The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Tripartite
Alliance meets in Kempton Park from today until Sunday 15 November, to take
stock of progress made since the 52nd ANC National Conference in Polokwane,
and also since the elections in April 2009.

We committed ourselves to
several policies in Polokwane, which were translated into our election
Manifesto as well as the programme of action of the ANC government.

As the
Alliance we remain fully committed to the strategic objectives of the
National Democratic Revolution. The mission of the Alliance is clear. It is
to implement the programme of liberating Africans in particular and black
people in general, from political and economic bondage. It is to improve the
quality of life of all South Africans, especially the poor.

At the Summit
we will move a step further in refining for implementation the policies we
adopted at the 52nd ANC National Conference. We will discuss further the
five priorities we committed ourselves to - education, health, rural
development, the fight against crime, and creating decent work. We will also
look at other pressing matters such as local government, the global economic
crisis and energy.

One of the key focus areas of the ANC government is
economic transformation. Our resolutions from the 52nd National Conference,
the election Manifesto and the State of the Nation address clearly spell out
our economic transformation objectives and plans.

We emphasise that the
creation of decent work will be at the centre of our economic policies and
will influence our investment attraction and job-creation initiatives. In
line with our undertakings, as stated consistently in the Polokwane
resolutions, Manifesto and the State of the Nation Address, we have to forge
ahead to promote a more inclusive economy.

To achieve this, we said we
would utilise state levers such as procurement, licensing and financial
support to assist small and medium enterprises as well as to promote the
implementation of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and
affirmative action policies. These policies must not just benefit a few but
should be extended to a broad section, especially the workers, youth, women
and people with disabilities.

The resolutions of the 52nd National
Conference talk of "broadening and deracialising the ownership and control
of productive assets by black people, women and youth, promoting new black
enterprises which are engaged in the production of goods and services,
building the skills required by the economy and advancing employment equity
in every area of work and economic endeavour".

Our effective BBBEE and
affirmative action policies over the years have contributed to the growth of
South Africa's black middle class by 2.6 million in 2007. The question of
transformation has come into sharp focus in the past two weeks due to the
challenges that have been facing our state owned enterprises.

The
pressures currently facing our state owned enterprises (SOEs) have led to
sharp debates about the imperatives of transformation, leading to questions
as to whether or not the departure of some managers in some of these
institutions was driven by opposition to transformation.

There have been
fears that affirmative action gains are being reversed and that the ANC
government was not acting to stop this perceived erosion. It would not be
wise to oversimplify the challenges facing state owned enterprises and other
sections of the state machinery. We are attending to these matters as
government, as part of the overall transformation of our government
machinery.

We will not delve into what happens in the boardrooms of the
SOEs, as that is a matter of the Boards that run those institutions. As
shareholder, the government appoints a Board which works with the Minister
responsible, who provides political leadership to the entities. We have full
confidence in the Boards and the Minister and trust them to run the
institutions in the interests of both the government and the people of South
Africa.

We must restate that the ANC is a non-racial organisation. We are
defined by the principles of leading our country to a united, non-racial,
non-sexist and democratic society. Our policies seek to affirm blacks in
general and Africans in particular because of well-known historical facts of
systematic oppression and exclusion.

Our work takes into consideration
what steps we need to take to ensure that African people are affirmed,
without dismissing the reality that other black South Africans, such as
coloureds and Indians, face.

We have taken a conscious decision as the ANC
to work with black professionals and black business in recent months to deal
with these pressing transformation issues. We held a few meetings in the
build up to the elections, and held a post-election reportback meeting in
July this year. These meetings have been very useful with regards to
advancing our common approach to economic transformation.

Our meetings
with black business sensitised us to some actions of government which serve
to hamper the development of small entrepreneurs. One of these is the delays
in paying small businesses. We were informed that many black businesses rely
on effective cash-flow management, and that waiting 90 days for government
to pay is proving to be most detrimental to the survival of small black
businesses.

During the election campaign we said we would change the way
in which government works, and that we would ensure faster delivery.
Treasury Regulations on the approval of expenditure in government states
that unless determined otherwise in a contract or other agreement, all
payments due to creditors must be settled within 30 days from receipt of an
invoice or, in the case of civil claims, from the date of settlement or
court judgment.

We have instructed all government departments to comply
with this regulation without delay.

To further streamline our
transformation work, we are currently in the process of appointing a BBBEE
Advisory Council which in terms of the BBBEE Act will be chaired by the
President of the Republic. This process should be completed in a few weeks'
time. The Council's responsibility will be among others to advise government
on black economic empowerment, monitor implementation and review progress in
achieving black economic empowerment.

There is a lot that we must still
do to deal with the matters that were raised by the black professional and
business sector. There is a lot of work that we must also still do with many
other sectors of our society, such as workers, students, farm workers,
farmers, artists, the religious sector, minority groups and others.

We
want to be a listening, responsive and effective government. We will achieve
that through working with all sectors of our society.

Working together we
can do more!

Jacob G Zuma
President