Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Andries Nel: Speaking notes for an input during a debate on the State of the Nation Address
Building a nation united in diversity and promoting social cohesion
Molweni
Sanibonani
Thobela
Avuxeni
Dumelang
Ndi Masiari, almost Madekwana
Goeie middag
On 7 May the people of South Africa gave the ANC yet another overwhelming mandate.
The people were giving the ANC a mandate to take South Africa forward, to create a better life for all by implementing the National Development Plan.
The ANC Manifesto outlines how we will implement the NDP.
We called our manifesto: Together taking South Africa Forward!
We did so because two of the golden threads that run through the history of the ANC are unity and progress.
In 1911, Pixely ka Seme wrote a call to the founding conference of the ANC in 1912. He said:
"I repeat, co-operation is the key and the watchword, which opens the door, the everlasting door, which leads into progress and all national success. The greatest success shall come when man shall have learned to co-operate, not only with his own kith and kin but also with all peoples and with all life.
The South African Native Congress is the voice in the wilderness bidding all the dark races of this sub-continent to come together once or twice a year in order to review the past and reject therein all those things which have retarded our progress, the things which poison the springs of our national life and virtue; to label and distinguish the sins of civilisation, and as members of one house-hold to talk and think loudly on our home problems and the solution of them."
The ANC continues to play this role in the life of our nation.
The ANC has always been an organisation with a plan.
- Africans' Claims
- Freedom Charter
- Strategy & Tactics
- Harare Declaration
- Ready to Govern
- Reconstruction and Development Plan
- National Development Plan
The ANC is an organisation that says what it means, and means what it says.
The ANC’s plans are not formulated in closed rooms the way some parties choose presidential candidates.
Our plans are drawn up openly and in consultation with the people.
It is for this reason that the ANC has been able to rely on the support of the people, because their plan is our plan.
The formulation as well as the implementation of these plans was characterized by vigorous, robust and at times even acrimonious debate and discussion.
During the years of exile sounds of the rattling of the AK-47 was mixed with the sound of cadres firing intellectual salvos at each other as they debated the meaning of the various clauses of the Freedom Charter.
On Robben Island the sounds of picks and shovels in the limestone quarry could not silence the
After 1994 we continued debating the implementation of the RDP even as we were implementing it by building millions of houses, hundreds of clinics, and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The ANC has always mastered the art of walking and talking, toiling and talking, debating as we work to build a better future.
Therefore those who express concern that the ANC is not united and will not implement the NDP are locked in a futile argument against the example of history.
Throughout this history there have always been discordant noises from certain quarters.
Sometimes we heard the strident stream of hateful racist invective.
Other times it was the sound of the rattling of a flat spare-tyre in the boot of South African history.
Also the low, slow whine of generalized suburban discontent.
More recently we have heard the shrill hadeda-like sounds of: Na-kandla, Na-kandla, Na-kandla.
And then, there has also been the pitiful lament coming from amidst the twilight shadows of our politics asking: “What has happened to international mediation?”
And yet, amidst these discordant noises, we hear other, more hopeful sounds. We hear that all of us in this chamber agree that the core challenges facing South African society are:
- Poverty
- Inequality, and
- Unemployment
We hear that we agree that our national priorities remain:
- Health,
- Education,
- Economic development and job creation,
- Rural development, land reform and food security, as well as
- Combatting crime and corruption.
We also hear agreement that the National Development Plan is our national roadmap to address these issues and to create a radically transformed society by 2030.
We appeal to all in this house to focus on these areas of agreement. For it is only through vision contained in the preamble to our Constitution.
Throughout history, nations have been forged in battle or through having a common enemy.
In South Africa’s case, our country seeks to build a nation around the values of non-racialism, of healing the past, of acting in the interests of the poor and downtrodden.
We seek to build a society where progress/development is measured by progress and inclusion of the poor. The roadmap to that society is to be found in our Constitution and our National Development Plan.
South Africa has chosen not to create a melting pot, but rather a potjie to celebrate diversity.
South Africans are bound by a shared geographic space, a common modern history (however differently experienced), and a Constitution with four core values:
• Non-racism. South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. South Africans may hold multiple identities but we are South Africans first, before race, language or ethnicity.
