3 October 2002
Molo mohlobo wam!
Ministers
Distinguished Guests and members of the Media
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the launch of the first phase of government's public education campaign in support of the long-awaited Telkom Initial Public Offering. This campaign seeks to demystify and raise awareness of the concept of shares, and promote a culture of equity participation and savings among all South Africans, including historically disadvantaged individuals.
Achieving broader and meaningful participation in the economy is one of the critical objectives of the accelerated restructuring of state-owned enterprises. This objective is an integral part of government's Reconstruction and Development Programme, which is aimed at building a better life for all.
The Reconstruction and Development programme seeks to promote economic growth, job creation, and access to affordable services for ordinary citizens.
As we refocus the developmental role of the state to take the plight of the poor seriously, we also unlock increasing opportunities for expanding ownership of wealth through black economic empowerment and for improving the efficiency and performance of state-owned enterprises.
The listing of Telkom includes a dedicated offer targeting historically disadvantaged individuals and groups such as stockvels. Discounts are envisaged to address affordability, together with loyalty bonus shares to promote long-term shareholding. To ensure this happens, we are embarking on a campaign to build public awareness and knowledge of shares, equity investment and capital markets in general.
I am sure you will be as excited as we are about the developmental impact that this campaign will have on all South Africans. As you will see, the campaign is targeted specifically at historically disadvantaged people as well as at individuals who may be interested in making their money work in different ways.
As Government, we strongly believe that Telkom's listing will have significant macroeconomic benefits for the country. Government will raise optimal funds from the listing - funds that will go a long way towards increasing social expenditure without creating debt. Also, we are convinced that a successfully executed Telkom IPO listing will contribute to the improvement of South Africa's rating and investment outlook.
As you know, the listing process has involved a range of role-players, many of whom are present here today. They include other ministers, officials from different departments, and members of the consortium led by our Joint Global Coordinators, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan, and their respective partners - African Harvest Bank, WIP Capital, Legae Securities and SCMB.
Owing to the hard work and dedication of all role players, I am pleased to confirm that we are on schedule for executing the Telkom IPO within this financial year. Having said that, I am sure you will appreciate that we are not in a position at this stage to announce details of the offer structure or its size. But what I can report is that the preparatory work is at an advanced stage to ensure the most effective structure, to set up the necessary distribution mechanisms, and to prepare all the legal and financial documentation necessary for the offer to proceed within the applicable South African and international securities regulations.
For us in Government, it is critical that the Telkom IPO provides an opportunity for maximum participation among all South Africans. Hence, we are today launching a public education campaign to put across the message and to make people throughout the land aware of the opportunities presented by the entire restructuring programme of SOEs.
This Telkom IPO initiative contains critical empowerment components. The process includes various empowered law firms, printers, public relations agencies, distribution agencies, caterers, event managers, and Telkom employees past and present. We have made every effort to leverage opportunities associated with this transaction to drive empowerment and help build a broad-based infrastructure for the future.
The public education campaign includes targeted advertising and public relations campaigns involving community radio stations and community activists. A cadre of financial literacy trainers is being deployed throughout the country to demystify concepts such as shares, share trading and the opportunities they present among the financially non-literate and our communities.
The trainers will use multi-purpose community centres and community radio stations as focus points for spreading their message - ensuring that people in rural South Africa hear the message on their radios and, wherever possible, have access to trained financial literacy educators in their own communities.
The same message will go into our schools, where educators will explain the concept of share ownership to learners.
Now, I would like to show you what our public education campaign will look like and leave you with this message: Our strength is in our sharing!