Issued by: Office of the Deputy President
2 SEPTEMBER 1999
Madame Speaker and
Honourable Members of the House
I should like to start off by thanking the presiding officer for
the opportunity to speak to Honourable Members on some of the
activities of the executive since the Presidents opening of
parliament address on 25 June 1999. In that address, the President
outlined the key priorities of government during its term of
office.
The hallmark of the term is a more integrated approach to the task of national reconstruction and development and nation building. Ministers and Directors General have already worked out how their Departments are going to implement these priorities. Clusters of Ministers and DG's have been established to ensure that this takes place in a co-ordinated manner. The President has already had two meetings with the Forum of South African Directors General (FOSAD) who are co-ordinating all the activities of government. These meetings were designed to ensure that there was no disjuncture between the government's programme and policies and implementation by state officials.
This was a groundbreaking exercise. Never before in the history of this country have senior state managers set down with the Head of State to discuss exhaustively questions of policy and implementation. We have made a start and this will continue to happen on a regular basis.
As Members of the House are aware, the President yesterday launched the Directorate of Special Investigations (DSI), also known as the Scorpions. This directorate, established with the involvement of the Ministers of Safety and Security, Defense, Intelligence, Justice, Home Affairs and Finance, will be responsible for combating national priority crimes such as Organised and Syndicate Crime, Serious Economic Offences, Corruption in the Criminal Justice System and Crimes against the State. It will report to the National Director of Public Prosecutions, who in turn, will account to the President.
The head of this directorate is Frank Dutton - a man with a proven track record of busting criminals and solving cases. The DSI is an elite unit that will be made up of the best in the land.
Visible policing is intensifying. In the past two months, the National Crime Prevention Strategy ministers (Safety and Security, Intelligence, Justice and Correctional Services) have visited police stations, magistrates courts, prisons and other facilities under their jurisdiction, in five of our provinces. The purpose of the visits was to examine the functioning of the criminal justice system on the ground and to identify aspects requiring urgent improvement. Visits to the remaining provinces will take place soon. These visits will continue on a regular basis.
A multi-disciplinary task team, convened by the Secretariat for Safety and Security, has been established. The following areas have been identified for pilot projects to enhance the fight against crime; namely
Tsolo (Eastern Cape), Thabong (Free State), Kathlehong (Gauteng), Inanda (KZN), KaNyamazane (Mpumalanga), Mafikeng (North West), Galeshewe (Northern Cape), Thohoyandou (Northern Province) and Mitchell's Plain (Western Cape).
These steps and others are aimed at addressing the efficiency of the entire criminal justice system, so that crime is dealt with in the most effective way.
Between June 28 and July 26 the Ministry of Safety and Security launched Operation Monozite, which was comprised of integrated intelligence and operational teams with preventative, investigative, reaction and intelligence capabilities as well as legal support. In less than a month, the operation netted a total of 33 936 suspects. Charges relating to serious crimes such as murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, rape, were preferred against 14 0945 of the suspects, while 19 891 were charged for less serious crimes. A total of 1 423 stolen vehicles were recovered and 1 383 illegal firearms were seized.
The national lottery, which the President announced in this House in June, is in the process of being finalised.
The Preferred bidder, Uthingo Management Services has been announced. Negotiations with them have been completed and the lottery will commence during the first quarter of the year 2000.
A portion of the funds generated from the lottery will be channelled to Non Governmental Organisations (NGO's) and Community Based Organisations (CBO's). Part of the proceeds will also be utilised to establish support facilities for social plans to deal with retrenchments. This will be done through the National Development Agency (NDA), whose board has been appointed. Steps are being taken to ensure that the systems to disburse these funds are operational by the time the lottery commences operations.
Government is considering other steps that are designed to support small, medium and micro enterprises.
As you all know, the R1-billion Poverty Relief Fund has been allocated to the relevant departments, and implementation should start in a matter of weeks. These funds will be used not as welfare grants, but to create jobs, mainly in the rural areas.
As part of this programme and as a contribution to job creation, within the current financial year, three new pilot projects on housing will be launched to eventually build 50-thousand houses. The private sector has committed R500-million to this - a clear example of the effectiveness of partnerships. A new project has been launched with the National youth Commission to start the National Youth Service Corps with a budget of R50-million. This project will train young people to reconfigure government buildings and make them more accessible to people with disabilities. Within the next few weeks, announcements on the Board of the Umsobomvu Fund will be made, so that the Fund can start operating to get our unemployed youth to work.
