Hansard: Debate on President's State of the Nation Address

House: National Assembly

Date of Meeting: 12 Feb 2008

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UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Tuesday, 12 February 2008

"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,12 Feb 2008,"[Take-11] [National Assembly Chamber Main][NAC-Logger][slr].doc"

 

TUESDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2008

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

________________________________

The House met at 12:00.

The Speaker took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

APPOINTMENT OF NEW CHIEF WHIP

(Annoucement)

 

The SPEAKER: Order, hon members! I wish to take this opportunity to formally announce that Mr E N Mthethwa has been appointed Chief Whip of the Majority Party with effect from 24 January 2008. [Applause.]

NOTICE OF MOTION

END OF TAKE

ANNOUNCEMENT: The SPEAKER

NOTICE OF MOTION

Mr L W GREYLING: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice of the following motion:

That the House -

(1) noting President Mbeki's response to a question from Ms P de Lille concerning party funding, establishes an ad hoc committee to consider and report on the nature of party funding in South Africa; and

(2) recommends to the House measures for the regulation of such funding, if deemed necessary.

MOTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE – The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY

END OF TAKE

NOTICE OF MOTION: Mr L W GREYLING

HOURS OF SITTING

(Draft Resolution)

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Speaker, I move without notice:

That, notwithstanding the hours of sitting of the House as provided for in Rule 23(2), the House, today, Tuesday, 12 February 2008, sits at 12:00 in order to pay tribute to the late hon P J Gomomo.

I thank you.

The SPEAKER: I'm quite sure there are no objections; that's why we are all here.

Agreed to.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY

END OF TAKE

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY

REVIVAL OF ITEMS LAPSED AT THE END OF 2007 ANNUAL SESSION

(Draft Resolution)

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Madam Speaker, I move the draft resolution printed in my name on the Order Paper, as follows:

That the following items, which were on the Order Paper and that lapsed at the end of the 2007 annual session, be revived for consideration by the National Assembly:

(1) Second Reading debate – National Environment Laws Amendment Bill [B35 – 2007] (National Assembly – sec 76) – (Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism).

(2) Consideration of Report of Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions (Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports, 21 August 2007, p 1590).

Agreed to.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY

END OF TAKE

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY

MOTION OF CONDOLENCE

(The late P J Gomomo)

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Madam Speaker, I move the draft resolution printed in my name on the Order Paper, as follows:

That the House –

(1) notes with profound sadness that on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, the hon Phumzile John Gomomo passed away;

(2) recognises that the hon Gomomo was a great South African and working-class leader who devoted his life to the service of the people and the country, and that the mighty workers' movement we see today would never have been built without the commitment and hard work of people like him;

(3) recalls that in the 1980s, together with other comrades in the motor industry, he led a R2 an hour living wage campaign that saw the total shutdown of a Uitenhage plant and also linked with the works councils at VW Germany, which contact resulted in the development of contacts with the German trade union IG Metall;

(4) further recalls that throughout his life, the hon John Gomomo was an internationalist and had represented Numsa on major committees at the International Metalworkers Federation, and in 1989 he was elected as Cosatu's second deputy president and as president in 1991, and that he led the workers of South Africa through difficult times and was involved in the drawing up of the RDP, the new Constitution and also spearheaded the 1995 campaign for new labour laws;

(5) further recalls that, together with other comrades, the hon Gomomo worked to build the civic movements which played a key role in the fight to end apartheid, notably the powerful Uitenhage Black Civic Organisation, and that many of the comrades he fought with were assassinated by the security police, while others were detained and tortured;

(6) believes that the hon John Gomomo discharged his responsibilities with dedication, discipline, diligence and humility, and that his life epitomises heroism and commitment to the cause of freedom and social justice; and

(7) conveys its condolences to the Gomomo family, the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

I thank you. [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION

END OF TAKE

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY

The MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION: Speaker, hon colleagues, our late comrade, Phumzile John Gomomo, was born on the farms of Adelaide in 1946 in a place called Didima. His parents were farm labourers, and as such young Phumzile was destined to become either a farm labourer himself or to join other young people, as was the tradition in those days, to line up for recruitment to be a mineworker.

The farm school went up to Standard 2. Legislation made sure that children born and brought up on the farms were invariably destined to be labourers themselves, or to be mineworkers, to make sure that cheap labour was readily available on the mines. Opportunities for social and economic development were few for farm children, and in fact as low as the ceiling of a Bantu education classroom.

To escape this spiral of providing cheap labour, the young Phumzile was soon to migrate with his family to Uitenhage. There he got what was a relatively better type of education. He was also exposed to a bigger world and a different experience – experience of hard life and survival skills. It was in Uitenhage where his political life actually developed.

Phumzile worked at a Volkswagen car manufacturing plant at the time when the trade union movement was reawakening in South Africa. The events in Durban in 1973 gave birth to a number of trade unions, such as Macwusa, Naawu and Saawu in the Eastern Cape. Phumzile became a shop steward of Naawu, what is now Numsa, and rose to the ranks of local and national leadership of that trade union. Together with other leaders of the then Fosatu, leaders such as our Minister, Alec Erwin, Comrade Sisa Njikelana, MP, the late Comrade Thozamile Gqwetha and many others, Phumzile became pivotal in the negotiations that led to the birth of the current Cosatu in 1985. He became, as the Chief Whip said, the second president of Cosatu, after Comrade Elijah Barayi.

As an activist of the 1970s and the 1980s, Comrade Gomomo had to wrestle with a barrage of contending ideologies. He had to contend with the Black Consciousness Movement, he had to contend with the Unity Movement and he had to contend with our own ideology of the ANC and its allies. He developed his own political understanding and understood the correctness of aligning himself with the ANC and the SACP. This guided his position on the role of trade unions and the link between that role and the broader struggle for the national liberation.

As part of the leadership of the UDF, under the regional leadership of comrades such as hon Henry Fazi, an MP now, the late Comrade Edgar Ngoyyi, the late Matthew Goniwe and young comrades, scholars at the time, such as Lulu Johnson, Comrade Gomomo played a pivotal role in mobilising, organising and leading our people to deliver the final blows to apartheid. The consumer boycotts of 1985 after the Langa massacre is a case in point.

It was only rational that this outstanding leader of our people became a member of this august House. He represented our people with humility and dignity, but with unyielding resolve to attain total freedom for our country and its people.

He leaves behind a South Africa which is remarkably different from the one he grew up in. Our government has made huge strides in passing legislation that restores our people's dignity, laws that protect our people's rights and make sure there are better opportunities and services even to farm labourers and mineworkers. But he knew that was not all we had been striving for. Not all our objectives for the South Africa of our dreams have been attained.

Phumzile was a total person. He was a father, a husband, a relative, a sangoma, a grandfather, but above all he was a revolutionary. We will miss his company and contribution. "AmaNzotho namaMpondo mawalale ngenxeba. Akuhlanga Lungehliyo." [May the Nzothos and Pondos take comfort in God's love. What has happened was God's will.]

Mr K J MINNIE

END OF TAKE

The MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION

Afrikaans:

Mr K J MINNIE: Speaker, agb lede, op 20 Junie 2007 het John Gomomo die laaste keer in hierdie Huis opgetree. Dit was tydens die debat oor die Staatsdienswysigingswet. Gister, op 11 Februarie 2008, het die President hierdie wet onderteken, en vandag, op 12 Februarie 2008, is dit gepubliseer in die Aankondigings, Tertafelleggings en Komiteeverslae van hierdie Parlement.

