Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
Let me begin by expressing our appreciation to the World Economic Forum for bringing this year’s WEF on Africa to South Africa.
 
Thank you also to the many participants from across the continent and even further afield who have come to our shores to enrich and enliven the conversations that we must necessarily have about the challenges and opportunities of Africa.
 
This meeting has underscored the broad consensus among policy makers, business people, development practitioners, activists and communities that the continent needs to pursue a path of accelerated economic growth that is sustainable and inclusive.
 
The people of this continent must not only share in the benefits of this growth.
 
They must own, control and direct the levers of economic activity.
 
From the discussions that have taken place, including some of those I have participated in, there is an understanding of the urgency with which we need to address exclusion, inequality and unemployment.
 
Underpinning all of these discussions is a fundamental imperative.
 
It has been covered in some sessions, but it is relevant to all.
 
It is this fundamental imperative that is the critical guarantor of sustained and sustainable inclusive growth on the African continent.
 
It is this fundamental imperative that will transform Africa from a continent of promise into a continent of prosperity.
 
This fundamental imperative – which must inform our every policy, our every action – is the development of the mind of the African child.
 
For it is in the mind of the African child that the future of this continent resides.
 
It is only by developing the capabilities of our young people that we will achieve the inclusive economic growth that we seek and the development that we need.
 
It is only by developing the intellectual capacity of the African workforce of tomorrow that we will be able to effectively exploit our abundant resources for the benefit of our people – and seize the opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution.
 
The development of Africa’s children and its youth needs to be at the centre of our economic policies.
 
This means that we must give just as much attention to maternal health as we do to the expansion of free trade areas.
 
It means that we must invest as much in early child development as we do in energy and communications infrastructure.
 
It means we must act with urgency to end AIDS, TB, malaria and other diseases of poverty not only so that we may save lives, but also so that the people of this continent may prosper.
 
In the main, we need a comprehensive overhaul of our approach to education.
 
Not only do we need to prepare our children for the workplace of tomorrow.
 
We need to nurture on this continent the young people that will shape the industries of tomorrow.
 
The work that is being done to promote science and innovation in Africa through initiatives like the Coalition for Research and Innovation – and which is being championed by the World Economic Forum – is contributing directly to this effort.
 
By building networks of knowledge across the continent, by pooling resources and by developing shared research capacity across different African countries, we are creating a new scientific ecosystem.
 
As we pursue new standards of excellence in research and learning, we need to work more deliberately to ensure that we broaden access to education to all our people.
 
We need in particular to focus on the education of girls and young women, addressing the social, cultural and economic factors that limit their access to education.
 
We need to ensure that the rural poor, migrant communities and those displaced by conflict are able to access quality education.
 
We need to ensure that higher education does not become the preserve of the emerging middle class.
 
Education must reduce inequality, not perpetuate it.
 
We know that Africa has an abundance of opportunities.
 
We have extensive mineral resources under our soil and along our shores.
 
We have vast tracts of unused arable land that could feed the world.
 
We have a young population, a fast-growing middle class.
 
Yet our people will not be able to realise the full benefit of these opportunities unless we act now to develop our human capacity.
 
The mineral resources we have, though abundant, are finite.
 
They are prone to massive fluctuations in demand and price.
 
Unless we have the technology, the knowledge and the industrial capacity to beneficiate these mineral resources, our people will only derive a fraction of their true economic value.
 
We need, as responsive and responsible leadership, to take a long view.
 
We need to address the challenges of the present, but we need to equip the next generation to address the challenges of the future.
 
Our attention now needs to be on action and deliverables.
 
When we convene again in 2018, we need to demonstrate the gains that have been made in expanding economic opportunities for our people.
 
We need to demonstrate how the economic status of women has improved; how we have expanded youth employment and skills development.
 
We need to demonstrate how our governments are managing public finances and allocating resources more effectively to support inclusive growth.
 
We need to demonstrate the measures we have taken to reduce wastage, corruption and mismanagement.
 
Most importantly, we need to demonstrate how we are massively expanding the provision of early childhood development, education, skills and training.
 
To achieve progress in these areas, bold and responsible leadership is required.
 
Governments need to give leadership, but so too does the private sector, civil society and labour.
 
We need a leadership that puts the needs of citizens first.
 
We need a leadership than can build social partnerships for collective action in removing the barriers to economic inclusion.
 
As we leave Durban, let us leave understanding the urgency of our task.
 
Let us leave understanding that our actions now will determine the fate of our continent for many generations to come.
 
We need to work harder, more collaboratively and with focus if we are to ensure that the millions of our peoples who are today marginalised have access to economic opportunity.
 
We know what needs to be done. Let us go and do it.
 
I thank you.

 
Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria