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Chairperson,
Mr Colin Hall, (Wooltru)
And all the dignitaries in order of importance,

The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, captures the essence of the spirit of South Africans in the low cost building industry when he said: "Strength does not come from physical activity. It comes from indomitable will".

Housing practitioners in this industry produced living monuments and dramatically transformed the living conditions of the country's poor.

This indomitable spirit has propelled the women and men who have, through the trowel, shovel and ingenious assistance to our beneficiaries left lasting footprints in the form of the quality and character of homes built since 1994. These in a great measure contributed immensely towards building thriving complete communities we are witnessing today.

I am talking about people who have remained true to professionalism and pursued excellence in the various sectors of the industry. These are the women, men and companies that have brightly illuminated the path of low cost housing delivery in the country. They range from:

* Visionary leadership shown by some financial institutions,
* The ingenuity displayed by women's savings clubs,
* The entrepreneurial spirit of the new age local authorities,
* Selfless and committed professionals who have ploughed their skills back into the communities, and
* The emerging contractors who have shown commitment and remarkable skill.

Ladies and gentlemen, the pioneers of the low cost-housing programme unite an amalgam of diverse people who braved the storms of social change and transformation that has gripped the country since 1994.

I am talking about people who have contributed immensely to the process of reconstructing the built environment by putting a human and compassionate face to housing delivery in the country thereby bringing the poor back in from the cold in the process building a nation.

I am standing before you, humbled by your dedication and the huge and indelible footprints you have left on the national housing firmament. Your contribution has led to a dramatic decrease in the degree of homelessness, desperation and want.

With a total of 1,13 million houses built or under construction to date, benefiting more than 5 million people countrywide the opportunity has come once more again to celebrate excellence and pay tribute to all those housing practitioners who put dedication before the bottom line, principle before personal advancement and above all, are driven by sheer professionalism, the pursuit for excellence underpinned by an indomitable spirit to succeed.

Ladies and gentlemen, the men and women gathered today form the first line of baton carriers of social and economic transformation in the low cost housing industry.

We have recalled them tonight to join us in launching the Second National Housing Awards ceremony due to take place in December this year. They form a link to a strong chain that cuts across race, colour and class but celebrating equity, openness and equitable sharing of resources.

We will be honouring and affirming yet another crop of trailblazers within the industry who shown their mettle in improving the lives of the poor for the better. We are honouring people and companies that have identified a niche in the unfolding democracy and rising up to the challenge by performing beyond the norm and setting standards we are proud of.

We have travelled this journey with these partners supported by Wooltru who offered all our winners an all expenses paid leadership course.

The company will once more be joining us in this exercise this year. The course is aimed at producing a new breed of housing practitioners armed with both technical and leadership skills to tackle the punishing rigours in the industry.

We are grateful for Wooltru's support and commend its leadership for the visionary approach to one of the foremost challenges facing our country.

We are challenging all other companies in the industry to match or exceed Wooltru's support as we all collectively seek solutions to give a chance to people and companies with great potential.

Government is confident that through initiatives of this nature we will in the next five to fifteen years, have helped to support a crop of housing practitioners. Practitioners who will lead the way by setting standards of performance while at the same time maintaining and promoting professionalism and upholding ethical behaviour in the industry.

Because we believe that the National Housing Awards are government's conscious decision to affirm and promote excellence in the industry. Government will, through the housing MECs and departmental officials in the provinces, and at the national level, nominate candidates through a fair and transparent process.

The first round will see the announcement of the semi-finalists in the second half of the year. Followed by the announcement of the finalists who will in turn form the core of participants wherein the winners will be selected later this year.

We are extending an invitation to all South Africans to join us later this year in applauding the stalwarts within the low cost housing market for their contribution and support for a worthy cause.

I am talking about people who pledged to heal the multiple scars on the housing landscape. People who have remained focused by showing a will and determination to contribute towards the alleviation of poverty and redefining the shape and character of low cost housing in this country.

Government will be putting a badge of honour on each one of them thereby increasing a pool of housing practitioners who have run ahead of the pack and shown an indomitable spirit and beating all odds by succeeding.

We are here referring to women who have shown that with a supportive environment the glass ceiling and all other obstacles can be shattered. With the 10% quota of projects to be allocated to women developers, we have most definitely removed all barriers that have until hitherto hampered them from performing to their optimum. We hope to see more and more women not only entering the industry, but also diversifying and penetrate the entire industry.

With the emerging contractors continuing to contribute to the bulk of all houses delivered, we are hoping through this exercise to continue to not only open up opportunities but also build capacity to enable them to reach greater heights.

This, ladies and gentlemen, will indeed show that political freedom has indeed sprouted the fruits of liberty and economic opportunity. Confirming Maya Angelou's assertion that: "when it looked like the sun wasn't going to shine anymore, God put a rainbow in the clouds." It is this rainbow full of honourable people that we are seeking to expose for the full benefit of all our people, this as a way of accelerating social transformation and change to build our country and be of service to all our people.

We sincerely hope that over time, we will all be brave enough to look back and marvel at the path travelled because: I quote "history despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived but faced with courage need to be relived again" close quote by Maya Angelou. And I am sure we will all be proud of the legacy in the form of the energy and remarkable strength shown by housing practitioners in the low income housing industry over the years if only for our children and our children's children.

Thank you.

Issued by Ministry of Housing

06 April 2001