Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

At its meeting today, cabinet was briefed on preparations for the June national election in the DRCongo. The meeting approved a request from the government of the DRCongo for South Africa to assist in the electoral process, including provision of resources to the DRCongo's Independent Electoral Commission. An inter-ministerial committee comprising ministers of foreign affairs, defence, provincial and local government, public service and administration, safety and security and national intelligence has been set up to coordinate the assistance.

The meeting noted the termination of the SANDF [South African National Defence Force] deployment in Burundi as part of the AU Protection Force. The time frames for the withdrawal will be handled in accordance with the AU Protection's Force's operational decisions. As requested by the leadership of Burundi and the east African region, South Africa will continue to assist in facilitating participation by all concerned parties in the peace process.

The meeting also approved the submission for parliament's ratification, of the AU convention on the prevention and combating of terrorism and the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions.

Cabinet noted preparations for the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS and it welcomed the progress that has been made in our country in implementing a comprehensive programme to combat the pandemic. While much more needs to be done in this regard, the advances in promoting awareness and behaviour change including use of condoms, expansion of accredited health facilities providing AIDS-related services, recruitment and training of health professionals, provision of nutritional supplements as well as home and community-based care all these are cause for hope.

Government will be scaling up communication and social mobilization on this issue and the budget for the campaign over a two-year period has been increased from 160m rand to 200m rand. Further, with 134,473 people initiated on ARV treatment by the end of March and an estimated additional 80,000 initiated in the private and NGO sector, South Africa today has the largest ART programme in the world.

Cabinet welcomed the fact that the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) had at its recent meeting agreed on intensified joint action in a variety of areas. SANAC also agreed on how all South African delegates to UNGASS would cooperate in ensuring that the objectives of the fight against HIV and AIDS within South Africa and internationally are advanced.

The meeting agreed that South Africa should become an official member of the Commonwealth Foundation. The foundation was established in 1965 as a charitable trust promoting professional cooperation among Commonwealth countries, including support for NGOs, professional associations and cultural activities.

Cabinet noted preparations for the South Africa-UK Bilateral Forum during the course of next week. Delegations to the forum will be led by the president and the UK prime minister and issues for consideration include the strengthening of partnership for faster and shared growth in South Africa, support for the African agenda including implementation of the G8 Gleneagles Commitments and cooperation between South Africa and the UK in specific projects to promote peace and development in Africa.

The meeting was briefed on preparations for the launch on 29 May of Youth Month (June) which will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the 16 June uprising. The period will be used not only to honour those who took part in the struggle for quality education and democracy, but also to review the implementation of youth development programmes since 1994. Various activities have been planned, focusing on youth participation in the implementation of AsgiSA.