SPEECH BY MINISTER MMS MDLADLANA ON THE OCCASION OF THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT

7th June 2003, Gallagher Estate - Midrand

Comrade President, Cabinet colleagues, Premiers, MECs, leaders of constituencies, Executive Director of NEDLAC, members of the media, constituency representatives and friends, it is with great pleasure that I address you in this auspicious occasion.

Mr. President, there must have been times when Sibusiso Vilane and his fellow climbers wondered whether or not they would make the top of Everest! Just imagine those chill winds, the hostile surface of the mountain and the discouraging and daunting length of the journey to the summit of the mountain. Imagine the expectations raised not by him but by the nature of the project he undertook. The concern that the object of the journey may not be achieved. Similar hardships and concerns had haunted us in our journey to prepare for the Growth and Development Summit. There was a time when it seemed as though the Growth and Development Summit shall remain a figment of imagination - never to be realised. As evident from position papers exchanged by different stakeholders, the differences were wide-ranging, challenges daunting and a list of priorities so intimidating that it could have led the process to a state of paralysis. In short, the road to today's summit was pregnant with obstacles. But, like Sibusiso, we believed in the dictum once made by Henry Ford that, "obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal". Like Sibusiso, we remained focused and today we have made it to the Summit together with all our partners.

Mr. President, when you addressed Parliament you said, that the Growth and Development Summit would seek to, and I quote "…address the urgent challenges facing us in the economy and build an enduring partnership in which all of us can lend a hand building a prosperous South Africa." Indeed so important a statement has this proved to be, that it was translated into the agreed objectives for this Summit - objectives whose essence is that we are here to build partnerships, prioritise those things that are the most urgent and important and to identify what contribution we can each make towards the implementation of the tasks that need to be done through active participation.

Partnership, prioritisation and active participation - I want to stress these important words - because they spell out not only what we set out to do, but also what we did not set out to do. And let me get out of the way, right at the beginning, some of the things we did not set out to do:

• We did not set out to talk about everything. We set ourselves the task of planning to do the do-able, together. We could of course have planned to do more - but frankly what would have been the point?
• We also did not set out to talk exclusively about government and its role. No, we deliberately set out to frame our agenda in such a way that we fore grounded those areas where all of the constituencies have a role to play towards a set of specific, measurable goals - in some cases working together and in other cases aligning our efforts to enhance their complimentarity.
• And, importantly, we did not try to resolve every difference of view about 'strategy and tactics' on the bigger canvass. Democracy is a process - our democracy began with extremely sharp differences of view and slowly we are chipping away at those differences through social dialogue. We are building a 'people's compact' This is also a process, elements of which are getting clearer as the gaps are narrowed.

One of the challenges social partners have prioritised but decided to be followed up, as part of the post GDS processes is the challenge of HIV/AIDS. This decision was informed by the fact that a task team has already been set up consisting of NEDLAC social partners to engage on this matter in order to find a collaborative approach to deal with this challenge. A lot of ground has been covered by this task team; which is scheduled to reconvene by the end of this month.

HIV/AIDS is a challenge for all of us, one that we can overcome by working together in the Partnership Against Aids.

The fight against the epidemic takes pace on many fronts, mostly out of the public eye. And so we need from time to time to bring together all that is being done so that all of us can know both that we are making an impact and that we must continue to intensify the campaign.

IS THERE A NATIONAL PLAN FOR COMBATING HIV AND AIDS?

Our country has comprehensive five-year HIV, AIDS and STI strategy that addresses prevention, treatment and care, research and human rights aspects. It is founded on the premise that HIV causes AIDS and was formulated in consultation with major stakeholders.

The Government' policy on HIV and AIDS was set out in the five-year strategic plan adopted in 2002, and is further set out in two more recent documents, the Cabinet statements on 17 April 2002 and 9 October 2002.

Because HIV/AIDS represents a challenge to all of us and success depends on close collaboration, the national action system is defined as a Partnership Against Aids. The Partnership was formalised in October 1998 in a national launch by then Deputy President Mbeki, and is now represented by the South African National Aids Council (SANAC), which has contributed substantially to coordinating various sectors at the highest level.

Government's commitment to intensify implementation of the plan is backed by very large budget for the HIV/AIDS programme. In 2002/03 Government provided large additional allocations for an Enhanced Response to HIV, AIDS and TB. These allocations, estimated at above R1 billion for 2002/03 are again strengthened in the 2003 Budget. Additional allocations of R3,4 billion for the next three financial years strengthen key national programmes (such as condom distribution) as well as bolster provincial budget to extend prevention programmes and treatment. Dedicated funding for HIV/AIDS (that is, excluding allocation from the provincial equitable shares) is set to increase somewhat more than 10-fold-from R342 million in 2001/02 to R3,6 billion in 2005.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN RELATION TO HIV PREVENTION?

