Programme director
Leaders in the private sector
Fellow comrades in the war against poverty
Distinguished guests
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning
I would like to thank Kaelo Worldwide Media, under the leadership of Yogavelli Nambiar-Varma, for inviting the Department of Social Development to participate in this important summit. I appreciate the commitment and the continued effort of your organisation to promoting corporate social responsibility issues in South Africa. Your comprehensive advice and research services are nurturing a real understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) across the civil society, public and private sectors.
A gathering of this nature gives us an opportunity to further explore the role and contributions of the business sector towards our broad development agenda. Such reflections in our view will allow us to correct the wrongs of the past whilst also charting a way forward with the ultimate aim of leaving a lasting positive impact on eradication of poverty and underdevelopment.
As we all know, the greatest enemies of our country continue to be poverty with its manifestations of unemployment, HIV and AIDS, rural underdevelopment and other socio-economic ills which constitute the core of these challenges. I am encouraged by the presence and the participation of diverse sectors of our society in this summit. It is only through these discussions that we will be able to succeed in addressing the socio-economic challenges confronting our country.
Gatherings such as this also present us with an opportunity to get together and exchange cutting-edge thoughts about the current and future direction of CSR in South Africa. As this high profile business summit attests, I am very pleased to note that South African business is giving increasing attention to promoting responsible business.
This business summit comes at an opportune moment just seven days after the release of the revised King Code and Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa (King III). Interestingly, the report places emphasis on responsible corporate citizen, sustainable business practice and integrated reporting. I am sure these are some of the issues that will dominate this summit’s deliberations over the two days.
This summit also comes at a time when due to the current financial downturn, most corporate organizations are looking at to reducing their costs. In these circumstances, CSR initiatives are likely to become the first casualty of cost-cutting measures. The reason is that in many corporations, corporate social responsibility is seen as a charitable work, and not as part of the company’s broader business strategy.
Previously many businesses used to concern themselves solely with creating shareholder value, leaving shareholders themselves to decide how best to direct surplus wealth to charitable and social causes. Increasingly, there is recognition that the social responsibility of the business sector concerns the relationships of a company not just with its clients, suppliers and employees, but also with the needs, values and goals of the society in which it operates.
Consequently, the world at large is now increasingly seeking more commitment from business by demanding sound reporting on not only their financial status but also reporting on their commitment to the environment and commitment to social matters.
Ladies and gentlemen, we all know that over the past fifteen years the South African government has made substantial progress in building an inclusive society and transforming key aspects of the economy to benefit the majority.
These include significant achievement in the provision of housing, water and electricity, education, health care and the extension of social protection to millions of South Africans through the provision of social grants.
Despite these achievements, the legacy of apartheid’s social and economic policies remains glaringly visible throughout the country. It is estimated that just over 15 million people live in rural areas which we know are mainly underdeveloped.
The majority of our people continue to experience poverty and live in unacceptable conditions. This includes some of the people living in urban areas, in both informal and formal settlements. We have noted with much alarm the increased levels of poverty and vulnerability in some quarters of our society. This has meant that South Africa in general continues to experience glaring inequalities which have seen 60 percent of South Africa’s children living in the bottom 40 percent of South Africa’s poorest households. Indeed these inequalities and underdevelopment has turned to be so glaring in our country and in some parts of the world.
These problems are exacerbated by HIV and AIDS pandemic; with our country being among those that high in the world, unemployment and the unacceptably high levels of violent crimes. These facts, figures and realities have further motivated us to consolidate and coordinate all our efforts under the “war against poverty campaign,” which builds on all our poverty alleviation measures, including the comprehensive social security system, Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and Early Childhood Development (ECD). These challenges also serve to remind us of the tasks that we must still undertake in order to bring into existence a national democratic society, in which all our people are able to enjoy the freedom for which so many have sacrificed.
Given the magnitude of these challenges, our government firmly believes that responsible business conduct can make a significant contribution in addressing the socio-economic challenges that we are facing. This is because we believe that responsible business conduct is about refusing to accept that poverty should continue to be an everyday experience for the majority of our people.
I now want to turn to the framework in which our government approaches partnerships with the business sector. Our approach is to apply a multi-faceted framework which is based on what partnerships between government, business and the community can bring on board. This is commonly known as public private partnerships.
Since 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) led government has encouraged the concept of public private partnerships, with the understanding that such partnerships provide expertise and capital beyond what we as government can do alone.
