ANC Treasurer-General, Matthews Phosa,
ANC Chairperson, Dr Zweli Mkhize,
The organisers of this important occasion, Robert Gumede and Sandile Zungu,
Fellow South Africans,

Black business and black professionals are key actors in the socio-economic and political life of our country. We therefore regard this interaction with you as very crucial.

It is almost a year since our landmark conference in Polokwane. The ANC took far-reaching resolutions at that conference, which we must now turn into an implementable programme of action.

The Polokwane conference elected a new leadership. We were tasked with healing the organisation following a few years of internal challenges, and to build a caring ANC ahead of our centenary celebrations in 2012.

In January, the leadership began visiting various parts of the country working structures to heal the rifts and strengthen the movement.

We have made substantial progress although challenges remain, especially due to the fact that some problems had been left unattended for many years.

We will continue with the task of healing and uniting the ANC. Unity is the rock upon which this movement was founded.

We differentiate between members who have grievances but who want to work with us to find solutions, and those who are angry because they lost power and leadership positions at Polokwane and provincial congresses. We unfortunately cannot be able to assist in that regard.

The test of loyalty and understanding of ANC membership comes when a person faces difficulties. Some of us could have packed our bags and called many conventions long ago.

We reiterate that all citizens are free to belong to, and to establish a political party of their choice. However, we will not allow people to work within ANC structures to try to destabilise the ANC.

As businesspeople, I doubt you would allow people in your companies to tell you that they are unhappy and are busy organising a convention of all employees and others to decide whether or not to establish a rival company or not. They would be shown the door, for sure.

We must emphasise that despite the hiccups the ANC remains strong and very focused on its mandate and its mission.

During my visit to the Free State this week, I have been humbled by the faith in the ANC that the masses of our people continue to display. It made me more convinced that ever that we must work even harder to meet our objective of building a better life for all.

I will be visiting other provinces in the coming days to listen to our people and to encourage them to register to vote. We will always be a listening and caring organisation that is rooted amongst the masses.

From tomorrow we will be in northern KwaZulu-Natal for two days. It is business as usual on our side. We have no crisis, are not jumping up and down and nobody should panic about anything. Our programmes continue as always.

We face the 2009 elections without any fear. We have done exceptionally well with regards to the delivery of services, in the last two administrations. We have managed to extend basic services to millions of South Africans in only 14 years. Thousands now have houses, water, electricity and roads.

Isithwalandwe Tata Nelson Mandela, and former President, Comrade Thabo Mbeki, laid a solid foundation for the political, social and economic transformation of this country. We will be building on their impressive legacy.

Our focus over the last few years has been on transforming our economy to address poverty and create a better life for our people.

We have made progress in this regard. We managed first to halt the decline of the economy, and then to turn the economy around. We have recorded consistent uninterrupted economic growth.

We have achieved remarkable levels of macroeconomic stability, tackled the budget deficit, and significantly reduced the cost of servicing our public debt.

The fact is that South Africa has brought its economic house in order. It managed to reduce government's debt and the deficit to the point that its financial management is seen as world class. As a result we have increased average rate of growth from about 1 percent per year in the decade before 1994, to about 3 percent per year in our first decade of freedom.

We will obviously not drastically change a formula that is clearly working. Our economic policy remains exactly as it was decided in Polokwane and previous policy conferences.

What we are doing is to fine-tune implementation, find new ways of doing things to achieve faster growth which will translate into the creation of decent jobs and decisively deal with poverty.

We will consolidate all the gains we have made, as mentioned above, including our reputation of fiscal prudence and responsible macro-economic management.

We have made the creation of decent work, poverty eradication and combating inequality the centre of our economic policies.

We have undertaken to halve unemployment and poverty from their 2004 levels, and to substantially reduce social and economic inequality.

We resolved at our last economic summit that to create decent work, as defined by the International Labour Organisation, we must amongst others do the following:

* Aim to create five million new jobs in the new five-year term.
* Fast-track existing job-creation programmes.
* Improve service delivery in public sector.

