President's speech on the occasion of the Presidency Budget Vote

ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC HIS EXCELLENCY JACOB G ZUMA ON THE OCCASION OF THE BUDGET VOTE OF THE PRESIDENCY

24 JUNE 2009

Honourable Speaker,
Deputy Speaker,
Honourable Deputy President of the Republic,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Honourable Members,
Esteemed guests,
Fellow South Africans,

Thank you for the opportunity afforded to The Presidency to share its programmes and plans.

The Deputy President, Honourable Kgalema Motlanthe as well as the Ministers in the Presidency will join me in outlining the focus areas of the work of the Presidency.

We will need the support of the Honourable Members of Parliament, as we strive to achieve our mission of building a Presidency and government that are responsive, interactive and effective.

This Budget Vote debate, Honourable Members, complements the discussion we had on the State of the Nation some two weeks ago.  

In that address we outlined 10 priorities for government over the next five years. We made a commitment that working together we will speed up economic growth and transform the economy to create decent work and sustainable livelihoods.

We said we would introduce a massive programme to build economic and social infrastructure. 

We undertook to develop and implement a comprehensive rural development strategy linked to land and agrarian reform and food security.  We also said we would strengthen the skills and human resource base, and improve the health profile of all South Africans.

We said working together with all South Africans we would intensify the fight against crime and corruption. We added that we would build cohesive, caring and sustainable communities.

We also pointed out that working with Africa and the rest of the world, we would pursue African advancement and enhanced international co-operation. We would also ensure sustainable resource management and use. 

This, we said, would require that we work with the people and our public servants in particular, to build a developmental state, improve public services and strengthen democratic institutions.

We have to work harder and smarter to achieve all these objectives, and we believe that the leadership of government is equal to the task. The Presidency as the nerve centre of government will strive to provide efficient oversight and support to enable national departments and all spheres of government, to perform their work. 

As you are aware, we announced a reconfigured Cabinet structure last month.
The restructuring took place after intense reflection on what had worked and hadn’t worked over the past 15 years. The changes were also a product of a very extensive public engagement process.

We are fortunate in South Africa to have a highly active and very vocal population. We interacted with thousands of South Africans last year and early this year in various forums.

They told us that they wanted to see an urgent improvement in service delivery. Their views added to what our internal reviews had indicated.

They made it clear that we have very good policies; but that these will only improve people’s lives more effectively if the public service becomes more responsive, interactive and effective.

The complaints raised included amongst others, the weaknesses in local government, the poor quality of some of the public services rendered by national and provincial spheres, and the failure to respond to inquiries and complaints and to provide information.

Other complaints pointed to poor strategic planning across the three spheres of government and weak monitoring and evaluation. 

It became clear to us that we had to improve the capacity of the State, and also change the culture and ethos of government in order to improve service delivery.

We have since the inauguration invested time and resources on setting up systems and to establish new government structures, based on our priorities.

The technical restructuring is very important, but a key factor is also to deal with the human angle, as the services are provided by human beings for human beings.

We must therefore improve the performance of the public service, and bring to life our “people first” or Batho Pele principles. We have to introduce, without delay, a culture of hard work, courtesy and accountability by staff in the public service.

This we will do to achieve our goal of building a government that is responsive, interactive and effective. We will come back to this issue later.

I would like to share with the House Honourable Speaker some of the reasons why we changed certain government departments or created new ones. I will cite just a few.

We had to improve the ability of The Presidency to give leadership to, and exercise oversight on government.  We had to introduce a system of integrated strategic planning and the alignment of plans and programmes across all the spheres of government.

These plans will take into account the socio-economic potential of each district and metro and assist them to exploit their comparative advantages to the full. 

The Ministry in the Presidency responsible for the National Planning Commission was introduced to lead this process.

We also deemed it necessary to improve the capacity for effective Monitoring and Evaluation, hence the creation of the Ministry responsible for that task in the Presidency.

