Speech delivered by the Honourable Ms Susan Shabangu, MP and Minister of Mineral Resources, at the Africa Down Under Conference, Perth, Australia, September 1 2010

Programme Director,
Ministers present,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen

I am honoured to be an invited guest to this prestigious event, which brings together a high calibre of international delegates from the mining industry with particular interest in Africa. It is therefore fitting for me to take a moment to congratulate the organisers of the Africa Down Under Conference for continuing to facilitate this high level forum of information sharing and knowledge exchange among stakeholders in the global mining industry.

The world-economy is steadily recovering from the financial crisis of 2007-2009. The global mining industry was severely affected by the financial crisis, leading to a sharp decline in most commodity prices resulting in significant deterioration in the economic outlook for mining countries in the short term.

The current public service strike has brought to the fore the bitter nature of the power struggle at play in the ruling ANC/SACP/COSATU alliance. Our current assessment is that factions in the alliance, perhaps led by the ANC Youth League, are preparing to execute a political coup at the ANC’s 2012 conference in Bloemfontein. At its most serious this political shift may include the axing of Jacob Zuma and his forced resignation as president of South Africa. At the very least infighting ahead of the 2012 conference will continue to destabilize the alliance. This will have the effect of destabilizing the broader policy environment in the country and therefore causing a rise in levels of uncertainty about the future of the country. It is our assessment that it is only possible to make sense of the policy environment in South Africa by understanding the ANC’s concept of a National Democratic Revolution (NDR). The NDR is poorly understood in South Africa but it serves as the philosophical and ideological grounding of the ANC. Its origins, its importance after 1994, its consequences, and the countervailing forces acting against it are reviewed in the abridged analysis below.

In a speech on 2 September at Herzlia School in Cape Town, FW de Klerk warned against the threat that demographic representivity and cultural hegemonism pose to minority rights and to cultural and language diversity.

De Klerk pointed out that our Constitution makes full provision for the protection of minorities.  It recognizes that in complex societies such as our own the maintenance of national unity paradoxically requires respect for diversity.  Our Constitution accordingly recognizes and protects all kinds of diversity – including race, gender, marital status, sexual preference, social status, age, language and culture.

The new South Africa had been founded on the premise of the equality of all our people and all our communities.  “It is based on the notion that no-one - no majority, no minority, no individual - should ever again be able to unjustly deprive anyone - whether a majority, a minority or an individual - of any fundamental right.   The foundation of our historic national accord was that henceforth relationships between the state and citizens would never again be governed by the arbitrary decisions of this or that group or party - but by the carefully crafted and nationally agreed precepts of the Constitution.”

The unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo on 17 February 2008 brought the contentious issue of the right to self-determination and the extent of this right under international law to the fore.  Although most of Europe as well as the United States of America recognised Kosovo as an independent state, many states refused to do so based on the fact that such a declaration is in violation of international law.

On 17 October 2010 the United Nations General Assembly submitted a request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for an advisory opinion regarding the following issue: Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo.  More than 30 states submitted written statements regarding the legality of the unilateral declaration of independence and two written contributions by the authors of the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo were also submitted.  The public hearings were concluded on 11 December 2009 and after several months of deliberations the Court rendered its opinion on 22 July 2010.  The final conclusion of the Court was handed down by ICJ President Hisashi Owada.