Issued by Office of the Deputy President
1 November 2000
QUESTION NO. 58
MR MN RAMODIKE (UDM) TO ASK THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT:
1. Whether he made certain statements during the regional investment conference in Namibia in October 2000 which were construed to give support to the land reform policies in Zimbabwe. If not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what were the statements;
2. Whether the decline in the value of the Rand to the record low of R7.40 to the dollar resulted from these statements; If not, what is the position in this regard;
3. Whether Southern Africa has been found to be a high risk investment region as it was considered to be by the US Business Group; if not, what is the position in this regard, if so, what are the relevant details?
REPLY
1. When giving my impressions on the presentation given by President Robert Mugabe to the summit, in an interview with a radio journalist, I said President Mugabe came across very well, and that delegates appreciated that he did not shy away from the issue of land invasions.
What I meant was that delegates appreciated that President Mugabe was willing to discuss the crisis in his country and had offered to engage participants on a one on one basis should they have further questions.
Regrettably, some sections of the media interpreted this as an endorsement of President Mugabe's programmes. However, I note that the Business Day Editorial of 13 October 2000 stated that: "Deputy President Jacob Zuma made a few comments which by no stretch of imagination could be construed as supporting Zimbabwean style land invasions. Yet, that is how a community of presumably youthful, obviously politically illiterate currency traders around the world chose to interpret Zuma's words, helping to further weaken an already shaky rand."
2. Information at our disposal indicates that the overall depreciation of the rand against the US dollar has had little to do with domestic or regional developments. Although the rand has fallen markedly against the dollar, it has fared no worse than many of the world's major currencies, and has strengthened against the others, such as the Australian dollar. Since January this year, the rand has depreciated by 19% against the US dollar. Over this same period, the Euro has depreciated by 18.3%, and the Australian dollar by just over 20%. The currencies of other emerging markets such as the Phillipines, Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey have depreciated by between 16 and 22% against the dollar this year.
During the time of my visit to Namibia, it should be noted that the following factors were also having a negative effect:-
3. Some investors consider Southern Africa as a high risk investment region because of political conflicts in the Great Lakes region, Angola and Zimbabwe. Others however, are willing to consider the region as an investment option and appreciate the fact that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is working hard to resolve these conflicts.
For this reason, amongst others, our President has been playing a key role in this regard because the stabilisation of the continent is one of our major priorities.
INKOSI M W HLENGWA (IFP) TO ASK THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT:
1) Whether there are any programmes to accommodate rural people who may migrate to metropolitan areas, towns or township areas immediately after the local government elections with their livestock, nuclear and extended families to benefit from the services rendered by the structures in these areas and to enjoy the benefit of having to pay the same rates for services as those who reside in these areas; if not, why not; if so, what programmes;
2) Whether he will make a statement on the matter?
REPLY
1&2) A mass migration of people from the rural to the urban areas after the local government elections is not expected. The Government's programmes to develop the rural areas will continue and are expected to be enhanced by the new local government system which will come into effect after the elections.
MR C J VAN SCHALKWYK (NNP) TO ASK THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT:
Whether, in the light of the strategic, fiscal and social implications of the HIV/Aids pandemic for all government departments, he as Chairperson of the Ministerial Task Force against HIV/Aids and the South African National Aids Council, subscribes to the belief that HIV is the number one cause of Aids, which leads to death, in South Africa; if not, what specific factor or factors does he consider to be the number one cause of Aids; if so what concrete initiatives have been or will be implemented by the Government to address these implications?
REPLY
As the member should be aware, the Government's Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS is based on the premise that HIV causes AIDS. It is also accepted that there are co-factors which fuel the epidemic, such as poverty and untreated sexually transmitted diseases.
Government is committed to achieving the goals and strategies that have been set out in the Strategic Plan.
The thrust of the Plan is:-
There are also various programmes that are currently being run by the national and provincial health departments such as partnership support, information, education and communication, condom distribution, NGO support, and STD management.