T Mbeki: Parliament of Namibia joint session

30 October 2007

Honourable Presiding Officers of the National Assembly and the National
Council
Your Excellency, President Hifikepunye Pohamba
Honourable Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
Honourable ministers and deputy ministers
Honourable members
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Comrades and friends

Thank you very much for this opportunity and privilege to address the
Parliament of the Republic of Namibia. I am honoured to bring you the warm
greetings of the government and people of South Africa.

This is a special moment for me and my delegation because we are able,
through this address to the public representatives of Namibia, speaking on
behalf of the South African people, to thank our brothers and sisters in this
country with whom we engaged in a common titanic struggle to defeat the
apartheid crime against humanity, which represented itself here in Namibia also
as a colonial monster.

As we prosecuted that difficult struggle, both our peoples drew strength
from the victories of each of our fighting forces while the setbacks
experienced by any echelon of our struggling masses was correctly viewed as a
reversal for all of us. Accordingly, the independence of Namibia on 21 March
1990 was an important milestone that ensured that the freedom of the people of
South Africa could not be postponed for much longer.

All of us, members of the African National Congress (ANC), led by that
outstanding revolutionary, Oliver Tambo, whose 90th birthday we celebrated only
three days ago, were greatly inspired to attend the independence celebrations
in this city on that historic day in 1990.

The reality that we suffered the same fate in the past, and experienced the
same liberation from oppression, has indeed served to cement the ties that bind
us to a common destiny.

That common destiny is of an African continent defined by peace, by
security, by development and by prosperity; it is of an African continent whose
countries, individually and collectively are free from poverty, disease,
underdevelopment and conflicts; a continent whose citizens occupy a pride of
place among the people of the world, no more marginalised, no more an object of
pity; a continent that has reclaimed its pre-eminence as a centre of
technological innovation, scientific excellence and cultural advancement; a
continent that would ensure that the 21st does indeed become an African
century.

These, as the honourable members know, are the logical outcomes of the dream
of an African Renaissance and constitute the objectives of an African agenda as
enunciated in the Constitutive Act of the African Union and its development
programme, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).

Honourable Speaker and honourable members,

We live during an important new revolutionary era, whose form and content is
different from the previous one. A evolutionary era that was defined by the
struggle against imperialism, colonialism and apartheid.

I refer here to a new revolutionary era because when we transformed the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU) we also
transformed the terms of engagement among ourselves as Africans.

Indeed, we moved from concentrating our resources towards the defeat of
colonialism and apartheid to the struggle against poverty and
underdevelopment.

As you know, with the exception of Western Sahara, our countries were the
last nations on the African continent to overcome colonialism and
apartheid.

We are proud that both our countries, immediately after our struggles and
sacrifices brought democracy to our shores, have done what we can to be part of
the forward brigade in the new revolution for true democracy, for peace, for
security and development, together creating conditions for all our peoples to
embark on a journey whose destination is a better life.

Namibia, South Africa and other African countries are critical components
parts of the African Renaissance movement because we know the pain of
autocracy, of poverty and underdevelopment. Indeed the work we are doing
together through the AU and Nepad demonstrates that the African renaissance is
neither a mirage nor a pipedream, but a reality of our lifetime.

Our refrain continues to be that Africa's time has come. There can be no
stopping the momentum of change towards building the better continent whose
people must realise their fullest humanity through self-reliance, empowerment,
partnerships within our countries and continent and between our continent and
the countries of the south and the north.

We have insisted that we, as Africans, must own the vision and programmes
for the reconstruction and development of the African continent.

We firmly believe that without the broad mobilisation of all our people on
the continent and those in the Diaspora, as well as the harnessing of our own
resources, the regeneration of Africa will remain a dream deferred.

At the same time, through the AU and its development programme, Nepad, we
have sought to build on the previous good work done by the OAU.

Among the rich legacies left to us by the OAU is the African Economic
Community (AEC) established in 1991 by 51 African states in Abuja, Nigeria, as
an integral part of the OAU.

The coming together of these African nations to form the AEC was prompted by
the necessity for collective planning and action to build intra-continental
economic relations for the benefit of the African masses.

Of importance, the AEC developed four critical objectives that would guide
Africa's socio-development, namely:

* to promote economic, social and cultural development and the integration
of African economies in order to increase economic self-reliance and promote
endogenous and self-sustained development
* to establish, on a continental scale, a framework for the development,
mobilisation and utilisation of the human and material resources of Africa in
order to achieve self-reliant development
* to promote co-operation in all fields of human endeavour in order to raise
the standard of living of African peoples, and maintain and enhance economic
stability, foster close and peaceful relations among Member States and
contribute to the progress, development and economic integration of the
Continent; and finally
* to co-ordinate and harmonise policies among existing and future regional
economic communities to foster the gradual establishment of the community.

Accordingly, the vision and programmes of the AU and Nepad are rooted in the
long-standing desire, commitment and efforts of the African people to work
together for the integration of our economies as well as the creation of a
continental socio-political unity that would facilitate the faster development
of our countries.

