7 March 2004
Chairperson of Mafube Publishing, Mr. Siza Khampepe,
CEO of Mafube Publishing, Mr. Thami Mazwai,
Professor Molefi Asante,
Ministers,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Although Oliver Tambo has passed on, and the grass may have grown on his resting place, his words are true to our own challenges today as they were to the situation he was addressing in 1971, because indeed those of us who are free to eat and sleep at will should not perpetuate the misery of those who suffer, those who have no economic power, those who are marginalised and those who constitute the majority of our people, by refusing to empower them so that, they too, can eat and sleep at will.
We wish to thank the Mafube Publishers for the work they have done in the last 15 years of its existence, in consistently helping to place the issue of black economic empowerment at the centre of the South African society and ensuring, like Tambo said, that many among us don't aid the enemy the masses of our people are fighting, the enemy of poverty and economic marginalisation, by withholding our own contribution. This has been done through the number of publications owned by Mafube as well as the Enterprise Development Forum that has helped to develop and empower emerging businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs.
Accordingly, today we are not only celebrating the maturing of a business enterprise, but the endurance of a correct idea, that for us to build a unified nation based on equality and justice, we must ensure that the economy of this country is in the hands of all our people.
Clearly, one of the biggest challenges facing our country, especially those who are committed to this country, as we build a new non-racial, non-sexist society, is the defence of the democratic revolution that we attained in 1994. Part of this defence is for all of us, at all times, to be selfish owners of the programmes that will help to strengthen and deepen our democratic revolution.
In this regard, we have to occupy the front-desk in the on-going contestation and hegemony of ideas, whereby some among our people unashamedly propagate a false notion that seeks to equate our efforts towards the de-racialisation of our society with the repugnant racial philosophies of the past.
This we see every day in our publications - in newspapers, magazines and books - as well as other forms of media, all of which espouse one or other philosophical outlook. No matter how strenuous the publishers of newspapers and magazines may try to assert their 'neutrality' in the milieu of the contestation of ideas, the fact remains that all of us do take sides on whether we need a non-racial and non-sexist society and importantly about the methods of traversing the path to that destiny.
Indeed, many South Africans, whether in business, politics or ordinary people, would confess that they are committed to the de-racialisation of our society. Yet, some have and continue to propagate ideas and act in a manner contrary to what need to be done to reach the non-racial and non-sexist goal for which many of our compatriots have sacrificed so much.
Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of South Africans are committed to the ideals and programmes that would undoubtedly take our country away from the racial divides of the past into the non-racial unity of the future.
We thank Mafube Publishers, through its publications as well as Enterprise Development Forum, for having taken a clear stand of espousing ideas and working on programmes that assist in ensuring a better future for all our people.
As we know, one of the means towards the non-racial, non-sexist democracy is the de-racialisation of our economy. This is particularly important given the fact that, 10 years after our democracy, our country still experiences high levels of racial and class inequalities, especially in the distribution of and access to wealth, income, skills and employment. The result is that today, blacks in general, still constitute the poor and occupy the lowest rung in our social strata and whites, in general, constitute the rich and inhabit the elevated strata of society. This, of course, is notwithstanding the few blacks who, through the combination of hard work and an enabling environment created by our freedom, have made advances into the middle classes.
In this regard, we are still faced with the challenge of overcoming economic disparities and entrenched inequalities that characterise our economy and act as a deterrent to growth, economic development, employment creation and poverty eradication.
Because we have inherited an economy that essentially excludes the vast majority of our people from ownership of fixed assets and possession of skills necessary for economic advancement, we had no choice, after the democratic revolution of 1994, but to act urgently to ensure that this economy performs to its fullest potential.
In this regard, there is no doubt that as South Africans, we have made huge strides in the past 10 years to overcome the legacy of more than 300 years of colonialism and apartheid. Part of the progress and challenges that we all face was expressed by the December issue of Enterprise magazine which observed in its editorial that:
"Barely four months ahead of the country's 10 years of democracy anniversary, it's timely to ask just how far we have travelled on the road to Black Economic Empowerment. On the face of it, there's strong case for optimism. We have achieved macro-economic stability in the face of a global slump and put in place a raft of intricate policies from the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) and Small Business Act in the mid-1990's, to the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear) macro-economic strategy, the Employment Equity Act and the more recent broad-based empowerment policy of the DTI. The recent announcement of the Finance Sector Charter following the Mining and Petroleum Charters last year is also an index of progress. On the business front, there's greater scope for co-operation between white and black business now that a single chamber movement has been endorsed by the various parties. And government is forging ahead with renewed vigour in its drive to roll out opportunities for black business."
As we know, in the past decade, government has implemented a number of strategies aimed at bringing about structural changes in the economy and ensuring that this economy becomes vibrant. These strategies include, as the magazine correctly observed, the Reconstruction and Development Programme, the macro-economic strategy and a number of policies and laws that seeks to bring about equity in our economy and the rest of society.
But if we are fully to assess the distance that we have travelled on the road to equality, especially in the area of black economic empowerment, we have to closely look at the extent to which black people, including women and people with disabilities, play a central role in our economy.
It is in this context that there is no question that we need Black Economic Empowerment because this is one of the critical foundations of our democracy and through the distribution of economic power and assets we are better able to create a more representative society.
We have already seen that through Black Economic Empowerment our country is able to unleash the potential of all our people while at the same time broadening and deepening leadership in the economic sphere and creating the much-needed entrepreneurial class that reflects the totality of the South African people.
Through Black Economic Empowerment we are able to build bridges across our divided society and move away from the polarised nation of the past, where the economic leadership of this country is mainly in the hands of whites with negligible participation by blacks.
For instance, in 2001 the proportion of top black managers among the listed companies was 13%, while the number of senior managers was 16%. Of course, these are improved figures from what we had before 1994.
Accordingly, empowerment is not only about ownership, important as this is. Part of our empowerment is the urgent need to train sufficient numbers of black managers and business leaders with the necessary technical ability to run our economy.
Government has also outlined the need for broad-based empowerment, because this process must naturally ensure community development, not only by government but also by the private sector, acting both on its own, as well as in partnership with government.
Together, as public and private sectors, we have a responsibility to nurture, develop and empower small and medium enterprises.
Finally, we have a duty together to ensure that through the programmes that we have briefly stated and many others that we are pursuing, we arrive at the day when all South Africans 'are free to eat and sleep at will, to write, to speak to travel as we please', ending the misery of those who suffer and guaranteeing the permanence of our revolutionary gains.
I thank you.