Mbeki's call to South Africa
12 February 2007Describing a country that has made huge social and economic strides since winning its freedom in 1994, but which still faces difficulties "we do not and should not underplay," President Thabo Mbeki called on all South Africans on Friday to "dare to act in concert" to achieve the "happiness for all that should come with liberty".
Delivering his State of the Nation address to Parliament in Cape Town, Mbeki said the struggle to eradicate poverty would continue to be a central part of the national effort to build a South Africa "defined by a common dream."
It was in order to realise this dream, Mbeki said, that the government had initiated programmes to raise the rate of investment and reduce the cost of doing business in South Africa, promote skills development, and expand access to such services as water, sanitation and electricity.
"I am happy to report that with regard to each of these commitments, government remains hard at work to ensure that the nation's objectives are met," Mbeki said.
Service delivery
Since 2004, the government had made huge progress in improving service provision and other aspects of the social wage, Mbeki told Parliament.
"While beneficiaries of social grants numbered about 8-million in 2004, today 11 million poor South Africans have access to these grants."
In addition, the state's housing programme had seen close to 300 000 new subsidies allocated in the past two years.
Mbeki also noted that, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), South Africa was one of the few countries that spent less in its military budget than on water and sanitation.
In its Human Development Report of 2006, the UNDP said South Africa had "demonstrated how the human right to water can serve as a mechanism for empowerment and a guide to policy."
While this was an achievement to be celebrated, Mbeki said, eight million South Africans still needed access to clean water, and many more needed electricity and sanitation.
"We will continue to confront these challenges so as to erase in our country that which is ugly and repulsive, so that together we can speak of freedom and the happiness that comes with liberty."
Job creation
Mbeki told Parliament that about 500 000 new jobs had been created every year for the past three years, a small part of these jobs coming via the state's expanded public works programme.
"But there is no question that this programme can and must be ratcheted upwards quite significantly," Mbeki said. "There is also no question that we can do much better to create self-employment through small and micro enterprises."
Better progress on job creation could also be achieved through interventions such as the National Youth Service and the development of young entrepreneurs, Mbeki said, noting that a large majority of South Africa's unemployed were young people.
Contrasting present day South Africa with a time when being born black was "a curse", Mbeki said black South Africans were now moving up in the economy. "We have seen steady progress in the advancement of black people in the economy.
"From owning just over 3% of the market capitalisation of the JSE in 2004, this has increased to close on 5%; and the proportion of blacks in top management has grown from 24% of the total to 27%.
"Yet we must remain concerned that these figures are still woefully low."
'We're not there yet'
Mbeki said much progress had been made in transforming South Africa since 1994, but cautioned that the difficulties still facing the country were not to be played down.
"We should today, even more confidently, speak together of freedom," Mbeki said. "We should dare to act in concert to pursue the 'happiness that can come to men and women if they live in a land that is free.'
"We are not there yet," Mbeki said. "But no one, except ourselves, shall ensure that this dream is realised.
"And so, let us roll up our sleeves and get down to work, fully understanding that the task to build the South Africa for which we yearn is a common responsibility we all share."
Source: BuaNews
