FINAL

SPEECH BY LN SISULU MINISTER OF HOUSING AT THE BLACK BUSINESS QUARTERLY ANNUAL AWARDS 2007

30 November 2007

Sandton Convention Centre

Johannesburg

Master of Ceremonies

Ladies and Gentlemen

To talk of development is to talk of the reason for the reproduction and progression of our existence as human beings, to talk of sustainable development is to speak of the superiority of the human race above all other species.  It is in the fulfillment of this assertion, the superiority of the human species, that most of us here spend our days.  For we, above all else, have the sensibility that should speak to the need of ensuring that we can secure our continuity.

          Historically, societies have propelled themselves forward consciously or unconsciously on a set of milestones.  Their very existence depends on progress toward these.  Failure to do this has led to stagnation and attrition.  Every civilization has been marked and identified by the milestones it has made.  The Iron Age, for instance, distinguished itself from previous periods by the use of implements in its subjugation of the environment.  It did not survive, because it was not sustainable.  Here lies the nub of the issue at hand: Every major civilization has had within it the seed of its own destruction, or conversely, of its mutation to higher levels.

          Here we are: The 21^st Century, which is marked by immeasurable progress as we conquer the world and subordinate it to our needs.  This is our place in history and we will be judged by the decisions we took and whether they led to the regeneration of humanity, or allowed and encouraged unsustainable consumption of the world’s finite resources by a few.

As the human race is ever more drawn and preoccupied with producing the conditions for wealth accumulation, a more powerful and enduring collective concern has emerged that tempers this narrow drive for wealth that enquires for whom, how and to what end.

As we accumulate wealth: do we do that in the interest of securing a better future for all of us, or do we do that in narrow self interests and thereby inadvertently creating the conditions where our continuation is invariably undermined.  From time to time we talk about it and fortuitously we have occasions like these where we can ask the awkward question, no matter how fleetingly.

At the core of our actions as communities and individuals is the belief that we must live fruitful lives, which should at all times be followed by the belief that the generations following us also have a right to live as prosperously as we can make possible. As we embark on efforts to defeat hunger, deprivation and want, we must take extra precaution to gear the economy of our country towards growth that can be justified and maintained.

From a common, lengthy and protracted process of gatherings of the global community over the last fifty years culminating in this country, at these precincts in 2002, a declaration was produced which was to bind all of humanity to a sustainable and just future. In its barest essentials, ‘The Declaration’ at the conclusion of the United Nations- World Summit on Sustainable Development stated that the current trajectory of our development as the human race was not sustainable. The Summit concluded, declaring that the "deep fault line" between rich and poor posed a major threat to global prosperity and stability.  It set out the parameters for an alternative. 

The phrase sustainable development became entrenched in our discourse and has gained greater currency and has resonance with all, whatever their area of activity.  It is as pertinent for me as I take part in planning the growth of this country.  It is as relevant for each one here.  Will your business be able to grow and add value?  These are issues I am certain occupy your minds.  Sustainability is an all encompassing concept that is about today and tomorrow.

Convened here today, at the very place that hosted the Summit, we cannot but feel privileged to be part of this generation. For just as the international community was coming to the realization that growth that was not geared towards sustainable development was breeding discontent we too were turning our country around. Thus, we now have become part of a global movement that asserts that growth must take cognizance of social justice.

It was in accordance with this framework for global action that agreements were reached towards the achievement of specific measurable results. The Plan of Implementation read, therefore, as I reiterate for emphasis, that:

“We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected. We are committed to making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire human race from want.”

A profound statement by any account.  To free the human race from want.

For most of us charged with the management of your affairs, this ranked as one of the most important collective achievements of our time. We were setting the world on a new development path with lessons at the back of our minds of the price we paid in the past decades within which we paid no heed to this important precept of sustainable development.

We, in particular, have learnt from Apartheid that the price to pay in the pursuit of growth that was illogically not sensitive to the needs of the majority led to the destruction of that very system and was a wanton plunder of resources by a few.  Apartheid had within it the seeds of its own destruction, it was not sustainable. 

