release discussion papers on a range of topics that impact on long- term development. These would include topics such as demographic trends, global climate change, human resource development, future energy mix and food security. The Minister, working with the National Planning Commission would, from time to time, advise government on progress in implementing the national plan, including the identification of institutional and other blockages to its implementation. The national planning function will also provide guidance on the allocation of resources and in the development of departmental, sectoral, provincial and municipal plans. It is envisaged that Parliament will play a key role in guiding the planning function through its oversight role but also through facilitating broader stakeholder input into the planning process. The paper describes a process that ensures that the ANC government mandate is translated into a very clear set of outcomes and a few crucial output measures that will help deliver our commitments. The paper has been put together after long and elaborate discussions and consultations to come up with agreed outcomes and an approach to measure performance. The establishment of the Ministry of Performance Monitoring and evaluation is a clear demonstration of commitment by this government to ensure that we have outcomes based performance that makes meaningful impact in the lives of our people. The paper recognises that while we have made many advances since 1994 and while we have improved access to basic services, the outcomes we have produced have often been below standard. Massive increases in expenditure on services have not always brought the results we wanted or our people expected. While building on work already done, there is a need to focus more on positive outcomes as we use time, money and management. The ANC-led government is concerned with the priority areas: Education, Health, Safety, Economic growth with the creation of decent jobs and rural development. We believe that if we deliver and achieve desirable outcomes on these priorities in a focused manner we will make a meaningful impact. To be fully effective on these priorities the Ministry’s task is not to police performance but to facilitate a focus on the government’s mandate and ensure the attainment of concrete positive outcomes. This will involve facilitating a process through which the cabinet and the other spheres of government agree on outcome and output targets. It will partner the appropriate delivery institutions in working towards a turn around. More importantly its interventions would create models for improving delivery that can be followed by others. The Delivery Unit would consist of a small team of experienced officials who can facilitate change at national, provincial or local level. The Unit will analyse failures in delivery and lessons from successes. In partnership with all relevant role players, it will identify at most five areas where it will partner with the political head and officials to drive change that brings significant and sustained improvements in delivery. The ANC-led government welcomes comment, advice, criticisms and suggestions from all in society. The ANC invites its members to familiarise themselves with the content of these documents, to discuss them in the branch meeting and to make relevant submissions to The Presidency. All comments on the Green Paper on National Strategic Planning should be addressed to the Minister in the Presidency for National Planning c/o: Hassen Mohamed; hassen@po.gov.za; tel: 012 300 5455; fax: 086 683 5455. Green Paper: National Strategic Planning http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/docs/pcsa/planning/gp_nsp.pdf Improving Government Performance: Our Approach http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/learning/gov_performance.pdf ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of ANC Today is available from the ANC web site at: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2009/at36.htm To receive ANC Today free of charge by e-mail each week go to: http://www.anc.org.za/anctoday.php To unsubscribe yourself from the ANC Today mailing list go to: http://www.anc.org.za/anctoday.php