As we said during the State of the Nation address, housing is not just about building houses. It is also about transforming our residential areas and building communities with closer access to work and social amenities, including sports and recreation facilities.

That informed the creation of the Ministry for Human Settlements.

The mining sector provides a strategic link to the global economy. It is also a major labour-intensive sector and has various other advantages for our economy, which is why it was made a stand-alone Ministry.

Given our Energy needs and the role of this sector in a developing economy, it is a crucial area of work for the country, which is why it needed special attention as a fully-fledged Ministry as well. 

We made education a key priority over the next five years, which necessitated a renewed emphasis on this portfolio.  The Basic Education Ministry will focus on adult basic education and training, as well as Primary and Secondary education.

The Higher Education Ministry focuses on tertiary, technical and vocational training as well as skills development which includes the sector education and training authorities.

The International Relations and Cooperation designation refines the mandate of the former Department of Foreign Affairs to include a focus on development co-operation, on which we want to continue investing for the good of the continent and our own region.

We divided Agriculture and Land Affairs into two Ministries and to create a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

The special focus on agriculture is important to better expand agricultural production including the regulation of, and support for the commercial sector – big and small.

The fisheries sector is a critical part of the limited natural resources base of the country and is  critical for food security and will require our utmost attention.

By establishing a Ministry of Rural Development and Land Affairs, we seek to ensure optimal focus on putting into action our goal of changing the face of rural areas through meaningful socio-economic development initiatives.

We are convinced that this new Ministry will contribute immensely to our drive to ensure food security and, broadly, the improvement of the quality of life of rural communities.

Combining Water and Environmental Affairs provides a consolidated approach to the environment and matters of sustainability. Besides the implementation of our strategies on the management of water resources, its functions will also include a regulatory task encompassing all environmental management matters.

We also want to focus more on improving inter-governmental relations, hence the reconfiguration of the former Department of Provincial and Local Government to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

Given the central role of traditional leadership matters especially in rural areas, we felt it important to give this function an intensive focus.


The Deputy President will assist the President in leading efforts in engaging with traditional, religious and linguistic communities.

The functions of the Department of Public Service and Administration are being refined to include the management of personnel and related matters in the local government sphere, in line with proposed legislation on a single public service.

Meanwhile, most indicators show that there is growth in the tourism sector, and we rely on it to create many more jobs, hence the decision to create a Ministry solely for this function.

Some people are wondering why we have both the Department of Trade and Industry and that of Economic Development. Trade matters will require a strong focus to have a direct impact on industrial organisation and output. 

The Economic Development portfolio will have a strong domestic focus and will address amongst others, matters of macro and micro-economic development planning. We say this very much aware that in terms of legislation, the National Treasury coordinates macro-economic policy.

The affected Ministries are working together to align work and detailed responsibilities.

Honourable Speaker, already, the new Cluster system – made up of seven as distinct from the previous five Clusters – is functional. Ministers and Directors-General are currently finalising Cluster Programmes of Action to ensure that government meets its objectives. These programmes set out concrete activities to meet each of our strategic priorities.

Attached to each activity is a time frame for the achievement of specific concrete objectives.
Honourable Members,

The last fifteen years have exposed serious gaps in inter-governmental coordination. Too often we have observed different spheres of government acting in a manner that is sometimes contradictory.

The reshaping of government cannot therefore exclude the provincial and local spheres. 

The three spheres have to co-operate with one another in mutual trust, as the supreme law of our land enjoins them to do. 

We are in the process of reviewing the President’s Coordinating Council in which the President meets with the Premiers to make it more effective in inter-sphere coordination.

A number of ideas are being put forward, including that of possibly including executive mayors of the Metropolitan municipalities in the PCC to improve planning and monitoring and evaluation.

There is a dedicated team of people who are overseeing the re-organisation of government. 

The experience of the last few weeks demonstrates that all these changes are being handled with care and dedication.

Where legislation is required, Parliament will be requested to assist us. We are on track and are pleased with the progress made.

