5 October 2000
Madam Speaker
Honourable Members
When the people of South Africa went to the polls for the second time last year, they believed that all of us in this house were best placed to provide a better life for them. We have all been hard at work, since June last year, to meet the expectations of our various constituencies.
It is necessary that we take stock of our combined efforts, that have contributed towards improving the lives of our people in the past year.
As leader of government business, I am of the view that this process of reporting back to this house, on an annual basis, will further strengthen the relationship between the legislature and the executive.
I want honourable members to understand that this report is by no means a comprehensive account of all that has been done. It is rather a brief account of some of the achievements of government, in the period under review.
This year, government has continued to prioritise the transformation of our education system so that it better fulfils the requirements of our society.
By the end of the year, we will have completed our programme of moving teachers from well-staffed schools to more needy ones. Some twenty three thousand teachers are part of this programme. The National Norms and Standards for School funding, which sets out the policy that ensures the allocation of resources to schools based on need, was implemented from 1 January 2000.
This will ensure that the poorest schools will receive about 7 times more non-personnel funds per learner than the richer schools. Government has further sought to improve school effectiveness and educator professionalism, by initiating a monitoring programme to ensure accountability of schools for their performance, as well as develop individual school profiles.
Standardised training and capacity building programmes for school principals and school management teams were made available to provincial departments in July 2000. To further develop the competence of our educators, R70 million has been set aside by the Education Labour Relations Council.
Recognising that effective learning cannot take place in an environment where safety is not ensured, we have initiated a campaign to mobilise stakeholders, including communities, to work towards making our schools crime-free zones. This programme is due to be unveiled this month.
One hundred and eighteen million rands in donor funds has been secured for the reconstruction of flood damaged schools.
International assistance of R180 million has been received for the development of infrastructure in schools in KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape.
The key achievements in the Educational field include the recent introduction of the following Bills: The Adult Basic Education and Training Bill, the Education Laws Amendment Bill, The Higher Education Amendment Laws and the South African Council for Educators Bills.
These bills are aimed at improving access to education for South Africans of all ages as well as improving existing educational institutions, allowing them to better respond to the new challenges of our country.
A necessary element for a conducive learning environment is safety. We have therefore embarked on a campaign to create safe schools by mobilising stakeholders, particularly communities.
Programmes to accelerate access to health services are continuing.
The primary health care infrastructure was further expanded, in the past year, with 59 new clinics built between April 1999 and June 2000. Currently, over 5 million South Africans have benefited from the clinic-building and upgrading programme, resulting in an average of 125 000 more patients, per week, now making use of these essential services.
This programme has also ensured that pregnant women now have easier access to our healthcare system. In the past expectant mothers, particularly those in underdeveloped areas, had little or no access to medical care. As a result of our initiatives, 94% of these women now attend antenatal clinics.
This is just one example which shows that we are succeeding in improving the access of the poor to essential health care services. Another example is the commitment of R400 million this year to priority projects of the health sector. In addition to this, R440 million has been spent on the new Durban and Umtata Academic hospitals during the current financial year.
Government is making progress in building a truly integrated and unitary health system, based on the comprehensive primary health care approach.
The mass immunisation campaign, conducted against polio and measles during the period May - June 2000 resulted in a national, vaccine coverage of over 80%.
The Community Service Programme for medical practitioners has now been extended to dentists from July this year. We remain convinced that the universal provision and easy access, to basic primary health care, of good quality, is the single most important contribution the health sector can make in the fight against disease.
To improve access to specialised care and reduce patient travel times, Tele-medicine has been developed. The first phase of the project has been completed in all the 34 pilot sites.
With regards to the HIV/AIDS campaign, we are encouraged by the success of the awareness programmes we have put in place. The effectiveness of our campaign is illustrated by the increase in the level of awareness, estimated to be 93%.
The high level of HIV/AIDS awareness amongst South Africans is evidenced by the increase in the demand for free condoms to 350 million this year. We are proud of the fact that South Africa is ranked, by international health organisations, as one of leading countries with regards to HIV/AIDS Educational campaigns.
As previously indicated in the house, government has various programmes based on the HIV/AIDS and STD strategic plan, which is structured according to the following areas:
· Prevention · Treatment, care and support · Human and legal rights · Monitoring, research and surveillance
Our President has tirelessly led the AIDS campaign and has been recognised as one of the leading figures, in the world, to have actively and openly campaigned against the pandemic.
Contrary to the minority view that this government is not taking the fight against HIV/AIDS seriously, our actions indicate the reality.
We reiterate our call to all South Africans to take responsibility for their own lives, and take to heart the ABC of AIDS. Abstain. Be Faithful. Condomise!
Government's social assistance programme provides benefits to over 3 million South Africans. This includes older persons, persons with disability and children under the age of seven. In spite of logistical challenges facing our social security systems, social relief programmes are continuing.
Beneficiaries of the child support grant have increased from thirty six thousand in April 1999 to three hundred and seventy six thousand, one hundred and thirty five (376 135) by August of this year. We have also made a concerted effort to bring more people into the social security net, particularly in rural areas. This includes the deployment of 127 mobile units to help people obtain the necessary identity documents to enable them to apply for social grants.
With all these successes, challenges are inevitable. We introduced a process of re-registration of beneficiaries, with the aim of cleaning up the database and eliminating fraud. Regrettably, legitimate beneficiaries were incorrectly removed from the system.
Where this has occurred, provincial departments have taken the necessary steps to re-instate these beneficiaries and the majority of provinces have made good progress on the re-registration.
Although we have a continuing social programme in place, governments' view is that in the long term, it is crucial to ensure that whilst giving the people fish, we also empower them to catch their own fish.
