Issued by: Office of the Deputy President Jacob Zuma
GALLAGHER ESTATE - 2 OCTOBER 1999
Honourable Ministers
Chairperson
Social Partners
Colleagues & Friends,
It is my pleasure to welcome you all and to formally open this - the fourth annual Summit of the National Economic Development And Labour Council. This summit follows hard on the heels of an interesting and exciting development.
The "meteoric" rise of the price of gold is perhaps the greatest triumph for South Africa as a country, for the African continent and for the rest of the developing world. The fight over the proposed sale of gold and the subsequent plummeting of its price, brought together many of the diverse countries of the developing world. They spoke as one voice and the world of rich nations sat up and listened.
The unity of smaller nations over the issue of gold perhaps served to make them to take these nations seriously as players in the global village. Indeed it gave them a voice in the international arena. From this experience one can thus say that there is merit in smaller countries co-operating with each other to a greater extent to achieve a sizeable voice in the global stage.
Ladies and gentlemen the rise in the price of gold is not simply the outcome of the invisible hand of the markets. It is principally the result of a wide ranging set of decisions by politicians and other social actors across the globe. It comes as a result also of the intense lobbying by South Africans and friends of the so called developing countries from around the globe.
The lobby for debt relief for poorer countries that led to the cynical decision by the powerful nations of the world to sell gold reserves to finance such relief as they were willing to consider, was turned into a double edge sword. As we all know South Africa, Ghana and other gold producing nations were immediately thrown into a state of crisis with the gold price immediately plummeting to twenty-year lows. For a very long while mining houses and miners were under severe pressure. Thanks to strong, decisive, joint action by employers in the gold mining industry and the National Union of Mineworkers, supported by the South African government the story, as we speak, has a happy three-hundred-dollar-an-ounce ending.
So much can be learned from this experience - for one, there are areas of common interest between employers, unions and government, areas that are powerfully important for both. These areas provide opportunities for joint action, and such joint action, properly handled, can help to tilt massive international forces in ways never before imagined. The smart partnership among these three sectors of our society should not be allowed to die for it illustrates the successes that can be achieved if all sectors of our society pull together, striving for a common goal - that of employment for our people and prosperity for our country.
This experience emphasises the need for us to work hard to build sound international relations, to establish bi-national and multilateral relationships with all nations of the world, big or small. For it is in working together that we can achieve a better and caring world for all. The support shown by British mineworkers for their South African counter-parts is a case in point. The experience also highlights the need to have a social plan and social security measures in place to protect the most vulnerable members of our country.
There is a need to find ways to reduce our continue dependence as a country on the sale of gold. This makes us extremely vulnerable to such price fluctuations and to the whims of nations that, while consuming large amounts of gold, do not have any role in its production. It is encouraging however, that the percentage of exports accounted for by gold have declined from 55% to under 20% over the last twenty years. We still need to find ways of ensuring that we are less vulnerable - through, for example, diversifying our exports, increasing the value that we add to our commodities before we export them and expanding the level of smaller businesses to cushion our economy from single industry shocks.
While the issue of gold is significant in itself, I highlighted it to illustrate two key points - the benefit that can derive from finding or forging areas of common purpose and mobilising behind them, and the need for us to appreciate the inter-connection of various components of policy work. During this summit we will be talking about productivity and macro-economic policy, trade policy, HIV/AIDS, social security, infrastructure delivery and the local and international institutions through which social actors come to influence them.
I hope that, as the Presidential Labour Market Commission of 1996 urged us to do, we are going to strive to build a coherent programme of measures - of macro-economic, trade and industry, labour market and development issues - that reinforce one another for the greater good. For our part we as government are emphasising to co-ordination of government departments and the co-ordination between the three tiers of government in programs to be implemented. One of the major programs that we believe is going to make a difference is the Integrated Rural Development Programme. All these elements impact on infra-structural development, job creation and economic growth. We are saying social and economic partners must find a way in which they can come into this program. We need to see what other stakeholders, particularly the private sector, can do to ensure its success.
Government has also taken a political decision to utilise the approach of co-ordinating departments and the three tiers of government in engaging, as part of the anti-crime drive, the development of specific urban areas in most provinces. The chief aim is to turn around these areas into better places for our people to live in. Again here, social partners are expected to play an effective role. We invite stakeholders in NEDLAC to study these developments and see what role they can play to ensure their success.
These are not tasks for the faint hearted. The issues will seldom be as clear cut as in the case of the sale of gold, nor will the coincidence of interest be as simple. I urge you, under the umbrella of NEDLAC and as South Africans, to isolate those areas that are critical to our country's growth and development and to agree on an agenda and time frames for the achievement of a set of coherent agreements behind which we can all mobilise to ensure that South Africa remains a coutry at work for a better for all.
I again welcome you to this important Summit and commend you for the progress you have made thus far. I hope that the issues I raised when I last addressed you at the Special Executive Council Meeting, on the 26th August 1999, will be seriously addressed and that today you will come up with concrete decisions on them.
Thank you.