18 June 2002
Madame Speaker,
Cde President,
Cde Deputy President
Hon. Members
One of the most pressing challenges we face in South Africa is to root out discrimination. The battle on the racial and the gender front is being pursued with vigour, although there are serious setbacks from time to time, and some people in the public and private sector could do far more in the cause. Yet there is ground for believing that, more than many other countries in the world, we are finally, though slowly, creating the reality of a non-racial, non-sexist democracy.
For this we must to a great extent thank the leadership of our democratic statehood, visionaries such as O R Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. We also appreciate from our own history the futility of national division, and this gives us inspiration to ensure that it will never happen again. But we must also thank the ordinary people of this land, and particularly the youth, who are finding ways to get closer to one another despite past divisions and the disruptive reality of unacceptable poverty amid concentrated wealth. The unifying experience of seeing a whole nation enthuse over the Soccer World Cup last week was stunning. We won as a nation.
Yet race and gender are not the only discriminatory fields where we must focus our attention. There is the question of people with disabilities. They have for years suffered the indignity of being neglected and excluded. We must redouble our efforts to put this right. We live part-way through the African Decade for Disabled Persons, 1999-2009, declared by the Organisation of African Unity. We seek African solutions to a world problem, and there are signs that disability is on the increase in Africa and that people with disabilities continue to be marginalized as countries grapple with economic woes and civil strife.
The New Partnership for Africa's Development [NEPAD] offers the chance of real growth in economies and improvement in social conditions, and we therefore can see hope at the end of the tunnel; and we are inspired to press on with NEPAD with commitment and enthusiasm.
We have been actively engaging friends on the continent and in the region to ensure that the disability movement will thrive. The Office on the Status of Disabled People in the Presidency [OSDP], in conjunction with like-minded institutions, has been actively at work on this in the past year.
Not only were we one of the first countries to make known our support for a United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, as reported on last year, but we have also been engaging international friends and multi-national fora on this important development to ensure that the fight for equality of people with disabilities is both sustained and truly international. Discussions in this regard at United Nations level are at an advanced stage and we are playing our role.
At the same time Government encourages people with disabilities to make their slogan "Nothing about us without us" a reality; and there are programmes to train city councillors in the new local government structures so that they will be willing and able to increase delivery of services to people with disabilities. Councillors with disabilities will be offered training, too. Disability desks are being established within the district and metropolitan councils to achieve these objectives.
Apart from ongoing work in ensuring the implementation of the Integrated National Disability Strategy in all national departments and the Provinces, a major challenge we face is the continuing lack of awareness around disability in general and the rights of people with disabilities in particular. In this regard the OSDP in the coming year will focus extensively on a broad awareness programme, to be implemented through partnerships with disability organisations such as the SA Federal Council and Disabled People SA. The OSDP is engaging similar partnerships to ensure that the broad government drive to register all people who qualify for social grants in the coming year becomes a reality for people with disabilities, no matter where they make their daily living.
The Joint Monitoring Committee on the Quality of Life and Status of Youth, Children and People with Disabilities has an important role to play and we would appreciate all the support and assistance that resides in this committee.
In terms of the lives and well being of our children, we remember vividly that children - many of them hardly in their teens - were instrumental in the fight against apartheid; and we salute those children, particularly in view of the heroism of young people in Soweto and elsewhere commemorated on Sunday. Today the South African Constitution strongly promotes the rights of children; and their wellbeing is of paramount importance to the nation. We have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and a number of other international treaties, such as the Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. We have also ratified the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children. The African Charter points the way to important regional co-operation. It is only when we work together as the African continent that we will be able to address the issues that plague us: such as war, conflict, abject poverty and communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS.
We are poised to bring about real development and prosperity for our continent, our nation, our people and especially our children. NEPAD also is an important vehicle for the advancement and sustainability of the rights of our children. We stand convinced that the only approach to ensure, in the long term, the protection of children's rights is integrally to link political and economic progress with the everyday lives of our children in a comprehensive and holistic manner.
