Issued by: North West Communication Service
ADDRESS BY NW PREMIER POPO MOLEFE AT THE PRESENTATION OF DONATIONS TO MANKWE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE AND THE NTSIME HIGH SCHOOL AT AECI EXPLOSIVES MOGWASE ON WEDNESDAY APRIL 24.
I need not say how very delighted I am to be here today, to have the opportunity of interacting with leaders of business, the clergy and lectures and students of this Christian College. I want to express my deep personal appreciation to Mr Mabyane and everyone who honoured me with the invitation to address this humble yet distinguished gathering.
Members of the North West Provincial Government have had a number of meetings with business leaders and small entrepreneurs in this region, where we talked about how we can engage ourselves in integrated strategies to bring about economic development in this area. I must say I am thankful that the leaders at AECI had already begun to address a fundamental component of economic development, and that is, the development of our human resources.
In the past two years, a great deal has been said about the democratic transformation that has taken place in our country. In was of course, a miracle if one takes into account the fact that the international community and some of our citizens were beginning to lose hope about our capacity to reach a constitutional agreement. While we applaud ourselves for having seen the abyss and had made a timeous about-turn, we must admit that the legacy of many years of institutional discrimination and deprivation is still very much with us. We must admit that the constitutional dispensation cannot by itself guarantee lasting peace, security, progress or freedom. The national democratic revolution can only provide fertile ground from which peace and progress can germinate.
Sometimes development can take place in the absence of democracy, but democracy that is not accompanied by development is a hollow victory. There is the real danger of the situation of rural deprivation and urban disintegration perpetuating itself unless concerted measures are urgently created to bring development to the people within the framework of the Reconstruction and Development Programme. If this situation persists, our democracy has a very short lifespan indeed.
The challenge which South Africa faces is how to translate the vision embodied in the RDP and its key programmes into practical and implementable actions which fulfil the basic needs of the majority of the people.
This entails generation of growth and development of the country's human resources without which the aspirations of the people will be frustrated. Human resources development is the central pillar of the RDP and it encompasses a pooling of the country's resources to develop the educational and skills base of the majority of the people.
In the economic sphere, it is evident that the role of the state is diminishing while that of the individual is increasing. The needs of the people are monumental, the resources at the disposal of the state are not nearly enough to redress all the historical imbalances at the same time. The question that arises is, how must the individual then contribute to higher growth and development sufficiently to remove social inequality and poverty.
The answer to this is to raise the productive skills of the individual and to empower the productive sector with capacities that society needs for reconstruction and development.
I need not say how very delighted I am to be here today, to have the opportunity of interacting with leaders of business, the clergy and lectures and students of this Christian College. I want to express my deep personal appreciation to Mr Mabyane and everyone who honoured me with the invitation to address this humble yet distinguished gathering.
Members of the North West Provincial Government have had a number of meetings with business leaders and small entrepreneurs in this region, where we talked about how we can engage ourselves in integrated strategies to bring about economic development in this area. I must say I am thankful that the leaders at AECI had already begun to address a fundamental component of economic development, and that is, the development of our human resources.
In the past two years, a great deal has been said about the democratic transformation that has taken place in our country. In was of course, a miracle if one takes into account the fact that the international community and some of our citizens were beginning to lose hope about our capacity to reach a constitutional agreement. While we applaud ourselves for having seen the abyss and had made a timeous about-turn, we must admit that the legacy of many years of institutional discrimination and deprivation is still very much with us. We must admit that the constitutional dispensation cannot by itself guarantee lasting peace, security, progress or freedom. The national democratic revolution can only provide fertile ground from which peace and progress can germinate.
Sometimes development can take place in the absence of democracy, but democracy that is not accompanied by development is a hollow victory. There is the real danger of the situation of rural deprivation and urban disintegration perpetuating itself unless concerted measures are urgently created to bring development to the people within the framework of the Reconstruction and Development Programme. If this situation persists, our democracy has a very short lifespan indeed.
The challenge which South Africa faces is how to translate the vision embodied in the RDP and its key programmes into practical and implementable actions which fulfil the basic needs of the majority of the people.
This entails generation of growth and development of the country's human resources without which the aspirations of the people will be frustrated. Human resources development is the central pillar of the RDP and it encompasses a pooling of the country's resources to develop the educational and skills base of the majority of the people.
In the economic sphere, it is evident that the role of the state is diminishing while that of the individual is increasing. The needs of the people are monumental, the resources at the disposal of the state are not nearly enough to redress all the historical imbalances at the same time. The question that arises is, how must the individual then contribute to higher growth and development sufficiently to remove social inequality and poverty.
The answer to this is to raise the productive skills of the individual and to empower the productive sector with capacities that society needs for reconstruction and development.
The government's Capacity Development Programme envisages capacity development for the planning and management of projects and community upliftment programmes. This is intended to address the critical shortage of skills within the historically marginalized groups in the rural areas, including women, the youth and the disabled.
