Address by the president of Sanco, Mlungisi Hlongwane,on
behalf of the community constituency
Introduction
It is both a pleasure and an honour to share the same platform
once again with theDeputy President of South Africa, Mr Thabo
Mbeki; the President of the Congress of SouthAfrican Trade Unions
(Cosatu), Mr John Gomomo; the Minister of Labour, Mr Tito
Mboweni;the chairperson of Business South Africa, Mr Hans Smith;
and the executive director ofNedlac, Mr Jayendra Naidoo.
Furthermore, one feels especially fortunate to be one of the
speakers at the annualsummit of one of the central organisations in
South Africa, namely, Nedlac.
In 1993, when comrade Chris Hani was assassinated, people in and
outside South Africathought that now would be the time that South
Africa would be plunged into a bloody civilwar. This did not occur.
In 1994, on the eve of elections, with some political
partiesthreatening not to participate in elections and an ethnic
kingdom being proclaimed, againthe "realists" were proclaiming a
war. This did not occur. When the MassDemocratic Movement
pronounced the reconstruction and development programme (RDP),
againthe intellectuals predicted that if the "wish list" was not
attained there wouldbe an armed insurrection. We are still
waiting.
How much has South Africa achieved?
If we have to be honest in our analysis of the democratic South
Africa, we have tostate that it is correct to observe that the
country has not plunged into a major civilwar. However, the one war
which South Africans have consistently cried out for, since
theadoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955, is the war on poverty,
which is still missing.
The Budget
In the 1997-98 Budget speech of comrade Trevor Manuel, we
noticed a dramatic changefrom previous Budget announcements.
Firstly, the speech was not made only in Afrikaans orEnglish as in
previous years. Secondly, the budget allocated considerably more
funds tosocial services than in previous years. However, the Budget
also contained othercurve-balls, and one does not include "sin tax"
in this category. For instance,we have relaxed exchange controls so
that money is able to move in and out of the countrywith relative
ease. We will state in no uncertain terms that this is directly in
thefavour of South Africa and international business. Albeit, there
are polemic argumentswhich seek to prove that there are benefits
for the average South African but which doadmit that these are
indirect benefits. However, we still need for South African
businessto take the same risks and trust our government, as our
government is trusting it, byproviding the financial cover for the
reconstruction and development of South Africa, likein housing.
Furthermore, a large percentage of the Budget has gone to
service the debt of SouthAfrica. However, this debt is that which
was odiously accrued by the previous racistgovernment for their
golden handshakes and the oppression of the freedom-loving people
ofSouth Africa. Thus, one has to conclude that although we are
gradually moving in thecorrect direction, the war on poverty is
still missing in action.
Our goals
On June 1, 1996, the date of Nedlac's first annual summit, we
set ourselves a range ofsocial goals. Let us further examine them
so as to ascertain exactly how much have wereally achieved.
The alleviation of poverty
In terms of the alleviation of poverty, it has become abundantly
clear that we do nothave accurate information on the extent of
poverty in South Africa. We have to state thatthis is a direct
consequence of the failure of the government to effectively monitor
andpublicise poverty. This must be observed in the light of the
Reserve Bank being able tomonitor abstract economic indicators like
inflation, interest rates, the strength of thecurrency,
etc.-incidentally that which business is mostly interested in. We
state to thegovernment, and even business for that matter, that we
as the community constituency arewilling to monitor poverty-just
provide us with the training of personnel and the relevantfunding,
and we will cater for this overarching consideration.
Furthermore, the glaring anti-rural bias of policy is becoming
more and more worrisome,as is reflected by the budget cuts suffered
by the Water and Land Reform ministries. Moreso is the cut in child
welfare benefits, in an effort to redistribute, which only seeks
toprove that more resources need to be extended towards that sector
of our communities.Already, we are beginning to feel the
inadequacies of the housing subsidy, which is beingeroded by
inflation. We do recognise that a major study will be released on
poverty.However, our concern is twofold, namely, the lack of
adequate monitoring facilities and,more fundamentally, that the
balance between rich and poor has not changed
sufficiently,notwithstanding our political liberation.
Job creation
Job creation has become more and more of a national disgrace
since the private sectorhas grown by 3% in 1996, but it persists in
cutting jobs. It is of national concern thatconcepts and terms such
as "job loss" form part of our language. We say to allrole-players
in Nedlac: we have to ensure that there is labour-intensive
programmes now!
Services and tariffs
We wish to relaunch the Masakhane campaign which, if we care to
admit or not, is stillinvariably linked to the provision of
services and the tariff system. However, theinequitable tariffs for
water and electricity still remain. We do note that apartheiddeals
under which the rights to water were granted are gradually being
revoked, and wewould like to applaud Minister Asmal's efforts to
supply water to the rural areas andensure a lifeline supply to all
South Africans. But we are gravely concerned with theactions of
some ministries which make it virtually impossible for the water
goals to berealised. With regard to electrification, we will state
that progress in the urban areashas been quite good. However, we
fear that without better subsidies, electrification,especially in
the rural areas, could grind to a halt, or will not be able to
provide thedevelopment kick-start, given the severe poverty
existing.
Human resources
Let us reiterate an already well-known fact: South Africa is
desperately in need ofhuman resource development. In another recent
survey, South Africa came second-last in thecategory of "people".
