Allow me to express my profound sense of priviledge and honour to be amongst the people of this very beautiful City of Emalahleni. The very name Emalahleni invokes emphasis on one of the main economic pre-ocupation of this area, which is coal mining.
For that reason, this beautiful city of Emalahleni contributes a lot to the economy of our country as you will know that coal is used to power the bulk of our electricity generation, as well as conversion into fuel and other chemical by-products for various industrial purposes.
As government, we are keen on ensuring that communities everywhere in South Africa are economically sustainable and enjoy the full benefits of our freedom with regards to the preservation of human rights and dignity.
That is why in the demarcation of municipality boundaries and generally the human settlement programmes, we ensured integration across the various income groups which is in contrast to the apartheid designed communities of black poor majority and white wealthy minority. We come a long way since the abolition of apartheid in 1994 when for the first time we installed a democratic government.
Since 1994, we have made a number of inroads with regards reversing the legacy of apartheid engineered into all areas of society since at least 1948 in particular and in general the legacy of centuries of colonial subjugation.
It is important to reflect on the strides we have made since 1994, because those who have stood to oppose our democratic transformation agenda are today in the forefront of peddling lies about the objective conditions that we found in 1994, the changes we have effected and the outstanding challenges.
It is against this backdrop, as I will indicate factual on the strides that we have made, that indeed South Africa is today a better place than it were in 1994, and that working together inspires the promise that tomorrow will be better than today! It is important on this occasion that as the ruling party we will continue on the revolutionary trajectory that is founded on our Constitution as its bedrock for stability and ensuring the legality of our transformation agenda.
Since 1994, we have gone about repealing all the apartheid era laws and carefully and democratically replacing those with the new laws flowing from the Constitution as our most supreme law in our land.
It is important to reflect on this even though to some it may not be as tangible as owning a house or a job or accessing electricity or water and so on. As a revolutionary movement, we deem it paramount that we must take with us the people so that they all understand the actual steps that must be taken to ensure we have the transformation that we all desire to see happen in our various neighbourhoods.
There are those who present themselves as more radical and militant, yet we know very well that a misguided militancy and radicalism can present a situation that our Constitutional dispensation seeks to avoid. We have seen elsewhere around the continent and the entire world, of how misguided militancy can actually ruin the economies of those countries and lead to what others have referred to as failed States.
It is for this reason that I thought we must take this opportunity to acknowledge the sterling work our people’s movement that you have elected as Government, have ensured that we bring about change without leading to civil conflicts in wars that would have no winner or victors.
Today some cherish our iconic former President Nelson Mandela as a Statesman who brought about democracy and peace in our country, and deliberately refuse to acknowledge that it is the same peaceful and democratic trajectory that has inspired our work as government since 1994.
Even at the height of the economic crisis of 2008, our country was given credit the world over for weathering the storm of that global financial crisis, even outdoing many advanced economies in Europe and the Americas. As a ruling party, we have brought credibility to the South African State, hence that has seen us playing significant role in very important global matters, in what others have referred to as punching beyond our weight.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I take you through all this because I want you to know that the propaganda against government is based on partisan politics that seeks to undermine the socio-political cohesion essential for the successful realisation of our revolutionary objectives.
It is important that we keep the unity behind the historic mission to unite all races, ethnic groups and class strata to ensure a decisive electoral victory as mandate to accelerate the peaceful and democratic project to transform South Africa society in general and the economy in particular, an agenda that was ushered into the democratic dispensation by none other than our iconic former President Nelson Mandela.
Now allow me to briefly take you through some of the factual issues around the progress made and why we declare that South Africa is today better than it was in 1994. When we took over in 1994, there was a backlog shortage of 1.2 million houses that urgently needed to be built. By 2012, we had consequently subsidised over 3.38 million houses with over 500 000 rental houses transferred to occupants. We have been building over 100 000 houses per year since 1994, of what is generally referred to as RDP houses.
Some have made the propaganda statements that the RDP houses are inferior to those under apartheid, yet forget that while the apartheid and colonial regimes had combined time frames of over centuries, we only had a mere two decades which is why we reduced the sizes of the house so as to speedily cover more people urgently.
