What (a) successes have been achieved and (b) challenges have been identified by the Government in the past twelve months in the implementation of its programme of action to improve the lives of all the people?
Reply:
Honourable member
Government has scored a number of achievements in the past year and we are working hard to ensure that we do even better. Informed by assessments of service delivery, we set out to improve government performance when we came into office as the fourth administration, building on the sterling work of previous administrations.
We decided to establish new government departments, split some and refocus others. The process has been completed. We undertook the reconfiguration of government in order to fast-track service delivery.
We then began the process of changing the culture of work by introducing more measures to ensure accountability.
That is why we have a performance monitoring and evaluation system in place.
To re-orientate senior public servants into the new way of doing things, we have had several meetings with directors-general and their deputies, municipal managers, school principals and others.
We will meet other groups of public servants later this year.
We have also established a National Planning Commission, which has begun its work.
Therefore, our systems are now in place. Looking back, the work done so far reveals several achievements amongst government departments.
Due to time constraints, I will mention just a few.
We are continuing with the campaign to improve the delivery of basic education.
As members are aware, we want teachers to spend at least six and a half hours a day in school, in class, teaching.
There are some areas of education which we want to focus on more. A key example is sports development, especially given the legacy of the Soccer World Cup. We want each school to offer at least two or more sporting codes.
There must be no school that does not have sport facilities for soccer, rugby, netball, hockey, tennis, athletics, cricket and swimming.
We are also working to eradicate the division between rural and urban schools.
The Departments of Basic Education, Rural Development and Land Reform, Public Works, Water Affairs, and Transport are working together to improve conditions at rural schools.
Relating to higher education and skills development, during 2009, the Sectoral Education and Training Authorities registered over 17 000 artisans for training.
More than 100 000 workers completed training in scarce and critical skills through learnerships, apprenticeships and other learning programmes.
We have mentioned before the need to strengthen local government. In December 2009, Cabinet approved the local government turnaround strategy, a roadmap for municipalities.
Every municipality in the country must now develop its own specific turnaround strategies and implementation plans.
The Local Government Training Academy will be revived so that new councillors, who come in after the 2011 local government elections, are better prepared to discharge their responsibilities effectively.
The academy will also assist in re-training municipal employees. We are also reviewing legislation impacting on local government as part of revitalising this sphere.
The affected legislation is the Municipal Systems Act, the Municipal Structures Act, the Demarcation Board Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act.
Still in this area of local governance, we have established a department of traditional affairs.
We have identified a need to harmonise working relations between traditional authorities and local government structures.
In this regard, we have directed the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to arrange a summit between traditional leaders and municipal structures.
Honourable Speaker, we are successfully revitalising our health care system.
Among the achievements in this area are the disease prevention and treatment programmes, which are proceeding well.
We have launched the national Measles and Polio Vaccination Campaign.
The intention is to immunise fifteen million children between the ages of six months and fifteen years against measles and to vaccinate five million children under five years of age against polio.
We have developed clear strategies in each province to strengthen the country's anti-tuberculosis programme.
We also began implementation of the new HIV and AIDS treatment and prevention guidelines last month.
This includes, among other things, the provision of anti-retroviral treatment to pregnant women with a CD4 count of 350 or less and to people co-infected with TB and HIV at a CD4 count of 350 or less.
HIV positive pregnant women are now receiving dual therapy from 14 weeks of pregnancy, and not 28 weeks as was previously the case.
The treatment of HIV and AIDS and TB are being integrated and will be treated under one roof.
We have initiated the largest HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign ever undertaken.
All 17 sectors represented in South African National AIDS Council have thrown their weight behind this campaign.
Several private sector service providers have also come on board to support us.
We are pleased to be making an impact in implementing these measures, which we announced during World Aids Day last year.
Honourable Speaker, we are making visible progress in improving our home affairs systems.
Some of the new measures will greatly enhance the entry of passengers during the 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament. Among these, we have introduced an advanced passenger processing system for airlines flying into South Africa.
This enables the screening of passengers before they depart for South Africa.
We are also pleased, Honourable Speaker, that passport backlogs have been eliminated.
In another development, refugee reception centres now issue asylum seeker permits within a day. Previously it took a week to issue the permit.
Most importantly, we have implemented a successful programme to connect 142 hospitals to Home Affairs systems to enable new births to be registered before babies leave the hospitals.