Since South Africa's ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in June 1995, we developed a National Programme of Action for Children (NPA). Our vision is simply: "Put Children First".
Our legislation and policies are in line with the Constitution and some of the advances we have made relate to healthcare services provided free for pregnant mothers and also for children under the age of six years; primary health care; the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses introduced at primary healthcare facilities to address principal causes of childhood illnesses and death. There is also the Expanded Programme on Immunisation which has succeeded in reducing both polio and measles close to elimination. There is the introduction of the Integrated Nutrition Programme which aims to improve the nutritional status of especially children aged 0-6 years and primary school children from poor households - the aim being to provide a meal a day. The Child Justice Bill, shortly to be considered by this House, deals with children accused of crimes, and it aims to set a new minimum age for criminal capacity, ensure individual assessment of each child, establish a special legal procedure and provide for a creative range of sentencing options. A comprehensive review of child care legislation is under way including the important focal area of sexual offences against children. The Moral Regeneration Movement, led by Deputy President Zuma, includes reflection and planned action over all forms of abuse against children.
The public awareness campaign we have been engaging in to ensure that all people, notably children themselves, know what their rights are, is now well established. Similarly, on the first Saturday of November every year we celebrate National Children's day. In 2001 we moved out of the traditional metropolitan centres to celebrate this important day on our calendar in one of the more rural and underdeveloped provinces - we plan to continue this trend in 2002.
We are working not only at national level. The Office on the Rights of the Child in the Presidency (ORC) and the rest of the National Programme of Action for Children (NPA) role-players will further engage provinces and local councils and municipalities to establish local plans of action for children to ensure that implementation is real for all children, no matter where they find themselves.
The challenges we face remain - especially in the light of media reports in the last 12 months on child and related abuse. We need to ensure that people are not only aware of the implications of our Constitution with regard to the rights of children but more importantly that our daily actions as government, civil society and individuals reflect a true understanding and appreciation of the value of our children.
The ORC in conjunction with the NPA Secretariat will in the coming year engage role-players at all levels on the possibility of developing a comprehensive SA Government policy document to chart the South African-specific challenges and outcomes we envisage as we prepare to enter the second decade of democracy.
The Office on the Status of Women in the Presidency (OSW), as reported last year, continued with the training of gender focal points in national departments and the staff members in Provincial OSWs. This work has reaped benefits not only for the individuals attending the workshops and training sessions but it made a broader impact on the general strengthening of the gender machinery as envisaged in the National Policy Framework for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. We intend continuing with this work until such time that all stakeholders have gained adequate competency levels for full implementation of government programmes and activities in all three spheres.
A major focus of the work of the OSW in the past 12 months was on actively engaging institutions and counterparts on the continent and in the region to establish the requisite gender focus structures for the implementation of NEPAD programmes and the launch of the African Union. One of the challenges is the continued danger of watering down the important advances made in Beijing.
Generally, our national and provincial institutions compare most favourably in world terms. Nine out of 27 Ministers (or 33,3%) are women; 8 out of 14 Deputy Ministers (57,1%) are women; 30,3% of the National Assembly members are women; and 25,8% of provincial legislature members are women. It is well known that the ANC record in these matters is enviable, and there is warranted cause for pride here. I challenge other parties to follow suit. I urge MPs generally, and the portfolio and joint monitoring committees in particular, to deliberate to see that all parties reach acceptable levels in a defined time. When we emerge from the 2004 elections, let us be sure that our representivity will be the envy of the enlightened world. Precisely the same goes for persons with disabilities.
In the next two years South Africa has significant reporting responsibilities in terms of our commitments to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the Commonwealth, the OAU and SADC. The OSW with the ongoing work in the Policy Unit in the Presidency and in close co-operation with the rest of Government, the Legislatures and civil society, will this year put in place the necessary processes and systems to ensure that these reports are truly reflecting the advances made in the last eight years and the challenges we face to reach a real non-sexist and gender-equal society in South Africa.
