Deputy Speaker, I am going to speak on one of the items for discussion at the 126th session of the Inter- Parliamentary Union, IPU, and that is a general debate on the political, economic and social situation in the world. At the last meeting, there was a request for a special item to be added and that was Somalia and the food crisis there - a famine, actually.
The crisis in Somalia is one with a long history and it's dominated by a number of complexities. Recently, the crisis was worsened by food security difficulties, which have impacted on the people of Somalia in a profound way. Thus the IPU chose this topic as a special issue to be debated.
In terms of the historical background, in January 1991, the downfall of President Siad Barre resulted in a power struggle and clan clashes in many parts of Somalia. In November, the most intense fighting broke out in the capital, Mogadishu, between two factions. One faction supported the interim president, Ali Mahdi Muhammad, and the other supported the chairman of the United Somali Congress, General Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Since that time, fighting persisted in Mogadishu and spread throughout Somalia, with heavily armed elements controlling various parts of the country. Some of these elements declared alliance with one or other of the two factions, while others did not. Numerous groups of bandits simply added to the problems experienced in the country.
The hostilities resulted in widespread death and destruction, forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee their homes and causing a dire need for emergency humanitarian assistance. Of almost 4,5 million people in Somalia, over half of the estimated population were threatened by severe malnutrition and malnutrition-related diseases, with the most affected living in the countryside. It was estimated that perhaps 300 000 people have died since November 1991 and at least 1,5 million lives were at immediate risk. Almost 1 million Somalis sought refuge in neighbouring countries and elsewhere.
In the year 2000, at a conference in Djibouti, clan elders and various other senior figures named Abdiqasim Salad Hassan as the president. A transitional government was established with the aim of reconciling the warring militias. As its mandate was drawing to a close, however, the administration had made little progress in uniting the country. In 2004, after talks held in Kenya, the main warlords and politicians signed a deal to set up a new parliament, which later appointed a president. This type of administration, however, is facing difficulties in bringing reconciliation to a country divided by fiefdoms.
In 2001, the plight of the Somali people was exacerbated by the worst drought in six decades, which left millions of people on the verge of starvation and caused tens of thousands to flee to Kenya and Ethiopia in search of food. The food security situation in Somalia, as classified during the post-eyr 2010-11 assessment, estimated that 2,4 million people were in crisis. However, the effects of the ongoing drought, deteriorating purchasing power, rampant conflict and the limited humanitarian space continue to aggravate the situation in most parts of the country. The dry season of 2011 was particularly harsh, considering the prevalence of dry conditions for almost nine months.
As I have limited time, I am going to tell you a little bit about our government's and civil society's contribution to the crisis. As of August 2011, South Africa's contribution to relief efforts in Somalia has exceeded R20 million. Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe noted that the government had responded to the humanitarian crisis confronting Somalia by raising R8 million towards the famine relief programme. Of this, R4 million was donated to the Gift of the Givers towards transportation and the logistical costs of delivering aid to Somalia. Additionally, the government, in partnership with Brand South Africa, had teamed up with the Gift of the Givers and launched the Somalia Relief Campaign to raise public awareness of the dire situation in Somalia.
The South African government also provided transport in the form of the SA National Defence Force C130 Hercules supply plane to the Gift of the Givers to deliver 18 tons of essential food and antimalaria medication to Mogadishu on 16 August. The government also collaborated with other organisations from South Africa contributing to relief work for Somalis in Somalia and refugee camps in neighbouring countries. A number of organisations contributed to this effort.
In conclusion, one has to say that ultimately, while assistance did come from a range of sources, there are many who see Somalia as a failure in dealing adequately with food production issues. These are areas that will have to be discussed appropriately in the future to ensure that a food crisis of this magnitude is prevented from emerging again. I think the role of the international community and the role of the African Union is very important in helping to build institutions of good governance in Somalia. We need a political situation of peace, of strengthening the institutions providing stability and justice and, of course, finally, an economic solution where economic growth and the employment of people is ensured.