English:

Speaker, Mr John Gomomo was a pioneer and a great leader of the South African workers, who devoted his entire life to improving the working conditions for the workers in his union, movement and the country in general. John Gomomo was, in the seventies, the chairperson of the Volkswagen liaison committee. This was a time when the workers' movement faced enormous obstacles, as the law banned the formation of trade unions across race. He became the president of the National Automobile and Allied Workers Union.

To demonstrate his selfless life, John Gomomo was an astute negotiator, which saw him elected as the first chairperson of the Eastern Cape region of the Federation of South African Trade Unions, Fosatu, in 1979, a union that was formed through the merger of some unions. After this, John Gomomo participated in four-year-long unity talks that led to the creation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions in December 1985. In 1989, he was elected second deputy president of Cosatu and ultimately became president of Cosatu in 1991.

I have known John Gomomo as the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on the Public Service and Administration on which I served with him for the past four years. On a personal level, Mr Gomomo was a warm person to talk with. He was always humble and respectful. Although one could, at times, see the strain his body was taking due to his illness, he always demonstrated that life should go on.

On a working and political level, as we are in different political parties in Parliament, John would always demonstrate an accommodating outlook with the belief that people are, by nature, not homogenous in their thinking and beliefs. He did not take things personally. We could disagree, but we could still laugh and talk. Perhaps his inherent skills as a politician, a devoted unionist and negotiator helped him to be real and humane. This is what one will miss due to the departure of John Gomomo.

We should take a leaf out of the book of gentle giants like John Gomomo. We should not fail to think about our people more than ourselves when we deal with national work such as legislation, policy and other social issues. We as the DA say: Fare you well, John Gomomo. We will miss you, Mzoto. I thank you. [Applause.]

Dr U ROOPNARAIN

END OF TAKE

Mr K J MINNIE

Dr U ROOPNARAIN: Madam Deputy Speaker, hon members, I stand before you …

The SPEAKER: I have since become the Speaker! [Interjections.]

Dr U ROOPNARAIN: Sorry! Madam Speaker, hon members, I stand before you today on behalf of my party, the IFP, to pay tribute to this great human being. I believe that, in history, each individual is able to make a unique contribution. Some contributions stand out as monuments and others as a legacy. The life and contributions of the late John Gomomo will be both.

I met John Gomomo in 2001 when I joined the portfolio committee. I was new to the committee yet immediately I felt part of the team. I think every member who was part of the Public Service portfolio committee, across partisan lines, can attest to this. John Gomomo dedicated his life to the workers' movement. He helped to create a better life for people and indeed his departure from our midst will be a very difficult void to fill.

In paying tribute to this phenomenal human being, I would describe John in the following way: He was a man among men, never judgmental and very composed. John exuded the very essence of compassion, of duty, of courage, and of political integrity. He was a voice for the thousands of voiceless and powerless workers, a standard-bearer and a fearless champion for the rights of the oppressed. He worked tirelessly to create a more humane working environment.

He pioneered the establishment of a number of civic organisations, such as the Uitenhage Black Civic Organisation. At the height of social unrest, he led a number of mass campaigns. In 1991 he was elected as Cosatu's president and spearheaded a number of campaigns, including the introduction of the Labour Relations Act and the Employment Equity Act.

John fully embraced the principles of the ANC and the strategic moment that political liberation brought. He immersed himself in being a parliamentarian, but had the issues of employment and the Public Service at heart. He fought to improve the material conditions of workers and public servants. Hence he became a colossal symbol of justice and fairness. This sense of fairness and impartiality also seeped into the portfolio committee. Many hon members will attest to this. John always looked in the direction of the opposition and solicited our opinions and thoughts. He knew what the people were saying, and he knew what serving the people meant.

Let me share something with you about John. John was an eclectic thinker. He spent many years on a spiritual journey and often embraced other faiths. Yes, he was a sangoma, but John also wore sacred Hindu beads around his wrist. He burnt incense sticks at his home and, more amazingly, he quoted Hindu scriptures and mantras in Sanskrit. He did this with such eloquence. I stood in awe and admired this individual. It was amazing.

Another incident also comes to mind. John suffered with diabetes. Despite this, he often gave in at times to the sugar cravings. I remember accompanying him to the anti-corruption forum last year. During the coffee break, he was seated in front of a plate of pastries and other sugary goods and began eating them. I walked towards his table all wide-eyed and looked at him in dismay. Instead he smiled at me, winked and said he was checking the freshness of the baked goods. He did this for two days!

Although we feel the sadness, John would want us to continue protecting the rights and interests of people, especially the workers. I am grateful that I had the chance of interacting with him. I am also grateful to have served under his leadership. So, today I am filled with both grief and pride – grief that his presence is no more, but pride for his epic contribution.

Though he may not be physically with us, we can hear his voice and his words that, in their profound simplicity, will continue to ring irrespective of which parties we belong to, or where we reside, or what language or religions we follow. We are reminded of his words. He often used these words when he ended portfolio committee meetings: "We are the last country on the continent to attain liberation. We need to be a beacon of light to the rest of Africa." This should be our resolve.

To the members of the family: We know you feel this pain even more deeply. We cannot grasp the depth of your grief, and may you be comforted. To the ANC, his colleagues and his comrades: You have lost a giant. May God, the Prince of Peace, comfort you in this time. Farewell, John. May your soul rest in peace. Thank you. [Applause.]

Mr G T MADIKIZA

END OF TAKE

Dr U ROOPNARAIN

Mr G T MADIKIZA: Madam Speaker, hon members, the UDM joins the previous speakers in extending heartfelt condolences to the Gomomo family and friends and, not the least, to his political party, the ANC, and Cosatu. It is with a deep sense of sorrow that we extend these condolences for a man of hon Mr Gomomo's stature at this moment in time.

Some of us may not have known hon Gomomo on a personal level, but one cannot help feeling like one knew him personally because of his contributions, ranging from workers' rights to the basic principles of democracy and human rights which he stood for and embodied in himself for the best part of his life.

May his family find solace in the fact that their loss is not theirs only but also that of the nation at large. We salute the role that he played, and bid a sad farewell to another great son of the Eastern Cape. Aluhlanga lungehlanga, maNzotho kunye namaMpondo. [What has happened was God's will, the Nzothos and the Mpondos.] May his soul rest in peace. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mrs P DE LILLE

END OF TAKE

Mr G T MADIKIZA

Mrs P DE LILLE: Madam Speaker, on behalf of the ID, I bring condolences to John's family - our late comrade - the ANC and all his friends.

I remember John was there as a trade unionist when we had to react to the Frame Group strikes in Durban in the 70s; when we had to interact on the Wiehahn Commission recommendations; and also when we had unity talks. He played a major role in trying to bring unity amongst workers.

I recall one day when we were travelling back from an International Confederation of Trade Unions conference in Paris and we had bought a book that was banned in South Africa. We had to take turns on the plane to read the book because we were not allowed to bring it in the next day. When we arrived, the customs officials called us and I asked: "John, where is the book?" He said: "Comrade, I am taking it with me." That is the kind of bravery that we have experienced through working with him as a worker.

We have certainly lost a great son. To his family and to the ANC, I know it is going to be difficult to find somebody to fill those great shoes of his. But he certainly left a mark that we can all remember. May his soul rest in peace. Thank you. [Applause.]

Mrs C DUDLEY

END OF TAKE

Mrs P DE LILLE

Mrs C DUDLEY: Madam Deputy Speaker, Ministers, colleagues, the ACDP joins this House in conveying our sincere condolences to family and friends of hon John Gomomo. It is our sincere hope that they have an assurance and confidence that he is going to be with his Maker and pray that they will experience the peace of Jesus Christ at this time.

