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Dr Svoboda
Colleagues Guests
and most Importantly
Graduants and family members

It always gives me immense pleasure to stand before a group a young (and not so young) graduates of any programme to further the education and training of our people.

It excites me that as a people we are steadily laying the foundations for what is surely the single most important factor in ensuring the sustained growth and development of our society, and thus the sustained prosperity of our people. If there were any regrets, it would be only that we couldn't drive this process faster.

And so let me convey the sincere appreciation of the Minister of Minerals and Energy and my Department to MEETI and its entire staff;
•to each of the lecturers and contributors to all the courses that have been delivered;
•to all the agencies which have made it possible for the Institute to continue running and to present the various programmes - and
•to all of you graduates and your families. Both sides of this learning process make a valuable contribution to our common prosperity as a country and people.

I am told that the programmes from which people are graduating here tonight:

Management of Minerals Policy - 15 students
Environmental Policy management in Mining - 15 students
Petroleum Policy and Economics - 23 students
SADC course in Training of Trainers in Rural Energy planning and
Environment - 20 students.

In total MEETI has trained 240 participants, 78 of which were women. Between 1996 and 2002, 909 people, 272 of whom were women, have attended MEETI courses in partnership with its University. This is a considerable accomplishment for an organisation of this size.

When we talk about the "rich social fabric" in our Southern African societies it is organisations like MEETi that contribute to this rich fabric. I wish to dwell briefly on what underlies my excitement and pleasure at being here tonight. Since our first democratic elections in 1994, this government has made every effort to ensure that the hard-won political freedom which that election signified, is not rolled back, indeed is carried forward and strengthened. A key to this has been economic growth.

The managers of our national finances, in the persons of the Minister of Finance and his staff as well as the Governor of the Reserve Bank, have received international recognition for their efforts to ensure that the fundamentals of our economy are sound. This has not been an easy process - not for our politicians and technocrats, nor for our people at large. It has involved some tough choices that are now paying off. We are convinced that we are building on a sound base. Even during those times when our currency has been under severe pressure, it has still fared better than many others.

But the macro-economic fundamentals alone are not enough. In addition, government faces other imperatives if we are to grow as an economy, and if such growth is to underpin political stability.

Transformation of ownership: The patterns of ownership of much of our economy have historically mirrored and in fact been underpinned by apartheid system. Government has made it a priority that this pattern of ownership is redressed. In the minerals and energy sectors, we have led the way. When we drafted and signed the Liquid Fuels Empowerment Charter in November 2000, we had no idea of the spate of 'Charters' that today are in the process of being developed in various sectors of the economy. We were driven solely by this realisation that our people will not be satisfied for very long with political freedoms alone. They have to be accompanies by economic freedoms. And so we set about seeking to transform the ownership and control of the liquid fuels sector. Similarly, this understanding of the national imperative of economic transformation has driven the Mining Charter process. However, in the mining sector due to peculiar circumstances of that sector we had to develop a Broad Based Socio Economic Empowerment Charter that consists of 7 pillars. Mining is one of the industries where Blacks were not allowed to practice their skills by law up to the eighties. Blacks were only migrant labourers who were housed in single sex hostels. Hence the charter addresses:

Human Resource Development - there should be literacy classes, learner ship programs, scholarships and mentoring for employees in the industry

Employment Equity - There should be 40% HDSA in both junior and senior management position in mining companies and also 10% of women folk within 5 years.

Procurement - There should be progression of procurement from HDSA companies over a 3-5 years time frame reflecting the genuine value added by the HDSA providers.

Beneficiation - Increase the value of beneficiated products where it makes economic sense.

Community upliftment - Mining companies are to cooperate in the formulation of integrated development plans for communities where mining takes place and for major labour sending areas, with special emphasis on development of infrastructure.

Normalisation of housing - Establish measures for improving the standard of housing and establish measure for improving of nutrition of mine employees.

Ownership - To achieve 26% HDSA ownership of the mining industry assets in 10 years by each mining company. Similarly, this understanding of the national imperative of economic transformation has driven the Mining Charter process.

Skills development: Another imperative has been the rapid skilling of our people to enable the growth of the economy beyond its historical confines. The minerals and energy 'complex' is still for most part the base of our economy. Recent history has shown us however that generous natural endowment is not sufficient for economic prosperity. The "Asian Tigers" have in the last few decades overtaken many African economies that had previously overshadowed them. In 1965 for example, Nigeria had a higher per capita GDP than Indonesia. By 1990, Indonesia's GDP has risen to three times that of Nigeria. At its independence in 1957, Ghana had a higher GNP than South Korea. Today South Korea has an average income 30 times that of Ghana. Much of this growth has been based on extensive and intensive investment in human capital.