Finally, I would like to add that because of the piracy issue on the Indian Ocean coastline, the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans has set aside one of our frigates to help patrol the Mozambican Channel because the piracy issue is not limited to the area around Somalia but is moving further south. So, South Africa is also playing an important role in trying to curb piracy and providing some kind of peace and stability. [Applause.]
Agb Voorsitter van die Huis, wanneer ons die politieke, ekonomiese en sosiale situasie in die wreld ontleed, dan moet ons weet dat Suid-Afrika daarna moet streef om ons demokrasie te vestig en te konsolideer, maar ook om 'n nuwe tipe etiese raamwerk vir die 21ste eeu daar te stel. Dit moet 'n raamwerk wees wat onderskeid tref tussen wat reg is en wat verkeerd is in die hedendaagse globale, interafhanklike wreld, waar die misbruik van mag al hoe meer wydverspreid voorkom.
In 'n tyd van sinisisme is Suid-Afrika 'n voorbeeld van die triomfering van hoop oor vrees, en van verdraagsaamheid oor vooroordeel. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Hon Chairperson of the House, when analysing the political, social and economical situation in the world, we should know that South Africa must strive towards establishing and consolidating our democracy, but also towards introducing a new type of ethical framework for the 21st century. It should be a framework that differentiates between what is right and what is wrong in the current global, interdependent world, where the abuse of power is becoming more and more widespread.
In a time of cynicism, South Africa is an example of the triumph of hope over fear, and of tolerance over prejudice.]
Emerging from a bitterly divided past, we have made a widely admired transition from authoritarian rule to becoming a beacon of human rights. Our human rights-based Constitution - as one leader of the Libyan transitional government recently said - serves as an inspiration to the new democracies of the Arab Spring and, may I add, also to many other countries in the world. The legacy of our inspirational leadership, pioneering Constitution, improved social cohesion and steady economic development caught the attention of the world. We have ever steadily become a respected voice in the international community.
Yet, as inspirational as our leadership may have been, and while our local social and economic challenges persist, it is important to note that the global landscape has been transformed. The global strategic template prevailing since the 1950s has been recast by the events of the Arab Spring. South Africa now has to consider its response to this changed world and also consider how we should reposition ourselves and reinvigorate our ethical framework. This is complex. In the world of statecraft, the choice is rarely between right and wrong. More often it requires an ability to discern between shades of grey, and right versus right.
At the end of 2012, our nonpermanent seat in the UN Security Council will expire. For us to occupy a permanent position will be largely dependent on our ability to crisply articulate our African priorities, as well as strengthen relations between the African Union, AU, and the UN. Securing the position would enable South Africa to take a clear stance on various issues, which will restore our credibility as an ethical voice in international affairs.
However, this is unlikely until we address the events north of the Limpopo River. South Africa must acknowledge that Zimbabwe is in dire need of electoral reform and must take up the role of mediator. President Zuma must take a firm stance and ensure that South Africa assists with negotiations towards a referendum and to ensure free and fair elections to end the reign of President Robert Mugabe. Continued silence by this government is tantamount to support of President Mugabe's illegal and suppressive rule.
South Africa must uphold the UN doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect, the so-called R2P. For far too long the world has turned a blind eye to genocide, war crimes and human rights violations by hiding behind the cloak of the Westphalian Order's definition of sovereignty. Our own Cyril Ramaphosa was one of the key architects of R2P, so we must follow suit. As Kofi Annan and others have well argued, if humanitarian intervention is indeed an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to gross and systematic violations of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity? The international community stood by when genocide unfolded in Rwanda and more recently also in Darfur. South Africa must assume a greater responsibility to ensure that the AU's military intervention and peacekeeping role becomes operational. By supporting R2P, South Africa will pledge its support for humanitarian intervention on the African continent.
Last year we turned a blind eye to human rights violations in Swaziland. We did ourselves no favours by abstaining from voting on the Security Council's resolution to intervene in Syria. Our efforts to call for action in Libya and post-election Ivory Coast were dismal. We can and must save face and regain our credibility. We should engage Nigeria and resolve our differences. The Horn of Africa is poor and hungry. Let us support humanitarian relief in Somalia and Ethiopia and, while the noble people of Iran are not our enemies, let us speak out against Iran's breach of international protocol with regard to its uranium enrichment programme. It is important that South Africa engages in dialogue with Tehran. We must invest in soft-power strategies. I wonder how many of our diplomats are trained in Farsi or are knowledgeable about that great culture.
