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KEYNOTE
ADDRESS BY LN
SISULU CHAIR
OF THE AFRICAN
MINISTERIAL
CONFERENCE ON
HOUSING AND
URBAN
DEVELOPMENT ON
SOCIAL
INCLUSION AND
COHESION
20 June 2006
World Urban
Forum III
Vancouver,
Canada
Master of
Ceremonies
My fellow
panelists
The Executive
Director of
UN-HABITAT,
Dr. Anna
Tibaijuka
Invited
delegates,
friends
Ladies and
Gentlemen:
I am aware
that we have
moved on now
in our
discourse and
use more
acceptable
terminology
such as social
exclusion. In
this context –
for which we
are gathered
here – to
analyse the
challenge that
confronts us
and find
actionable
solutions, may
I be allowed
to revert to
the term poor,
which
represents
exactly what I
want to bring
to all our
attention.
Poverty is
what needs to
be understood
and
specifically
the urban
poor, we need
to see as a
clear and
present danger
that we all
have to
address.
In bringing
the term
poverty firmly
back into the
centre of the
debate, we are
able to
understand
that exclusion
has worsened
the plight of
the poor. A
discussion
paper of the
recently
established
High Level
Commission on
the Legal
Empowerment of
the Poor (HLCLEP)
emphasises a
principle we
need to
consider:
“A majority of
the world’s
population is
largely
excluded from
… the services
that directly
affect their
economic
well-being.
This aspect of
the poverty
challenge may
be as
important as
provision of
education and
health care,
infrastructure,
or improved
social equity,
but it has not
been given
sufficient
attention by
governments or
by the
international
development
community.”
This, I
believe, is a
central
challenge
facing us here
– how we
ensure that
the issue of
the urban
poor, in
particular, is
given as much
attention by
the
international
community,
beyond
speaking about
it.
Poverty is the
condition of
88% of people
in the cities
of the
developing
world.
Historians
define the
modern era as
that period
where, by and
large, the
world was free
of major
wars. A
period that at
our most
optimistic we
would want to
refer to as
the period of
the free
world.
When the
United Nations
was formed, it
heralded the
creation of a
world where we
could all
divert our
energies to
uplifting as
opposed to
destroying the
world.
For us in the
developing
world, it
offered
boundless, but
boundless
possibilities.
I am sure that
the story I am
about to tell
is fabricated,
but it has
become
legendary.
The story is
set in some
African
country in the
war years.
Basil
Davidson, the
African
Historian
tells of the
efforts of the
British to
enlist African
soldiers for
support
services in
the war.
“So”, says the
white man,
“you must
understand it
is your
responsibility
to support the
fight against
Hitler”. The
black man of
course does
not quite
follow the
logic of this
responsibility.
So, the white
man, in a
painstaking
effort to
explain in a
way that would
convey the
weighty matter
to the simple
mind of the
African: “You
see”, he says
with great
deliberateness,
“it is wrong
for one nation
to govern
another …”.
He is of
course
explaining
these lofty
notions to a
man in the
cruel grip of
colonialism.
So, the legend
goes, was born
the idea, in
the simple
mind of the
African, that
it was indeed
wrong for one
nation to
govern another
…
The point I
want to draw
from the
story,
however, is
different. In
the fight
against
Nazism, the
world was
mobilised
against this
scourge and
the world
responded to
it as a common
threat.
We face a
similar threat
now against
humanity, and
that is the
scourge of
poverty. The
important
question we
might ask: Are
we properly
structured to
mobilise the
world against
this new
common threat
against
humanity, in
the same way
as we did
against other
threats. I
ask this
question,
because
somehow the
poor find
themselves
alone in the
struggle
against
poverty. The
rich, on the
other hand,
have by and
large become
free and
indifferent.
To this
indifference I
will later
return.
Last year,
with the help
of UN-Habitat,
the African
Ministers
voluntary came
together to
form a forum
where we could
jointly
address the
common
problems we
face.
