FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 14 December 2020
I was recently sent a photo that featured on the popular #ImStaying Facebook thread. Two women are seated side by side at a bus stop somewhere in Cape Town. One is white, elderly and frail, and rests her head on the shoulder of the younger black woman.
This simple image, of these two women sitting there with their hands locked tightly, resonated deeply with me as we approach Reconciliation Day on 16 December.
It brought to mind the powerful words of Steve Bantu Biko that captured our aspirations for a new country: “In time we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift – a more human face.”
Such a scene, of kindness and compassion, and of two people simply being human, would have been unthinkable in South Africa just over three decades ago.
Under that most insidious manifestation of petty apartheid, the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, only the white woman would have been allowed to sit at that bus-stop, or travel on the bus. A black woman holding a white woman’s hand would have been met with disapproval from the city’s white residents.
It is often difficult to explain to the younger generation of South Africans, who were born to freedom, that apartheid was both brutal and extraordinarily petty. It is difficult to explain the lengths to which the regime would go to keep the races apart, from banning interracial relationships, to creating separate bus stops, entrances to buildings, public toilets, to even segregating beaches.
On Reconciliation Day each year, we reflect on how far we have come in advancing national reconciliation. It is important that we deal decisively with the obstacles to reconciliation, among them the high levels of inequality in our country and the persistence of racist attitudes and practices.
But it is equally important to acknowledge just how vastly different our country is today to what it was 26 years ago. For every negative story of racism that makes the news, there are countless other positive stories of racial integration, communities living in harmony and social cohesion that do not generate headlines.
Many of these can be found on the same #ImStaying thread. They are simple, everyday stories of South Africans living and working alongside each other, being friends, and helping each other.
We know that divisions of race and class remain very real in South Africa, but these stories do show that race relations in our country are not as toxic as we are often led to believe.
Last year’s National Reconciliation Barometer, which is published by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, noted that the optimism of respondents regarding racial unity was the highest since the inception of the study.
It also found that the majority of respondents believed race relations have improved since 1994.
It is noteworthy that most South Africans report they would like to interact more often with people from other race groups but cite language and confidence as the two greatest barriers.
This is ahead of other perceived factors such as lack of common ground, anxiety, or negative prior experiences.
It is obvious that true reconciliation is impossible unless we overcome the social and economic inequalities that persist in our society. It is only when the playing fields of opportunity are levelled and the lives of all South Africans improve that social cohesion will be strengthened.
But we should at the same time not discount the important gestures in our everyday interactions that demonstrate our commitment to reconciliation between the races; and breaking language barriers is perhaps among the most important of them.
Reconciliation is a weighty concept, and there may be many who are unsure as to what they can actually do to advance racial reconciliation. We may feel reticent to take the first step or to reach out, for fear of being judged or even rejected.
On this Reconciliation Day, I call on each of our citizens to think of the simple things they could do to reach out across the racial divide in their everyday lives. One way of doing this is to learn another South African language.
By trying to learn the language of your friend, your colleague, your neighbour or the people you interact with daily in public places, you go beyond just demonstrating cross-cultural understanding. You open up the space for real communication.
We need to find ways to reach beyond our social and professional circles, to appreciate other people’s points of view. Through sporting, cultural and religious activities, we can find ways to interact with fellow South Africans from a diversity of backgrounds.
We should recognise that in addition to the fundamental changes we need to make in the structure of our economy and society, reconciliation can be built through our every-day activities. Madiba saw this in sport, for example, and demonstrated its great potential for nation-building. He said: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to unite in a way that little else does.”
Our response to the coronavirus pandemic has shown that we are at our best when we extend hands of solidarity and compassion to one another.
Now, as we rebuild our society, let us place this spirit of generosity at the centre of our national character.
I wish you all a joyful and a meaningful Reconciliation Day.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 30 November 2020
As we continue our efforts to manage the devastating coronavirus pandemic, we cannot ignore the other public health challenges that our country faces.