Hon John Gomomo is recognised for his contribution to the liberation of South Africa and the postapartheid reconstruction process. It is however of course his loved ones, his family, friends and colleagues, who knew him best.

John's wife was in fact one of the first people I met and had the pleasure of spending time with in 1999 when I came to Parliament to be sworn in - a wonderful woman who has trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and who was committed to praying for her husband. We ask God to strengthen you and your family during this time. May God bless you and may his peace, which transcends all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Thank you. [Applause.]

Mr B E PULE

END OF TAKE

Mrs C DUDLEY

Mr B E PULE: Deputy Speaker, allow me on behalf of the UCDP also to pay tribute to the late hon Phumzile Gomomo. I did not know the hon late Gomomo in his prime of life, but I had the privilege of knowing him as a Member of Parliament, and also as a resident of Acacia Park.

During my interaction with him, our minds took excursion, generally, into life's vicissitudes. In him I observed that he was a man with a sense of mission; in him there was also a man with a sense of destiny. Above all, I observed that he was a very humble, but no-nonsense man. Of course, it is this humility that is always an index of man's ethical integrity; hence, in him, I observed a man of integrity.

May the soul of this worthy son of Africa rest in peace! May his departure leave a legacy of dispossession of self and all that self includes. May his family, friends and relatives, his party, the ANC, and all his alliance partners and all South Africans accept the UCDP's condolence. God's will has been done.

Setswana:

Lalang ka ntho madi a tshologe. [Legofi.]

Ms S RAJBALLY

END OF TAKE

Mr B E PULE

Ms S RAJBALLY: Madam Deputy Speaker, we regretfully return to the podium to pay respect to the deceased hon Phumzile John Gomomo. It saddens me that we have lost such a wonderful spirit that has served our people well. We extend our condolence to the beloved family and friends of Gomomo, and pray that God may give them the strength to overcome his loss. Gomomo has been one of those souls that has left each of us marked with good memories of his friendship.

I had the pleasure to encounter and engage with Gomomo in his trade union work and he was a great personality. He had a strong drive for life and great passion for people. We further extend our heartfelt condolence to the ANC that has lost an impeccable comrade. Our condolences are further extended to the Portfolio Committee on the Public Service and Administration. We are sure that the leadership skills will be sorely missed.

Cosatu has lost a great leader and comrade that we hope shall serve as an example to the one whoshall fill his shoes. We pray that Gomomo's commitment and enthusiasm to serve the people shall be enshrined in the business of the House, the ANC and Cosatu. We pray that our brother Gomomo shall be welcomed in the gardens of heaven and be met by so many of our great martyrs. I pray that he will tell them that we all are well and working hard to transform South Africa into the nation that they also dreamt of.

Brother Gomomo, as you lay down to rest, may you have the peace that you have served us well. Loving memories of you shall rest seededin the hearts of all that have gained from encountering such a wonderful soul as you. May God bless you. Rest in peace. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr M T LIKOTSI

END OF TAKE

Ms S RAJBALLY

Mr M T LIKOTSI: Deputy Speaker, in December last year, I was shocked to learn about the hospitalisation of Comrade John Gomomo around his area of residence. It was only on 22 January 2008 when the sad news of his passing away was broken and I was shattered. I've known Comrade Gomomo since my early years as a high school student in the late '70s. He was an inspiration to me and many other students of my time, especially the scholars of the liberation struggle. He was always in the thick of things and led from the front. In matters of workers' struggle, he stood very tall.

In 2004, I was fortunate to serve in this Parliament as a colleague of this honourable son of the soil, although in different portfolio committees. I recall a day we met near Poorthuis.I had a brief chat with Comrade Gomomo. He said to me, you are a clean-shaven comrade, just keep it there. I thanked him and immediately remembered that he was referring to our heydays of the struggle when most of the activists were bearded and sported rough hair.

Comrade Gomomo will be missed by us, his family, friends, comrades and the alliance partners. On behalf of theAPC,I wish to pass our deepest condolences and sympathy to Gomomo's family and those who are close to him. We will always remember Comrade Gomomo, because an injury to one is an injury to all.

Long live the spirit of Comrade John Gomomo, long live! [Applause.]

HON MEMBERS: Long live!

Dr S E M PHEKO

END OF TAKE

Mr M T LIKOTSI

Dr S E M PHEKO: Deputy Speaker, the hon Phumzile John Gomomo was indeed a great trade unionist. I appreciated him very much. He was tolerant. He admitted it when he supported issues that were in conflict with the interests of the workers. For instance, there was a time when I consistently asked him how he justified his appeal to Cosatu to vote for a political party that pursued the policy of privatisation, which reduced jobs.

There was also a high rate of retrenchment of teachers at the time. He admitted that this was a paradox. He took my inquiry in the right democratic spirit.

The PAC is saddened by his premature death, but appreciates that he did so much for the trade union movement in our country in a short space of time. He, indeed, lived his life qualitatively.

We express and send our deep condolences to his family. Many trade union leaders are people who are often moved by the poverty and the exploitation of workers; the hon P J Gomomo was one of them. His life and role evoke memories of giant trade union leaders such as Clement Kadalie - one of the first dynamic trade union leaders in this country.

Death remains a mystery, but Job - that African who lived in the ancient geographic area of the Kushites, many years ago – asked: "Is there life after death?" He answered: "I know that my redeemer liveth. Though worms may destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." May it be so with the hon P J Gomomo. [Applause.]

Mr P J NEFOLOVHODWE

END OF TAKE

Dr S E M PHEKO

Mr P J NEFOLOVHODWE: Madam Deputy Speaker, allow me to join the ANC, the SACP, Cosatu and members of this House in expressing our condolences, as Azapo, to the family and friends of Comrade Gomomo. It is indeed in our tradition and befitting, as the people who come from the liberation movement, to celebrate the life and work of such an important comrade. As Azapo, we remember him as a trade unionist who inspired and stood by the workers as a leader in the trade union movement.

We also wish to acknowledge the enormous contribution that Comrade Gomomo made in the liberation struggle as a man who rose from an ordinary worker to become a leader of one of the most important worker federations in Africa and in the world. To us, his departure creates a gap that would be difficult to fill. However, his work and name will live forever. His passing away came as a shock to many who worked with him. He will indeed be missed. May his soul rest in peace! I thank you. [Applause.]

Ms M M MDLALOSE

END OF TAKE

Mr P J NEFOLOVHODWE

Ms M M MDLALOSE: Madam Speaker …

IsiZulu:

... singu-Nadeco nezakhamuzi zaseNingizimu Afrika sifisa ukukhalela iqembu elibusayo kanye nezwe lonke ngeqhawe,-…

English:

... son of the soil.

IsiZulu:

Siyabonga ngempilo yakhe futhi siyadumisa ngokuphila kwakhe okugcwalisekile. Simfisela ukuphumula okuhle. Sifisa ukududuza umndeni nabahlobo bakhe.

English:

May his soul rest in peace!

IsiZulu:

Ngiyabonga. [Ihlombe.]

Mr L M GREEN

END OF TAKE

Ms M M MDLALOSE

Mr L M GREEN: Deputy Speaker, hon Ministers and members, the FD wishes to extend a sincere message of condolence to the family, friends and loved ones of Mr John Gomomo. He was a stalwart of the workers' movement, a comrade to his peers, a leader of the workers and a visionary of a society free of exploitation and discrimination.