To achieve these objectives, we must develop a growth path, which actively promotes employment-creating investment.

Our pursuit of foreign direct investments as well as our industrial policy will be in the spirit of providing decent work, in terms of quality and quantity.

Another key focus area will be rural development. Part of the plan is to intensify our land reform programme, to ensure that 30 percent of the land is in the hands of the rural poor by 2014. Our agrarian and land reform will have as its central focus, the promotion of sustainable rural development to develop thriving economies in the rural areas.

To achieve our socio-economic goals, we promote the notion of a developmental state, which balances economic growth with improving the social conditions of our people, especially the poor. We shall continue with broad-based Black Economic Empowerment, in order to broaden and ensure the ownership and control of productive assets by black people, women and youth.

At the last Black Business Forum meeting in Johannesburg it was resolved that a team would study BBBEE and appraise on the extent of its support, and how we can improve on the policy. We look forward to seeing the conclusions and recommendations.

Compatriots, we will in the next five years invest resources more vociferously in social transformation and the improvement of service delivery. We have to intensify the fight against poverty as our people need to see the gains of freedom in a more meaningful manner.

The ANC social transformation programme states clearly that we must improve housing, clean water and sanitation, good quality education, good quality healthcare, social welfare and create safer communities.

It is probably well known now that crime is one of the key items flashing on our radar screens. Criminals must feel the consequences of their actions. Our plan of action on crime will be decisive and very clear.

The entire criminal justice system needs to be strengthened and made more effective, without compromising the independence of the courts, the judiciary and other institutions, as well as the rights of innocent people.

Let emphasise also that we remain fully committed to the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. We fought for these principles and would not be the first ones to undermine them. Ladies and gentlemen we know that affirmative action is a critical matter for black professionals as well as for the country's economy.

No economy can succeed in the long-term if the majority is excluded in its management. The areas in which black people and women are excluded mostly are the first three upper occupational levels - top management, senior management and professionally qualified and middle management.

The report from the country's Employment Equity Commission on change relating to race from 2003 to 2007 notes the following in the top management echelons nationwide:

* Africans increased by 3.9% points to 18.8%
* Coloureds decreased by 0.1% points to 3.9%
* Indians increased by 1.2% points to 6.1%.
* Whites are still dominating at 68.2%.

In the senior management level during the same period, whites maintained dominance at 65.2%, with blacks at 18.1%. On senior management recruitments during the same period, 40.6% were black and 55.2% were white.

The Commission has concluded that white males continue to dominate all three top levels including recruitment and promotion.

In essence, we are far from declaring an end to affirmative action.

We also concerned about the skills flight in the public sector, especially health professionals, teachers and social workers who emigrate to other countries in search of better prospects.

Skills development will therefore be one of the foremost priorities of the new administration.

Also important is the need to improve working conditions and the remuneration in order to promote staff retention in the public service.

Ladies and gentlemen, the ANC has always prided itself on being a market place of ideas.

Freedom of intellectual thought and debate has always been a key feature of this movement.

We want to revive and encourage that stimulating debate internally within the movement, and also within society at large. The ANC claims no monopoly of wisdom.

We can only be stronger from hearing the diverse views of intellectuals analysing our society and offering solutions. Let us revive the culture of debate and critical thought; we can only be richer from it.

Being in the beautiful city of Durban, let me urge the intelligentsia, business and professionals to play an active role in the development of the province. This is not a task that must be left to the political leadership alone.

We want to see thriving economies developing in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal.

This would succeed through the active participation of our black business and professionals. Change can only take place if we all participate and play our role, supporting the people's movement and the people's government.

We intend to make our interaction a regular feature, so that information is shared directly and not through intermediaries.

The ANC lives, it leads and is working for a resounding victory at the polls next year. We remain strong, and ready for a new mandate to take forward the transformation of our country.

We urge you to partner with us in that journey towards prosperity.

Thank you.