Question NO93 to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
11 September 2019 - NO93
Modise, Mr PMP to ask the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
With reference to the strides made by his department over the past five years as a result of the initiative that addressed societal challenges through a more integrated approach and decisive interventions that included all three tiers of government, what impact will the national convention that is scheduled for this month have on community engagement, social cohesion and nation building?
Reply:
The rationale for the social compact convention comes upon the realisation that no single sector, including government, can single-handedly succeed in the goal of achieving a socially integrated and inclusive society. That is, for South Africa to become a socially integrated and inclusive society, the different sectors in society need to make commitments and hold each other to account.
At the national convention, a broad consensus would be obtained in terms of the letter and the spirit of the social contract on social cohesion and nation building. The social compact or social contract will be an agreement among the different sectors in society, including labour, business, traditional authorities, and the faith based sector, wherein they will collectively and individually commit to concrete and tangible deliverables, all in an effort towards meeting the goal of a socially integrated and inclusive society.
Currently, sector consultations are in progress and a desktop study on compacting is being concluded.
It must be noted here too that the social compact project is not meant to circumvent the broader programme of action of government on social cohesion and nation building i.e. the 5-year NDP Implementation Plan (Priority 5). Rather, the programme of action as it relates to Priority 5, is meant to give traction to the social compact project. In other words, government’s commitments, as a sector as they relate to the social compact project, will be extrapolated from government’s commitments in terms of the 5-year NDP Implementation Plan (Priority 5). That is, while the 5-year NDP Implementation Plan (priority 5) focuses on total effort by government on social cohesion and nation building, the social compact project focuses on total effort at the societal level that includes all sectors of society, not just government. In terms of impact, government is hopeful, since there have been numerous examples of compacting before that went reasonably well. The negotiated settlement and the Constitution of the Republic, for which there was much consensus, are examples of social compacts.