Date: 06/01/2010
Source: the African National Congress
Title: ANC: Phosa: Address by the Treasurer General, at the Joe Slovo Memorial Lecture, Kimberley

Joe Slovo was a great South African
and one of the key co-architects of the "New South Africa". Slovo was an
active and creative participant in the negotiations between the ANC, the NP
and other parties that led to the first democratic elections in 1994.

He
was also a member of the first Mandela cabinet with the responsibility for
Housing. Like many other South Africans, he gave up promising and lucrative
alternatives to establish a democratic order in South Africa.
As a white
person, he set an example that leadership and participation in charge has no
race, nor culture or preferred language.

It simply takes guts, good ideas
and hard work to create a better life for all.

Slovo and other black and
white patriots created a platform for the rest of us as a basis for moving
forward as well as to enable us to govern by the principles that others had
live and died for.

The question that uppermost in my mind is how do we
honour Slovo and other leaders who suffered much more than we did.

Whilst
we cannot honour him in our life, we can honour him with the way we live. I
have a few ideas on how we can do so:
· We must attempt to steer our economy
to create jobs, and not to shed it.
· We must look at all avenues to assist
companies who want to create new opportunities for job seekers and
entrepreneurs.
· We must fight corruption in both the public and private
sector with old and new tools without any mercy.
· We must start thinking
now about how we use the 2010 infrastructure after the World Cup is
over.
· We must find ways of creating more opportunities for partnership for
our own companies in the region and on the continent.
· We must make BEE,
and its' benefits more practical, reciprocal, and less burocratic.
· We must
plan for the upswing during this period of cautious optimism after the
downswing.

To this we need leadership and leaders that
are:
· Accountable
· Transparent
· Honest
· In touch with the people
· Not
consumed by greed
· Willing to listen, and
· Willing to lead strongly when
necessary.