PRESENTATION BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT ZUMA AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

Issued by: Office of the Presidency

5 June 2002

The Role of African Governments in Poverty Reduction, Health and Education

Africa faces several challenges relating to achieving sustainable development.

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development held in 1998 outlined targets on the reduction of poverty and the promotion of human development in Africa. It set out a number of development goals, such as the following:

• Universal primary education in Africa by 2015, with 80% completion in primary education by 2005.
• To halve the 1990 illiteracy rates by 2005, with an emphasis on improving female literacy rates.
• Safe water and sanitation for 80% of the population by 2005.
• Reduction of the numbers of women living in poverty by two thirds in 2015.

Added to this are the challenges of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases, drought, famine, and general suffering caused by wars and conflicts.

African governments have a key role to play in turning the situation around, in partnership with development partners in the North as well as several multilateral agencies.

SOLUTIONS - WHAT AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS ARE DOING

Africa has already introduced a blueprint that will assist continental governments in achieving the goals of poverty reduction, health, education and others, in the form of NEPAD.

NEPAD was conceptualised and developed by African Heads of States and they are actively involved in its implementation, which means they are committed to meeting its objectives.

GOALS OF NEPAD

• To accelerate the eradication of poverty and inequality in Africa;
• To place African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development;
• To stop the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process;
• To promote the empowerment and economic integration of women.
• Creation of the conditions that make African countries the preferred destination by both domestic and foreign investors
• Forming new partnership with the industrialised world,
• Comprehensive, holistic and integrated development programme for Africa.

THE ROLE OF AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS - A NEW WAY OF DOING THINGS

The need to create the right environment for development to take place, and through NEPAD and other processes beforehand. This is being done in many countries already.

Most importantly, is the need to do things in a new way, for both the continent and its development partners. Development partners need to realise the seriousness of the continent's leaders about NEPAD. For the African governments, there is a need to do things in a new way politically, economically socially and in many other spheres.

Measures that are necessary include:

• Entrenching good economic and political governance throughout the continent as well as the respect for democratic processes and human rights.
• Instituting a strong African-driven Peer Review Mechanism as envisaged by NEPAD to ensure support and compliance with agreed principles.
• Ensuring peace and stability. We need to intensify efforts to end, manage and prevent conflicts, which cause losses of life, human suffering and destabilisation. Measures require the support of agencies such as the United Nations and development partn.
• Mobilisation of the private sector, intelligentsia, civil society, professional organisations and research institutions both in Africa and abroad to support the development initiatives.
• We need to work on the promotion of trade among Africans and increased access to markets of industrialised countries
• On health, it is crucial to ensure the eradication of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, strengthen prevention programmes and poverty alleviation programmes.