By Subry Govender
President Jacob Zuma has called on South Africans to work with the Government to tackle corruption, crime, and other social evils affecting the full socio-economic development of the new South Africa.
He made the call when delivering his political report at the 53rd elective conference of the ANC at the University of the Free State in Manguang on Sunday, Devember 16.
He delivered his call to more than 6 500 people, including 4 500 delegates and invited diplomats, business personalities and other VIPPs.
The conference theme, "Unity in Action towards Socio-Economic Freedom" was aimed at radically transforming society.
In a speech that lasted for nearly two hours , Zuma tackled all the issues affecting the much-needed economic transformation required to tackle the issues of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
He also outlined the achivements of the ANC in delivering services and the "improvements" in health and education.
Although he has been repeatedly alleged to have been corrupted by business leaders, Zuma issued a warning that corruption must be rooted out and that South Africans must work with all the police agencies to overcome this evil.
He said: "The campaign against corruption continues. Our country is one of the most transparent societies when it comes to the fight against corruption, it is
talked about often in the public domain as there is a unified effort by all in society to build a corruption-free South Africa.
"Government has established institutions that probe corruption, including the Special Investigating Unit, and units within the SA Police Service, Treasury and other departments.
"We urge the public to continue assisting these units with information so that we can stop corruption in its tracks.
"One area of vulnerability in government is the tender system. Conference may wish to deliberate on tendering which is often open to abuse currently."
Another issue of concern to most South Africans is the high and violent crime wave. To this Zuma said that crime statistics showed a decrease in most crimes, including armed robberies, housebreakings and contact crimes.
But, he said: "We must work harder to reduce and ultimately eliminate crimes against women and children, which have not abated."
Zuma also referred to the rhino poaching and said this was an outrage.
"Another matter that is currently generating outrage in the country is the loss of 618 rhinos to rhino poaching in 2012, with 257 people having been arrested in relation to rhino poaching.
"The swift action of the numerous law enforcement agencies is commendable as are the strict sentences imposed on those involved in rhino poaching and
related crimes. Just last month, a stiff 40-year sentence was handed down to a Thai national.
"The SA National Defence Force has also returned to the 350km of national border in Kruger National Park and other country borders.
"We urge the communities living near borders and nature reserves to assist the campaign against rhino poaching. Let us save our rhino population from
these ruthless poachers and criminals."
Referring to the triple evils of poverty, unemployment and inequality, Zuma said the ANC Government had developed a number of policies, including the National Development Plan, to create more jobs and improve the lives of the people.
"The ANC Government," "adopted five priorities, which were education, health, rural development and land reform, the fight against crime and creating
decent work".
"These include tackling the problems of poverty, inequality and unemployment, infrastructure, education and skills development, small
business development, education and the national health insurance.
"We now have a plan that has been welcomed by all sectors of society and not just government and the ruling party alone. When we took the decision on national developmental planning, we were very
conscious of the fact that, firstly, the transition to a national democratic society will face complex challenges which cannot be addressed
on an ad-hoc fashion or solely left to the forces of the market.
"Thirdly, we must accept that the process of overcoming unemployment, poverty and inequality, of building a national democratic society will be
long and hard.
"We look to the NDP and economic programmes to help us resolve the impact of inequality which remains is deep and glaring as revealed in Census 2011 income levels.
"W will not delve into the reasons for dowgrading but we want to dismiss the pereptions that our country is falling apart because of the downgrades. We continue to do our development work, we continue to plan for a recovery.
"The destination we are heading towards is a mixed economy, where the state, private capital, cooperative and other forms of social ownership complement each other in an integrated way to eliminate poverty and foster shared economic growth."
He added: "These are agriculture, infrastructure, agro-processing and rural development, mining and beneficiation, manufacturing, the green economy and tourism.
"We launched an ambitious infrastructure programme, which is gathering momentum every day. Large public investments in energy, ports, railway
lines and roads will help alleviate supply bottlenecks in the economy.
"This is why we have said that economic transformation is at the heart of the second phase of our transition from apartheid to a national democratic
society. We need to accelerate growth and intensify our programme of structural change.
"We know that our most effective weapon in the campaign against poverty is the creation of decent work, and creating work requires faster and more
inclusive economic growth.
"Accelerating growth, and ensuring a more inclusive economy, requires a radical improvement in the outcomes generated from the use of public
resources. As we accelerate growth along the path of change, we should draw in investors, both international and South African, to support our programme in the certainty that we will succeed in creating prosperity for all.
"We will work with Business, labour, the community sector and other sectors to make these plans succeed. With single-minded determination, let us commit ourselves to transform our economy and society so that all our people can benefit from the fruits of a growing economy."
Zuma said South Africa was working with the rest of Africa to esnure that economic growth was taking place from Cape to Cairo.
"Major investments have also taken place in industrial and business activities on the continent, by South Africans in the public and private sectors," he said.
"Our focus is now on further industrialisation of the continent, to expand growth drivers beyond mining, oil and agriculture. The massive growth in
African consumption provides a source of demand for African factories."
When tackling the issue of education, he emphasised that education was the most important factor in building the youth of the country. He, therefore, issued a warning to teachers that they must do their jobs or face the consequences.
"In this regard, let me repeat the call to all our teachers, that they should be in school, in class, on time, teaching for seven hours every school day next year."
On the volatile issue of land re-distribution, Zuma said the ANC government had developed a green paper on land reform and proposals were made by the policy conference.
"This conference should produce a resolution that will take us forward in addressing the land question faster and within the ambit of the law."
formations and right wing organizations to lead.
Zuma also tackled "alien tendencies" in his own organisation that saw members in the run-up to the Manguang Conference being involved in violence and other negative actions.
"Other alien tendencies to be eliminated from the movement as part of renewal is the negative lobbying for positions which includes smear campaigns in the media as well as gossip and rumour-mongering about one another.
"Also common are the disrespectful public spats as well as hurling insults at other comrades or members of the public, thereby bringing the ANC into disrepute.
"More seriously, we have experienced the shocking occurrences where armed comrades disrupt ANC meetings. We condemn the use of violence, and strongly condemn the killings of ANC leaders, including the ANC Dr Kenneth Kaunda regional secretary in North West, Comrade Obuti Chika. We condemn the killing of other comrades in other provinces as well, earlier in the year."
"Comrades, " he said, "we must also frown upon other alien practices such as the use of money to buy the support of ANC members. We should not allow a situation where those who have money turn members of the ANC into commodities."
Zuma used the occasion to pay tribute to former President Nelson Mandela, who he said was currently in hospital in Pretoria.
"He is receiving good care from a competent and caring medical team. We wish him and family all the best during this time."
He ended his speech profoundly.
"The future of our revolution and of our country is in our hands, and we must carry forward the work needed for the social and economic emancipation
of our people.
"We need to prepare ourselves for this journey, starting today, towards socio-economic freedom for all our people."
The elective conference continues until Thursday by when it would be known who will be leader of the ANC. Talking to delegates, it seems most of them would like to give Zuma another term because they believe he would be able to deliver on the socio-economic transformation of the masses.
As far as Kgalema Motlanthe is concerned, most say that he's a good leader but he must wait his turn. It also seems certain that Cyril Ramaphosa will be elected the new Deputy President of the ANC because of the mandate that most delegates have been given by their branches.
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