Since this new government took over in June this year we have continued to strengthen structures that should lay the foundation for economic growth and job creation. The economy has continued to improve for the better. Inflation has continued to decline steadily and today it is at its lowest in 29 years. The building and construction sector has bottomed out and is showing signs of growth. The housing market is picking up.
The auto and components industry has recorded positive employment growth in the last quarter after a long period of decline.
We have survived the Asian financial crisis remarkably well. Interest rates are now at lower levels than before the crisis began. The exchange rate has remained steady. The fundamentals of our economic policy are in place and our economy is poised to grow at a faster rate.
T International Investment Council is in the process of being established. Considerable interest has been shown in the proposal by the international business community. Our government is finalising the members of the Council. Meanwhile the idea of working groups to interface with South African business, the labour movement and the agricultural sector has been met with enthusiasm. Discussions have already taken place with the business sector. This process is expected to be completed soon so that by the end of the year, the working groups will be fully functional.
We have continued to engage with all stakeholders on the gold crisis and remain convinced that most of the critical players will respond in a way that takes our concerns into account. Some of the international players will be making announcements in this regard in the near future.
Restructuring of state assets is continuing. The final and binding bids on the state forest assets closed on 27 August. AS total of 14 bids were received from 9 bidders, three of which are from international bidders or include international partners. The Minister of Public Enterprises will be making a more detailed statement on the matter later today. I want to announce that we are aiming to make a final decision by the end of September.
The Minister of Health led a delegation of both government and non-government officials to Uganda to study how that country is tackling the HIV and AIDS problems. A full report has been submitted for discussion and action by government. Part of the Ugandan experience was shared with members in this chamber last week. The lessons we learnt in Uganda will help reinforce and improve our own AIDS campaign.
The Minister of Education launched on 27 July an Intensive programme to mobilise all South African citizens to participate in an educatin and t raining system that is designed to take South Africa into the new millenium. He identified nine priority areas that seek to promote the advancement of the national education and training system. We welcome the emphasis placed on learning by the Ministry where the Tirisano theory is used as a foundation.
The system, which is based on education reconstruction and development, will cover every level from early childhood development to post graduate education and research.
The promotion of peace and development in the SADC region is one of the key priorities for the government. We have put considerable energies into supporting the peace initiative in the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the important steps forward has been the signing of the cease-fire agreement by all parties involved in the conflict.
South Africa participated in the formulation at the OAU summit of the declaration that no military governments would be supported in Africa. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has been involved in a process of engagement with some of the military governments to encourage them to move towards democracy so that positive reports can be given to the next summit of the OAU. To this extent we have already met with several delegations from the continent.
As part of our programme of co-operation with the various governments of Africa, the President will, shortly, be meeting with the leaders of Nigeria and Tanzania where broader African developmental issues will be discussed.
We are accelerating the process of regional economic integration. We are soon going to be ratifying SADC protocols on trade and Industry. The President has already held bilateral meetings with the President of Namibia. I am happy to announce that today he is meeting in Pretoria with the President of Zimbabwe. Later in the day, he will meet with the President of Mozambique in Maputo. These bilaterals relate to the economic co-operation I have referred to.
The government is extremely concerned about the crippling effects of debt on the economies of countries in the continent and fully supports measures to relieve the debt burden. The Minister of Finance has just returned from a conference on this matter held in Nairobi.
Regional Co-operation also includes more social forms of contact, which includes sports and culture. The 9th All Africa Games will commence in Johannesburg a week from today. These will be the largest All Africa Games held in the history of the games. The athletes' village near Alexandra Township in Johannesburg has been completed to accommodate all the athletes and other officials who will participate in the Games. After this event the houses in the village will form part of the housing programme and be distributed in accordance with the government's housing policy.
Over the past few weeks, I have had consultations with the Premiers to ensure that all of us - all departments and all three tiers of governance - work together to implement our programme of integrated, sustainable rural development. Tow weeks ago, a delegation of Directors-General from national departments visited the Northern Province, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal to meet their counter-parts to identify concrete projects. Whilst the integrated rural development programme will be phased in to all provinces, the above three provinces have been prioritised because they contain the highest percentages of poor people in the country.