Honourable Speaker,

The establishment of a Ministry and corresponding department that will focus solely on issues affecting women, children and persons with disabilities means that this will be the last time this function reports to the National Assembly as part of the Budget Vote of The Presidency.

We are confident that this change will result in better – and not less – focus on these vulnerable groups.

As the Presidency, we will continue to lend this Ministry all the support. We will do so because we know that, a society in which women, children and persons with disabilities remain marginalised, cannot claim to be truly free. Minister Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya will outline the plans of the new Ministry.

Honourable Members will recall our statement that the eradication of poverty would be the cornerstone of this government’s programme of action. The Deputy President of the Republic will amongst other responsibilities lead us in championing the fight against poverty. 

This will include the integration of government plans and the mobilisation of social partners. Government cannot wage this war alone. 

Honourable Speaker,

As part of building a responsive, interactive and effective government, we must strengthen our partnerships with society. 

We are in the process of reviewing our public and stakeholder forums such as the current Presidential Working Groups, advisory councils and izimbizo.

We also want to improve and strengthen the functioning and capacity of institutions such as NEDLAC. Our objective is to build an enduring partnership informed by the shared interests of all social partners and society at large.
 
This principle applies equally, if not more so, to our fight against HIV ad AIDS.  The South African National Aids Council (SANAC) has been exemplary in this regard.

The Deputy President leads our efforts in this partnership, and he will outline the progress made and challenges we face.

As Leader of Government Business in Parliament, our Deputy President will be responsible for building stronger relations between the executive and the legislature as well as with political parties represented in Parliament.

The President will also prioritise the need to maintain positive and cooperative relations with the Opposition, in the spirit outlined in both the inauguration and State of the Nation addresses.  Our aim is to build a more cohesive society, where all of us, irrespective of race, class or political persuasion, contribute to making South Africa succeed.

Honourable Speaker, we said in the State of the Nation address that the global recession is one of the challenges that we will need to work together on as political parties and other sectors. We are now being hit by the full force of the recession.

Many jobs have been lost. The Quarterly Employment Survey of formal sector businesses reported that the first quarter of 2009 saw the loss of 179 000 jobs.
The most affected sectors are retail and wholesale, financial, manufacturing, mining and construction.

While we know that our efforts cannot fully compensate for the impact of the crisis, we have intervened in various ways, as agreed in our framework agreement on the response to the crisis.

The IDC, the DTI, the Department of Labour and the Department of Public Works and others are working hard in response to the challenge of job losses.

Government will be making a further intervention, a final draft proposal for a training layoff scheme to our social partners early next week. The point of this scheme is to keep at least some workers in their jobs and train them during this slow period.

They will receive relevant training, benefits, and an allowance in place of their wage, for a period of time.

Compatriots,

We meet during National Youth Month, and accordingly last week, on June 16, we celebrated the 33^rd Anniversary of the Soweto Uprisings and National Youth Day.

On this day we launched the National Youth Development Agency, which demonstrates our determination and commitment to deal with issues of youth development in an integrated and effective manner.

On June 16 we also underlined the critical importance of youth themselves playing an active role in addressing the challenges that they face.

We said so believing that the youth are the primary agents of their own development. 

The Minister in the Presidency now responsible for youth development,  Collins Chabane, will further elaborate on the various youth development interventions.

Honourable Members,

We have committed ourselves to promote effective two-way communication between citizens and The Presidency.

I must stress Honourable Members that the primary purpose of the pending President’s Hotline and the public liaison directorate is to improve service delivery.

Angigcizele Somlomo ukuthi sifuna ukwakha uhulumeni olalela maqede aphendule, oxhumanayo nabantu nowenza into ebonakalayo.

Sizokhuthaza yonke iminyango kahulumeni, izifundazwe nomasipala ukuba bavule iminyango baxhumane kangcono nabantu baxazulule izinkinga kusenesikhathi.