For more than three decades, our country has been engaged in an ongoing struggle against HIV and AIDS, which has cost many lives and caused great hardship and suffering.
Tomorrow, we will join people across the globe in marking World AIDS Day. As the Chair of the South African National AIDS Council, Deputy President David Mabuza will lead the national commemoration with an address on progress in the country’s response.
This year, World AIDS Day is taking place under difficult conditions.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, with the nation-wide lockdown and the pressure on our health facilities, many HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis services have suffered. This has posed a challenge for people testing and starting antiretroviral treatment. Many people found it difficult to collect their medicines and fewer people accessed other services, such as voluntary male medical circumcision.
At the same time, there are many lessons that have been learnt from our public health response to the coronavirus pandemic that can strengthen our fight against HIV and TB.
South Africa continues to have the largest number of people living with HIV in the world. It is encouraging, however, that over the last decade we made progress in reducing the number of new HIV infections in the population by nearly 60%.
It is also encouraging that HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women have significantly declined in the last decade. This is a crucial group because they are much more likely to be at risk of getting HIV.
Our treatment programme has contributed to a reduction in the number of deaths due to AIDS by 60%. There has been a greater reduction in HIV-related deaths among young people.
It was possible to reduce the number of deaths because we, together with our partners, have rolled out an extensive antiretroviral programme reaching millions of people living with the disease.
At the beginning of the decade, our programme to prevent mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV had very low coverage. Now we have one of the highest rates of coverage of PMTCT in Southern Africa, which has substantially reduced rates of infection among children.
While we have reduced deaths and new infections, we still are far from reaching the goal we committed ourselves in 2016 of achieving a 75% reduction in HIV infections by 2020. If we succeed in doing so, we are likely to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Unfortunately, we are not there yet. We have to do far more to ensure that young people are empowered to prevent infections, including through changing behaviour, accessing condoms and testing regularly. We need to make sure that everyone who is infected has access to treatment and care.
We need to work harder on HIV prevention among key populations, including sex workers, men who have sex with men, and people who inject drugs. We must end the stigma and discrimination towards these populations. We cannot hope to end HIV if we ignore the needs, concerns and rights of any part of our population.
South Africa needs to increase efforts to medically circumcise young men to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV. Unsafe circumcision should not leave young men with lifelong health problems, and no one should die from circumcision. We must make sure that young men have safe circumcision.
We are encouraged by findings of a recent study on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Unlike antiretroviral treatment that is given to people who are HIV positive, PrEP involves the regular use of antiretroviral drugs by HIV negative people to prevention infection. The study, conducted by scientists from the HIV Prevention Trials Network, found that long-acting injections once every eight weeks was better than the daily tablet used for HIV prevention. These findings have the potential to significantly strengthen our response to the epidemic.
If we are to succeed in ending AIDS as a public health threat within the next decade, we need to combine these medical breakthroughs with fundamental changes in behaviour. We also need to tackle the economic and social conditions that contribute to high rates of infection.
One of our central tasks is to empower adolescent girls and young women, educationally, economically and socially. They need to be able to make their own decisions about every aspect of their lives, including their sexuality and sexual behaviour.
As the country marks 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, we need to work even harder to address the unequal relations between men and women – which contribute both to gender-based violence and to the spread of HIV.
Ultimately, we will achieve the end of AIDS through the empowerment of young people, women and other people at risk. This includes empowerment through access to information, advice and support. It includes access to education and economic opportunities, especially for young women. Empowerment also means that every person must have access to testing, treatment and other health services.
The people of South Africa have come so far, endured so much and made such great progress in the fight against HIV, AIDS and Tuberculosis.
On this World AIDS Day, which is taking place in the shadow of another devastating pandemic, let us intensify both our resolve and our actions to confront and overcome AIDS once and for all.
With best regards,
JERUSALEMA (REMIX)” REACHES DIAMOND STATUS IN FRANCE
Master KG scoops yet another win with his wildly successful song “Jerusalema”.
