15 November 2007
Programme Director: Mr. Buyile Mdladlana
Executive Mayor of the host city: Mr. Duma Nkosi
Representatives of political parties present
Members of the Mayoral Committee and Councillors of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council
Head of Department: Dr. Steven Cornelius
Government officials present
Participants and award winners in the Abattoir Hygiene Rating Scheme
Entrepreneurs and stakeholders in the meat industry
Invited guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a pleasure for me to again participate in this ceremony and to honour our important stakeholders in the meat industry. I wish to thank the organizers of the occasion for inviting me to partake in tonight's revelry.
Assailed, almost on daily basis, by dozens of newspaper headlines about avian flu, swine fever, New Castle disease and other health hazards, it indeed feels good to be amongst people who closely relate their business interests with due consideration for hygiene and the safety of the public that consumes their products. There obviously exists a dialectical relationship between this consideration by entrepreneurs and our Provincial Government's objective of building healthy, skilled and productive communities. Today we are here to honour entrepreneurs who voluntarily associate themselves with the vigorous Hygiene Assessment System procedures that form the main foundation of the Abattoir Hygiene Rating Scheme. Their participation in the scheme makes their products easily marketable both to the local and the export markets. By competing in these markets, they also, consciously or otherwise, are further contributing to another Provincial goal - that of enabling faster economic growth. I again wish to applaud the participants for these contributions.
I am also delighted by the fact that we have, in this gathering, informal and unregistered meat operators as well. Maybe we all need to welcome them not only to this gathering but perhaps also to the notion of increasing the number of operators whose businesses meet the vigorous Hygiene Assessment System. With them as partners, the realization of our goal of building healthy, productive and sustainable communities is guaranteed.
Exposing these operators to the competitive advantages of aligning their operations to these high standards will also increase the possibilities to successfully combat diseases such as the avian flu, swine fever and the New Castle disease. We certainly have an interest, as Government, to have them also belonging and participating in awards such as this Abattoir Hygiene Rating Scheme.
I am informed that representatives of supermarkets in Gauteng were also invited to be with us in this ceremony. Through Municipal Councillors, representatives of political parties and all stakeholders present here, we constitute a very formidable force for transformation.
I recall that I raised this issue of transformation, de-racialisation of the industry if you like, during the previous Abattoir Hygiene Rating Scheme Awards ceremony in 2004. Regrettably, not much materially has been achieved in this regard. I again wish to make a call for transformation in this industry. I make this call fully aware that, in some respect, no transformation process is easy. But, on the other hand, none is too difficult. Prior to the beginning of negotiations - negotiations that gave birth to the democratic South Africa - people thought that we could not possibly deliver such a smooth transformation from a country doomed to a certainty of awful and bloody conflicts, with diminishing prospects of prosperity to what has been called a miracle.
When pondering the way-forward in relation to this challenge, we have to bear in mind that we have in our country objective conditions that are very conducive to the imperative of transformation. We have a favourable constitution, we also have favourable government policies and support tools. Very importantly, I believe that we all have the indomitable determination to further contribute towards making our country more prosperous, economically non-racial and non-sexist and genuinely democratic in all respects.
The subjective fear of losing some competitive advantage and a fear of some reduction in the profit margins, when the cake is equally shared, can certainly not outweigh the overwhelming positives that actually will guarantee us all a fair share. An initiative by present entrepreneurs will certainly constitute a bold move - a step that will further propel us to the brighter future that we are all striving to build.
Together, we need to be bold and seize the initiate. The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment guidelines for the agricultural sector, must serve to guide our own initiative, rather than compel us to move forward.
In conclusion, I wish to congratulate, once again, the winners in the 2007 Abattoir Hygiene Rating Scheme. I also wish to call on those still outside this scheme, to join us on this noble cause of promoting the good health of our communities.
I wish to also thank the organizers of this function.
I thank you.