Remarks by HE Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Deputy President of the Republic Of South Africa at a lunch hosted by the International Marketing Council at the 60th World Newspaper Association Congress, Cape Town

Programme Director
Chief Executive Officer of the International Marketing Council
Esteemed guests
Ladies and gentlemen

You are welcome to South Africa and thank you for holding your 60th international gathering of the World Association of Newspapers the very first in Africa. There are many reasons for welcoming you, but high on the list is the fact that during our long years of struggle for freedom, the newspapers of the world and other media played a crucial role in keeping citizens informed of what was happening under apartheid. And so as a representative of the South Africa's democratic government, I say ngiyanamukela. Welcome to you all!

Although our peaceful transition confounded expectations of destruction, and made South Africa a symbol of hope some even called it a miracle. We are aware of negative international perceptions that persist despite the advances we were making and the need for us to project our successes much better and continue to deal with some of the real and perceived problems.

Hence the establishment of the International Marketing Council, our hosts today, hence too our appreciation that you have taken time out at a congress so full of interest, to let us tell you a little about how we are using our freedom to build a new and better life for all. A better South Africa, Africa and the world!

South Africa has achieved much since the dawn of political freedom thirteen years ago. The first decade of freedom for us was about reconstruction and development. It was also about bringing large numbers of historically excluded people into a net of the serviced population. What was very definite about Apartheid was its exclusion and discrimination of the largest and poorest numbers of citizens from receiving services. Hence our post 1994 Programme of Action (POA) of the State focussed intensively on providing access. The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) had six pillars:

1. Access to basic services
* energy
* water
* houses
* sanitation
* rural roads
* schools
* clinics

But so low was the base we started from that we broke the back of access but have not reached universal access. This means that the system is bursting at the seams. We also need to enlarge staff and other inputs to keep up with demand.

2. Human Resource Development
3. Building democracy and one country
4. Peace and Stability
5. Build a better Africa and a better world
6. Building the economy

To the extent we have made advances, we did so as a nation of many sectors working together towards common goals. The short time we have today allows us to share with you the approach we have adopted. We are now in the second decade of our democracy. We are focused on universal access of basic services and improving quality which demands infrastructure and human resources.

Economy

Our economy has grown at around five percent since 2004; in the past five-years Gross National Income per capita has risen from under $3 000 to over $5 000. During the same period we cut taxes several times; reduced the budget deficit to virtually zero; reduced government debt to one of the lowest levels in the world; reduced inflation to three to six percent and reduced poverty through a system of social grants, which now reaches 11 million beneficiaries. For three years in succession we have created over 500 000 additional jobs in the economy.

However, though the political fundamentals are in place and the economy is performing above expectations, this is not yet sufficient to meet the great social and economic challenges that remain, in particular to meet the 2004 electoral mandate of halving poverty and unemployment by 2014. It is for that reason that we adopted the accelerated and shared growth. It is a correctional intervention to link growth to the reduction of extreme inequalities.

In the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) we are focussed on dealing with:
1. Infrastructure
2. Capacity of the state
3. Macro economy
4. Second Economy
5. Skills
6. Industrial sector development

AsgiSA in review

Since AsgiSA was launched just over a year ago, much has been achieved. Government has allocated R415 billion over the 2007 to 2010 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to investment in infrastructure. Gross fixed investment has risen from 14 percent of GDP to 18,5 percent and is growing at an annual rate of over 11 percent.

Some of this investment will meet the demands created by the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which we are treating as a catalyst to accelerate some of our major infrastructure projects. We have decided the most critical legacy for South Africa in 2010 has to be public transport infrastructure. In AsgiSA that gets a high priority. A large part also goes to energy infrastructure being spent by Eskom and to information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to improve access and affordability of Broadband.

In the sectors, new investment opportunities are being developed in sectors that offer promise for faster, employment creating growth, business process outsourcing and off-shoring tourism and bio-fuels. We have a large initiative on skills development focussing on scarce skills that are needed in a short space of time and support for a reliable supply by schools and universities in the medium to long term.

Shared growth

The millions of, especially, young people who are unemployed and poorly skilled make what we call the second economy and a critical target group to reach out to and to ensure the economy is truly being shared. The second decade of democracy will be about sharing the growth with these citizens the following:

* universal access to infrastructure
* quality education and skills
* spatial development
* facilitation of millions of young people, especially, to enter the labour market
* continued support through poverty safety nets correctly provided to 11 million extremely poor as grants
* dealing with the burden of disease especially HIV and AIDS

So, we have made progress in the first decade but have equally big challenges in the second decade. We have many problems. We also make mistakes just as we make some groundbreaking advances. You have to decide whether you see the glass that is perpetually half full or half empty. But that is also not good enough as there are many complexities in our reconstruction path.

HIV and AIDS have a challenge in our outstretched health system. We have been hard at work over the years mobilising society across all sectors, raising education levels and developing pertinent strategies, uniquely tailor-made to address the peculiar conditions South Africa is facing regarding HIV and AIDS.

We have made great progress on this account. The partnership against AIDS was launched in 1998 by then Deputy President Mbeki and in 2000 we adopted a comprehensive five-year plan comprising prevention, treatment and support. We have just emerged from a period of renewing and strengthening the partnership in the course of reviewing the plan. A few weeks ago the South African National
AIDS Council, made up of stakeholders from every sector, and our Cabinet endorsed the National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS and the sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for 2007/11, setting the stage for a united and intensified national effort of government and civil society working together.

Ladies and gentlemen, shortly and sadly, I will be leaving this conference to deliver a key note address at the third national HIV and AIDS Conference in Durban in my capacity as the chairperson of the South African National AIDS Council.

We are making a concerted effort to upscale our crime fighting strategies and to mobilise partners in the big challenges including the media. People have a right to accurate information this remains a murky area. Africa continues to be reduced to a problem.

In socio-economic development, there is scope for a greater media role in helping access to economic opportunities by carrying more information about how especially the poor can access these prospects. Government struggles significantly in that regard and depends on partnerships. Once more the African story is not a simple story.

Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen, South Africans united to overcome the obstacles to freedom, and to start transforming a society torn apart by racial hatred and economic disparities to a nation that is stable and at peace with itself. South Africans are today working together to confront and overcome some of the greatest challenges that face not only ourselves but millions across the globe.

It is our hope that this conference, in reflecting on the media as part of society, will help ensure that the media continues to play a critical role in the elevation of human condition.

I thank you

Issued by: The Presidency
5 June 2007