Z Skweyiya: Summit of Connectional Lay Organisation of African Methodist
Episcopal Church

3 March 2006

Programme director0
Mr Jesse Burns, President of the Lay Organisation
Distinguished members of the Lay Organisation of the AME
Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you for the invitation to give the opening address to this empowerment
summit of the Connectional Lay Organization of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church. I welcome the opportunity to address the subject of Government’s
poverty reduction programmes and the role of the church in these efforts. This
is because it affords me the opportunity to both contribute to the on-going
social dialogue in our society and acknowledge the commitment of the Lay
Organisation to train is members on both church related and socio-economic
issues.

It is therefore fitting to begin this address by acknowledging the long
standing tradition within the AME church of engaging the historic challenge of
promoting a shared destiny of peace, democracy, non-racism, non-sexism, shared
prosperity and a better life for all. It is because of this shared destiny that
I say ‘welcome to Johannesburg’ to our brothers and sisters from all parts of
the continent and the Diaspora. It is vital that we always situate our
discussions and deliberations within the context of historical experience.

Since its founding, the AME church has always adopted a revolutionary stance
towards defending the spiritual, cultural, socio-economic and political
independence of African people. This was an example we followed in setting up
the African National Congress. We have always understood the political and
social significance of the fact that Ethiopia was never colonised and to this
day we relentlessly strive to affirm the fact that African people are the best
governors -- in all respects -- of African nations and societies. Because of
its principled stance on this fundamental issue, the AME church continues to
have a positive influence on South African society to this day.

Because of this historical experience, it is appropriate to begin this
address by acknowledging the fact that this meeting is being held at a time
when South Africa is 12 years into its journey as a free and democratic
society. This journey is the culmination of hundreds of years of principled
resistance, determined struggle, international solidarity, and on-going social
dialogue. We are 12 years into our journey as a free and democratic nation and
millions of our people have seized the opportunity to define for themselves
what we want to make of our shared destiny. It is important to recognise that
millions of our people know from their experience that today is better than
yesterday, and are confident that tomorrow will be better than today.

It is in this context that the Connectional Lay Organisation of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church is meeting in Johannesburg in 2006 to discuss the
theme “Laity sowing seeds beyond the walls: An agenda of ministry and
service”.

Programme director, for various reasons, which I cannot dwell upon, I am
dedicating this opening address to the memory of the late Charlotte Manye
Maxeke – a stalwart of the South African struggle for liberation in all its
dimensions. More than a 100 years ago Charlotte Maxeke was making her mark as
an outstanding student at Wilberforce University in the United States under the
tutelage of the great African American intellectual -- WEB Du Bois

Subsequently on her return to South Africa, as an intellectual leader and
social activist, Charlotte Maxeke played a key role in modernising our society.
She was a pioneer and leader in the education, social welfare, faith and
political arenas of our society and served a stint as the President of the
African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League. Beyond her god given talents
she was effective because she traversed the walls between the education, social
welfare, faith and political sectors of our society.

Wilberforce University, the Wilberforce Institute at Evaton, and the African
Methodist Episcopal Church, were central influences throughout the life of this
gifted educator, inspirational leader, and committed community development
worker. It is appropriate that we recall the contribution of Charlotte Manye
Maxeke at this time because she exemplified the theme of this summit -- “Laity
sowing seeds beyond the walls: An agenda of ministry and service.” In her
memory, it is also appropriate that this summit is taking place in the year
when we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Women’s March on Pretoria.
This march drew participants from across a broad cross-section of our society
and entrenched the role of women at the forefront of our liberation struggle.
Throughout our journey to freedom and democracy, the church has stood shoulder
to shoulder with the organized formations of our people and other social
partners to bring about liberation and socio-economic development.

With this history, context and the example of Charlotte Manye Maxeke in
mind; allow me to turn to the subject of the Government’s poverty reduction
programmes and the role of the church in these efforts.

There are two fundamental reference points for Government’s poverty
reduction programmes – the Reconstruction and Development Programme of 1994 and
the socio-economic rights entrenched in the Constitution of 1996. Base upon
these founding documents, the people of South Africa have given us a mandate to
focus on creating employment and combating poverty.

A strong case can be made that the success or failure of government in
creating an enabling environment for sustainable development in our country
will largely be determined by the appropriateness of the institutional
frameworks that it creates. Within these frameworks, other powerful and
influential actors, for instance the business sector, the faith sector and
organised labour, interaction amongst themselves and with each other according
to their own logics. The government, representing the collective will of the
nation, gives leadership to these interactions by articulating long term
development objectives.

