Date: 16/01/2009

Source: Congress of the People

Title: Cope: Shilowa: Address to the Centani Community by the first Deputy President of the Congress of the People.

The first thing is to say "thank you" to the people of Centani for inviting us to your community. We are humbled by both this gesture and your interest in what the Congress of the People (Cope) both represents and is offering.

At the outset, let me make it clear that in as much as we are here to share our thoughts on this "New Agenda for Change and Hope for All" - we are also here to listen to your hopes, challenges and fears. As you know, in a week, Cope will unveil its election manifesto in the Nelson Mandela Metro. This is our plan of how we intend to deliver on this vision for change and hope that we have been speaking about since last November when we held the convention in Johannesburg.

We have chosen to launch our manifesto in this province not just because my wife, Wendy Nomathemba, was educated here, not because of its electoral significance only; but principally because it represents one of the most underdeveloped and under-serviced parts of our country.

This is one of the provinces where the fruits of freedom have yet to be enjoyed by as many of you as possible. Therefore, if we want to be politically relevant we need to keep our fingers on the pulse of this village; and of province too.

It would be dishonest of any of us to suggest that our visit has nothing to do with the forthcoming election; it does. We want your votes - in large numbers so that we can go into government to serve you better and translate your hopes and aspirations into real dreams; and ensure that your real fears are addressed and don't turn into nightmares.

However, we don't want you to just give us your vote - we want to be able to earn it. What you owe us is an opportunity to be able to address you, and share our vision of South Africa with you. I'd hope that you hold other parties to the same standards.

Some of you would remember that before I joined Cope I was in government. I was privileged enough to have served for close on 10 years as the Premier of Gauteng, South Africa's commercial and industrial heartland. Apart from my humble contribution in that role in the success mix of that province, one of the things that we successfully pioneered was the community outreach programme.

Among others, this programme - which we called development communication - ensured that I, as premier and the MECs, spent almost an equal amount of time in the office as we did amongst the communities we served in that province. Therefore, what I am saying is that I'm not here to woe and collect your votes only; we, as Cope, will ensure you never walk this path alone - regardless of how difficult and joyful a ride it might be.

Purpose of the talk

Today, I wish to take the opportunity to share with you briefly what is entailed in this new agenda for change and hope for all. In other words, what it is we are seeking to change and what it is we are hoping for. Mind you, hope is not a strategy; it is an integral part of a strategy.

Before I do all that I must that the people of this province and particularly the traditional leaders for supporting us all the way. You came in big numbers at the Convention in November and you did the same in Bloemfotein. We appreciate your support and we will never take that for granted.

I have decided to organize my thoughts around these two themes: namely, change and hope; in that order.

Change

Even though I now live in an economically advanced province, like most South Africans, I know and have first-hand experience of poverty and under-development. Together with their ugly sister, unemployment, these are the ills of our society. We should not glorify and embrace them. We should seek to banish them from as many households as possible, and we must do so as quickly as is humanly possible.

Among others, our economic policy is designed to ensure economic growth is not pursued blindly or growth for its own sake; it must deliver real benefits to ordinary South Africans in the form of jobs, development and wealth. Development - clinics, schools and roads - and jobs must come to people, instead of it being the other way round. We will pursue policies that bring development and jobs to Centani; instead of making people always go to the big cities, towns and provinces for jobs.

At the heart of our policy is the freedom to choose. Let me spend a minute on this concept of choice because it's important. Apartheid, which was a backward and racist policy, sought to keep people in arbitrarily defined racial and tribal enclaves and discouraged inter- and at times intra-racial mixing.

It hated freedom of choice. This is what we don't want. Globally, the trend is to expand the freedom of choice and allow ever-increasing volumes of people, goods, money and services to move as freely as is humanly possible between cities in a country; and between countries.