I had the privilege to meet Mr Gomomo at Parliament – a humble man of integrity and a fighter to the end in defending the rights of workers. Mr Gomomo knew how to lead and his talents placed him in the leadership of various worker organisations, including the National Union of Metal Workers of SA and later Cosatu, which he helped bring into existence. He was actively involved in helping to shape our new Constitution and had always been committed to defending the rights of the poor.

He was a trade unionist at heart, and his politics was motivated by these interests. Even as a Member of Parliament, he would continue to argue in favour of economic policies that benefited the workers, the unemployed and the poor.

The FD acknowledges the role of Mr Gomomo in shaping our society into one that is free and friendlier for all to live in. We extend our sincerest condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of the late John Gomomo, as well as to the ANC, which has lost an outstanding leader. He will be sorely missed. May his soul rest in peace! I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr S SIMMONS

END OF TAKE

Mr L M GREEN

Mr S SIMMONS: Madam Deputy Speaker, the contribution of any individual in the fight for democracy can never be ignored, more so in the case of the magnitude of the late Mr Gomomo, as noted.

The late Mr Gomomo is a shining example of taking the fight for freedom and democracy from the bottom to the top - from soldier and shopsteward to Member of Parliament. The NA salutes the hon Mr Gomomo for his unselfish contribution to his people and conveys its condolences to his family, friends and the ANC. May his soul rest in peace. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr T R MOFOKENG

END OF TAKE

Mr S SIMMONS

Mr T R MOFOKENG: Madam Speaker, hon members, Ministers, Deputy President, I think it is a privilege for me just to talk about the man I knew. When I was told to talk about him a few minutes ago, I was in a Scopa meeting and I thought it is never too late for a man to comment, since I knew what I was going to talk about - I knew the person.

I knew Gomomo since the early '70s – some of you will be surprised. In the midseventies, around '77 and '78, we met with Gomomo when we formed a consultative committee with comrades like Alec and others. We came down to Cape Town to form a federation. That federation was called the Federation of South African Trade Unions, Fosatu, and was formally formed late in 1979.

We thought that was not enough because we were worried about the mines, which were then not organised. We found that we were not capable of organising the mines and thought that we should give that task to the Council of Unions of South Africa, Cusa, which was then the National Council of Trade Unions, Nactu, and then thought of Comrade Cyril to lead it. We then decided to bring the federations together and form a real federation, not leaving Cusa aside. We were with Gomomo. By that time - I must not be afraid to say this - I think I was still a leader to him because I was serving at five national levels. We then, together with Gomomo, formed Cosatu in 1985.

I remember when we were at Kings Park stadium in Kwazulu-Natal in 1985 – I think there was a state of emergency thereafter – when Comrade Gomomo and some of us called for the throwing away of reference books, etc. We did that and threw them away in that stadium, and said that we were not going to carry those things anymore and that we wanted IDs. By that time, the then State President, P W Botha, was late. He could not believe what had happened and had to follow us. After three to six months he agreed and said, "yes, let us get rid of these passbooks and IDs." We had already called for that with Gomomo, the real leader by then.

I went to Uitenhage and buried his wife, who was in a wheelchair, and I was surprised. I was always with Gomomo but I was unaware that his family had problems. Comrades, I remember during those times that he used to say to me: "Ron, there is a problem here. There is no more peace." The funny part of this is that when there was peace, Comrade Gomomo would lead that peace. There would come a time when there was conflict of rights and conflict of workers' interests, and Gomomo would realise that things were at the lowest ebb and there might be war. Gomomo would not lead that war, but he would command it.

Mr PW Botha called for a state of emergency, and Comrade Gomomo came to me in the mid-80s and again said: "Ron, there is a state of emergency now. Let us show this man that we can do something." He said: "I am no longer commanding a war but, under this emergency, I am dictating." He dictated. That was Gomomo.

This towering leader of the people of South Africa - a dedicated worker, servant, revolutionary, fearless fighter, campaigner and activist of people's power - has passed away. Yes, indeed, he has passed on. But today we are not commemorating, we are celebrating his revolutionary life.

Comrade Gomomo was indeed a fearless servant of the working class and the oppressed people of South Africa. He offered himself selflessly to the struggle against colonialism and apartheid and against capital super-exploitation. He put his own life at risk to ensure that colonialism and apartheid were no more, and that South Africa dawned into a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic and prosperous country, free of colonialism of a special type and of all forms of oppression.

In his task he feared nothing - not even death could deter his vision of justice and freedom for the oppressed masses. As the poet said:

Oh death, thy fear I fear. But I fear thee not. I await not thy appointment day, for in it you instil thy fright, and trouble the minds and thoughts of those who fall to thy illusion.

Indeed, the revolutionary vision of a democratic and nonracial South Africa inspired Comrade Gomomo to be beyond the fear of death, for he consciously decided to dedicate his entire life to the revolutionary cause. His own life was at risk many times, but he soldiered on to provide fearless and conscious leadership to the South African working class to take on colonial and racial capitalism.

Comrade Gomomo served the people of South Africa with distinction. He travelled to many parts of the world, mobilising international solidarity against the tyranny of the former white regime. This he did with a great sense of responsibility and courage, without seeking any glory but for the people of South Africa and the trade union movement. He was an embodiment of the best traditions of the congress movement - a worker, a negotiator, an activist and a leader of the ANC, the SACP and the civic movement.

Comrade Gomomo displayed a high level of revolutionary discipline, expressed by a commitment and availability to carry out tasks of the organisation at all times. He served the people of South Africa in many capacities across a number of areas, including in this House. He led Cosatu and the working class with excellence; he resembled the kind of individual South Africa requires in its fight for social cohesion and ongoing social transformation.

His work will always guide us. His commitment to the struggle confirms that he was prepared to die for his beliefs, for he was indeed beyond fear in his cause - as one poet has said referring to death:

Admonish thy angel not to come,

For I shall acquaint myself

On how to die daily.

Like travellers of the far country,

I too shall someday know the route

From this world to the one beyond,

To transit at will over and again,

Losing all fear that may lie.

Indeed, Comrade Gomomo was a fearless fighter and a revolutionary ready and willing to die for his people and his country.

I see the faces of some of the comrades who were in the struggle with Gomomo. I can see Don, the former president of the Chemical Workers Industrial Union. I can see the former deputy president …

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, your time has expired.

Mr T R MOFOKENG: Thank you very much. [Applause.] [Time expired.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The condolences of the House will be conveyed to the Gomomo family and relevant structures.

Debate concluded.

Motion agreed to, members standing.

BUSINESS SUSPENDED AT 12:52 AND RESUMED AT 14:01.

END OF TAKE

BUSINESS SUSPENDED AT 12:52 AND RESUMED AT 14:01.

 

 

DEBATE ON PRESIDENT'S STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS

The SPEAKER: Hon members, I have received a copy of the President's address, delivered at the Joint Sitting on 8 February 2008. The speech has been printed in the minutes of the Joint Sitting.

The MINISTER OF LABOUR

END OF TAKE

The SPEAKER

The MINISTER OF LABOUR: Madam Speaker, Comrade President, hon Members of Parliament, fellow South Africans, ladies and gentlemen, the achievement of democracy in 1994 marked the birth of our country as an African nation on the southern tip of the continent. It provided us with the opportunity to set up a government based on the will of the people and on people-centred and people-driven principles.

It provided us with an opportunity to strengthen the ANC as a leader and a commander in the implementation of a practical programme of social change, and a movement rooted among the people. Hence the slogan: "ANC lives! ANC leads!"

