Pretoria - Every university student in South Africa could be required to learn one African language as a condition for graduating, Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday.

An advisory panel had been tasked with looking into the issue, Nzimande said in Pretoria at the launch of the teacher education and development plan for the next 15 years.

"One of the things we are looking into is... to what extent should we consider that every university student in South Africa must at least learn one African language as a condition for graduating," he said.

This was "very, very critical".

Speaking in isiZulu, Nzimande said: "Akukwazi ukuba yithi kuphela ekuthiwa sifunde isingisi nesibhunu bakwethu, kodwa ezethu iyilimi nabanye bangazifundi [We can't be expected to learn English and Afrikaans, yet they don't learn our languages]".

He said the issue of the development and teaching of African languages in universities was something he was taking up as a special ministerial project.

The advisory panel would look at how to strengthen university teaching and expansion of African languages, which was in a serious decline.

The launch of the strategic planning framework for teachers aims to improve the quality of teachers and teaching in the country in line with calls over the years by teacher unions.

The plan identifies the availability of qualified and capable African language foundation phase teachers as particularly problematic.

Nzimande said this had "severe implications" for the development of early numeracy and literacy, which was the foundation for all future learning.

"African language learners in the poor, rural context are mostly severely impacted," he said.

A European Union-supported programme to strengthen foundation teacher education was already being implemented by the higher and basic education departments.

It would increase the number of universities involved in foundation phase teacher education from 18 in 2008 to 20 by 2014, said Nzimande.

- SAPA

This article was taken from the news24 website. To view the full article and all the comments, go to www.news24.com

Pretoria - Every university student in South Africa could be required to learn one African language as a condition for graduating, Minister ...

The Legacy and Relevance of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe in the 21st Africa

By: Kwandiwe Kondlo
University of Fort Hare
Alice

Honourable Vice Chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, the CEO of the Steven Biko Foundation, the CEO of the Robert Sobukwe Trust, fellow academics, honourable, members of the provincial government, the leadership of the ANC and PAC as well as other political parties, guests from various sections of our society including those from outside South Africa, student leadership, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour to give the 6th Robert Sobukwe Memorial Lecture at this University.
Mangaliso Sobukwe’s footprints in South African political history shall never be erased. Unfortunately Sobukwe is not widely known in South Africa and I think this is not just a matter of oversight but is deliberate. The post-apartheid dispensation in our country is marked by the rise of a new kind of selective memory and a new kind of exclusion . We are led to believe that one movements’ history of struggle; one movement’s leaders and fallen heroes are all- embracing of the entire liberation movement. This attempt to stamp the entire history of the liberation struggle in South Africa with the colours one organization has made some of our heroes - who were victims of exclusion during colonialism and apartheid, victims once again – they are now victims of an exclusionary post-apartheid memory, which is largely an invention of today’s the victors.

This invention has its own intellectuals, these I call tendentious scholars who one day shall stand accused before the judgment of history. Yes there are efforts to bring Sobukwe and his ideas back to public discourse but let him not be inscribed with meanings completely unrelated to the cause he stood for and the organization in which he operated. I am refer here to the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania.

Ladies and gentlemen I am an academic, I am a researcher and an African scholar. What energizes scholars is the pursuit of the truth in all its dimensions.I say this so that it is clear from the outset that I am not a political party activist, I am loyal to no political party but to the quest for truth.
I owe ordinary African people, especially those humbled by their conditions of poverty and deprivation, the truth about our reality and circumstances; the truth about why the ideas of Robert Sobukwe remain so true and so relevant today as they were before1994.

Ordinary people, want to know the truth – they have nothing to lose from the truthful analyses of their predicament, it’s the elites who usually benefit from the mystification of the way society works. The problem in the 21st century Africa is that African scholars have sort of abandoned their mission – some also found comfortable spaces in the market place – as Isa Shivji (1993) puts it, they have also distinguished themselves by their silence, submission and subservience rather than courage and consistency.

I have chosen to talk about the legacy and relevance of Robert Sobukwe in the 21st Century Africa, the African Century. I am acutely aware of debates around whether the 20th century really ended or is it just a change in numeric – I will stay clear of that debate for now.
In a book which I edited, titled ‘Africa in Focus – Governance in the 21st Century’ to be released next month, I argue that the 21st century is for the African continent a make or break century. If liberal democracy doesn’t deliver in order to meet the ‘cares and sorrows’ of the African majority, then all prospects of peace are likely to be dashed and destroyed. In fact among the major challenges facing humanity in the 21st century is the sustainability of peace and the crisis of the state as a form of power and authority that guarantees order in human society.

There are four thematic issues which emerge from a close examination of the political life and work of Robert Sobukwe. I will examine only 2 for the sake of time. These include:
First is organic social-capital leadership – a leadership style which emerges from and is rooted among people – a kind of leadership which cultivates bonds of solidarity and trust

Second, is the weapon of theory in the building of a united polity. The dry pragmatism of today has eclipsed the significance of theory to inform and guides action; people want to implement and conceptualize later; thinking and conceptualization are seen as a waste of time.
Third, Sobukwe taught us the possibility of another kind of politics - the ‘politics of devotion’, This is a desire-less politics of sacrifice . Lastly his entire life and politics underlined the ethical duty of solidarity and reconciliation – the poverty of the new South Africa in this area is glaring
.
From the political life of Robert Sobukwe the most important lesson for today is that where there is no desire for fruits, the temptation to untruth carries no force (Ghandi). The hankering for fruits; the hankering for benefits of having been part of the liberation struggle is at the root of some of the problems we have today

The themes I have identified lead us to an examination of a number of recurrent themes in South African and African politics to date. These include, leadership battles and unhealthy contestation; for the African continent the issue is the kind of leadership Africa needs in order to emerge from today’s crisis; the character of politics in many African countries is another issue and most importantly, the relationship between the ethical and the political in emerging democracies in the continent.

The organic social capital type of leadership which Sobukwe embodied provides an anchor for a collectively owned transformative vision - it provides inspiration and overall integration of strategic approaches to realize the collective vision. The leader is trusted because of his/her integrity, because of the depth of insight, his overall guiding eye and cementing inspiration.

The quality of leadership is very important in emerging democracies where institutions of oversight and control are still fragile and consolidating. But the manner in which we choose leaders and who we choose as our leaders in Africa is very important for the future we want to have not only for ourselves but also for our children.
Of course, those who want to avail themselves as leaders need to have conscience – it doesn’t mean if you are popular, then you should avail yourself for leadership – not all popular persons make great leaders who matter. The masses need education in this area
Sobukwe alluded to this in 1970 when he indicated, I quote “we are up against a situation that has always existed in South Africa, namely that the masses will always automatically follow a leader or organization that they have loyalty to, without thinking about the wisdom or weaknesses of particular policies they are told to support”.

What this shows is that the masses, without critical consciousness to deal creatively with their reality, can be complicit in the reproduction of their conditions of subordination. But as real leaders we must not agree to lead when we know we have serious deficiencies. This is an ethical issue which requires a lively conscience and humility. The relationship between the political and the ethical is a difficult one and needs serious interrogation

I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that South Africa is poor today largely because it lacks leaders of Sobukwe’s caliber. It took long and hard persuasion to get Sobukwe to stand for the leadership of the Pan Africanist Congress in 1959– as Sobukwe explains – he saw himself as an intellectual to support the new organization at the level of theory from behind the scenes.
Even when he got convinced that he was suitable to lead, he never lobbied people to be on his side – he never bought people to vote for him at the inaugural congress of the PAC in 1959.

The quality of his personality, the shining example of his moral leadership and height of his intellectual development were so outstanding such that he was the obvious choice. This is the kind of leadership South Africa needs. This is the kind of leadership the continent needs, if the 21st Century is to become an African Century.

Martin Luther King jnr describes the leaders of this calibre as “leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice; leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity; leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause” (1991:143). This kind of leadership is also conceptually strong and intellectually grounded. This is an important leadership trait, especially today, the era of knowledge economy. This brings me to point about the weapon of theory in Sobukwe’s political outlook.

As a theoretician, ladies and gentlemen, I want to argue, Sobukwe holds together all the threads of major theoretical questions inSouth Africa. He holds them at the very point of their entanglement.
The answer to the question of race and racism - which today is debated by ANC politicians without theoretical grounding, emerges from the works of Robert Sobukwe. He argued that there is only one race, the human race. The myth of race in Africa, Sobukwe argued, has been “propounded and propagated by imperialists and colonialists from Europe, in order to facilitate and justify their inhuman exploitation of the indigenous people of the land – it is from the myth of race with its attendant claims of cultural superiority that the doctrine of white supremacy stems”.

The correctness of Sobukwe’s position is confirmed by generations of prominent scholars in the studies of race and race relations in the 21st century.

Rodolf Torres and Xavier Inda, for instance argue that race is not a biological fact; race does not refer to an already constituted object – race constitutes it own object.

Cornel West (1994), in his book ‘Keeping Faith – Philosophy and Race in America’ argues that when European immigrants arrived on American shores they perceived themselves as “Irish”, “Sicilian” “Lithuanian” and so on. “They had to learn that they were white”
He concludes that ‘whiteness is a political construction which is parasitic on the construction of ‘blackness’. Race may have constructed biological referents but it is not a biological fact
Whereas Santos, Nunes and Meneses (2008) argue that race and racism were constructed with the rise of ‘the coloniality of power and knowledge’ to ensure the dominance of the colonizers. The invention of the savage as an inferior being and that the savage is black and he is devoid of knowledge and culture justified the civilizing violence that was enacted on him.
What this confirms is that ‘race’ is a construction; it is not merely about pigmentation but it is about material relations of power among social groups and how unequal power relations are used to advantage the powerful and disadvantage the powerless. Blackness, Steve Biko indicated, is an attitude of mind and a way of life as well as a commitment to rally together to get rid of oppression and exploitation.

This brings me to the question – how is it possible for black people to be racist against each other? We have heard about the case of Jimmy Manyi and Trevor Manuel. Yes Black people may label each other negatively because of ethnic biases or regional grounds. There is a difference between is what is called racialized ethnic relations which emanate from disjunctures around issues of consciousness and culture and racism. I really don’t believe black people can be racist towards one another. Racism is a structure and ideology of domination and exclusion based ion historical materialism – it is not a mood or just negative comments. Hence it is difficult to imagine how black people can even be racist towards white people. The balance of socio-economic power doesn’t favour the socio-historical groups to which Black people belong.

Ladies and gentlemen let be clear here; in this country we relate to each other not only as individuals but also as historical beings who emerge from socio-historical groups. Material power does not favour Black people, as a socio-historical group hence it is difficult to accuse them of racism.

The problem of our time is that the post independence South Africa and the negotiations out of which it emerged have been so grotesquely refined and emptied of historical content. Hence you find black people accusing each other of being racist and inadvertently encouraging the true racists to not feel bad about their racism. African people have a tendency to allow those who dominate South Africa conceptually to define their problems, to individualize collective problems and in turn Africans also comply as they privatize collective suffering.
The media will portray, for example, children in Ngqeleni who attend classes under a tree, as if they are the only ones in that situation. Whereas the reality is that many children of black people, 16 years after democracy, are still condemned to growing up in degrading ghetto conditions where they are being preselected by their conditions for inferior and subordinate positions in the new South Africa. The fact that we allow collective suffering to be so individualized signifies a problem – the lack of theory and critical consciousness

Sobukwe dealt with all these questions and defined an African not in terms of race but in terms of first loyalty to Africa and acceptance of the rule of an African majority.