Since there is no known cure for AIDS, prevention of HIV infection remains critical. Government's prevention strategy is to promote public awareness, to make condoms widely available and to develop the life skills of young people to deal with the challenges of world in which AIDS is prevalent. Government also has an expanding programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV through intensified efforts towards universal access to Nevirapine, already the largest on the African continent.

In April last year, Government re-affirmed the position that anti-retroviral treatment could improve the health of people living with AIDS if administered at an appropriate stage in the progression of the condition in accordance with international standards.

It was stated at the time that Government would continue to address the barriers to introducing anti-retroviral therapy - for example, high drug prices, weaknesses in health infrastructure and concerns around treatment compliance.

Thereafter, a key process was mandated by Cabinet. I centred on a joint technical team from the Department of Health and National Treasury that was tasked to look into the resource implications of an expanded response to HIV/AIDS, including the comprehensive costs - and benefits - of various AIDS treatment options. These options include anti-retroviral treatment. The work of the Team is nearing completion, and Cabinet will be considering the findings.

Today we are re-affirming our shared vision for this country and are committing ourselves to work together on a range of critically important ventures to achieve it. Would our critics have us 'lock horns' where we cannot yet agree and ignore the wide range of areas in which we have so much common cause? That would surely be naïve and we would in the process be neglecting our duty to serve our people, particularly the poor people, of our beloved country!

Mr. President, I would like now to turn to the challenges that we did indeed set ourselves to address, and assess whether or not we have succeeded in these matters.

I should like to take a few moments to collect the evidence and present to you my assessment of how well we have done. Although I accept, of course, that it will ultimately be up to our people to judge whether indeed we have served them well, and whether or not this set of agreements indeed adds up to a package of measures that takes us closer to improving the quality of their lives. And in this regard, the matter is not going to be settled today - because it all depends on whether or not we are able to translate our words into actions - and that'll be the real test for all of us.

But at least let us look at the aggregate effect of what we plan to do as a result of the preparations leading up to today's event. There are three substantive areas and they come together in our commitment to act decisively at the local level.

The three core elements are a commitment to create both long and short-term jobs, expand investment (to the same end) and to do this in a way that lays the basis for more jobs in future - namely by increasing skills and equity. A simple, but I am sure you will agree, a fundamentally important agenda.

The first section sets out to address direct job creation across an entire spectrum - at the one end is a focus on pubic investment, with special emphasis on labour absorbing infrastructure projects and 'purpose built' publicly funded job creation schemes - known as 'expanded public works programmes', and at the other end is a series of measures to stimulate the private sector to create new jobs by expanding and extending existing sectors of the economy, the small business sector and the co-operative sector. One important link between the public and private sector interventions lies in the area of procurement - because 'contracts' from large firms or the government are key to making small businesses, especially black owned businesses, more viable and sustainable. Another link between the two is infrastructure itself, because once infrastructure is in place it is much easier for the private sector to follow with investments - once a road is built, and water and telecommunications services are in place, it is common sense that it is much more likely that someone will see an opportunity and open up a shop!

The jobs that government will create through its planned infrastructure projects and expanded public works programmes will inevitably be of a short-term nature and will be funded from the public purse. It follows that these jobs are not all as desirable as those that are based on products or services for which, locally or internationally; people are willing and able to pay. But this does not mean that these short-term jobs are not important.

Together, government and the social partners agree, that it is vital to get South Africans back to work - not just to enhance the dignity and relieve the grinding poverty of those who will benefit from these schemes, although this is a fundamentally important objective; it is also to infuse incomes into local communities and thereby lay the basis for other interventions which can build on them. This is not a trivial matter - studies in Durban have found that small businesses located within communities characterised by high levels of employment are able to produce more valuable goods and services than are those who sell to the desperately poor! In brief, incomes in poor communities lay the basis for the very growth and development that our Summit has set out to stimulate.

Although time does not permit me to elaborate on all the forms of partnership, prioritisation and active participation that are envisaged in the area of job creation, let me give one or two examples to whet your appetite and entice you to read the details articulated in the agreement.

Firstly, in relation to the 'publicly funded' end of the spectrum, the social partners have undertaken to work with government to unlock implementation bottlenecks to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure, and to support labour based methods of construction wherever possible;

• Business has agreed to mobilise its skills and expertise and have undertaken to explore the extent to which corporate social investments could be supportive of these initiatives, including skills transfer to local communities.
• Communities have undertaken to identify opportunities for expanded public works programmes and to mobilise their membership towards this end; and
• Labour has accepted that special payment arrangements will apply to participants in expanded public works programmes.

