Programme director
MEC for Treasury, Mr SJ Mohai
Members of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) National Governing Council
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
This meeting takes place against the backdrop of the greatest football spectacle ever witnessed in the South African continent. As we get ourselves ready to welcome the world to our shores we must also not lose sight or focus on other crucial issues that demand our attention.
The APRM is one such project. This is a country project a national project. By now all of us should be familiar with what the APRM is. This is one of the tools that are being utilised by the African Union to monitor development in Africa. It is a voluntary mechanism. Within the APRM process member countries of the African Union assess each other, those that have acceded to this process.
Honourable Member of the Executive Council (MEC), we visit your province because we are in dire need. We are in need of the stories that people will tell us here today. They will tell us where we are going right as a country and they will tell us where we are letting them down. Together we will identify the challenges that still confront us as a country and together we will work on solutions.
The significance of this consultative conference cannot be over emphasised. We have been going around the country visiting provinces. As I speak to you on 21 March, National Human Rights Day, we were at Mpumalanga province, where over a thousand people packed a tent to come and tell us their stories. And tell us they did. On 26 March we were in the Eastern Cape and on 27 March we were in the North West.
As we go around the country, honourable premier, we listen to people and what they have to tell us. In KwaZulu-Natal they told us about the scourge of HIV and AIDS in that province. In Mpumalanga we spoke about corruption. In the Eastern Cape they told us about un-blocking the blockages of service delivery. In North West they told us about racism. It was not by their choice that they spoke about these topics. It was because we had allocated a thematic area per province.
In our Country Review report, nine cross-cutting issues were identified for further attention by South Africa. We then decided to allocate an issue per province. To Free State has been allocated land reform.
Do not be so alarmed, honourable MEC, we are not at all saying Free State is the capital city of land reform nor are we saying Free State's land reform programme is lagging far behind. What we are saying is that in Free State people should tell us about this issue. They will be the spoke-people for all South Africans when it comes to challenges of land reform. Just like we were not saying KwaZulu-Natal is the capital city of HIV and AIDS we are therefore not saying Free Sate is the capital city of land reform.
Not so long ago we had set ourselves, as government, a target of 25 million hectares of land to restitute by 2014. However, to date approximately six million hectares of land have been transferred through restitution and redistribution and much of this land is not productive and has not created any economic benefit for many of the new owners
The monetary implications to transfer the remaining 19 million hectares of land, by 2014 has been calculated at approximately R72 billion if we are to continue to pursue the willing buyer willing seller model.
The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has been focusing on the development of a Green Paper on Agrarian Transformation, Rural Development and Land Reform which will culminate in a new land policy framework and an "omnibus of legislation" which should be consolidation of all land related laws.
The Green Paper will propose that for South Africa to achieve equitable access and sustainable land use, the current land tenure system must be overhauled, in this regard will propose a three-tier and tenure system, namely:
* state land: under leasehold
* private land: under freehold with limited extent and
* Foreign ownership with precarious tenure, linked to productivity and partnership models with South African citizens
While the process of developing legislation linked to the green paper is unfolding, the department has also deemed it imperative that government finds immediate mechanisms to respond to the plight of farm workers and farm dwellers as was enjoined by the president during the State of the Nation Address in 2009.
In this regard, the department will introduce the Land Tenure Security Bill (2010), which will repeal the Extension of Security of Tenure Act as well as the Labour Tenants Act, and will be informed by the following objectives:
* protecting of relative rights for farm workers
* strengthen to rights of farm dwellers
* enhancing food security through sustained production discipline.
Ladies and gentleman, all these efforts are meant to indicate that government acknowledges that there can be no real freedom unless people have access to land. Our people cannot go hungry while the land remains unused and unproductive. We are also mindful as government of what is happening across our borders, as far as land restitution is concerned.
It is our wish that South Africa never has to experience such occurrences. However, resolving this national question will require all parties to come to the fore. White South Africans, who are by and large, owners of big portions of land need to realise that the willing buy willing seller method might not work in a country with limited resources like South Africa.
From Free State we are looking for stories on this issue. What have our experiences been? Have we benefited from this process, of land redistribution? Has government done enough? What can we do as South Africans, of all races, to assist government speed up this process?
I think our choice of Free State to discuss this issue was strategic; Free State is one of the agriculturally dominant provinces. It is arguable the bread basket of South Africa. Therefore, historically there are a lot of white farmers in this area. What are they saying about the land restitution programme? We hope to have all these answers by the time we finish. Most of you are asking yourselves, what then? What happens to our stories after we have told them?
