The Presidency

Opening Remarks by President Jacob Zuma on the occasion of the 3rd Bi-National Commission between South Africa and Botswana, Pretoria

11 November 2016

Your Excellency, President Seretse Khama Ian Khama,

Honourable Ministers,

Senior Officials and High Commissioners,

Members of the Media,

It is a great pleasure and privilege to once again welcome you to South Africa, My Brother, President Khama, and your distinguished delegation.

Allow me to take this opportunity to once more extend our very warm and heartfelt congratulations to the Government and the people of Botswana on their 50th Independence Anniversary.

This was duly and colourfully celebrated in Botswana on 30 September 2016.

We are all impressed with your country’s achievements, Mr President.

Your country has recorded remarkable achievements since independence, becoming a model of democracy, stability and rule of law.

Significantly, successive governments in Botswana have been able to manage the profits of their natural resources to the betterment and development of the country. This is something that many in the continent may consider emulating.

Your Excellency,

We are greatly honoured to host you Mr President on the occasion of the 3rd Session of the Bi-National Commission between our two countries.

Our BNC is an important platform that helps to consolidate bilateral cooperation existing between our sister countries.

Most importantly, it is a platform we use to provide strategic direction to our relations.

Furthermore, the BNC helps us to think together and thus shape our national development plans accordingly.

Your Excellency,

It is a fact that because of our geographical proximity, our historical and cultural ties, cooperation between our two countries spans across a broad spectrum of areas.

These include trade, health, Energy; Water; Justice; Immigration; Culture; Transport; Science and Technology; defence and security; Agriculture; Tourism; Minerals; Education as well as Sports and Recreation.

Growing our economic ties and investments is fundamental for both our countries, as these will help to eradicate poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment.

We note with appreciation the growing cross border investment by our private sector.

We need to prioritise economic diversification and manufacturing in order to grow our economies and create job opportunities.

Your Excellency,

At this point I would like to highlight the excellent cooperation in one important field, and that is in Science and Technology, particularly the Square Kilometre Array Project.

This Project has placed our scientists and students at the forefront of research in astronomy, engineering and information and communication technologies.

In this regard, we note with great appreciation and satisfaction the increasing number of Batswana students enrolled at our Universities.

Your Excellency,

We meet during a difficult period when our region faces a serious and persistent drought and water shortages. The drought will result in significantly reduced crop production throughout Southern Africa. This will have a far-reaching impact on food security and food prices.

It is therefore vital that we fast track our work on the Lesotho Highlands Water Transfer Project in an effort to address the water shortage crisis.

As SADC, we need to explore the possibility of hosting a special Summit to discuss the drought and solutions thereof.

 

We also need to work diligently on the implementation of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan to create regional value chains and manufacturing capacities.

Key in this regard is a need to identify and prioritise projects that will have a regional and cross border dimension.

Critically important is also the need to enhance our cooperation in border management to combat cross-border crimes such as rhino and elephant poaching.

Your Excellency,

Some of our countries in the region and continent continue to face political and security challenges.

We need to continue working together in the maintenance of peace, security and stability.

Let me conclude by once more welcoming our esteemed Guests from our sister Republic and Neighbour – Botswana.

I look forward to our deliberations on the report of the Ministers.

I thank you.

 

The Presidency

Voice of Government

Government on start of Imbizo Focus Week

7 Nov 2016

Highlights of Imbizo Focus Week

Government’s fifth National Imbizo Focus Week, 7-13 November 2016 opened today, following the theme “Together we move South Africa forward: “Our future – make it work“. All South Africans are encouraged to actively participate in the Imbizo events and engage with government.

An informed and active citizenry is critical towards delivering the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030. The NDP serves as a blueprint for the work that needs to be done to achieve a prosperous society for our country.

At the opening of Imbizo Focus Week today, the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Jacob Zuma handed over a fully equipped computer laboratory to the Marhulana Primary School in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng Province.

The President went back to fulfil the commitment he made in July 2016 at the Mandela Day commemorations to equip the school with computers. The use of ICTs in education is increasingly becoming an important medium for complementing the delivery of the curriculum. The President was accompanied by the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga and the Ambassador of China in South Africa H.E. Mr. Tian Xuejun.

Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies and the Eastern Cape Premier, Mr Phumulo Masualle launched the first phase of the Komani Industrial Park revitalisation in Queenstown, Eastern Cape Province. The launch marked the completion of the 1st phase of the project which covers security upgrading of the industrial park. R22.5m has been invested in the revitalization of the Komani Industrial Park. The Revitalisation of Industrial Parks Programme is creating much needed jobs in and around townships and rural communities.

The Minister of Transport, Ms Dipuo Peters presided over the official handover of the Notwane Bridge a linking South Africa and Botswana. This construction of the road and bridge cost R78.5 million, and 51 full time jobs were created over the 23 month contract period. The Notwane Bridge will open up economic opportunities and lead to a safer travel experience for commuters within the region.

The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr David van Rooyan held a Sector Imbizo with various role-players in Garankuwa as part of the Local Economic Development Programme which aims to ensure that municipalities are sustainable. The team visited the Garankuwa Eco-Furniture factory. This project aims to help create job opportunities, fight poverty and develop entrepreneurship skills.

The Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Obed Bapela visited the Agri-Hub site at Makapanstad in the North-West Province. Agri-Hubs are a key component of Agri-Parks, and the goals of this programme are to transform the rural economy. Government has allocated a total of R2 billion annually for the establishment of Agri-Parks around the country. The Deputy Minister addressed the community and the local traditional leaders during the event.

SA News

There are many achievements of the ANC government under Zuma – Mzwandile Masina

In an article reflecting on the events of the State of the Nation address, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe correctly noted that the media and many other commentators overly focused on the disruptions in Parliament and paid little attention to the contents of the speech.

The effect was to shift public attention from the substantive matters of governance and development in the address by President Jacob Zuma to a preoccupation with side shows.

This observation can be extended to the manner in which the dominant voices in mainstream media have framed how public discourse should assess the performance of the government.

It is particularly relevant if one considers the many achievements of the ANC government under Zuma that do not feature prominently in this framing of public discourse.

The strategic advances made by the ANC government are hidden from public reflection behind the negative, vitriolic and personalised commentary that dominates national discourse.

Public conversation is less about the delivery of government on its stated objectives. It is based more on the personal hatred that some people harbour for the ANC and the President.

This robs people of the opportunity to see the great strides the Zuma administration has made.

Chief among the remarkable achievements of the ANC government under Zuma has been the production of the National Development Plan (NDP).

The NDP is a long-term plan for South Africa’s development and a vision for social reconstruction.

It is a strategic policy framework whose value lies in its capacity to forge parameters for the engagement of social forces in a long-term endgame that binds society behind a common national vision.

There are numerous areas of social policy in which South Africa has made significant progress. These range from advances in public health policy to such things as incremental allocations in social grants as part of an effective social safety net that prevents abject poverty.

The national health insurance scheme that is being rolled out has led to remarkable progress being made in the revamping of public health facilities in the trial regions.

The long-term imprint of the scheme will be the availability of modern health facilities with advanced technological capabilities in historically underdeveloped regions of our country.

The full implementation of the national health insurance scheme will radically restructure the sector, providing access to health care for the vast majority of South Africans who cannot afford medical aid.

Similarly, over the years the ANC government has rolled out progressive reforms in the education sector. The basic education situation is improving, with indications of stability and coherence in planning.

Among these progressive reforms has been the conversion of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme into a bursary for successful final-year students.

In the further education and training sector, all needy students are granted full bursary allocations that are a variation of free education.

The Zuma administration has succeeded in the founding of the first post-1994 universities through the building of the Sol Plaatjie University, the University of Mpumalanga and the Sefako Makgatho University for Health Sciences.

Of course, much more needs to be done in the transformation of the education sector, but these achievements have laid a solid foundation for the future.

The global financial crisis wreaked havoc in many economies of the global north. Continental Europe was hardest hit by the financial meltdown and major bickering continues about how the euro zone can extricate itself from a position where a second collapse seems imminent.

How did South Africa sidestep the effects of economic collapse in the euro zone, given its high trade relations then?

The Zuma administration consolidated an effective fiscal package that halted a windfall shedding of jobs and managed to place the manufacturing sector on the path of positive growth again.

The manufacturing competition enhancement programme is among the strategic fiscal cushions that prevented that possible windfall in most of our manufacturing industries and has initiated positive growth trends.