Trade has been an important element in these economic success stories. But behind the trade successes has been skills and capacity building. Our industrial policy is aimed at shifting our economy from a reliance on exporting raw minerals and raw agricultural products towards an export-led manufacturing and service base. If we are to achieve this, we need to fast track the skilling of our people. The skills strategy adopted by government has begun to address this issue through various mechanisms. Firstly, the national qualifications framework seeks to measure and recognise existing skills among especially historically disadvantaged sections of our communities. It also puts in place a framework to upgrade these skills. Secondly, skills development legislation focuses attention on companies in order to ensure learning and skills development becomes a lifelong process - thus ensuring that our economy does not fall behind again. I am told that MEETI is seeking certification for its courses in terms of this national qualifications framework.

The third imperative is that as we look to economic growth, we should not lose sight of the intended beneficiaries of such growth, i.e. our people. As a government, our orientation will always be developmental. As we develop policies, set priorities and implement projects, this remains the key driver that will always determine our direction. Economic growth, which is not linked to development, will not meet our people's aspirations.

And at the nexus stands, ......you - the people at either end of the learning and teaching process. You are or must become the managers, the owners, the engineers and the entrepreneurs and civil society leaders who will lead this growth.

In many ways South Africa has many elements of a developed economy. The global companies and infrastructure are largely in place - but again history has suggested to us that we should put particular emphasis on small companies.

As the enabling environment is put in place and the opportunities emerge, we need to ensure that we have people of the right calibre, in sufficient numbers and of the right orientation to take us forward. It is to you that the realisation of our common dream of growth, development and prosperity, is entrusted.

We exist in a global world, and we deal with economic sectors that have standards that are beyond our control. We deal with dangerous chemicals and in our mines work at depths most people will never see - but while we talk about small business, this is not a spaza shop world. We need to produce here people who can operate as equals anywhere in the world.

And for those of who you are not South African - please be assured that we have the same expectation of you. Our continent can only move forward collectively. We don't think that a go-it-alone approach will work in Africa. Hence our President along with other African presidents is leading the establishment of the African Union and NEPAD.

Finally, I am pleased that MEETI is expanding its scope to cover environmental management. The recent WSSD here in Johannesburg has served to highlight the issue of sustainability. While this poses very difficult choices for developing economies, like ours that is so heavily based on coal, we cannot ignore this imperative. How we grapple with and resolve these multi-faceted challenges is, well ...... entrusted to you, the new generation of manager, entrepreneur, technocrat, owner and civil society leader.

For our part, the DME is always looking for further opportunities for training, especially of those who previously had no access to these sectors. We have relationships with several countries which offer specialised training which might be unavailable in South Africa - e.g. with Petronas, the Malaysian National Oil Company. More than 20 students have enrolled for various engineering degrees at the Petronas Technical Institute. In our bi-national engagements with various countries, the issue of capacity building is always a priority.

We are commissioning research that we hope will lead to a Human Resource Masterplan to investigate the gaps in the skills supply to the petroleum sector, and strategies to meet unfulfilled demand. The Minerals Branch is being expanded specifically to strengthen our support to small-scale miners. Skills and capacity building stand at the centre of our vision for the transformations of the minerals and energy sectors.

In conclusion then, a positive future for our economy and our people rests on many things. We are convinced that our macro economic fundamentals are sound, drawing significant confidence from international investors. Secondly, based on these sound fundamentals, government has recently announced a new focus on investment in infrastructure projects, aimed at giving a boost to the economy as well as enabling further growth. Our labour productivity is high. Increasingly it is these factors which investors look for, rather than simply lower labour costs. We have heeded the imperative to transform ownership of the economy, as well as the lessons from history - much of governments focus has been on small business development and support - i.e. business skills as well as technical competency. But none of this will bear any real fruits if we fail to develop the requisite skills.

And so we thank you and congratulate you here tonight - we are proud of your achievements. But we also want to charge you with the future growth of our economy and prosperity of our people. Go out - be the best managers, the most creative and ambitious entrepreneurs, and the most intellectually adept and developmentally committed technocrats.

Apply what you have learned here to the benefit of yourselves and your families, your organisations, our country and people at large. AND ...learn constantly - our economy cannot afford for any of us to stop learning.

Congratulations, and thank you.

Source: Department of Minerals and Energy (http://www.dme.gov.za)