Issued by African National Congress - Parliament
17 February 2003
Madam Speaker,
President of the Republic,
Members of Parliament:
As we are moving towards the first decade to celebrate our country's freedom in April next year, the struggle to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment remain fundamental to achieve our own national goal of building a caring and people-centred society. Our legislative institutions are mandated to deliver a quality set of laws for the people of South Africa and ensure that these laws are implemented effectively and efficiently and in a way that is responsive to the needs of citizens.
As the President has emphasized in his previous address that,
"We have to help to lift from the shoulders of our people, the intolerable burden of poverty and underdevelopment and the eradication of a centuries-old legacy of colonialism, of racism and apartheid".
In order to actualise this reality, the ANC is engaged in a social transformation process, attentively aimed at broadening the front for reconstruction and development.
Madam Speaker:
As we engage with various communities in our constituencies, I interacted with a group of very active youth activist in a place called Orange Farm, a developing settlement in Gauteng. This youth group indicated their eagerness to engage with practical programmes to bring about positive change in the lives of people living in that area.
They had teamed up with all existing youth development formations and NGOs to form a Youth Development Forum with its aim to eradicate poverty and further develop their place in order to improve the lives in their local communities. They have identified amongst themselves what they need, the skills they have and the skills they require to live up to the challenges they are faced with.
They have volunteered to take up other programmes as part of the Letsema campaign. This was in order to test their ability to deliver on projects. For instance they have been part of the Basic Income Grant campaign and they have realized that many people that qualify for the grants are not in a possession of Identity Documents. The introduction of the Community Development Worker by the President and the establishment of multi-purpose centers will merge correctly to reduce cost in traveling and related costs to obtain the Ids. As citizens of South Africa, they have a right to their identity.
In their attempt to push back the frontiers of poverty in Orange Farm, they want to build SMMEs, form Co-operatives and have their business initiatives raided amongst the highly successful Black Economic Enterprises. These young women and men want to develop their own communities by creating jobs right where they live.
On the idea of the Growth and Development Summit, their opinion is that the same process should filter through to the local level in order for them to create partnerships with government and business and they remain ready and positive of a fruitful outcome of this exercise.
Like the youth on the 16th June 1976, who said, " We don't want Afrikaans under those conditions, the youth in the Orange Farm say, "We don't want poverty anymore" and they are willing to fight it themselves.
Madam Speaker:
It is clear that our economic vision should be aimed at fundamentally transforming our society. This include strengthening state power, and transform the state machinery to serve the cause of social change; pursue economic growth, development and redistribution to improve the quality of lives. This is evident from the three phases of our economic development.
The first, the RDP phase, was tasked with promoting economic growth and improving human condition through comprehensive measures to deliver services.
The second, GEAR, emphasis a shift towards achieving macro-economic stability by striving to achieve a budget deficit of 6% or less and single inflation digits.
The third introduced in 2001 and emphasised by the President's Speech, which indicates emphasis from macro-economic stability to micro-economic reform and the thrust being unemployment and poverty.
Madam Speaker:
The reality of our country's outlook requires from us to understand our dual economy that has both a formal and informal sector. Job losses in the formal sector have a devastating effect on the informal sector.
Co-operatives are now being emphasized as an urgent necessity for active, equitable participation of both men and women. We need to understand that co-operatives are based on values of self-help, mutual understanding, equality and equity. These democratic establishments have the potential to accelerate the socio-economic process and create an enabling environment for the alleviation of poverty. Legislation on co-ops is due to be passed later this year.
The importance of SMMEs as vehicles to create jobs and provide access to business can't be ignored. It had been reported that only 1% of governmental programmes has reached SMMEs since inception. Part of the problem lies in the fact that programmes are not aimed at very small and micro businesses. For example, Khula's main focus is on medium and small businesses. A new institution to deal with micro and very small businesses is needed. We therefore welcome the President's announcement of the introduction of an Apex Fund to finance micro-enterprises and the impending legislation to change the Small Business Act.
