Speech by the Deputy President Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the KPMG Network of Women (KNOW) Growth Acceleration Programme (GAP) and Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) initiative for unemployed graduates

Programme Director, Ms Tshidi Mokgabudi,
Executives and staff of KPMG,
KPMG graduates,
Business leaders,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa)

Thank you for the kind introduction.

I am so excited, as I never thought that a day like this would come so soon. Thanks to KPMG for the passion you have shown and to everybody at KPMG who has made this possible. Myself and the chairman have met at several functions and I think that he will testify that this is one of the subjects that I lighten to at the slightest provocation.

Thanks to the graduates who are not workers or professionals and of course the business leaders who are here. Congratulations to all of you for having completed this KPMG Growth Acceleration Programme which is part of our partnership as government with the private sector. It feels like it was just yesterday when KPMG made the offer to take you on board for 12 months; in fact it doesn't feel as if it has been 12 months, but look at you now. This week is my second year in my job as the Deputy President and this is a lovely present for me to have to celebrate with you.

All the KPMG graduates are poised for a new life. You are part of an elite, part of a privileged few who have benefited from Mentoring, Monitoring and Communication Skills within KPMG. You have acquired scarce skills within the financial sector in areas such as Corporate Finance, Forensic Finance, Internal Audit Services, Information Risk Management, Investment Management and Funds and Project Management and Quality Assurance. Wow! The world is your oyster now!

It is very pleasing to see how some South African corporations are now embracing the challenge of scarce skills, and are seeing their own responsibility in producing the skills they need, and not simply throwing their hands up in the air, only to later think that we can rely on importing the scarce skills. The skills revolution has started in South Africa. It is wonderful to see leaders of other corporations; I have seen the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Anglo-Platinum attending this function. I know that when you leave here, your company will implement a similar project.

To KPMG we say congratulations on this mentoring programme. Keep up the good work as you have distinguished yourselves in the industry, and I hope this will encourage other corporations to follow suit. Rumour has it that other companies are working very hard. This is all due to the peer pressure from KPMG.

On behalf of South Africa's people we are even more heartened by KPMG's gesture of doubling the next intake of Bachelor of Commerce (BComm) graduates to their mentoring programme. I think that the difference that you are going to make in the lives of these young people is amazing. It's a gift that nobody can ever take away from you.

The South African Financial Services sector has been growing at over six percent per year on average for the last six years and we expect it to continue to grow at close to this rate in the next year. I hope some of the graduates will become Chief Financial Officers in government.

It is important to note that some of the challenges of service delivery in government can be traced to a lack of much needed financial skills which leads to a lack of appropriate spending. We have also learnt a lot about this experience as government, the private sector, young people and communities. The biggest lesson is that when we have the unity of purpose as a nation we are unstoppable. To the graduates we say: We hope that you will never forget this generosity and that you will return this favour when you are also in positions of power and authority. The secret to the reconstruction and development of this country is to "lift as you climb," because it is lonely at the top if you are alone.

As government we expect the KPMG graduates to play a role in ploughing back into the communities from which you all come, in particular, starting with your family. We want to highlight to graduates the role their families have played in the success. I am sure that all of you were supported by members of your family in this journey. Many of your mothers and grandmothers have made significant sacrifices, so that you could be educated. Do not forget that these opportunities were denied to most African women in the past, especially in a field such as finance.

As families we must work hard to stop the intergenerational poverty. Because of you, in your families you must make sure that the next generation in your family must not be a people who attract poverty. Make it your responsibility to invest in your family. If each and every one of us does that, then we can reach our target of halving poverty by 2014.

I therefore want to make a special appeal to our graduates to act as role models for young people. Too many young people do not complete high school. Few make it to university, and when they do many drop out. Mentoring and supporting young girls and of course boys in our communities is vital. Sometimes just an encouraging word is enough. We need to discourage teenagers from early sexual activity, which can lead to acquiring HIV and to teenage girls falling pregnant. We need to show our young people that the new South Africa has much to offer and that life needs to be celebrated without the early burden of parenthood, or the burden of HIV and AIDS. As a nation we need to find ways of replicating these young women, so that we can become a winning nation.

Programme Director, I want to emphasise the need to encourage South Africa's children to study Science and Mathematics at higher grade. As government we are now embarking on a programme to get schools to offer Maths and Science on higher grade. Foe each child who enrols on higher grade, a school makes a R1 000. We would like you to spread the story that there is a "stranded" R 1 000 looking for those who will enrol on higher grade.

These young women all passed Mathematics in their matric year. I would like you to tell others that this is doable. To this end, government established the Dinaledi schools in 2001 to improve participation and performance in Mathematics and Science, particularly among previously disadvantaged learners. South Africa's business sector has supported schools dedicated to improving mathematics and science education including other subjects in the country. We need more businesses to support this initiative.

The success of the Dinaledi schools, some of them without many resources has shown us that resources in themselves do not guarantee success. In fact, it has been the dedication of the teachers and the commitment of the students, with support from their parents and communities that has made a difference. Government also has a programme "adopt a school." We need individuals, corporations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and anybody to associate themselves with a school.

We need schools to belong and never feel alone. You don't have to go back to your old school, because I know that people who are successful would have been from schools that are not so desperate. So we are asking you to go to a historically disadvantaged school, just to be there for them.

In conclusion then, let us once again congratulate our graduates and KPMG. Let us as a nation continue to instil a love for learning amongst all our people. Let us also all continue to learn, because it is when we think that we are learned that we have lost the battle. We wish all the graduates success in their future endeavours. May you go from strength to strength.

I thank you.

Issued by: The Presidency
26 June 2007