Hon members, the President took the initiative to convene all the major stakeholders in the economic sphere to try and get common appreciation of the very tight and difficult situation in which we find ourselves today, with a view to harnessing all of their brainpower and resources to see whether we can give a lift to efforts of literally pulling ourselves by our bootstraps out of this rut in which we find ourselves.
The question of levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality is accepted and well appreciated by all. However, the critical point is, what do we do about it? That is why the President felt that it was time to get out there and mobilise all of our people who are in a position to make a contribution to the effort of tackling these challenges. When all is said and done, and if you strip away all the analysis and the frills, the reality is that, unless we are able to create new jobs in a manner that would absorb new entrants as well as reduce the number of people who end up being dependent on social grants, the situation will only get worse and become a vicious cycle, as it were.
That is why the social dialogue is aimed at ensuring that all hands on deck can be mobilised for the effort of improving the economy, because the investors also follow how we are rated, and so on. We have got to address all the messages as well and begin to speak more positively. We have also been in touch with the editors in the National Editors Forum, so that we should try to communicate positive messages.
There are areas in which we are doing fairly well. Life expectancy has gone up and the mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Aids has been truncated, so there are those positive areas where we have been making better progress, but with regard to the elimination of poverty, it is only through economic growth that we will be able to address that issue. The New Growth Path and the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, assist with efforts in ensuring that we pull out of this rut. Thank you. [Applause.]
Steps to ensure balance in power of three arms of govenment
19. Nkosi S P Holomisa (ANC) asked the Deputy President:
What steps does the Government intend to take to (a) ensure a balance in the powers of the three arms of government and (b) guide the judiciary to exercise judicial restraint in their decisions without applying any other measures to control the judiciary?