Through the AEC we agreed, as Africans, that we needed to do more to
strengthen existing regional economic communities, create new ones where
necessary, and ensure that we achieve intra and inter-regional
co-operation.

We also agreed on such important economic matters as trade liberalisation in
each regional economic community; the adoption of a common trade policy and
working towards a common external tariff to establish a common African
market.

Again, we committed ourselves to a gradual elimination of obstacles to the
free movement of persons, goods, services and capital and the right of
residence among member states.

In this regard, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), such as Southern
African Development Community (SADC) and Economic Community for West African
States (Ecowas), constitute critical building blocks of the envisaged project
of African integration.

The honourable members will be familiar with the outcome of this year's July
AU summit meeting held in Accra, which convened under the theme, "Grand Debate
on the Union Government".

Again we must applaud the decision of the AU to hold this summit meeting in
Ghana, to celebrate the epoch-making 50th anniversary of the independence of
this sister African country, under the leadership of the great Kwame
Nkrumah.

This year's historic summit meeting in Ghana concluded by adopting "The
Accra Declaration", among other things, the Declaration said: "We agree…to
rationalise and strengthen the Regional Economic Communities, and harmonise
their activities, in conformity with our earlier decision, so as to lead to the
creation of an African Common Market, through the stages set in the Treaty
Establishing the African Economic Community (Abuja Treaty), with a reviewed and
shorter timeframe to be agreed upon in order to accelerate the economic and,
where possible, political integration."

Thus "The Accra Declaration" placed the principal burden of accelerating the
advance to the political and economic integration and unity of Africa on the
shoulders of our Continent's Regional Economic Communities, such as SADC.

Our firm view is that SADC is well-placed to discharge its role in this
regard. We have the great advantage that our region was brought together as a
strategic alliance of nations by the united struggle we waged to defeat
colonialism and apartheid.

This laid a firm basis for us to use this strategic alliance to confront the
common challenge of poverty and underdevelopment, while making the contribution
mandated by the July Accra AU summit meeting to the historic objective of
African Unity.

We have already demonstrated what we can do in this regard. At the last
Annual Lusaka Summit Meeting of SADC in August, we commissioned the SADC
Peace-Keeping Brigade, the first of the Regional Brigades required by the AU to
constitute the critically important Standing Peace-keeping Forces of the
African Union.

I believe that as a region, including our governments, our parliaments, our
political and other formations, and the masses of our people, we should pose
and answer this question, what should we do to take the lead to advance the
objective of African Unity, bearing in mind the tasks reflected in "The Accra
Declaration".

Of course, our region has already grasped the challenge to implement the
Abuja Treaty by adopting strategies that seek, among other things, to create a
"SADC Free Trade Area and Customs Union".

SADC has also adopted the "Regional Indicative Strategy Development Plan"
and the "Strategy Indicative Plan for the Organ on Politics" to accelerate the
integration processes in our region.

I mention some of these important matters on integration because this is the
route we must take to give effect to the vision of the African Renaissance and
African Unity.

Further, Honourable Speaker, Nepad has identified a number of areas that are
central to the regeneration of our continent. One of these, as I have
mentioned, is our ability to mobilise internal resources for our
development.

In this regard, this year we launched "The Pan-African Infrastructure
Development Fund" to finance large-scale African infrastructure projects, using
funds mobilised from our own continent, bearing in mind the specific
developmental needs across the African continent.

As Africans we take pride in our ability to take responsibility for the
establishment of this unprecedented Fund which, at the moment, has mobilised
$625-million. Relying on this capital base, the Fund has pledged to finance
African projects among others, in energy, technology, transport and water.

Again, last week, on 24 October 2007, the African Union Commission in
collaboration with the European Commission launched the EU-Africa Partnership
on Infrastructure at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Among other
resources, 5,6 billion euros from the 10th European Development Fund and an
innovative financial instrument, the Trust Fund, has been set aside to support
the Partnership.

Further, the partnership is aimed at ensuring a substantial increase of EU
investment in African infrastructure and delivery of transport, energy, water,
telecommunications and ICT services. This is a response to the development
goals that we have set ourselves.

Again, the African Development Bank reported early this year that it has
mobilised US $1,6 billion to finance various infrastructure improvement
projects across Africa, mainly in the rail, road and energy sectors. The Bank
also announced that it has already financed 33 different projects under Nepad
to the cost of US$800 million.

The Nepad projects that the bank is financing include the Kenya-Uganda oil
pipeline and the Kenya-Ethiopia highway extending nearly 1,600 kilometre from
the port of Mombasa to Addis Ababa.

Clearly, all these are very important initiatives because poor
infrastructure means it would be impossible for us as Africans to realise our
objectives.

Honourable Speaker, one of Nepad's important projects, the Eastern Africa
Submarine Cable System (EASSy), a 9 900 kilometre-long submarine cable between
Durban and Port Sudan, which will radically reduce telecommunications costs in
Africa could be operational by the end of 2008.

EASSy will connect with terrestrial fibre-optic cables to make up what will
be known as the Nepad Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Broadband
Network. This is aimed at helping the continent to free itself from its
dependence on expensive satellite systems to carry voice and data traffic.

