Hon Chairperson, hon President of the Republic Mr Jacob Zuma, hon members, premiers, distinguished guests, Safa President Kirsten Nematandani, CEO of the Local Organising Committee Dr Danny Jordaan, molweni! [good day!]
I am honoured to share this platform with the President of the Republic and the rest of the Members of the House, including my colleagues in the Presidency, on the occasion of the presentation of the Presidencys Budget Vote.
In 19 days from today, South Africa will mark the centenary of the Union of South Africa, which came into being in 1910. As you all know, this was the creation of the South African state as we know it today and the legalised exclusion of the majority of our people from the main body politic. The then four provinces came together to form the Union of South Africa. For this they each received a crown: Pretoria, in the Transvaal, became the administrative capital. The Orange Free State was crowned with the seat of the Judiciary in Bloemfontein, whilst the Cape got Parliament, and Natal was crowned with the headquarters of the railway. [Laughter.]
In 1994, nine provinces were conceived out of negotiations and consensus mainly to forge a nonsexist, nonracial and democratic Republic that belongs to all who live in it, united in diversity as stated in the motto of our coat of arms expressed in /Xam, a language of the Khoisan people.
This fact of history, having influenced the political trajectory of this country for over 100 years, is our common heritage, and therefore must be observed and discussed in this Parliament, at centres of learning, churches, in the "platteland" [rural area], mass media, train stations, in the branches of all political parties, and so on.
As Milan Kundera said, "the struggle of memory is a struggle against forgetting". In the same vein, we must also remember the fact that this year marks 150 years since the arrival of Indian indentured labourers to our shores. In this regard, I urge all of us to celebrate their contribution to our culture, commerce and many other aspects of the sociopolitical life of this country. [Applause.]
That today we speak of building an inclusive society is a direct response to the conditions precipitated by the South Africa Act 100 years ago. The rights and responsibilities that emanate from our Constitution have made us appreciate much more what unites us as a nation rather than what divided us in the past.
As we strive to fulfil a common vision for the creation of a prosperous South Africa, we do so guided by the strategic objectives of improving the education system, eradicating poverty, creating decent work and speeding up inclusive economic growth. A value framework in which we mobilise the nation towards this vision is based on the pursuit of social equity, justice and fairness, and is results driven. Of course, this value framework is at the heart of our mandate to address the legacy of discrimination and dispossession.
Our government's programme of action requires from all of us that we work together through an integrated approach to address marginalisation and underdevelopment. Our core business is to restore hope and dignity in the lives of all South Africans by delivering effective, consistent and reliable services to the people.
It is incumbent upon all of us, as public representatives, to be at the service of the people. President Jacob Zuma has challenged us not only to understand what the needs of the people are, but also to be an administration that knows where people live, what their concerns are and to involve them in our efforts to improve their living conditions. This will enable us to create a better life for all and to promote nation-building and social cohesion through partnerships aimed at achieving a more caring society. These principles are a milestone in the long journey we have travelled since the establishment of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910.
Before I get into the specific details of the work of the Office of the Deputy President, that is, over and above delivering deputy speeches ... [Laughter.] ... allow me to add weight to a fundamental point raised by the President when he addressed the nation on Freedom Day and again here today. This concerns the seminal question: What are we about as a nation, especially as we celebrate 16 years of freedom this year?
I believe our immediate obligation is to honour the mandate given to us by the people of this country. We should do this by, among other things, always upholding the Constitution, respecting one another, protecting our national symbols and celebrating our national days as one people, bound together by a common history and a shared destiny. As a basis for nation- building, the common ownership of our history includes acknowledging that, irrespective of where on the political spectrum people were prior to 1994, they all belong to this country, and therefore have a responsibility to build a prosperous South Africa. I wish to reiterate that the aspirations of our people must never be undermined by any interest group based on the subjectivity of race, religion, class, gender or ideology.
This democracy we enjoy today came at a price, including the death of thousands who relinquished their right to participate in order for us to live in a free country. [Applause.] As living delegates of the departed, we must remain steadfast in our endeavour to improve the socioeconomic conditions of our people. In fact, the five national priorities informing the programme of action of this administration give practical expression to these principles through the following: improving education; improving healthcare; creating decent work; fighting crime and corruption; and rural development and land reform.
You have consistently stated that working together with social partners, the state can better facilitate a common programme towards the achievement of these priorities through considered planning, performance monitoring and evaluation, better co-ordination and intensified oversight. My colleagues, Ministers Collins Chabane and Trevor Manuel, will elaborate on these.
The function of government and the Presidency, in particular, is clearly articulated as building a democratic developmental state through defined interventions. In this regard, allow me to recount some of the progress we have made as well as the challenges encountered in the first year of this administration.
As hon members will recall, when we presented our Budget Vote in June 2009, we committed ourselves to deepen our co-ordination and oversight efforts to ensure the successful hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, which is now only days away. We committed ourselves to speed up all infrastructure aspects of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. We gave an undertaking to help host cities arrest budget overruns. We undertook to help unblock bottlenecks undermining stadium completion in cities like Mbombela. We also mentioned the significance of profiling legacy projects.
