Address by President of the ANC to Cultural Industries Sector Manifesto Endorsement Dinner Gallager Estates

Midrand, 1 April 2009

The Minister of Sports and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile,
Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan,
All Ministers present,
Members of the ANC NEC,
Our sports and musical legends and all entertainers present,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening to you all.

It is wonderful to be able to spend some time with you this evening.

We are happy to share this evening with entertainers and sports legends who have played a key role in our country in various ways. You have instilled joy and pride in our people and contributed immensely to the development of our culture and traditions.

It is an honour for us that we are able to have this Manifesto endorsement session with you.

We have since the launch of our election campaign on 10 January 2009 engaged various key stakeholders in our country.

We met with business groups, professionals, women, youth, workers, Afrikaners and other minority communities, traditional leaders, religious leaders and various others.

We have decided to save the best for last!

That is why we are meeting tonight with our musical and sports legends as well as the cultural industries sector in general, which shapes our identity as a nation. Through your work we celebrate our Constitution, which enshrines freedom of expression, through music, poetry, sports or the written word.

South Africa's Cultural Industry heritage is one of our richest and most important resources, with the capacity to generate significant economic and social benefits for the nation.

There is no denying that sports, be it rugby, soccer or cricket is a key contributor to the country’s economy. As we speak, we expect to yield massive dividends from the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. Our music also produces great returns for the industry.

The music industry has the potential create employment and wealth for thousands of people. This is through live performances, production and sales of sound recording, royalty collection and administration, manufacturing and sales of music instruments and legal fraternity.

The 2006 Industry Review indicates that the Recording sector alone had a turnover of just over R996 million. Trade value of music sector as a whole is estimated at over R2 billion. The sector creates employment for more than 70% of our youth.

Our government’s strategic plans for development of the sector include the provision of subsidies to encourage music production, opportunities for Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, local investment and the growth of independent record companies. Our government is also looking into promoting international music market access, especially in Africa, Asia, Europe and Americas. Other work in progress includes promoting information sharing, skills transfer and training through conferences, workshops and formal training programmes. The cultural industries sector can be one of key draw cards for tourism. It is estimated that tourists and holidaymakers account for 38 million leisure and religious trips around South Africa visiting friends and relatives each year, and enjoying sports and cultural activities.

We are serious about creating decent jobs as we state in the Manifesto, and this includes the cultural industries sector.

We have gone through a period of exploitation where several South African artists entertained the world for next to nothing, and had their work reproduced all over the world with very little in return. A case in point is the classic song Mbube song.

We are now wiser and we are a free people. We must be businesslike in our approach, and we must protect and defend our cultural heritage. Our government wants to facilitate and encourage Intellectual Property protection through partnership programmes with government and other industry stakeholders.

The going has always been tough for women in our country, in all sectors and spheres of life. From 1994 the ANC worked to make a difference.

It has been 15 years of struggle for gender Equality and we have done well at a political level. Currently 30% of all our parliamentarians, provincial legislature members and councillors are women and 43% are in cabinet. ANC policies will further increase women representation in parliament and government to 50% by 2009.

These gains must translate to a better life for women in the private sector as well, including those in the cultural industries sector. We salute all women in the music industry, it would not have been easy to reach the heights they reached.

Our government will be available to assist to create an enabling environment for a flourishing music industry, and also to promote human dignity and the rights of our artists. We emphasise that decent work should be made possible in this sector as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, soccer is set to become our biggest tourism money spinner due to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

We must praise our soccer legends for laying the foundation for us to host this prestigious tournament.

From the dusty streets of Soweto and other townships, they showed the world that we are a soccer loving nation that deserved this honour.

We state in the Manifesto that working together we must do more to ensure that the World Cup leaves a proud legacy that our children and our communities will enjoy for many years to come, and which contributes to the long-term development of the country.

The ANC government will work with all stakeholders to ensure that this world event contributes to creating decent work opportunities, particularly for the youth, women and street traders.

It must promote the procurement of local goods, services and products, and housing units and sports facilities developed for the event must be made available to local communities at the end of the tournament.

We also state clearly in the Manifesto that through the World Cup we must revive and rebuild soccer.

We have to ensure that the revival of sports forms part of the school curriculum.

We add that the ANC government will ensure that the provision of sport facilities in poorer communities receives priority. Our rural development strategy will need to end the neglect of rural areas in the development of sports and recreation facilities and opportunities.

Through the World Cup, we must also create further opportunities for the training of sports administrators, referees and coaches so as to improve standards in sport.

The ANC Manifesto also states that we will continue to mobilise our communities around the Healthy Lifestyles Campaign, including the anti-tobacco campaign and action against alcohol and substance abuse.

We congratulate musicians who are playing a critical role in this campaign already, such as Hugh Masekela and Tshepo Tshola who are currently running an anti-drugs and alcohol abuse door to door campaign.

This is exemplary and highly appreciated national service. We also take this opportunity to wish Hugh Masekela well on his 70th birthday!

Ladies and gentlemen, all South Africans are united in the view that fighting crime should be a number one priority. At the centre of our fight against crime will be the establishment of the new modernised, efficient and transformed criminal justice system. We want to reduce serious and violent crime, and in particular contact crimes, by 7 to 10% a year. Working together, we can do more to fight this scourge.

We know that accessible quality health care is also a concern of yours. We are working to introduce a National Health Insurance (NHI) system, which will be phased in over the next five years.

The NHI will be publicly funded and publicly administered and will provide every South African with access to quality health care which will be free at the point of delivery. People will have a choice of which service provider to use within the district.

A social solidarity principle will be applied and those who are eligible to contribute will be required to do so, according to their ability to pay. Access to health care will not be according to payment.

Participation of private doctors working in other health facilities in group practices and hospitals will be encouraged.

We trust that this will go a long way to assist all our people, especially in the cultural industries sector, who often have no easy access to medical aid.

We wish to reiterate that the ANC’s strategic goal remains the creation of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. All our actions and policies are geared towards achieving this goal.

Our view is that working together with our people, we can do more to deepen national unity and to develop our country.

Let me repeat what we said during the Manifesto launch in January this year.

In the period ahead, South Africa will need a government with the experience and political will, a government that fully understands what needs to be done to address our apartheid past, and a government that puts people first and which works with the people.

The ANC continues to be such a government. Do not waste your precious vote on the 22nd of April. Vote ANC!

I thank you.

Issued by:
African National Congress