Premier Ngoako Ramthlodi
22 February 2001
I am deeply touched by the constructive and positive spirit in which the leaders of the opposition have approached the debate on the Premier's address. I believe that if we continue to give this type of leadership our Province can only grow from strength to strength. The tone of messages suggested that at last the political Parties in our Province are ready to put their differences aside and join efforts at nation building. This they are doing, without abandoning their role as the opposition. In the contrary they continue to raise what in their view are genuine concerns, in a robust and frank manner. As Premier I consider myself rather privileged to work with your company.
I should hasten to add that as fate would have it we also have to live with exceptions to the rule. In this context comments by the Honourable Halford were less than helpful. For a moment I thought I saw a poor shadow of the Honourable Tony Leon in our midst. The most sickening part of the show, was the assumption by the Honourable that only he knows who are good leaders for the ANC. By suggesting a mutiny against the current leadership the Honourable went far beyond acceptable limits of engagement. However, as we shall later see this is not an accident. In fact it is an articulation of his party's firm believe that they have a God given right to supervise blacks in all spheres of life.
Over the past seven years, the ANC has been walking through a frightening nightmare. We lay prostrate and powerless and at the receiving end of unrelenting and merciless beasts of prey. Ironically, it has been our firm commitment to nation building that has led to a perception in some sections of our society that we were ready for the taking. We ourselves must have fed this false notion by always seeking approval for our actions from those opposed to our transformation agenda.
The appointment of black people associated with the ANC into positions of responsibility in South Africa was met with outrage and condemnation. These people could not be trusted because the ANC could not be trusted, so went the reasoning. That is why the appointment of Tito Mboweni, Bulelani Ngcuka and their league raised such a storm at the time. When they are in positions and indeed do perform well against the stereotype, they are appropriated as special blacks who are different from the rest of us. When they fail as some do, the stereotype is reinforced as vindicated. This is one of the most fundamental challenges facing our country.
It is being suggested that in order to avoid the country falling into another African Banana republic, we should engage white supervisors to oversee over black appointees. The brave ones say it openly whilst the sophisticated will use more acceptable terminology such as the proper deployment of available skills. The most celebrated example, has been the storm in a teacup, over the non-appointment of Judge Heath to investigate the so-called arms deal. On that particular occasion all sophistry was forgotten as caution was thrown to the wind. You either appoint Heath or the sun will not rise tomorrow. We refused and the sun did rise.
Still on the arms deal, the DA announces that it is strengthening its representation on the SCOPA by replacing some members with more senior ones. Public opinion is apparently very happy about this turn of events. However, a few days later the ANC fills the vacant positions in SCOPA with senior members, who on account of seniority take over the Chairperson ship of the ANC study group, and all hell breaks loose. All of a sudden, public opinion suspect that the ANC has something to hide and at worst the ANC is undermining Parliament and reducing it to a rubber stamp.
Obviously, for a while we have been quite interested in this person called public opinion. Having observed public opinion, we have come to a very sad conclusion, that always his views co-incide with the views of the minority opposition in our country. Take the question of Zimbabwe and its very complex ramifications and contrast that with the Israel and Palestinian conflict, again with its all complex ramifications. Public opinion demands that we should denounce President Mugabe as a villain. And for all the world to see we must do so on top of Mount Kilimanjaro. On the other hand Public opinion has been very silent on the implementation of international agreements between Israel and Palestine and what the government must do to ensure their implementation.
One of the issues that supposedly occupy the attention of Public opinion is the maintenance of the rule of law. Accepting this as a genuine posture, we would expect Public opinion to insist that international agreements reached by legitimate authorities must be honoured by all concerned. Similarly, we except public opinion to accept the ruling of the courts in this country. Public opinion tells us that President Mugabe is wrong not to accept the ruling of the courts in Zimbabwe. However, the same fellow called Public opinion insist that President Mbeki must appoint Judge Heath into additional responsibilities in spite of the ruling by the Constitutional Court to the effect that Judge Heath should wind up his activities within a year.
Public opinion has been calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty in South Africa. Our citizen Marietta Bosch has been condemned to hang by her neck until she is dead, unless of course she receives a clemency from Tau Tona Mogae, the President of Botswana. Public opinion has been conspicuous by his silence on this matter. As Premier of this Province, I add my humble plea to requests made to our President to plead with our neighbours to spare the life of this woman. I do so recognizing and accepting the sovereignty of Botswana.
The tragedy is that Public opinion has even began to believe in his own propaganda. Public opinion would have us believe that the ANC has lost support amongst our people in spite of clear evidence repeatedly shown by election results. What is the people's opinion as opposed to Public opinion. In 1994 National Elections the ANC polled 62,7%. We improved this to 66,4% in 1999. In 1995 local elections the ANC secured 58,8% of the poll, we improved this to 60,0% in 2000. This is the people's verdict. But what does Public opinion say? The ANC has lost support.
One could go on with examples of double standards by the so-called Public opinion. The ANC has come to the conclusion that we can ignore Public opinion only at our own peril. The truth is that a lie told often can eventually be a reality. Accordingly, we have decided to engage robustly those who are activists in the formulation of Public opinion. Public opinion has been at the forefront of the most veracious assault ever mounted against a head of state and government in this country.