In the year
that I have
represented
African
Ministers of
Urban
Development at
international
for a as their
Chairperson, I
have been made
to feel guilty
about our
situation,
something to
be curiously
accommodating
of, an
unpleasant
moment whose
absolute
brevity is
paramount.
For all the
commitment
from an
enlightened
world, we are
almost
apologetic
when we raise
these painful
truths and any
return to
these
discussions is
so politically
incorrect.
With the
beginning of
this
millennium,
the world took
a stand
against
poverty;
committed
itself to the
Millennium
Declaration.
We were
convinced then
that the
necessary
steps had been
taken to
mobilise the
world to
collectively
fight social
exclusion.
The Millennium
Declaration
was taken a
step further
when two years
later, through
the
Johannesburg
Declaration of
the World
Summit on
Sustainable
Development,
we all
declared:
“We will
spare no
effort to free
our fellow
men, women and
children from
the abject and
dehumanising
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”.
We affirm the
premise that
cities are
indeed engines
of growth and
when policies
are correctly
structured,
will provide
an opportunity
to build
social
cohesion in
areas in which
, by
historical
design the
poor had no
place.
It is now a
generally
accepted truth
of our time –
that
urbanisation
will throw up
one of the
biggest
challenges.
When coupled
with poverty
it creates the
complexity of
problems that
we seek to
unravel
today. Within
the context of
developing
continents,
the two are
inextricably
linked. And
this is why
urban shelter
has become
such a
pressing
issue. For
nothing
defines the
reality of the
developing
world more
starkly than
through this
prism.
This is the
picture of a
city in the
developing
world. The
rich in
residential
areas with all
the
infrastructure
and services
and the poor
in shacks
perched
precariously
along the
infrastructure
routes: where
poverty,
disease and
deprivation
prevail.
It has now
become
acknowledged
as given, that
for some time
to come, we
will live with
this, where
among the
marginalised,
there will be
high levels of
unemployment,
coupled with
high levels of
illiteracy,
poor health
and compounded
by high levels
of crime,
places where
the gods will
intermittently
visit all
manner of
calamity from
floods to
fires.
Unemployment
rates run at
88%. These
will often
always be the
later arrivals
in the city,
with the
highest
percentage of
female headed
households.
It is
estimated that
by 2030
approximately
60% of the
world’s
population
will be living
in cities.
Nearly all of
this global
population
growth will be
absorbed into
urban areas of
the world’s
least
developed
regions, the
least able to
absorb such
growth.
Approximately
2 billion
people
worldwide will
be living in
informal
housing/ slums
by 2020. We
know that
already by
2001, 31.6% of
the global
urban
population
lived in
slums.
When this
stark picture
is thrown up,
then you
understand
why, when we
met in
Barcelona in
2004, there
was a radical
mood about
ourselves that
wanted the
plight of the
poor to change
and to change
soon. I
sensed an
impatience
from the
poor. I
understand the
impatience
today caused
by, what is
perceived to
be, the lack
of achievement
of substantial
progress in
effecting the
change
necessary to
improve the
quality of
life for all.
The position
of the poor
remain the
same as we
continue to
meet.
Between 1990
and 2001,
regardless of
us
establishing
the Habitat
Agenda in 1995
and the
adoption of
the Millennium
Declaration in
2000, more
than 200
million new
slum dwellers
were added to
our cities.
Worse, close
to 3 billion
people,
representing
about 40% of
the world’s
population,
are said to be
in vulnerable
positions that
would make
them to be in
urgent need of
housing and
shelter by
2030. The
urbanisation
of poverty,
that is what
is increasing
at a faster
rate than we
are able to
deal with.
For Africa to
make a
difference to
this
situation, a
couple of
interventions
are required.
There is the
need to ensure
that all
socio-economic
programmes and
activities on
the continent
are focused on
ensuring that
the basic
survival needs
of the most
deprived are
met. Only then
can the focus
fall on
longer-term
security.
Second, how do
we structure
our resources
to meet the
challenge. It
is generally
accepted that
in the
sub-Saharan
African region
continues the
existence of
weak local
government in
which the
necessary
municipal
funding is not
being raised
locally
because of a
lack, among
other things,
of formalised
asset
registration.
