South Africans Urged to Work Together to Promote Common Interests

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 07, 2002

South Africans Urged to Work Together to Promote Common Interests

President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday urged South Africans to act together to promote the country 's national interests and to avoid acting in any manner that would undermine their common future.

President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday urged South Africans to act together to promote the country 's national interests and to avoid acting in any manner that would undermine their common future.

He cited the rapid depreciation of the rand towards the end of last year as the reason for binding South Africans together to tackle their problems.

Delivering the keynote address at the ruling African National Congress (ANC)'s 90th anniversary celebrations in the eastern city of Durban, Mbeki, who is also leader of the ANC, said the depreciation of the rand, for reasons difficult to understand, had "nothing whatsoever to do with our national economy".

Globally it was one of the best performing economies during " this period of an economic slowdown that is affecting the world economy," he said.

"We have to continue with the economic policies that we have put in place at government level, we must continue to strengthen our links with the social partners organized in the Working Groups that interact regularly with government.

"Together with these partners, we must ensure that we achieve the goals that have already been agreed," he said.

These include such issues as higher levels of public and private investment acceleration of the development of such sectors as agriculture, tourism, employment creation, black economic empowerment, skills development and generally increasing the competitiveness of our economy, the president said.

He said that despite the negative financial development mentioned, it remains true "that we continued our steady advance towards the building of a vibrant economy and therefore the material base that will enable us further to improve our standard of living and the quality of life of all our people."

Mbeki also said the ANC would continue to pursue national reconciliation and racial equality.

Turning to the formation late last year of a new coalition government between the ANC and the white-dominant New National Party in the Western Cape province, Mbeki said this had created the possibility for the two political organizations that emerged as the first and second largest in this province during the 1999 elections, jointly to tackle two major related challenges facing the country in this region.

One of these was the issue of racism and the other that of poverty.

"The progress that will be achieved on these two fronts will make a significant contribution to our national struggle to overcome both these problems.

"Accordingly, we wish the new provincial coalition government success in its important work," Mbeki said.

Over 100 New Cholera Cases Reported in S. Africa

S. African Ruling Party to Celebrate 90th Anniversary