The reconciliation project has also been affected by the pervasive lack of theory and critical consciousness among the masses of our people. The choice of the paradigm of reconciliation and how it got to be defined, was to a large extent done on our behalf – the timidity of African intellectuals also created a big gap.

Ideally Reconciliation becomes true and applies meaningfully at the point of victory of the oppressed over oppression. This is different from a reconciliation project which is launched when the oppressor and the oppressed have clearly deadlocked. When they are both winners, then the former oppressor is not really bound to reconcile. Reconciliation under such conditions, tends to paper over the cracks. It is unfortunate that the model of reconciliation in this country bears a lot of these features

Reconciliation is about the extension of redeeming goodwill by the oppressed who have overcome oppression. It is not defined for the oppressed by historically advantaged groups, still arrogant and powerful, as a joint project of both the oppressed and the oppressors, otherwise it never works.
We still need reconciliation in this country but on fresh grounds and informed by a new paradigm

Ladies and gentlemen, in summary, the worst dilemmas facing South Africa, now in the 21st century, are threefold, first, the resolution of contradiction between the ethical and the political in post 1994 emancipatory politics – this requires leadership of Sobukwe’s caliber – intellectually and morally strong enough to lead by example; second, the democratization of ownership of economic means of life. This why the land question is so central in Sobukwe’s political philosophy. Black people cannot determine their destiny merely through a vote – via patronizing stances of a rainbow nation – a people who do not own the material means of production in their country cannot determine their destiny.
Lastly the resolution of the Blackmen’s existential deviation, a black person is still not himself/herself – the black men still aspires to be white; he wants to prove to the white world at all costs, the richness of his thought and the equal value of his intellect (Fanon 1986). The African needs to be saved from himself, if the African continent is to be saved.

To conclude ladies and gentlemen, there are three possible paths in the foreseeable future, in the case of South Africa. We will either sink or swim together depending on how we handle our choices – first, is how to effectively handle the settlement we negotiated in our country so that it delivers on the hopes of the majority – ‘a better life for all South Africans? The settlement is a mixed bag – there is good and bad in it.

It is dominated by the hegemonic interests of big capital, there is elite consensus which provides some kind of a glue, we have a liberal constitution, there is promise and hope; but socio-economic inequalities are deepening, human capacity development is still low and economic power is still in the hands of white elites
This state of affairs is likely to continue for a longer time. The question is how do we build inclusive communities, guarantee peace and stability, economic transformation, reconciliation and national unity under these conditions?
But in the end this scenario is very unsustainable because the very foundations are wrong. The settlement was premised on nursing white fears and less on dealing with black suffering and historic grief. It is unsustainable because white elites will never surrender or negotiate away economic power – they will open spaces for a few conformists but will never give-up ownership and leadership –
On the other hand the growing numbers of radical African youths, some unemployed, the rising frustration and anger African communities, the growing civil society networks who argue that the solution is outside formal political parties, and is outside the ruling party, gives an impression that the very pain we avoided when we decided to negotiate, may soon catch-up with us.
Part of the solution to ensure sustainability of the settlement , depends on how far white South Africans are willing to go a step further to demonstrate commitment and sacrifice and how the Black political elites is prepared to provide inspiring leadership which takes on board the challenge of personal example.

The second scenario is what I am afraid of - ‘the democracy to come’ – this may have nothing to do with Kempton Park negotiations but will emerge from a new mass- political spirituality deriving from years of pain and disappointment. The emerging sociology of democracy in South Africa” shows two distinct and “ultimately incompatible democracies that are incubating in the same democratic movement, led by the ANC Alliance, i.e. the minimalist liberal democracy which is strong on procedures, e.g. elections, parliamentary cretinism, formalities of institutions but weak on outcomes,
On the other hand is the democracy of the subalterns, the masses, peasants and workers which is more social democratic and demands concrete equality, cultural upliftment and concrete rights. This is ‘the democracy to come’ – the question is the form it will take and when it will come. The pain it will initially bring is difficult to imagine but the joy it will ultimately deliver will surpass imagination

The third possibility – is some kind of reversal of radical gains by the ‘centre-right’ victory against the forces who fought for and negotiated national liberation.

As a country, therefore we are in a crisis – if by crisis we mean a moment of choice – we need towering leadership, solid enough to leave up to the challenge of personal example. This is what Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe left behind and also took with him. Like many of us, Sobukwe came to this world with nothing, but unlike many of us, he left ONE thing behind but took ONE thing with him. He left behind a memorable example of the caliber and standard of leadership Africa needs BUT he took with him the prodigal paradox of an ethical political revolution.

I THANK YOU

The Legacy and Relevance of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe in the 21st Africa By: Kwandiwe Kondlo University of Fort Hare Alice Honourable V...

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, the CEO of the Steve Biko Foundation and the CEO of the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust cordially invite you to the 6th Robert Sobukwe Memorial Lecture to be delivered by Professor Kwandiwe Kondlo, Director, Centre for Africa Studies, University of the Free State.

Date: Thursday 17 March, 2011

Time: 14 :30 for 15 :00

Venue: The Science Auditorium, Alice Campus, University of Fort Hare, Alice

RSVP Details: Due to limited space, seating will be done on a first come, first serve basis.

Please reply by Monday, March 7, 2010 to

Mr. Bruce Waters, bruce@sbf.org.za; (011) 403-0310;


Launched in 2003, The Robert Sobukwe Memorial lecture is an initiative of the Steve Biko Foundation and the University of Fort Hare. The lecture commemorates the legacy of the late Pan Africanist, who early on articulated the importance of African unity and the need for an African Renaissance. Accordingly, the gathering focuses on developments in Africa that have a bearing on the realization of Sobukwe’s vision.

This initiative has become a national ritual of collective remembrance. To date, the Robert Sobukwe Memorial Lecture has been delivered by such renowned speakers as:

* Professor Eskia Mphahlele;
* Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane;
* Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza;
* His Excellency Pierre Buyoya of Burundi; and
* Minister Adama Samassékou of Mali.


