NOTES FOR ADDRESS BY ANC TREASURER GENERAL MATHEWS PHOSA TO MINORITIES' MEETING, SANDTON CONVENTION CENTRE, JOHANNESBURG, APRIL 4 2009

Let us, at the very start, get an important point of departure out of the way: The ANC will win the election on 22 April and will be your government for at least the next five years. It is of course, our aim to govern for much longer, but our first priority is to win this election convincingly, which we will, and then to fast-track the implementation of the priorities in our manifesto.

As the party in government, we have identified five priority areas for the next five years. They are:

• Creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
• The improvement of educational infrastructure and services.
• The improvement of health infrastructure and services.
• Rural development, food security and land reform.
• The fight against crime and corruption.

In identifying those priorities, we do it on the basis of a proud record of substantial successes in the past 15 years as a government. Some of them are:

• We have increased the number of people receiving social grants by more than 9 million.
• From an initial 34 000 children that received social grants, we now have more that 7 million children under the age of 14 receiving such grants.
• We have built 2.7 million free houses for the poor giving shelter to more 10 million people.
• Through a number of public programs we have ensured that new entrants into the employment market have the hope of finding jobs.
• Our mass literacy program is reaching more that a half a million people.
• We have created massive opportunities, jobs and skills through the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
• We have turned around an economy which was faltering when democracy dawned on us in 1994.

In stating the above, we do so in the knowledge every institution has got room for improvement. We certainly do, and we aim to improve our service bouquet in the following way:

• Restructure our delivery structures in such a way that is quick, effective, and does away with wasteful practices and expenditure.
• Focus on infrastructure creation that benefits and empowers local communities.
• Make sure our policy responses are clear and appropriate.
• Attempt to alleviate the massive pressure consumers are experience currently.
• Focus on the fact that our poverty alleviation efforts should be guided by policies and delivery efforts that have productive jobs and opportunities as an outcome.
• Ensure that the principle of partnerships guide as at all times.
• Believe and know that we will come out of the current slump through all our combined efforts.

South Africa is a country of great diversity in terms of race, language, religion, culture and preferences.

It is also a country where we can safely and proudly say that each and every minority has contributed substantially to the dramatic transitions we have had to make in the last 15 years.

So, when I speak to you today I want to emphasize, that whilst I address you under the banner of minorities, I view all of you as an integral part of the moral majority that will propel South Africa forward into a better, brighter, safer and more prosperous future.

Transition is a difficult and traumatic exercise, and very often minorities lose privileges they had under a non-democratic dispensation.

It was particularly true in South Africa where minorities ruled the country in an exclusive fashion for centuries.

Due to the sterling efforts of the ANC and others democracy dawned on South Africa in 1994 and an oppressive system could be changed forever.

It is very interesting and historic to note that the first act of the ANC after the 1994 election was to reach out to minority parties in the National Assembly and form a government of national unity.

In that way we could bring almost all of South Africa on board and ensure that a potentially dangerous transition could be safely managed.

That process of minority participation in government suffered when the New National Party withdrew in 1996, a step, which in hindsight, set in motion a process to the detriment of minority parties as well as minorities.

In the ANC we believe that political, racial, cultural, commercial and other minorities have a massive contribution to make to the well-being of our country.

We are constantly looking for partnerships to ensure that in the areas of safety and security, health, education, housing and infrastructure creation we develop partnerships with communities and institutions to fast-track our all-important initiatives.

We need your assistance, skills, knowledge and experience to ensure that we streamline our efforts to fight poverty in more effective fashion, and look for areas of improvement wherever we can.

The ANC has no intention of any kind to abandon the partnership principle after the elections, and specifically it's partnerships with the minorities of this country.

Inasmuch as we value our associations with Afrikaners, we value our association and partnerships with the English community, Jewish community, the German and Greek communities, as well all the other white and black minorities in the country. I cannot name all the minorities that have made me proud to be a South African in the rainbow nation, but you have certainly made heroic contributions in both the pre- and post-liberation periods.

Who can ever forget the contribution that fearless leaders and professionals such as Bram Fischer, George Bizos, Ruth First, Usuf Dadoo, Mac Maharaj, Hermanus Loots, Cristina Pereira, Gina Louro, Valintina, Valentim Gouveia and many others made during and after the liberation period.

When we interact with the Afrikaner community and show our respect and admiration for a specific minority group that can rightly be called indigenous we do not do so to the exclusion of other minorities.

We express our appreciation for the Afrikaners' commitment to the soil and soul of South Africa in the same spirit that we acknowledge the massive contribution that other minority groups made, and are making to our future.

Having put this important issue in its proper context, and noting that it is, after all, election year where deliberate misinterpretations will be the rule rather than the exception, I now call on all leaders across the political spectrum to move on to a debate on issues which will take the country forward.

The current political climate is a tense one with the elections a mere 18 days away. It is, however, important to note that we as the ANC value the rigorous debates because we know democracy brings accountability, and that the opposition parties have a role to play.

Whether you call it partnerships or coalitions there will be a post-election period within which bigger and smaller parties will seek partnerships to better serve their political agendas in the period leading up to the next election.

We cannot, however, afford to engage with one another in such a way that we create post-election tension to the detriment of delivery.

The ANC will win the election and immediately set to work to ensure that we fast-track a number of programmes in the sectors that I mentioned above. Changes will be made the structures of government and the delivery systems to ensure that we deliver on our manifesto.

In all of this I request you to work with us a friends, partners and proud South Africans.

I thank you.

Issued by the African National Congress, April 4 2009

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