Hon Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, the Presidency lies at the very centre of governance structures and serves as a centre for strategic co-ordination in government. This could not be more important now during this difficult time that we face as a country in a difficult world.
Our most pressing challenges are persistent ones like poverty, unemployment and inequality. These are not individual challenges which stand alone and can be dealt with one at a time. They remain the major obstacles to the development of our society and must be confronted through a broad front of measures. Thus it is of critical importance that there is a co-ordinating centre, a strategic one, where the work can be approached in a comprehensive and co-ordinated manner.
There are many elements that make up the Presidency, including the work of monitoring and evaluation, the National Youth Development Agency, international work, and others which will be addressed by my colleagues. But in order to do all the things we need to do, we need to grow - grow our people with new skills; grow and improve the services we offer; and grow an economy that offers jobs for everyone. I think it is fair to say that we all agree on the need to grow and develop our country. To do this requires co-ordination at the very highest level.
I wish to focus on three important areas of work in the Presidency which have been initiated in the past year, which form part of the medium-term plans in this Budget Vote, and which underscore the importance of a strategic centre for pulling together the policy threads to weave the fabric of our new society. These are: the National Development Plan from the National Planning Commission which lies within the Presidency; the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, which was established in July last year; and the work of Brand SA relocated from the Government Communication and Information System, GCIS, to the Presidency, also last year.
I focus on these three because together they show how important it is that there is a fulcrum around which our plans, hopes and actions can be mobilised to get us to that imagined place in 2030 described in the National Development Plan.
So firstly, through the National Planning Commission, the Presidency is developing the country's long-term vision, and making proposals for how we get there. The Minister in the Presidency has already mentioned this. Once the current extensive consultation process is complete this vision must, and surely will, clearly articulate the long-term goals and aspirations of our people. This is the first such plan in our infant country's history, and such planning has proven in other parts of the world, to yield better results.
Secondly, the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, launched in July last year, will be the body that gives effect to and co- ordinates the most ambitious infrastructure roll-out ever seen in our country, so that goods can get to markets; people can move and work; so that export products can reach ports, and so that we can communicate amongst ourselves and across our borders, allowing us to play our full role in the modern world.
Thirdly, there is the Brand SA entity, which was established as the International Marketing Council in 2002 and now resides under its new name in the Presidency, and whose job is to market South Africa abroad, creating a positive and unified image of South Africa, and I quote from its objectives, "one that builds pride, promotes investment and tourism and helps new enterprises and job creation".
These three initiatives together, situated in the Presidency, provide the loom on which to weave our cloth, and we need to support every effort in this regard. We know that the National Development Plan sketches for us a visionary look into the future and what we will need to do to get there. It talks about the capabilities all citizens need to enable them to thrive; a pact for mutual satisfaction and trust amongst us; the society we will remake; and the importance of the wisdom of our leaders.
The National Development Plan sets a vision, calibrates targets and proposes action. The vision chapter, as Minister Manuel has mentioned, is written as if we were already in the year 2030 and looking back. It sets the stage for the great project of building our nation. Now, in 2012, we need this vision to guide us as we plan and work towards this remade country.
Vision is important, target setting is necessary, and action is what we need. Action has been and continues to be elusive. But action can only take place at the pace that a myriad of factors allow, including the necessary but cumbersome organs of state, our ability to deal with and eventually eradicate corruption, the international circumstances at any given time and human fallibility, amongst others.
Again, a strong strategic centre of government is essential to smooth the way for action, to weave together the threads of policy and practice and produce a durable cloth for us to wear with pride. As we look towards the vision for 2030, what is important is that we make steady and meaningful progress, without hysterical short-term point-scoring tirades, but with measured steps and by learning lessons from the experience along the way.
I think it is fair to say that having listened to the budget debates in this Parliament over the past few weeks, those Ministries dealing with the economy, including Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Public Enterprises, and others, one has heard encouraging reports on progress made. There is evidence that policy decisions are being turned into practical programmes with the emphasis on building on sound policies, and tweaking those that have proved less suitable.
An example is the statement by the Minister of Trade and Industry when he talked about four important things that have been done: stabilised the clothing, textiles, and leather industries; turned around the automotive industry; helped prompt an increase in employment in the business process services; and assertively adjusted public procurement so that it can act as a vehicle to promote local production. All these areas are creating jobs. Progress is being made, here and in other key departments.
Articulating the vision, setting the targets and mobilising the department to action, is the work of the Presidency. It is necessary and desirable that it is properly capacitated to do this work. I said earlier that the country needs to move forward with a broad front of measures to tackle challenges. Amongst others, we need people with the right capabilities, healthy people and communities, well-run and maintained ports and railways, and we also need innovation.
This was brought to mind when the Finance and Fiscal Commission tabled its 2013-14 report in Parliament on Friday. The report notes the new dimension to the challenges facing South Africa, that of the emergence of the knowledge economy. This requires new skills and new competencies from our people in order for them to participate fully in our growth.
In this regard, the Human Sciences Research Council, HSRC, said in an article in March last year, "New knowledge, innovation and technological change have become the drivers of progress, growth and wealth in the world's leading economies". However, the article concludes that in developing our knowledge economy, and I quote, "South Africa compares well with middle-to low-income countries such as Hungary, but it ranks well below other developing countries".
This may well be about to change. As the President has mentioned here, through the work of the Department of Science and Technology and the co- ordinated efforts of many departments, led by the Presidency, South Africa will host two thirds of the Square Kilometre Array, the world's largest ever telescope. [Applause.]
South Africa's knowledge economy will certainly receive a significant boost from this exciting mega project. Let it be the beginning of new growth in the development of this new challenge. These are some of the broad-fronted measures that we will need to take to deal with our most persistent challenges that I have referred to.
Our aims and objectives include important and stirring words. The NDP talks of a pact for mutual satisfaction and trust; Brand SA's goals are creating a positive and unified image of South Africa, one that builds pride. These are big and sometimes intangible goals. They are bigger than any one of us and need our combined ideas and work to achieve them.
We need step-by-step progress, but we also need a thinking and capacitated strategic centre for their realisation. We can see progress towards a remade country - too slow maybe, but steady and purposeful. We need to redouble these efforts. We need to do so in a synchronised and co-ordinated way.
However, one thing is missing. We have yet to find what makes us South African - all of us. It appears that we have yet to learn how to respect one another. I believe that most people in the country want to discover what is common, different, and makes us South African. They also want to discover what the cloth that we are weaving will look like. But who is responsible and how do we do it? One thing is for sure: no one person, one office or one group is responsible for finding the solution to our South Africanness. That is the responsibility of each and every one of us. I thank you. [Applause.]