Mr Speaker,
The initiated happen to know that if you want to kill a snake, you start with the head. Accordingly we view the concentrated assault against the President as the assault on the movement he leads. In this regard, we have no choice but to give no quarter in defending our movement, the noble ideas it represents and its leadership. We shall do so with the resoluteness of revolutionaries fighting for their very survival. One fighter once asked his friend, what foolishness have you committed to win the praise of your enemy. We are not asking for any praise from our opponents. What we want is constructive criticism and not insults.
The message we are sending out nationally is that the show aimed at destroying the ANC must stop and it must stop immediately. To that end we will no longer seek approval for our actions except from the masses who have placed us in power. Public opinion orchestrated in smoke filled rooms by opponents of our transformation will no longer hold sway. Henceforth we shall robustly confront Public opinion with people's opinion. The people who continue to show absolute confidence in the leadership of the ANC in spite of the so-called Public opinion. We have chosen the path of a strong government as a response against a strong opposition. We shall rise and fall by our conviction as we did over these many difficult decades of struggle.
As in the past we shall work for the good of all South Africans as envisaged in our timeless Freedom Charter. In doing so we seek the cooperation and unity in action of all patriots and patriotic forces in our country. We are not driven by hatred or vengeance as the country knows that by now. What moves us is the conviction that the majority in this country must also gain full access to all levers and centres of power including gaining ownership of sections of the media. This is extremely important for the transformation discourse.
Our motives are genuine and patriotic. Our new assertiveness might worry some who know us to be always ready to turn the other cheek. What we are doing is not to slap anybody in the face, but to refuse to turn the other cheek. The olive branch is in hand, for those who wish to join us, in the great task of building a country we can all be proud of and to call our home. The land of the rainbow nation. It can be done and shall be done.
Mr Speaker,
Let me return to the Province. In every election, in spite of Honourable Holford tantrums, the Province has given the ANC its biggest mandate. What are the reasons for this?
In April 1999 the results of a countrywide survey conducted by the Kaizer foundation and the Independent Newspaper group were released. At the time it was described as the "most all - encompassing survey of attitudes ever conducted in South Africa"
It found that the people of the Northern Province came out at the top of the category of the "most satisfied" with their living conditions and concluded: "Northern Province is the poorest province but it ranks high because of the remarkable upbeat attitudes of its people. They may not have large salaries or running water inside their houses, but they are more likely to be positive."
Detailed study of poverty conducted by Statistics SA -- released 7 September 2000 -- reflects on extent of poverty in SA. It does however, also find that Northern Province does not experience the highest poverty levels -- as was previously found in other studies -- but is ranked 7th out of 9 provinces --above Free State and Eastern Cape.
In November 2000 Nedlac released the findings of a study that indicated that the majority of SA citizens -- including in the Northern Province -- believe that their quality of life has improved since 1994.
Study conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) -- released 15 November 2000 shows the "lowest level of dissatisfaction" with the performance of local government among Northern Province voters. It is the only province where the level of dissatisfaction is below 40% (slightly lower than Western Cape) compared with Free State (60%); Northern Cape and Northwest (55%) and Gauteng and Eastern Cape (50%)
The same HSRC study finds that 85% of the residents of Northern Province are satisfied with where they stay and do not have a preference to move to another province -- compared to 72% in Gauteng
2000 matric results -- biggest improvement of all the provinces -- up 13,9% to 51,4%. In the past the province was at least 7 percent below the second worst province -- now it is 8th on the list -- higher than the Eastern Cape.
Nedbank's annual crime survey for 2000 finds that province still has lowest level of serious crimes committed per 100 000 of population. On farm attacks it finds that of the 809 reported attacks on farms and smallholdings In 2000 only 11 (eleven) occurred in the province compared to Gauteng 224; Mpumalanga 169 and KZN 141. (NOTE: please treat with caution because of the moratorium on official crime statistics imposed by Hon. Minister Steve Tshwete).
The findings of the survey released on February 20 show that 42% of people in Northern Province and Mpumalanga rates government's performance as good. This is the highest approval rate of all Provinces.
These figures represents the impact that our programmes are beginning to have on the daily lives of ordinary people. So we are not dreaming when we say at last we are ascending the ladder of hope. We are literary knocking at the door of the promised land.
What these figures and other figures also tell us is that we are in the middle of a protracted and daunting struggle. The suffering of our people whilst lessening remains immense and real. This is the reality that government's programmes seek to mediate and eventually end. It must be done.
Many specific issues were raised. I believe most of these fall within the province of line departments. Various MECs will respond at the appropriate time. However, I wish to respond to the issues of Commissions of inquiry and the perception that these are not being properly handled.
The Semenya Commission was released on September 1997. We acted on its recommendation and the Ralushai Commission report has been handed over to the National Ministry and it is, therefore, out of our hands. I can assure members that the Sithole report is due in the next few weeks. Honourable members could accordingly spare the energy required to use jaws of life in releasing the reports from the Premier's Office.
Mr Speaker,
In the context of deepening transformation, my government is fully committed to the integration of all our people. I would, therefore, be singularly unhappy if the feeling of marginalisation by whites in our Province were founded in reality. Accordingly I propose to expand the ongoing dialogue with leaders of this community so that they too can feel belonging in the spirit of the Freedom Charter. We have a responsibility to build a Province of opportunity for all our children, black and white. Again I shall give leadership in this regard.