South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday evening in receiving his prestigious Woodrow Wilson award for public service that there is a responsibility by all of those of his era to construct a deep democracy in South Africa.
”We understand what needs to be done and there is fire in the belly,” he said.
”We are not there yet,” he added.
In presenting the award to Manuel, former seven-term member of the United States House of Representatives and current director of the Africa Programme at the Woodrow Wilson Centre Dr Howard Wolpe noted that Manuel was the world’s longest-serving finance minister.
”It is not a job for the faint-hearted,” said Wolpe.
”He is held in the highest esteem internationally both for his vision and his skill,” he added.
Manuel began his speech by paying tribute to the other award winner on the evening — Pick n Pay founder Raymond Ackerman, who received the award for corporate citizenship.
One of Manuel’s first jobs was working as a packer in one of Ackerman’s first three stores — something that Ackerman said had laid the foundation for Manuel’s future success, to humorous applause from the audience.
Manuel retorted by saying that since then — and thanks to his initial contribution — Ackerman had managed to add more than 80 businesses to the first three.
”Raymond is a pioneer in the retail and food sector and the modernisation of the overall economy,” said Manuel. ”I couldn’t think of a more fitting recipient of the first African award.”
Manuel went on to discuss how his struggle years had seen him suddenly having no salary — after initially landing up with his own office and bronze name tag as a successful engineer in design at Murray and Roberts — but how he had then fully committed to seeking out a more just society after noting the many inequalities in society at large.
He thanked his entire current team — including Director General in the Treasury Lesetja Kganyago and South African Revenue Service commissioner Pravin Gordhan — and spoke fondly of how Nelson Mandela had thrown him in at the deep end to manage the economic unit in the African National Congress, and then on to trade and industry minister.
”I don’t know if I would just give such a big job to a 35-year-old,” mused Manuel.
”I have had opportunities I couldn’t dream of,” he said, adding that his previous environment and family structure on the Cape flats supports him in everything he does.
He noted his mother still lived in the house he grew up in, in Kensington.
The Woodrow Wilson Institute video on his life noted that Manuel was jailed soon after the birth of his first child and didn’t see him for some time. Manuel was in and out of jail, but was never charged during the struggle years, wherein he mobilised people mainly in the Western Cape area.
Manuel concluded by saying he did not quite understand the current election processes where there was so much emphasis on individuals — like in the United States primaries.
”It is not a culture I understand as I have never campaigned. I did this because I was asked to,” he said.
Manuel said he was humbled to have received the award.
Manuel was first elected to the national executive committee of the ANC in 1991.
Central bank governor Tito Mboweni attended the event and Manuel introduced him to the audience as ”my very good friend”. — I-Net Bridge