Ladies and gentleman, what is important to note going forward is that this process that we are busy with today will feed into a bigger process in May. In May we will, as a country, convene the National Consultative conference where we will consolidate our report to be presented at the Heads of States Summit in Uganda, Kampala in July 2010. This report will be presented on behalf of the country by our President, Mr Jacob Zuma.
Programme director, what we hope to come out with at the end of this process is a country report and not a government report. What this means is that we must all speak and we must all say our say. In this report, must be visible the word of a person present here from Thaba-Nchu. In this report a person from QwaQwa should be able to say they "yes" our story has been captured. Therefore, let us all make full use of this important forum.
This conference provides an important platform that will allow for constructive engagement by all the sectors of society in evaluating the performance of our province and country on agreed indicators of performance. It allows us an opportunity to deepen engagement on cross-cutting issues of APRM.
This chapter of the APRM will assess how we have dealt with the prevalence racism that is still plaguing some of our communities long after we have adopted the Human Rights Charter as one of the cornerstones of our new democratic dispensation. This is one of the cross-cutting issues identified in the Country Review report; however we, as a nation, have gone a long way in attempting to reverse the damage caused by centuries of colonialism and apartheid.
Distinguished guests, in the past 15 years our country has made giant strides in ensuring that we dismantle the racial dispensation of the past and build in its place a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist country by establishing several institutions that include the Human Rights Commission, the Institute of Race Relations amongst others, given the challenging past that we have overcome.
We have created a non-racial society, reduced poverty, grown the economy, created jobs for all, facilitated the development of a thriving private sector, and built sustainable settlements as well as houses for the poor. However much still needs to be done. To this end, the new government has committed itself to do more to improve the lives of our all our people, regardless of the colour of their skin.
In working together with all our people and others on the continent, we have achieved a great measure of cohesion, unity, democracy and prosperity of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union. We have also gone a long way in strengthening our capabilities to respond to the challenges that we face.
On 31 January 2009, South Africa's first report on the Implementation of the Programme of Action was tabled at the Summit of Heads of States and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The annual report reflected on progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action. It indicated that remarkable progress has been made in the four thematic areas of democracy and political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development.
In terms of democracy and political governance, South Africa remains a stable and robust democracy underpinned by the recognition of and respect for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. With regard to economic governance and management, South Africa has over the past 15 years introduced sound policies that have transformed this country from a pariah state to being one of the most powerful economic hubs on the continent.
However, we are mindful of the current global economic meltdown and its effects, particularly on the poorest of the poor and we are confident that our policies and interventions will reduce the negative effects in our economy. South Africa has also recently been part of the historic G20 summit that has approved a stimulus package for the global economy and recognised for the transformation of the multi- lateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
South Africa remains a shining example of corporate governance. Parliament has recently approved a new Company's Bill which simplifies the registration process of companies and introduces corporate governance provisions for the organisation and management of companies.
South Africa continues to improve the lives of the poor through various poverty eradication strategies which have made tremendous impact. However, we are the first to acknowledge that more still needs to be done. South Africa also boasts an elaborate legislation and institutions' that include the Human Rights Commission, the Institute Of Race Relations amongst others to deal decisively with racism.
More work is being done to improve areas like education and speed up land reform in order to ensure that the lives of the poor improve for the better.
The report also touched on emerging issues like climate change as well as the energy crisis. It noted that South Africa is feeling the effects of climate change as witnessed by runaway fires and floods in certain parts of the country. It also noted that there has recently been an energy shortage.
The report writing process gave us an opportunity to review the strengths, mechanisms, processes and strategies of the National General Council (NGC) in supporting the national process of implementing the Program of Action. There was consensus on the need to revamp the NGC to strengthen its systems at the national and provincial levels. There was also consensus on the need to reactivate provincial governing councils (PGC) to ensure that there is better synergy between National and Provincial levels on implementation and reporting.
Provinces were therefore requested to convene consultative conferences in order to provide stakeholders progress on the process thus far and to reactivate provincial governing councils and shape the way forward. This engagement will therefore provide us with an opportunity to evaluate what has been done and what remains to be done.
Ladies and gentleman, a lot has happened since we presented our first report. As already indicated the presentation of our second annual report is upon us. We therefore need you to tell us what you want us to tell the African Union. This must be your report; in it you must see your stories as told by you. As government we are merely facilitators in this process, the NGC are merely referees in this process the main players are yourselves and many more like you around the country.
I therefore urge all stakeholders to use this opportunity to come together and join forces in deliberating and engaging on these issues that will assist in the formulation effective strategies and policies that will address these challenges.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
22 April 2010