South African hitmaker has reached diamond status in France for his "Jerusalema" remix featuring Burna Boy. The sensational house DJ continues to be a trailblazer after the success of original hit song Jerusalema, featuring Nomcebo Zikode. Nigerian superstar Burna Boy jumped onto the track shortly after the viral #JersalemaChallenge. The news of the diamond certification follows the release of the remix in June of this year. Master KG recently shared the news on Twitter.
This is a big win for Master KG as diamond status is admittedly difficult to reach in France. SNEP, (Syndicat national de l’édition phonographique), France's record industry organisation, requires 35 million streams for a single to be certified diamond. Initially, record sales of over 250 000 were the criterion for diamond status but this has changed due to the increasing digitisation of music. SNEP counts 150 streams as equal to 1 sale.
Source: www.okayafrica.com (Ubuntu Flash- 12/11/2020)
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
This week, we will be hosting the third South Africa Investment Conference.
Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s conference will be held in a vastly different and immensely more challenging environment than last year.
In April 2018, I announced an ambitious drive to secure R1.2 trillion in additional investments over the next five years. I said that not only is new investment essential to growing our economy, but that it is fundamental to reducing unemployment, poverty and inequality.
Beyond its contribution to national GDP, investment stimulates and supports the growth of local economies, with direct material benefits for our people. It creates work opportunities and full-time jobs, providing people with an income to feed their families and pay for basic amenities. This income gives them purchasing power and enables them to access credit for buying a home or starting a business.
The income they spend on goods and services supports local businesses, including small enterprises. As opportunities are spread and economies grow at a local level, overall economic activity is stimulated, creating a ‘trickle-up’ effect.
Together with infrastructure development and other employment stimulus measures, investment is a key to boosting our country’s productivity and that of its citizens.
In previous years, more than 1,500 delegates attended the SA Investment Conferences. But this year, to allow for social distancing, we expect about 175 delegates to attend in person from listed companies, emerging firms and entrepreneurs, business associations, labour and government. An additional 1,000 online delegates from different parts of the world have registered to date.
The conference will demonstrate that South Africa remains an attractive investment destination, and will show the progress we are making to improve the business climate. It will build on the positive momentum in investment in the years before the onset of the COVID pandemic. Foreign direct investment flows into South Africa, for example, rose sharply from R26.8 billion in 2017 to R70.6 billion in 2018.
Over the last 10 months, the pandemic forced many promising investments pledged at previous conferences to be scaled back or put on hold. But these investments only amount to about one-tenth of the total investment commitment of R664 billion.
Most of the investments are going ahead. Of the 102 projects that were announced at the last two investment conferences, 12 are in the early stages of implementation, 19 have been launched, and 44 are currently under construction or being rolled out.
This year’s conference is about implementation, and on turning commitments into brick and mortar projects in our cities and towns. It will highlight our progress in driving the economic reforms that are needed to unlock investment and growth.
Investor confidence has been boosted by, among other things, the establishment of the Infrastructure Fund. Confidence is also being improved by our continuing implementation of the structural reforms and the finalisation of industry masterplans in sectors such as clothing and textiles, sugar and the automotive industry.
We will be showcasing our strengths as a country and how these can be leveraged to attract new investment.
For example, South Africa has been voted the second most attractive location for business process outsourcing for the third year in a row. With business continuity having been disrupted by the pandemic, we are perfectly placed to capitalise on the growing need of businesses for remote contact centres.
We are positioning ourselves as a hub for digital services. Following the commitment that Amazon Web Services made at last year’s investment conference, the company opened its first cloud data centre in Africa, in Cape Town, earlier this year.
We are already a preferred energy investment destination. Many of the projects implemented through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme have been successful and set an example for many countries around the world.
With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) commencing in January, we want to attract more continental investors into our country and at the same time expand our own investments and the market for our own goods and services elsewhere on the continent. Already, more than a quarter of South Africa’s exports are to other countries in Africa. We expect this to increase as the AfCFTA establishes a continental market of some 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of around $2.3 trillion.
