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Date : 19/04/2006
Source: Department of Housing
Title: Sisulu: SA National NEPAD Workshop


  Welcome remarks by the Honourable Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Housing, at South Africa’s National NEPAD Strategy Workshop, Sandton, Johannesburg

Directors-General,
Members of Civil Society, the Media and the Business Community,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) programme will be five years old in July this year. Its Vision and Policy Framework Document was approved by the Organisation of African Union (OAU) Summit in Lusaka in July 2001. NEPAD is a pledge by African leaders, based on a common vision and a firm and shared conviction, that they have a pressing duty to eradicate poverty and to place their countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development and to participate actively as Africans in the world economy and body politic. The programme is anchored on the determination that we collectively can extricate ourselves and the continent from the malaise of underdevelopment and exclusion in a globalising world.

This statement forms the preamble to the NEPAD programme because it aptly captures why NEPAD became necessary and what it hopes to achieve.

We are here today from the public and private sectors, labour and civil society to fulfil part of the vision of NEPAD that I have just outlined. Our leaders have clearly outlined priorities and conditions for development and we are here to give effect to their implementation. The dynamics that characterise our inter-relations should take a back seat when we collectively deliberate the plight and aspirations of those who look upon us for a better life. I am referring to the powerless and vulnerable poor masses of our people that continue to endure conditions of poverty, disease and hunger. In relation to their need, these people, ladies and gentlemen, have very modest expectations and we should not fail them.

The main objective of this workshop is to share ideas on what we can all do to advance the objectives of NEPAD in the interest of servicing our various constituencies. I have no doubt that we will learn from each other and share the load of delivering on the expectations of our leaders and our constituencies.

We need to determine how we are going to internalise the NEPAD values, principles and objectives in our various spheres of work. All our organisations and departments will do well first by understanding and adopting of NEPAD programmes and re-aligning them with our work plans and by so doing deepen the ownership of NEPAD by us all. During the break away sessions, you will define the role you envisage playing to engage and advance the objectives of NEPAD.

Ladies and gentlemen, never before has the African continent produced such a comprehensive home grown development programme, which has forced itself onto the forefront of the development agendas of the United Nations, the G8 and regional groupings from Asia, Europe and the Americas. The Secretary-General of the United Nations created the Office of Special Adviser on Africa and mandated it to co-ordinate global advocacy in support of the implementation of NEPAD and to act as Focal Point for NEPAD within the United Nations (UN) system. As a consequence, the UN structures in Africa were encouraged to reflect and advance NEPAD in their engagement with the continent. This was shortly after the General Assembly of the United Nations had recognised NEPAD as the framework for Africa’s development in September 2002.

Interest in NEPAD at continental and international level is unprecedented. In the words of the UN Secretary-General, “the central challenge is to grasp the opportunity and maintain the momentum”. In order for us to work together to realise the objectives of NEPAD, we all need to buy-in and have a clear understanding of what NEPAD is and what role we can collectively and severally play in our various organisations.

Apart from anything else, the media and our communications units can create increased awareness of the ideals of NEPAD. The rest of us can support their communication and advocacy strategies by demonstrating quick deliverables to those who wait for service.

While our circumstances place on us various advantages, circumstances similarly places on us the burden to lead in the implementation of NEPAD. We have the political will, we have a government infrastructure that creates the possibility and above all, we are graced with a uniquely vibrant private sector. Through private sector investment in NEPAD infrastructure projects we can create an environment conducive for investment in the continent. You will agree that the fundamentals as well as the risks and costs for doing business in Africa are slowly but surely being addressed.

You are aware, ladies and gentlemen, that human capacity and capital are the pressing resources required to implement NEPAD projects. We have a bit of both. With human capacity, there is no reason why the NEPAD infrastructure projects that have funding allocations by the African Development Bank should continue to stall. We talk of African ownership of Africa’s development agenda - we can clearly demonstrate this by investing in NEPAD projects in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) such as the e-schools project and the East Africa Submarine Cable; in the many energy projects such as Inga, Mepanda Uncua and Cabora Bassa; in the water and sanitation; transport infrastructure projects; telecommunications; agriculture and health; and of course ladies and gentlemen, what can be more important than housing.