We have therefore prioritised the three poorest provinces, namely, the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal and the Northern Province for development projects. A total of R147.2 million has been disbursed to projects managed by the Independent Development Trust on behalf of the government. 72% of our poverty relief programmes are in rural areas and have resulted in the creation of twenty five thousand, nine hundred and fifty six (25.956) jobs with women accounting for 65% of these. Poverty Relief funds have also been used for youth skills development.
Government sees shelter as a key basic need. Having attained our target of building one million houses, government's focus is now on the provision of housing in rural areas. We have set up a rural housing loan fund with the aim of improving access to credit. Through this fund, a total of R55 million has been disbursed.
The new Home Loans and Mortgage Disclosure Bill is a ground breaking bill that seeks to directly challenge the discriminatory business practices of the housing industry. Through this bill, lending authorities will be obliged to publish the profile of individuals to whom they lend money.
Government will then be able to monitor whether the low income groups and people residing in areas that have been 'red lined' by the lending institutions are given a fair opportunity to access housing loans and are not discriminated against.
In line with the principles of the Promotion of Equality Act, women have been targeted as major beneficiaries in the housing delivery process.
The housing policy actively promotes gender equity by recognising housing ownership for women headed households.
In our continuing efforts to restore dignity to our people, we have this year, made it possible for two hundred and eight thousand, one hundred and eleven (208 111) people to have their own postal addresses. This is in addition to the roll out last year, of eight hundred and eighteen thousand six hundred and twelve (818.612) postal addresses, of which 76% were in rural areas.
Honourable members, many of us take having an address for granted and therefore may not be able to imagine the isolation, inconvenience and humiliation of not having one.
Considerable progress continues to be made in the provision of clean water to South Africans. Government's Community water supply programme has improved the lives of over six million people since 1994.
Since 1 April this year 33 schemes have been completed with four hundred and twenty thousand people gaining access to water.
Cooperative projects to develop rivers shared with neighbouring countries have reached important milestones. Construction of dams is progressing well and will help to expand agriculture as well as provide greater security of water supply for South Africans and our neighbours.
Construction of the R430 million Injaka Dam on the Sabie River catchment, between Northern Province and Mpumalanga, is nearing completion. The communities of towns like Thulamahashe and Dwarsloop are already assured that they will never again go without piped water for weeks on end, as happened during the crippling drought in 1992.
Since June 1999, government has electrified more than three hundred thousand (300 000) households, 60% of which were in rural areas.
We can never undermine the impact of energy as an engine for development. Government has prioritised development in rural areas. The process of finalising the Intergated Rural Development Strategy is almost complete. However work on the ground has been ongoing.
In the past planning by departments was done in an isolated fashion, with planning decisions being based on information from different sources. This is now something of the past. The Departments have formed committees to coordinate their activities in rural areas.
I previously reported to this house that pilot projects would be identified in the three poorest provinces. In consultation with the relevant Province Governments, these areas have been identified. They are Qawukeni, in the Eastern Cape and Nongoma in KwaZulu Natal.
Profiles of the population, existing government infrastructure, available services, and economic potential of the areas have been compiled. To facilitate easy and co ordinated planning, these profiles have been computerised to allow departments and developmental agencies access at the touch of a button to all the relevant data.
It has become apparent, through this process, that these pilot areas cannot be isolated from the surrounding districts. An example of government services available in these areas include; the provision of financial loans to farmers, the development of self sustaining villages, tele-centres aimed at promoting access to information and communication services, the renovation of schools and the provision of health, water and electrification services.
As we are aware that the buy-in of the affected communities is crucial for the sustainability of the projects, we have met different affected interest groups within these communities, in particular women, traditional leaders, church groups as well as emerging farmers. Whilst we acknowledge the challenges of the successful implementation of this project, the response has been enthusiastic.
We are now exploring, with the community, ways in which to stimulate economic development. We have been able to encourage business to participate in the upliftment of our people in remote, rural areas.
Due to the progress made with the planning of the pilot areas, we have begun to conduct this profiling exercise in other areas of rural poverty in our country. The recently released Poverty Report of Statistics South Africa will be a useful tool in this regard.
The ongoing commitment of Ministers and their Departments to the policy of developing rural areas, which has formed the cornerstone of our rural development programme since 1994, is commendable.
This year we succeeded in putting R9,8 billion back into South African's pockets by cutting tax rates significantly and restructuring the income tax brackets. With this we clearly and firmly placed the achievements of South Africa before the eyes of the whole world.
The start of the implementation of the Public Finance Management Act on 1 April is already revolutionising the way we manage public finances by ensuring greater accountability and performance driven financial management.
I reported to this House yesterday on the achievements of government in attracting investment and realising our trade strategies.
Over the past year, we have intensified the war against crime. For the first six months of this year, the following very significant decreases in serious crime were noted: murder is down by 16%, attempted murder by 7%, arson by 18 % motor vehicle theft by 7%, stock theft by 7%, burglary in business premises by 6 %.
The four high profile types of robbery, namely hijacking of trucks and hijacking of cars, bank robberies and cash in transit heists have all stabilised. This downward trend is continuing, which indicates the success of the government's fight against crime. We have also succeeded in reducing prison escapes through our National Anti-Escape Plan.
In conclusion, I would like to join with Honourable members who earlier this afternoon paid tribute to the role of our armed forces in humanitarian activities. Visions of their swift response to the humanitarian disaster during the Mozambican floods will remain with us for a long time.
The floods were an example of Africa at work to resolve its own problems. With this, we clearly and firmly placed the achievements of South Africa before the eyes of the whole world.
I thank you.