Madam Speaker:
It is important to mention that the current plans, programmes and initiatives by the ANC have taken a cluster approach in which an integrated strategy for the informal sector, co-operatives and small businesses are spelled out. In this regard it is also important to note that the success of the implementation of this strategy would be complemented by active engagements of MPs in their constituency offices to benefit the communities involved.
We should have a common vision and clear objectives on support mechanisms and strive to enhance the spirit of entrepreneurship as well as civil services community development worker that would be reinforcing the programmes of government.
Madam Speaker:
When we talk about Industrial Policy the conceptual debate should be to capture whether a manufacturing or industrial strategy is addressing the existing industrial structure and if so, help find answers on implications for the possible future development paths of the economy.
When the dti introduced the Integrated Manufacturing Strategy (IMS) as part of the action plan announced by the President in 2001, they outlined the need for co-ordinated government interventions. The key performance areas of this plan include black economic empowerment, small business development, employment and the geographic spread of economy.
Through these guidelines the DTI places manufacturing at the centre of the economy and emphasis the need to increase value adding. Clearly, a coherent plan to take collective action forward for implementation is a core element of this strategy. The IMS is a crucial platform on which to build a collective approach to achieve the goals of employment generation and broad-based, more equitable growth. The strategy identifies the challenges in terms of the dualistic nature of South Africa's economy.
There is a need that the visible and concrete benefits from the industrial strategy should be realised in underdeveloped and rural areas of the economy. The industrial strategy should seek to improve the cost competitiveness in the developed economy, and the realisation of potential in the underdeveloped part of the economy, which represents the experience of a large proportion of South Africans.
In addition this strategy needs to address the absence of a substantive treatment of gender. For example there is a need for customised support programmes to take account of the current gender profiles and problems in promoting gender equality specific to industries or sectors to which they are applied. We will continue to engage constructively with all stakeholders to strengthen the industrial policy framework to help achieve the full potential of the South African economy.
Madam Speaker:
On the BEE, the envisioned strategy document and policy guidelines would provide the broad parameters for empowerment. We are of the opinion that this integrated approach on empowerment would be in the best interest of our modern and globally competitive economy.
However to make this a reality certain key issues must be clearly addressed.
Firstly, the opportunities in greater economic participation in all sectors by BEE participants, must be outlined by all sectors at all levels from Central Government, Para-statals, State-owned enterprises and major corporates.
Secondly, the concept of score-cards, meaningful measurement and control of participation must be clearly monitored, evaluated and controlled. To this end credible Black organisations and Black Professional bodies must play an important role in exposing BEE engaged in "Fronting and window-dressing".
Thirdly, a mechanism must be created whereby the lethargy and indifference of the Bureaucracy is speeded up. A fair amount of BEE business-people is sceptical of government BEE initiatives, because in the past when problems developed and the bureaucrats were approached, solutions were not forthcoming. In numerous cases, the old "White" firms are still being awarded large state contracts at the expense of Blacks.
Parliament must play a vital role in protecting people's right and further more, ensuring visible and meaningful transfer of economic power. A mechanism must be created whereby BEE participants themselves can report any hindrances and ensure that corrective actions be taken to expedite the BEE process. We anticipate that the proposed legislation would be promulgated soon.
Madam Speaker:
The building of a truly non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa, and the genuine emancipation of our people depend on how we implement our governance tasks. We need to Improve the capacity of the state to meet its obligations to the citizens; giving a spur to drivers of economic growth and job creation; broaden access to the social services and improve their quality; improve international solidarity and contribute to building a better life for all. The New Partnership for Africa's Development is a comprehensive developmental programme for Africa and strives to:
The South African legislative institutions have established themselves in a very short space of time and many challenges still confront us in this regard. It is therefore imperative to mention some of these challenges facing us and outline them as follows:
In conclusion I would like to mention that development is a must and we are ready to implement legislation and decisions around the eradication of poverty. We don't want to play on the emotions of people and pretending that we are best sympathisers to their cause. The people down there know that they are the custodians of the policies that we have developed and together with them we will make sure that we remain steadfast on our quest to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment in ensuring a better life for all.
I Thank You.