Pretoria - South Africa has progressed in the past twenty years of its democracy, but it’s not been easy, says President Jacob Zuma.

Speaking at the Freedom Day celebration at the Union Buildings on Sunday, President Zuma admitted that the country was straddled by huge economic challenges of unemployment and inequality.

On the flip side, he pointed to progress in social and basic services, buoyant economy and infrastructure development and building of an inclusive South Africa.

"We have done well on all of these pillars in the past 20 years. We have moved closer to our cherished dream of a united non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa,” he told the crowd gathered.

“Step by step, we are building the South Africa that our selfless and committed freedom fighters fought for. We are making tremendous progress each year.”

Referring to the Twenty Year Review Report, which government realised recently, the President said South Africans have made considerable progress building a better life for all.

“Over the past 20 years employment, both formal and informal, has grown by around 5.6 million people, which is far faster than it was the case previously. More work however still needs to be done to expand the capacity of our economy to absorb more people, especially the youth.”

Health care

Building on the foundation laid by Madiba, the country has registered significant improvements in access to health care.

More than 1 500 new health facilities including clinics have been built while others have been refurbished.

Most clinics are now open 24-hours a day and people do not pay to receive health care, while HIV and Aids programmes have yielded dramatic results.

There is increased life expectancy and thousands of children have been saved due to improved mother to child HIV transmission prevention programme.

“Thousands more people are receiving treatment, and more than 20 million have boldly taken the HIV test following the launch of the testing campaign in 2011,” said President Zuma, reminding people not to become complacent just because the treatment programmes are effective and easily accessible.

“We must still follow the prevention messages and ensure that there are zero new HIV infections each day in our country.”

Access to basic services

Regarding the expanding access to basic services, the President counted that in 2012, 83% of households had access to proper sanitation compared to 50% in 1994.

Access to water has also increased from 60% in 1994 to over 95% in 2012 and around 86% of households now have access to electricity compared to 50% in 1994.

As part of developing sustainable rural communities, the democratic government has distributed 9.4 million hectares of land, benefitting almost a quarter of a million people.

While on housing, over the past twenty years, close to 3 million houses were built and over 800 000 serviced sites were delivered.

Fight against crime

With regards to the fight against crime, serious crime and property crime have declined and progress has been made in the area of improving access to justice, especially for those who were previously marginalised.

“But we are not complacent. Work continues to build even safer communities. We are concerned that crime levels, particularly crimes against vulnerable groups such as women and children, remain of serious concern. This area will continue to receive our priority attention.”

National Development Plan

Looking ahead, the President said government will continue to work hard to eradicate poverty, inequality and unemployment. He said the foundation - the National Development Plan (NDP) will ensure that this dream is achieved.

“The next decade of freedom must be one in which we work together to advance economic transformation.

“We will continue to work with the business sector to advance broad-based black economic empowerment and affirmative action, in order to change the ownership, control and management of the economy.”

Government will also continue to focus on making improvements in five priorities - job creation, health, education, rural development and land reform as well as the fight against crime and corruption while expanding access to housing and basic services.

“There is a lot of work to be done, but we will succeed if we work together.”

Tribute to SA

President Zuma also used his address to thank unions, media, faith based organisations, women, youth, political prisoners ordinary South Africans and the world who made apartheid unworkable during the apartheid.

“We pay tribute to the South African masses who organised themselves into various formations, defying the might of the apartheid state,” he said, adding that today was a reminder that our freedom was not free.

“It came about through blood, sweat and tears. That is why we must defend it at all cost.

“We should congratulate ourselves for all this hard work. We must not deny or downplay these achievements, regardless of our political differences or contestation at any given time, including the election period.”

Thousands of people braved the scorching heat in the lawn area at the Union Buildings for the annual Freedom Day commemoration which was held under the theme: “South Africa – A Better Place to live in”.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) paraded as they marched onto the stage to provide the guard of honour for the state President Zuma.

The ceremony saw the National Anthem, the 21-round gun salute and a flypast by the two Oryx helicopters.

President Jacob Zuma, who arrived just after 10am for the official ceremony, sat in a white tent next to Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Mashatile, Minister in the Presidency's Collins Chabane and speaker of Parliament Max Sisulu.

President Pohamba, who spoke on behalf of SADC, said 1994 marked the resilience of human spirit and congratulated South Africa.

“We are happy that the culture of democracy has found deep roots in the country. We are confident that the upcoming elections will be free and fair,” said Pohamba.

Later on, President Zuma is due to hand over national orders to numerous outstanding South African citizens and foreign nationals at an event to be held at the nearby Sefako M Makgatho presidential guest house. - SAnews.gov.za

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The Independent Electoral Commission says it has published the final list of candidates for the May 7 national and provincial elections.

The IEC has provided candidates with certificates confirming their candidacy, said the IEC in Friday.

The final lists show a total of 8 651 candidates who are standing for election on the regional, national and provincial lists of 45 political parties. This is slightly fewer than the 9 117 candidates who appeared on the final lists for the 2009 election.

The IEC said there were 2 089 candidates on national lists, 2 165 candidates on regional lists and 4 397 candidates on provincial lists contesting for 400 National Assembly and 430 provincial legislature seats respectively – giving candidates an overall statistical 1 in 10 chance of election.

“Men continue to make up the bulk of candidates with 59.8 percent of the total candidates compared to 40.2 percent women. This is despite the fact that women registered voters outnumber men 55.9 percent to 45.1 percent.

“However, gender representation continues to show steady improvement over the years: 1999 (26.76%), 2004 (30.65%) and 2009 (38.5%),” said the commission.