The role of communities is vital to the success of this programme in that community leaders, parents, teachers and students have to redouble their efforts in inculcating a culture of learning and teaching in the schools. Students and teachers have to maintain high levels of discipline by observing prescribed school hours and avoiding absenteeism.
Apartheid education, exarcebated by a lack of commitment to undoing its legacy on the side of Bantustan governments, has eroded the vital skills that are necessary to make South Africa a competitive country. To redress this situation, it is necessary to overhaul matric and post-matric education by ensuring a significant departure from academic education and place greater emphasis on the teaching of mathematics, science, engineering and technology. Rapid economic growth is crucial, but can occur only if we provide; pupils and students with industrial, technical and scientific training that will form the foundation for a winning nation.
No matter how committed we are to self-reliance, including fiscal discipline, the government of its own resources will not be able to meet its skills development priorities. Sustained and ongoing support from donors in this area is essential.
Business associations and other institutions of civil society have a critical role in building the capacity of our human resources to develop and sustain a strong economy. Democracy has created new opportunities and challenges for non-governmental bodies to provide practical ideas and leadership at the local level.
We are therefore grateful for the pioneering spirit of AECI that is the hallmark of patriotism and a social consciousness. We are encouraged by the ethos of this company that they are also stakeholders in the development process. Their contribution to science and technology especially to the undersourced rural schools is a commendable demonstration of their commitment to the eradication of the serious backlogs that impede the provision of quality education in the rural areas.
The North West province is made up largely of rural areas where the effects of apartheid deprivation are most evident in the lack of resources for the type of education and training that would put the province on a competitive path. It is where its strongest effects are manifest in the greatest depths of poverty, the most inequitable access to other resources, and the least access to decision makers. Given these inequities the progress of those of our population who live in the rural areas will provide the clearest indication of the success of the programme of reconstruction and development in meeting basic needs, building the economy, and all-round democratization of the state and society.
And with the kind of dedication to the RDP that the likes of AECI demonstrate, there is great hope that the programme will not become an inaccessible pipedream for the millions of our people, after all.
We would like to thank AECI and would like to maintain this relationship for a long time to come.
The beneficiaries of these donations, the school governing bodies, the teachers and lecturers and the students should ensure that they do not give AECI reason for disappointment. They should maintain a high level of the culture of learning and teaching, and protect the equipment and the funds that have been donated. I would like to comment briefly on what has the government got to say about investor confidence.
Before the watershed democratic elections of April 1994, there was much consternation in world markets about the ability of South Africa's new rulers to practice financial discipline and to maintain sound fiscal policies.
Such doubts were perfectly natural if they were harboured by uninformed businesspersons who had to make financial decisions from boardrooms thousands kilometres away from our country. It was perfectly natural for them to exercise caution and to adopt a wait-and see attitude, especially in view of our violent recent past.
It was not unreasonable for foreign business persons and nations to want to wait and see whether the country would become stable and peaceful, which are indispensable ingredients for investment, economic growth and development, before they could make far-reaching decisions.
Perhaps some of their cautious approach regarding the safety of the country as a good investment destination could be attributed to the country's own businesspeople who were responsible for much of the flight of capital to oversees destinations.
This unpatriotic manner of representing the country did not inspire hope and confidence in the constitutional negotiation process. Rather it depicted South Africa as a hopeless country, whose own people were so incapable of keeping their own country together that they would rather disinvest from their own country.
It is now a matter of proud,record that the liberation component of the Government of national unity has proved its critics wrong. Many of those who were called terrorists, political demagogues and communists have made those self-opinionated critics to eat humble pie.
This first popularly-elected democratic government has not only maintained high levels of stability and peace, it has enjoyed the support of the overwhelming majority of our historically oppressed masses and the business community included.
The campaign to promote reconciliation and nation-building has silenced those who even expressed the doubt about the ability of the black man to rule a country as sophisticated as South Africa. Most of those who harboured these doubts were so ashamed of themselves that today it is as difficult to find anyone who ever supported apartheid as it is difficult to find a former member of the Gestapo.
We have not on!y maintained fiscal discipline, but we are the first government in 15 years to reduce the national debt - this we have done by as much as R15 billion in the first year.
This government has a host of capable leaders who are committed to continue with the programmes of reconstruction and development that have been applauded by civil society, businesspeople and the international community. We are committed to keeping our track-record unblemished by adhering to free market principles, sound monetary policy, the maintenance of peace and the consolidation of democracy.
We are not unmindful of the recent upheavals on the money market regarding the health of the President or what is called the post-Mandela scenario. All organs of this democratic government arrives at decisions as a collective on the basis of democratic principles. The post-Mandela factor has not caused a ripple within the democratic movement, nor do we doubt the capabilities of any of our present crop of leaders or their commitment to the strategic objectives of the liberation movement.
We are confident that our commitment to the principles of the RDP and its growth and development strategy will continue to inspire confidence in our people to look to the future with hope.