2 March 2001
Chairperson, distinguished editors, whom I am told are representing over 35 publications world-wide, our own "The Big Issue" in Cape Town, hosts of this event, ladies and gentlemen I am pleased to welcome you to South Africa. I have read with interest that the International Network of Street Papers was established in 1994. Born out of a vision to mobilise support and promote social inclusion of those who are forced to live on the side walks of society - your aims and vision resonate with our process of political democracy begun in 1994.
South Africa is undergoing fundamental change. Change that would never have reached the stage of a transfer of political power to the excluded majority without our own liberation movement and international solidarity and support.
It is precisely for these reasons that we support your initiatives. The support you provide for socially excluded people, such as vendor support, counselling, and training, job skills and art and writing workshops is developmental. Your philosophy of 'a hand up, not a hand out' sends out of powerful message to us. One that says no matter how vulnerable and excluded people are from mainstream society - through their own efforts own efforts at self organisation, their own energy, creativity and human potential -they can begin to claim the space that is rightfully theirs.
Using the space to speak out against poverty, social exclusion and other social problems is possible if there is an enabling environment with active support from governments and the private sector. Your role in information managers is also very vital in this regard.
As in other parts of the word, South Africa is grappling with the need to put into place democratic, responsive and sustainable systems to address social exclusion, poverty and inequality. This Freedom and independence of the media is guaranteed in the constitution to ensure precisely that.
Ladies and Gentlemen in South Africa we have experienced the wanton breakdown of family and community life as a result of apartheid. Our traditional forms of social solidarity have been eroded. Structural unemployment and a lack of work opportunities in the formal labour market have placed increased demands on the government and people. Poverty, unemployment and the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS have resulted in greater fragmentation, alienation and hardship for many. We still continue to experience the breakdown of family life, the high levels of child abuse and neglect, young people who are in trouble with the law, homeless children and families, violence of all sorts against women, children and the elderly and many other social ills.
Last year I went through the length and breath of our country, visiting the poorest communities, I met with the elderly, women, children, people with disability all of whom are still living in conditions of extreme poverty. What was worth noting was that most of them were saying that they do not want the government to provide them with everything but rather create an enabling environment for them to provide for themselves. They do not want to be given fish but rather taught how to fish.
Overcoming the past and its consequences continues to be a challenge for all of society. Although we are beginning to redress institutionalised discrimination, it remains difficult to erase the consequences of past policies.
These are indeed "Big Issues". They are about life and death. They affect all of us. They should connect all of us across households, communities, provinces and countries. These issues are not unique to South Africa. Your Street papers and magazines put such issues on the development agenda and challenge us to confront them.
But our experience is also a lesson. A lesson of what happens to a society and its cohesion when social engineering privileges a few and excludes the majority. Only once we begin to heal the social wounds of the past will all citizens experience the benefits of democracy and liberation.
An important element in healing social wounds, is the creation of a society where social justice prevails, and any actual or perceived unfairness in access to a better life is removed. Furthermore, we must ensure that no-person is excluded from participating in our society because of a lack of basic needs and access to opportunities for their full human development.
The foundation of the government's anti-poverty and inequality programme rests on meeting basic needs, providing social protection, human resource development; and job creation that must lead to the creation of the caring society and a better life for all. President Thabo Mbeki in his state of the Nation Address on February 9, 2001 outlined the details of the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development strategy and the Urban Renewal Strategy. This is the main programme of delivery for the government to the poor and its main thrust is partnership between the government, the private sector, civil society, the communities and indeed the media.
In these programmes there is the Poverty Relief Fund, established to support initiatives organised by the poorest and most vulnerable members of our communities. This is used to support income generating social development projects. It is designed to assists organised programmes that would benefit the homeless, the disabled, the vulnerable and excluded, particularly poor women and children. It should provide a "hand up" for self help group trying to move out of poverty.
Moreover, we recognise that resource depleted communities - be they the homeless, street vendors or others - must be empowered, through capacity building, engage in community and project self -management. We will not be able to address issues of sustainability without adequate resources set aside for the training and retooling of those who presently remain on the margins of our society.
Chairperson, we are living in a world characterised by rapid globalisation as well as information technological revolution. In this regard, South Africa is an integral part of the Southern African region and also plays an important and leading role in the African Renaissance. This place a huge responsibility in ensuring that the development of South Africa is linked to the development to the continent as a whole so as to ensure sustainability development.
In this direction, governments together with civil society and the private sector have a shared responsibility to create an enabling environment for the type of work you do. We must act to ensure that initiatives such as yours are provided with the space to make decisions and mobilise action at all levels of our society. The type of inequalities and extreme poverty that exists in our countries is unsustainable in human and social terms. Through your publications, you provide a critical mirror of what needs to change in our societies and we look forward to the conclusions of your deliberations over the next three days and hope that they will assist us a great deal in dealing with the huge political, economic and social challenges still facing us.
I hope you will enjoy the beauty of Cape Town and its wonderful people.
I wish you well in your deliberations and I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Social Development
Enquiries: Mbulelo Musi
Cell: 083 602 5795