Therefore, what I mean is that those who come from the rural areas like Centani and are intent on pursuing opportunities in more urbanized parts of our country should not to be disadvantaged. They must enjoy the same rights and opportunities as urbanites.
When we were in government we introduced a policy that a aimed at addressing the ills of apartheid. We wanted to promote and advance black people - you children. We wanted to chiefly identify black people with talent so that we could help mentor and nurture to their full potential. We wanted black people to go up - to take their rightful place in the government and business leadership. We wanted to liberate them so that they can empower you.
We did all this so that when they are in those important jobs, like your daughter - Gloria "Tamatie" Serobe, they can remember you. Whilst this policy, called employment equity or affirmative action has been implemented in large measure in the government, the state has hardly made a meaningful impact in your lives.

This must be corrected, hence the need to fast track and improve its implementation. At the same time we should ensure that the exclusive employment of friends and relatives, people because they belong to a certain political party that has little or no experience, is nipped in the bud.
Whilst we have also made these important strides to ensure the inclusion of women in the economy - many of our sisters remain trapped as workers and consumers of goods. In this regard we need to vigorously accelerate the pace at which women are included in ownership of the economy especially the productive sector.
This is more important for rural women - women here in Centani must also won business like bakeries, shops, factories, garages. There were about 50 factories here. They closed. We must open them. You lost jobs. We must re-create them. Your sons and daughters must own and run them.

In addition, we will introduce a comprehensive and sustainable rural development strategy. This plan must be able to improve the rural infrastructure and deliver clean water, sanitation, better schools, clinics and decent public transport system. Above all this, we must bring back sustainable agricultural programme.

The word today has challenges of food shortage - South Africa also has that problem. This is happening because they stopped you from farming. We must bring back the tractors to support you - we must help you with seeds for farming. We must do all this, not because you are Cope member; not because you vote for a particular leader at a political conference - but because you are a deserving South African.

We are aware that there are many development programmes that are not being delivered because of incompetence, nepotism, corruption and cronyism. Make no mistake nepotism is very bad. On the face of it passes off as an expression of love for family and friends. But at the end of the day the effect is the same as in corruption - an appointment of an incompetent friend, party hack and brother-in-law hurts the community through poor, if at all, service delivery.

When we come to power, we will be tough on the twin sisters of corruption and crime. The levels of crime here in Centani are unacceptably high. Police reports say the way people are murdered, raped, assaulted here is shocking. This is not the freedoms you fought for. It can't be business as usual. Your problems can not just be solved through the normal police station process.

We need a dedicated unit that will specialize in the most prevalent offences. We need people who will be able to zoom into your crime problems - not just here. We need to establish patterns and trends - that is the most effect way of fighting crime. Special problems require special responses.

That's shy we will bring the Scorpions back. Corruption is a special problem. We will bring back the Scorpions, the anti-corruption unit that the ruling party has just disbanded because of its successes. A judge, Justice Sisi Khampepe, said keep them; - but certain shortcoming must be fixed. We will listen to the judge because we respect the position she holds.

Crime in all its manifestations (especially violent crime and other forms such as stock theft which is rife in this province along the Lesotho border) is another problem facing all of us. Apart from reviving the Scorpions, we will also tackle head-on the problems that are hobbling anti-crime strategies. These include corruption within the law-enforcement agencies as well as low morale resulting from a range of factors such as poor pay. Hard-working and honest police officers need to be very well paid.

We will also insist that the people who serve you as civil servants regard you as their clients; you pay the; and that they must know that they answer to you. We will ensure that the best people get the job, not because they're affiliated to a particular political party. Therefore, we will professionalize the civil service by scrapping the system of political deployments.

We want civil servants to prioritise you, as clients; they must only be loyal to you, not to a political party. You are too important.

Constitutionalism

Our Constitution is progressive enough. It offers sufficient scope to deal effectively and efficiently with crime. We will not change it or take anyone's rights away from the Constitution or the Bill of Rights in the name of fighting crime or being macho about it. We need to fight crime; not fight the Constitution. Or, worse, whittle down civil liberties.

