South Africa

Okay I admit it; I really do enjoy reading the President's State of the Nation (SOTN) address every year. Although his delivery of the said address is usually pretty uninspiring, it is the construction and contents of the speech that I always find most enjoyable – full of imagery, thought provoking quotes, historical references and a certain creative flair. I couldn’t give you the link here but I remember reading somewhere that the Prez is very hands on when it comes to the SOTN and likes to write most of it himself. This years address was no different and made for some very interesting reading. A few highlights for us here at someamongus : 

- "This year opened with the inspiring news that our people were highly optimistic about their future and the future of our country, ranking eighth in the world on the optimism index. Gallup International, which issued this report, said we have three times more optimists than pessimists, and that the optimism figure had doubled even since 2002. This compared sharply with the situation in 1993, when our country was still in the grip of the crisis that had been of so much concern to the international community. That year, our country had more pessimists than optimists, signifying the prevalence of a mood of despair generated in part by the cold-blooded assassination that year of one of our outstanding leaders, Chris Hani.

 

The results obtained by Gallup International have been confirmed by a recent domestic poll conducted by Markinor. According to this poll, 65% of our people believe that the country is going in the right direction. 84% think that our country holds out a happy future for all racial groups. 71% believe that government is performing well. With regard to the economy, late last month the Grant Thornton International Business Owners Survey reported that 80% of South Africa’s business owners are optimistic about the year ahead, making them the third most optimistic internationally. Again last month, the First National Bank and the Bureau for Economic Research reported that the consumer confidence index is at its highest in 25 years. What all these figures signify is that our people are firmly convinced that our country has entered its Age of Hope. They are convinced that we have created the conditions to achieve more rapid progress towards the realisation of their dreams. They are certain that we are indeed a winning nation..."

 

- "We owe these outstanding achievements to the sterling efforts made by all our people in all walks of life. To that extent I would like to take the opportunity of this State of the Nation Address to salute and thank all our people for responding to the call made by Nelson Mandela in 1994 from this podium, when he said “we must, constrained by and yet regardless of the accumulated effect of our historical burdens, seize the time to define for ourselves what we want to make of our shared destiny. Millions did indeed seize the time and, in action, defined ours as a shared destiny of peace, democracy, non-racism, non-sexism, shared prosperity and a better life for all. It is because of what these millions did that our people know from their own experience that today is better than yesterday, and are confident that tomorrow will be better than today.

 

The outcomes of these surveys communicate the unequivocal message that our people expect that:

 

* we should move faster to address the challenges of poverty, underdevelopment and marginalisation confronting those caught within the Second Economy, to ensure that the poor in our country share in our growing prosperity;
* we should make the necessary interventions with regard to the First Economy to accelerate progress towards the achievement of higher levels of economic growth and development of at least 6% a year;
* we must sustain and improve the effectiveness of our social development programmes targeted at providing a cushion of support to those most exposed to the threat of abject poverty;
* we must act more aggressively with regard to our criminal justice system to improve the safety and security of our people, especially by improving the functioning of our courts and increasing our conviction rates to strengthen the message that crime does not pay;
* we must ensure that the machinery of government, especially the local government sphere, discharges its responsibilities effectively and efficiently, honouring the precepts of Batho Pele; and,
* we must harness the Proudly South African spirit that is abroad among the people to build the strongest possible partnership between all sections of our population to accelerate our advance towards the realisation of the important goal of a better life for all...."

 

- "To implement ASGISA, the state-owned enterprises and the public sector as a whole, working in some instances through public-private partnerships, will make large investments in various sectors...The public sector will also accelerate infrastructure investment in the underdeveloped urban and rural areas of our country through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant, Expanded Public Works Programme and other infrastructure funds to improve service delivery in the areas of the Second Economy...R372 billion will be provided for both these sets of programmes over the next three years..."

 

"Land reform and land restitution are critical to the transformation of our society. Accordingly, the state will play a more central role in the land reform programme ensuring that the restitution programme is accelerated, further contributing to the empowerment of the poor, especially in the rural areas. The Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs will, during 2006:

 

* review the willing-buyer willing-seller policy;
* review land acquisition models and possible manipulation of land prices; and
* regulate conditions under which foreigners buy land. This will be done in line with international norms and practices..."

 

"Other important matters include the post-TRC management of cases pertaining to conflicts of the past, processing of legislation on matters pertaining to the rationalisation of our courts, consideration of the recommendations of the Khampepe Commission on the Directorate of Special Operations, and strengthening our intelligence structures to support law enforcement agencies and ensure the security of the state and its citizens. Perhaps, needless to say, the government will remain focused on the challenge to fight corruption in the public sector and in society at large. We will continue to intensify our offensive on this front, fully aware of the fact that much that happens in our society encourages the entrenchment of a value system based on personal acquisition of wealth by all means and at all cost..."

 

The entire address had a heavy emphasis on harnessing and powering ahead with our economic success, boosting public sector spending and the fabled ASGISA (Accelerated & Shared Growth Initiative for SA) initiative. While the government could afford to trumpet its successes in terms of economic growth, in areas such as Health, Corruption and Criminal Justice - there has been glacial progress, unsurprisingly the President made scant mention of these topics and chose instead to say that money was being thrown at these problems which should lead to some results. The one slight surprise was on the land reform front, with the government looking to "review" the willing-buyer willing-seller policy and make a few other changes in its current approach to the land question.

The entire address can be found here.