The automotive industry greatly benefited from the fiscal support package under the automotives investment scheme and has entered positive growth territory.

Public spending in public infrastructure and other social assets has progressively sustained industries and created employment opportunities.

Without these interventions, we could have been far worse off than we are.

Overall, this administration has achieved greater economic stability in the face of the global economic volatility of the past seven years.

Despite the hardship the global economy has experienced, South Africa has sidestepped a possible rollback of the progressive social safety net interventions and managed to roll out more delivery in crucial areas of social capital.

In my next offering, I will draw the reader’s attention to the major impact that the consolidated infrastructure plan has had on our economy.

It is crucial to highlight all these progressive interventions to put the brakes on the ultra-pessimism bordering on Afropessimism that dominates the mainstream media.

Of course, all these things have been buried beneath the heap of malicious commentary and hostility directed at the ANC, the government and the person of President Zuma.

When rational discourse is established and facts are given primacy, the commendable legacy of President Zuma will speak for itself beyond what the hogwash commentary and opposition opportunism make of it.

A culture of a balanced contestation of facts has to be engendered in public discourse for the sake of a positive climate of political criticism and contestation.

By Mzwandile Masina

IOL

ANC confident Zuma ousting motion will fail

WESTERN CAPE / 10 November 2016, 11:19amSiyabonga Mkhwanazi

Parliament - The DA’s attempt to remove President Jacob Zuma from office, through a motion of no confidence in Parliament on Thursday, faces another defeat from the ANC.

The ANC’s strong majority of 249 MPs looks to give the DA another defeat in the Chamber on Thursday.

President Jacob Zuma Picture: Sumaya Hisham. Credit: EPA

The ANC has insisted that none of its MPs will swing the vote in the National Assembly in favour of the opposition despite pleas from DA leader Mmusi Maimane that ANC MPs must vote with their conscience.

Parties were on Thursday attending their scheduled caucuses where final touches on the vote will be discussed.

The ANC has already spoken to its MPs and told them that they vote as a unit, and no vote will go to the opposition.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said this week the country’s system was a party system and not a Presidential system.

Mantashe insisted that ANC MPs were in the National Assembly on the ticket of the ruling party, and no other party.

Independent analyst Sipho Seepe put it succinctly recently when he said that the ANC gets irritated when it is told what to do by “external forces”.

The ANC came out of its National Working Committee on Monday in support of Zuma, saying calls for him to go were premature.

The NWC resolved that it will meet with the stalwarts of the ANC including Reverend Frank Chikane, Murphy Morobe, Cheryl Carolous and others.

The veterans said last week they have been trying to meet with Zuma and the other top five leaders to discuss the state of the party.

But Mantashe said the NWC decided it will meet with the veterans.

The caucuses of opposition parties in Parliament, ahead of the vote on Zuma, may decide on a strategy how to get more votes on their side.

But the ANC has already described the motion as frivolous.

Opposition parties need more than half of the ANC MPs to get Zuma out of office, but that looked unlikely after the tough talk by the top brass of the ANC and the caucus.

The ANC MPs have always backed Zuma over the last few years when opposition parties tried to use the motion of no confidence to remove him.

Political Bureau

The Presidency

Intervention by His Excellency, President Jacob Zuma, at BRICS and BIMSTEC Leaders Outreach Summit, 8th BRICS Summit, Goa, India

16 October 2016

Your Excellencies, leaders of the member states of BRICS,

Your Excellencies, leaders of the member states of BIMSTEC,

Honourable Ministers and distinguished delegates,

 

I wish to convey our sincere appreciation to Prime Minister Modi, for enabling us to engage with the honourable BIMSTEC Leaders.

 

BIMSTEC members are all friends of South Africa and we enjoy strong and cordial relations.

 

I appreciate the continuation of our established tradition to engage like-minded countries such as BRICS and share views with partners facing similar developmental needs.

 

The theme of this meeting demonstrates that we have various opportunities to reinforce our collaboration commencing with stronger coordination in appropriate global fora.

 

The traditional ties of solidarity that many of our countries forged at the Bandung Conference in 1955, underpins our shared history of solidarity with BIMSTEC members.

We share the many of the objectives of the BIMSTEC Group.

 

These include creating an enabling environment for rapid economic development, accelerating economic growth and social progress and in supporting one another in the form of training and research facilities.

