Mnr die Voorsitter, agb Minister, agb kamerade en lede, die skrywer John Berger, wenner van die Booker-prys, skryf oor Antonio Gramsci en definieer sy besondere vermons soos volg: Die mins dogmatiese denker oor revolusie wat hierdie eeu opgelewer het, was Antonio Gramsci. Sy gebrek aan dogmatisme spruit uit 'n soort geduld. Hierdie geduld het absoluut niks te make met traagheid of selfgenoegsaamheid nie. Sy besondere geduld spruit uit 'n praktyksin wat nooit tot 'n einde kom nie. Hy het dinge van naby bekyk en het soms rigting gegee aan die politieke stryd van sy tyd, maar hy het nooit vergeet wat die agtergrond was van die ontwikkelende drama waarvan die reikwydte oor onberekenbare eeue heen strek nie. Dit was miskien wat verhoed het dat Gramsci, soos baie revolusionre, 'n millennialis geword het. Hy het geglo in hoop eerder as beloftes, en hoop is 'n lang storie.
Hierdie verstandigheid onderl president Thabo Mbeki se stelling dat Suid- Afrika 'n tydperk van hoop betree het, en Suid-Afrika se hoop l daarin dat ons op die drumpel staan van voorspoed, agb Watson. Hierdie hoop is ng transendentaal ng sentimenteel, maar dis gegrond op geduld en eindelose menslike gebruike. Dit plaas elkeen van ons in 'n ontvouende menslike drama waarin ons sowel dogmatisme as selfgenoegsaamheid vermy.
Ons rol in die drama neem reeds vorm aan. Die regering het die dringendheid van die saak besef en die vervoerbedryf het ons gewys op die uitdaging, agb Watson. In die daarstelling van die Nasionale Oorgangswysigingswetsontwerp op Landvervoer het hy bewus geword van 'n omgewing waarin vrees en intrige algemeen was in die land. Dit word van ons wat in gesagsposisies is, agb Watson, verwag om die moed, deursettingsvermo en visie te h om 'n veranderde kultuur in te stel en te kweek wat noodsaaklik is vir deursigtige en verantwoordbare bestuur.
Ons moet ons daarvoor beywer om te antwoord op die uitdaging om 'n moderne Afrikastaat te bou deur die filosofiese grondslag te l van die staat as ontwikkelaar. Eindelose menslike behandeling, soos Gramsci aan sulke wreldleiers sou verduidelik het, sou daarop aangedring het dat die pad na so 'n toekoms gegrond moet wees op analise, beplanning en strategie. Analise, beplanning en strategie trek van die globale na die plaaslike en lig in van die plaaslike na die globale, agb Robertson.
Volgens die bekroonde beplanningsteoretikus prof Patsy Healey sal dit die mees radikale en verreikende veranderings teweegbring in die benadering wat ons aanvaar het. Sy s: (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Mr F ADAMS: Mr Chairman, hon Minister, hon comrades and members, the writer John Berger, winner of the Booker Prize, writes about Antonio Gramsci and defines his exceptional abilities as follows:
The least dogmatic thinker about revolution that this century has produced was Antonio Gramsci. His lack of dogmatism arises from patience. This patience has nothing to do with inertia or self-sufficiency. His exceptional patience arises from a sense of practice that never comes to an end. He viewed things close-up and sometimes gave direction to the political struggle of his time, but he never forgot what the background was of the developing drama that stretched over a period of many centuries. Perhaps this was what prevented Gramsci, unlike many revolutionaries, from becoming a millenniumist. He believed in hope rather than promises, and hope is a long story.
This wisdom is at the heart of President Thabo Mbeki's statement that South Africa has entered an age of hope, and South Africa's hope is rooted in the fact that we are on the threshold of prosperity, hon Watson. This hope is neither transcendental nor sentimental, but is based on patience and endless human practices. It places each one of us in an unfolding human drama in which we avoid dogmatism as well as self-sufficiency.
Our role in the drama is already taking shape. The government realised the urgency of the matter and the transport industry pointed out the challenge to us, hon Watson. In the drafting of the National Land Transport Transition Amendment Bill it became aware of an environment in which fear and intrigue were the order of the day in the country. We who are in positions of authority, hon Watson, are expected to have the courage, perseverance and vision to introduce and cultivate a changed culture, which is essential for transparent and accountable government.
We must endeavour to meet the challenge of building a modern African state by laying the philosophical foundation of the state as developer. Endless human treatment, as Gramsci would have explained to such world leaders, would have insisted that the road to such a future should be based on analysis, planning and strategy. Analysis, planning and strategy move from the global to the local and inform from the local to the global, hon Robertson.
According to the acclaimed planning theorist Prof Patsy Healey this will bring about the most radical and far-reaching changes in the approach that we have adopted. She says:]
Strategy-making is a process of deliberative paradigm change, hon Watson, paradigm change! -
It aims to change cultural conceptions, systems of understanding and systems' meaning. It is more than just producing collective decisions. It is about shifting and reshaping convictions.
- which the DA can't do, hon Watson. [Interjections.]
Hierdie groeitempo is op sigself nie genoeg nie, en dit is die aard van groei wat van kritieke belang is. Ons moet seker maak dat hor groeitempos gekombineer word met groter maatskaplike gelykheid wat die armes en ekonomies uitgeslote mense in staat sal stel om die middele te bekom om te kan deelneem aan die ekonomie en hulle eie bronne van bemagtiging te bou, saam met die effektiewe beskerming van die natuurlikehulpbron-basis van die land.
In die laaste plek moet groei nie ruimtelike apartheid en ondoeltreffendheid vererger soos in die eerste dekade van vryheid nie. Dit moet die lewe geriefliker. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[This growth rate as such is not enough, and it is the nature of that growth that is of vital importance. We must ensure that higher growth rates are combined with greater social equality that will enable the poor and economically excluded people to acquire the means to be able to participate in the economy and build their own sources of empowerment, together with the effective protection of the natural resource base of the country.
Lastly, growth must not worsen spatial apartheid and inefficiency, as happened in the first decade of freedom. It should make life more comfortable.]