1.1. Please switch on your cell phones. Send an SMS to the following Number 31616. Saying "16 Days". You have just contributed 5 RANDS to NGO's that work with victims of Violence... Thank you very much. I will elaborate on my intervention programme for the 16 days 25th November to 10th December.

1.2. I am excited. Progress made thus far in this Summit is remarkable. The kind of determination and commitment that I've just witnessed from all the participants is encouraging. It does clearly show that you have been longing for this opportunity. An opportunity to discuss to debate to dialogue. What thrills one more than the engagement level are the achievable objectives that you are bringing forward. The kind of solutions you are suggesting to the challenges that we all face.

1.2.1. We are here; all from diverse backgrounds but seek a common goal. In the process of doing that, it is only fair to let ideas interact with each other. I am convinced that we will agree on most issues, which will take us forward, when we conclude this Summit today

1.3.. Ladies and Gentlemen, the issue that brought us together is a burning one. We cannot let it burn to ashes or leave it to its own devices because the price to pay for that irresponsible act would be excessive. Certainly, no government can afford it and surely, none of us as individuals can. It needs fire fighters. Having said that, the problem with fire fighting is that it is reactive. Let us choose not be reactive but Proactive.

1.4.. The situation we find ourselves in is by no means a mystery, the Premier characterised it yesterday, you have also been aware of it in the deliberations that took place yesterday. It is a situation not of our own choosing but harsh reality of our common history.

1.5. We dare not fail, as we would want, I trust a better future for our children and history can be a harsh judged. When all of us are confronted by social challenges, which are engineered, some people deny this or blame all on the social engineering of this era. and look for a convenient scapegoat. Let us be honest with each other, we have to be as bold as the engineers of apartheid to reverse the ills and effects of this era

2. PARTNESHIPS

2.1. Legislative inter governmental -I must say that this Summit could not have come at a better time. It comes at a time when the need for the constituent elements of government to work as a cohesive unit is more than it has ever been before. It comes at a time when all our spheres of government, individually or together, have to find more technically efficient ways of serving the people.

2.2. The Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act was promulgated in August.2005. This in effect provides an important opportunity to mobilize, integrate and align Government resources. The National Department of Provincial and Local Government is undertaking provincial and district road shows to popularise the Act. The road shows will culminate in an inaugural launch in 2006. The Integrated Development Plans (Plans linked to budget, linked to time) are of paramount importance to our inclusive agenda. The recent IDP hearings conducted by my Department and the outcomes of the last PCC have served to elevate the focus on this instrument. All this in an effort to share and sustain ably use Government resources in partnership.

2.3. Illustrative of this commitment is the Department of Education contributing a substantial amount of funds for a Certified course for Municipal staff, Councillors and Civil Society on Sustainable Human Settlement in Project consolidate municipalities.

2.4. People/Societal partnership - Partnership takes many forms, such as the peoples Contract as it manifests itself in our democracy, any true democracy is about more than the formal equality - the right to vote, to run for and hold office and equality before and under the law. True democracy speaks to substantive equality, the issues you are discussing here - creating conditions for the development of an inclusive society where there is equality of opportunities for all including those who have been historically disadvantaged. It means excelling with basics, ending homelessness, as well as repeat homelessness'. (Sale of subsidy home and becoming homeless again).

2.5. This Summit comes hot on the tail of our Imbizo's in three different areas, Worcester in the Boland, Vredendal on the West Coast and Grabouw in the Overberg. They started from October 7th to October 9th 2005.

2.6. We engaged our communities at these Imbizo's armed with tangible information of our own, Notwithstanding the engagement was approached with an open mind to both confirm what we know and to learn of the latest developments in our Communities By doing this we were bringing the whole concept of government of the people by the people to the fore. We cannot afford rhetoric about an open door policy, it has to be something that is consciously done and consistently. It is imperative that, we deliver to active recipients/beneficiaries and not passive ones.
2.7. We came out of the Imbizo's energized, sure of what to do. We interacted with both happy and unhappy faces. We would surely love to turn those unhappy faces into happy ones that mean we would need to act fast and decisively. This summit is therefore an action summit.

2.8. Private Sector Partnership - Meaningful sustainable human settlement must be purposeful. It must be directed at the eradication of segregated development. And more it has to be visionary and aggressive in the promotion of a non-racial, non-sexist democratic South Africa, more particularly our province. In this endeavour, we need partnerships between the private sector, and government. The responsibility for the realisation of a non-racial, non-sexist South Africa that truly belongs to all who live in it is our collective.

2.9. Partnerships with financial institutions forms part of My departments priorities. We have had discussions with banks around funding the crucial and neglected Gap market. As I speak here we are negotiating Memoranda of Understanding with a number of delivery institutions.

3. ISSUES/ COMMISSIONS

3.1. As I was going around the commissions, I witnessed the robust debates that take place in them. We are living in a country that has its bedrocks on engagement. The inclusive negotiation process, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, culminating in the adoption of the 1993 transitional constitution. A process that would lead to the holding of the first democratic elections in 1994, and the ushering in of a new government based on the will of the people, marked an end of an historical era and a beginning of a new one.

3.2. The battle of ideas that was taking place in your commissions yesterday begins to tell one that you take this summit very serious as you should, and you are really beginning a new chapter. You are certainly not here to draw up a wishing list. You know that we have moved beyond that period long time ago. You are here to make practical implementation suggestion to make the wishes on the list come true.

3.3. You are here to advance and implement a progressive and empowering governance agenda targeted at the poor. Engendering a responsive and developmental state seeking to address the condition as have been manifested in the recent months with the protests. More often than not, the rich would use its power of purse, to determine the agenda of everybody else but the stakeholders that are present in this summit are saying let there be an open agenda, which is aimed at addressing the plight of the vulnerable.

I look forward to the report back session of the Commissions later today.

4. OUTREACH/PILOT PROJECTS

4.1. In the past few weeks, I have visited some municipalities. I hold the belief that where there are negatives issues there are always positives one's. I feel we should start highlighting the good things that municipalities are doing so that they can be shared and replicated by other municipalities,

4.2. The positive aspects to which I refer are the basis of the Pilot projects to be tabled by the Reference Group at this summit Deliberately chosen across the Province with clear time lines over the short medium and long term. I will refrain from the detail to allow the Reference Group the opportunity to speak to the detail; I will only share with you some of what I am looking for in these projects. From:

• Complete restructuring of an entire Town to allow the poor to stay in the core of the Town
• To seeking to cross subsidize a low income development with a credit linked development;
• To challenging the contentious issues around NIMBY;
• To promoting the role of cooperatives in hostel upgrades;
• Finally as indicated yesterday in the Land Commission the Employer supported initiatives and partnership of the likes of Pick and Pay/Habitat for Humanity.

4.3. The proof of how good the pudding tastes is always in the eating of it. What are the instruments that will fund these initiatives, this speaks to the instruments of Social housing (kicks in April 2006), finance linked housing, project linked housing, Upgrade of Informal Settlement housing etc.

5. TEN YEARS OF DEMOCRACY/16 DAYS OF ACTVISM

5.1. The First 10 year of democracy was volumes or large quantities of housing. It is incumbent on us to start working to address some of the ills they have, restoring the dignity of out people. As promise at the beginning of this speech, around the 16 days of activism. I have instructed my Department to develop a Policy to deal with properties built with public funds that have toilet several meters from the house. This particularly pertains to the elderly, disabled and terminally ill. I have in the interim over the next 16 days permitted 4 Municipalities to use their Special Operating Accounts to provide a finite number of toilets attached to the home.

6. CONCLUSION

6.1. The indignation that have been suffered by many because of their colour, by some because of their gender, and by many because they are poor must end. There is clear indignation where people feel that they have been fobbed off with poor quality products and ill thought out locations just because they are poor. For example in my many trips since my appointment I have come across at least three communities given homes located next to sewage works on the periphery of town. In my view they do not have assets, in 20 years when they want to move who will buy from them next to a sewage works. We should commit ourselves to continue to enhance the standard of living of our people by providing them with decent and secure living spaces. Integrated sustainable human settlement must be part of the package. We must have integrated communities.

6.2. One of the ways in which we would want to achieve integrated communities is to optimally utilise available resources and infrastructure and, where these do not exist, establish new ones. Fortunately this is what we are busy doing here, started from yesterday still to continue today, and we are making tremendous progress.

6.3. The untarred road of debate we chart today is a necessary occasion we cherish and respect, as a platform out of which arises a shared understanding about our shared future and destiny.

Let me end with a quotation from Ben Okri:

"It is only when diverse peoples of the earth meet and learn from and love one another that we can begin to get an inkling of this awesome picture.
 

Call it the picture of divinity, or humanity if you want, but like magic powder that Africans sometimes allude to, this great jigsaw has been distributed amongst all of us; and one aspect of our destiny on this earth may be to discover something of that grand image or music of our collective souls, of our immense possibilities, our infinite riches.
 

No one person or people have the final road or the great keyboard or exclusive possession of this jigsaw of humanity. Only together, as one people of this earth, facing our common predicament and redeeming love, we can make use of this gift, this map of our earthly journey and glory."