With regards to economic development, as you are aware we launched the Industrial Policy Action Plan in February 2010.
The plan was adopted by Cabinet following widespread consultation with business, labour and civil society.
The plan should help us to significantly expand our industrial capacity and promote job creation.
To enhance the creation of decent jobs further, we are making progress in recruiting foreign direct investment in a targeted manner.
Targeted countries include China, India, Russia, Brazil, Japan, USA and countries in Europe and the Middle East.
The work programme should translate into an investment of 115 billion rand worth of projects over the next three years.
As part of the critical effort to overcome the economic marginalisation of South Africa's majority, we have established the Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council. This was long overdue.
We are pleased to report that since its inaugural meeting in February, the Council has begun its work in earnest. At its meeting last week, members of the Council emphasised the need to ensure that economic empowerment is indeed broad-based.
It agreed that this consideration should be at the centre of the interventions that it would propose to government.
The meeting adopted the council's Constitution which outlines, among other things, the powers, functions and administration of the council.
The council has established four sub-committees. These are:
* Ownership and structuring of broad-based BEE deals
* Enterprise development, access to finance and procurement
* Human resource development
* Legislation, charters, compliance and enforcement.
As the chair of the council, I am determined that it should make a tangible contribution to broadening economic opportunities for all our people.
The second phase of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has made an important contribution to efforts to alleviate the effects of poverty on the unemployed.
Over six hundred and four thousand work opportunities have been created through this programme.
This has contributed to the construction and maintenance of infrastructure and the provision of valuable social services.
Honourable members
A significant achievement over the past 12 months has been the finalisation of plans for the country to successfully host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
With only two weeks to go before kick-off, we can confidently say that we are ready, as outlined in the Presidency budget vote speech and other recent departmental inputs.
Transport, stadiums, airports and other infrastructure projects are finished.
Investment in additional resources for the police, disaster management, health and the immigration system will have a lasting impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of government to deliver services to the people.
Our greatest challenge in this country, Honourable members, is the persistence of high levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
We are strengthening partnerships with various sectors such as business, labour, community and non-governmental organisations, because working together we will achieve more.
We also need to work with you Honourable members and all South Africans to improve citizen care in government and get our public servants to put people first.
The Presidential Hotline has been developed to contribute in that regard.
Working together we will succeed in introducing a new culture of a caring and efficient public service.
I thank you.
Rev K R J Meshoe (ACDP) to ask the President of the Republic:
(1) Whether African leaders agreed to stop depending on foreign aid at the World Economic Forum that was held in Dar es Salaam recently; if so, what are the relevant details; if not,
(2) Whether African leaders expressed any position on foreign aid as compared to direct foreign investment; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
The World Economic Forum describes itself as an independent, international organisation committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnership to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
More than one thousand two hundred global leaders from governments and the private sector gathered in Dar es Salaam from 5 to 7 May for the World Economic Forum on Africa.
The theme of this year's meeting, rethinking Africa’s growth strategy, allowed our government to share with other participants a set of key messages in 25 of the 50 working sessions.
The sessions were integrated into four themes, namely; building effective institutions and governance structures, fostering sustainable growth and development, managing risks as opportunities, and fostering an empowerment mindset.
The meeting in Tanzania was not meant to be a representative meeting of African Heads of State or Government.
No decisions are taken at World Economic Forum (WEF).
It is meant to encourage discussion and networking, and for leaders in various fields to share information and promote their views, programmes and strategies on tackling the continent's challenges.
South Africa used the opportunity to argue that the continent should focus on diversifying secondary production, increase intra-African trade, expand regional cooperation, and foster further private sector partnerships.
We argued that Africa would need to overcome its infrastructure deficit and invest in transport, energy, water and telecommunications to further improve its global competitiveness.
Africa has to extend preferential markets across Southern and Eastern Africa through the Tripartite Free Trade Area that will draw together SADC, the East African Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa to promote intra-African trade and foreign direct investment.
Therefore economic integration is a critical route towards economic development and less dependence on aid.
I thank you.
Mr V B Ndlovu (IFP) to ask the President of the Republic:
(1) Whether his mediation role in Zimbabwe has been hampered by the visit of a certain political organisation (name furnished) and its leader's statements; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so,
(2) Whether he has taken any position in this regard; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
South Africa remains an impartial mediator and facilitator of dialogue between Zimbabwe's political parties.