With regard to creating conditions conducive for development, we are encouraged by the unprecedented determination with which our leaders are tackling conflicts on the continent. They are committing troops, their time and even their countries’ limited capital resources to deal with these conflicts.

They have fully mobilised the international community on Africa’s development. Our co-operation with the G8 has been continually strengthening since Kananaskis in 2002. We also work closely with the European Union (EU), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Asian countries in the advancement of NEPAD.

Ladies and gentlemen, the document that will emerge out of this workshop will be presented to Cabinet for consideration. Once it is approved, we will have a NEPAD Implementation Strategy for South Africa, which is already being branded NISSA.

That strategy should reflect our envisaged roles as national, provincial and local government role players and civil society and business actors. We know that NEPAD projects are by their nature largely multi-country projects. We have representatives here from Provincial and Local Governments and civil society organisations who are eager to internalise and advance the objectives and implementation of NEPAD. They may find it difficult to relate to NEPAD and to reflect it in their own work plans. As a result, the National NEPAD Strategy that will emerge out of this workshop must address and clarify the role they can play to interlink with NEPAD.

As for the National Government Departments, your meeting this morning must have also given you clear ideas about how you may align your Departments’ Work Plans to reflect and advance the objectives of NEPAD.

I am told that this workshop will also deliberate on what a NEPAD project is for our purposes. In January this year, during the 14th Summit of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government, who are charged with the responsibility of implementing NEPAD, the question of what a NEPAD project is also came up. The NEPAD Heads of State and Government consequently agreed to meet in June in Dakar, Senegal, to deliberate, among others, on what a NEPAD project is as opposed to a national project. The work you do here will help us prepare as a country for this important summit.

Ladies and gentlemen, having said this, you have all already participated meaningfully in giving expression to NEPAD. Almost all of you here (Provincial Governments, National Government Departments, Parliament, the Private Sector and various civil society organisations including academic institutions, research institutions, professional organisations, etc) have participated in the national African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) process when you completed the APRM Questionnaire. The National APRM Secretariat received your submissions, analysed them, produced technical reports on the four APRM thematic areas of Democracy and Good Political Governance; Economic Governance and Management; Corporate Governance and Socio-economic Development.

According to the current time-table of South Africa’s National APRM Secretariat, the Country Self Assessment Report and Draft National Programme of Action will be submitted to the APR Secretariat and the Review Panel before the end of June this year. You, as citizens of South Africa, will be asked to comment on the Draft Country Self Assessment and the Programme of Action before the end of September this year, after which it will be presented to the APR Forum of Heads of State and Government participating in the APRM.

The APRM is an innovation by African leaders to submit themselves for review by peers in the areas outlined above.

Twenty-six countries have already acceded to the APRM Memorandum of Understanding. This is about half of all African countries. The pace of peer reviews is accelerating. In the coming few years, the peers will have assisted one another to adopt policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and reinforcement of successful and best practice, including identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs for capacity building.

As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, NEPAD is not a theoretic approach to development. It is a pragmatic programme with tangible deliverables. You should feel proud of your contribution thus far, as Heads of Organisations, Institutions and Government Departments, to give meaning to NEPAD principles and objectives.

African leadership is being utilised in the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts. The conditions conducive for development are being implemented. There is now a partnership rather than a donor-recipient relationship with our development partners – it is also in their interest that we eradicate extreme poverty in the developing world; the NEPAD sectoral programmes are being implemented; we have started aligning our work plans to reflect the ideals of NEPAD whilst the national APRM process is due to be concluded in the next few months. All these are the results of a new way of thinking by the majority of African people.

Nevertheless, as Minister Dlamini Zuma puts it “we are fully aware that the expectation of a just and non-discriminatory international and economic social order has yet to be realised”. There are still major differences between the fortunes of countries of the North compared to that of countries of the South. We must work hard to change this. We must also work hard to fundamentally change the material conditions of our people on the ground, which remain dire.

Detractors will always be lurking but within five years of NEPAD, the record speaks for itself. I urge you to give effect to the ideals of NEPAD in your various roles. We owe it to our constituencies, future generations and our leadership. Let us work hard to bequeath an enduring legacy in their honour.

I wish you well in your deliberations.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Housing
19 April 2006
   

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