SPEECH BY ANC PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA, AT A MEETING WITH AFRIKANER PROFESSIONALS AND BUSINESS, RESERVE BANK, TSHWANE, MARCH 26 2009

Esteemed members of the Afrikaner community,
Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation,
Executive Mayor of Tshwane
Members of Parliamentt,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening, we welcome this opportunity to interact with the Afrikaner intelligentsia, business and professionals this evening.

The ANC as a ruling party has a clear programme of action that it has developed that it will take forward in the next five years. That programme of action requires the participation of all South Africans. The Afrikaner community has played a key role in working for a new South Africa, from the historic meetings in Dakar, Senegal in the 1980s to working with us to finding a democratic settlement.

It is only proper that we make time to meet in the middle of this election campaign so that we can share some ideas on what needs to be done to take transformation and the fight against poverty forward.

I will touch on a few key areas of focus that could be of concern and in which we need to work together to do more.

CRIME

We know that crime is a serious issue for all our people. We are determined to turn the situation around and will invest in improved police service capacity, including training in forensics, detective work and equipment.

We also want to work harder at getting more community participation in the fight against crime. We will be more effective if community safety forums and street committees are alert and actively support our police service.

Crime is a matter of national concern, which should unite us all. It should not be a political football, but a matter that we should all work on actively to find solutions.

EDUCATION

We have mentioned that we want all schools in our country to functional, and for effective learning and teaching to take place.

We have to play our role as government through providing equipment, renovate our schools and create a conducive environment for learning and teaching.

We have mentioned our key objective of investing in maths and science teaching. We also want our children to begin to see Further Education and Training colleges in a positive light as that is where we must develop technical skills and artisans for our economy.

Skills development will be a major area of focus for our administration, if we are to meet the economic development goals we have set.

The issue of our language development in our schools is also critical. International research has proven that education is most effective when children are first introduced to learning through their mother tongues.

We are worried about reports that some black  children prefer English language tuition and are not too keen on mother tongues. That means we have to do a lot to promote indigenous languages.

We do not seek the downplaying of English and Afrikaans at all, but want other languages to be developed as well and to be learnt by all children, as part of building our culture and identity as an African country.

CREATING DECENT JOBS

Our economic policy is premised on the principle that the people shall share in the country's wealth. It is our view that we must build a strong economy that will create sustainable and quality jobs.

We believe government must play an active role in creating employment opportunities, so that we can fight against unemployment and poverty.

As part of State participation in job creation we envisage the setting up of a massive programme on expanded public works linked to infrastructure and meeting social needs.

This will include building infrastructure for home-based care HIV and AIDS services,
crèches, school cleaning and renovation, community gardens, removal of alien vegetation, tree planting and school feeding.

We are also looking at creating an environment for more labour-intensive production methods. We also want our procurement policies to support local jobs and to build public-private partnerships.

Youth development is another key area of focus. We therefore are looking at launching a much larger national youth service programme and a vibrant national youth development agency. The intention is  to promote skills development and build decent job opportunities for our youth.

The above-mentioned practical steps of the ANC government will enable us to decisively defend our economy in the present global and domestic economic climate and take measures to advance our own developmental agenda.

While we believe we will manage to weather  the storm, we know that we will be seriously affected by the global economic meltdown. Our government is working with business  and labour to find sustainable solutions.

As part of support, we need to strengthen the manufacturing, mining and other vulnerable sectors, and tide them through the period of the global economic crisis. This will enable us to save and grow jobs in the clothing and textile sector, as well as to strengthen the automobile and components sector, expanding the food industry and other sectors.

We reiterate our strong commitment to economic transformation policies such as Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) as well as Affirmative Action. We view policies these as key components of nation building, reconciliation and investment in economic growth and development.

We will look at ways of improving BBBEE implementation to ensure that more people benefit, especially the youth, women and people with disabilities.

FOOD SECURITY, LAND AND AGRARIAN REFORM

The ANC is committed to a comprehensive and clear rural development strategy. It will be linked to land and agrarian reform and the improvement of the living and working conditions of farm workers and farm-dwellers.

Our intention is to intensify the land reform programme to ensure that more land is in the hands of the rural poor. We also need to provide them with technical skills and financial resources to productively use the land to  create sustainable livelihoods and decent work in rural areas.

We want to review the appropriateness of the existing land redistribution programme, and to introduce measures aimed at speeding up the pace of land reform and redistribution. We did not have a proper process of after-care support to beneficiaries. We need a programme to support and advise those who receive the land so that land can  be utilised productively and the restitution process can be beneficial.

We intend to expand the agrarian reform programme, which will focus on the systematic promotion of agricultural co-operatives throughout the value chain, including agro-processing in the agricultural areas.

Government will develop support measures to ensure more access to markets and finance by small farmers, including fencing and irrigation systems.

We want to work together with the farming community to improve the living conditions of farm dwellers, including the provision of subsidized houses and other basic services.

The time has come for us to create thriving rural communities, and for people in rural areas to live in dignity.

We also want to provide support for organised labour to organise and unionise farm workers. We cannot make rural dwellers not to benefit from rights that are enjoyed by their counterparts in urban areas.

Unionisation brings about stability in any working environment as there are clear communication and negotiation channels.

The ANC is committed to creating an environment that ensures that there is adequate food available to all, that we grow our own food as well as to protect poor communities from the rising prices of food and eradicate hunger.

Therefore, our agrarian and land reform will be introduced to bring about changes in the rural economy. It will provide support to both emerging as well as commercial farmers.

The purpose is to promote food security as a way of lessening our dependence on food imports.

We also want to introduce measures to improve the logistics of food distribution such as transportation, warehousing, procurement  and outsourcing in order to reduce food prices in the long term.

Continued enforcement of stronger competition measures will be used to act against food cartels and collusion, which inflate food prices.

HEALTH

There is a lot of concern about our health infrastructure and services in some health care centres. Many of our public clinics and hospitals need renovation.

The administrative systems need to be overhauled, long queues and waiting times must be reduced. It is a lot of work but it needs to be done.

The fight against HIV and AIDS will continue to be a priority. We have to work to reduce the rate of new HIV infections by 50% through an aggressive prevention campaign.

Our government will also work to expand access to appropriate treatment, care and support to at least 80% of all HIV positive people and their families.

More resources will be devoted to strengthening the implementation of the national plan on HIV and AIDS and sexually transmitted infections. Partnerships will be built with labour, business and community organisations to step-up the national fight against HIV and AIDS. We believe that AIDS can be beaten if we work together.

The campaign promoting healthy lifestyles must be accelerated. This includes raising awareness about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse as well as tobacco smoking.

It needs to be made fashionable to lead a healthy lifestyle especially to our young people. A healthy nation is a powerful resource for us to achieve our goals.

As you can see it will be a very busy and hectic five years as I have touched on very few issues that we want to tackle.

The list of work to be done is very long. We will need your support to achieve these goals. We cannot work alone, South Africa belongs to all of us. We will need your ideas throughout the next five years. We must and will keep communication channels open at all times.

Working together we can do more to build a better life for all.

I thank you.

Issued by the African National Congress, March 26 2009

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