Deputy Speaker, hon Minister and Deputy Ministers, hon members, the ANC at its 52nd conference helped South Africa in characterising the challenges facing the economy. The conference was able to define South Africa's economic growth progress and, at the same time, it managed to acknowledge challenges and also identified opportunities. It also came up with a roadmap of issues to be addressed and opportunities to be explored. Even though this happened before the actual economic crisis showed its ugly face, there were signs to that regard and the issue might be the analysis of the extent of the effect.
We realised that, at this juncture, our country's biggest challenges are the high rate of unemployment, poverty, and inequality. We recognise that central to addressing these challenges is to implement policies and programmes that will promote high rates of economic growth as measured by our gross domestic product. However, experience in the last 15 years has shown us that economic growth on its own is not sufficient to address these challenges. We have thus come to the conclusion that it is rather equally the quality of growth that will make a difference.
In the years between 1994 and 2007 our economy experienced its highest gross domestic product, GDP, growth rates of between 3% and 5,3% on annual bases. During this period and since the dawn of democracy in 1994, substantive changes and improvement in the lives of our people were made as a result. Notwithstanding this, the challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality still remain.
Unemployment remains high by international standards and when comparing South Africa with other middle-income countries. Consistently over the years the unemployment rate has been estimated at between 23% and 35% of the economically active population. Equally, South Africa is now ranked as the number one most unequal society in the world. It is estimated that the richest 10% of households in South Africa receive more than 40% of the country's total national income as compared to just over 30% in most upper middle-income countries and the rapidly growing economies of Asia.
As a result of the entrenched colonial and apartheid legacy, the structures of our economy, in terms of production and ownership, are still dependent on exportation of raw materials, especially mining- and agriculture-based goods. Ownership generally remains highly concentrated, as characterised by the existence of monopolies in almost all sectors of the economy. The predominance of monopolies has often led to high costs and economic inefficiencies with resultant negative consequences for the working people and the poor.
To address these challenges, we have decided, as the ANC-led government, to speed up and deepen our economic transformation agenda for the country. This will be done through accelerated growth within the context of effective strategies of redistribution that build a new and more equitable growth path. Our approach is to ensure that, while we achieve accelerated growth, we transform the quality of that growth through appropriate policies and programmes. These must ultimately result in changes in the structure and patterns of our economy.
Our vision as defined in our policies is that of a mixed economy where the state, private capital, co-operatives and other forms of social ownership complement each other in an integrated way to eliminate poverty and foster shared economic growth. While appreciating the centrality of accelerated and inclusive growth, we will put emphasis on sustainability and environmental protection management.
For us to achieve a sustainable and equitable economic growth path, its content must include sustainability and green economy principles. We recognise the enormous challenges associated with the legacy of both the colonial and apartheid economic systems. Spatial management and economic patterns led to millions of black people, in particular, bearing the brunt of poor sanitation. They were located where the most polluting industries existed, and were denied the basic rights to defend themselves against harmful economic activities.
The legacy of apartheid spatial planning, which has resulted in massive inequalities and uneven development based on race, is still a feature of our economic landscape to date. High growth rates achieved up to 2008 when the recession hit our economy have not dislodged these patterns of spatial inequalities. In fact, in some areas they were reinforced as a result of unintended consequences of some of our macroeconomic policies. In addition, growth did not dislodge the historically deep-rooted structural impediments to our long-term economic development. In geographic, economic and social terms, there are huge differential disparities between our provinces as well as urban and rural areas in economic development.
Having realised that high economic growth on its own does not solve the critical challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequalities, we decided to speed up and deepen our agenda for economic transformation. This involves charting a new way of developing an accelerated sustainable economic growth that is inclusive, equitable and based on the green economic principles. The fundamental features of this growth path is the implementation of policies, strategies and programmes that promote faster growth and job creation, as well as ensuring sustainability through better management of our natural resources and the environment.
As a step towards that, we are currently implementing the new Industrial Policy Action Plan 2, Ipap2. Some of the key objectives - I think members know - include the green economy, which is the most critical aspect of this growth path. The green economy is also an aspect I would want to focus on, because it deals with sustainable development. In pursuing our new economic growth path as the ANC, we have stated in our policy positions that we embrace a transformative environmentalism based upon the idea of sustainable development, which is built upon the interconnection of environmental, social and economic justice.
We have stated further that our vision of the future includes a sustainable economy where all South Africans, including present and future generations, realise their right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing. It is imperative, therefore, that this vision guides all our policies, strategies and plans for the new economic growth path as exemplified by the inclusion of the promotion of a green economy in the Ipap2.
It is now an established scientific fact that the current forms of economic growth that are reliant on energy, which is dependent on coal, oil and gas, are unsustainable and detrimental to the environment. This fact is particularly important in South Africa, because the structure of our economy has historically been based on mining.
There is increasing evidence of climate change which results in a significant rise in global temperatures. This is causing an increase in the quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere generated by human activities that include burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrialisation, inefficient road transportation and intensive methods of agricultural production. It is predicted that with climate change, South Africa will become hotter and drier.
South Africa, by comparison, is generally a country where water is scarce. The impact of climate change will put even more pressure on the country's meagre water resources, with devastating prospects for our economic wellbeing and development. This is likely to affect some of our key industries such as agriculture, tourism, industrial production and biodiversity. As a consequence, there would be an increase in unemployment and poverty levels, with the resultant threat to the livelihood opportunities for the poor.
In recognition of these environmental challenges, our new accelerated sustainable and equitable growth path is aimed at promoting green industries and energy efficiency. To foster this economic agenda in such a way that it also supports job creation, the Ipap2 aims to implement measures that would mitigate that.
In conclusion, we believe that the tasks of transforming our economy in a manner that encourages it to grow should be inclusive, equitable, sustainable and green-orientated. It will require partnerships between all of us. Thank you. [Applause.]