Mbeki: More of the same
2004-02-06 12:33
Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation address to Parliament on Friday said that his government does not foresee making any policy changes.
Mbeki, whose African National Congress has more than a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and has ruled since democracy in 1994, said: "We do not foresee that there will be any need for new and major policy initiatives. The task we will all face during the decade ahead will be to ensure the vigorous implementation of these (existing) policies, to create the winning people-centred society of which (former President) Nelson Mandela spoke."
With an election for parliament coming up Mbeki said: "The work we will do must move our country forward decisively towards the eradication of poverty and underdevelopment in our country."
While Mbeki had come under pressure both internally and internationally over curiously dissident policies on how to handle the HIV/Aids pandemic and his as yet unsuccessful quite diplomacy with troubled neighbouring Zimbabwe, his economic management has seen a measure of economic stability and reasonable economic growth.
"We must achieve further and visible advances with regard to the improvement of the quality of life of all our people, affecting many critical areas of social existence, including health, safety and security, moral regeneration, social cohesion, opening the doors of culture and education for all, and sport and recreation."
He noted that 10 years ago estimates of the housing backlog ranged from 1.4 million to three million units and people living in shacks were about five to 7.7 million.
Now about 1.9 million housing subsidies have been provided and 1.6 million houses built for the poor. In 1994 60% of the population of South Africa had no access to electricity, now more than 70% of households had been electrified.
In 1994 16 million South Africans had no access to clean water. Now nine million additional people had access to clean water. In 1994 22 million people did not have adequate sanitations. Now 63% of households had sanitation. In 1994 there were 17 fragmented departments of education and a disproportionate allocation of resources to white schools, Now there was an integrated education system although more resources were needed in poor areas.
In 1994, when South Africa moved from the apartheid era, there was 70% school enrolment. By 2002 secondary school enrolment had reached 85%. In addition nutrition and early childhood interventions had been established to improve results from children from poor backgrounds.