Some of the early indications in terms of these advances are reflected in the recently released second edition of "Women and Men in South Africa" from Statistics SA. Among other things, it indicates that we have seen a decrease in the numbers of women and the distances they have walked for access to fuel and water since 1995. There has been better and closer access to clean water as well as increased numbers of women accessing work.
The challenges we face relate to ensuring departmental-specific gender policy documents and the development of an inclusive and comprehensive National Action Plan to attain gender equity and women's empowerment on the basis of these policy documents. The OSW will do more work and consult further in this regard during the coming year.
Last year when we gathered here it was reported that soon a framework for the sustainable development of young people would be adopted by government. This year we are proud to report that Cabinet accepted a National Policy Framework for Youth Development. It is a policy framework which provides us with a clear indication of the areas where we would like to make advances between now and 2007.
In this regard the National Youth Commission (NYC) has been playing a crucial role not only in popularising the framework with young people themselves but also with all the other organisations and institutions focusing on the issues that affect the lives of our younger generation. The NYC has established strong and functional relations with the South African Youth Council (SAYC) and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund to ensure that the issues of youth unemployment, skills development, involvement of young people in agriculture, tourism as outlined in the policy document, receive the attention needed to assure implementation and not only talk.
This year, inspired by the national call of Vuk'uzenzele the South African youth, under the leadership of the NYC and the SAYC, is embarking on a series of service activities. The establishment of volunteer corps in communities to sustain the campaign on the practice of volunteerism beyond June 2002 will form the backbone of these activities.
We are continuing to engage national government departments and all other role-players on the best possible ways in which to establish a fully-fledged National Youth Service - one that will truly entrench the spirit of how we can lend a hand to build a better future.
Further to these activities the NYC launched a Guide, focusing on the needs and types of information that young people do not readily find available and which assist them to take full control and charge of their own development and future through accessing what services and information are already available.
The most serious challenges we face as government with regard to these four specific and important areas of transformation - gender equality, disability, the rights of children and young people - are not so much related to the policy and planning phases but, most importantly, to how we can ensure that the knowledge and experience we have developed over the past five years (the time these areas have been receiving specific focus from the Presidency) are truly used in implementing government's programmes across the board. Indeed, how do we ensure that these focus areas become an integral part of our monitoring and evaluation systems in government -nationally, in provinces and at local level? The Policy and Co-ordination Unit in the Presidency will work closely with the people responsible for these programmes and activities to ensure that, whenever we look at ourselves and establish how far we moved in preceding months and years, we also do so through the lenses of people living with the realities of disability, gender discrimination, the challenges of being young in SA today and how well we have met our commitment to put children first.
Taking a broader look at South Africa look and drawing on research, which has been done, at Stellenbosch University. In terms of real growth, South Africa boomed after the Second World War up to the mid-1970s, with an annual average growth rate of 4,73 at constant rand values (based on 1995, and taking inflation out of the figures). In the period 1977 to 1994 average growth fell to 1,56%. But from 1994 to 1999 the new democracy's economy started to stir, with average growth of 2,5% recorded annually. Now, in the two years from 2000 to 2001, annual average growth was 2,8%. This is a significant turnaround.
And let us take a long-term look at per capita income, in constant rand terms. From 1975 to 1993 it declined by 11%. Yet from January 1994 to 1999 it increased by 2,2%. Finally, in the following two years, 2000/2001, it rose by another 1,6%. That, too, is a significant bounce-back.
So, to close, let me relate to Hon. Members some facts about a remarkable country I know:
Yes, honourable members, this is our very own South Africa; and the above picture is an appropriate birthday present for the President.
It remains for me to offer my warm thanks to all in The Presidency who put dedicated shoulder to the wheel in the cause of the country: the Director-General and Management and all levels of staff; and those in the offices that fall within The Presidency dedicated to creating a better life for those who have disabilities, for women, children and the youth.
Thank-you.