Date: 07/11/2008
Source: African national congress
Title: ANC: Zuma: Address to the Cape Town Press Club

Co-Chairman of the Cape Town Press Club, Donwald Pressley,
Ladies and gentlemen of the Media,

Thank you for affording me this opportunity, to discuss with you some pertinent issues that affect our country and the world today.

We meet during a most historic week. The United States of America has just elected Barrack Obama the first African-American President and the 44th President of the United States of America. This is an exciting milestone in the history of the world.

It is a victory for non-racialism in the world and a beginning of a new era for international relations. The dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr has become a reality.

We also congratulate the millions of Americans who participated in that process of change. South Africa and the United States have strong and warm historical relations at various levels such as social, political and economic. We look forward to a further strengthening of these relations during both the current and incoming administrations in our two countries.

We were in the United States a fortnight ago. The visit laid a good foundation for further cooperation in social transformation as well as economic growth and development. The opinion makers and businesspeople we met as well government officials shared our interest to take forward these relations.

The United States is a very key trading partner for South Africa. Bilateral trade grew from R76 billion in 2006 to R95, 9 billion in 2007, which augurs well for the future. There are various enabling mechanisms at a State-to-State level between the two countries already, which promote these relations.

The United States and the SA Customs Union signed an agreement in July 2008 to promote trade between the US and members of the Southern African Customs Union.

I will be meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce in Johannesburg on the 26th of November as part of further deepening the economic relations between our two countries. We are determined to promote foreign direct investments, which would lead to the creation of decent jobs for our people.

President Elect Obama must be relieved that his intensive campaigning has ended! However, he will however surely miss the engagement with the masses, which we are enjoying at the moment. I have had a fulfilling few days, in the Free State, Gauteng, North West and northern KwaZulu-Natal.

We begin our Western Cape leg from today until Sunday, and thereafter, I will be off to other provinces until the end of November.

We are on a mission to encourage people to register to vote, and most importantly to hear what issues they would want to see in the ANC Manifesto. We will hold our national Manifesto conference during the last weekend of November.

We have a good sense of what people want based on what they tell us during the visits. They have underlined the importance of improving education, health, housing, rural development, and the fight against crime. Job creation is the most critical aspect for all.

They want an improvement in service delivery. Clinics must have medicines and efficient, friendly staff. Teachers must teach and children must learn and respect teachers and parents. Land must be made available for settlement and farming. We are taking note of all these suggestions.

They are in line with our Polokwane resolutions that job creation should be the central objective in everything we do with regards to economic development. We want to improve both the quality and quantity of jobs produced. Our Manifesto will spell out what decent work means for the unemployed, women and informal sector workers amongst others.

We have noted fears expressed by some opinion makers that the 2009 elections may be fraught with violence. We should not encourage such pessimism.

Our democracy has matured immensely since 1994. We have gone through very trying periods in our history. These include the release of the Deputy President of the Republic from his duties, the recall of the President of the Republic as well as some intense high profile court cases. These did not lead to violence, as our people know how to handle difficult situations.

There is no reason why a robust contest between political parties should generate violence. We continue to send a clear message of tolerance to our members and trust that other parties will do the same. We are planning for a smooth peaceful election as always. I must emphasise that we are ready to take on all the political parties that are on the Independent Electoral Commission list. The more the merrier!

We have good and solid policies, which find resonance with the electorate. We do not believe that there is any other political party, which can produce better policies than those of the ANC. We also have talented men and women in the ANC who are ready to effectively implement our policies.

We are ready for the new mandate to serve our people in the next term, building on the impressive service delivery record of the Madiba and Mbeki administrations. Ladies and gentlemen, we are concerned about the instability in some parts of our region.

We wish the SADC well in resolving conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. All means should be utilised to bring about normality and to end the human suffering. The DRC cannot be allowed to degenerate into the conflict that was witnessed many years ago.

We are pleased that the President of the Republic, Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe and our government are attending to this matter.

President Motlanthe will also be hosting SADC Heads of State over the weekend to further seek solutions to the Zimbabwean impasse. We wish the Summit well. A solution must be found to enable the people of Zimbabwe and the region to close the sad chapter.

Let me appeal to all our citizens to register to vote tomorrow, when the IEC opens up its voter registration stations. Let us use this hard won democratic right, which many sacrificed their lives for.

I thank you.