Furthermore, President Zuma should call upon the entire African community, notably Uganda, to uphold international human rights norms pertaining to the individual's sexual orientation, as it should be. The American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, speaking for President Obama, eloquently put this forth in Geneva recently.
Suid-Afrika is inderdaad gesend dat ons in staat is om nie net mededeelsaam te wees nie, maar ook om van ander te leer. As ons na ons Brics-vennote kyk, dan sien ons duidelik welke beleidsrigtings suksesvol is en welke nie. Ons glo dat Suid-Afrika na die weste moet kyk, veral in die rigting van Brasili, nie net na hul hoogs gerespekteerde leierskap nie, maar ook ten opsigte van die realisme van die ekonomie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[South Africa is indeed blessed, not only in being generous, but also in being able to learn from others. Looking at our Brics partners, we can clearly see which policy directions are successful and which are not. We believe South Africa should be looking to the west, in particular to Brazil, not only as regards their highly respected leadership, but also in respect of the realism of the economy.]
Brazil has achieved many successes in the struggle for both economic and social emancipation. Brazil was able to raise the living standards of poor households through smart social policies, such as amendments to encourage flexibility in the labour market and financial incentives to enhance employment creation.
We can emulate the success of Brazil, where poverty has declined from 20% in 2004 to a mere 7% in 2009. This can be achieved through our own model of inclusive economic growth, which prioritises the extension of ownership, particularly, and the active participation of young people, even more particularly. Small business operators and ordinary workers within the mainstream economy must be supported.
We also look to our continent for inspiration. In Kenya, financial services have been made accessible to the poor and the rural through the extremely cost-effective M-Pesa system. M-Pesa is a phone-based service for the sending and storing of money. This system allows people to send and receive money quickly, efficiently and safely, at minimal cost. Registered users can pay bills and also make purchases. It is an innovative way to extend financial services to millions of people in rural areas who live outside the formal banking system. It has improved the lives of millions.
In Bangladesh, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus pioneered a new system of banking, called "microcredit". The microcredit system extends small loans to people who have no collateral to qualify for formal bank loans. The system extends credit services at a low interest rate to millions of impoverished people who require capital to start small home- grown enterprises. It is just one method to help formalise the informal sector and to extend opportunity and empowerment to those who desperately need it.
Many of the successes we see abroad could be replicated here. Nietzsche famously said that the most common form of stupidity is forgetting what we set out to do. This is as true of national renewal as it is of statecraft. [Applause.]
Chair, the situation in the world today is becoming more confusing by the day. The need for countries of the world to discuss the problems that are becoming more and more complicated is indeed very urgent. However, in order to begin a proper multilateral discussion, it is imperative that a single international agenda is obtained. This is necessary to achieve a crosscutting effect to allow all interests to be tabled. The redistribution of power and wealth is already taking place more by the force of events rather than through a collectively agreed script.
The intricacies of global power will of necessity require all parties to understand that the world in 2012 is very different from what it was after World War II. A new centre of power is emerging and this centre is in the East, not the West. This shifting in the balance of power, which is taking place through faster economic growth in the East, is already raising sharp challenges and fuelling new expectations among those who had no visibility before. In this regard, Africa is no longer seen as a lost cause but as the last remaining continent with a genuine possibility of growth.
Africa may not have been an important economic and political player in the past, but that situation is about to change. There is already tension in Africa as to which country will play a pivotal role in shaping the new dynamics.
For South Africa the intricacies become even greater. On the one hand we have had a longstanding relationship with the West. More recently we became a partner in Brics. We are also part of the African Union, AU. How South Africa maintains the delicate balance and remains onside each time will, of course, require deep thinking and skilful statecraft.
