There is this haunting refrain from a once-popular song: "Every generation, blames the one before". As we South Africans proceed through life, with our senses alert, we see, feel, smell and touch so much of the residue of apartheid. Yet, we cannot, as a generation of democrats, blame the one before. We are the first generation of democrats. We are called upon to use our observations about the present to construct a better, more inclusive future for all South Africans. We need to be guided by a value system associated with basic humanness - values such as community, as plough-back, as ubuntu, and as vuk'zenzele. Collectively, as a generation, we are the agents of change. Together, we have to be our own conscience about opportunities, both presented and missed. Together we must agree on how we will measure our collective success.
And, our values must outlive fashion. Philanthropy is exceedingly fashionable right now, as is the amount of money that individuals and corporations give. Philanthropy is fashionable because the number of wealthy individuals is growing in leaps and bounds - it therefore comes as no surprise to learn that the Forbes List now records some 691 billionaires worldwide.
Sunday paper reported yesterday, that amount of giving is put in perspective by the $ 36 Billion spent on pets in the USA in 2004. Furthermore, there is this intense competition between moguls and their corporations about who can be seen to give the most, and to the most prominent charities.
Thankfully, the book we launch here, FACE UP, is not in that brag league. There is no reference anywhere in the publication to the amount of money - yet it is clear that there is a very substantial programme of support here. This is no accident - for "Face Up" is a pictorial record of people and partnerships. The spirit of the publication requires that we focus on the outcomes of the effort, whose measure goes way beyond the amount of financial resource available.
Winston Churchill is credited with having said, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." What we give, in the context, is even more important than how much we give. "Face up" is about what is given - and what is given is the enablement of a sense of community, dignity and esteem. This is also, very largely, the story of how a democracy is built and deepened. Its starting point is that there remain huge deficiencies in attaining our broad collective vision of a caring democracy.
We are endowed with a remarkable Constitution that creates an obligation on government to meet the aspirations of all South Africans by the progressive realisation of a series of rights. The Constitution also creates a custodianship of these values in the Constitutional Court which has evaluated performance and made important findings in a number of cases including Subramony and the right to expensive medical treatment; Grootboom and the right, of especially children, to be decently housed; and there has even been a judgement on the right of access to Nevirapine. Outside of these judgments, and perhaps even in conclusion of the approach arrived at by the court in each case, government is able to demonstrate an impressive metric of services delivered since the arrival of democracy. So, we are able to point to the relevant statistics: the number of houses, schools and clinics constructed, the enrolment numbers at schools, the number of hospital visits per family, numbers of social grant beneficiaries, and so much more. As we improve our economic performance, so we are able to strengthen and extend programmes of public service delivery and social development. But the billions that are spent through government departments cannot ever be enough. The key challenge in arriving at an environment which qualifies as a caring democracy is what lies beyond the infrastructure provided and the public services accounted for. It lies in the accompanying software, the quality of social solidarity, the active emergence of a spirit of community and enterprise in the neighbourhoods where people reside.
It is in this regard that the stories told through the wonderful photographs in "Face Up" find resonance. They sometimes suggest areas of government work that has failed, they sometimes point to areas of progress and success, but the underlying message, the living proof in people's lives, is that what government does can be extended by the building of partnerships, that the quality of impact of the billions that we spend on public services relies on people working and sharing and caring together. In its 132 pages, "Face Up" explains at least three inter-related partnerships. First, there is the partnership between Discovery and the providers of community-based services, many of which are rooted and organically developed in the communities served. Second, there are the partnerships between the service providers and the constituencies served by them - all of them are so different both in form and in substance. Third, there is the indirect partnership through Discovery and the 63 communities served by the supported projects. What is interesting about this selection is that they are all within the defined focus areas of development, many create the opportunities for shared learning, and a vast number have the potential to grow out into similar areas, provided that the energisers are in place. These three sets of partnerships tell a wonderful story of Corporate Social Investment at its very best.
The launch of this wonderful book affords us an opportunity to express our appreciation to all concerned - the innovators who live out their dreams and whose dedication and energy is as boundless, the communities who determine the success of the projects, to Adrian, Ruth and the team at Discovery, and to Alexandra and Terry for the manner in which their presentation allows us to be touched by the lives of those concerned.
I hope that this publication will inspire all concerned to persevere, and to open new frontiers in the deepening of democracy. I also want to express the hope that the publication will spur others to action.