It is precisely for that reason that the President, during the state of the nation address, declared war against poverty: "a national war room for a war against poverty", to be precise.

isiXhosa:

Masibambane ngezandla singamasebe karhulumente silwe nendlala, silamlele abantu ekuthwaxweni linxele likakhethsekile. Sonke masibambelele ekhubeni, siqinise imisipha neentsinga, singathandabuzi.

UMongameli uhlabe ikhwelo lokuba kungabi kho siseko sikarhulumente esibulaleka sodwa. ISebe loPhuhliso lwezeNtlalo, elooRhulumente baMaphondo nabaseKhaya, elezoRhwebo noShishino, elezoLimo neMicimbi yoMhlaba, eleMisebenzi yoLuntu nelezeMpilo, la masebe kufuneka abambane abe yinkwa nenkwa, kuliwe nendlala.

Masahlukane nesiqhelo, naxa ndisazi ukuba isiqhelo siyayoyisa ingqondo. Ude agwebe ngelikaJoji uMongameli athi, "Business unusual".

Kunyembelekile! Umbutho wesizwe i-ANC ufuna sibe ngamafela-ndawonye anjongo ikukubumbana alwe indlala. Ewe, silenzile igalelo, kodwa kuninzi ekusafuneka sikwenzile. Ewe, uninzi lwabantu lunawo amanzi okusela, kodwa kuse kho abangenawo.

Baninzi abanombane, kodwa bakho nabangenawo; baninzi abazuza indodla nenkamnkam, kodwa bakho nabangacholi naphantsi. Ngokumisela amaphulo ophuhliso lwamakhosikazi; umlisela nomthinjana; umgqeku nomqikela; abantu abahlala emaphandleni; abantu abakhubazekileyo nabalimeleyo; abantu abahlaselwa zizifo; iingwevu neengwevukazi zethu, silwa indlala.

Ngokumisela iinkqubo zophuhliso lwezakhono noqeqesho, silwa nendlala; ngokuthoba iminyaka ukuze amadoda aminyaka ingama-60 azuze indodla, silwa nendlala. Nam ndiselelwe yiminyakana nje embalwa, Mongameli, ndifike kwiminyaka engama-60, ndibe kweli qumrhu lokulwa nendlala. [Kwahlekwa.]

Ngokumisela amaphulo okudala imisebenzi, silwa nendlala. Njengoko abacinezelwa bengazange bavume ukuthoba kwimpatho-gadalala yabamhlophe, abavumi nangoku ukuthoba ngenxa yendlala.

Abantu bahluthwa imihlaba yabo ngolunya; yiyo loo nto bakhwazayo nanamhlanje besithi: "Umhlaba! Ubutyebi belizwe busezandleni zegcuntswana." Yiyo loo nto abantu bekhwaza besithi: "Mayibuye!"

Uninzi alukabi nazindlu. Yiyo loo nto abantu bekhwaza besithi: "Amandla!"

English:

Comrade President, I agree with you that we must prepare our people for war against poverty. Yes, Comrade President, our people have political freedom. However, political freedom without economic control is hollow. It is for this reason that I agree with you that we should mobilise our people for this stage and phase of our struggle. Aluta continua!

Our theme from the 8 January Statement is "Mass mobilisation to build a caring society". It has been the ANC that cared and it is still the ANC that cares. It is the ANC, together with our labour movement, that can mobilise domestic and farm workers under the banner of a strong and vigilant trade union.

It is the ANC together with our labour movement that can sustain a programme of action aimed at protecting vulnerable workers. "All who work shall be free to form trade unions, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers", says the Freedom Charter. And it continues thus, Mr President: "... that our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities."

Sir Francis Bacon, however, advised us many years ago that "knowledge is power". Therefore it would be of no use to create jobs and develop skills when our people remain ignorant of the jobs being created when they are created, what skills they require and so forth.

Therefore, as highlighted by the President in his speech, the need to enhance employment-search mechanisms that would not cost job seekers is very important. Government is stepping up the efforts to expedite that process.

It is the ANC that is committed to human rights and the rights of all workers, irrespective of gender, race, creed or religion. The ANC, hon members, has no "buts", "ifs", "howevers", "whenevers" or "wherevers" when it comes to the rights of workers and the constitutional rights of South Africans in general.

Only the ANC government can win this war. Only the ANC can end rural poverty. Only the ANC can bring dignity to people with disabilities. [Applause.] Only the ANC can ensure that we have youths who are of quality standard to enter the labour market.

Only the ANC can provide universal access to basic services such as water and electricity. [Interjections.] Only the ANC can provide support to the elderly and indigent people. Only the ANC is the home of the truly dispossessed and of all South Africans. Our strength flows from our roots among the people. Only the ANC government can and will win this war against poverty.

Comrade President, I am absolutely sure, that in this House, including those members who are howling on my left, the ANC is the only organisation and the only party that is proud of its past, and the only one that is confident of the future. [Interjections.]

I cannot say the same about the DA because they were once the Progressive Federal Party, at some stage the DP, and now I don't know with whom they are in alliance. I cannot even say the same about my friend of the UDM, because he knows he cannot be proud of their history. He certainly is not sure of his future either. I can name the parties one by one, but it is only the ANC that is proud of its past and confident about the future.

isiXhosa:

Mandigqibezele ngelithi, kumakholwana am ahleli kweli cala:

English:

The more you shout, the more I get excited because I am a preacher. I think you are saying "Hallelujah, Amen!" to what I am saying. [Interjections.] That is why I'm enjoying myself. Shout more, so that I can speak more. Thank you. [Applause.]

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

END OF TAKE

The MINISTER OF LABOUR

Afrikaans:

Die LEIER VAN DIE OPPOSISIE: Agb Speaker, agb President en agb lede – moenie bekommerd wees nie; die grootste deel van my toespraak is in Engels.

English:

The President has told us that South Africa is on course. He has told us that he has 24 Apex Priorities to accelerate renewal and to improve the efficient running of the country. He has told us that it is "Business Unusual" with his government, because we need urgent and determined action if we are to rise above a host of grave infrastructural problems and constitutional threats.

I am here to tell the President that, with all respect, most South Africans do not believe him any more. [Interjections.] Under President Mbeki, the state has been misused for the ANC's benefit and to ensure its hold on power. The separation of powers has consequently been undermined. The language and the mindset of race exclusivity have returned to bedevil South Africa and to undermine the effective functioning of the state at every level. The sudden dimming of the lights across South Africa is merely the most potent and obvious metaphor for the crisis government has visited on the people.

The result of business as usual, under President Mbeki's government, is that we now need to engage in Business Unusual. Yet, by refusing to acknowledge how few of the programmes and the strategies of previous years have been fulfilled and by assuring us all that we are on course, while refusing to hold his Ministers accountable for manifest failures, the President, again, came to us with nothing more than business as usual.

There is a deep desire amongst South Africans to be rid of all the pervasive evidence of corruption, crime and collapsing infrastructure which invades our daily world. Ordinary South Africans want to have discipline in schools, functioning hospitals, safe streets for kids to play in, old people treated with dignity and police that can be trusted.

Mr President, my party and our leader have offered solutions and assistance, and have engaged with your government at every turn in order to achieve these things for South Africa. We are now convinced that the only way to achieve this is to have a new person at the helm and a new government at the helm ... [Interjections.] [Applause.] ... a government and such a person to be chosen by the people of South Africa and not by a faction of the ruling party. [Interjections.]

We are in crisis in South Africa today. The crisis we face is undoubtedly constitutional in nature and concerns the conflation of party and state. The separation of powers, which is fundamental to any democracy – the separation between party and state, and between the legislative, executive and judicial arms of the state – has been systematically eroded.

