POLITICS

It's not fair to make the whole of SA pay for Gauteng's road use - Jacob Zuma

Prepared remarks of ANC President to Gauteng Manifesto Forum, Wits, October 21 2013

ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA TO GAUTENG MANIFESTO FORUM WITS UNIVERSITY GREAT HALL, JOHANNESBURG, October 21 2013

Comrades and friends,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thanks you very much for joining us at this important forum which enables us to exchange views.

The ultimate goal of this exchange is to build a better South Africa.

COMRADES

We will in a few months' time celebrate 20 years of freedom. We have therefore begun to take stock of the work done in the past 20 years, and also in the past five years of the current fourth administration.

By all accounts, South Africa is a much better place to live in now than it was before 1994, and the past five years have pushed change forward.

At a political level, we have consolidated democracy and have strong institutions formed in line with the country's progressive Constitution.

I want to share some points with you especially on economic aspects this evening.

In 1994 we inherited a racial economy whose capacity to grow was severely constrained by the exclusion of the majority.

We pride ourselves on having sound economic transformation policies.

Our approach to economic transformation is informed by the historical principles espoused in the Freedom Charter, Ready to Govern and the Reconstruction and Development programme. It is further elaborated in ANC conference resolutions every five years.

Our main pillars are to create decent jobs, eliminate poverty and inequality and to democratise and deracialise the ownership and management of the economy.

We have made progress with regards to economic development in the past few years.

  • The South African economy has expanded by 83 per cent over the past 19 years.
  • National income per capita has increased from R27 500 in 1993 to R38 500 in 2012 - an increase of 40 per cent.
  • Disposable income per capita of households has increased by 43 per cent, just over 1.9 per cent a year.
  • Total employment has increased by more than 3.5 million since 1994.
  • Average real wages in mining and industry have increased by over 150 per cent since 1994.
  • Gross fixed capital formation increased from 15 per cent of GDP in 1993 to an average of 20 per cent over the past five years.
  • While income inequality remains high, the expansion of our social grants system has contributed to a reduction in the proportion of households living in poverty.
  • The transformation of ownership and management of the economy is under way. To date, over R600 billion in BEE transactions have been recorded since 1995.
  • Black people and women in senior management have increased from less than 10% in the 1990s to over 40% today. More progress is needed, but the trend is in the right direction.

We hosted the recent Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Summit earlier this month with stakeholders to discuss how to take change forward.

Comrades and friends,

We must also acknowledge progress made beyond our borders. South African mining and construction companies are contributing to Africa's development.

Our telecommunications companies are major players in many other countries. Our retail and logistics companies are growing in significance in Africa's trade and development.

South Africa is also playing its part in reconfiguring global economic arrangements, through participation in the IMF and World Bank, the G20, the Financial Stability Forum, the World Trade Organisation and more recently in partnership with the BRICS countries.

Comrades and friends

While mentioning these achievements, you are also aware that the country has gone through a difficult period since 2009 with the global economic meltdown which has affected the economy considerably.

We have experienced job losses and general turbulence in the labour market as workers found their wages were no longer enough to sustain them.

At the same time, jobs were not as forthcoming as we all want them to be.

We are determined to root out corruption . You may noted the action taken against the companies who colluded in the construction industry, yet this is not enough the matter is not about money it is about an act of corruption. Similarly, wherever there is corruption in government we will not hesitate to act, the ANC itself has decided that corruption in any form must be exposed and those found guilty must recuse themselves from leadership positions.

But we should also look at the positive side, especially the strength of our institutions and systems.

For example our country's labour relations mechanisms have proven resilient and able to help workers and employers resolve difficult disputes.

We should also appreciate our economic institutions.

For example, while the banking systems of the developed countries of the North had to be subsidized by the governments, South Africa's banking sector demonstrated absolute resilience and managed to shield the economy from the economic meltdown that continues to affect many developed economies.

How do we take these achievements forward?

We have presented the National Development Plan as our socio-economic blueprint to create full employment, eliminate poverty and significantly reduce inequality by 2030.

Within the NDP, as an umbrella overarching plan, we have placed complementary plans, the National Growth Path, Industrial Policy Action Plan, Infrastructure Development Plan, Skills Development and small business development plans.