 

In the regional context, Africa considers its Regional Economic Communities as its building blocks to also fast-track the Africa Union’s economic integration agenda.

 

Excellencies,

 

We live in a world of remarkable technological progress. However, we experience growth which is not necessarily inclusive and does not adequately address and reduce inequalities.

 

Against this background it is vital that countries and regional organisations cooperate to find solutions and innovative ways to address objectives which BIMSTEC has also identified as being core priorities.

 

In the bilateral context, growing trade and investment between the nations of BRICS and BIMSTEC will provide us with the means of creating further employment opportunities.

In this regard, we need to identify what barriers to trade currently exist between us as well as considering a reduction in tariffs and the expansion of infrastructure links.

 

Without the necessary road, rail, air and shipping links, enabling our connectivity, any opportunities to growing our trade figures cannot be exploited to its full potential.

 

As an African Union champion for infrastructure development, I can inform you that much progress has been made in improving transport links across the Continent and that this has had a positive impact on intra-Africa trade.

 

In this regard, South Africa provides an excellent link to the region which the member states of BRICS and BIMSTEC can utilise.

 

The expansion of sea links and the development of the Blue Economy in particular, also provide opportunities to consolidate commercial relations between the BRICS and BIMSTEC countries.

 

South Africa has a programme we have termed Operation Phakisa, which is aimed at fast tracking development in the oceans economy including areas such as ship building, aqua-culture and fisheries.

In this regard we would welcome the sharing of information, experience and programmes related to the oceans economy.

 

Another important area which links BRICS and the BIMSTEC countries relates to the environment and climate change challenges in particular.

 

All our member states presently face the threat of either rising sea levels or of extreme climatic conditions such as floods and droughts and other natural disasters.

 

Here we have the opportunity of pooling together our respective best practices in order to address the challenges we face.

 

With regard to climate change, I would like to use this opportunity to congratulate all countries that have successfully ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as those who have indicated their intention to do so.

 

I urge those countries which have not yet made this pledge to accede to this important milestone.  Our internal processes are far advanced and we should ratify soon.

 

The BRICS-BIMSTEC partnership can thrive also through strengthening cooperation in the areas of training, scholarships and research facilities, specifically in the educational, professional and scientific fields.

Each of our countries has niche areas of expertise and enjoy comparative advantages within specific fields.

 

Cross fertilisation, the exchange of ideas, joint projects and skills training can go far in promoting economic development and social progress in the BRICS and BIMSTEC countries.

 

Lastly, I would welcome cooperation between BRICS and BIMSTEC in endeavours to reform the existing global order and the global system of governance.

 

Excellencies,

 

For far too long the established world paradigm has favoured and been biased towards selected members of the international community.

 

This paradigm is outdated, undemocratic and unfair when seen against the background of contemporary realities.

 

Together we can cooperate and enhance work towards the reform of the United Nations organisation and the Bretton Woods Institutions.

 

Prime Minister,

 

I sincerely thank you for bringing the Leaders of the BRICS and BIMSTEC together.

The South African

‘Zuma must stay to protect the ANC’. Cosatu

Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali believes that, should the ANC get rid of Zuma before his term ends, the party would be left 'bleeding'. Uhm... sure.

By Ezra Claymore -

 

July 1, 2016

Image Credits:Getty

198 SHARES

This is the second time this week that Cosatu has come to the defence of president Jacob Zuma; what with the trade union coalition’s president saying that it’s up to Zuma whether he wants ANC members to help him pay for Nkandla…

Now, it would seem, the crumbling Cosatu is willing to go even further and use what little influence it has left within the tripartite alliance to protect Zuma’s position.

Cosatu’s Bheki Ntshalintshali believes that Zuma should serve out his term in order to protect the party — he must not read the news very often — from a fallout similar to what happened when Zuma, with the help of then ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, ousted Thabo Mbeki and became president.

“From the bleeding it had when it recalled Thabo Mbeki and now again to recall someone who’s left with a few months to retire from the ANC, I think they will allow the natural processes to go through than creating more divisions within the movement,” Ntshalintshali told Bloomberg.

“It’s too risky for them.”

IOL

‘Zuma is here to stay’

NEWS / 3 November 2016, 09:13am

MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA

Durban - President Jacob Zuma is going nowhere, say his supporters in the ANC leagues and some of the party’s provincial structures, including KwaZulu-Natal, who are now rallying for a fight-back.

