13 June 2000
Madame Speaker
The President of the Republic of South Africa
Honourable Members
Ladies and Gentlemen
Just over a year ago today South Africa went to the polls in the second democratic elections. After an overwhelming ANC victory in those elections, this House unanimously elected Thabo Mbeki as President of the Republic of South Africa. This house was once again making history by taking that historic and democratic decision. In a matter of a year, it is now an established fact that President Mbeki enjoys recognition as a world class leader.
Very rarely has any Parliament, in any part of the world, succeeded in producing such a high calibre of leaders in such close succession. This Parliament, our people and our country should be proud of this achievement.
I stand before you now extremely proud that we have done and continue to do well as a country.
Madam Speaker, when we went to the people to ask for a renewed mandate in the second elections, we did so on the basis that, though we had achieved much in the first five years, more needed to be done to deliver what we had put forward as our main and immediate objective - a better life for all.
We did so also fully confident that, having laid a concrete foundation in the first five years, this new term of government would see greater, accelerated change and delivery. This budget debate, on the Presidency, gives us the opportunity to evaluate our achievements in the past year, and to re-affirm the direction in which we are going.
Madam Speaker, as the President has reported, one of the hallmarks of our government, guided by the principle of accelerated change, has been a greater emphasis on improved co-ordination. As part of this process, the Offices of the President and the Deputy President were combined into one office, The Presidency. Co-ordination therefore exists at the highest level of government.
The President has referred to the new Cabinet clusters that have been established. These are: The Social Sector, International Relations and Security, Governance and Administration, Economic, Job Creation and Investment and Justice and Crime Prevention clusters.
Crime prevention has been high on our agenda and as such we have continuously introduced measures designed to address the issue. The recent consideration, and approval, by Cabinet of the Firearms Control Bill, which is currently before this House, is one such example.
Closer co-operation between the Ministers who sit in the Crime Prevention Cluster has yielded significant results. Operation Crackdown, launched in Gauteng on the 1st of April this year is one such example. The Operation focused on two main strategies; the fight against crime and violence and the neutralisation of organised crime groupings.
This campaign was a major success in our fight against crime, resulting in the arrest of a considerable number of suspects for serious crimes and the recovery of a significant amount of stolen property, drugs and illegal firearms.
A comparison between this campaign and Operation Monozite, a similar operation conducted in July and August last year, illustrates a major improvement in the operational efficiency of our integrated and co-ordinated approach.
During the first two months of Operation Crackdown, in April and May, a total of one hundred and six thousand, five hundred and ninety four (106 594) suspected criminals were arrested, while fifty eight thousand, four hundred and thirteen (58 413) suspected criminals were arrested during the first two months of Operation Monozite.
Similarly, Operation Crackdown resulted in the seizure, during the first two months, of three thousand seven hundred and twenty two (3 722) stolen vehicles, and three thousand two hundred and forty two (3 242) illegal firearms, compared to two thousand three hundred and thirty one (2 331) stolen vehicles and two thousand four hundred and eighty two (2 482) illegal firearms during the two months of Operation Monozite.
Members can therefore see that since Operation Monozite, we have improved both in our tactics and in the number of arrests and property recovered.
These improvements can be ascribed to the better utilisation of intelligence, better inter-departmental co-operation and a significant improvement in the morale of the members participating in these operations.
We remain mindful however of the correlation between crime and other social factors including poverty.
The Social Services Cluster is continuing to build on the foundation laid in the first five years of our democratic dispensation. Between 1994 and 1998, 3 million people gained access to clean water. By the middle of this year the figure has increased and is now close to 5.5 million people.
Similarly we are making inroads into transforming people's lives by giving them access to electricity.
Three million households will have access to electricity by mid 2000 compared to 2.3 million people in 1998. Two million new households will have access to telephones by the middle of this year compared to 1.5 million between 1994 and 1998.
Honourable members, with regard to housing, we have also been able to accelerate delivery. We have built, to date, some nine hundred and ninety three thousand (993 000) houses and have approved subsidies in excess of a million. These achievements indeed are impressive. We must however remember that in the light of the massive historical backlogs, more work still remains to be done.
The land distribution programme has shown steady progress. By June last year only 41 claims had been settled, this figure has, in a year, increased to five thousand five hundred and eleven (5 511). In response to the challenge of accelerating, land reform, an Integrated Program of Land Redistribution and Agricultural Development has also been designed and consultation with the relevant stakeholders is currently taking place. The program will provide grants to previously disadvantaged South African citizens to access land specifically for agricultural purposes.
Honourable members, our challenge remains that of continuing to change the land ownership patterns both for settlement and agricultural development.
