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ALARMED: President Jacob Zuma during the official opening of the Second Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, Durban

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• 'Don't blame all mistakes on apartheid'

"Apartheid South Africa did not plan for the majority of the people," he said, speaking during the second Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Conference in Durban yesterday.

"As a result, a largely fragmented and selective civil registration system was used to perpetuate the discrimination and marginalisation of the majority of the population.

"In 1994, it's like we were almost starting afresh. As such, people sometime think that service delivery in South Africa is abnormal. Infrastructure was planned for a minority and that is why we have so many shacks as people flock into the cities to get jobs and to be economically active," he said.

Zuma said prior to 1994, less than 600000 births were registered throughout the country, and 64% of these were late registrations.

"This has improved significantly since the first democratic elections. The rate of birth registrations has more than doubled and we now achieve 1.2million birth registrations per year."

Out of a total of 1086901 children registered in the 2010-2011 financial year, 946031 were registered before their first birthday.

This is 87% of children registered, which is 17% higher than the target of 70% that was set.

"We have also seen a dramatic decline in late registrations of birth especially by black people who, due to difficulties before, tended to register births late or not at all," he said.

The late registration of persons of 15 years and older decreased from 354588 in the 2009-2010 financial year to 110902 in the 2011-2012 financial year.

Zuma said civil registration was important for the entire continent.

"Africa cannot fulfil its development agenda unless we know who we are, where we live, work and play and what we need to better our living conditions on the continent."

He said there were still people on the African continent who are born and die without leaving a trace in any legal record of their existence - a phenomenon known as the "scandal of invisibility".

"It means that the most vulnerable people in Africa remain unseen and not counted. They practically do not exist," Zuma said.

Comments

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Wed May 22 08:47:02 SAST 2013 ::

Sep 7, 2012

RobinH

You just can't play that card anymore, unless it's in the form: We learned corrupt practices from the Apartheid regime and have improved on their model. Your stuff ups are entirely your own.
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Sep 7, 2012

Vhamsanda

Cde. Zuma , please don't start !!!
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Sep 7, 2012

Pointman

Eh Mr President - this speech was relevant in 1994. Your secretary grabbed the wrong speech and you read it out parrot fashion.
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Sep 7, 2012

Chichi7

No JZ, the shacks are mushrooming all over the place because the promises you made to the nation have not come to light.
You can no longer blame history of 18yrs. Get your act togetther you arrogant son of a quack and stop point fingers.
Don't use your words to describe the situation. Use your words to change the situation.
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Sep 7, 2012

LBS

>>The rate of birth registrations has more than doubled and we now achieve 1.2million birth registrations per year."<<

Is this an achievment?
We do not have enough of what is needed for everyone now, but applaud a high birth rate?

This the trouble with having an uneducated, morally bankrupt president - instead of encouraging smaller more sustainable famies he blames apartheid for what the ANC has failed to deliver. *YAWN*
Maybe if they'd worried more about running the country with capable people than lining their own pockets the picture would be different!
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Sep 7, 2012

_Sinudeity

"Apartheid South Africa did not plan for the majority of the people"



Nor did the ANC.
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Sep 7, 2012

Credo

So typical of the unintelligent mind..... When they do not have the answer to the problem then they blame it on apartheid.

Has it ever occurred to him that the majority race are beading at the rate of cockroaches !
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Sep 7, 2012

DJ-Winner

Nothing wrong with the statement. Happy to see that Zuma is not afraid to talk about aparteid. It is not a crime to talk about it. All these are true and we must not be ashamed to talk about them. People say no don't talk about these things because you will make white people uncomfortable...ha ha ha...why did they abuse our people in the first place?
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Sep 7, 2012

candilious

@LBS- I swear this oke is smoked ................


@DJ-Winner- How on earth do you blame Apartheid now .So we blame Apartheid for all the Fraud & Corruption going in within the ANC as well................
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Sep 7, 2012

star88

I am confused jwanong ... President Thuli Madonsela told us NOT to blame apartheid for SA ills!
Mr Zuma now tells us to blame apartheid for SA ills !

Who is in charge of South Africa ? Is it President Thuli Madonsela or Mr Zuma ???

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