Abantu bathi ukuxhumana akukho kahle. Uma beshayela uhulumeni badluliselwa kubantu abaningi baze badikibale bengalutholanga usizo. Lokhu kufanele kuphele.

Sisebenzela bona abantu baseNingizimu Afrika kufanele sibaphathise okwezikhali zamaNtungwa.

The efficiency of the Presidency public liaison mechanism rests on the cooperation of the national departments and the nine Premiers’ Offices, as most enquiries and complaints relate to their work.

In this regard, the Presidency is working with Government Communications (GCIS) to establish a national liaison forum.

This forum, to comprise officials representing all government departments and Premier’s Offices, will enable Presidency public liaison personnel to obtain quick responses to enquiries and complaints from counterparts in all government offices across the spheres.

A skeleton staff complement has already begun working on the correspondence and enquiries being received.

We are already experiencing an increase in correspondence volumes, from an average of about 300 letters around April to about 700 as we speak, for the month of June alone.

Honourable Speaker, for most South Africans, government is the administrative clerk they see when they go to apply for a government document or any other service.

We wish to reiterate, therefore, that government must improve performance in frontline services and substantially reduce waiting periods, in order to enhance service delivery.

Government departments that provide services directly to the public should also clearly specify the standard of service citizens should expect, including the appropriate behaviour of officials.

They must outline the waiting periods and the quality of service, and the mechanisms of redress should those standards not be met.

We must also implement and monitor the decision that staff dealing directly with the public should wear name tags to ensure a more personal connection with the public, and to enable members of the public to provide their names in the event of compliments or complaints.

These are just some of the improvements we can implement in order to make the lives of South Africans less stressful and costly.

We must emphasise Honourable Speaker that we are also aware of the difficulties under which some of the public servants work especially health care workers, the police and others who work long hours under difficult conditions. We are committed to improving their working environment.

Honourable Members,

We outlined most of our international plans in the State of the Nation address, and others were outlined by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation in that department’s budget vote debate. We will touch on just a few of these.

South Africa will continue to participate in international forums and to deepen our relations with regions and nations of the world.

Our intention is to advance the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, improve the regional climate for growth and development, as well as to place the developmental requirements of the continent on the global agenda.

We will continue to promote developmental partnerships with other countries of the continent. We will also prioritise regional integration.

We will play our role in strengthening the African Union and its structures and to promote the implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism.

We will continue to assist in peacekeeping operations and in the reconstruction and development of the African continent. We will promote the entrenchment of democratic forms of government and the respect for human rights on the African continent and other parts of the world.

Within Southern Africa, we plan to play an active role in efforts aimed at strengthening the Southern African Development Community.

As the current Chair of SADC, we will continue to support the Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe and render whatever assistance our capacity allows.

We urge countries of the developed North to join the continent in assisting the people of Zimbabwe to lift themselves out of the socio-economic difficulties they face.

We will also play our role in supporting the SADC-appointed Facilitator in Madagascar, former President Joaquim Chissano and his team. A sustainable solution needs to be found to resolve the impasse in that country.

Further afield, it is in South Africa’s interest to ensure that the current momentum within the G-20 is maintained and that it does not only focus on efforts to mitigate the current global crisis.  

All of us know that the undemocratic and inequitable nature of the institutions and systems of global economic governance forms part of the real underlying causes of this crisis.

We will continue to work with countries and organisations of the developing South to deal with these and other global matters. For us, the strategic partnership with India, Brazil and China constitutes a critical pillar of our international relations.

As such, we see it as very important that the IBSA Agreements and Action Plans are implemented.

Honourable Members,

The past few days have demonstrated our passion for football as well as our track record as good hosts. We gave our word as a people that the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup would be a huge success.

Working together as a nation and as a continent, we have delivered. The tournament is going exceptionally well. As in all dress rehearsals, we have learnt valuable lessons. And we are certain that the 2010 Soccer World Cup will be even more successful.

The Deputy President, as Chairperson of the 2010 Inter-Ministerial Committee, will lead our efforts towards making this initiative one that the world will not forget for many years to come.