We are not the only country trying to attract investment as part of its economic recovery efforts in the aftermath of COVID-19. This makes our task much harder.
To achieve our goal, we have to work together as government, business, labour and all of society to ensure that the seeds of local and international investment land on fertile soil.
Our national objective is that the investments we secure at the third South Africa Investment Conference must lead to more jobs and improved living standards, and ultimately build the highway that leads to a better, more inclusive future for all.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 09 November 2020
When the National State of Disaster was declared in March, our immediate priority was to contain the spread of the virus and provide emergency relief to citizens, communities, workers and businesses.
Over the course of eight months and with the support of our social partners, we rolled out a comprehensive set of measures to limit the social and economic impact of the pandemic.
We massively expanded social protection on a scale that has never been attempted before in this country. We are one of the few countries in the world where the right of access to social security is enshrined in the Constitution, and we can be proud that during this grave crisis we gave practical expression to this right in many ways.
In addition to our existing social grants, which reach more than 17 million people every month, we topped-up the Old Age, Disability and Child Support Grants. We rolled out a Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant, which has reached some 6 million people to date. This was done within weeks of the National State of Disaster being declared.
The scale of such an undertaking cannot be understated. To bring this system online there was extensive collaboration between the South African Social Security Agency, the South African Revenue Service, Home Affairs and many others.
We set up a fully automated application and disbursement process, and integrated multiple databases, including the National Population Register and the Unemployment Insurance Fund database. We set up new application channels like WhatsApp and USSD, and created systems with the commercial banks to enable banking detail verification. This is a remarkable achievement in a very short space of time.
Alongside the measures we took to protect and sustain livelihoods, we also supported ailing businesses. We provided relief to small businesses in the form of debt relief, finance, tax payment deferrals and other instruments.
We implemented a COVID-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme to enable businesses to meet their operational expenses during the lockdown, and are currently looking at how this scheme can reach more companies in need.
We provided income protection to workers and relief to business owners through the Temporary Employer Relief Scheme administered by the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
These were all in direct response to an emergency and were by nature temporary. Some are now coming to an end, while others have been extended as the labour market recovers.
The measures we implemented went a long way towards protecting our society from the harsh winds of COVID-19. The additional grants helped to prevent millions of people from falling below the food poverty line.
Had we not intervened to secure livelihoods and save businesses, the living conditions of our people and the circumstances of thousands of businesses would have been considerably worse.
Now we are in a transition from relief to recovery.
The emergency measures we put in place have laid a firm foundation on which to rebuild our economy. As our focus now shifts to the implementation of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, our priority will be to stimulate growth and create jobs.
There has already been progress in a number of areas.
We are seeing new funding commitments for infrastructure development following an infrastructure project roundtable last week. A number of employment programmes under the Presidential Employment Stimulus have started. We are pushing ahead with economic reforms in areas such as energy and telecommunications.
Plans are being converted to action and commitments are being reflected in jobs and opportunities.
It is all the more critical at this time, more so with the festive season approaching, that we do not become the architects of our own undoing.
The greatest vigilance is required from us all to keep the virus at bay.
A resurgence at any scale will not just dramatically reverse our health gains. It will choke the green shoots of economic recovery that have emerged, and take us back from spring to winter.
To prevent a second wave of COVID-19 infections, we must observe the public health guidelines that remain in place.
When we fail to wear a mask at a social gathering, when we attend crowded events, we are not only putting ourselves and others at risk. We are also putting our economic recovery in jeopardy.
Let us all continue to play our part.
The positive actions of wearing a mask, of maintaining social distancing and of regular hand washing helped us overcome the worst effects of the pandemic. They are still our best defence.
Let us remember the sacrifices we all had to make to contain the spread of the virus in the early days.
Even as most social and economic activity has resumed, we must still observe all the health measures. This is absolutely necessary if we are to rebuild our economy and put this crisis behind us.