(ix) a radical reduction of the levels of poverty and inequality.
I strongly believe that the occasion of the centenary of the ANC imposes on all of us the obligation to make an honest assessment of how far we have succeeded to address these objectives of the second strategic task of the NDR. Speaking as one who served in positions of leadership during the greater part of the period during which the NDR has sought to attend to this second strategic task, I must admit, frankly, that our progress has been much less than satisfactory, in some instances bordering on failure. At the same time I must state this that policies and programmes were put in place to respond to all the major challenges that constitute the component parts of the second strategic task of the NDR I have spoken of. A serious, honest and detailed assessment will therefore have to be made to determine what went wrong, which has produced what I have described as a much less than a satisfactory outcome, in some instances bordering on failure. I must also admit that this will require its own separate lecture and discourse.
At the same time we must acknowledge and welcome the significant progress our country and nation has made in some important respects, which progress we must defend and sustain – exactly one of the urgent and critical national challenges we face. This progress includes the establishment of a constitutional democratic system, which also entails the citizen and group entitlements entrenched in our Bill of Rights and respect for the separation of powers and the rule of law; the reconstitution of the state machinery to serve the people as a whole; the expansion of access to basic services such as water, electricity, sanitation, education, health, housing and to some extent economic opportunities; the placement of South Africa as a respected member of the African and world community of nations; and, of great importance, the provision to all our people the assurance of dignity, self-pride and self-worth, enabling all of us to walk tall everywhere in the world.
I say all this fully conscious of the reality that all these important successes must serve as but a base from which we must proceed further and successfully to address the remaining enormous, persisting and debilitating legacy of colonialism and apartheid, and the various glaring shortcomings of the National Democratic Revolution as it has pursued its second strategic task. With regard to what I have said about an honest assessment of the achievements of the NDR since 1994, perhaps the National Development Plan 2030, which I must confess I have not had time to study in detail, seems to have made an important beginning in this regard. I say this because in its early pages the Plan contains the comment made by the Chairperson of the National Planning Commission, Trevor Manuel, in which he says: “Eighteen years into democracy, South Africa remains a highly unequal society where too many people live in poverty and too few work. The quality of school education for most black learners is poor. The apartheid spatial divide continues to dominate the landscape. A large proportion of young people feel that the odds are stacked against them. And the legacy of apartheid continues to determine the life opportunities for the vast majority. These immense challenges can only be addressed through a step change in the country’s performance.”
The Plan also seeks to reflect on the subjective factor which relates to the possibility to achieve the goals of the second strategic task of the NDR. In this regard it says that during the years since 1994: “We felt our way towards a new sense of ourselves:
•trying, succeeding and making mistakes;
•proclaiming success and closing our minds to failure;
•feeling orientated and disorientated through our own actions;
•affirming some realities and denying others;
•proclaiming openness to the world, yet courting insularity;
•eager to live together, yet finding it difficult to recognise shared burdens;
•learning to recognise and acknowledge shared successes.”
With regard to the assessment I have suggested is imperative, I am convinced that we must make a determined effort to defeat the negative national tendencies described in the National Development Plan as – “proclaiming success and closing our minds to failure” and “affirming some realities and denying others”.
Practically, among other things, closing our minds to failure signifies a perverse and determined refusal to reverse or correct such failure! In this context I must say that I know of the corrosive and self-serving practice according to which we, sitting in decision-making positions in both the ruling party and the organs of state, would seek to explain away our failures by blaming everybody else other than ourselves, thus to justify and therefore perpetuate our own failures! Out of respect, from what I learnt from Oliver Tambo and others of our esteemed leaders, over many years, I would make bold to say that this manner of proceeding constitutes a betrayal of the kind of leadership expected of us, basing ourselves on the noble traditions handed down to us by these leaders.
To return to what I said earlier about my own assessment that at best, with regard to accomplishing the objectives of the second strategic task of the NDR, our achievements have been much less than satisfactory, in some instances bordering on failure, I must confess that one of the important root causes of this outcome is failure of leadership on our part, among which leadership I have been privileged to serve. In the context of what I have said, this means that we have an obligation to ensure that our continuing National Democratic Revolution and struggle are led by people who:
•accept completely and absolutely, internalise and practically ensure that their actions are informed by the imperative, never, in any way, to abuse state power to advance their personal interests;
•conduct themselves always and practically in keeping with moral practices informed by a commitment to serve the people;
•are determined to conduct themselves in their personal lives so that at all times they do not betray the ethical standards viewed by the masses they lead as fundamental to their definition of themselves;
•commit the entirety of their intellectual and other capacities to pursue the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution;
•have the strategic ability to lead our country to ensure that at no moment does it lose its focus on its fundamental goals as spelt out in our Constitution;
•respect the truth and are ready at all times to take actions that respond to our objective reality, not informed by narrow party political and otherwise partisan objectives rather than national goals; and,
•at all times communicate a credible message of hope to all our people, regardless of race, colour, gender, ethnicity and age, which gives the nation an authentic and real sense of certainty about its future.
Those of us who understand the meaning of the sacrifices that were made to achieve our liberation, will know that there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about any of the foregoing in terms of what we should expect, especially of the leadership of the National Democratic Revolution. I hope, sincerely, that nobody will resort to what seems to have become normal mischief, to highlight any part of what I have said to generate short-lived media sensation, thus to divert attention away from the serious national tasks to which we, together, must attend.
I am absolutely certain that all genuine South African patriots, regardless of partisan political affiliation, have more than due cause to celebrate Oliver Tambo as one of our country’s most outstanding leaders of the last century. Unequivocally, and by all accounts, this most pre-eminent son of our people emerged from our rural areas, to establish himself as an international statesperson, equal to any across the globe, during his historical age. We have gathered here today, at this historic place, the University of Fort Hare, during what I have stated is a moment of great unease in our country, and intimated the same about our continent and the world, to celebrate and salute one of the fathers of the nation, Oliver Tambo, born in Mbizana, a rural area hundreds of kilometres north-east of this centre of learning. He was also a determined and principled internationalist. In this context he led the South African national liberation movement, particularly but not only the ANC, to establish firm relations of solidarity with the rest of the national and democratic movement elsewhere