It guarantees equality before the law and the rule of law. Two of our former presidents - namely Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela - spent years defending democracy and the rule of law, and enhancing the stature and standing of the democracy-supporting institutions, known as Chapter 9 institutions. This principle is very important - if you could allow me to spend one minute on it. Firstly, as a sitting president, Madiba subjected himself to the disciplines of the court of law. He was hauled before the court by Louis Luyt; he lost and he accepted the verdict of the court.

And secondly: four months ago, another sitting president - Thabo Mbeki - was found by a high court judge, Justice Nicholson, to have led an administration that had politically meddled in the prosecutorial decisions of the National Prosecuting Authority. The decision - erroneous and outlandish as it was - cost President Thabo Mbeki his job. A significant number of cabinet ministers resigned because they couldn't stay with a cloud hanging over their political heads occasioned by the alleged political interference.

Significantly, instead of attacking the judge, who, to use his own words, chose to go on his own frolic, he accepted his patently flawed judgement. Unlike some among our society, he didn't call Justice Nicholson a drunk judge or a counter-revolutionary. He chose the legal route to challenge and clear his and his administration's name.

On Monday, Judge Louis Harmse on behalf of the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, cleared Mbeki and his administration. To remind you, he says Justice Nicholson WAS BAD - he not only red-carded all players, he also red-carded spectators.

I am going on and on about this because I am trying to show that these powerful people were not above the law; if anything, they showed us all that all men are equal before the eyes of the law. You as a citizen of this village of Centani must enjoy the same rights and protections of the law as the president of the country and/or the president of a major political party.

Unfortunately, as we know, this understanding is not widely shared in our country. There are those among us - and thank God not in Cope - who believe powerful men should enjoy "political solutions" to their legal problems. This suggests ominously that we are not all equal before the law.

Luckily, under a Cope administration, we will ensure that all citizens - presidents and ordinary citizens alike - enjoy the same rights. We will not change the Constitution to make those powerful among us ascend high office whilst facing serious criminal charges. Ordinary South Africans lose their jobs when facing less serious charges than numerous counts of corruption.

Cope will defend our democracy, our Constitution, the Bill of Rights and, especially, the rule of law which ensures that we're all equal before the eyes of the law. This, we will do, out of love for our country; not an individual.

Power to the people

Ladies and Gentlemen: The only change Cope envisages in the Constitution is to modernize the electoral system by empowering ordinary citizens like you to directly elect - and fire - their own mayors, premiers and the president. That way, we will also replace the current outdated liberation-style system which values party loyalty above loyalty to the country.

We want a system that will make politicians servants of the people, not the party. We want to restore trust in politicians, such a change - which is within historic reach this year - will restore humbleness, integrity and service to public service and politics.

Over the last 12 months we have watched, with deep distress, those who don't support a particular candidate or camp in a party being purged from their government jobs. This has struck fear in the hearts of many civil servants. Many professionals and ordinary working South Africans who support Cope cannot do so publicly out of fear of being purged out of their livelihoods. Fear defines our politics today. This is unacceptable; we will banish fear from our body politic by bringing back hope.

Hope

Ladies and Gentlemen: we would be deluding ourselves if we think this change can come on its own. This change can only be brought about by a principled and morally courageous political leadership which is loyal only to you, the voters, and the Constitution of the Republic. This is a leadership that will at all times prioritise you and your interests and not be beholden to powerful vested interests. You deserve a leadership that is morally upright and beyond reproach and acts as moral exemplars.

We are able to make all these undertakings because we at Cope are looking for honest leaders, men and women of integrity. We want people who conduct themselves with dignity. We want people who show respect. You see - for you to believe me I must be trustworthy. I must lead by example. I must have an impeccable record. I must have a vision. I must demonstrate commitment to you. When you speak Cope and its leadership - you must do so with pride.

If you elect Cope, we will give you this leadership. We will be your servants.

NDIYABULELA