The parameters of the Government’s long term development objectives and
implementation plan for the next ten years of democracy are outlined in the
“Vision 2014” framework. These parameters encompass:

* Contributing to reducing unemployment through sustainable community
livelihoods. Contributing to reducing poverty through comprehensive social
security, and improved household and community assets.
* Providing skills, building capacity and providing resources to encourage
self-employment.
* Ensuring that all South Africans, especially the poor and those at risk -
children, youth, women, the aged, and people with disabilities - are able fully
to exercise their constitutional rights and enjoy the full dignity of
freedom.
* Ensuring compassionate public service to the people, which includes ensuring
that national, provincial and local officials are accessible; and that citizens
know their rights and insist on fair treatment and efficient services.
* Contributing to reducing malnutrition and turning the tide against HIV and
AIDS.
* Contributing to building a society that can actively challenge crime and
corruption and that promotes programmes that address the social roots of
criminality.
* Contributing to building a South Africa that is growing, prospering and
benefiting all Africans, especially the poor.

It is heartening to note that all the social partners in our society; the
faith sector, the business sector, trade unions, and community-based
organisations have rallied around these long term development objectives. At
the Growth and Development Summit the social partners represented in the NEDLAC
process organised business, organised labour, community organisations and
government identified a number of key areas that require joint interventions
from the NEDLAC constituencies. They are:

* More jobs, better jobs and decent work for all;
* The skills challenge facing our economy;
* Utilisation of socially responsible investment opportunities; and
* Mobilisation of local collective action.

At the Growth and Development Summit, the business sector also made a
commitment to explore the potential for synergies between their corporate
social responsibility initiatives and the following programmes of
Government:
* Government’s Expanded Public Works Programmes,
* Government’s geographically targeted poverty eradication initiatives (namely,
the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme and the Urban Renewal
Programme), and finally
* The Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) of municipalities.

The agreement reached at the Growth and Development Summit remains an
appropriate framework for our collective response to the challenges of
sustainable development facing our country.

With respect to poverty reduction, the details of the specific actions that
the government is implementing are indicated in the current Programme of
Action, which is available on the government’s website. The number of these
specific actions and time considerations do not allow me to mention all the
relevant actions, which are responsibility of both the economic and social
clusters in government. These actions encompass interventions in the following
areas:

* Comprehensive social security,
* Housing and human settlement,
* Food security and nutrition,
* Broadening access to and the quality of education,
* Enhanced economic inclusion,
* A labour force with the skills needed by the economy,
* The informal or second economy, and
* A more equitable geographic spread of economic activity.

The details of the specific actions being undertaken in all these areas are
available on the government website and updates on progress in implementation
are provided on a quarterly basis. This degree of transparency serves two
purposes. Firstly, it allows other social partners to align their
socio-economic projects and work with government in the delivery of social
services. Secondly, it enables communities and other interested partners to
monitor the progress that is being made in poverty reduction.

I encourage this summit of the Connectional Lay Organisation of the African
Methodist Episcopal church to use the Programme of Action for both these
purposes with respect to your work in South Africa. Your standing in the
community, the reach of your ministry, and the breath of your networks make the
faith sector a vital partner in the work of social development.

In recognition of this fact, the faith sector represented by the National
Religious Leaders Forum, and the government of South Africa have signed a
partnership agreement to address the social development challenges confront the
country. It has been agreed that the nature of the partnership will be
programme-based, dealing with specific niche projects where each sector can
contribute in terms of its comparative advantage. These programmes will be in
five key areas:

* Home and Community-Based Care (HCBC);
* Social Capital & Social Cohesion;
* Early Childhood Development (ECD);
* Social Housing, including emergency & transitional shelter; and
* Skills training and access information.

The model of co-operation in these identified priority areas will firstly
focus on extending programmes in those areas where government does not reach.
Secondly, it will focus on the facilitation of access to government services;
and thirdly on the joint piloting of developmental initiatives to ensure the
sustainability of programmes.

Let me conclude by underlining the fact that we welcome the continuation of
the long standing tradition within the AME church of engaging the historic
challenge of promoting a shared destiny of peace, democracy, non-racism,
non-sexism, shared prosperity and a better life for all.

The people of Africa, both on the continent and in the Diaspora, deserve
nothing less.

I thank you.

Enquiries:
Lakela Kaunda
Tel: (012) 312 7653
Cell: 082 782 2575
E-mail: Lakela.Kaunda@socdev.gov.za

Issued by Department of Social Development
3 March 2006