Afrikaans:

Onder die Mbeki-regering was daar ongeoorloofde inmenging in beide die vervolgingsgesag en die regbank. Dit het ons vertroue dat die fundamentele grondwetlike skeiding eerbiedig sou word, laat krummel.

English:

We fear, Mr President, that your oblique reference to the future functioning and location of the Directorate of Special Operations was meant to muddy rather than clarify this all-important issue.

For if you really intended taking the South African public into your confidence, you would have had to admit that the decision to scrap the Scorpions had already been made for the government by the ANC.

The concern of the people of South Africa is both real and justified: who is going to lead the fight against corruption, especially considering that the ANC's chief decision-making body, the NEC, is made up so substantially of individuals who are either suspected of, or have already been convicted of, crimes – most of which relate to fraud?

In November 2006 the President asked representatives of the SA Council of Churches to trust him that the evidence at his disposal did not warrant action against National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. It is difficult to know why we should trust the President on this issue, given today's revelations contained in an affidavit signed by the Acting Director of Prosecutions, which seems to prove that the President has misled the nation on this issue.

Mr President, the undeniable impression to be gained from the whole sorry saga is that you acted improperly to protect one of your key political allies and, in so doing, undermined the key constitutional principle of separation of powers, as well as misled the people of South Africa about the real reason for Advocate Pikoli's suspension.

In the light of these developments and for the sake of your own credibility, we urge you to disband the Ginwala commission and reinstate Advocate Pikoli with immediate effect. [Applause.]

We know that the ANC is not averse to using clandestine tactics to ensure that party coffers are kept full. It is a sad reflection on the President's legacy that on the same day he delivered what may well be his last state of the nation address, we read newspaper reports on a lucrative and illicit deal that will allegedly benefit the ANC: the R38 billion in Eskom contracts through the party's funding front company, Chancellor House, established while the President was party leader.

As everybody knows, this is not an isolated event. The so-called Oilgate saga is yet another example of how institutions of the state have been abused by the ANC for party purposes. Furthermore, the President has also repeatedly and determinedly blocked answers to questions South Africans have raised with regard to arguably the biggest corruption scandal of postapartheid South Africa, the arms deal.

Last Friday President Mbeki took the occasion of his mother's presence to urge us all to tell the country the truth. The ANC, which likes to claim it is the party of the poor, has built up R1,6 billion in assets under your Presidency. We now ask you, Mr President, to tell us the truth: give us your assurance that not a single cent of the R1,6 billion was received from the prime contractors of the arms deal, or from the proceeds of the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq.

Given that we have to ask these questions, our concern is no longer merely whether the ANC has the capacity to defend the democratic rights and Constitution which it so bravely helped to bring about, but rather whether it actually has the moral impulse left to do so.

Afrikaans:

Ons mense word daagliks deur moord, verkragting en gewapende roof in die gesig gestaar, terwyl die regering die volle omvang van hierdie krisis ontken.

In 2006 het President Mbeki verwys na die internasionale besigheidsverslag van Grant Thornton toe hy trots daarop aanspraak gemaak het dat Suid-Afrika tot "Die Jare van Hoop" toegetree het. In 'n latere uitgawe van dieselfde verslag is misdaad as die grootste probleem wat besigheid in die gesig staar, geïdentifiseer.

English:

The economic reality of South Africa is this: unless we improve our competitiveness in an increasingly demanding global environment, our economy will not grow at a sufficiently buoyant rate to create jobs and ensure proper social security to those most in need.

Mr President, in defiance of the claims you have made since your address on Friday, I must point out that the policies of the ANC with respect to the economy are actually failing in implementation. The occupational skills development regime, which you have put in place, and the microeconomic policies that the government is struggling to implement are simply too interventionist, too bureaucratic, too resource- and capacity-intensive, and too inefficient to deliver the goods in time.

Your 24 Apex Priorities contain nothing new; they seem little more than an empty PR exercise that Asgisa, Jipsa and the Expanded Public Works Programme have become. The intentions are impressive and admirable, but in practice, as with so many other much-publicised initiatives of this government, the required outcomes have simply not been achieved.

Many debates in this House have correctly centred on poverty and the fate of the poor. The challenges for all in this House is to ensure that any future leader brings this voice of the marginalised into the mainstream debate, that the poor become the key beneficiaries of any policy changes and that they do not become the proxy battleground and war room for power squabbles within the ANC.

We need to ensure that we create a fiscally sound social security system and not a hot air balloon, with promises that evaporate when global or local economic conditions shift, and that we continue to explore areas in which we can strike a sound balance in a partnership between government and business.

The 2008 version of the International Business Report is certain to mark us down severely for the collapse of infrastructure in South Africa. I have in hand a reply from Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin, dated 19 June 2006, to one of the numerous questions sent to him by the DA concerning the security of our electricity supply. In it, he assures us that Eskom's demand problems are being "appropriately managed" and that he is "confident of a reliable electricity supply in the future". [Interjections.]

Neither Minister Erwin nor the former or current Ministers of Minerals and Energy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Buyelwa Sonjica, has uttered a reliable word to the people of South in the decade that the government has been in the know about this impending disaster. We have been fobbed off with bland assurances and half-truths until the very moment when the lights were going out all over South Africa.

Why are these Ministers allowed to remain in office? The truth is they stay in their places, because under this government, that is business as usual. [Interjections.] [Applause.] But for the rest of the country, as a result, it has not been business as usual. It was only when our all-important mining industry was brought to a standstill for the first time in a century that a flurry of fumbled admissions and half-baked apologies issued from these Ministers and the Presidency.

Because of this lack of accountability, the people are being denied the services they are entitled to. These are the real Apex Priorities which the people of South Africa are frustrated and anxious about. They resent the collapse of our public schooling system, the violence in our schools, and the five years of unabated decline in matric pass rates.

They are appalled by the continuous deteriorating state of our public health care system, following numerous highly publicised instances of infant deaths, maltreatment of patients, delays in the introduction of dual therapy for Aids patients and the fact that 500 000 HIV-positive South Africans have yet to even start receiving antiretrovirals.

They are angered by the endless delays and underspending that hold up the government's housing efforts and which have put the plan to eradicate informal housing by 2014 in serious jeopardy. They are disturbed by the sluggishness, inefficiency and incapacity of our criminal justice system, and they are increasingly worried about the quality of our water supply and the ageing infrastructure to supply it.

Afrikaans:

Die resep wat misluk het, kan nie die resep wees wat die mislukking moet regruk nie, en 'n inherente deel van daardie resep is die mense wat daardie mislukking veroorsaak het.

Kom ek vertel vir u wat ek in die Vrystaat oor onderwys teëgekom het. Eunice Skool het nou vir 10 jaar 'n 100% slaagsyfer. Die skoolhoof sê daaroor die volgende:

Ek kry dit reg met professionele onderwysers wat toegewyd is aan hulle werk en wat toerekeningsvatbaar is.

English:

Mr President, accountability is not an optional extra. It is an imperative of good governance and a constitutional requirement with which that you cannot simply dispense because you want to protect your loyal cadres.

Skewed loyalties have also informed the way in which the government conducts the foreign affairs of this country. Our country has rightly been accused of shielding a number of unjust regimes, which has lost us our status in the world as a prime defender of human rights.

Concerning our own continent, it is indefensible that the President has remained silent on the critical situation in Kenya, and that he has publicly endorsed the elections, once again, scheduled for the end of March in Zimbabwe.