The importance of safekeeping and strengthening our own democracy in order to contribute significantly to consolidating global democracy is a matter of great strategic importance, which seems to be getting lost. The regressive steps that are being taken by governments worldwide in recent times will not only have implications for us domestically but also internationally.
The time has come in the world to increase political space in keeping with technological advances because that is how the younger generations will want it. Nothing will stand in their way and if our own thinking is regressive, we are doomed. The sad fate of Mubarak and Gaddafi, among others, shows clearly the need to march in the right direction, which is one of getting people involved.
The time we live in is characterised by great wealth and great poverty in the same physical space. South Africans visiting Greece, Italy and Portugal, among other places, are startled by the number of Europeans reduced to the kind of poverty people on our continent have borne forever.
It is an imperative of our time that the new world order is in tune with new technology. It is equally important to create a new economic order. As we are speaking, the world's economic order is tottering. Unemployment in many parts of the world is escalating and the migration of people in search of employment has no new centre of attraction. We have reached an economic stalemate.
In conclusion, we in Cope are deeply concerned about the failure to attend to the complexities that face our nation and the world. We are alarmed by the lack of urgency in dealing with these complexities. We urge the attention of all nations to these matters as a matter of urgency. If we don't do it, if we cannot step forward, if we keep our brains in the decade that is behind us, we are doomed.
Speaker, there is no question that there are enormous challenges in the world today at all levels of society, ranging from mounting economic crises to military conflict, terrorism and generalised human rights abuses. We are even witnessing alarmingly undemocratic outbursts in the very countries that have been the cradles of democracy and human rights protection.
The real question is what South Africa can do to make our world a better place to bequeath to our children. We cannot exercise a measure of economic power greater than many of the other countries in the world. We cannot exercise military power or financial power greater than that. In all these areas, we are limited by the circumstances of history and our own condition. However, we are not limited in respect of moral influence. We can and we must excel in exercising moral leadership in the world.
This requires pursuing the human rights agenda and holding dear the values of maximum democracy and freedom, even when other countries are subjecting these values to restriction, allegedly for reasons of national security or national interest. We must turn South Africa into the world capital of human rights protection.
Chairperson, hon members, guests and fellow South Africans, my contribution to this debate is to focus on the importance of Parliament's interaction with civil society by looking at particular sectors such as the youth and women. Increasing the opportunities for civil society organisations to interact with Parliament and improving Parliament's willingness to consult with those organisations are important ways to enhance MPs' ability to represent their constituencies and to ensure that national planning and budgeting reflect the needs of the people.
Nongovernmental organisations often play a critical role in advocating changes in law, in policy, in procedures and administrative rules. NGOs bring the stories of the individuals they serve to the process. These stories form an important part of the evidence needed to convince policy- makers of the changes that are needed.
The importance of interacting with civil society, especially with women and youth, is so that, together, we can realise our constitutional objectives of justifiable social and economic rights. Women and youth equally want to benefit from a clean and healthy environment, from access to land, from access to housing, from an end to arbitrary evictions and from access to sufficient water, health care and education.
Today we celebrate International Women's Day, the story of ordinary women as makers of history. It is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a strike against men in order to end a war. During the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for liberty, equality and fraternity marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.
The ANC has a long history of engagement with civil society - the Freedom Charter, the RDP, to name but a few.
In South Africa, social and economic rights are enshrined in the Constitution and play an important role in motivating and sustaining political participation. Among the many challenges facing the new South Africa is the desire to develop a polity that represents and engages with the aspirations and needs of its entire people. The ANC's strategy and tactics remind us of the importance of building social cohesion and of the values of a caring society. This provides a practical role for the involvement of women and youth in civil society. Democracy requires a pluralistic approach that can take into account the views of all people. Inclusiveness necessarily requires the views of women and youth.
The incorporation of youth concerns by means of youth mainstreaming and youth participation are emerging fields in a range of areas affecting development and governance and includes work undertaken by legislators and parliaments around the world. Progress in this regard, however, is uneven and not always easy to assess.
It is important to recognise that a number of factors influence the level and quality of public participation of youth with the legislature. It should not, for example, be assumed that a low level of education or socioeconomic status translates into an inability to participate. The youth is not a homogenous entity and additional efforts should be made to secure the participation of those subgroups that can be described as more marginalised than others. This underscores the importance of a proactive approach to developing youth-public participation.
Youth participation determines the extent to which young people can influence processes and projects undertaken by any particular institution. Youth participation entails the involvement of young people at all stages, from the identification of needs to the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policy and programmes.
There are core benefits of youth participation and they are identifiable. In South Africa's harsh socioeconomic climate, where opportunities for South Africa's youth remain limited, parliamentarians should be wary of the cost of not incorporating youth concerns into their work and of excluding their participation from the process. The need to augment outreach and public participation is recognised in a number of domestic and international parliamentary programmes. In addition, many parliaments run educational programmes intended to expose students to political and parliamentary processes.
Consultation and participation are valuable yet distinct activities. Consultation entails directly asking either women or youth, whichever is the case, about their views. Participation refers to the extent of women's and youth's involvement in decision-making. Consultation may be undertaken without regard to participation but may equally be accompanied by efforts to promote involvement in the decision-making process.
The importance of consultation on youth and gender itself is self-evident. Engagement by Parliament resuscitates citizens' involvement and leads to greater participatory democracy.
Chair, the agenda of the debate on the Inter-Parliamentary Union speaks of parliaments and people bridging the gap. In South Africa, the gap we speak about, and our biggest hindrance, is perhaps the ghost of our colonial past, which manifests itself in many different ways.
In yesterday's Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Co- operation seminar, Dr S Zondi from the Institute for Global Dialogue, IGD, pointed out that the way Brazil managed to deal with its colonial past was to significantly reduce poverty. It seems we can do what we like, but until poverty is reduced to where this becomes noticeable, nothing will change in our attitudes, perceptions and behaviour. Business was, of course, the key to Brazil's success and Zondi expressed the view that business and government, working together, could put apartheid in the dustbin, where it belongs, if they wanted to. He also attributed China's reduced poverty to the fact that government and business work together - a hurdle South Africa must still get over.
Growth in South Africa generates growth in all of sub-Saharan Africa and increased exports to SADC could generate 150 000 jobs by 2020. The mutuality of interest in business and government working together in the SADC region and beyond is indisputable. The need for diplomacy in Africa to deal with deep-seated negative perceptions about South Africa and South Africans is acknowledged generally. With this in mind, Zondi's view that South Africa completely misses the enormous opportunity it has to engage in diplomacy by failing to reach the large numbers of people from other countries that reside in or visit South Africa is relevant in bridging this gap.
In bridging the gap, both Parliament and people will need to embrace today's digital world. The German Bundestag has stated that Internet services have closed the gap between its parliament and citizens. Youth in even the poorest area in South Africa have access to cell phones and the Internet and 4 million South Africans are active on Facebook, growing at 4% per month. Social networking, as it evolves, is a major medium of communication and the so-called Arab Spring is a classic example.
I have run out of time. Of course, the political, economic and social situation globally is a topic that two minutes could never do justice to. Thank you.
House Chair, I will speak on the economic situation in the Eurozone and its impact on South Africa, Africa and developing economies.
The ANC's 2007 strategy and tactics document was indeed correct and forward- looking when it stated:
South Africa's interests in a complex and unpredictable global environment necessitate the building of capacity for strategic as well as rapid responses to changes in our region.
It goes on to say: "Such responses should be anchored in the development of Africa and the developing world."
Out of this era of many contradictions and fluidity in the international environment, both Africa and the global South have greater opportunities to make further progress and to extricate themselves from the shackles of global apartheid, poverty and underdevelopment.
As we can see, when the crisis of capitalism is exposed to its inherent, internal, moral and ethical contradictions, placing the capitalist hegemony under threat as a result, trading blocks enter into battle with each other over the decisive and ongoing shifts taking place in the key centres of productivity and accumulation, which, indeed, are broadly shifting away from the historical economic powerhouses of North America, Japan and Europe to, as that hon member said, Southeast Asia. This is manifested in the escalating trade and investment and, to a lesser extent, the current currency wars within and among the major powers, who are seeking to retain their global dominance, privileges and access to natural resources - all this in the face of competition from new centres of dynamic production.