In 2011, in commemoration of Human Rights Day, the Memorial Lecture will be delivered Professor Kwandiwe Kondlo, of the University of the Free State.


Kwandiwe Merriman Kondlo obtained his PhD from the University of Johannesburg. His doctorate covered exile liberation movements in southern Africa, with a special focus on the Pan Africanist Congress. He is currently the head of the Centre for Africa Studies at the University of the Free State, a multidisciplinary research and post-graduate centre which was launched in November 2007. Previously, he served as Executive Director of the Programme of Democracy and Governance at the Human Science Research Council in South Africa.


The Steve Biko Foundation, the University of Fort Hare and the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust are extremely privileged to host Professor Kondlo for this timely exploration of the Pan African Legacy.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, the CEO of the Steve Biko Foundation and the CEO of the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust ...

This article was written by Sipho Hlongwane, journalist and coloumnist for the Daily Maverick.

A couple of months ago I interviewed Nkosinathi Biko the CEO of the Steve Biko Foundation, for The Daily Maverick. In an unreported part of our conversation, we discussed black consciousness and its place in post-apartheid South Africa. Biko said, “If under the old dispensation being black meant being oppressed, what does it mean today?”

It has since occurred to me that I took this matter of blackness for granted — as something that needed no examining. To me, it was always an issue of skin colour, and nothing more. That is not true, obviously. As Biko indicated, the concept of blackness was predetermined for those it applied to, whether they wanted it or not. To be black meant to be subservient. The effect that this had on the black collective was profound and deeply tragic, and will continue to live with us for generations to come.

But this column is not about the past. As much as what came before is important, we are not completely prisoner to history. It is around that thought base that I pick at my thoughts, sorting and discarding as they come to me. I do not believe that history is the only determinant to how we think today. We can define for ourselves what blackness means. I believe that my generation — too young to have lived through much of apartheid, but not so far removed that those dark days are but a faded memory — is at a critical juncture. We are uniquely poised to determine and write a new narrative of blackness, our memories still fresh but unburdened by the emotional scars that our parents and past generations carry.

It is in this regard that I find the life of Barack Obama very illuminating (The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick is required reading for anyone who cares about the man). Obama is more than just a political miracle; he’s a self-made man in every sense of the word. Born in Hawaii in 1961, brought up by a white mother in the complete absence of his Kenyan father, he spent his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia, far removed from the turmoil of post-civil-rights America. Obama’s path to the White House was that of a black man, precisely because he had to “become” black. He had to learn what being a black man meant, adopt the cadence, frame of thought and place in the world. The isolation from the civil-rights movements and the bitter fights that came afterwards gave Obama the emotional distance he needed to approach the issue academically (much like our generation should today) and to thus be able to cast off the negative qualities that blackness had donned over the years.

For instance, young Obama read many black autobiographies. For black Americans under slavery and afterwards, writing was a journey of self-discovery: a way of asserting their identity and sense of worth. Obama carefully studied, among many other works, Dusk of Dawn by WEB Du Bois, The Big Sea by Langston Hughes and the Autobiography of Malcolm X. It is to the latter that he finds himself drawn, admiring the masculine strength of Malcolm X. But he is simultaneously repulsed by the brokenness that he sees in many of these black authors. “Obama’s reading of black memoirists when he was still living in Hawaii was the ‘homework’ of a young man trying to ‘reconcile the world as I’d found it with the terms of my birth’,” Remnick writes in The Bridge. “And yet, in all the books he reads, he keeps finding authors filled with depressing self-contempt; they flee or withdraw to varying corners of the world and to Obama they are all of them ‘all of them exhausted, bitter men, the devil at their heels’.”

Obama then sets out to write out a new narrative for himself, adopting the parts of black history that make him a better man, and discarding those that hold him back. Today, there is no doubt that he is a black man. We, the young blacks of South Africa, must in the same way reach into our past to help construct a new narrative, but must also be willing to shed the things that will hold us back.

We seem to struggle a great deal as black people to free the black individual to think and write as he or she pleases. The legacy of collective oppression lives on in our habit of criticising anyone who from “within the ranks” fails to affirm the accepted norms of blackness. We feel as if we must move and think as a bloc, we must all think in the same way, and have each other’s backs, as it were. This mode of thinking reflects in our constant harkening back to some pre-colonial Africa, where the group trumped the individual. We yearn back to “African culture”, an abstraction far removed from how pre-colonial societies organised themselves or worked. So profound is our sense of displacement.

However, we cannot save ourselves by going back. It is forward that we must look. This African group-think is going to cripple us. The individual must be freed. I want to be able to write whatever I like without being criticised by other blacks for “selling out”. I want to be able to critique black leaders without being told that I have adopted a white frame of thinking. I don’t want the seething rage that comes with having lived in oppression under apartheid. I don’t want to flinch every time someone throws a racial barb at me. Most importantly, I want to be able to construct a new meaning of blackness for myself without needing to lean against the “African culture” fetish.

I understand the fear of letting each other go that haunts so many blacks. But until the black individual is free, we cannot say that we have fully reaped the benefits of post-apartheid South Africa. I want to be able to think and write what I like.

This article was taken from Thought Leader, Mail&Guardian online.

This column was first published in JucyAfrica.

To view the article and all comments go to: www.thoughtleader.co.za

This article was written by Sipho Hlongwane, journalist and coloumnist for the Daily Maverick. A couple of months ago I interviewed Nkosin...

"Celebrating the legacy of freedom through strengthening the link between Parliament and the People”.

Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly,
Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces;
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP;
Deputy President of the Republic, Honourable Kgalema Motlanthe;
Former President Thabo Mbeki,
Former Deputy President FW De Klerk,
Former Deputy President Baleka Mbete,
Honourable Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, and all esteemed members of the Judiciary;
Distinguished Premiers and Speakers of our Provinces;
Chairperson of SALGA, and all local government leadership;
Chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders;
The Heads of Chapter 9 Institutions;
The Governor of the Reserve Bank; Gill Marcus
The Heads of our security institutions,
Leadership of all sectors – labour, business, sports, and religious leaders,
Members of the diplomatic corps;
South African and foreign media;
Fellow South Africans,
Dumelang, good evening, goeie naand, molweni, thobela,

Thank you Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly and the Honourable Chairperson of the NCOP, for this opportunity to share with fellow South Africans and international guests our review and programme of action for this year.

I called this Joint Sitting in the evening again so that all, including students and workers, can have an opportunity at first hand to listen to their government speak on issues affecting their lives.

We thank the Presiding Officers for allowing us this opportunity.

Let me also, on behalf of government, welcome the Members of Parliament back to this beautiful mother city of Cape Town.

We would like to thank all South Africans who contributed to this State of the Nation Address through mainstream media, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as direct contact.

The inputs have been very helpful.

Tomorrow will be 21 years since the release of our beloved President Nelson Mandela from prison.

It was a historic and very special moment for our country, which demonstrated the victory of our people over tyranny and apartheid oppression.

The events of that day prepared the ground for the implementation of our vision of a free, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, united and prosperous South Africa.

We have entered the 17th year of freedom, ready to continue the drive to make South Africa a successful and prosperous country, building on the foundation that was laid by President Mandela.

As we mark this milestone, we extend the nation’s good wishes to Tata Madiba and his family, and wish him a speedy recovery.

Compatriots,

We need to accept the reality that President Mandela, who is loved by all of us, young and old, men and women, black and white, is not young anymore.

He will, from time to time, visit medical facilities for checkups, which is normal for a person of his age.

We should allow him to do so with dignity, and give the family and the medical team the space to look after him, on our behalf, in privacy.

We owe him that much given his love of this country and its people, and the contribution he has made to South Africa, Africa and the world.

We thank the family, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the medical team for the sterling work that they are doing, in caring for a global icon, that we are so proud to call our own.

We want to assure the nation that Madiba is receiving very good medical care, and is comfortable.

TOGETHER WE HAVE ACHIEVED MUCH

Compatriots,

We continue to make steady progress as we work towards a more prosperous society. The political foundation is solid.

We have built a vibrant, fully functional Constitutional democracy.

We have well-established institutions that support democracy and protect the rights of our citizens, such as the Office of the Public Protector, the South African Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Auditor General, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities and the Gender Commission.

Without fail, national general elections are held every five years to enable South Africans to choose a government of their choice, run by our efficient Independent Electoral Commission.

We have a Parliament that is vibrant and holds the executive accountable.

We have an independent judiciary which is a trusted final arbiter in all disputes in our society. We have a media whose freedom is enshrined in the Constitution.

On basic services, we are also making progress. More than 400 000 additional people were served with basic water supply last year. About 81% of the country is electrified as compared to 63% in the year 2000.

The crime statistics show a decrease in most crimes, particularly armed robberies, housebreakings and business robberies as well as contact crimes, for example, the murder rate declined by 8, 6 percent in the past year.

We are making a difference in education, as evidenced by the significant increase in the matric pass rate last year, and the interest displayed by the youth in education around the country.

Honourable Members,

Close to 15 million South Africans obtain social grants from the State. We will phase in the extension of the Child Support Grant to cover eligible children under the age of 18 years.

Since we are building a developmental and not a welfare state, the social grants will be linked to economic activity and community development, to enable short-term beneficiaries to become self-supporting in the long run.

Honourable Members,

We are pleased with the performance of our financial sector.

It has proven to be remarkably resilient in the face of the recent financial crisis and the global economic meltdown.

The Budget deficit is set to decline from the current 6.7% to between 3 and 4% by 2013.

Concerns about the exchange rate have been taken to heart.

Exchange control reforms that were announced in the Medium Term Budget Policy statement last year are being implemented. Further information will be provided by the Minister of Finance in the Budget Speech.

The 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup was undoubtedly the most exciting project in 2010.

On the international front, we are greatly honoured to join the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa forum. It is an important bloc of emerging economies. We look forward to the inaugural meeting of BRICS in April in China.

We have taken up our non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, which we will use to promote the African agenda as well as peace and security in Africa and the world.

We have come a long way. We have achieved a lot, but challenges still remain.

Working together we will achieve much more.

BUILDING A MORE PROSPEROUS SOCIETY

Compatriots,

While many South Africans celebrate the delivery of houses, electricity or water, there are yet many others who are still waiting.

The legacy of decades of apartheid underdevelopment and colonial oppression cannot be undone in only 17 years.

But we are forging ahead, determined to achieve our mission of building a better life for all.

And we are doing so with the help of our people. We appreciate the feedback they continue to give us.

Bongokuhle Miya wrote on the Presidency Facebook page that his hometown Umzimkhulu is in an appalling condition, with burst sewerage pipes everywhere, no drainage system and domestic animals that are roaming around town.

He writes: “If the Government, which is doing very well, could just pay much more attention, with a bit of urgency to such areas”.

Indeed, we agree service delivery should move faster.

Our interactive government also obtains information from direct contact with our people.

In the past year we have visited many villages, townships and suburbs. Their message is consistent.

They appreciate progress made, request faster delivery and state their commitment to work with government to achieve more.

Given the work that must still be done, we decided in 2009 to focus on five priorities. These are education, health, rural development and agrarian reform, taking forward the fight against crime and creating decent work.

We have done well on these priorities.

However, we are concerned that unemployment and poverty persist despite the economic growth experienced in the past 10 years.

To address these concerns, we have declared 2011 a year of job creation through meaningful economic transformation and inclusive growth.

We have introduced a New Growth Path that will guide our work in achieving these goals, working within the premise that the creation of decent work is at the centre of our economic policies.

We urge every sector and every business entity, regardless of size, to focus on job creation. Every contribution counts in this national effort.