They were adamant they would resist any attempt to have him recalled from public office, regardless of the findings made in the public protector’s “State of Capture” report, made public on Wednesday.

President Jacob Zuma Picture: Masi Losi. Credit: Independent Media

The Daily News has learnt that while guidance was awaited from the ruling party’s national executive committee on how to deal with the report, Zuma’s supporters will encourage him to take it on review to the high court.

It was also expected that branches would be mobilised against the perceived attacks on Zuma, with the people taken into confidence about the challenges facing the ANC and government.

An all-out campaign would be mounted to discredit former public protector Thuli Madonsela, whose report is viewed by Zuma loyalists as having failed to give the president a fair opportunity to state his case.

In KZN, the ANC’s provincial executive committee will meet at the weekend to mull over how it would deal with the report, which it has insisted was not “gospel truth”.

The Free State ANC, also a centre of Zuma power, plans to hold a retreat to consolidate its approach on how to take up the matter and to engage with people on the ground.

But, the ANC Youth League has came out strongly, pronouncing that the state capture report would not affect Zuma in any way.

“The president is going nowhere. He is staying in office until 2019,” the league’s provincial secretary, Thanduxolo Sabelo, said.

“We will never allow instability. There will be no meeting of the ANC that will take a decision to remove Zuma in the presence of the Youth League,” Sabelo said.

He insisted that a motion of no-confidence in Parliament to unseat Zuma would find no support in the ANC.

“All the ANC members will never vote to remove the president. We will never donate the president to monopoly capital,” he said, of a possible impeachment by opposition parties.

Another option to remove Zuma – through an ANC conference – would fail, he said.

“Any lobby group must subject itself to the processes of the ANC and beyond that there is no other way,” he said, adding that numbers would favour Zuma.

The president enjoys the backing of all the leagues and several provinces as well as many members of the national executive committee, something that should once again ensure his political survival.

ANC Free State spokesman, Thabo Meeko, concurred.

He said they were aware there would be fresh calls to recall Zuma, something he likened to “regime change”.

“It has always been our view that such calls are not new. People are desperate to renew the call, but we know these things were a fabrication of propaganda against the president,” Meeko said.

ANC KZN spokesman, Mdumiseni Ntuli, said while the provincial leadership would meet on Sunday and Monday, anyone within the ANC advocating Zuma’s removal had a partisan agenda, be it covert or overt.

“The report was not rebutted and therefore can’t be a gospel truth,” he said.

“Our view is that the little we read about does not justify that the president must go,” he said.

He said some of the people implicated in the report had not been given an opportunity to make submissions.

“One of her (Madonsela’s)remedial actions is that the judge for the commission not be appointed by the president. There is something wrong in that approach. It is clear that she has concluded that the man is guilty as charged,” Ntuli added.

ANC Youth League national spokesman, Mlondi Mkhize, said Zuma should take the report on judicial review because he was not afforded an opportunity to respond to it.

“The recourse is to take it to the judiciary. That is what the president must do because there could be some form of changes to the report,” Mkhize said.

ANC Women’s League secretary-general Meokgo Matuba agreed. She said any person or institution implicated in the report had a right to take it for judicial review.

“Those rights must be respected by the law-abiding citizens of South Africa,” Matuba said.

Meanwhile, as part of a fight-back strategy, the league would continue to mobilise support for Zuma, Sabelo said.

“We will defend the president. We are a clear majority. The president has unassailable support, they must just forget,” he said.

Meeko said they were waiting for guidance from national leaders, but people would be mobilised and made aware of the role of monopoly capital in the attack on Zuma.

“We must take the report to the people. The effective way is to engage and take the people into confidence on challenges facing the ANC and government,” Meeko said.

In her report, Madonsela gave Zuma 30 days to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry headed by a judge appointed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng to look into “observations” she found during her investigation.

She also ordered that her successor, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, refer matters identified as crimes to the National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks.

Madonsela’s report is the result of an inquiry she launched into whether Zuma had allowed the Guptas and his son to influence the appointment of cabinet ministers and board members of state-owned entities, and whether he turned a blind eye to attempts to influence the awarding of state contracts to Gupta businesses.