Date: 19/05/2003
Source: National Treasury
Title: Manuel: Western Cape Black Economic Empowerment Conference


SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF FINANCE, TREVOR MANUEL, PRESENTED AT THE BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT CONFERENCE HOSTED BY THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT'S DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM AND METROPOLITAN, 19 May 2003

WEATHERING THE GLOBAL STORM: POISED FOR BREAKTHROUGH?

Premier, MEC for Finance, Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

It is indeed a great privilege for me to address you this morning.

This occasion is of course exceptionally important for sustainable development in South Africa.

It is equally important for us to understand and engage with the realities of our position in the world economy.

But, we have not surrendered our destiny to the oft-chill winds of the world. We cannot. We must not. We must ensure we are able to reap the benefits of the international community, while managing the risks that come with this.

The choice of such a grand venue is somewhat intriguing. Reminds me of the pause Clem Sunter (1) took from the high and low roads some year back to digress on the benefits and rules of the casino economy.

While we are not wagering our future here today, we are certainly looking to create a set of house rules that can secure a socio-economic development path that we are capable of achieving.

Only 9 years ago, the global village came to our celebration. We were celebrating the end of one struggle.

But, at the same time, we were proclaiming the beginning of a new one.

We were celebrating our political freedom, but embracing the challenges of economic emancipation.

Many were tired and weary. Perhaps even wary of the future and whether we had the energy to continue. Whether we had the spirit to fight another day. Many asked: were we exhausted?

An old favourite of mine, Ben Okri, speaks thus of exhaustion:

They are only exhausted
Who think they are
They are only exhausted who no longer have a reason to
strive
And to dream and hope.

Clearly we were not exhausted. We had high hopes for the future as we collectively stood in those long queues on 27 April 1994. Together, we wanted to stand united for a brighter future, to reach the incandescence that comes with the eradication of poverty, hunger and a lack of education.

This past weekend, we mourned as a nation the passing of a great leader of this country. A leader whose spirit could not be crushed despite the best efforts of the apartheid machinery.

Despite them unleashing their best brains on what they perceived - wrongly - to be a poorly educated boy from the sticks.

The indomitable spirit of Walter Sisulu guided us through many dark days in this country. As many have said, he was the locomotive that drove much of the struggle.

In Spirit, he remains with us. Dreaming that South Africa takes its place among the leaders in the world. That we demonstrate that political emancipation is followed by patient building toward sustainable economic transformation.

After 1994, South Africa embraced a broad-based socio-economic transformation.

We were driven by the ideals of a non-racial, non-sexist society striving for sustainable and inclusive economic development. We boldly set out our programme of action in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (2), which called for:

'an integrated programme, based on the people, that provides peace and security for all and builds the nation, links reconstruction and development and deepens democracy'.

Domestically, our economic policy focussed on: