Your programme of work over the next few days is extremely promising, and I hope that you will reach the levels of in-depth discussion and soul-searching that is a feature of your programme here.
Since the launch of the New Partnership for African Development in 2002, we have seen some very encouraging signs that Africa is emerging as a major point of focus on the world agenda.
This summit concentrates on the recommendations of the Africa Commission, the brainchild of Prime Minister Blair and his government. The report of the Commission makes strong recommendations for action by governments both in the G8, the European Union and throughout Africa. It is hoped that this summit will strengthen the arguments for broader participation in the outcomes envisaged by the Commission.
Africa received urgent attention at Davos in January this year, and will also be a major area for discussion at the UN millennium summit review in September.
The new century is thus characterised by a marked alteration in the way the international community sees Africa. The ‘band aid’ culture has been replaced by a new culture of partnership – a determination to work not for Africa but with Africa. The contempt with which Africa has been viewed in the past is gradually being transformed into hope and a commitment to its role in the international community.
This is matched, in Africa, by a determination to solve our problems and resolve our conflicts, and a decision to introduce a peer review system. If we are to be judged for our shortcomings, let us judge ourselves and assist and encourage those countries that fail in their human rights obligations to put their houses in order. If we are to receive assistance from the international donor community, let us ensure that the benefits of these donations reach those they are intended to reach.
South Africa joined the world community in 1994, after the first democratic election ever to take place. Our economy was in a shambles then. But, in the first ten years of government rule, we succeeded in putting the country on a growth path and forged what partnerships we could with a not always cooperative business sector. The next decade will be about strengthening those partnerships and forming many others.
Not only government, but every sector in society needs to see that their prosperity depends integrally on the prosperity others. We cannot have a comprehensive health policy and fail to address the factors that make people vulnerable and ill. We cannot strive for quality education – or a skilled workforce – if some of our schools are significantly better resourced than others. And we cannot have a growing vibrant economy if its benefits are not felt by all our citizens.
This is not utopianism. It is plain common sense.
What we are talking about in South Africa is shared prosperity; about an environment in which issues can be discussed between all economic players, and remedies discussed and agreed upon. In the Western Cape, for example, we now have an active Provincial Growth and Development Council, whose principal task it is to promote social dialogue between sectors. The Council has the responsibility and mandate to begin to balance the differences in the views and perspectives of the social partners, in order to forge a common approach.
When I was Minister for Finance in this province, we introduced a strategy we call ‘iKapa elihlumayo’. Translated, this means a growing Cape.
iKapa elihlumayo works from the premise that harmonious growth should be perceived as growth in all sectors and regions, benefiting both the richest and the poorest. It implies that the growth of the different parts adds up to a mutually advantage whole. And that, unless we address the whole, we weaken the constituent parts. It is, therefore, a holistic approach, aimed at all the citizens and sectors in the Western Cape.
At the same time, we need to ensure that our government resources are wisely and maximally spent. This means that we as government have to clean up our own act. We need to begin to reverse the tendency of previous governments in this province – both apartheid and more recent – and begin to deliver services efficiently and optimally, and to transform and hone the performance of government in order to achieve the results we wish to see.
Building a better life for all is not an election slogan, or a wild dream. It is what we – as a nation – seek to do as quickly and efficiently as possible within the foreseeable future. My government is committed to setting goals, to delivering to practical objectives, and to ensuring that our civil service does what it is employed to do – that is, serve the people.
Some of you will have heard me talk of my vision of a Home for All in this province. This means that we need – by economic and other means – to begin to close the divisions that divide our communities in the Western Cape. Apartheid left a sharply divided province. Our project is to promote a cross-cutting formula that will create a new ethos and sense of pride in our province. We are, as the African saying goes, who and what we are because of other people.
So, to the local councils and municipalities which are charged to deliver on the ground, we say: use public money wisely and well; develop the knowledge and skills to maximise the resources in your charge, and build a sense of community amongst the people you serve.
To our provincial citizens, we say: let us get our act together. Let us invest in shared growth. Let us come together as proud citizens in our province. Let us ensure that every cent is spent on the objective of building a Home for All in our Province and bringing shared prosperity to our people.
To our business community, NGOs, faith organisations and other sectors, we say: join with us in our pledge to fight poverty and bring growth and development to our people.
And to our international friends, we say: we warmly welcome this new initiative, and we urge you to continue with your partnership initiatives in Africa.
We are who and what we are because of other people – at the local, provincial, national and global level. Let us work together to affirm that principle and build a better life for all people … everywhere.