This was because following the 1994 democratic break-through more people flocked from rural areas in the 13% land that the colonial and apartheid regimes had squeezed them, now in search of greener pastures as enable by the democratic freedom we attained.
Viewed outside this context, the propaganda is intended to allege that the revolutionary movement has caused underdevelopment when in fact our project is to speedily reverse the underdevelopment engendered by the apartheid regime.
However, this does not at all justify any shoddy work by any company contracted by government to build houses for our people, hence in some instances we have taken to task those who have short changed our government and by extension our people. And to remedy such shoddy work we have in many instances instituted processes to fix those houses that poorly built and penalised the relevant companies.
These are the sort of lies peddled by those who today seek to downplay the gravity of the socio-economic brutality whose aim was to under-develop the black majority while unfairly propping up white supremacy.
As a result of our programme focussed on providing shelter to all, a right enshrined in our Constitution, we have ensure that any household that earns less than R3 500 per month qualifies for a government housing subsidy and those under R12 500 qualify for a smaller subsidy to help pay for a bond. Of course there are other pertinent requirements that you would have to comply with as part of such applications, so that the right people are actually assisted towards owning a home.
By 1994, only 5.5 million households had access to electricity. By 2012, we had increased that figure to over 10 million households, with a further 500 000 households having solar geysers installed. Having noted our growing population as well as our increasing economic demands for power, we have planned as part of the National Development Plan to double our current electricity production capacity by the year 2030.
Having committed ourselves to clean energy as part of the global programme to curb global warming, we are in the process of turning the high temperatures of Upington into a blessing by constructing solar power stations that will be operational by 2015.
In this regard, we are also exploring ways to increase gas as source of clean energy and good news is that we are making inroads with regards to the gas discoveries in the Karoo as well as in Mozmbique. Programmes on wind-generated power are also at advanced stages and this will also help with cheap and clean energy as it has become a global trend.
One of the key aspects with regards social development is access to clean tap water. By 1994, only about 5 million households had access to clean tap water. We have since more than doubled that figure by increasing the number of households with access to clean tap water to 11.6 million households by 2013.
Our targets as per the National Development Plan are that every household must have access to clean tap water by 2030! In order to realise this objective, we have embarked on an unprecedented water infrastructure development programmes that have seen the building of 13 major dams since 1994.
We have also partnered with the Kingdom of Lesotho to build the Highlands Water Project which will help supply the Gauteng province with more water to increase our consumption capacity for industrial, agricultural and domestic use. We are also partnering with the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Inga Dam projects, which will see the largest dam in the world being built and supplying much of Sub-Saharan Africa with hydro-electric power.
One of the basic social development matter that has to do with human dignity is with regards to sanitation, including both garbage collection and sewage systems. For a long time, our people have been subjected to the indignity of utilising pit toilets or lavatories, and even in many urban areas the so called bucket system has been in use.
Again this was largely because freedom unblocked urban migration which was previously repressed by the apartheid regime, creating a sudden influx of people in urban areas without access to proper sanitation.
By 1994, only about 5 million households had access to flushed toilets, and by 2012 this figure has been increased to over 11.5 million households, translating to a total of nearly 83.4% of the population.
Our priority is that we must urgently bring the total to 100% of the population with access to flushed toilets as this is arguably also an issue that cut into what is meant by human dignity. Part of the reason why the bucket system has not been eradicated completely in some areas is because of informal houses built on private land where municipalities have no authority to spearhead infrastructure development.
One of the areas we have made significant strides inspite of the propaganda to the contrary is the area of education. By 1994, we had about 150 000 black students at universities, 57% matric pass rate and a schooling system without early child development learning as now offered through grade R.
And as of 2012, there were 750 000 black students at universities this being enabled by the significant increases in government sponsored financial aid scheme. Allocation to University and FET Colleges has increased from R2.4 billion in 2008 to over R7.7 billion in 2012, increasing to R8 billion in 2013. In addition, the matric pass rate was 75% and over 705 000 children registered in grade R to enable early child development.
Some of the challenges that we continue to face are with regards to supply of textbooks in time, and thus our immediate task is to ensure that all students get 100% of all textbooks by the time the year begins and action to be taken against those who fail to fulfil this mandate. It also remains our challenge that students study in areas that bets serve the economy to reduce redundancy after graduation.
