Date: 20/06/2003
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molefe: Nafcoc North West's conference
SPEECH BY THE NORTH WEST PREMIER, DR POPO SIMON MOLEFE, ON THE OCCASION OF THE NAFCOC NORTH WEST CONFERENCE, 20 June 2003
Programme Director,
MECs,
Executive Mayors, Mayors and Councillors,
Leaders of the business community,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is indeed a great privilege for me to address this important gathering of black business in our province.
This occasion is of exceptional importance to the unity and strength of black business as it seeks, among others, to re-launch Nafcoc in the North West Province and position it as the true custodian of the interests of black business.
This conference also draws significance from the fact that it seeks to expose black business to empowerment opportunities offered by government, big business and parastatals.
Allow me therefore to take this opportunity to welcome all of you who are gathered at this clearly momentous occasion.
Programme Director, the democratic government inherited an economy that was in a state of paralysis. Carefully designed to serve the interests of the minority to the deliberate exclusion of the majority in our country, the economy we inherited was unable to respond to the developmental challenges of the new democratic order.
A looming debt trap coupled with high levels of inflation and interest rates were some of the glaring features of the economy we inherited.
It is for this reason that after the demise of the evil system of apartheid in 1994, our country began a new struggle. This was a struggle to transform our economy such that it serves the needs of all South African.
We set for ourselves a strategic task of pursuing an economic policy that focused on:
* addressing the fiscal imbalances in our country,
* transforming the state machinery to ensure more service delivery,
* eliminating constraints on investment and job creation, and
* improving social spending on key areas of development such as health, education, and welfare.
We did all of this because we were aware that the democratic breakthrough would be meaningless if it is not coupled with a vibrant and growing economy that can benefit all our people.
Through careful and astute economic planning, we took advantage of the vast growth opportunities presented to us by the world economy. These opportunities not only gave us access to a number of key global markets but also ensured that as a country we have access to the international pool of savings that we can use to boost local investment.
No longer was the market for our products limited only to South Africa.
Indeed our products could reach markets as far a field as Japan and Singapore. For the first time as a country, we were able to attract global capital some of which we could use to rebuild our country and economy.
As we look back at the road we have traversed since 1994, we can be proud of our achievements in our endeavour to transform the South African economy.
That in less than ten years we have turned our economy from a virtual state of collapse to an internationally competitive economy better placed to respond, more appropriately, to the developmental challenges of our time counts as no less a breakthrough.
That in a relatively short period of time we have transformed our economy into one of the most stable economies of the world is something short of a miracle.
Like a baobab the South African economy has withered many a storm. We survived the Asian economic meltdown of the early nineties and we come out relatively unscathed from the aftermath of the September 11 events in the United States (US).
It is a matter of pride that despite the apparent weaknesses of the US economy, seen by many as the driving force of the global economy, our economy continues to show signs of robustness.
Statistics indicate that between 1994 and 2001 our economy recorded an annual average growth rate of 3%. In 2002 it was estimated that our economy grew by 3,1%. This is in sharp contrast to the pedestrian, less than 1% average growth recorded in the ten years before 1994.
We count among our achievements the fact that we radically reduced both the budget deficit and government debt. This we have done without compromising on our strategic task of addressing the crippling infrastructure and service delivery backlogs in our country.
The strength of our national economy is also replicated in our province of the North West. Over the period 1995 to 2001, the province recorded an average annual economic growth rate of 0,1%. It is estimated that far greater economic growth of 2,1% was recorded in 2002.
This is a result of the strength of our key industries such as mining, tourism, manufacturing and agriculture.
This I can say without fear of contradiction that we succeeded in positioning both our national and provincial economic on a sound footing to enable us to launch a sustained and relentless onslaught on poverty and underdevelopment in our country and province.
We approach the future with confidence that our economy is now in a better position to respond to the developmental challenges we face, key among which is joblessness.
We are encouraged by the outcomes of the recent Growth and Development Summit held in Johannesburg. At this epoch-making Summit stakeholders within the South African economy committed themselves to a range of interventions aimed at dealing decisively with the scourge of unemployment.
Programme Director, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is within this economic scenario I have briefly outlined, that this conference of Nafcoc is taking place.
This conference is taking place at a time when our once stagnant economy is showing concrete signs of strength. This Conference is taking place is taking place at a time when, more than ever before, our economy is able to offer more opportunities to those who were denied access to the economic mainstream.
The strength of our economy suggests that we now have an opportunity to move with speed on the critical question of deracialising the economy through broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).