These commitments have yet to be defined, but the commitment to do so is in place, and without the commitment they certainly would not happen! Giving definition to these statements is the very next challenge immediately after today.

At the 'privately funded' end of the spectrum, we welcome the news that the private sector has chosen to use the opportunity of the Growth and Development Summit to announce planned investments of over R135 billion over the next five. This more than anything should signal to foreign investors that South Africa is well on the way to becoming "The leading emerging market and destination of first choice for investors whilst retaining and expanding social equity and fair labour standards" as enunciated in our shared vision! Over and above these confirmed investments, there are agreements to continue with or initiate new sectoral strategies in a range of areas such as the textile, pharmaceutical and metal and engineering sectors, which will hopefully open the way for accelerated investment and job growth in future. To support these sectoral strategies, the private sector has agreed to second people to both government and the labour movement to work with them to achieve understanding and success, which will surely make the strategies more viable.

Along the spectrum between the public and private sectors there are exciting commitments to support small businesses (particularly black-owned businesses) and co-operatives through measures which include making procurement decisions more transparent and open to new local market entrants. Government has made a number of commitments to support the co-operative sector - and our community and labour partners have undertaken to work hard to identify opportunities in which these can be initiated.

Our commitments to monitoring and evaluation are key. To this end government will be calling national meetings to assess sector strategies and there is a decision to ensure public reporting on total employment for government, parastatals and publicly listed companies.

Moving on to the area of investment. We welcome the commitment of all social partners to work on the design of instruments and mechanisms to open the way for a wider recommendation for investors to consider investing up to 5% of their income in ventures that create jobs. The commitment to complete this investigation by the end of this year is welcome, as too is the commitment to support training for the trustees of pension and provident funds - as these folk make important decisions that have important implications for our economy as a whole. The proposed conference of all pension and provident fund trustees before the end of 2004 promises to be an interesting platform to enhance this wider initiative.

In addition, the social partners have agreed to review the whole question of administered prices and import-parity pricing together, which should lower input costs and so increase the competitiveness in our economy.

Taken together with our renewed determination to implement the decisions of the Financial Sector Summit, the package hold the prospect of unleashing much needed development rands to pay for the jobs that will delivery more goods and services across the lengthen and breadth of our land.

In respect of advancing equity, our social partners have essentially agreed to work with government to advance broad-based black economic empowerment and to this end, where appropriate, charters, codes and other instruments aimed at securing transformation are important vehicles on which we have agreed to work together. In addition we've all agreed on a campaign to promote and monitor implementation of Employment Equity legislation and other instruments aimed at fast tracking the distribution of productive assets to those who suffer from the effects of historical economic marginalisation Our joint actions in this area are required to ensure that indeed all our people fairly share in the wealth of this country.

Our skills agenda is equally challenging. One of the most specific contributions of the Growth and Development Summit to the broader Human Resources Development Strategy is the firm commitment of private sector employers - as well as government departments - to taking on young, unemployed people into learnerships.

In the document before you, there is a firm commitment to ensure that no fewer than 72 000 young people enter learnerships before May next year, and more thereafter - and I am happy to announce that Transnet has committed itself to taking on an additional 1929 youngsters, Eskom an extra couple of hundred within its own organisation and a further 1 500 in partnership with the Department of Minerals and Energy as part of the commitment to the deliver free basic electricity to households in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Kwa-Zulu Natal. At this rate, Mr. President, we will achieve our National Skills Development Strategy target of 80 000 youngsters in learnerships a year early!

Of course the most telling of all our undertakings is that we will work together to unlock the potential of all our structures at local level to work towards growth and development right there - in local communities.

We have our work cut out - if we look at our commitments through a planning lens, we can see that work will have to start in earnest on Monday next week. Look at some of the firm undertakings we have made: by August we must run an Employment Equity campaign (we're in June already); by November the Task Team on co-operatives must deliver its report; by December we must conduct a campaign to inform consumers about the importance of the Proudly South African initiative when doing their Christmas shopping, and by the end of December three different initiatives must complete their work: the investment team, the legislation on co-operatives and guidelines on employment reporting. A few short months later we must demonstrate that our learnership targets have been met and we should have planned our Symposium on Co-operatives and our sector strategies are taking shape. The list goes on.

Mr President, whilst this work programme is extremely stretching, it is do-able. And we commit ourselves to reporting on firm achievements a year from now. Our people expect no less and we must not disappoint them.

Mr. President, the GDS was not intended to wave a magic wand; after which all economic and development challenges inherited from our past would disappear, but it gives us a work programme for the next phase. A phase during which each of the constituencies shall roll their sleeves, jointly and severally, in pursuit of a common vision and a set of agreed priorities. Together we can conquer the challenge of unemployment and poverty - but it will take hard work and sacrifices from all of us. Let's get down to work, together.

I thank you.