Urban
governance in
Africa
Clearly,
it requires
far more will
need to be
done: if
greater
collaboration
between
national and
local
governments,
and the
inclusion of
civil society
in local
decision-making,
is desired. A
more concerted
focus on the
poor, and far
more attention
on the
governance
dimensions of
such an
approach, is
also required
to eradicate
all forms of
exclusion.
Areas for
intervention
to improve
local
governance
include
participatory
decision-making,
building
bridges and
partnerships
between
officials and
citizens,
transparency,
participatory
budgeting,
fostering and
nurturing
grassroots
women’s
movements,
paying
attention to
what needs to
change in
governance to
improve the
lives of women
and the
development
and
utilisation of
assessment
tools to
measure urban
governance
performance
and make the
necessary
corrections.
Our experience
has shown that
inclusion of
affected
communities is
absolutely
essential.
For through
this there is
complete
ownership of
the process.
The process
gains
legitimacy and
has “social
protection” of
the
community.
None are
better placed,
with better
knowledge of
local issues
than the
affected
people. No
stronger
driver of the
process can be
found anyway,
as ultimately
these are
beneficiaries.
And,
importantly,
the efforts of
the poor to
get themselves
out of their
situation are
critical.
Shack Dwellers
International
and other
organisations
need
government
support. They
have to answer
to their
problem:
saving schemes
– all they
need is
support.
Their efforts
only bode well
for
governments.
I learned a
valuable
lesson then,
as I am sure
we will all
learn lessons
today. I had
come to
represent my
country, where
the urban poor
constitute 30%
of the
population. I
had never met
their
representatives.
I met them in
Barcelona and
they
challenged my
right to speak
on their
behalf. I
learnt a
valuable
lesson. Today
I speak on
their behalf
with full
authority.
Governments’
partnership
with the poor
is essential
if we are to
succeed.
Conclusion
In February
last year, at
our inaugural
meeting as
African
Ministers, we
made a
historic
decision to
come together,
commit
ourselves to a
framework for
development.
At the core of
this would be
how we meet
our MDG
targets. But
importantly,
we took a
decision that
we needed to
pay more
attention to
the issue of
housing,
because this
is at the core
of urban
poverty.
That, unless
we draw the
attention of
the
international
community and
form
partnerships,
we will
continue along
the same
trajectory of
exclusion that
has dogged
us. Unless we
create better
access to
housing
finance for
affordable
housing, and
influence
donor
communities to
prioritise
housing, any
talk of social
inclusion will
come to
nought.
It should be
noted that,
despite the
increasing
urban
concentration
of poverty,
bilateral and
multilateral
donors
continue to
prioritise
rural support
(only 2-12% of
donor funding
in Africa
going to urban
areas). Donors
justify this
on grounds of
poor
governance and
lack of
political
support for
donor funded
capital
investments in
urban areas.
I am convinced
that if we get
all these
fundamentals
correct, we
will get our
development
right. Once
we have
realised this,
will we be
able to ensure
that the lives
of slum
dwellers are
substantially
improved by
2020 and that
our world
ceases to be
an arena where
social
exclusion
continues and
indifference
is pervasive.
Because above
all, we have
to find a way
out of the
world’s
indifference
to the poor.
At the opening
of the
Holocaust
Museum in
Washington in
1999. A
holocaust
survivor, Elie
Wiesel, in an
impassioned
speech, had
this poignant
message about
indifference:
“It is much
easier to look
away from
victims. It
is all awkward
… to be
involved in
another
person’s pain
and despair.
Indifference
reduces the
other to an
abstraction.
Indifference,
in fact, is a
crime”, he
concludes. I
would take the
liberty now to
go on to add
that in this
specific
matter,
indifference
denies the
rich, the rich
experience of
humanity.
On a global
level this
indifference
leads to
exclusion –
the other is
an
abstraction,
an awkward
space in our
lives.
We have
achieved much
in the modern
era - let us
not allow
indifference
to dehumanise
us.
I thank you |