STATEMENT BY LN SISULU MINISTER OF HOUSING TO A SESSION ON MEETING THE MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AT THE 13^TH SESSION OF THE UN COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 

20 April 2005
New York

Chairperson,

We, in South Africa, drawing on a long history of struggle have committed ourselves to a new struggle – the struggle for the eradication of poverty and the creation of a better life for all. This provides us with our driving motive. For us access to services that government provides are binding. Thus, when on 26 August 2002, Heads of State, Ministers, Heads of Delegations and Diplomats descended on Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable Development we felt affirmed in our struggle, Africa’s hope for a better future were revived and new possibilities opened up with the adoption of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

It was, Chairperson, in accordance with this framework for global action that agreements were reached towards the achievement of specific measurable results within specific timeframes concerning water, sanitation, and human settlements. The global community agreed that the achievement of this objective was not only possible but that it needed to be achieved since it was in the interest of the world to do so. The Johannesburg 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.

Against this background, an inaugural meeting of the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development convened, recently, in Durban to formulate plans and a programme of action to help advance the objectives of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. Appalled by statistics relating to the fact that in the next 30 years Africa’s population will double from 888 million in 2005 to 1.77 billion, that in the same period the urban population will increase from 353 million to 748 million inhabitants; further appalled by the fact that 71,9% of the urban population lived in slums, that 57% of urban residents required access to improved sanitation and 43% to improved sources of water, African Ministers resolved to address issues relating to water, sanitation and human settlements, in an integrated manner. We African Ministers, deem it necessary for the global community to align at the global level the slum target to the two other areas concerning water and sanitation.         

From 4 to 8 April, the 20^th Session of UN-HABITAT’s Governing Council also correctly seized itself with this urgent development challenge. Thus, in his Summary of issues to be considered by the Commission on Sustainable Development at its thirteenth session, the President of the General Council indicated the need for ‘a much broader and ambitious approach’ to the challenge of slum dwellers.

Further, Chairperson, the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development, we who represent the poorest of the poor, call on developed countries to fulfil the commitments made at the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development. Our call also relates to debt relief since many African countries will not be able to meet their targets whilst being shackled by international debts.

Chairperson, since the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 committed itself to delivering to the hopes of African people and their governments, we ask that this Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development create an environment where there can be increased momentum. The consensus, amongst ourselves, that Africa and developing countries are failing to meet their MDG targets dictates that we measure our commitments and actions against this stark reality. For indeed, without any fear of contradiction, it is possible for us to indicate that this session of CSD13 holds all the pleasant possibilities for the progress of us all.

If intellectual ideas, finally, are what they are, namely; a studious search for solutions to the practical problems confronting human society; if morality is what it is, namely; a code guiding all of humanity to arrive at rational actions for the betterment of all, then the outcome of this session of CSD holds the power to deliver the promise that has revived our hopes in the 21^st Century. And only then, once we have achieved progress, will we make history!

          I thank you, Chairperson.