Speech Delivered by Premier Mr Sibusiso Ndebele during the Gala Dinner of the 12th Regional International Labour Organisation Seminar held at the International Convention Centre, Durban

Minister of Public Works Ms Thoko Didiza
Ministers of Public Works from across the continent
MECs for Public Works in all of Africa
Members of Parliament
Members of International Organisations
Ladies and gentlemen:

This evening we are part of an Africa which is fast emerging out of its cocoon, and reclaiming its part in history. At the political continental level we have set up the African Union and its operational structures, and we are fast proceeding on the path of regional integration, good governance and democratic principles.

We are here as part of this International Labour Organisation (ILO) Regional Seminar because we share the vision of an Africa which is integrated, prosperous and peaceful, an Africa driven by its own citizens, a dynamic force in the global arena.

The Africa we are here to fashion is an Africa reconciled with itself and with its Diaspora, an Africa which starts to use its own resources to play a major role that as African Union Commission Chairperson, Alpha Konare said, "can legitimately claim in a polycentric and more equitable world, where there are no economic, political and ideological hegemonies which characterised the previous century".

The African Union Roadmap as outlined by Professor Konare details "priority programmes" which cover practical ways of bridging the digital bridge, pushing for equitable world trade, food security and self-sufficiency, generating investment on the continent, and linking Africa with the Diaspora. That plan also includes workable proposals for encouraging education, deepening peace efforts, distributing clean water and fighting disease on the continent.

In order to answer fully the question detailing where we want to be in future, it is important that we ask some uncomfortable questions about our past and present. We must continue to ask why it is that Africa is home to the poorest and marginalised while we possess massive human and natural resources? It is a fact that Africa accounts for 30 percent of the total mineral reserves on earth, including 40 percent of world's gold and 60 percent of cobalt. South Africa alone accounts for 70 percent of the world's platinum.

This continent is a leading coffee and cocoa producer. Africa is awash with diamonds and oil in numerous countries yet we account for just one percent of the world's GDP and barely two percent of global trade. As a result of this, Africa's population lives on less than a US$ dollar per day on average. Our people remain highly restricted to their countries with little freedom of movement thus hampering knowledge sharing among different communities.

During my address earlier today, I spoke of illiteracy, access to housing, sanitation and electricity as defining poverty in KwaZulu-Natal. This challenge is not limited to KwaZulu-Natal. Poverty is a continent-wide challenge which requires the collaboration of many so we can end it. This seminar will no doubt provide more answers and brings us closer a better Africa and a better world.

Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, called Africa's poverty "the fundamental moral challenge of our generation." The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, spoke of a generation that could make poverty history. During the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong in June 2006, trade ministers from 149 countries agreed to eliminate export subsidies for farm products by 2013, opening up new opportunities to farmers from poor countries which now have to compete against subsidised products. The ministers also vowed to offer technical export assistance to poor countries and to get rid of cotton export subsidies this year.

The world in which we seek to get rid of unemployment and poverty in Africa is a changing world in which President Thabo Mbeki has regularly joined other leaders in calling for transformation of international government. It is a world which is slowly opening up to the reality that Africa's dependence and relative inequality is a direct result of its relationship with the developed world.
This world also accepts that if Africa was once the home of mathematics and sciences, it will be so again. As Africa was once the academic centre of the world, it can be so again in future. In the pyramids it is clear Africa was once the home of architecture and planning, we are here today to ensure that it is so again in future.

In conclusion the International Herald Tribune said in an editorial at the beginning of last year. "The world needs no more speeches about global poverty.
The six million children under five years who die every year of diseases that can be easily and cheaply treated do not need more lofty goals. Nor do the 40 million young people still unable to go to school, or the 300 million Africans who lack access to clean water. The time for talking is over. Our resolution for the new year is to keep track of how many of last year's promises turn into something more than words."

Let us implement our plans, dedicate our financial resources towards the end of poverty and unemployment in all of Africa.

I thank you

Issued by: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
8 October 2007