This determined refusal to face the undeniable has robbed South Africa of its hard-won status, gained in the 1990s, as a moral beacon on the global stage.

Finally, the re-racialisation and racialisation of debate and practice in South Africa have been particular obstacles to building the moral fibre of this country and a key feature of the Mbeki presidency.

It has retarded state capacity to deliver where the need is greatest and it has provided little comfort or resort where racial fault lines do emerge, such as demonstrated by the recent tragic incident at Skielik in the North West.

Mr President, South Africa is filled with people of goodwill and integrity who want this great country to succeed. They are neither on the unrealistic left of the political spectrum nor on the reactionary right.

They are to be found in the political centre: proponents of equality, freedom, choice, decency and hard work. They are neither populist nor elitist. They are committed to nonracism and nonsexism. They are not divided according to race but united by shared values.

They do not ask much more than to be given an opportunity to prove themselves, quality education to prepare themselves for the challenges of a modern economy, and to live in a safe and clean environment in which their children will prosper.

South Africans are more than capable of grasping the opportunities of a new era with their ingenuity, creativity, humanity and fascinating diversity. We have a record of producing miracles in this country, and we can do it again.

Means-tested basic income assistance for the poor, floor-crossing, HIV and Aids, Zimbabwe, the abuse of human rights everywhere and the desire for moral direction, these are all issues on which there is a congruence of views in South African politics which is yet to be explored, and which can and must flow together to the political centre.

It is not too late, and we have overcome hurdles far larger and more destructive than those we are facing at present. But, we do need to start from a clean slate. Therefore, I now table this written notice of motion to ask:

That this House resolves to dissolve so that a fresh election can be called and that the people of South Africa can be given the opportunity to choose.

[Interjections.] [Applause.]

Prof A K ASMAL

END OF TAKE

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

Prof A K ASMAL: Madam Speaker, Mr President, Deputy President, hon members, maqabane [comrades], in quoting the opening lines of Charles Dickens' A Tale of two Cities, the President tried to show that, in real life, it is not a matter of a choice of extremes: wisdom - foolishness, light - darkness, but a possible reflection of a deep sense, possibly, of unease about where the country will be tomorrow.

But there are those, like the writer of an extraordinary letter to the Weekend Argus on 9 February, who from the deepest well of his hatred, could write: "The world should stop caring about what happens on this continent and allow it to self-destruct."

Africa, it seems to him, including South Africa, is a terminally ill patient. In other words, we are facing what the Germans would call "Götterdämmerung" – the twilight of the gods – with decay, death, and destruction confronting us. [Interjections.] Of course, the hon Leader of the Opposition, who is a very gentle, pleasant woman, wants to sound like Helen Zille, and she can't manage to sound like Helen Zille. [Interjections.] She has only the content of tone of the hon Tony Leon, but not the capacity to move them. [Interjections.]

You see, you can have all your clean slates. We have now moved to a technological age. The DA is still in the "clean slate" one. [Interjections.] You can have all your clean slates. The point is the confidence of the people of South Africa in the ANC has been reflected again and again. [Applause.] Again, and again and again: the votes went up from 1994, to 1999, to 2004. Again, and again and again! [Interjections.]

Well, you see, like some political commentators ... [Interjections.] You know, I think there is a kind of baying here. I'm not allowed to say "the baying of donkeys"; that's unparliamentarily. [Laughter.] I'm not allowed to say that, so I withdraw that. [Interjections.]

It's a baying. [Interjections.] Well, you see, she and some political commentators need to be reminded that the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. Our country in recent decades is certainly proof of the accuracy of the first part of the opening line of L P Hartley's novel - you might even read novels on nostalgia - The Go-Between; whatever about the second part.

That this country has changed out of all recognition is a truism of daily discourse. [Interjections.] Whether it has changed – you see it says we lead in darkness – for the better is a question whose answer usually depends on personal circumstances, preferences, beliefs and, particularly, your status before 1994.

It is a constant of human nature that the past is seen through a nostalgic haze. The Leader of the Opposition says, "For the first time in history, the mines stopped." Do you know what happened on the mines, where the lives of thousands of people stopped through the migrant labour system? [Interjections.] Do you know what happened to their lives when millions and millions of them were put in all-male compounds, on concrete beds? Do you know what happened to family life when thousands were killed? Do you know about the infant mortality rates until 1994? [Interjections.] And you have the nerve to tell me, to tell us, the bloody lights stopped the other day. [Interjections.]

For them, the past ... [Interjections.] It's lovely, this idea of being barracked by these people is one of the most stimulating things to me ... [Interjections.] … although not in the way they think I should be stimulated. As long as there is a sunnier place for them, a frequently content, caring place partly thanks to the broad brush strokes of the history they want to write again and again.

 

Overall, though, for the vast majority of our people, there is no need to remind us, as you need constantly to be reminded, of the past we have left behind. For the small minority of the permanently disaffected – disgruntled, I should say - hoping to take office this side of the House, we need to remind ourselves that South Africa is a much nicer place than the "other country" used to be.

A better place is not to be defined simply by the obvious signs of physical change, Mr President. It is not enough to say, as my brother from the Labour department said: "How many millions of the 16 million have now water, which they did not have before?" It is not enough. It is not enough to say: "How many homes have been built and how many hospitals and schools have been built?"

We must talk about the quality of the life there. It is not enough to say ... You know, they are obsessed with potholes, by the way! [Laughter.] But, you know, there were no potholes in the townships when I came in 1990; we built the roads in the townships. So, I'm much more obsessed about our school kids being able to go to school without fjording rivers. [Interjections.] You see, the material change is not enough. The most highly developed social security system anywhere in the Third World is what South Africa has today. It is not enough. [Applause.]

It is not enough to say that in my lifetime I could not go to university because my family couldn't afford to send me; now we are sending 90 000 a year to university, through a financial aid scheme. [Applause.] It is not enough to say that the school system is not working. I went to school where not a single teacher was qualified - from primary to secondary school. [Interjections.] You can't say that because you have to go round the schools to see extraordinary developments taking place, whereas you've got your treachery to the young people. That is wrong.

Go to the schools and you'll see how things have changed. As the Constitution says, in the preamble: Let's draw on the capacity of all our people - and we are doing that now. We are beginning to do that. [Applause.] I will not give way to you.

So, you see only an accountant without a consciousness counts all the time. [Laughter.] What we've been at now - and I'm sorry the hon Leader of the Opposition forgets this - is much more than delivery. Have the lives of our people changed?

And so, there are some who will look back on the past with nostalgia, contrasting the works, really, of a black-dominated government and the uncaring anonymity of present-day urban life, with electricity cuts and fortress-like homes. So, the past is a country in which we do not actually have to live anymore, just visit in our imaginations, and usually in a rather fictitious fashion.

The most important development making South Africa a better place to live in, and possibly even to love, is the Constitution, a guaranteed contract between South Africans as how to organise our public and our private lives. Very few people have had the chance, as people in this House have had, of being able to craft that Constitution. It's a result of an unprecedented national conversation amongst South Africans, and we hope we can revive that consultation a little later. That partnership, together with the Bill of Rights, is the bedrock of our freedom.

It is therefore appropriate that I should refer to the anxiety identified by the President about people who, "are worried about whether we have the capacity to defend the democratic rights and the democratic Constitution which were born of enormous sacrifices".

