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Dear friends and fellow South Africans,

Today's front page of The Star brings us coverage of the riots in
Mozambique, sparked by rising prices of electricity, water and bread.
Maputo Airport was closed yesterday, leaving many South Africans
stranded, as rioters burned a petrol station, vandalized shops and
attacked a food distribution warehouse. Passing cars were stoned and
fires lit haphazardly.

We should be shocked by the chaos; but the scene is just too familiar.
Our news channels frequently cover service delivery protests in our
own communities, with burning tyres and rubbish strewn in the streets,
and the strikes have brought enough chaos of their own. I marvel at
how the petrol attendants' union has now jumped on the bandwagon. How
far we have come from the World Cup "gees".

But the reaction of a South African businessman from Roodepoort to
Mozambique's riots gives us pause for thought. "I think every
businessman has been inconvenienced," he said, speaking of travelers
who could not enter or leave Maputo yesterday. But the riots are
understandable, he suggests, because "there are no unions in
Mozambique and there is no formal way for workers to engage the
government."

Is South Africa's formal way of engaging government by walking out on
learners just before exams and turning the injured away from hospital?
If that is the difference unions make to a country, I aver that the
system of unions is failing. China is another country that has no
trade unions, and yet China's economic growth is remarkable,
particularly in the present global economic climate.

China is also rapidly buying up businesses in Angola, Zambia and
Botswana, in what is seen by some as a growing domination of Africa's
industries by the People's Republic of China. South Africa's own
textile industry has been damaged by China's dominance. But Chinese
industry and the Chinese Government have shown a keen interest in
becoming partners in the economic development of Africa, and I feel
there is a great deal of synergy between us.

As with any interactions in trade and industry, the interests of both
parties must be valued, in a delicate balancing act based on
responsible action. The importance of maintaining this balance has, no
doubt, been on the agenda of the first World Emerging Industries
Summit, which ends in Changchun, Jilin Province, today.

Having been unable to attend the Summit, I requested that His Worship
the Mayor of Umvoti Municipality convey my message of support. I felt
it important to place on the Summit's agenda South Africa's own
commitment to assisting the development of emerging industries. We
have engaged in widespread programmes to achieve this goal.

We have recently launched a revised Industrial Programme Action Plan
which hopes to take our industrial base into the challenges of the
21st century. This programme has highlighted how the world we live in
is progressively moving towards global industries manufacturing
products globally for a global market. We are committed to enabling
this to happen in spite of national barriers.

In South Africa, we are also placing greater emphasis on the new range
of products and industries emerging from environmental concerns,
ranging from cleaner engines to renewable sources of energy and new
recyclable materials. These are signs of a world in rapid
transformation, which will cause the present world to become obsolete
and old faster than most expected.

Africa has the historical possibility of leapfrogging into this new
world, by-passing intermediary stages of industrial development.
Africa offers the opportunity for a country like China to partner with
us to become the engine of this transformation and reap its long-term
benefits.

But Africa and China are different, and may have different cultures,
priorities and objectives. It is essential that we recognize this fact
as we move forward, so that we may pursue closer ties with China which
see the flourishing of a greater number of African-Chinese joint
ventures upon African soil. This is by far more preferable than the
growing antagonism towards perceived Chinese domination.

And growing antagonism is something that must always be dealt with
swiftly, lest we find ourselves in a situation in which our citizen's
sense of injustice and powerlessness ignite protest. We have seen it
in South Africa. We are seeing it in Mozambique. We see it throughout
the world. A lesson must be learnt about balancing economic and social
demands. How does a government serve people and money?

I cannot help but think of the people in Eshowe who are left stranded
because there is no longer a bus service. When I was Chief Minister of
the erstwhile KwaZulu Government, we ran a bus company that made no
money. It did not make good business sense. It was not financially
viable. But it served the needs of our people and, ultimately, that is
what any government is elected to do.

The Roodepoort businessman is right; people are being inconvenienced
by rising economic demands. That is putting it mildly. The question is
how our own Government will balance the needs of the people with the
needs of the fiscus. If the delicate balancing act fails, we will not
only see more protests, but a growing perception that power always
dominates.

Yours in the service of the nation,