In addition, honourable members, Nepad has launched an important ICT
programme called the Nepad e-Schools Initiative which will ensure that schools
across the continent have access to modern communication technology. This
initiative covers both the primary and secondary schools and is very central to
the challenge of skills development in all our countries, and meeting the
Millennium Development Goals in this regard.

As we all know, one of the challenges facing our continent is hunger and
food insecurity. For a long time, to date, malnutrition and starvation have
characterised the lives of many Africans.

The 2003 AU Summit Meeting held in Maputo adopted the Comprehensive Africa
Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Co-operating with the RECs, the
Nepad machinery is working to implement this important Agricultural
Programme.

The CAADP draws our attention as member governments to actions designed to
rejuvenate African agriculture. It also provides a framework for harmonised and
collaborative responsive action to the agricultural challenges on the
continent.

Specifically CAADP outlines four key areas on which we must focus to improve
African agriculture. These are:

* to extend the area under sustainable land management and reliable water
control systems
* to improve rural infrastructure and trade related capacities for tradable
agricultural surpluses
* to increase food supply, reduce hunger, and improve responses to food
emergency crises
* to improve agricultural research, technology dissemination and adoption
* to maximise the contribution of agriculture, as Africa's largest economic
sector, to the development of self-reliant and productive economies.

Most of our countries already report that they are allocating or working to
allocate the minimum of 10% of their national budgetary resources to
agriculture, in line with the 2003 Maputo agreement.

I mention all these projects and processes because, together with others
that are being implemented at country and regional levels, they communicate a
story of a continent which although faced with many challenges, is however
engaged in an exciting process of regeneration.

For the African Renaissance to work, and indeed for the vision of a peaceful
and prosperous continent to be realised, we need not only political will, but
also creative African solutions to our problems.

The African Renaissance is not just a philosophy, or an ideal – it is
through, the Constitutive Act of the AU and Nepad, a practical roadmap through
which we can all attain our common dream.

Honourable members, I am certain that we are all agreed that good
governance, the institutionalisation of democracy, political mobilisation for
development, and creating conditions for political stability are the warp and
woof we need to ensure that our people reap the development dividend that must
come with liberation.

For this purpose we have introduced the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)
as yet another African initiative. The APRM is an essential tool for the
signatory nations to gauge progress on the governance front, from an African
perspective, on an objective basis, so as to make necessary interventions in
areas of governance that may still need some fine-tuning.

The APRM, which has been in force for a few years now, is there to remind
all of us entrusted by our respective electorates to run the affairs of our
countries, that whatever we do must be in the interest of the people.

The success of this programme and the benefits that it accrues to
signatories is shown by the fact that member countries reiterated their
commitment to the APRM process at the continental conference in May this
year.

Honourable Speaker, I believe that we should welcome and applaud the
frequency of the interaction between the leaders of our two countries. Less
than a year ago I was in this beautiful capital city to attend our fifth Heads
of State Economic Bilateral meeting, which further concretised our shared
economic roadmap.

Since then, I had the privilege to receive His Excellency President Pohamba
and his delegation in South Africa on 11 October for our highly successful
sixth Heads of State Economic Bilateral meeting.

The following day, I had the pleasure together with His Excellency the
President, and President Festus Mogae of Botswana, to attend the opening of the
Mata-Mata border gate.

We celebrate and must celebrate the excellent relations that exist between
our two countries. The reality is that both our histories and our destinies are
inextricably tied together. In a literal sense we shall sink or swim
together.

Tomorrow I will have the privilege to accompany President Pohamba as he
chairs the important Windhoek Investment conference intended to attract larger
volumes of capital to finance various projects which our governments have
identified through the Heads of State Economic Bilateral process.

Happily, all reports indicate that this important conference will attract
many investors. At the end of the day, we must ensure that we intensify our
co-operation to achieve a better life for our two peoples, on a sustainable
basis.

During our last meeting with His Excellency President Pohamba in Tshwane or
Pretoria, we also discussed the need for our two countries to intensify our
co-operation in the all-important area of human resource development.

I am pleased to inform this important assembly of the elected
representatives of the people of Namibia that, as we agreed with President
Pohamba, our respective Ministers of Education will meet soon to give effect to
this shared commitment. As your neighbour we are greatly interested that this
sister Republic of Namibia should indeed successfully address its human
resource challenges.

I am convinced that our current visit to heroic Namibia will again enable us
to renew our bonds of friendship and solidarity and further strengthen our
bilateral relations.

We are privileged that we have the possibility to work closely with the
government, the parliament and the people of Namibia at the bilateral level, in
the Southern African Customs Union, in SADC, the AU and Nepad, the Non-Aligned
Movement and the United Nations to realise our shared goals.

Of the greatest importance, let us together, as we did during our common
struggle for freedom from apartheid tyranny, join hands in the new revolution,
a revolution that should and must bring peace, security, development and
prosperity to all Africans, as well as the unity of our continent.

I thank you for your kind attention.

Issued by: The Presidency
30 October 2007
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)