The ANC's foresight and vision to break with this trend was a conscious one, informed by an accurate assessment of the international balance of forces and resultant tectonic shifts in the economic and political spheres. This firmly places South Africa on an entirely new trade and economic investment trajectory. Our response to this global economic crisis has been to clearly articulate that we cannot be solely dependent on traditional trading partners in the North. Rather, we must intensify our efforts to increase economic development in Southern Africa, in particular, and recognise that our core economic partner for the future is indeed Africa and the expansion of our trade with Brics and other developing economies.
The South African economy is deeply interconnected and part of an integral system of global trade. We exist in a network. We are part of a network and since this network is out of balance in one place on the globe, it is out of balance everywhere. The chief executives of South Africa's four big banks, namely Absa, Standard Bank, First National Bank and Nedbank, admitted that they feared that they would also be affected by what they call the contagion effect in the Eurozone because South Africa's economy is inextricably entwined with that of Europe and the rest of the globe.
Eurozone contagion will not only affect equity markets but will hit the entire South African economy because the European Union, as a block, is our single biggest trading partner. European consumers acquire a great deal of South African goods and South Africa has a strong economic connection with major European economies, in particular Germany and France. As the Eurozone governments face the sovereign debt crisis, they implement austerity measures. They cut back on expenditure and, as a result, business conditions are continuously deteriorating globally. Consequently, this increases unemployment in trading partner countries like South Africa.
Our government's multibillion rand infrastructure spending over the past years, coupled with the Industrial Policy Action Plan 2, Ipap 2, have to an extent cushioned the South African economy during the worst of the crisis. Ipap 2 is meant to resuscitate industrialisation as a catalyst for economic growth. The ANC-led government is conscious and alert to the fact that the crisis can destabilise the welfare of the most vulnerable people in society.
However, we applaud the fact that the Framework for South Africa's Response to the International Economic Crisis has strong principles that seek to protect the poor, the vulnerable, the unemployed and the low-income workers; to strengthen capacity to grow decent work into the future; to maintain high levels of investment and to intervene in a timely, tailored and targeted manner. It has created room for broader participation of the private sector in investment and entrepreneurship and for the transformation and integration of the informal sector into the formal mainstream economy.
There is a legacy and consensus built around the fact that public investment in infrastructure can respond positively to lessen the effects of the economic downturn. Where possible, a labour-intensive approach must be used to ensure that the best possible social employment and economic benefits are accrued by the larger society.
Emerging markets are being affected by the slow market growth and stability, even though the policy-makers of emerging economies have more tools available to support their economies. Indeed, while trade links to Europe have slowed in recent years and emerging economies have started to trade more with each other, they have not decoupled completely from Europe and remain dependent on the developed market's global outlook. While further trade and exports to Europe remain significant, developing countries have started to focus more and more on other forms of investment.
Finally, the effect of the downturn on the African agenda is and indeed should remain a matter of preoccupation. Economic growth is a prerequisite for the prevention of conflict on the continent. Already, interstate trade with the rest of Africa is insignificant, with a crisis bound to decrease trade with the North. Africa is at a disadvantage. To bear fruit, economic diplomacy into Africa must be met with stable markets and growing economies. Economic dependency that is being reinvented by the crisis is a sad reality and a challenge to Africa.
The presidential infrastructure project and the North-South corridor championed by President Zuma must be supported because this will facilitate and expand intra-Africa trade, deepen integration, resuscitate economic growth and the interconnectedness of Africa, marking a decisive moment in the African continent's own reconstruction and development and shifting the focus from traditional trade routes meant to serve the whims and whiffs of the continent's former colonial masters. [Applause.]
Chair, I would like to focus my input on the status of political, economic and social situation in Africa for obvious reasons, perhaps. That there are problems in Africa even after many countries in the continent went through transition from colonialism to independence is not a deniable fact. I would like to assert, though, that the African situation is not as bleak as portrayed by the media, especially the international media. It is true that the continent continues to have political difficulties which have consistently continued for over a century.
