Date: 21/03/2006 Source: Provincial Government Title: Shilowa: Human Rights Day celebrations

Address by Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa at the Human Rights Day celebrations in

Members of the Executive Council, Executive mayors, Members of the mayoral committee and other local, Government leaders, Chief Justice Pius Langa, Leaders of civil society organisations, Families of the victims of the Sharpeville massacre, Distinguished guests, Comrades and friends, The people of Gauteng,

Allow me first and foremost to lower our banners in memory of Duma Khumalo, one of the Sharpeville six who passed away on the eve of local government elections after he collapsed at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) workshop. He remained committed to the end. Our condolences go to his family and comrades.

We are here today to once more honour the memory of those who were killed by the apartheid police here in Sharpeville on 21 March 1960, as well as the countless others who made the ultimate sacrifice in our struggle for freedom in our country.

We pay tribute to the men and women, who left their homes on that fateful morning to participate in a peaceful protest against the hated pass laws. Their names are enshrined at the Sharpeville monument so that generations to come can honour and pay tribute to them.

Just as we must not forget those who lost their lives in struggling for our freedom, we must also not forget the impact of apartheid discrimination and injustice against which they fought.

An important pillar of apartheid's vision of racist domination and control was the system of influx control. This system sought to make African people foreigners in the country of their birth and banish them to the poverty stricken Bantustans, which were apartheid's reservoirs of cheap labour. Only a select few with special permission were allowed to come to urban areas to work in the factories, mines and kitchens of apartheid's rulers. The pass laws aimed to force all African people to carry a dompas so that their movement could be controlled by the apartheid state. Pass raids were a daily occurrence with brutal police assaults on ordinary people in the privacy of their own homes and in public places. Innocent people, young and old were treated like dogs, brutalised and thrown into jail on the whim of the apartheid police.

The brave Sharpeville residents who took to the streets in March 1960 were therefore responding to systematic humiliation and oppression to which black people in general and African people in particular were subjected under apartheid.

They were following on a proud history of resistance against oppression. In response to plans to extend the pass laws to African women, women in particular had been at the forefront of anti-pass protests including notably, the protest march of over 20 000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 9 August 1956. This year we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of that heroic march.

The Sharpeville massacre was one of 's darkest moments unleashing further waves of oppression including the banning of the liberation movement. However, our people's determination to be free, to restore their birthright and their dignity could not be defeated. As we celebrate Human Rights Day today, we are therefore also celebrating the creation of a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa. This year we are also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the adoption of our democratic constitution on 8 May 1996.

Together with the first democratic elections in 1994, the adoption of our new constitution symbolised our decisive triumph against the indignity and oppression of apartheid and was an historic breakthrough in our struggle for a democratic order in our country. Our new Constitution was a concrete expression of the fact that our people's suffering and sacrifices had not been in vain. To borrow from the words of freedom fighter Solomon Mahlangu, their blood had indeed nourished the tree that would bear the fruits of freedom. The human rights enshrined in our constitution are some of the fruits of freedom of which Mahlangu spoke.

It represented the unity and national consensus that had begun to heal the hatred and the divisions of apartheid; it represented the people's contract for the future and a weapon in our continued struggle to roll back the legacy of apartheid and build a better life for all.

The adoption of our democratic Constitution was therefore not the end of our democratic mission. Instead it represented the beginning of a new phase in the struggle to make a living reality of the political and socioeconomic rights, which our people had lived and died for.

The ‘age of hope’ of which our president has spoken is a testimony to the fact that our democracy has made enormous strides in giving effect to our people's constitutional rights and the values of human dignity, equality and freedom, which it upholds.

We recently emerged from a successful local government election in which our people exercised one of their fundamental constitutional rights - the right to vote. I want to thank all of you who participated in the election proving wrong many of the analysts who said you would stay away from the polls. By doing so you have helped to deepen democracy and strengthen local government. Your challenge now is to work with your elected leaders at ward, municipal and district level to build better communities where you live.

Our congratulations go to all the newly elected mayors and other office bearers in Gauteng. As the provincial government we are ready to work closely with you to build the capacity of local government, to grow your local economies and to achieve our common goals of halving poverty and unemployment by 2014 and making Gauteng a globally competitive city region.

