ADDRESS BY ANC PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA AT KWAZULU NATAL PROGRESSIVE PROFESSIONAL FORUM, INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE, DURBAN, MARCH 24 2009

ANC KZN Chairperson and NEC member, Dr Zweli Mkhize
NEC and PEC members present,
Provincial Alliance officials,
Representatives of business and other key stakeholders,
Comrades and friends,

We meet during an exciting period in the history of our country. We are a few weeks away the from the national election.

As always, South Africa comes alive during an election campaign. We have enjoyed the campaign so far, and the people are responding positively throughout the country.

Our message is simple. We have achieved much in building a new society in the last 15 years. We have worked hard as South Africans to unite all our people. Together we have expanded opportunities that the new freedom brought. We have reduced poverty and improved the quality of life of millions of South Africans.

However much of the economic and social devastation of apartheid and its scars are still with us.

Our common struggle to build a better South Africa continues, and there is still much more to be done to reach our goals. Working together we can do more to improve service delivery and ensure that all enjoy the fruits of freedom.

Our Manifesto speaks clearly to the priorities we have set for ourselves. The ANC has identified five priorities. These are education, health, rural development, land and agrarian reform, crime and the creation of decent jobs.

We have made education a priority in the next few years as it is a key instrument for socio-economic development. Improving access to education is being prioritised.

You would be aware for example, that KZN will increase the number of schools where children will not pay school fees from 40 per cent to 60 per cent this financial year, as announced by the MEC for Finance and Economic Development in his Budget speech.

We also want to improve our skills base especially in science and technology nationally.

We therefore congratulate the province for the recent launch of the Moses Kotane Institute, targeted at facilitating youth access to science and mathematics streams of training. The institute will focus on research, innovation, science and technology as well as training scientists to support the agrarian revolution.

Access to health care is a basic human right. Since the dawn of democracy, the ANC has worked to expand access to health care. Amongst key innovations in the new administration, we will introduce a National Health Insurance (NHI) system, which will be phased in over the next five years, to provide health care that is free at the point of service. It will be publicly funded and administered, and will give people a choice of service provider within a district.

Crime continues to be a thorn in the flesh of South Africans. It will continue to be so until we all swing into action and play a key role in the fight against this scourge, led by our government and law enforcement agencies.

Police officials alone cannot win this war. It requires all individuals and all sectors to play their part. As individuals we must refuse to buy stolen goods in order not to perpetuate crime by providing a market. We must report acts of crime, participate in court processes to testify if we witness acts of crime.

We must actively participate in community safety forums and street committees. Crime is not something we must just complain about. It requires action.

For our part, we will establish a new modernised, efficient and transformed criminal justice system to develop the capacity for fighting and reducing crime in real terms. Government will review the functioning of the police, the judiciary and the correctional services to achieve integration and coordination.

We want to actively combat serious and violent crime by being tougher on criminals and organised syndicates. In this respect, we will increase the capacity of the SAPS.

This will be done through recruitment, rigorous training, better remuneration, equipping and increasing the capacity of especially the Detective Services, forensics, prosecution, judicial services and crime intelligence.

We want to provide greater support for the SAPS, especially to combat the attacks on the members of the SAPS. In many countries killing a police official invites the highest possible sentence as anyone who does so is showing the utmost contempt for the country's criminal justice system.

Ladies and gentlemen, the recent turmoil in world markets, and before that, the sharp increases in the cost of fuel and food, has impacted on the South African economy and the lives of our people.

The cost of living has increased painfully and we can expect economic growth to slow down resulting in more job losses.

Therefore, the ANC will intervene to ensure that Government, together with labour, business and other sectors work together to develop practical solutions.

We have sent a message to business that they should innovatively work to avoid job losses. Working together we can do more to deal with these challenges.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is taking place next year, time has flown indeed. On Saturday we will all support Bafana Bafana As they play Norway in Rustenburg.

The World Cup tournament is a catalyst for us to move faster to promote social cohesion and child development through sports.

We want to speed up the revival of school sports and ensure that it forms part of the school curriculum. In addition, the ANC government will ensure that the provision of sport facilities in poorer communities receives priority. We also want to create further opportunities for the training of sports administrators, referees and coaches so as to improve standards in sport. The World Cup should leave a legacy of a successful sporting nation.

You would have seen us visiting various churches and meeting with religious groupings.

We are doing this to deepen partnerships with interfaith forums to promote social education for moral regeneration, religious tolerance, social cohesion and development.

We will be visiting more churches soon to cement this partnership with faith-based organisations.

Ladies and gentlemen, as professionals and businesspeople, we want to urge you to join us in a partnership for faster change. We want you to play a key role in various programmes of transforming our country.

A new structure was launched recently, the Confederation of Black Business Organisations, made up of more than eight organisations. This structure, which I have had the honour of interacting with in Johannesburg, will provide a vehicle for us to discuss transformation as it affects black business and professionals.

For example, debates are necessary on how to strengthen the implementation of affirmative action and to broaden Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment.

We wish to emphasise that the ANC is committed to ensuring the continued implementation of affirmative action as well as the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) programmes.

We are convinced that the material conditions that necessitated the implementation of these programmes in the first place have not been adequately addressed.

The overwhelming majority of our Black population still lags behind in terms of:

* Ownership of productive assets;
* Access to capital and financial resources;
* Access to quality education;
* Overall levels of income and wealth.

Whereas the affirmative action and BBBEE programmes have succeeded in increasing the black middle class substantially, they have not succeeded in addressing the structural economic and social inequalities in our society.

The ANC has long been saying that BBBEE should benefit broader sections of our society, which was historically disadvantaged. We believe that this must be addressed going forward.

Black business had raised with us a number of issues, one of which was the delay by government in paying for services rendered. An ANC government cannot be accused of killing SMMEs! It cannot be allowed. We will discuss with government and ensure that this does not recur.

On Wednesday 22 April, we will go to polling stations across the country to elect our representatives for national and provincial government. We will be exercising a right for which our people fought over many decades, and for which many lost their lives.

But this election is not about the past. It is about the future.

So let us get out in our numbers and vote for a better life for all! Vote ANC on 22 April 2009!

I thank you!

Issued by the African National Congress, March 25 2009

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