One of the propaganda waged against our revolutionary movement is the allegation that we have since 1994 left our infrastructure in a state of disrepair. Nothing can be further from the truth! One of the areas of contestation in Gauteng in not whether or not we have improved our freeways, which in fact we have made them to be world class!
Instead the area of contestation is on who or how the payments must be done and everyone acknowledges that your government has successfully transformed the Gauteng freeways into multi-lane freeways and thereby help decongest our roads of traffic.
Over 750 000 km of our roads in South Africa are tarred and we spend about R10 billion each year to repair these roads. Of the 750 000 km that is tarred, only 2 500 km are toll roads, and this contrast the perception propagated that we want to toll all roads in South Africa. Only in a selected areas where we felt the tax burden to ensure upkeep of these roads would be unfair if catered through all tax payers other than the primary users.
Just to bring you into perspective, we have more tarred roads than the entire sub-Saharan Africa combined, and that alone requires over R30 billion per year to ensure maintenance and currently we divide an allocation of R30 billion between maintenance and construction of new roads. Indeed we need more allocation into road maintenance, far more than the current R10 billion.
With regards to trade, our harbours handled over 127 000 tonnes per year in 1994 and this figure increased to over 185 000 tonnes per year by 2012. We have also embarked on the programme to modernise our public transport system, subsidising over 85 000 new and safe 16-seater minibus taxis.
One of the contentious issues is with regards to ownership of land, which is both an emotive and consequently sensationalised matter. There is no question about whether or not we are committed to land redistribution in South Africa.
The ANC was founded mainly on the principle that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, hence the 1910 Union of South Africa became the last straw, following the defeat of the African tribes in the various kingdoms and chiefdoms.
Not much information was given on the ownership of land by 1994 but we know that the black majority still suffered the consequences of the 1913 Land Act which disposed the people of their right to land ownership except in the 13 per cent so called black reserves.
Since 1994 nearly 3 million hectares of land has been redistributed to more than 220 000 beneficiaries through 2 600 projects. In our quest to ensure stability while effecting our revolutionary agenda, we have sought to balance land redistribution with the imperatives for food security.
As part of restoring the dignity of our people has been ensuring their role in the economy both as entrepreneurs as well as employees which is why job creation has been one of the top priorities of the government since 1994. In the 19 years before 1994, the economy grew 1, 6% a year, less than the population growth.
Between 1990 and 1993 growth had declined to below 1%. Between 8 and 9 million people were employed. Since 1994, annual growth was 3,2 %, almost double population growth. Today there are 4 million more jobs than 1994, over 13,5 million jobs. In the last 5 years we have spent roughly R1 trillion on infrastructure, which has meant that the public sector has created most of the jobs over the last five years.
We need to increase entrepreneurship in South Africa, as government has a ceiling on how much jobs it can absorb as that depends also on the size of the taxable economy from which it derives its revenue and capacity to create jobs while providing various services.
With regards to youth employment, we continue to support small business and employment creation opportunities for young people. Government has invested massively in training and financial support to help small entrepreneurs. The Public Works and Community Work Programmes create about 1 million work opportunities for unemployed people, mostly young.
We are helping to develop industries so that more people work in decent jobs. We have recognised as government the need for young people to take lead in the resolution of their problems which is why we have supported the National Youth Commission and Umsobomvu Youth Fund which have since been collapsed into the National Youth Development Agency.
Other priority initiatives include the following:
- Implement incentives and internship programme for youth in all sectors by government, business and training authorities (SETAs)
- R1-billion fund to support 20 000 small enterprises next year, with road shows to support and inform communities about small business support and funding
- We have recently created a R2,7 billion ‘fighting fund’ to support youth enterprises.
- There are substantial resources to support small business. By the end of this year government will have lent R730m to 15 000 small enterprises, mostly, micro-enterprises
- Job opportunities in the public works programme will be doubled to 2 million
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The rural youth service programme is to be up-scaled with:
- Green youth brigades – for Working for Water, Working for Energy, Working on Fire.
- Health brigades – home-based care and wellness programme as part of NHI
- Literacy brigades – utilise the youth to expand the national literacy campaign
We have also made strides in women empowerment and gender equality. IN 1994, our national assembly had 28% women and by 2012 we had 43% women representation which compares well even with the best of the established democracies. Our provincial legislatures had 25% women representation in 1995 and 42% by 2012.