May I take this opportunity to wish Bafana Bafana well in the game with Brazil tomorrow night. The nation will be behind them.

As good hosts, let us also support all other games and all other teams until the end of the tournament.

Honourable Speaker, let me emphasise that we want to work with all political parties and all sectors of society to successfully fight poverty and to build a prosperous South Africa whose people, black and white, live in harmony.

We also want to work with all political parties, all sectors and all our public servants to build a government is responsive, interactive and effective.

Masibambisane sakhe uhulumeni olalela maqede aphendule, oxhumanayo nabantu, nowenza into ebonakalayo.
Working together we shall do more to meet our mandate.

Let me use this opportunity to thank the Deputy President and the Ministers in the Presidency, the Director General, Advisors, senior management as well as all the staff for their support.

We have made a good start and we are looking forward to excellent team-work in The Presidency as we perform our tasks at the apex of our system of government.

It is my honour to commend the Budget of The Presidency for 2009/2010 to this august House.

I thank you.

ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA IN RESPONSE TO THE DEBATE ON THE PRESIDENCY BUDGET VOTE

25 JUNE 2009

Honourable Speaker,
Deputy President,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Honourable Members,
Friends, colleagues and comrades,

It was on this day 54 years ago that delegates from all over South Africa gathered in Kliptown for the first day of the Congress of the People.

This event, which produced the Freedom Charter, changed the course of this country’s history.

In a personal account published in the Sechaba journal in 1980, an unnamed delegate to the Congress of the People writes:
“As one approached Kliptown… one could see the streams of other delegates arriving – some in cars, some in buses, others in carts or on foot, many carrying banners and wearing colourful national dresses for a gala occasion.”

Today, 54 years later, we are gathered in the National Assembly as representatives of the people of South Africa from all over.
Like those delegates that arrived in Kliptown, we have been sent to this Parliament carrying on our shoulders the wishes, hopes and expectations of the people of South Africa.

This fact became apparent to me as I listened yesterday to the contributions made in the course of the debate on the budget vote of The Presidency.

I wish to thank all the Honourable Members who participated in the debate.
The comments, criticisms and suggestions were appreciated and have been noted.

In considering the budget, operations and function of The Presidency as the central executive authority of our democratic government, members returned again and again to a common vital theme.
That is that the people must be at the centre of everything we do and that we must build an inclusive, caring, responsive and effective government.

In this, Honourable Members echoed the Freedom Charter, which continues to provide an enduring vision of a new South African society.

In its preamble, the Freedom Charter says:

“We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: That South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people”.

It captures the fundamental and enduring principle at the heart of our democracy that the People Shall Govern, and underscores the notion of an inclusive society, a country in which all South Africans have a place in the sun.

The Hon Madikizela-Mandela said we needed to ensure that ours is a participatory democracy.

She called on us to develop a participatory culture in which our people are not treated as voting fodder, but as agents of their own liberation. The work of The Presidency is guided by precisely this sentiment.

Honourable Members, we appreciate the fact that all the parties supported the Budget Vote of The Presidency.

This indicates to the Presidency our enormous responsibility we have to ensure that we not only do well in overseeing the work of government, but that we also strive to be an institution that represents the aspirations, the identity and the pride of all South Africans, regardless of race, gender or class.

We were moved by the kind words of Umntwana wakwa-Phindangene, the Hon Prince Buthelezi, in stating that the success of a Presidency of the Republic is the success of the nation. We will serve taking those words into account.

This indeed indicates a very important point that whilst the President of the Republic belongs to a political party, once he becomes State President he becomes a President of all the people of South Africa. We have to be sensitive to this fact.

We are encouraged by the contribution of many Honourable Members on how the National Planning function can be executed to the benefit of all South Africans.

Minister Manuel and other speakers elaborated on processes relating to national strategic planning.

These explanations hopefully reassured all Honourable Members who were in doubt that what we are envisaging is a democratic process in which this House and Parliament as a whole will have an important role to play.

