There a parts of the statement no South African can disagree with; the focus on decent work, on African development and South-South partnerships, Mandela Day and others. We welcome the commitment to ensure 80% of those who require anti-retroviral will get it by 2011

But it was a missed opportunity to outline a program of action that can inspire South Africa and mobilise the South African people behind a uniting program to deal with the challenges of the day. For instance, why no mention of the fact that currently, HIV positive mothers cannot get milk formula for their babies.

The speech was a totally inadequate response to the recession. Apart from the fact that the recession was a reality 9 months ago and many jobs have been lost without any response by government, there is nothing that shows how we can respond to the recession adequately. At the height of the election campaign we were already in a recession.  Either the ruling party tried to hide this from the population or it did not understand the gravity of the situation. The mooted plans with the social partners to look at avoiding retrenchments has no detail and seems more like a proposal than a practical intervention. Industries that are indentified for support are reactive and will not provide growth, innovation and sustainable jobs, let alone decent work. 

No program to deal with poverty was outlined.  Apart from a commitment to continue social grants and a recognition that these need to be supplemented with a linkage to job creation, it appears to be business as usual.

Although the crisis in healthcare was mentioned, no innovation to make this a growth sector in the long term was outlined. We welcome a promise made to solve the debilitating dispute over the remuneration of the health workers, but nothing was suggested on the collapse of the public health service.  

With regard to education, we welcome the clarion call for the culture of learning and teaching, even though during elections teachers abandoned their posts to campaign for the ANC at the request of that organisation. The gap between rhetoric and action is stark.

A call for nation building should never be made lightly. It needs to be followed by a commitment to the tolerance of diversity. In a situation where COPE members are harassed out of their jobs as with Prof Nkuhlu and Dr Pityana and many public servants. When business interests are threatened because people belong to the opposition, that is a wrong start to nation building and a perpetuation of a conflict in society that will lead to disintegration.    It is also not conducive to a good working relationship between the ruling party and the opposition, something that even the president recognizes as essential for the integrity of our democracy.

We are disheartened that there is no new program to fight crime and corruption. Changing the name of the department is no substitute for mobilizing the people of the country against criminals.

We welcome the emphasis on rural development but are disheartened that after 15 years, we are still talking about a pilot project in Giyani.

The commitment to half poverty by 2014 in line with the Millennium Development Goals was in the ANC 1999 Manifesto. It was only mentioned once in the speech, and even on that case not as part of a South African program.

The South African Cabinet is one of the largest in the world. The establishment of new departments was not even mentioned, except for the Planning Commission, which is not geared at delivering a program. There is still scant detail about how these numerous new ministries will function, let alone deliver a program. This makes us conclude that these departments were merely geared at rewarding loyalists and dispensing patronage.  

While we are not opposed to the idea in principle, the idea of a single public service is not a priority. It has also not been conceptualized, costed and it is also not clear that it will assist service delivery.    The real issue is the training and retraining of serving public service personnel.

COPE re-iterates its commitment to a new agenda for hope and for change. This is what our country needs.

• Electoral reform so that people can elect leaders of their choice
• Defense of the Constitution and the rule of law so that we can ensure justice for all, regardless of their political affiliation
• Delivering quality public services. A failure to invest in the public sector and the politicization of the public service has led to the weaknesses and breakdowns we are now experiencing
• Investment in enterprise and manufacturing sector support and development-the lack of an industrial policy has led to the weaknesses now being felt because of the recession

Statement issued by the Congress of the People, June 3 2009

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