Similarly, local government had 28% women representation in the year 2000 and 39% by 2012. By 1994, more girls dropped out of school but by 2012 more girls than boys got passed matric and got degrees, reflective of our countries gender demographics. Also by 1994, only 300 000 children got State grants and by 2012 over 13 million got State support paid mainly through the guardianship of grandmothers.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our struggle was founded on the quest to ensure human rights for all. Our Constitution remains one of the most progressive in the world, and from it flows equally progressive laws meant to “heal the divisions of the past” while fostering the kind of National Democratic Society that is spelt out in the very same Constitution.
Institutions supportive of our democracy continue to function independently and even more so the Judiciary alongside the other arms of the State those being the Executive and the Legislature. The prudence of our democracy is viewed from the institutional apparatus as mandated by our Constitution, which must filter down to the lived experiences of all our people.
Our people can confidently approach the courts for relief in any conflictual matter with the full knowledge than nothing but justice would be attained. Contrary to some propaganda doing the rounds, the government never interferes in the operations of the Chapter 9 institutions supportive of our democracy or the judiciary for that matter.
We continue to support legal aid and other measures that would enable the implementation of justice in the courts and the general lived experiences of our people. We have launched Thuthuzela centres in various magisterial districts to give support to abused women.
Similarly and in pursuant of the objectives of the Child Justice Act, we have started with creating juvenile friendly court environment and child diversion programmes that aim to rehabilitate child offenders away from the influence and exposure of hardened adult criminals.
We have started in earnest the creation of courts accessible to all our people, and we have plans to build High Courts in Mpumalanga and in Limpopo, so that people in these two provinces do not have to commute to Gauteng for litigation of cases.
Yet another main area of propaganda is the allegation that we are the most corrupt government on earth. The fact of that matter is that apartheid was designed not only as a racial supremacist system but also one of the most corrupt in the world. That is why South Africa has always been one of the two most unequal societies in the world, together with Brazil.
Today propagandists blame the culture of corruption and inequality on the democratic government. They do this knowing very well that ours was a negotiated smooth and peaceful transition that aimed at avoiding a civil blood bath. The mainstay of that compromise solution was to let the ANC take over political power while the beneficiaries of apartheid continued to hold on to the wealth, what the late former General-Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP) referred to as the “Sunset Clause”.
However, even though there was no anti-corruption unit in 1994 and had weak laws in this regard, we have had by 2012 the Special Investigating Unit, the Public Protector, the Asset Forfeiture Unit And the Hawks, all aimed at combating the crime of corruption and fraud. There is no doubt that we must ensure we build a public service that live up to the measures we have put in place to ensure prudence in serving our people.
The Public Service Institute is one of such mechanisms to foster a new culture that discourages corruption and instil the Batho Pele principles in all public service employees. As the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, we have established the Anti-Corruption Tasks Team and participated in the COSATU led initiative to establish Corruption Watch as an independent civil body to help combat corruption. In this regard we recently published the names of 42 people convicted of large sums on corruption in a name and shame exercise that will continue into the future.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCSP) Cluster released statistics that generally show progress in combating crime, particularly contact crime that sometimes involve murder. As government we must highlight the fact that we continue to consider combating crime as our priority agenda so that all people are and feel safe!
Of the seven categories of serious crimes that include murder, attempted murder, sexual offences, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, common assault, aggravated robbery and common robbery, the Enhlanzeni region contributed 37.6%, Nkangala 36.2% and Gert Sibande 26.2% to the total of contact crime for Mpumalanga Province for the period of 2011/2012. While some crimes have increased, the more violent contact crimes have generally declined in Mpumalanga. However, we believe in zero tolerance on all forms of crime.
As the JCPS cluster, we therefore call upon all our people to help combat crime by reporting those who violate our laws in any way to the Police. Cooperation between the community and the Police is important to ensure a law abiding society. We therefore pledge that we will continue to make our various service centres such as Police Stations, courts, correctional centres, home affairs, Master’s Office and all services across the full spectrum of government to be as friendly as possible.
Working together we have come this far, and working together we can further deepen our socio-economic transformation so that South Africa continue to be a better place than ever before!
I thank you!