I will provide just a broad outline of our programme of action in this address.

Ministers will announce their jobs targets and more specific details per sector, in their forthcoming Budget Vote Speeches.

All government departments will align their programmes with the job creation imperative. The provincial and local government spheres have also been requested to do the same.

The programmes of State Owned Enterprises and development finance institutions should also be more strongly aligned to the job creation agenda.

Honourable Members,

Research has indicated that we can create jobs in six priority areas. These are infrastructure development, agriculture, mining and beneficiation, manufacturing, the green economy and tourism.

We cannot create these jobs alone. We have to work with business, labour and the community constituencies.

Experience shows that we succeed when we work together.

One key example is the work done by the Presidential Framework Response to the International Economic Crisis team, comprising government, business, labour and community sectors.

Amongst the key achievements of the team, South Africa introduced its first ever training layoff scheme to provide alternatives to retrenchments.

Another intervention included financial support for firms in distress, which saved about seven thousand jobs. We thank the team for their sterling work, and look forward to ongoing collaboration.

While looking to the private sector in particular to help us create most of the jobs, government will certainly play its part.

We are pleased to announce the establishment of a jobs fund of 9 billion rand over the next three years to finance new job-creation initiatives.

In addition, the Industrial Development Corporation has set aside R10 billion over the next five years for investment in such economic activities with a high jobs potential.

It is also my pleasure Honourable Members, to announce R20 billion in tax allowances or tax breaks to promote investments, expansions and upgrades in the manufacturing sector.

For a project to qualify, the minimum investment must be R200 million for new projects, and R30 million for expansion and upgrades.

The programme will provide an allowance of up to R900 million in tax deductible allowances rand for new investors and R550 million for upgrades and expansions.

Compatriots,

The small business sector is a critical component of the job creation drive.

We will continue to provide financial and non-financial support to small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs), small scale agriculture as well as cooperatives.

We need to cut administrative costs, avoid duplication and direct more resources to small business.

We are therefore considering merging the three agencies Khula, the SA Micro-Finance Apex Fund and the IDC’s small business funding into a single unit.

The campaign to pay SMMEs on time, within 30 days, is proceeding well.

The Department of Trade and Industry payment hotline received about 20 000 calls in the last financial year, and the value of payments facilitated was R210 million.

Other departments have launched their own initiatives, for example the Re Ya Patala (We Pay) initiative of the Department of Public Works.

We are continuing with legislative reforms to make it easier to register businesses and also to strengthen the Competition Act to open the market to new participants.

Honourable Members,

The mineral wealth of our country is a national asset and a common heritage that belongs to all South Africans, with the State as the custodian.

South Africa has significant mining assets, currently valued at 2.5 trillion US dollars.

By 2009, the mining industry contributed more than thirty percent to the country’s total export revenue, and employed 2.9% of the country’s economically active population.

Estimates suggest that our mineral resources are expected to be exploitable for over a century to come.

To take advantage of that potential, government has endorsed the African Exploration, Mining and Finance Corporation as the State Owned Mining Company, that will undertake the mining of minerals of strategic significance.

One of government’s priorities this year is also to finalise and adopt the beneficiation strategy as the official policy of government, so that we can start reaping the full benefits of our commodities.

Compatriots,

In communications, we have committed to convert our television and radio signals from the analogue platform to the more advanced digital signal which will enable quality pictures and sound.

Jobs will be created in manufacturing, packaging, distribution and installation during this period.

Honourable Speaker and National Chairperson,

We are pleased with the success of our tourism sector, especially given that sixteen tourists create one job in our country.

More than 7, 3 million tourists arrived in South Africa last year, as compared to about 6.3 million in 2009. For further growth, we will strengthen existing markets while exploring the emerging economies.

Our country also continues to be a popular destination for international gatherings.

In July, we will host a high level sports gathering in Durban, the 123rd International Olympic Committee General Assembly Session.

We thank the IOC for the opportunity to host this important congress.

We have already secured ninety five meetings and conferences between 2010 and 2016.

To further boost our tourism potential, we will amongst other measures, look into flexible visa requirements, improved landing slots at foreign airports as well as improved tourism infrastructure.

Linked to tourism, we will continue to develop the cultural industries sector, which contributes about R2 billion to the Gross Domestic Product.

We have also seen the value of events such as the Cape Town International Jazz Festival which, contributed more than R475 million to the economy of Cape Town and created 2 000 jobs in 2010.

We also wish to extend a special mention to the popular Cape Minstrels Carnival, which brightens up this city every year on the 2nd of January, celebrating the freeing of slaves.

Honourable Members,

Our infrastructure development programme enables us to expand access to basic services and to improve the quality of life.

This includes projects for the provision of water, electricity and housing.

Energy security is critical for economic development and job creation. To ensure the security of electricity supply for the country, Eskom has invested more than R75 billion, mainly on the new stations Medupi, Kusile and Ingula, as well as the return to service and transmission of other projects.

We must all save energy so that we do not have to resort to load shedding again as a saving measure.

This year we will start procuring power from Renewable Energy Power Producers, which will demonstrate our commitment to renewable energy.

Honourable Members,

The construction industry is a known driver for work opportunities. There are 1.2 million households living in the country’s 2 700 informal settlements.

By the year 2014, 400 000 of the said households should have security of tenure and access to basic services.

We will also improve the delivery of rental accommodation as some people coming to urban areas do not intend to settle permanently.

This should be welcome news to citizens such as Portia Busisiwe Mrwetyana who wrote on our Facebook page about inequalities in Bekkersdal, where an informal settlement which has no services, lies alongside a suburb across the road with all amenities.

She asks: “What I wanna know is why treat us differently, but we give you the same vote, WHY?”.

Government will spend R2,6 billion on water services this year. Among the priority areas are the provinces of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape where there are still high numbers of people without safe drinking water.

We noted the requests from many contributors to this address, for government to fix potholes.