It must be a process in which broader society should be involved, giving practical expression to our efforts to involve the people more integrally into the process of governance.

Let me reiterate that the process of strategic planning will involve not only national government; but all the spheres. Working together we will make it work.

We noted the concerns of Hon Dandala that we must ensure that National Planning does not stifle innovation or initiative. National strategic planning will facilitate and enhance, rather than hinder, delivery.

As in the debate on the State of the Nation Address, virtually all Honourable Members who spoke on this matter supported the need for an effective monitoring and evaluation system.

In a systematic and detailed manner, Minister Chabane explained the process we will follow to put the monitoring and evaluation systems in place, and how Parliament will be involved.

This is informed by the common understanding that the worth of good ideas and good policies resides in their implementation and the impact they make on people’s lives.

Attached to this is the need to monitor that implementation, to evaluate impact and to intervene when weaknesses are identified. This is precisely what we intend to do.


The Hon Gigaba was correct when he said that one of the most important lessons of the past fifteen years has been that without a strict monitoring and evaluation mechanism, you cannot effectively measure progress achieved; nor timeously put in place interventions to enhance delivery.

He echoed the views of a number of speakers when he said: “Failure to implement our programmes as the State and wisely to spend public funds amounts to total disrespect for the public.”

A number of Honourable Members expressed themselves on the size and cost of the Executive, including The Presidency.

Let me reiterate that, in terms of processes to set up these structures, everything is going well. The task team set up to deal with these matters is hard at work. It has ensured that, in all instances, the new members of the Executive are able to hit the ground running.

I’m certain that Honourable Members themselves will have noticed this from the presentations that Departments and Ministries – old and new –made on their strategic plans to the relevant Parliamentary Committees.

The Hon Trollip is worried about the size of government. He speaks of a “massive cabinet” and a “bloated bureaucracy”.

The issue is not so much whether the government is too big or too small, but how it should best be organised to meet the developmental needs of the country and to make optimal use of the resources available.

Let me assure the House once again that the changes we have made to the configuration of departments are guided by the need to improve service delivery, and to correct the weaknesses that the people had identified.

We have done so fully aware of the financial implications of our decisions, and mindful of the constraints that the economic downturn has placed on public finances.

While our plans are indeed within our means, we cannot be complacent. We need to spend wisely. We need to eliminate wasteful expenditure.

We must be able to measure the developmental return on our investments.

All of the programmes we outlined in the State of the Nation Address will require funding. But the costs of these programmes are negligible when compared to the cost to our society of not implementing them.

The cost of educating our people or ensuring access to health care is nothing compared to the cost of not doing so.

We have noted the concern of Honourable Members about the use of consultants in the public service.

We will watch the trends very closely to ensure that senior managers do not over-use consultants, especially since they are employed on the basis of expertise they profess to have. 

Honourable Godi we share your unease about the report by the Auditor General of entities that are connected with government employees doing business with government departments.

We will look carefully into the compliance with conflict of interest prescripts for public servants. Such behaviour will not be tolerated.

A number of Honourable Members raised the critical question of the relationship between the party and the state.

Others have spoken about the relationship between the party and the government, influenced by media reports on this matter.

The Hon Madikizela-Mandela answered the question of who governs the country clearly.

On April 22^nd, an overwhelming majority of South Africans voted for the African National Congress and gave it the mandate to govern the country for another five years. The ANC rules, we see no need to debate that reality.

The resolutions of the ANC conference in Polokwane in 2007, later refined in our election Manifesto, form the basis of the policies and programmes of this government.

There is therefore nothing untoward in a statement that says the ANC makes policy.

Having formed a government to implement its policies and programmes, the ANC cannot then disappear for five years.

It must perform its own oversight functions to ensure that the government it formed stays true to its mandate. It owes that to the electorate of this country.  

In undertaking this responsibility, the ruling party will engage in internal processes and consultations it considers necessary, as do all other political parties.

