Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow liberals

I would like to make two simple points today: the first is that liberalism is the foundation of much that is right with South Africa today, the second is that liberalism can be one of the seeds of South Africa – and Africa’s – future success.

Before I begin, let me just give thanks for the blessing of the rain this morning. You may be aware that, because Africa is such a dry continent, in most of our cultures rain is a very good omen. I can confirm that it is a blessing for liberalism in Africa too because one morning last year I woke up to rain on the day we were scheduled to have our final election campaign rally. We had built an enormous stage in a field in Cape Town and three thousand people arrived to hear my party leader, and chair of this session Helen Zille deliver the final address. Three thousand people got very wet!  And, of course, so did Helen…

Nonetheless the next day one million voters of the Western Cape elected Helen Zille Premier of this province with 52% of the vote. So even though we woke up this morning to rain I was happy that the garden cocktail party Helen has invited us to later this evening was blessed: just make sure you dress warmly tonight – I don’t think we will be blessed by rain again, but it may get windy.

In the latest edition of Liberal Matters, which you all received this morning, Helen has pointed out that some liberals may be sceptical of ideas like decentralisation – along with devolution and decentralisation – because they are often motivated by narrow nationalist interest. She explains that liberals should in fact support decentralisation, one: because it disperses power and two: because it brings government closer to the people.

She also points out a third reason: that decentralising power facilitates political plurality by giving space to other parties to show what they can do in government. This is a gap that Helen has taken: first when she was elected Mayor of Cape Town in 2006, and then over the past year and a half as Premier of this Province. Helen has led the Party from being the effective opposition built by Tony Leon, to being a better government than the ANC ever was in this City and in this province.

And power begets power. The message of good government, it turns out, is a stronger message than that of opposition. If you travel around South Africa you will hear people talk of how well run Cape Town is relative to other cities.  This narrative has led to breakthroughs in by-elections around the country and bodes well for next year’s election.

Our constitution ensures that responsibility for delivery in South Africa is relatively decentralised, and this increases the ways we can demonstrate that we are a superior government. The Western Cape province has responsibility for the delivery of education and health amongst other things. The City of Cape Town runs the majority of functions that affect people’s day-to-day lives.  This is why I say that liberalism is the foundation of much that is right with South Africa today: because Liberals like Colin Eglin and others worked hard to build Liberal principals like decentralisation into the Constitution, Helen has been able to build democracy by starting to take some of that decentralised power.

Of course, this hasn’t gone un-noticed by the ANC so threats to the existence of the provinces are mounting, as are efforts to bring the entire public service under central control.  It will require tireless work on our part, plus the support of our Liberal partners, to fight off these threats.

But I want to end on a more positive note by making my second point: that liberalism can be one of the seeds of our future success.   Here I am referring specifically to liberal reform of and between African states.   We are joined today by many fellow member parties of the Africa Liberal Network led by Dr Lamine Ba who was today re-elected as President of the network.  And the growth of the network reflects the growth of the liberal ideal in Africa.

But while it is fashionable today to speak of the potential of Africa, it is my opinion that this will not be realised until intra-African trade is dramatically liberalised.  With a sub-Saharan population of 800m and a total population of over a billion, Africa represents a market amongst the largest in the world. But the trade blockades that prevent Africa being accessed as a single market are an important factor preventing us being counted as a region with the growth potential of the BRIC markets.

Thankfully, our persistence here in driving the message of trade liberalisation in Africa has started to pay off. Work is beginning in this Parliament’s Trade Portfolio committee on the establishment of various grand free trade areas in Africa: moving towards the ultimate goal of uniting our people in a common market.

I believe that this trade reform represents one of the best ways to drive up economic growth rates in South Africa and across the continent.  In fact, I can think of few more important contributions liberal thought can make to Africa’s growth potential, so I want to call on our sister parties globally to assist the African liberal parties in driving this liberal reform agenda.

I thank you