Candidate lists for the Western Cape provincial elections show the greatest gender equity with 43 percent women – and the Northern Cape provincial lists are the lowest with 37 percent women.

The parties with the highest percentage of female candidates are:

- Keep It Straight and Simple with 1 of 1 candidate – 100%

- African National Party with 12 of 14 candidates - 85%

- South African Maintenance and Estate Beneficiaries Association with 36 of 47 candidates – 76.6%

With regards to age, candidates over 40 years old comprise 64.86 percent of the total – with candidates under 30 years old comprising just 11.8 percent (1 020) of candidates overall.

However, young candidates have increased by 17 percent since 2009 when just 869 of the 9 117 candidates were under 30 years old. In 1999 there were 724 candidates under 30 years of age out of a total of 7 140 candidates (10.1%).

The breakdown of age of candidates on the national lists is as follows:

- 18 – 19: 5 (0.24%)
- 20 – 29: 224 (10.7%)
- 30 – 39: 464 (22.2%)
- 40 – 49: 551 (26.37%)
- 50 – 59: 550 (26.37%)
- 60 plus: 295 (14.1%)

The IEC said the party with both the youngest and oldest candidate is the African People’s Convention which has a candidate who will be 18 years, 4 months and 13 days on Election Day and a candidate who will be 89 years, 8 months and 17 days old.

The final candidate lists are available on elections.org.za. – SAnews.gov.za

The North West Department of Health has placed its Director of Advocacy, Social Mobilisation and Communication on precautionary suspension following a preliminary investigation into the procurement of baby formula milk and the subsequent failure to distribute the milk before its expiration.

Provincial Health spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane said the suspension of Cornelius Lebeloe was effective from today.

“Mr Lebeloe, the then director responsible for HIV and AIDS in the province was suspended for his alleged role in the procurement of baby formula milk. The department has written to Mr Lebeloe and two more senior managers to explain their role in the procurement and processes that led to baby formula milk being incinerated.

“Based on what the preliminary investigations revealed a decision was then taken to suspend Mr Lebeloe,” said Lekgethwane.

Earlier this year, media reports claimed that the provincial health department had bought R7 million worth of baby milk formula but failed to distribute it for three years. It then spent almost R2 million to incinerate the expired milk. The milk was believed to have expired between August and December 2013.

Lekgethwane said the investigation into the matter would continue and further findings would inform further action the department will take with regard to other two senior officials.

“[Mr Lebeloe] will remain on suspension while a full investigation continues. However, it is important to note that he has not been found guilty.” – SAnews.gov.za

Coming from a history of struggle South Africa, a country which is an example of what humanity can do to bring about a better world, deserves to celebrate 20 years of freedom, says Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

“My gut reaction to this celebration is that we deserve it; we have earned it in many remarkable ways. We have earned this historic moment through the epochal struggles we have launched to free the South African population from the clutches of a backward and indeed inhuman ideology,” said the Deputy President on Thursday.

Deputy President Motlanthe - who is on a working visit to the UK - was speaking at a ceremony to mark South Africa’s 20 years of democracy at the South African House in London.

Two decades later, South Africa is a different nation by all accounts, he said.

“We are a shining example of what humanity can do to bring about a better world.”

This Sunday, South Africans across the country will celebrate their freedom with President Jacob Zuma expected to officiate the main address of the day at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

The day 27 April 2014 will mark two decades since South Africans of all races voted in the country’s first free and fair election in 1994, ushering in a new democratic dispensation.

The country, said Deputy President Motlanthe, is consolidating social cohesion and a national identity that is representative of its rich and diverse culture.

“In this task we are galvanized by the strategic vision to consolidate unity, democracy, non-racialism, non-sexism and prosperity,” said the deputy president.

The passing away of former President Nelson Mandela in December last year, left the country a legacy that is constitutive of the foundation of the inclusive nationhood.

“It is a legacy that resonates with the preamble of our constitution: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. South Africa is a microcosm of the world, having attracted the people from all corners of the world over time. Similarly our anti-apartheid struggle was a broad front comprising members of all sections of our society.”

The biggest task facing the country, said the deputy president, is that of ensuring a growing and prosperous economy to ensure a better life for all South Africans especially those coming from a background of historic exclusion.

“Without a growing economy to extricate South Africans from the abyss of poverty, unemployment and inequality democracy holds out no meaning. In fact, no democracy can survive under conditions of want, penury and social bleakness,” said the deputy president.

All South Africans have a good reason to celebrate the benefits attained through freedom, and so do the people of the world as a whole.

However, the celebrations do not represent the end of the journey but the beginning to address the challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequity.

Deputy President Motlanthe thanked the UK for joining in the celebrations of 20 years of freedom. – SAnews.gov.za

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The Department of Social Development (DSD) is set to launch the Adopt-an-ECD campaign, which will give children in early childhood development centres a chance at a brighter future.

Individuals and companies are invited to step in to help the department make ECD a reality for more children in the country. Through the campaign, the department aims to increase resources for ECDs based in rural areas.

Early childhood development has been identified as the key to unlocking many barriers to education by laying a solid foundation in the early years of childhood.

Currently, more than one million children access ECD services throughout the country and government wants to reach more. The Adopt-an-ECD campaign is but one way of achieving this goal.

Interested individuals or organisations can get more information on ndacampaigns.co.za . The portal also allows people to register as donors and to make a financial contribution to the ECD of their choice.

The campaign is in partnership with the National Development Agency (NDA).

It will be launched by the Northern Cape MEC for Social Development, Tiny Chotelo, on Wednesday, 30 April at the Protea Hotel in Kimberly. – SAnews.gov.za