We have observed and participated in the debate on
skillsdevelopment, and note that the debate has centred around the
proposed 1,5% training levy.Firstly, let us state that if we are
sincere and serious about developing South Africainto a somewhat
independent economic entity, then we have to realise that the
statisticsbeing released call for a major emphasis on training,
even more so when the economic andfinancial market is moving
rapidly away from a commodities-based market to that of
aknowledge-based one. Secondly, to achieve this aim, we must
realise that skillsdevelopment should not only occur on the shop
floor. We have recently submitted ourcomments on the Department of
Labour's skills development strategy green paper, wherein wehave
highlighted the insufficient attention to skills development for
community and socialdevelopment.
Consultation
One of our major concerns, which goes against the chief
principle of Nedlac, is thedebates which occur around the lack of
consultation. From last year's summit, many of thedebates around
policy differences have begun with government being accused of
notconsulting. A prime example is that of the national commission
on higher education. We dobelieve that this situation is untenable,
but not irreversible. There is an inherentresponsibility on those
who wish to be consulted to make the necessary arrangements to
bepart of the policy process, and there is an inherent
responsibility on government to makecertain that the necessary
consultation takes place. We believe that Nedlac can play avital
role in ensuring that consultation takes place on a variety of
issues that couldbecome contentious.
Improvements in government capacity
Furthermore, it would be unwise for us not to recognise that
government's capacity hastremendously improved since 1994. We do
believe that this improvement of capacity augurswell for the
delivery of a better life for all. And we do warn government that
we willtest this newfound ability at all times!
Crime
We would like to commend Nedlac on the efforts it is making in
terms of crimeprevention and control. It is our opinion that Nedlac
is the only body in South Africawhich is calling for genuine action
plans to prevent and curb crime. It goes withoutsaying that the
Development Chamber, where the community constituency is based, has
takenthe lead in this regard. The recent exposés of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission(TRC) has fundamentally proven the extent
to which crime has taken root because of theviolent and unjust
system of apartheid. Furthermore, we note with concern that
mostanti-crime projects are centred on central business districts
and suburbs, not thedisadvantaged communities, where it is really
required.
The extremely disadvantaged
This summit today is a prime example of the urgent need to
redress past injustices. Ifwe look around we will observe that all
the principal speakers belong to that species ofthe human race
known as males. Thus, we must commit ourselves to addressing the
training,affirmative action, and leadership-enhancement needs of
women and the disabled inparticular.
Nedlac itself
The baby syndrome
We, as the community constituency, do realise that in many ways
we are regarded as thebabies in the Nedlac process, as the
constituency who was last to enter the chamber, andseeking
assistance at every corner. We now unequivocally state that the
otherconstituencies in Nedlac can continue to have this opinion at
their own peril. The timefor Bible-sized complaints is over. Yes,
we wish to enjoy the fruits of capacity, but inno uncertain terms
will we allow this to be an excuse for a lack of performance. We
willstate at this summit our intention to take up our rightful
places in the other threechambers of Nedlac!
Dialogue
We must state that there has been a marked improvement in the
dialogue within Nedlacbetween stakeholders. However, we do believe
that business has often been able to dictatethe agenda, with
government compliance, especially when government wishes to
removecertain topics from the agenda. However, we will not want to
get into a discussion ofwhether our perception is correct or
incorrect, but state that this situation is nottenable any longer.
We have taken a decision to ensure that we exhibit our political
willand ensure that there is no one constituency which enjoys
hegemony, other than ourselves!
Agreements
Nedlac has been able to exact many agreements, for example, on a
national developmentagency and job creation. However, we do note
with extreme regret that where agreementswere really needed-like on
basic services, tariffs and housing-government departmentscontinued
to attempt to keep these issues of the negotiating table.
We wish to state, as the community constituency, that the
overarching developmentframework is still the RDP-that is, the
reconstruction and development programme for thosewho may have
forgotten. One of the major reasons for the missing war on poverty
is thatthere are too many government policies which do not fall in
line with the RDP. We arestill waiting for the promised
negotiations on the national social agreement, as containedin Gear.
Another is the proposed negotiations around the various stakeholder
positionpapers, like community's aptly-named "Return to the
RDP".
Information accessibility and resources
Sufficient consultation has mainly been hampered by the lack of
technology available tothe role-players in the community
constituency. This has been a well-documented point, andwe in the
community constituency are attempting individually to address this
problem,since assistance has not been forthcoming from the other
stakeholders in Nedlac.
Hence, the constituency has experienced real problems with
access to information which,sadly, is not because of a lack of
initiative on the community constituency's part, butchiefly because
of a lack of resources. We do recognise the attempts by government
toremedy the situation, in terms of a national development agency;
however, while thisagency is not present, many community-based
organisations are at the whim and fancy of thefunding agencies.
As a word of advice to our government in particular-there is a
fundamental need todevelop clear policy with regards to community
participation and capacity in line with themandate of the RDP and
the RDP white paper.
Conclusion
The community constituency is extremely optimistic about the
year ahead. We do believethat the social partners are in a position
to realise that the problems in South Africaare not those which are
problems of just one constituency, but the problems of
allconstituencies.
We reaffirm our dedication to the conclusion of the social goals
listed above. Webelieve that all social partners will be redoubling
their efforts in an honest andproblem-solving manner. We will
continue to be the prime advocates of the low-income,rural and
urban, women, youth and disabled, and the employed and unemployed
people ofSouth Africa, who together fought for the liberation of
our country for all to enjoy.
We are of the firm belief that the ultimate objective of our
political dispensation wasto declare a war on poverty (in all its
forms). We now need to admit that this has stillbeen left
floundering.
If we wish to transform our country in line with the vision
expressed in the FreedomCharter and the RDP, we need all
role-players to express a strong sense of political will,especially
when policy is not line with the stated vision.
If we do not, history will judge us harshly!
Let us stride together so that we are able to conquer the
challenges of the 21stcentury!
I thank you.