Its position in this regard is widely recognised and all parties have indicated their confidence in South Africa's ability to discharge its mandate dispassionately.
Neither the visit nor the statements to which the Honourable member refers have hampered South Africa in the performance of this responsibility.
I thank you.
Dr G W Koornhof (ANC) to ask the President of the Republic:
Whether the government has learnt any lessons from its involvement in the peace processes that culminated in elections in Sudan; if so, how will it assist the government in achieving its foreign policy objectives on the continent?
Reply:
South Africa's involvement in Sudan is informed by its strategic foreign policy priority that peace, security and stability are prerequisites for Africa's socio-economic development.
South Africa is of the view that the resolution of conflict and restoration of peace in the largest country on the continent will not only impact positively on the Horn of Africa region but on the African continent as a whole.
Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 to end the 21 year civil war, South Africa has been actively involved in supporting Sudan in its democratic transformation.
South Africa has assisted the Government of Southern Sudan to build capacity and develop institutions for governance since 2005.
In addition, South Africa has engaged both the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan to strengthen capacity in the police services with a view to develop a culture of democratic policing.
With elections being one of the key elements in the democratic transformation of Sudan, the South African government took a decision to assist the National Elections Commission and to deploy an observer team under the auspices of the African Union.
These elections, notwithstanding challenges, are viewed as a positive step towards the democratic transition of Sudan as envisaged in the CPA.
A critical lesson from international involvement in conflict resolution, including South Africa's role in the peace process, is the need to foster and maintain a common and united international approach regarding the implementation of agreements.
It is also clear that no solutions are possible or sustainable without the active involvement of all parties to the conflict.
It is important to emphasise inclusivity and consensus-seeking and to discourage any forms of unilateral action.
In January 2011, Sudan will be conducting a historic referendum on the future of the country.
In light of the importance and the sensitivity of the process, it is incumbent on the African Union and the broader international community to work with the parties to reach agreement on the final aspects of the CPA and the post-referendum issues.
Failure to agree on these critical issues could set the peace process back and give rise to political tensions and instability.
In this regard, South Africa will continue to provide support to the AU High Level Implementation Panel on Darfur under the auspices of former President Thabo Mbeki.
In addition, South Africa will render assistance to the United Nations, the Intergovernmental Authority for Development and other interested parties towards the peaceful resolution of the Darfur conflict.
South Africa will also continue its facilitating role as Chair of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development Committee on Sudan, as mandated by the African Union.
I thank you.
The leader of the Opposition (DA) to ask the President of the Republic:
How does he reconcile his recent comments at the Black Management Forum on 29 April 2010 about the Government's faster and more pragmatic approach to land reform with his comments that such a policy would be carried out within the ambit of the law?
Reply:
Honourable member, there is no contradiction between faster land reform and the consistent application of the law. Government has recognised that the land reform programmes implemented to date have not been entirely sustainable.
They have not provided the anticipated socio-economic benefits to all the recipients of the programmes.
Among other things, this is the result of institutional weaknesses in overall land management, policy and legislation.
As a result, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform embarked on the development of a Green Paper on Agrarian Transformation, Rural Development and Land Reform, which is currently being finalised for submission to Cabinet.
The Green Paper is intended to culminate in a new land policy framework and an omnibus of legislation which should be a consolidation of all land-related laws.
While we are in the process of developing legislation linked to the Green Paper process, it is imperative that we find immediate mechanisms to respond to the plight of farm workers and farm dwellers.
We will soon introduce a Land Tenure Bill, which will repeal the Extension of Security of Tenure Act and the Labour Tenants Act.
This bill will be informed by the following objectives:
* To protect the relative rights of farm workers, farm dwellers and landowners
* To strengthen the rights of farm dwellers
* To enhance food security through sustained production discipline.
Any new policies or legislation will be developed in line with the Constitution and will follow the normal Cabinet and parliamentary processes.
I reiterate that the pursuit of a sustainable and accelerated approach to land reform will be carried out within the ambit of the law and we should still be able to do it faster.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Nomfundo Mcetywa
Tel: 012 300 5324
Cell: 078 588 4548
E-mail: nomfundo@po.gov.za and nomfundo.mcetywa@gmail.com
Issued by: The Presidency
27 May 2010
Source: Sapa