The purpose of the visits was to identify geographic areas in each of the provinces where the three spheres of government would jointly initiate the programmes. I will shortly visit the areas that have been identified in the first phase. I will meet during the visits with members of the Executive Council, Chairpersons of the Regional/District Councils, Mayors, etc. to ensure that the adopted plans are implemented.
An amount of R103 million has been earmarked from the Poverty Relief Fund for further road rehabilitation programmes in the Wild Coast and Lubombo SDI's. This initiative will in fact kick-start the rural development strategy in these two provinces.
These areas which are characterised by high levels of unemployment and poverty have been identified as having great potential for tourism and agricultural development. The roads that will be targeted for improvement will be prioritised on the basis of promoting local economic development and/or improving community access to social services.
This infrastructure will be linked to a range of tourism and agricultural investment projects. A major project will be building roads and erecting fences and other basic infrastructure in the Greater St.Lucia Wetland. In the Wild Coast key roads such as those accessing Port St. John's will be upgraded. Water supply systems to tourism projects in the area will be constructed and upgraded.
The road from Hluhluwe to the Mozambican border at Ponta do Ouro is presently under construction. It has been decided by government to allocate the balance of the final 2 phases of the road. Funding is in the process of being secured from Poverty Relief and the Job Summit process for improvements to the local access road network and for the bulk water infrastructure. This road network, in conjunction with the Hluhluwe road, places a 160 000 people within 10 kilometres of all weather access.
This translates into an additional 22% of the local population having access to hospital facilities, an additional 160% having access to policing, and places 70% of people living in a high risk malaria area within 5 kilometres of all weather access. In addition, the road acts as a catalyst for investment into the 16 potential investment sites that have been identified and packaged. These projects are closely co-ordinated with the Public Works and Transport projects in the area. In combination all these projects will generate substantial funds and will create much needed jobs to alleviate the conditions under which people live there.
Processes have been put in place to enable the Land Bank to increase its loan book to emerging farmers. The Independent Development Corporation (IDC) has been asked to align its lending practices with government programmes to ensure they are sustainable and integrated. Projects will be funded jointly.
The funds from these establishments will also be used for the training and development of the human resources that are so necessary for the successful implementation of the project. The other matter we want to address speedily is the Commission for the Protection of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities. The Department of Constitutional Development is convening a conference on 24 September 1999 discuss the proposed model for the establishment of the Commission.
It is critical that we reflect briefly on the recent developments in the public service bargaining chamber. Government wants serious discussions that will lead to the formulation of a wage policy for the public sector. it is our firm conviction that such a comprehensive review must be finalised as soon as possible. We are having as our target the end of this year. The re-determination of the salary structure in the public sector is closely connected to our delivery to the poorest of the poor. For many years, workers at the lowest rung of this sector have been getting very low salaries. Since 1994, we have consciously sought to narrow the wage gap between those workers at the lowest and the highest end of the scale whilst trying to retain scarce skills in government.
This is what fundamentally informs our approach to the current wage negotiations and within the framework of our commitment to accelerated delivery to the poorest of the poor. The Minister of Public Service and Administration has dealt comprehensively with relevant matters relating to the strike in a statement to this House on 18 August.
It is important that we move speedily to the situation where talks must begin with all role players to get to the point where the required restructuring must take place.
I want to conclude by referring to the disaster that has hit a number of our residential areas in Cape Town. The affected localities have been declared disaster areas by the President. In the response to this tragedy, we saw the kind of South Africa that we are building. Our people from all walks of life united in action to help the victims by providing them with food, blankets shelter and other necessities and materials to help reconstruct their houses and lives. Indeed it was an example of people working in partnership with government to alleviate the situation.
We would like to commend the people of Cape Town for the admirable role that they played in the face of great suffering. In conclusion I would like to read to you the following: "When nations do amazing things, that is because they create from what they know. And that is a lot. When they do extraordinary things that is because they create from places in themselves they didn't suspect were there.
But when a nation or an individual creates things so sublime - in a sort of permanent genius of inventiveness and delight - when they create things so miraculous that they are not seen or noticed or remarked upon, by even the best minds around, then that is because they create always from the vast unknown places within them".
Astonishing the Gods, by Dan Okri, p.51.
Indeed we remain on course as a nation at work for a better life for all. I thank you