(For Country Profile advertisement)<\/p>\n
MESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR: H.E. Norman Manuel Mashabane<\/p>\n
The past we have come from<\/p>\n
Apartheid divided society along racial lines. Black people did
\nnot have the right to vote. The social exclusion and neglect of
\nthe majority was state policy. The country was isolated and the
\neconomy was in crisis. Growth had come to a standstill in the
\nearly 1990s. The public sector was out of control.<\/p>\n
The security forces and justice system violated most human and
\ncivil rights and it was used to defend apartheid. The South
\nAfrican Defense Force was fighting the liberation movements.
\nRight until after the 1994 election, parts of the country lived
\nin a state of war, with assassinations and bombings of democracy
\nactivities.<\/p>\n
The government was largely shaped by a National Security
\napproach with little respect for the rule of law. The state
\nbecame more isolated, more corrupt and more dependent on force to
\nmaintain itself. By the late 1980s, South Africa had become
\nungovernable, torn apart by division, hatred and conflict.<\/p>\n
The apartheid regime faced an all-round crisis that resulted
\nfrom a broad revolutionary offensive, together with internal
\ncontradictions among the rulers. The crisis of racial tyranny
\ncould not be resolved, except by the revolutionary transformation
\nof our country. The crisis of apartheid was the result of a
\ncombination of factors: the economic impasse of South African
\ncapitalism, internationally isolated divisions in the ruling bloc
\nand, above all, the broad revolutionary struggle.<\/p>\n
On the economic front the crisis had many features, such as a
\nsevere shortage of skills as a result of cultural and educational
\noppression of the majority. Also, there was large-scale,
\nunderutilization of productive capacity -- an increasing
\nreluctance of capitalists to invest in fixed capital and massive
\nunemployment. The capitalist economy was stagnating, while the
\napartheid state itself sank deeper into financial crisis.<\/p>\n
New democratic order<\/p>\n
In celebration of 10 Years of Freedom, we are calling upon our
\nfriends and allies who stood side by side with us in the broad
\nrevolutionary struggle for liberation of our country to join us
\non this historic occasion on April 27, 2004.<\/p>\n
Ten years since our country's first democratic election, South
\nAfrica is taking stock of the progress that freedom has brought
\ntowards a better life for all. The government is looking at how
\nfar it has gone in building a caring society since the attainment
\nof democracy. It has also been assessing the weakness in our
\nexperience and challenges of the next decade of liberation in
\n2014.<\/p>\n
It is hoped that every sector of our society, including
\nsports, arts and culture, universities, professionals, trade
\nunions, faith-based organizations and businesses will assess what
\nthe past decade has meant for them. Reviewing this together with
\nthe government will help the entire nation to evaluate itself in
\nits first decade of freedom.<\/p>\n
We, however, should remain vigilant and ready to confront new
\nchallenges with the same tenacity as before. Accordingly, the
\nrevolutionary struggle against racism should be intensified at
\nall fronts. In this regard, our political strategy should be
\nbased on information that is objective on internal and
\ninternational situation. Whatever forms of struggle we employed
\nin the past, and may still have to in the future, the golden link
\nis always our absolute determination to consolidate and advance
\ndemocracy. On this, we are never to be found wanting. At no stage
\nshould anyone be left in doubt regarding our will and readiness
\nto defend the gains of 10 years of democracy.<\/p>\n
The spirit of nonracism should not only extend to the people
\nas a whole, but should also be a firm foundation stone upon which
\nour new society stands. Each of us should, therefore, foster a
\nspirit of oneness among our people. Even though suspicions will
\nnot disappear overnight, the building of one South African nation
\nis a national task of paramount importance.<\/p>\n
All this signifies that, after our long and painful experience
\nof racist and sexist oppression and exploitation, we will
\ncontinue to work consistently to realize the goals set in our
\nconstitution of building a nonracist, nonsexist, prosperous and
\ndemocratic society. To achieve this objective, more than 10
\nyears ago we decided that we should group our interventions under
\nthe various tasks contained in the Reconstruction Development
\nProgram (RDP).<\/p>\n
To effect the revolutionary transformation of our society to
\nwhich we are committed, we have to carry out specific tasks on a
\ndaily basis. This means that we must recognize and sustain the
\ndynamic relationship between the processes of revolution and
\nreform.<\/p>\n
Without the revolutionary goals we have set ourselves, we
\nwould never be able to determine the correct tasks that would
\nenable us gradually to reform our society to reflect the
\nrevolutionary perspective we have chosen. At the same time, if we
\ndo not engage the task of reforming our society in daily
\nstruggle, we will not be able to effect the revolutionary
\ntransformation for which so many of our people sacrificed their
\nlives during a century-long struggle for genuine liberation.<\/p>\n
The budget is one of the principal instruments in the hands of
\nthe democratic state to bring about the changes we need to make
\nto achieve our revolutionary goals. For us, the budget is not
\nmerely an annual record of revenue and expenditure figures
\ndecided by the government to address whatever issues might seem
\nimportant during a particular year. It represents the financial
\ninterventions of the democratic state to give effect to the
\ndialectically interconnected processes of revolution and reform.<\/p>\n
In reality, each annual budget is a program and instrument of
\nthe reform. However innovative and ground-breaking with regard to
\nparticular items, as an annual program and instrument it cannot
\nassume the character of a comprehensive revolutionary process.
\nRather, it is the accumulation of annual budgets that leads to
\nsuch a comprehensive revolutionary process.<\/p>\n
Once the detailed and stable revolutionary and reform policy
\nframework has been established, as we have done during our first
\ndecade of liberation, the funding instrument, the annual budgets,
\nwould also reflect this detailed and stable revolutionary and
\nreform policy framework. This is what characterizes the 2004 to
\n2005 budgets.<\/p>\n
It has provided for increased expenditure to meet the needs of
\nthe people. This includes additional funding for social grants,
\nsuch as old-age pensions and child support grants, as well as
\ngoods and services in the areas of health, education, housing,
\nnutrition, water, electricity and so on.<\/p>\n
This gives concrete expression to the objectives in the RDP to
\nmeet the needs of the people, which is itself based on
\nrecognition of the imperative that the democratic state has a
\nresponsibility to intervene to improve the quality of life of the
\nmillions deliberately impoverished and marginalized by the
\nprevious social order that considered these millions \"surplus
\npeople\".<\/p>\n
PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY<\/p>\n
Government is about the collective, democratic management of
\npeople's lives, and extends beyond government itself: Good
\ngovernance requires the involvement of the entire civil society,
\nincluding labor and business, in the decision-making process and
\ndevelopment of society.<\/p>\n
The South African democratic government is taking steps to
\npromote participatory democracy and the culture of liberation in
\nall institutions of governance, and even further that these steps
\nshould accommodate the need for an effective involvement and
\nparticipation of both illiterate people as well as those with
\nliteracy, the rural poor, the working people and the disabled.<\/p>\n
Mechanisms and strategies for determining a clear role for
\nappropriate organs of civil society in promoting participatory
\ndemocracy must also be implemented.<\/p>\n
Resources are available for the expansion and consolidation of
\ndemocracy in our country.<\/p>\n
South African democracy is entrenched in its democratic
\nconstitution.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/for-country-profile-advertisement-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}