The time is now for us to intensify efforts aimed at broadening participation in the economic main stream of our country.
We must make the point that BEE should not be confined to mere ownership targets but that it must reach our towns, villages and cities. We must ensure that BEE pulls all those who were denied economic opportunities back into the economic mainstream.
We must spread the understanding that BEE is not synonymous with less economic efficiency and lower returns on investment.
Overtime, we must engender the understanding that it is natural that an economy of an African country that South Africa is, should in its ownership, management and skills reflect the active and meaningful participation of Africans in particular and Black people in general.
We must remind antagonists of BEE that the deracialisation of the South African economy not only makes good business sense but is central to the maintenance of political and economic stability in our country.
We must remind those who are sceptical about BEE that empirical evidence shows that egalitarian economies tend to experience greater economic growth.
As we pursue the noble objective of bringing about broad based economic empowerment to our people, we must not loose sight of the need to simultaneously ensure that our economy continues to grow.
Ours must be an approach that fosters broad based BEE not at the expense of economic growth. We must be vigilant of quick-fix solutions. We have a duty to ensure that BEE remains economically sound and that it is sustainable.
More importantly, our approach to BEE has to be underpinned by consistency and predictability.
We as government continue to make progressive interventions aimed at broadening economic participation in our country. Through sector-based empowerment charters such as the Mining Charter, we are making progress in pushing issues of empowerment in to the centre stage of business practice in our country.
Our progressive procurement policies continue to create opportunities for black business to expand. In this province alone we have awarded contracts to the value of R403 million to businesses owned by historically disadvantaged individuals during the 2001/02 financial year.
As we are gathered here today, we must take this opportunity to applaud the timely and progressive interventions by our government to promote BEE.
I urge delegates at this conference to engage constructively with our government's Broad Based Empowerment Strategy and the BEE Bill soon to be placed before Parliament.
At this important gathering of black business, we must applaud effort by government and giants of our economy such as the Industrial Development Corporation to facilitate funding for BEE ventures.
I wish to take this opportunity to make a call to Nafcoc members and indeed the whole of black business to seize the economic empowerment opportunities our democracy brings.
Similarly, I wish to call on white business to reach out to their black counterparts by entering into sustainable and genuine empowerment deals.
I now declare this conference officially opened.
I thank you!!!
Issued by North West Provincial Government
20 June 2003
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molefe: Nafcoc North West's conference
SPEECH BY THE NORTH WEST PREMIER, DR POPO SIMON MOLEFE, ON THE OCCASION OF THE NAFCOC NORTH WEST CONFERENCE, 20 June 2003
Programme Director,
MECs,
Executive Mayors, Mayors and Councillors,
Leaders of the business community,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is indeed a great privilege for me to address this important gathering of black business in our province.
This occasion is of exceptional importance to the unity and strength of black business as it seeks, among others, to re-launch Nafcoc in the North West Province and position it as the true custodian of the interests of black business.
This conference also draws significance from the fact that it seeks to expose black business to empowerment opportunities offered by government, big business and parastatals.
Allow me therefore to take this opportunity to welcome all of you who are gathered at this clearly momentous occasion.
Programme Director, the democratic government inherited an economy that was in a state of paralysis. Carefully designed to serve the interests of the minority to the deliberate exclusion of the majority in our country, the economy we inherited was unable to respond to the developmental challenges of the new democratic order.
A looming debt trap coupled with high levels of inflation and interest rates were some of the glaring features of the economy we inherited.
It is for this reason that after the demise of the evil system of apartheid in 1994, our country began a new struggle. This was a struggle to transform our economy such that it serves the needs of all South African.
We set for ourselves a strategic task of pursuing an economic policy that focused on:
* addressing the fiscal imbalances in our country,
* transforming the state machinery to ensure more service delivery,
* eliminating constraints on investment and job creation, and
* improving social spending on key areas of development such as health, education, and welfare.
We did all of this because we were aware that the democratic breakthrough would be meaningless if it is not coupled with a vibrant and growing economy that can benefit all our people.
Through careful and astute economic planning, we took advantage of the vast growth opportunities presented to us by the world economy. These opportunities not only gave us access to a number of key global markets but also ensured that as a country we have access to the international pool of savings that we can use to boost local investment.
No longer was the market for our products limited only to South Africa.
Indeed our products could reach markets as far a field as Japan and Singapore. For the first time as a country, we were able to attract global capital some of which we could use to rebuild our country and economy.
As we look back at the road we have traversed since 1994, we can be proud of our achievements in our endeavour to transform the South African economy.