I also want to thank the dozens of thousands of Gauteng residents who participated in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) process in Gauteng. The process was led by civil society representatives and government and involved ordinary people in reviewing democracy governance and the economy in our province and our country. Gauteng has completed its report and has forwarded it to the national APRM secretariat so that it can be taken into account in the development of the country report. We will be making available summaries of the Gauteng report to the public. The process also highlighted the need to further strengthen civil society organisations so that they are in a stronger position to conduct this self assessment process in future.

The progress we have made in building Gauteng as an economic engine of the country and the continent is central to address the issues of poverty, underdevelopment and inequality. Expanded economic opportunities are at the heart of the realisation of our people's dignity and human rights. Some of the economic achievements include:

* We achieved a growth rate of 5,6 percent at the end of 2004 * Unemployment dropped from 30,4 percent in September 2001 to 22,8 percent in September 2005 * Almost half of all employees pay in the country is in Gauteng, with over one third of all household expenditure * Gauteng attracts over half of the seven million international tourists that come to South Africa, bringing jobs and economic opportunities for our people * Over 40 percent of all creative enterprises are found in Gauteng including our pride and joy Tsotsi which was a product of Gauteng.

In April last year, we adopted a Gauteng Growth and Development Strategy (GGDS), which aims to grow the economy to eight percent by 2014. We will spend close to R8 billion to implement this strategy over the next three years. This will run alongside the implementation of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), national government's strategy to catalyse growth and job creation. Beyond accelerating economic growth these strategies aim for shared growth so that more previously disadvantaged individuals especially black people and women benefit from more jobs, business and other economic opportunities.

Gauteng's economic growth so far is due to our deliberate efforts to invest in strategic economic infrastructure which has in turn attracted greater private sector investment, stimulating the growth of enterprises and creating economic opportunities and jobs.

One example is in the cradle of Humankind World Heritage site where we invested in new facilities, roads and bulk infrastructure to stimulate the area as a tourist attraction. The number of tourist attractions including many small businesses has increased from 68 in 2001 to 275 in 2005 employing about 4 500 permanent and casual workers in the area. About 70 000 people come to visit the area every week bringing about R7,5 million into circulation in the area.

Similar initiatives to stimulate economic growth and create jobs include the Innovation Hub in Tshwane, the Kliptown Renewal Project, the Automotive Industry Development Centre, the Dinokeng Game Reserve, the Johannesburg International Airport industrial development zone and the Gautrain. Gautrain alone will bring massive investment into our province stimulating economic growth while forming the backbone of an integrated transport system which will include bus, rail and taxis.

In April last year we launched the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP), which has already assisted over 400 small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to make them more profitable and trained 1000 entrepreneurs. Over 80 percent of those assisted are owned by historically disadvantaged people, including 41 percent owned by women.

The promotion of economic opportunities for youth and women will be a key focus in the years ahead. GEP will next year ensure that 20 percent of its funding goes to support youth lead job creation activities and will in the coming year support the establishment of youth and women led cooperatives in Gauteng's six regions, including Sedibeng. Other initiatives to support youth involvement in the economy will include the expansion of learnerships, internships and bursaries, skills development and short term employment opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).

Other important aspects of our growth and development strategy include:

* a provincial agriculture development strategy, which is extending support to emerging farmers with a focus on value added production and high value niche markets. * the promotion of broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) through our BBBEE strategy, which we plan to launch next month and which will ensure that 70 percent of GPG contracts go to empowered companies by 2009 * the promotion of competitive sporting events, tourism and creative industries including film productions in Gauteng.

Further opportunities are flowing from the expansion of private sector investment in sectors such as call centres which are expected to create thousands of new jobs.

We are also looking forward to a major new development to the South of Johannesburg towards Midvaal. Called the ‘eye of Africa’, this new tourism and residential venture promises to bring an investment of up to R5 billion into the area, creating 6000 employment opportunities over the next three years and many more indirect jobs.

The Bill of Rights, which is part of our democratic Constitution that we are celebrating today, says that everyone has the right to have access to healthcare services, sufficient food and water, social security and adequate housing and that the state must take reasonable measures within its available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of these rights. Also everyone has the right to basic education including adult basic education and an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing.

