OPENING REMARKS BY ANC PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA IN THE OFFICIAL TALKS BETWEEN SWAPO AND THE ANC WINDHOEK, DECEMBER 8 2008

The President of SWAPO and President of the Republic of Namibia, His Excellency Comrade Pohamba,
Comrade Deputy President of SWAPO, Comrade Geingob,
Comrade Secretary General of SWAPO,
Members of the Central Committee of SWAPO,
The ANC Delegation,

Thank you for the warm welcome on our arrival this morning, we feel truly at home.

We bring revolutionary greetings from the National Executive Committee, the membership of the African National Congress and the people of South Africa who up to this day revere SWAPO for its sterling contribution to their freedom and that of other peoples of this region.

This is a historical meeting between two liberation movements, which share a common history of fighting against an intransigent and ruthless enemy, the apartheid regime.

We are two parties that have warm ties that were forged in the trenches. The history of our liberation movements has placed a special responsibility on the ANC and on SWAPO to ensure that the goals of our respective national democratic revolutions are realised.

The depth of our relations was outlined eloquently by Comrade Oliver Tambo in his address to the International Conference of Solidarity with the struggle of the Namibian people in Paris on 13 September 1980 when he told His Excellency Comrade Sam Nujoma about SWAPO:

"You have sacrificed lives already to defeat the enemy - the exploiter and oppressor of the people of South Africa. You have made great inroads; you have corroded the apartheid power structure in Namibia, which within South Africa itself, remains relatively unshaken. We admire your gallantry, your courage, your efficiency, your capability on the battlefield. By your actions you have forged bonds of unity between yourselves and us, the Namibian people and the people of South Africa - bonds of brotherhood and comradeship, forged in blood, and for that reason indissoluble''.

Today our struggle takes a new dimension, the struggle to eradicate poverty and provide the essential services of health, education, housing, land for cultivation and to develop rural infrastructure.

We believe we are well poised to make progress in achieving delivery on these projects for our peoples as relations between our two countries remain very warm.

There is frequent contact at the highest governmental levels as can be seen by the South Africa-Namibia Heads of State Economic Bilateral Meetings and other contacts at Ministerial levels. Our two countries also established a Joint commission on Defence and Security in 1997, which meets annually.

We have a good trade regime, and can trade almost everything with the exception of arms. We have not yet achieved the finalisation of zero based trade tariffs that will free the flow of goods between our two countries.

We therefore look forward to strengthening the various governmental policy task teams that will work jointly on our trade and cross border developmental policies. The integration of our national parks is a good example of how best practices in integrated economic action can work for everyone.

While satisfied with the government-to-government relations, we believe there is a need for more interaction at a party-to-party level. Firstly, we need to have regular contact to ensure that the government-to-government relations enjoy sound political backing and input.

Secondly, there are many challenges that we face as ruling parties and former liberation movements, which requires constant discussion and sharing of experiences.

Ruling parties often go through certain challenges after the first decade, when the interests of different strands within the broad liberation movement begin to diverge. People begin to explore other avenues, especially when they feel they are losing control and influence within the movement. The interests of people outside the movement, locally or internationally would also come into play.

There is also a recurring reactionary debate around the need to reduce the dominance of liberation movements on the African continent. Political analysts and all who claim to know Africans better than they know themselves tell us that it is good for Africa and democracy if the majority of former liberation movements was reduced.

These are some of the discussions we would need to have. How do we as former liberation movements ensure that we do not steer away from our mandate of serving the poor and all our people, in the current climate of counter-revolution?

Comrades, we have done well in the past 14 years to reverse the legacy of apartheid, which you only know too well. You also had to deal with the systematic underdevelopment of the indigenous people, the wanton poverty and deprivation. These cannot be reversed in only a few years. However, we have made substantial progress, which is why we expect a resounding victory next year.

We have managed to extend basic services to millions of South Africans in only 14 years. Thousands now have houses, water, electricity and other basic services. For the next five years, we have decided to reduce the number of priorities and focus on the most essential developmental areas for the people of South Africa.

These are education, health, rural development and agrarian reform, creating decent jobs as well as safety and security. We believe it is best to focus on these five areas rather than a long wish list, which would be difficult to deliver on. These are some of the focus areas we would want to collaborate on with Namibia in the new administration. The Joint Commission on Defence and Security of our two governments provides a useful mechanism to cooperate on crime prevention especially cross-border crime and other defence and security issues.

Our economy is sound and stable, but we are anticipating a slow down of growth due to the economic crisis being experienced globally. We will however continue our efforts to grow the economy and create decent jobs for our people, despite the challenges. One of the instruments that can assist us in this regard is regional economic integration. The current debate on the future of Southern African Customs Union (SACU) needs to be raised from the point of view of a productive and realistic way forward.

South Africa and Namibia share the concern as to whether SADC would be able to achieve a customs union as envisaged for 2010 as some countries have not acceded to the SADC Free Trade Area. Therefore SACU remains a workable mechanism as the core for regional integration at this stage.

Also important is the progress to finalise the implementation of the Trans-Kalahari Corridor. This and other corridors to Zambia and Angola would make Namibia a gateway to SADC. We must also work further on the development of new energy resources to stabilise the regional grid and create a climate of secure energy that will attract investors to our region.

Our Ministers responsible for energy are also working on the matter of the licensing of the hydropower projects along the Orange River. The long and short of our real challenge is that we must create the climate in the region to ensure we create more decent and productive employment for all our citizens.

This is the partnership we are seeking with SWAPO. Our two fraternal movements must assist our two governments to create an enabling environment for economic development to take place, so that our peoples can get decent jobs and an improved quality of life.

We must also learn from each other on what works and what doesn't with regards to development programmes. We realise that you have long had a central planning commission. We intend to venture in that direction from next year, to ensure that we create a developmental state that will participate actively in socio-economic development.

We also hope to learn a few lessons from you on agrarian reform. We both face the challenge of a slow pace of land redistribution, and also share the view that it must be done sensitively and within the confines of the law and the Constitution. We can compare notes on how to speed up the process to enable sustainable rural development to take place.

The ANC is ready to work hard to ensure that we regain the fundamental elements of our revolution and to see the true emergence of developmental states in our two countries.

During the New Year, we hope to see progress in finding lasting solutions to conflicts that continue, among others, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia and Burundi.

Some swift action is clearly needed to deal with the situation in Zimbabwe. We are concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian and political situation.

We fully support Former President Mbeki in his mediation efforts and the ANC will provide whatever support is needed to find a solution.

We however more feel that more pressure needs to be brought to bear on the negotiating parties to ensure a speedy conclusion of an agreement. We cannot keep Zimbabweans on tenterhooks while the situation in the country deteriorates.

Comrades, we look forward to a fruitful two days, as we cement our relations even further as comrades and friends.

I thank you.

Issued by the African National Congress December 8 2008