• Non-sexism: Equality of status, rights, responsibilities and opportunities should unite men and women.
• Social solidarity: All South Africans have a responsibility to build a new society, one in which opportunity is not shaped by our history, that is fundamentally pro-poor in nature.
• Democracy: The people shall govern, and the authority of the state should be exercised by elected representatives of its people in institutions enshrined in the Constitution.
South Africa’s path to nation building allows individual cultures, languages and identities to become building blocks of a greater whole.
However, forging a common identity without reducing inequality of opportunity is tantamount to building on a foundation of sand.
Redistribution and equity are not only a constitutional imperative, but are good for growth, development and stability.
South Africa therefore must have a social contract for equity and inclusion.
The entire NDP is about the building of this social contract and enabling people through their sharing of common spaces to see their humanity reflected in the other and ensuring a decent standard of living for all.
It is this inherited psyche of racial, gender and sexual orientation prejudices and stereotypes, breakdown in values, inequality of opportunity and massive poverty, as well as competition for scarce resources, which helps fuel racism, xenophobia and gender-based violence.
Part of the apartheid inheritance psyche is a tendency for the populace to abdicate responsibility for their wellbeing to the government.
Open displays of opulence, even when hidden under red overalls, are a scourge in South African society.
Their offensiveness is particularly marked because of South Africa’s high levels of inequality and unemployment.
Society should have balanced and appropriate incentive systems commensurate with the individual’s contribution to society.
Excessive displays of wealth as well as unjustified differentials in income distort these incentives.
The country cannot achieve unity and social cohesion without reducing the gaps between rich and poor, black and white, women and men, city and country.
In doing this, it is necessary to recognise the historical obligation for redress, to correct the wrongs of the past and to affirm the historically disadvantaged. Without unity, the nation cannot hope to correct the wrongs of the past.
Without correcting the wrongs of the past, unity would be superficial.
The country must therefore continue with measures to facilitate active engagement of the populace in its own development.
Efforts to enable healing of the wounds of the past while reducing economic exclusion, inequality of opportunity and outcomes; enabling the sharing of space across race and class, as well as fostering an overarching South African identity anchored by the Constitution and the values embedded therein should be optimised.
Apartheid spatial patterns mean limited opportunity for sharing of space across race and class and thus there is still limited interaction across race.
Another legacy of apartheid spatial logic is that the poor often live far from places of work. This makes it harder to find work and raises the cost of transport.
The social, psychological and geographic elements of apartheid continue to shape the lives and outlook of many South Africans, even though apartheid no longer exists on the statute books.
South African cities and towns continue to be marked by profound spatial, economic and social divides and inequalities.
Since 1994, there have been significant service delivery and development gains, but apartheid spatial patterns have largely remained unchanged in most areas. For a variety of reasons, not least the pressure to provide housing and services on a large scale, most of the infrastructure investments since 1994 have, unintentionally, served to reinforce the spatial status quo, effectively making it harder in 2013 to reverse apartheid geographies.
This legacy must be arrested and reversed, as the country unites behind the vision of the National Development Plan (NDP).
President Jacob Zuma highlighted this in his State of the Nation Address in February 2013:
We should also remain mindful of rapid urbanisation that is taking place. The Census Statistics reveal that 63% of the population are living in urban areas. This is likely to increase to over 70% by 2030. Apartheid spatial patterns still persist in our towns and cities. Municipalities alone cannot deal with the challenges. We need a national approach. While rural development remains a priority of government, it is crucial that we also develop a national integrated urban development framework to assist municipalities to effectively manage rapid urbanisation. As part of implementing the National Development Plan, all three spheres of government need to manage the new wave of urbanisation in ways that also contribute to rural development.
Since then a discussion document on Integrated Urban Development was released in October 2013. We are confident that South Africa's Integrated Urban Development Framework will be finalized and released for public debate by the 30 July 2014 deadline set by the President.
Our success or failure in transforming what the National Development Plan calls our "national space economy" will determine whether we will become a nation united in our diversity or a nation in which we live together separately.