I am pleased to inform this House that we have gone beyond making good on our commitments. The stadiums are ready. Electricity and telecommunications networks are in place. Expanded airports are open for business. Immigration systems are ready for the inflow of foreign visitors. Systems to detect and treat visitors with contagious infections like H1N1 are operational. Highways, byways, ulterior and access roads are ready and some nearing completion. Disaster management, border control, crowd control, crime prevention, air, marine and intelligence security services are mobilised. Operational plans for fan parks and public viewing areas are in place. Almost every team has confirmed a base camp. We were also successful in assisting the Northern Cape province, as the only nonhosting province, to secure funds to upgrade their facilities. We are pleased that these facilities have been selected by Uruguay as their base camp. [Applause.]
As Chairperson of the 2010 Interministerial Committee, I wish to acknowledge the efforts of the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Finance departments who have worked tirelessly to address host city co-ordination and budget overrun challenges. May I also recognise the efforts of all Ministers, Deputy Ministers and senior managers who have ensured that we meet our guarantees on time. Even in the limited period remaining, we are still hopeful that the share of small enterprises will rise, as would our confidence in our national team, Bafana Bafana. We hope to provide them with boots that are able to score goals, even if you face the opposite direction. [Applause.]
Of the economic and social legacy projects I have visited in Soweto, Rustenburg, eThekwini, Mbombela and even in the small town of Gansbaai in the southern Cape, all confirm that this 2010 Fifa World Cup will have long lasting spin-offs for our communities. We can deny the excitement of South Africans who are already celebrating this extravaganza through dance, song, arts, apparel and various other artefacts on display at street corners, shops and everywhere else in our communities only if we disbelieve the evidence shown to our eyes and ears. I am happy that Ministers Stofile and Xingwana will soon give diski dance tutorials to all Members of Parliament. [Applause.]
On this occasion last year, we committed ourselves to a number of efforts to improve our performance in the management of HIV and Aids. This included strengthening a partnership between government, business, organised labour and civil society. Since then, great efforts have been expended to strengthen the South African National Aids Council, Sanac, the multi- sectoral structure responsible for policy advice, co-ordination and management of our national response to HIV, Aids and TB. Sanac now has a permanent secretariat with full-time capacity. [Applause.]
On our commitment to conduct a mid-term review on progress made in achieving the targets of our 2007 to 2011 HIV and Aids National Strategic Plan, NSP, I am pleased to inform this House that the results of this review will be released next week. This review provides an independent assessment of how the country has performed at the local, provincial and national levels across the four NSP key priority areas.
Furthermore, as a statement of our commitment, the Minister of Finance announced an additional R5,4 billion to improve the effectiveness of our treatment programmes. Already, the public health system provides antiretroviral treatment to a globally unprecedented one million people. I am convinced that through these financial commitments we will double this number over the next three years. This will go a long way towards enabling the country to meet the NSP target of providing treatment, care and support to 80% of those in need.
To meet the challenge of supporting nongovernmental organisations and of improving the response capacity of the Department of Health, South Africa successfully applied for funding from Round 9 of the Global Fund for Aids, TB and malaria. The signing ceremony for this funding, amounting to approximately $100 million over five years, will take place later this week. The second target of the NSP is to halve the rate of new infections, and it is here that Sanac will concentrate the bulk of its efforts.
The national HIV counselling and testing campaign, launched by the President last month, has since been replicated in most provinces by the Premiers, MECs, mayors and social partners. It is through this kind of partnership, commitment and leadership in action that we can stem the tide of new infections. Through this campaign, government is also assessing the strength of the public health infrastructure, which is crucial as we move towards the National Health Insurance.
I wish to pause for a moment to thank President Jacob Zuma, Premiers and all leaders of Sanac sectors for the leadership and support they have given to the South African National Aids Council. [Applause.] I also wish to acknowledge the support we have received from the Champions for an HIV-free Generation, led by former Presidents Kenneth Kaunda, Joaquim Chissano and Festus Mogae, Justice Edwin Cameron and other eminent personalities from our continent. These leaders have twice visited our country to witness the strides we are making and to lend words of encouragement. Furthermore, we are inspired by their support and avail ourselves to share best practices with our bothers and sisters on the continent.
A special tribute also goes to all traditional leaders in South Africa who are working with their communities to build an HIV-free generation. We are encouraged by His Majesty King Zwelithini's partnership with the government of KwaZulu-Natal to roll out the biggest medical male circumcision project in our history.
Hon members, just to share with you, this campaign utilises a plastic device which simplifies the procedure. [Laughter.] It's a simple procedure. You fit this into the plastic gadget or device and two clicking sounds happen and this plastic device knows exactly where to prune and you keep it on for three days and you are able to attend school, work and you are able to urinate. And after three days you report back to the clinic and you are healed and you are fine. [Laughter.] [Applause.]