JUNE 25, 1991
Mr. Chairman,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are gathered here today in this beautiful city, Paris - the city of lights. It is a city which so many people around the world, rightly associate with intellectual and cultural freedom. This and other freedoms, which many take for granted, have eluded the black majority in South Africa. However, it is my sincere hope that, with every step taken along the road towards the eradication of apartheid, the dawn of intellectual, cultural and political freedoms as well as social equality for all South Africans would soon become a glorious and tangible reality.
While we look forward with joyful anticipation to that day, we are, nonetheless, painfully aware of the magnitude of the problems faced by the black population - the appalling legacy of decades of apartheid. This conference is, I believe, being held at a particularly opportune time as the attention of the international community is turning increasingly towards the development needs of South Africa...
The conference brings together representatives from a wide spectrum of South African education and human resource development organisations and agencies and prominent experts in education from South Africa and elsewhere. Assembled here also are representatives of intergovernmental agencies, government representatives, including representatives of major donor countries, decision-makers from education programmes and scholarship agencies for South Africa, together with distinguished representatives of the liberation movements.
It is a truly unique and important gathering which promises a very fruitful interchange of ideas and opinions over the next couple of days. I hope that conclusions and recommendations will be reached concerning the international component of a human resource development strategy with particular emphasis on meeting the education needs of black South Africans during the transition to a non-racial and democratic society. Such a strategy would help bring the whole of South Africa to the point where human rights and democracy, guaranteed by a new constitution will prevail.
We are meeting at a time when an unprecedented opportunity for profound change has opened up in South Africa. Initiatives, most notably the recently announced repeal, by July 1, of the Group Areas Act and Land Acts and the scheduled repeal by the end of the month of the Population Registration Act, are positive steps. There are, however, many more obstacles to be overcome if a system based on equality, democracy and the rule of law is to be achieved in South Africa.
It must be noted that agreement has not yet been reached on how and when negotiations on a new constitution will start. Neither have the South African authorities fulfilled all the conditions called for in the Declaration on Apartheid and its Destructive Consequences in Southern Africa, adopted by the General Assembly in December 1989, to establish a climate for negotiations. Hundreds of political prisoners continue to languish in jail, thousands of exiles have not been allowed to return home, and repressive laws remain in the statute books.
Furthermore, the pervasive violence, which has engulfed South Africa and that shows little likelihood of abating, threatens to derail the fragile and complex negotiating process. Progress towards negotiations is also hindered by the magnitude of the socio-economic problems facing the poorest sections of the South African population and the apparent unwillingness of the regime to develop a unified and comprehensive policy of economic restitution to effectively address the situation.
The country has the dismal distinction of having one of the highest degrees of social and economic inequality of all countries in the world for which comparable data is available. Over 60 per cent of blacks live below the poverty line. The majority of black communities continue to face high levels of unemployment, a crisis in education, appalling living conditions and a health care system in disarray. The persistence of these inequalities fuels the deep frustrations and divisions sown by apartheid over generations and contributes to the violence.
It has been estimated that 40 per cent of those able to work cannot find jobs in South Africa. Siphiwo Vimbi, who leads the Unemployed Workers Union in the Eastern Cape, has called the frustration of the jobless "a serious time bomb" threatening the stability of the reform process.
For many at this point, the dismantling of apartheid promises only continuing unemployment, homelessness, malnutrition and despair. Unless the political changes are accompanied by significant improvement in the daily lives of the poor and disadvantaged, the durability of any political settlement cannot be assured and the prospect of a peaceful transition to a united, democratic, non-racial South Africa is greatly diminished.
Under these circumstances, meeting the educational needs of the victims of apartheid, thereby increasing their opportunities for advancement and for bettering their lives, is an absolutely essential step in helping redress the burden of disparities which that obnoxious system has imposed on them. Years of serious inequities in the allocation of finance, resources and teacher/pupil ratios between black and white education have led to the current education crisis. Teachers and pupils have witnessed the collapse of the learning environment in black schools and the result has been a "lost generation" of black youth who are illiterate, semi-literate, unskilled and virtually unemployable, except in the most menial tasks.
Some positive steps have been taken by the regime to help redress the currently deplorable education situation and these are welcomed. Such initiatives include increased funding for black education, the establishment of a working group on education that President de Klerk and ANC Deputy President Nelson Mandela agreed to set up last year, the current discussions in Parliament of a white paper on education which contains some positive initiatives, and the abandonment of the principle of segregated State education, announced in March 1990.
