Hon Deputy Speaker, His Excellency the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma; Deputy President, the hon Motlanthe; Ministers and Deputy Ministers; hon members; comrades and friends; allow me to contribute to our President's state of the nation address, which is quite historical, by giving context to the nature and extent of the South African developmental state as it is currently. It is important because the need for a developmental approach arose within the historic context of a colonial apartheid state, which was based on narrow ideological separatism. As a result, such a state failed to respond to the multidimensional challenges of public life in South Africa.
As a response to the above, South Africa has, since the 1994 democratic breakthrough, ushered in new political and democratic conditions providing a unique opportunity to actively build a developmental state capable of implementing the objectives of our national democratic change.
Our hon President, Jacob Zuma, in his state of the nation address on 3 June 2009, this week on Wednesday, clearly reaffirmed and called upon us to take up the task of building a developmental state that would play a central role in the social and economic development of the country and serve as a catalyst for sustainable development and economic growth.
Such a developmental state will be instrumental in the realisation of the developmental objectives of our national goals - that of a better life for all. This we must achieve by developing a broad democratic front that will lead towards the actualisation of the institution of democratic governance to facilitate the pursuit of a prosperous country.
Our task is, clearly, to achieve broad national consensus on a developmental state, its role and how it will assist us in the broader objectives of creating the better life we talk about. This is in line with the ANC's 52nd national conference resolution, a commitment we are prepared and ready to implement.
A developmental state has the following characteristics. It strives to maintain a delicate balance between achieving higher economic growth and addressing social inequalities. This is because it has a clear poverty eradication programme that is biased towards the poor. A development state gives direction in providing a clear developmental agenda that strives to address major societal challenges. Along those lines, it does not leave the resolution of social problems solely in the hands of the market forces. It has a central planning capacity which enables it to drive integrated development. I really want to emphasise this in order for us to understand what we mean when we talk about a single Public Service. What do we mean? There is logic; it flows from the very same characteristics of a developmental state.
Therefore, I would want to emphasise this point - that it has a central planning capacity which enables it to drive integrated development. This is development we can really achieve in the rural areas and that we can also achieve in local government, because, as we all know, we haven't been able to reach local government with ease. That is very critical; that is logical and we cannot blow out of proportion the issue of a single Public Service for any political gain.
A developmental state has, as its key features, a strong democratic culture and promotes accountability and transparency; it is people-driven and involves communities in the planning and implementation of developmental projects; and it provides an enabling environment for different social actors to be able to realise their goals.
Since 1994 the South African state can be described as a developmental state, which is based on constitutional and participatory democracy. Its character and orientation differs to many colonial states that have emerged in many African countries. Notwithstanding the challenges and weaknesses that still remain to be addressed, the developmental state in South Africa has been able to achieve the delicate balance between economic progress and socioeconomic imbalances manifested by poverty, unemployment, inequalities and societal injustice.
Unlike many states in the world, the developmental state in South Africa since 1994 has made quite significant achievements. I wouldn't like to get into all the issues and areas I believe and hope we have been observing and we are aware of, but I will just pick up on a few. One of them is black economic empowerment, which we would, critically, like to see as broad- based black economic empowerment. I can also mention the education policies such as free basic education, school nutrition, early childhood development, no-fee schools and Abet. I wouldn't be doing justice if I left out the progressive health care policies. Note that these are just a few of the examples. There are many more.
Amongst other things, it is important to note that safety and security measures, such as community policing forums, have been achieved along the lines of job-creation interventions aimed at reducing unemployment. It is also important to talk about the Expanded Public Works Programmes. In short, one can confidently indicate that with this resolution, the ANC's implementation programme is on course in a developmental state that aims at addressing poverty, underdevelopment, inequality and injustice.
Although these major advances have been made since 1994, South Africa still faces major challenges that still require concerted efforts. Our developmental state is required to deal with the following challenges: the deconstruction of inequalities between races and social classes; the adoption of economic policies that create meaningful and decent employment; and the adoption of effective and antipoverty measures.
Over the past 15 years we have managed to establish wall-to-wall government structures that provide a seamless arrangement for the Public Service.