Cape Town – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says government has made progress over the past 20 years to address historical injustices of apartheid and social exclusion.
The Deputy President said this when replying to questions for oral reply at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Wednesday.
A Member of Parliament from the ANC in Limpopo had asked the Deputy President whether government had set any processes in motion to ensure that the millions of South Africans who were excluded from economic participation during apartheid, were receiving it now.
“Our country has indeed been making steady progress in addressing the historical injustices of apartheid and colonialism.
“Since 1994, the ANC government has undertaken extensive policy and structural reforms to address the socio economic conditions of our people,” he said.
The Deputy President said government recently released the 20 Year Review report that details the progress that it has made.
He said government has made a lot of progress in consolidating democracy in increasing the access of basic services like the provision of water, sanitation, quality education and health care, housing, security and social security.
The work of government is guided by the National Development Plan (NDP), South Africa’s policy framework to holistically improve the lives of all South Africans by 2030, the Deputy President said.
He said the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) will be used to implement the NDP over the next five years as it identifies the key actions that need to be taken.
“Cabinet uses progress reports on the implementation of the Medium Term Strategic Framework. It uses it as a basis of monitoring whether government is implementing the NDP.
“If one looks at those progress reports, you will realise that they indicate that there is good progress that is being made in ensuring that South Africans live longer,” he said.
Deputy President Ramaphosa said this was due to, amongst others, the expansion of the HIV and Aids programme.
On education, the Deputy President said there is progress that is being made in terms of the Annual National Assessment results for literacy and numeracy.
He said despite this progress, quality remained a concern for both sectors and this was receiving the attention of the relevant departments.
“The progress reports suggest there are still significant challenges for safety and security, economic growth, employment creation, rural development and land reform.
“These are areas where more work still needs to be done, but despite this, progress has been made.
“Thanks to the mechanisms that government has put in place to plan, to monitor as well as to evaluate, we are now in an even much better position than we were before to detail progress.
“This has put us in a much better position to address challenges and to work systematically to address these challenges,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