That in less than ten years we have turned our economy from a virtual state of collapse to an internationally competitive economy better placed to respond, more appropriately, to the developmental challenges of our time counts as no less a breakthrough.
That in a relatively short period of time we have transformed our economy into one of the most stable economies of the world is something short of a miracle.
Like a baobab the South African economy has withered many a storm. We survived the Asian economic meltdown of the early nineties and we come out relatively unscathed from the aftermath of the September 11 events in the United States (US).
It is a matter of pride that despite the apparent weaknesses of the US economy, seen by many as the driving force of the global economy, our economy continues to show signs of robustness.
Statistics indicate that between 1994 and 2001 our economy recorded an annual average growth rate of 3%. In 2002 it was estimated that our economy grew by 3,1%. This is in sharp contrast to the pedestrian, less than 1% average growth recorded in the ten years before 1994.
We count among our achievements the fact that we radically reduced both the budget deficit and government debt. This we have done without compromising on our strategic task of addressing the crippling infrastructure and service delivery backlogs in our country.
The strength of our national economy is also replicated in our province of the North West. Over the period 1995 to 2001, the province recorded an average annual economic growth rate of 0,1%. It is estimated that far greater economic growth of 2,1% was recorded in 2002.
This is a result of the strength of our key industries such as mining, tourism, manufacturing and agriculture.
This I can say without fear of contradiction that we succeeded in positioning both our national and provincial economic on a sound footing to enable us to launch a sustained and relentless onslaught on poverty and underdevelopment in our country and province.
We approach the future with confidence that our economy is now in a better position to respond to the developmental challenges we face, key among which is joblessness.
We are encouraged by the outcomes of the recent Growth and Development Summit held in Johannesburg. At this epoch-making Summit stakeholders within the South African economy committed themselves to a range of interventions aimed at dealing decisively with the scourge of unemployment.
Programme Director, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is within this economic scenario I have briefly outlined, that this conference of Nafcoc is taking place.
This conference is taking place at a time when our once stagnant economy is showing concrete signs of strength. This Conference is taking place is taking place at a time when, more than ever before, our economy is able to offer more opportunities to those who were denied access to the economic mainstream.
The strength of our economy suggests that we now have an opportunity to move with speed on the critical question of deracialising the economy through broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).
The time is now for us to intensify efforts aimed at broadening participation in the economic main stream of our country.
We must make the point that BEE should not be confined to mere ownership targets but that it must reach our towns, villages and cities. We must ensure that BEE pulls all those who were denied economic opportunities back into the economic mainstream.
We must spread the understanding that BEE is not synonymous with less economic efficiency and lower returns on investment.
Overtime, we must engender the understanding that it is natural that an economy of an African country that South Africa is, should in its ownership, management and skills reflect the active and meaningful participation of Africans in particular and Black people in general.
We must remind antagonists of BEE that the deracialisation of the South African economy not only makes good business sense but is central to the maintenance of political and economic stability in our country.
We must remind those who are sceptical about BEE that empirical evidence shows that egalitarian economies tend to experience greater economic growth.
As we pursue the noble objective of bringing about broad based economic empowerment to our people, we must not loose sight of the need to simultaneously ensure that our economy continues to grow.
Ours must be an approach that fosters broad based BEE not at the expense of economic growth. We must be vigilant of quick-fix solutions. We have a duty to ensure that BEE remains economically sound and that it is sustainable.
More importantly, our approach to BEE has to be underpinned by consistency and predictability.
We as government continue to make progressive interventions aimed at broadening economic participation in our country. Through sector-based empowerment charters such as the Mining Charter, we are making progress in pushing issues of empowerment in to the centre stage of business practice in our country.
Our progressive procurement policies continue to create opportunities for black business to expand. In this province alone we have awarded contracts to the value of R403 million to businesses owned by historically disadvantaged individuals during the 2001/02 financial year.
As we are gathered here today, we must take this opportunity to applaud the timely and progressive interventions by our government to promote BEE.
I urge delegates at this conference to engage constructively with our government's Broad Based Empowerment Strategy and the BEE Bill soon to be placed before Parliament.
At this important gathering of black business, we must applaud effort by government and giants of our economy such as the Industrial Development Corporation to facilitate funding for BEE ventures.
I wish to take this opportunity to make a call to Nafcoc members and indeed the whole of black business to seize the economic empowerment opportunities our democracy brings.
Similarly, I wish to call on white business to reach out to their black counterparts by entering into sustainable and genuine empowerment deals.
I now declare this conference officially opened.
I thank you!!!
Issued by North West Provincial Government
20 June 2003
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