Our Expanded Public Works Programme aims to create 4, 5 million work opportunities, and more than a million opportunities have been created already since the beginning of Phase 2.Part of the programme focuses on repairing our roads networks.

Abantu abaningi bakithi bathola ukusizakala kakhulu ngaloluhlelo lwamatoho emisebenzi kahulumeni.

Kutholakala amatoho okulungisa imigwaqo, ezemidlalo, ukufundisa abadala ukufunda nokubhala, ukugcina imigqwaqo ihlanzekile.

Uhlelo lokulungisa imigwaqo, olubizwa nge-Zibambele, seluzosatshalaliswa izwe lonke kulonyaka luvule amathuba emisebenzi.

We will develop infrastructure that will boost our agricultural sector, while also helping to create jobs.

Water reservoirs, windmills and irrigation schemes will be rehabilitated. Crops, livestock as well as grazing will be protected with the installation of fences.

These projects will enhance food security and create work opportunities for many, especially women in rural areas.

To enhance our innovation in science and technology and create jobs, we are bidding to host the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope.

The bid has already provided 800 construction job opportunities in the Northern Cape and will create a further 100 jobs this year.

Our job creation drive should also enhance youth development.

The National Youth Development agency is in discussion with state organs and the private sector to mainstream youth development in public sector programmes and to promote youth enterprises and cooperatives.

Compatriots,

We believe that the interventions we have mentioned briefly will take us forward in placing job creation high on the agenda of all decision makers in the country.

Seven Ministers met with our social partners on Tuesday to discuss this partnership and we remain optimistic that we are poised for success.

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Chairperson,

Parallel to the job creation incentives, we will also undertake policy reforms related to improving the lives of our workers.

Government, with its social partners, is reviewing legislation on labour brokers and the policy framework for the provision of public employment services.

This will enable government to maintain a database of job seekers and job opportunities.

The Government Position Paper on Social Security Reform is expected to be released this year for discussion.

Issues to be dealt with include the funding and nature of the National Social Security Fund, how the private sector occupational and retirement funds will fit into the entire system, and the possible regulatory structure.

Government must fill all funded vacant posts.The performance monitoring and evaluation department will provide a report within six months.

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Chairperson,

Indeed, we have come a long way since 1994. We have achieved a lot, but much more still needs to be done, and working together as South Africans, we will achieve much more!

Please allow me to now tackle the other four priorities as well as other programmes.

The focus in basic education this year is Triple T: Teachers, Textbooks and Time. We reiterate our call that teachers must be at school, in class, on time, teaching for at least seven hours a day.

The administration must ensure that every child has a textbook on time, and that we assist our teachers to create the right working environment for quality teaching to take place.

To track progress, this year, we began the annual national assessments in literacy and numeracy that are internationally benchmarked, for grades 3, 6 and 9.

We will continue investing in teacher training, especially in mathematics and science.

We will pay special attention to the training of principals, particularly those in underperforming schools.

The focus of higher education will be to expand access especially for children of the poor.

This includes the conversion of loans into bursaries for qualifying final year students.

Students in Further Education and Training Colleges who qualify for financial aid will be exempted from paying fees.

We urge state owned enterprises to play a key role in skills development and help us provide the technical skills needed by the economy.

Denel, Eskom, SAA and Transnet have supported the training of more than 6 000 learners in technical and engineering-related scarce and critical skills.

Fellow South Africans,

We are continuing to improve the capacity and effectiveness of the police in particular the detective services, forensic analysts and crime intelligence.

We have increased visible policing and patrols in identified hotspots. We are making visible progress in reducing the proliferation of illegal and legal firearms.

Our courts continue to function better, and the backlog reduction programmes at district and regional levels are proceeding well.

We will continue to prioritise crimes against women and children, and to provide support through the Thuthuzela Care Centres.

We will work with communities and other key stakeholders to deal with drug peddling and drug abuse which are tearing some communities apart.

My visit to a drug rehabilitation centre in Mitchells Plain on Tuesday convinced me that we need more energy in the fight against drug abuse and drug peddling in our communities.

I have directed our police force to deal decisively with people who sell drugs to children in Cape Town and other areas. We will also not tolerate tavern owners who sell alcohol to children.

The fight against corruption also continues.

A Special Anti-Corruption Unit has been established in the Department of Public Service and Administration to handle corruption-related disciplinary cases involving public servants.

Progress is being made in many ongoing investigations.

About R44 million has been recovered from public servants who are illegally benefiting from housing subsidies, while the cleaning of the social grants system of fraud is also continuing.

We have directed the Special Investigating Unit to probe alleged maladministration or corruption in various government departments, municipalities and institutions.

While not pre-judging the investigations, they prove our resolve to combat corruption at all levels of Government and the public service.

The Multi-Agency Working Group on procurement led by National Treasury, SARS and the Financial Intelligence Centre is reviewing the entire state procurement system to ensure better value for money from state spending.

In the health sector, this year we will emphasise the appointment of appropriate and qualified personnel to the right positions.

We need qualified heads of department, chief financial officers, hospital chief executive officers, district health officers and clinic managers.

We plan to revitalise 105 nursing colleges countrywide, to train more nurses.

We are also planning to open a medical faculty at the Limpopo Academic Hospital to train more doctors.

The renovations and refurbishments of hospitals and clinics will continue.

Given our emphasis on women’s health, we will broaden the scope of reproductive health rights and provide services related to amongst others, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, teenage pregnancy and sanitary towels for the indigent.

On the fight against HIV and AIDS, we have revitalised our programmes and promote various prevention measures including medical male circumcision, prevention of mother to child transmission and the promotion of HIV testing.

The testing has been popularly taken up around the country. Just over 5 million HIV tests have been done since the launch of the testing campaign in April last year.

Over the past year, work has continued to develop the National Health Insurance policy and implementation plan.Government will soon be releasing the policy document for public engagement.