However, what is usually overlooked is that key issues of African politics are linked to leadership in the continent. Africa has heroes and always had, but sadly we have seen African heroes and heroines turn into dictators, plundering natural resources. We have the political exclusion of Africans by Africans and dominance over each other. Be that as it may, we have consistently seen Africans tilting the scales. We have seen ordinary Africans expressing discontent with regimes imposed upon them. We have seen Africans gallantly fighting oppression and I dare say that that makes me hopeful about the African situation.
The economic situation is very much linked to the political situation. The hunger and deprivation experienced in Africa is a direct consequence of political and leadership instability because it engenders disease, warfare, misgovernment and corruption.
Africa is said to be very rich in minerals and other natural resources. However, the standard of living does not correlate with the continent's wealth. Quality of life and human development are at low levels. The United Nations' ranking of African states is significantly low because the continent sees greater inequality than any other region in the world.
Of course, the social situation and analysis in Africa is heavily influenced and affected by the political and economic instability. Africans have a high burden of disease and their living conditions, on average, are far from desirable. However, I would like to assert that Africans are beautiful, loving, colourful people and whatever challenges they are faced with, they are sure to overcome. [Applause.]
Chair, comrades and distinguished guests, during World War II delegates from the 44 allied nations gathered for the United Nations' Monetary Financial Conference at Bretton Woods in the United States to set up the fundamentals. Some of those things were the rules, institutions and procedures to regulate the international monetary system. They established the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which today is part of the World Bank.
As far as the structure of the African economy is concerned, Dr Daniel Tetteh Osabu-Kle of the Carleton University in Ottawa expressed the view that it is the product of centuries of Western disturbance, which has messed up the continent. During the 400 years of slavery, the diversified economies of Africa's social formations were transformed by the Western political and economic forces into production captives for Western enterprises. He contends that the structural adjustments in Africa does not conform to natural justice but is about organising for the human project in which decisions about who gets what, when and how becomes the source of this power struggle between the Bretton Wood institutions and the African leaders. This struggle may be conceived as an attempt by the Bretton Wood institution to recolonise Africans on behalf of their allies, while African leaders strive to resist that new form of colonialism.
The independent evaluation group who reported on the World Bank's agricultural programme in sub-Saharan Africa between 1991 and 2006 levelled a series of withering critiques at the bank's work and concluded that despite its presence of more than two decades in several countries, the World Bank's support has so far not been able to help countries increase agricultural productivity sufficiently to arrest declining per capita food availability.
A report by Oxfam International includes criticism of forestry operations in Uganda, in which the International Finance Corporation has a stake. More than 20 000 villagers claimed to have been unjustly evicted from their homes by the UK-based company to make way for plantations. The Ugandan case highlights how the current system of international standards, designed to ensure that people are not adversely affected by large-scale transfer of land or unused rights, does not work.
Chair, a so-called gentlemen's agreement between Europe and the United States, dating back to the Second World War, ensures that the president of the World Bank is always an American and only an American, with a European being the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
The World Bank needs serious and genuine reform. The way the World Bank picks its president and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, its managing director is a place to start. Reacting to the announcement that Robert Zoellick is stepping down as World Bank president, a global collusion of campaigners has called for an open and merit-based process to elect the next World Bank leader and for developing countries to determine the selection. However, the impression that the rich governments who have run the IMF thus far are dragging their heels on this enormously important issue is hard to avoid.
At the close of the IMF African Conference held in Dar es Salaam in March 2009, the then South African Minister of Finance, Comrade Trevor Manuel, said that the global crisis was about to cause severe damage to the African economy. He demanded that developing countries and emerging markets be given a major voice in the governance of the IMF.
In conclusion, the delegates at the conference agreed that Africans must be part of and fully represented in the solution to the global economic crisis. There must be a closer synergy between the activities of Bretton Woods institutions and those of Africa's own institutions, like the African Development Bank and religious and economic communities. It will put us in a better position as an international community to meet the target we have set for ourselves in the Millennium Development Goals. It will put us in a better position as an international community to meet all our goals.