We have since focused attention on issues such as, among others, the role that business could play in ensuring that there was sustainable development. We came to the conclusion, after much deliberation that for economic growth to be sustainable, it had to have the essential rationale to move beyond itself and create the environment for its own reproduction. For it would be stunted if it existed for its own sake. Growth, in other words, needed to help the movement towards sustainable development. It needed to sustain the progress towards ensuring that those who come after us have the resources that they need to enjoy quality lives.

Sustainable development has become a very useful term that should underscore all we do.  And of course the emphasis will be determined by a number of factors.  In the developed world, sustainable development has of necessity to be about the environment, which is a global issue of major importance.  For Africa, sustainable development has to be first and foremost about poverty because that is the stark reality of our time.  In South Africa it has to be about inequalities.  The deep fault line between the rich and the poor – this is a schism that will bedevil all our effort at sustainability.

The seed of our destruction resides in this growing inequality and marginalization.  The same dichotomy that the world faces between the rich and the poor, we face in this country.

The crossing of barriers to tackle poverty and inequality requires the same level of commitment demonstrated in the challenge of apartheid. It requires a social contract, an agreement to produce equity, and a shared understanding of the balance that is necessary for our planet to reproduce itself to ensure our collective survival and confidence. We must rise above our complacency to see poverty, HIV & Aids and violence not as a problem to be left unchallenged.  If we do not respond to the slow and arduous institutional task of building social solidarity, we will be doomed to injustice, insecurity and environmental destruction in our time and beyond.

I am very glad that as black business you have been with us throughout the process and continue to accompany us on this long but necessary journey.

We rely on you, you who must be the pre-eminent advocates of the changes we need to ensure that growth serves sustainable development, you who must invest the necessary energy and time to help achieve those goals. In times of greatly needed changes, nations count on those with the developed consciousness, foresight, resources and vision to carve a path out of what often is a thick glass of uncertainty, confusion and at times a deliberate obfuscation of the real issues of the day.

Sustainable development is above all about development that is based on partnerships. It is about the efficient stewardship of scare resources and their merger with the realization of a quality life. Hence, it encompasses the economic, social and environmental contexts of development. It entails a number of complex processes with many interacting factors, which affect the lives of everyone and make it everybody's business.

It is on account of this that I am confident that together we will be able to address the pressing need for sustainable development within our country through properly directing growth towards these purposes and making the necessary changes within the economy.  Changes have begun with the restructuring of the economy to achieve greater representation where it matters.

As government we would work very hard to make sure that our partnership works. For we know what we gain in realizing it. Conversely, we know what we lose when we fail to do so. Beginning tomorrow, our efforts will be directed to the threat of HIV/AIDS which shortens the lives of productive men and women. Such is the challenge that it would even be impossible to speak about sustainable development without having in placing concrete measures on curbing the spread of the disease. In eating away the lives of children at the early stages of their development it again takes away from us a potential human resource whose productiveness would have counted in our progress towards our development.

I am very hopeful for the future of this country because you are now beginning to take your place in the space grudgingly left by the previously advantaged.  When you are firmly entrenched in that place, we stand a better chance of turning the fortunes of our people.  You are our hope, our bridge to stem this chasm that threatens our continuity and progression.  You know who we are, we, the ordinary, who trail behind.  We, who are proud of what you have become.  We, who are your own, are cheering you on.  The sustainability of our common development lies in the removal of that which threatens it: the crime, the disease, the poverty, the homelessness, the joblessness and the pain.

We urge you to thrive so that you can create jobs that will sustain the poor.  Thrive and grow and sustain this democracy.  By doing well for yourselves, you are doing good for society.  We want you to do well so that you can sustain the economy.  Your success will guarantee the sustainability of our dreams.  That should tell you how important you are to all of us.  Thrive, for in you is the seed of our regeneration and destiny. Thrive.b

I thank you.