Public private partnerships encourage innovation and creative thought thinking while allowing us to address service delivery and fiscal challenges. There is no question that excellent synergy can be forged between the public and private sectors, recognising and drawing upon the expertise and legitimate objectives of involved parties.
South Africa has a long tradition of businesses or entrepreneurs which have made invaluable voluntary contributions to societal welfare, in addition to contributions resulting through their economic activity. The list is far too long for me to name within the limited time that we have, so I will restrict myself to only a few names like Telkom, SABC, Vodacom, MTN, ABSA, Old Mutual, Tiger Brands, Transnet, BP and Hewlett Packard.
This is a positive indication that South African companies have a strong tradition of responsibility to their communities. These entrepreneurs’ involvement and those of many other business entities, is evidence that societal responsibility can be compatible with financial business success.
I would like to take this opportunity to commend the initiatives of corporate South Africa, through which many individuals and communities who have been trapped in abject poverty are gradually being drawn into the mainstream of economic activity.
Let me share with you a little bit about the work that we do in the Department of Social Development and at the same time highlight possible areas of partnerships with the business sector.
The main objective of the Department of Social development is to build a caring and integrated system of social development services that facilitates human development and improves the quality of life for all people, in particular those living in poverty or confronting other vulnerabilities.
As a department our priorities are to ensure that we:
* coordinate support for poverty alleviation projects, especially children, older persons, unemployed women, youth and people with disabilities
* strengthen developmental welfare services and create sustainable livelihoods
* increase support for community and home based care for individuals and communities affected by HIV and AIDS
* enhance our efforts to build families and communities within the context of our moral regeneration programme
* coordinate national action for social crime prevention
* provide social assistance and also develop policies for a more comprehensive approach to social security.
As I have indicated earlier, government’s interventions have had very positive impact on reducing poverty. However, the stark reality is that we still have a long way to go. A solution to the remaining challenges calls for more support from the business sector and all other sectors of society so that we concretely take forward this initiative and bring it to a scale to cover rural areas in particular.
The pursuit of these priorities and other international obligations such as the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), presents us with opportunities to share experiences, learn and open more avenues for collaboration and networking.
In line with this thinking, we believe that active cooperation with the business sector is essential in solving the challenges of our time: unemployment, HIV and AIDS and poverty. Our government believes that the private sector can and must play a bigger role. We have seen the success of public private partnerships projects, and I therefore think that it is about time that we open the doors to greater possibilities.
The commitment to partnership represented by the public private partnerships process is an expression of shared values and principles which transcends political, sectoral and economic differences and aims at improving the lot of citizens through better delivery of quality public services.
As government, we believe in strengthening public private partnerships for development, in order to ensure that we have the necessary capacity to work optimally towards the attainment of our national priorities. I am hopeful that this summit will bring our combined knowledge and experience to bear on the challenge of finding more effective ways to overcome the hurdles ahead. If we do, I have no doubt that the socio-economic benefits for the majority of our people, especially the most vulnerable, will be tremendous.
I look forward to continuing a positive working relationship with you. The work you do is vital to a successful future for the majority of our people. Let me thank the organisers of this conference for your invitation to participate in this summit. I urge all of us to continue to work together in order to advance responsible business participation in developmental challenges in South Africa, in support of government’s realisation of the Constitution and the Freedom Charter. Lasting progress can only be built on deep and enduring partnerships.
In conclusion let me quote former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan who once said, “It is a utopian notion that poverty can be overcome without the active engagement of business.” Perhaps then it is appropriate for me to leave the participants of this conference with the following issue to ponder. Does good corporate citizenship start and stop with excellent corporate social investment initiatives, or should we broaden the debate and posit the question; does being a good corporate citizen not also include support for policies and strategies that generally seek to alleviate and eliminate poverty and inequality.
Hopefully this discourse will include the stance of business as corporate citizens on policy matters such as social assistance, retirement reform, which aims at the reduction of incidences of poverty amongst workers when they retire, as well as the discussions on a health system that seeks to provide good quality medical care for all South African citizens. These policy matters are vitally important for all citizens, including our Corporate Citizens to consider and make contributions to.
The financing of measures to reduce poverty and inequality may require that all of us with resources need to dig deeper as we build a society premised on the principle of Solidarity. On that note, I urge you to discuss in a more passionate way, what makes a good Corporate Citizen.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Social Development
8 September 2009
