Mbeki
31 December 2007
Fellow South Africans:
As we bid farewell to the year 2007 and welcome the year 2008, I would like,
on behalf of our government, to wish you all a happy, peaceful and prosperous
New Year.
At this time of the year many of us adopt New Year resolutions in
anticipation of the challenges of the New Year. Equally, the birth of a new
year also offers all of us together the possibility to recommit ourselves to
work for a better future for all our people.
This passing year, 2007, saw many gains on many fronts as we continued to
work for the consolidation of a united, just and democratic society, marked by
economic prosperity and the eradication of poverty.
Let us begin the New Year committed to the objective of national unity, with
renewed confidence in our collective strength to ensure that our democracy will
continue to serve all our citizens, determined to accelerate our progress
towards the realisation of the goal of a better life for all South
Africans.
I would like to thank everybody in our country, whether in government, civil
society, business and patriotic individuals for the work they did this year to
ensure that our country becomes the success we all want it to be.
This important work has impacted on all elements of our national life,
including the strengthening of our democracy, the further expansion of our
economy, the further opening of the doors of learning and of culture, the
improvement of the safety and security of all our citizens, and increasing our
capacity to meet our international responsibilities to our Continent and the
rest of the world.
In 2007 our economy grew from strength to strength, consolidating the gains
it had made the previous year. Government and its social partners continued to
work towards eliminating poverty and reducing racial and gender inequality in
our society.
However, the critical challenge of reducing poverty and inequality still
persists. Accordingly, during 2008 government must redouble its efforts
vigorously to increase the tempo of economic growth and job creation, to raise
the floor of prosperity that must go with our democracy.
We will also have to work to ensure that we improve the effectiveness of all
our other interventions directed at accelerating our advance towards the
achievement of a better life for all our people.
The year that ends today, taken together with the preceding period since we
gained our freedom, has laid a firm foundation for us to realise all these
objectives.
Our economy faces some important challenges. These include a higher
inflation rate than we would wish for, driven by high crude oil and food
prices. This has led to higher interest rates than we desire. All this has also
been accompanied by a sustained deficit in the balance of trade, reflecting
that we are importing more than we are exporting.
Despite these challenges, we have to continue to pursue the goal of a higher
rate of economic growth, driven by increased investments and improvements in
productivity. At the same time, we must continue to strive to ensure that this
growth also results in the creation of new job opportunities. Among other
things, this means that we must sustain our focus on the challenge of raising
the skills levels among our working people.
Similarly, we must use the foundations we have laid further to accelerate
the access especially of the poor to adequate housing, accessible and
affordable health care, free basic services, education, water and sanitation,
electricity and so on.
At the same time, within the context of a properly targeted anti-poverty
strategy, we must continue to attend to the task of ensuring that our system of
social grants reaches the people most in need, to provide the necessary cushion
to protect as many people as possible from falling into abject poverty.
Among other things, this means that we will have to continue to attend to
the related task further to improve the performance of our government in all
three spheres, with special emphasis on local government. In this regard, we
will have to ensure that our system of government truly respects the now
long-established principle of *batho pele* â people first!
Further, I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the
young people who passed their Matriculation examinations, bearing in mind the
fact that this year the largest ever number of candidates sat for the
examination and passed.
We must also pay special tribute to the young people of Khutsong as well as
the North West and National Departments of Education for the good work they did
to ensure that these learners achieve a credible success rate.
Necessarily, once again we must draw the relevant lessons from the Matric
results to ensure that we continue to work in a focused manner to improve the
entirety of our system of education.
Fellow South Africans:
The number of road accidents in our country and the resultant fatalities and
injuries continue to be matters of grave concern. Once more we call on
all
road users, including pedestrians, to listen and respond to all the important
messages communicated through the Arrive Alive Campaign.
Similarly, we must continue to act in unity to combat crime, and thus
further improve the safety and security of all our people.
Of course, even as we attend to our domestic challenges, as we must, we
cannot forget our international obligations.
In this context I would like to reiterate our sense of outrage at the murder
of the prominent Pakistani political leader, Benazir Bhutto. We sincerely hope
that the government and people of Pakistan will find the strength and wisdom in
themselves successfully to respond to the crisis created by the assassination
of Ms Bhutto in the interest of peace and a stable democracy in their country
and region.
We also hope that the process of negotiations intended to end the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, initiated at the Annapolis Conference in the
United States, will proceed vigorously to meet the 2008 deadline agreed by the
leaders of Palestine and Israel.
We remain confident that the leaders of the people of Zimbabwe will conclude
their negotiations successfully, leading to the holding of free and fair
Presidential and Parliamentary elections and the creation of a firm base for
this sister country to address its socio-economic challenges in unity.
Similarly, we extend our best wishes to the Governments and peoples of
Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte dâIvoire, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan as they work to
resolve the challenges they face.
We also reiterate our appeal to the United Nations to do everything in its
power to resolve the long-standing conflict over the future of Western Sahara,
in keeping with the resolutions of the UN Security Council.
The year ahead will present our country with new tasks and challenges
arising from decisions adopted at the recent 52nd National Conference of the
ruling party, the ANC. We must respond to all these bearing in mind the
national goal our country has set itself â the goal of ensuring that our
democracy remains unwavering in the pursuit of the objective of a better life
for all our people.
Before I close, on behalf of our government and people, I wish our national
soccer team, Bafana Bafana, success in the African Cup of Nations tournament
which kicks off in Ghana in a few weeks. Our entire nation is confident that
Bafana Bafana will emulate the example set by the Springboks who only recently
won the Rugby World Cup.
Once again, on behalf of our government and in my own name I wish you,
fellow South Africans, a happy and successful 2008.
Thank you.
Inquiries: Mukoni Ratshitanga
Cell: 082 300 3447
Issued by: The Presidency
31 December 2007
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)