In line with the constitution we have seen a progressive realisation of these basic rights in Gauteng. So far:

* 96 percent of households have access to free basic water * 77.6 percent of households have free basic electricity * 83 percent of identified bucket systems had been replaced and we are on track to remove all the remaining buckets by June 2006 * Over 80 percent have access to basic sanitation and weekly refuse removal services * Over 1,1 million people benefit from the social grant system * Between 1994 and March 2005 ownership of 277367 houses was transferred to Gauteng residents, 381 585 stands were serviced and 225 254 new houses were built. This amounts to close to 900 000 housing opportunities, directly benefiting the lives of over 3.5 million residents, more than one third of Gauteng's current population.

In addition to further work on urban renewal programmes in Alexandra, , Bekkersdal and Kliptown, we will in the next three years spend R3 billion to upgrade 20 of our established townships in Gauteng. This will go a long way in continuing to break the apartheid legacy of underdevelopment in our townships and building sustainable and vibrant communities with decent social amenities and access to economic opportunities. The townships which will benefit from this Gauteng renewal programme are: Atteridgeville, , , Daveyton, Kagiso, Katlehong, Kwa-Thema, (Duduza, Tsakane) Mamelodi, Mohlakeng, Munsieville, Ratanda, Refilwe, Rethabiseng, , Sharpeville, Soshanguve, Soweto, Tembisa and Wattville.

Depending on local needs the aim is to provide decent schools, clinics, sport and recreational facilities, lighting, storm water drains, multi-purpose community centres (MPCCs), libraries, taxi and bus ranks and the upgrading of backyard shacks. In particular we will ensure that all roads in these townships are tarred by 2009 and that each area has a vibrant commercial and transport hub.

In realising the constitutional right to access to housing, we are working hard to fulfil our commitment to formalise informal settlements by 2009 and eradicate informal settlements by 2014. The registration of 392 informal settlements in Gauteng has been completed. Close to 70 percent of these will be upgraded while others will be relocated to better land. We are also continuing to upgrade and convert 54 hostels to affordable rental accommodation.

Education and healthcare remain top priorities. Access has been significantly expanded through new schools and clinics and we are focussing on improving the quality of these services.

Since January this year we eliminated school fees in the poorest schools and will continue to improve facilities. We have expanded adult basic education and training (ABET) and increased early childhood development sites across Gauteng.

Plans to improve health care services include the recruitment of 2 300 additional health professionals and an additional 1 000 community health workers to reach our target of 3 000 by 2007. By the end of this year we will have extended clinic hours in 80 percent of sub-districts and will continue to complete three new hospitals and 10 new clinics. We will dedicate even more resources to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. By the end of this year we will have 54 sites providing anti-retroviral therapy to 60000 people living with AIDS. However, we must remember that there is still no cure for Aids. It is therefore up to each one of us to prevent infection while we continue to provide care and support to all those affected and infected with HIV and AIDS.

In addition to paying special attention to the empowerment of youth, women and people with disability we are on track in restoring the constitutional rights of children including the right to basic nutrition, shelter, basic healthcare services and social services:

* Close to 920 000 children in Gauteng benefit from child support and foster care grants * Over 310 000 of the poorest children in primary schools were exempted from school fees, close to 380 000 benefited from the school nutrition programme and over 66 000 received free scholar transport * Over 38 000 of the poorest children in grade one have received free school uniforms * Over 150 000 orphans and vulnerable children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS benefited from 98 community-based care programmes.

We have spoken a lot about the constitutional obligations, which government is fulfilling. But as I indicated earlier, our constitution is a contract between all of us. Making the constitution a living reality and building our democracy therefore places responsibilities not just on the state but on ordinary citizens as well.

This applies in every sphere of our lives whether voting in democratic elections and participating in ward committees; in actively preventing the abuse of women and children in keeping our streets clean and protecting community assets such as schools, clinics and community centres, in upholding and respecting the rule of law in refusing to do crime or participate, in corrupt practices and taking active steps to work with the police to stamp out crime, in studying hard to further our education; in participating in school governing bodies and other local organs of democratic participation; in volunteering to provide a helping hand to those in need.

It was through widespread activism in our communities that we were able to defeat apartheid, install a democratic government and a democratic Constitution. Let us revive that spirit of activism and work together in partnership as we continue to strive to realise all the rights enshrined in our Constitution and build a better life for all our people.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government 21 March 2006