The opening of some white schools to all races, while a positive step, cannot compensate for the fact that per capita education spending for white children is still almost five times that for black children. Besides, the desegregation of any white school remains voluntary; subject to the approval of more than 72 per cent of the total parent body of the school. So far, only 241 out of 2,000 white schools have started admitting black children and then on an average of only 3 per school. These numbers pale almost into insignificance when compared to the huge shortages affecting black education.
The extent of the deterioration in the quality of black education was made depressingly clear when it was reported in January 1991 that the pass rate among black students who took the matriculation examination at the end of 1990 was only 36 per cent. This is the lowest high school graduation pass rate in the history of South Africa. During 1990, from over 200,000 black students in their final year of secondary education, only 12 students achieved an "A" grade in mathematics. Such results will have devastating consequences for black advancement into the professions if nothing is done to improve the dismally low quality of black primary and secondary education.
Significant imbalances also exist in provision of tertiary education between blacks and whites. Although whites comprise only 14 per cent of the population, in 1988, they constituted 55 per cent of all university enrolments. Also, since 1983, there has been a significant decrease in African apprentices and trainees. In 1989, of the 12,000 chartered accountants in the country, only 12 were black. Similarly, there are very few blacks training in economics, management and public administration, all fields where skilled personnel will be much needed in post-apartheid South Africa.
According to the National Manpower Commission, a shortage of at least 228,000 professional and technical workers is expected by the year 2000. These deficiencies must be addressed if the aspirations of the black population are to be met and if South Africa is to remain competitive in the global marketplace and an important force in the economic development of southern Africa.
It is clear that there is an immediate and urgent need to address the educational crisis in South Africa. We cannot afford to wait for a political settlement before effective action is taken. The Special Committee is therefore happy to have taken the initiative with the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), in cooperation with the Advisory Committee on the United Nations Education and Training Programme for Southern Africa (UNETPSA), to organize this conference to address that critical issue.
In so doing, it demonstrates its concern not only for the political process but also for meeting the humanitarian needs of the people of South Africa which must be satisfied if a political settlement is to succeed. An important goal of the conference is to bring to the attention of the international community the vast inequities between different sectors of the population in South Africa...
The Special Committee is also pleased that the achievements of UNETPSA, which was set up to assist in providing alternative education for black South Africans, are now coming to the forefront. Students have been trained in fields ranging from accountancy to chemistry and they will play an important role in the political and economic development of their country. This education programme will continue to serve the international community, the United Nations and South Africa and may be called upon to cover an even broader mandate in the future, possibly as a focal point for educational assistance to South Africa.
Whilst it is generally acknowledged that South Africa must ultimately rely on its own resources, it is encouraging, given the severity of the problems being faced, that there is a general and continuing consensus in the international community on the urgent need to increase support to the victims of apartheid.
I am encouraged by the decision made by the Commonwealth Committee of Foreign Ministers on Southern Africa in February to launch a programme of training of black South Africans in the fields of administration and management and to formulate proposals for a wider programme of assistance in the area of human resources development. The European Council also announced in December 1990 that the community would strengthen its programme of positive measures and adapt it to the requirements of the new situation, including those related to the return and resettlement of exiles.
I am pleased that representatives of those regional organizations and many others are present at this conference and will be working with us in formulating effective means of intervention by the international community.
In conclusion, I would like to say that while some serious strides have been taken by the South African regime along the road towards a negotiated end to apartheid, it is clear that much more remains to be done. Substantial progress towards negotiations would be made if the regime took immediate steps to end the violence; release all political prisoners; repeal effectively the remaining pillars of apartheid; and abrogate all repressive legislation designed to circumscribe political activity. These measures would go a long way towards rebuilding the confidence of all parties concerned in the current process of change in South Africa. Furthermore, a firm commitment by Pretoria to the establishment of a comprehensive programme of socio-economic redress for the black population would not only be a measure of justice but also create a stable environment for the economic growth of the country.
In line with the consensus Declaration on South Africa, it remains the task of the international community to maintain pressure on the regime to engage in serious negotiations on a new constitution with the South African majority. The consensus on South Africa, built since December 1989 at the United Nations, should be safeguarded. Member States should not disregard their political and moral commitments undertaken at the General Assembly.
The United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid commends to the international community a policy of both pressure and assistance: pressure on the South African regime to move towards the speedy elimination of apartheid and assistance to the victims of apartheid and support for the anti-apartheid forces inside and outside South Africa.
Finally, a period of daunting challenge does lie ahead for the international community. Now, more than ever, a renewed effort and commitment is needed to ensure that a new constitution which establishes a non-racial and democratic society is put into place in South Africa as soon as possible. Only then could we say that a profound and irreversible change has set in and that a new era for South Africa has begun. We must all strive to bring this about sooner than later.