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13 October 2008

Honourable African Union (AU) Commissioner Joiner
Honourable Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia, Dr Amatila
Your Excellencies Ministers and Deputy Ministers from the African continent
Heads of Public or Civil Service in Africa
Ambassadors and High Commissioners
Distinguished parliamentarians
Our honoured guests

I am here to welcome you to South Africa, and to the beautiful city of Johannesburg. I am here to welcome you to the home country of that African icon, Nelson Mandela, whose leadership guided us and continue to do so today, and always remind us that Freedom for South Africa is Freedom for Africa.

I welcome you as representatives of the Nations of Africa arranged in alphabetical order from the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria to the Republic of Zimbabwe. I welcome you as the descendants of great African heroes such as Nasser, Nkrumah, Toure, Lumumba, Mondlane, Ben Bella, Nyerere, Machel and Keita.

As I welcome you to South Africa, I want to stress that the ANC government of South Africa is as committed to the African Union programmes today as we have been during the formative stages and the processes towards that. We live by our conviction that together as nations of Africa, we are destined to succeed. Our resolve is that we are a proud Nation of Africa committed to work for a better Africa and a better World.

Speaking at the launch of the African Union on the 9th July 2002, former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki said the following "A key challenge we have set ourselves is to end the levels of unemployment that has been a characteristic of ourselves. To do this, there is no alternative, but to garner all our own resources, both on our continent and elsewhere, to invest in factories, mines, agriculture and infrastructure, no longer should Africa be simply an exporter of raw materials to the West. We aspire to produce and manufacture the highest quality products for our own use and to export. In order to do this, we shall have to invest in training our own working people, if we are to sustain our development, then we shall have to increase trade amongst ourselves"

We recommitted ourselves to the AU programme when we resolved at the 52nd conference of the African National Conference in Polokwane in the South African province of Limpopo, when we resolved that, based on the current analysis of continental and international political environment and challenges, we require a united continent of Africa capable of engaging other powerful nations of the world, and thus being in line with the ANC vision of building a better Africa.

Today we are proud to say that we have experienced through time that the secret for success lies in the ability of the nations of the continent to work together so that we can position our public service machinery to uphold a responsive character as we provide services to the people.

Of course, one of the key issues that we have to always address as the nations of Africa, and that lies at the centre for our success in cementing our unity, is to rise to the level to be able to address internal challenges in our countries that will always arise and seek to challenge our strength to entrench democracy and guarantee national political and economic stability.

To this end, the President of South Africa, His Excellency Kgalema Motlanthe addressed the South African Nation on the 28th of September 2008, and he said the following "Our country is emerging from one of the most difficult weeks in the history of our young Democracy. It was a week of uncertainty and doubt, hurt and anger. Yet it is at moments like this that the true character of our Nation emerges. It is when we are tested, that we demonstrate our resilience and determination. We have shown in the past that though we may at times experience difficulty, we have both the will and the means to rise above the challenges of the moment".

It is on this score that I want to confirm that South Africa was ready yesterday, South Africa is ready today and South Africa shall be ready tomorrow and in the distant future.

Of course, there is no success in working in isolation, and it is on this background that the ANC government of South Africa has been available and is still available to soil our hands as we participate in peace-keeping initiatives as well as the reconstruction and development programmes in the continent.

To this end, President Motlanthe also said the following: South Africa will "continue to meet our international obligations to play a positive role within international institutions and forums. This include participation in continental initiatives".

I welcome your Excellencies to the 6th Pan African Conference of Ministers for Public or Civil Service, which is a policy making forum held biannually, and serves as a technical committee to the political Affairs Directorate of the African Union.

This conference follows the 5th African Conference of Ministers for Public or Civil Service, which was held in the Addis Ababa City of Ethiopia in 2005, where South Africa was elected as chairperson for the second time in succession.

The marching lines for the 5th conference were clearly defined in the Addis Ababa Declaration, which indicated a need to focus on intervention in the following thematic areas:
* The All Africa Innovation Awards
* The Africa Public Service Charter
* Anti-corruption
* Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development, as well as
* The Africa Public Service Day.

It is important to note that focusing on these thematic areas provided us an opportunity to apply our minds on key issues for Good governance. As the outgoing Chairperson of the 5th Pan-African Ministers Conference of Public or Civil Service, I will give a report later during this conference, which will reflect on our collective performance against the Addis Ababa declaration.

Even before we consider that report, I want to ask conference to rise and applaud, in recognition of the sterling work of that daughter of the African soil, the former Minister of Public Service and Administration of the Government of the Republic of South Africa, Her Excellency Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, who steered us through the 4th and the 5th conference.

As we end the term of the 5th conference on Ministers, I believe that we are going to use this conference as a platform to reflect on our performance as a continent collectively, but importantly as individual member states, and I believe that out of that reflection, we will collectively and individually develop programmes to sustain the success stories and to confront the lowlights.

We wish this conference every success in our deliberations and as we march ahead let us consider the words of Ben Okri who once said "The worst realities of our age are manufactured realities. It is therefore our task, as creative participants in the universe, to re dream our world. The fact of possessing imagination means that everything can be re dreamed. In this way, let us exercise leadership and judgement in the building of a world that rests on the principles of ubuntu and ujamaa. This is not an impossibility for as Okri continues "The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering."

Once more, welcome to South Africa and welcome to the 6th Pan African conference of Ministers of Public or Civil Service.

Long Live Africa!

Inkomu.

Issued by: Ministry of Public Service and Administration
13 October 2008