We remain committed to redressing the imbalance brought about by our history and are redoubling our efforts to accelerate land reform measures.
Our financial landscape has also undergone dramatic changes as part of our accelerated delivery programme. For the first time, a universally acclaimed budget was presented to us in this House this year. This was made possible by our consistent pursuit of balanced economic policies, an unwavering commitment to transformation and our focus on achieving economic growth.
To improve our trade relations, we have also been engaging many countries on a bilateral basis and, in the case of Germany and Nigeria, through formal Binational Commissions. These forums have resulted in the strengthening of economic co-operation. The South African - Nigerian Binational was particularly important in taking us a giant step forward towards achieving our goal of the African Renaissance.
The International Investment Council, appointed by the President, will be holding its inaugural meeting this month. I am happy to announce that we have reached an agreement with some of the major Information Technology companies in the world to constitute an advisory committee. This committee will advise our government on IT matters to ensure that we remain at the cutting edge of development in this sector. The committee will hold its first meeting in South Africa in the second half of this year.
If our programme of accelerated delivery is to succeed, a framework that would both support and facilitate an appropriate environment for the sustainability of government programmes must be adopted. The necessary legislation must be passed for this requirement to be met.
Cabinet has, since the elections, considered and approved over 70 Bills, the majority of which are aimed at irreversibly entrenching the socio-economic transformation programme that we as government are committed to.
Unfortunately our prosperity in the first six years of government has not been as evenly shared, amongst our population, as we would have liked.
As the President stated in his first address as President to this Parliament, the rural areas of our country represent the worst concentrations of poverty and are most in need of infrastructural and economic development.
Since 1994, this government has considered the development of rural areas as a priority.
As such, the provision of basic services such as water, electricity, roads, telephones, clinics, schools etc. has been one of the key aspects of all government departments' work. This has, in the past, taken place in a largely uncoordinated fashion with the various departments pursuing individual programmes that resulted in many unsustainable projects. Unsustainable not because they were inappropriate but because they lacked supporting infrastructure. The implementation of the RDP provided us with invaluable experience in implementing targeted interventions by government in areas of need.
We have also learned from the Spatial Development Initiatives which are proving be a success, particularly in the rural areas and remain a clear illustration of what could be achieved if all relevant government departments work together towards a common goal. These projects have unlocked areas previously closed off by a lack of crucial infrastructure such as roads and communications. Adopting an integrated approach has ensured that all possible areas of development have been explored and that all gains made are of a sustainable nature.
The concept of an integrated sustainable rural development therefore is not a new phenomenon. It is rather a concerted effort that is driven by a need for government to find ways to accelerate delivery of basic services to all South Africans.
What we seek to do in this term of government is to extend this to all other areas of development, with a special focus on the rural areas. The concept places an emphasis on tried and tested interventions and solutions that have a long term potential for growth.
As it has been reported in the various Ministerial budget speeches, substantial delivery in respect of rural development has been taking place since 1994 and is continuing. A strategy detailing future delivery guidelines in rural areas has been developed by a committee of seventeen Ministers. The committee has completed its work and their report is before Cabinet.
The question of HIV/AIDS is one of the major strategic issues that we as government are dealing with. We have developed an integrated and multi-sectoral approach as part of our strategy to combating the scourge. We continue to encourage efforts to find solutions to the AIDS crisis. A Panel of Experts to advise government is in place.
The Centre for Disease Control and the Medical Research Council recently agreed to enter into a co-operative agreement with one another with the aim of ensuring that the so called 'dissident views' are debated and shared with the mainstream view. In this way, we hope that the answers to the outstanding questions will be found.
The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) has taken a lead in co-ordinating the initiatives of the various sectors represented in SANAC.
Madam Speaker, allow me to thank the members of SANAC for their commitment and sacrifices. We now have in place an all-inclusive forum that allows all sectors of South African society to make input as to how we should deal with this major challenge.
Honourable members before I close, allow me to introduce a word of caution.
The moral decay prevalent in our society is to this government, a serious cause for concern. It is clear that without us substantially tackling this issue, all our efforts to transform our society will be greatly undermined.
Government is working with leaders from religious, education, business and local community to engage on a programme for the moral regeneration of our society. We have also requested that this House conducts a debate on this issue so that our collective energies can be pooled in search of solutions to this problem.
Madame Speaker,
Honourable President,
Honourable members,
Let me end by congratulating my colleagues here for our first term in office. It has been a year filled with achievements. We are happy that we have made significant strides. I urge us all to remember that there is always more to be done. I believe I speak for all of us when I say we look forward to the challenges of the coming year with even greater enthusiasm.
I thank you for your attention.