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Chairperson of the NCOP,

We will continue with the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme directed at reviving land reform projects and irrigation schemes in the former homelands as well as distressed farms owned by individuals.

Government has developed the National Rural Youth Service Corps programme to assist youth in rural areas. To date, more than 7 000 young people have been employed in the programme.

Somlomo nosihlalo abahloniphekileyo,

Uhulumeni useshaye umthetho ovuselela ibhange lasePosini, phecelezi iPostBank, elizosiza abasemakhaya ukonga imali, kanye nokuboleka imali yokwakha amabhizinisi amancane.

Siyabakhuthaza ukuthi balisebenzise kutholakale intuthuko.

Building a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system

Honourable Members,

The country will hold the fourth local government elections before the end of May.

There have been lots of complaints over the past few months about local government.

The frustrations in some areas resulted in protests which indicated the problems that existed in this sphere.

We have to make people’s experience of local government a pleasant one, as it touches their homes and their lives directly, every day.

Some municipalities are functioning very well, andsome councillors are also performing their duties as well as they should.

We have instituted a turnaround strategy for local government, focusing on, amongst others, the strengthening of basic administrative systems, financial management and customer care.

The preparations for local government elections are on course.

The registration that took place last weekend went well, and we congratulate those who have registered. We urge those without identity documents to apply without delay, so as not to miss the next registration period next month.

Following the launch of the National Population Registration Campaign in Libode, in the Eastern Cape last year, more than 700 000 first time identity documents were issued, indicating great enthusiasm by our people to have this crucial document.

As we prepare for elections, we also note that our country has been struck by devastating floods in recent weeks, and many families have been affected.

We extend heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. Our hearts also go out to those who were injured and who lost all their belongings.

Fellow South Africans,

Let me use this opportunity to announce that Government has set aside R800 million for immediate relief to assist communities.

We will also be earmarking funding to deal with post disaster recovery and reconstruction in the years ahead.

We thank relief agencies, non-governmental organisations, private sector, religious organisations and communities for assisting those in need.

Building a better Africa and a better world

The African agenda remains our key policy focus.

South Africa is serving a two year term on the African Union Peace and Security Council.

The country will chair the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security from August.

In this role, we will continue to engage the parties in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement in Zimbabwe and the development of a roadman to elections.

We will also promote the resolution of the Malagasy conflict. We will monitor and assist where possible to ensure that the political and security situation in the DRC is conducive to elections.

We are also honoured to participate in finding solutions to the situation in Cote d’Ivoire, as a member of the African Union High Level Panel chosen to help resolve the challenges in that country.

We applaud the work of the South African National Defence Force, which has on average deployed over 2 000 military personnel in peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sudan and the Central African Republic.

We will continue to participate in the revitalisation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development with specific focus on the implementation of its infrastructure programme, of which we champion the North-South infrastructure development corridor.

South Africa has taken note of the unfolding developments in Egypt as well as the earlier events in Tunisia.

We continue to monitor the situation closely, including its implications for the Middle East and North Africa.

We firmly believe that the course and the content of the transition as well as the destiny that these sister countries choose, should be authored by them.

In this regard, South Africa lends its support to efforts aimed at introducing and implementing political reforms that will ensure a smooth and peaceful transition in Tunisia and Egypt.

We trust that nothing will derail the realization of the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a secure independent state, existing side by side and in peace with the Israeli state.

South Africa reiterates its call to the international community to encourage the parties to continue the search for a durable solution in the Middle East.

We extend our heartiest congratulations to the people of the Sudan for a successful referendum, and welcome the new state of Southern Sudan.

This is a key African success story.We congratulate the African Union and the United Nations for the skilful handling of this project.

On the broader international front, we look forward to hosting the fifth India-Brazil-South Africa Summit, this year.

At the G20 Forum, we will continue to argue for a more equitable world economic order.

Building a national democratic and cohesive society

Compatriots,

The experience of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup taught us the need to appreciate all that is good about our country.

The South African flag became the most important item for every household.

Government will build on this by ensuring the placing of flags in schools and public institutions to promote our national symbols and identity.

We urge all our people to learn the national anthem and sing it properly, with pride.

We will launch a programme celebrating National Icons and promote a National Heritage Route, to honour individuals who have made an enormous contribution to the liberation of our country.

Honourable Members,

We have seen the power of sport as a unifying and nation building tool in our country.

All of us must support the Proteas who will soon be playing in the 2011 ICC World Cup, and the Springboks who will travel to New Zealand to defend our 2007 Rugby World Cup Title.

We also wish the national netball team well when they compete in the Netball World Cup in July. We will be fully behind them.

Let me take this opportunity to salute one of our finest cricketers, Makhaya Ntini who is our special guest this evening. He has made an enormous contribution to local and international cricket.

South Africa will have its third post-apartheid census in October this year.We thank Mr Makhaya Ntini for agreeing to become an ambassador of this important campaign.

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Chairperson,

We remain committed to building a performance-orientated State.

Our performance monitoring and evaluation department will coordinate and monitor the work of government departments closely, as they mainstream job creation.

We welcome the undertaking by Parliament to also monitor the adherence to the call to prioritise job creation by government.

Compatriots,

Our goal is clear. We want to have a country where millions more South Africans have decent employment opportunities, which has a modern infrastructure and a vibrant economy and where the quality of life is high.

We all have a responsibility to work hard to make this a reality.

Everyone must think of how they can contribute to the jobs campaign through creating opportunities for themselves and others.

In doing so, we should draw inspiration from our beloved President Mandela in his inauguration address in 1994, reminding us of the need to work together.

He said:

“We understand it still, that there is no easy road to freedom.

We know it well, that none of us acting alone can achieve success.

We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.

Let there be justice for all.

Let there be peace for all.

Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves”.

I thank you.

Issued by: The Presidency
10 Feb 2011

Taken from The South African Government Information Website www.info.gov.za

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