The organisation’s interaction with cadres it has deployed does not detract from the responsibility of government to serve all the people of South Africa.

I must also add that Honourable Members should not be afraid of the robust debate within the ranks of the ruling party, or within the Alliance. It does not make sense to call for robust debate within this House and in society at large, but then to insist that the President of the ANC should stifle debate within his own party.

On the other hand, there are matters relating to the State. Those institutions which are meant in their composition and conduct to be non-partisan, should and will remain so.

As we all know, matters relating to these institutions are regulated by provisions of the Constitution and the laws of the country.

We have frequently stressed that we cannot allow a situation in which the institutions or resources of the state are used to advance partisan interests.

Where there are violations of these legal prescripts, we need to ensure that action is taken in line with our laws.

I share the concerns of Hon Dandala on this matter, and join him in calling for all organs of the state to ensure that they do not promote the interests of any one party to the exclusion of others.

We would also like to make our National Days more meaningful and inclusive to all South Africans. The Presidency would welcome suggestions on how this can be done.

The Honourable Meshoe wanted to know when we would implement the decision on the wearing of name tags by frontline public servants, and what we would do if they refused.

The Department of Public Service and Administration, responsible for government’s Batho Pele customer care programme, will communicate with all government departments to ensure compliance in this regard.

Minister Patel reminded us of the enormous opportunities in the continent, and that our vision should be to build a major industrial economy with strong linkages in the region.

He also cautioned that the conduct of South African business on the continent should reflect our own values and democratic ethos as a nation.

This matter has been raised a few times in the continent and our business community should treat it with the seriousness it deserves.

Honourable members, as the Deputy President emphasised, work on 2010 continues apace, and all challenges are receiving attention.

Umntwana wakwaPhindangene, the Honourable Shenge reminded us of the critical point that we must look beyond the 2010 Soccer World Cup and ensure that the marketing of the country intensifies beyond the tournament. 

We must ensure that the legacy of infrastructure, stronger national unity, marketing opportunities for the country and other benefits are sustained beyond the World Cup.

The international marketing of the country is one issue we should place firmly on the agenda of our interaction with Opposition Parties soon.

Together we must support programmes that send out a positive message about South Africa to the world. Sadly, it is often South Africans who communicate negativity about our beautiful country.

We will reflect on our marketing instruments to assess effectiveness.
Again, we wish Bafana Bafana well; and, logistics allowing, I should be able to join other fans at the stadium this evening as they play one of the most important matches in their history.

It has been a while since the national team reached the semi-finals in international or continental games.

This is an achievement that they should share with the whole nation. And of course we want them to go to the finals!

Honourable Members, as the global recession begins to take its toll on our country, we take wisdom again from the Hon Shenge that unity is the key tool in our response.

He said: “one naturally does not expect all political parties to sing from the same hymn sheet, but we can at least sing certain bars of our song of survival in unison’’.

Let me add that it is not enough that we, as the government tell the people what we are doing in order to give them a better life.

Our success as the government will also depend on the extent to which people take advantage of opportunities laid out by government and initiate their own projects.

This partnership between the government and the people should hold true at all times.

It should hold even more urgently in times of big challenge like in these times of economic recession when opportunities are fewer and needs are many.

It is in such times that we should remember the words of the Chief Whip of the ruling Party, the Honourable Motshekga, who reminds us that a nation should take lessons from its own traditional spirit of Ubuntu, and assist one another especially families in distress.


Honourable Members, I have observed with fascination the learned discussion between the Minister responsible for Planning and Members of the Official Opposition, especially Hon Ellis, on chickens and pigs that fly.

They are clearly experts on the matter. Honourable Ellis even produced documentation to prove his point!

I trust that the Minister and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry took note and will protect the chickens and the pigs accordingly!

Honourable Members, thank you for supporting the Presidency Budget vote.


Working together we must do more to fight hunger and poverty, and to make South Africa a winning nation.

I thank you.