In the implementation of these policies, we have decided on six focus areas in particular. These are the following;

  • Infrastructure development,
  • Agriculture,
  • Mining and beneficiation, Manufacturing,
  • The green economy and,
  • Tourism.

With regards to manufacturing, South Africa is beginning to industrialise after decades of ‘de-industrialisation'. Part of our plan is make South Africa less dependent on imported manufactured goods, and to stop exporting so many raw materials before adding value to them.

We have elevated infrastructure coordination to the Presidency, under the supervision of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission.

Building on the 2010 FIFA World Cup infrastructure build success, we have unveiled a 20 year infrastructure development programme that will cost around 4 trillion rand over the next 15 years.

We are building and improving railway lines, roads, ports, buses, trains, energy, roads, dams, schools, hospitals and clinics around the country.

I have been to a number of provinces already to officially launch infrastructure projects that have either been completed or are nearing completion, and will be launching a few before the end of the year.

With regards to road construction, Gauteng has built many kilometres of new 8 to 10 lane freeways built at a cost of about 20 billion rand. This is more than our national roads budget for one year.

The roads are to be tolled to pay back the money we borrowed to build the freeways. The principle of user pay has to apply to complement the costs incurred by government.

It is not fair to make the whole of South Africa pay for Gauteng's road use by taxing everyone's petrol more or put more burden on the already strained fiscus.

We thank all citizens who have registered for the e-tolls so that we can continue to improve roads and boost economic growth in Gauteng. We urge those that have not registered to please register your vehicles.

Comrades

On tourism, our country continues to be a popular destination. In 1993, South Africa received a mere 3.4 million foreign visitors. By 2012, the figure had grown by 300 percent to 13.5 million visitors, of which 9.2 million were tourists.

Also important for us is to promote youth employment.

Census 2011 revealed that South Africa is essentially a nation of young people. Just over a third of the population is between the age of 15 to 35. We therefore have to invest on youth development.

Our primary intervention for youth employment is investment in education and skills development.

The National Development Plan envisages an increase in higher education enrolments from 17.9 percent in 2012 to 25 percent by 2030. Indeed our young people are hungry for education.

In the last decade we have witnessed growth of over 50% in the number of enrolments. We are building two new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape in response to this demand for education.

We are doing all we can to ensure that the two new universities open their doors for learning without any delays.

We are also expanding technical and vocational education and training. We invested 2.5 billion rand in FET colleges last year to support the expansion of access and capacity building of college staff.

The ANC government is also is establishing 12 new Further Education and Training (FET) College Campuses across the country and refurbishing two other campuses as part of government's infrastructure programme.

This intensive focus on FET Colleges is yielding results.

Student enrolments have increased by 90 percent, from three hundred and forty five thousand five hundred and sixty six in 2009 to six hundred and fifty seven thousand six hundred and ninety in 2012.

We are also pleased with progress made in expanding access to education for children of the poor and the working class given the increase in FET colleges bursary uptakes.

At the same time, funding for student loans at Universities has increased from 2.2 billion rand in 2010 benefitting one hundred and forty eight thousand three hundred and eighty seven students to R3,6 billion rand in 2013, targeting two hundred and ten thousand students.

Comrades let me also add that we want to attract more young black graduates into academic careers.

Our research indicates that one fifth of our university academics will retire within a decade, of which 32% are professors, meaning most experienced academics will be leaving the field. Limited numbers of younger researchers are entering the field.

We urge higher education institutions to prioritise growing the number of new graduates and attracting them into full time academic careers.

Comrades with regards to unemployed youth, you would be aware of programmes that the ANC government has put in place such as the Community Works Programme and a rural youth development programme.

Most importantly, Government, labour and business have signed the Youth Employment Accord 2013. It includes incentives, commitments and action to address the problem of inadequate skills. It provides for work experience through internships and new jobs for young people.

As part of the implementation proposals for a youth employment tax incentive scheme have been put forward for discussion in parliament currently.

Our economy has expanded, more opportunities are becoming available for all.

This is one of the reasons why we say South Africa is a much better place to live in now than it was before 1994, and it is thanks to your support and hard work.

The ANC government working alone would not have scored some achievements I have highlighted above.

We are here today to interact with you on how best we can consolidate on our achievements and working together we can overcome the challenges faced by our country.

I thank you.

Issued by the ANC, October 21 2013

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