Comrade President Jacob Zuma has reiterated the need to reform the United Nations, particularly the Security Council and the Bretton Woods institutions. We have over the past decade been engaged more in a battle of ideas than in attempts to transform the Bretton Wood institutions.
We believe that the world needs a reformed and more stable financial architecture that will make the global economy less prone to instability and more reliable in future crises. We believe that there is a greater need for a more stable, predictable and diversified international monetary system. We will strive to achieve an ambitious conclusion to the ongoing and long overdue reforms of the Bretton Woods institutions.
Chairperson, the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, by world leaders gave hope to millions of people throughout the world that their lives would change for the better, in particular MDG 4, which is committed to reducing child mortality; MDG 5, committed to improving maternal health; and MDG 6, committed to combating HIV and Aids, malaria and other diseases. With just three years to go, we need to take stock of where we are and whether or not we are going to achieve these goals.
I would like to address three particular goals, the first being MDG 4. In 2003 the mortality rate in children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa stood at 172 per 1 000 births. In 2009, the mortality rate among children under 5 had been reduced to 129 per 1 000 live births. The Department of Health here in our own country has introduced measures to reduce child mortality through the use of the primary health care approach to provide early and quality antenatal and postnatal services, as well as essential infant and child health services and nutritional advice. These steps will help to reduce the high maternal and child mortality rates in our country. In addition, the Department of Health has increased vaccine usage among infants and has also introduced new vaccines.
Regarding MDG 5, in 2008 in sub-Saharan Africa the maternal mortality rates stood at 640 per 100 000 births, while in 2000 they stood at 790 per 100 000 births. The Department of Health has implemented a number of initiatives to reduce maternal mortality. These include the provision of universal access to reproductive health. Two further contributors to maternal mortality are HIV and Aids, which are being addressed through the provision of antiretrovirals; as well as bleeding after birth, which is being addressed through the improvement in blood supply in all district hospitals.
Finally, with regard to MDG 6, in 2001 the number of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa per year per 100 people in the age group of 15 to 49 years stood at 0,57, while in 2009 this had been reduced to 0,40. According to the 2011 report on progress in Africa towards the MDGs, South Africa is among five countries that showed a significant decline in HIV prevalence among young men and women. These are just a few examples of some of the advances that have been made towards achieving the MDGs.
While successes are being recorded and advances are being made, a lot of work still has to be done. In the 2011 United Nations report on the MDGs, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said: "Between now and 2015 we must make sure that promises made become promises kept."
Here in our own Parliament we need to reassess whether we are constantly mindful of the MDG targets as we undertake our everyday work. We will shortly be scrutinising the budgets of departments and we will need to ensure that sufficient emphasis and resources are being provided and utilised in helping South Africa to ensure that it not only meets these targets but also goes well beyond them.
In 2011, during an address at a seminar on the role of Parliament and the provincial legislatures in attaining the MDGS, Minister Manuel said:
In our case, the commitments to development are therefore less about the pledges made by successive presidents to the United Nations on our behalf, but the commitment that we, as legislators, have made to our people.
He went on to say:
If we look at our progress against the MDG indicators, then in many instances we are not only meeting targets but have exceeded them.
As we carry out our work as legislators we need to ensure that the services of government are properly and effectively delivered. But our work goes beyond what we do here in Parliament. Each one of us - and I can certainly speak on behalf of the ANC - is deployed to a particular constituency area. I'm not sure about the members on this side of the House. What we need to do is check how far the implementation of the MDGs has progressed in the communities within which we work. Part of our responsibility is to alert the various departments and Ministers of where interventions may be required. A collective effort from members in this House will go a long way in ensuring that we achieve all the commitments that were made back in 2000.
Millions of people around the world look to legislators to take up their concerns and needs, and we form part of this group of legislators. Together we can make a difference, together we can build better communities, and together we can create a better life for the people of our country. In the coming three years - in the lead up to 2015 - let all of us here in this House ensure that our people experience the realisation of the attainment of the MDGs in their daily lives. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.