Do we have the capacity? The answer must be a resounding "yes" from this side of all sides. [Interjections.] The Chief Whip – and he's a tough bloke, this Chief Whip; the new Chief Whip now - of the ANC in the National Assembly last week reported to our caucus that the recent ANC lekgotla reconfirmed our commitment to building a caring society through, among other things, the strengthening of the people's institutions of governance and the protection of their integrity. Now this comes from the most senior representative of the party in this House. For this to be, Parliament will have to play a bigger role. There is no doubt about that. The myth that, for example, the executive totally dominates Parliament is not born out by the facts. Trevor Manuel, the Minister of Finance, again and again and again, has said: Parliament must assert itself through the committees to hold Ministers and departments responsible; again and again and again. So, it's a frailty of this House, rather than the executive, that there is that now. [Interjections.]

That's not good enough. Parliament will have to say that the constitutional settlement of 1996 has to be strengthened. There are many ways of doing this.

An HON MEMBER: What about accountability?

Prof A K ASMAL: I will come to this. [Laughter.] It is Parliament that will take the final decision concerning the suspension of the National Director of Public Prosecutions. It is Parliament that has to ensure in relation to the prosecution of the National Commissioner of Police, and the investigation and prosecution of high-status people in respect of very serious crimes is conducted by elite and highly professional law-enforcement agents.

So, therefore, I want to look at the governance aspect of the National Assembly's supervisory functions. Central to the effective functioning of our democracy and as part of the separation of powers, which in fact drives all of us, is a truly independent judiciary. Our national conference has rightly made the case for the change, transformation, restructuring and training of a united judiciary. But as in all aspects dealing with constitutionally protected persons or entities such as the press, changes will have to be consistent with the Constitution and in consultation with those affected, especially the judiciary.

There's a limit to social engineering when we look at institutions that need strong protection. The case for consultation is not an add-on to the work of the executive of Parliament. It is constitutionally enjoined. I see no other Constitution that has the provisions of section 59(1) that says "The National Assembly must facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the Assembly and its committees."

But recently on at least two occasions Parliament has been found wanting by the Constitutional Court on this score. Consultation, comrades, involves a degree of openness to countervailing opinions. With regard to the issues arising out of Khutsong and Matatiele - not ignoring the politically motivated and organised violence in Khutsong, which we must all deplore - if we had been more assertive in the National Assembly and listened to the grievances of these people, however misplaced they were, the position would have been different.

If Parliament is to be the effective guardian of the Constitution, it must be more assertive in the scrutiny of legislation. Policy, as we know, is the prerogative of the executive under section 85. We mustn't forget that. Policy is the prerogative of the executive in terms of which it is charged to develop and implement national policy. But when Parliament has legislation before it, the constitutional implications must be spelt out because every piece of legislation has some constitutional implications, whether we like it or not. I recall that this was not adequately done in the so-called anti-terrorism legislation, so that the relevant portfolio committee had to virtually recast the Bill to make it consistent with the Constitution.

Also, may I say, for the sake of the public understanding and the edification of Parliament, departments must give up this current gobbledegook style of writing memoranda. Gobbledegook reminds me of a turkey, Mr President - really, a gobbly lawyer. It is how a turkey sounds, if you look at the legislation. We must go back to the plain English approach of our much-praised Constitution.

It's also very important that we must all be committed to the Constitution in our personal lives. I don't know who Mr George Boinamo is. He's described as a DA spokesman on education. He must have been asleep when he swore that he would obey, respect and uphold the Constitution and all other law. I say this because the anonymous and honourable, no doubt, Mr Boinamo, in opposing the idea of a national pledge proposed by the President to be recited by schoolchildren, made some illiterate political remarks and then added: "I reject the idea of reciting and swearing an oath to the Constitution because not everybody supports all the laws of the Constitution." Whatever "all the laws of the Constitution" means! [Interjections.]

I very much hope that Mr Boinamo has recourse to the lost cause of those who say they were misquoted. Otherwise, the leader of his party will have to draw attention, first of all, to not taking his oath seriously; and, secondly, being in contempt of the Constitution, which, I mean seriously, no member of this House should be. [Interjections.]

Finally, the argument of the mortar and beam doesn't work, hon Leon. I'm not speaking from my side or for anybody else; I'm speaking as a member of this House. Remember that.

So, I want to look at, finally, what makes a South African. How is it possible that the mid-term review published by the executive recently says that 90% of South Africans are proud to be South Africans? That's a very extraordinary thing. [Applause.] You won't get a similar proportion anywhere in the world. And why do they say that? This was two years ago. Because regarding the issue of national identity, which I would love to speak about, here we don't do the Milner national identity. I would have liked very much to have spoken about that identity, but I will end.

I will end on this basis, that the Speaker asked us to look at chapter 9 bodies, which are enormously important. I hope these chapter 9 bodies will not be forgotten, because a unanimous report has come out. There is a huge agenda there because somehow the bodies are not functioning, and others are not functioning very well. And the President referred to that in his speech at the ANC conference.

So there remains a huge agenda for change, but as part of the development of our country to deal with removing fear about the future, combating poverty, alienation and discrimination, and fostering an agreed sense of national identity. So we must claim tomorrow as another country, and dream and agitate, and dream and agitate. Remember, we can only do so with that extraordinary movement that is called the ANC.

Remember Ben Okri's injunction:

They are only the exhausted who think

That they have arrived

At that final destination

The end of the road

With all their dreams achieved

And no new dreams to hold.

We dream. We dreamt in the hell holes of apartheid, we dreamt on Robben Island, we dreamt in the torture chambers, we dreamt in the loneliness of exile. We shall continue dreaming and consummate our dreams. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Prince M G BUTHELEZI

END OF TAKE

Prof A K ASMAL

Prince M G BUTHELEZI: Madam Speaker, Your Excellency the President, Your Excellency the Deputy President, hon Ministers and hon members, our Republic is in jeopardy and it will not be saved unless we return to the original ways and integrity of our liberation movement. I am no stranger to ANC ethos and pathos. The political soul of our struggle is known to me, for in my lifetime I have had the privilege to be part of them more than many members of this House.

Dr Pixley Seme was my uncle, with whom I often stayed and for whom I ran errands. I knew Rev John Langalibalele Dube, the first ANC president. I knew Dr Alfred B Xuma, who once hosted me in his home in Toby Street in Sophiatown. His wife, Mrs Madie Hall Xuma, used to call at my home at Kwaphindangene when she was organising the YWCA in KwaZulu-Natal.

Inkosi Albert Luthuli was one of my mentors until his tragic death. I was in communication with Mr Nelson Mandela throughout his incarceration. I worked with Mr Oliver Tambo until the crucial meeting in London in 1979. Rev Canon James Calata, one of the stalwarts of the struggle, came all the way from Cradock to visit me in my home at Kwaphindangene.

Professor ZK Matthews, who came up with the idea of the Freedom Charter, was my professor. I cannot mention the long list of other leaders of our liberation struggle with whom I interacted, but I cannot omit Mr Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, who was my chairperson of the Fort Hare branch of the ANC Youth League. [Interjections.]

All these were men of integrity.

More than many, our President knows the closeness of my working relationship with Mr Tambo, as he was his right-hand man, notwithstanding all the chuckles and derision that I hear from the government benches. At one time the President was sent by the movement to talk to me, together with Albert Dlomo, at Heathrow Airport when I was returning from Germany with the late Rev Enos Sikhakhane.

Since the meeting between the ANC and Inkatha's delegations in 1979, integrity grew thinner, with great damage to the ANC's soul. Constantly, undertakings were no longer fulfilled. After that meeting, Mr Tambo, then president of the ANC, undertook to get in touch with me, but this did not happen. Instead, the sluice gates were opened and I was attacked and vilified.

Madiba wrote to me just before he was released in 1989, stating that he would meet with me as soon as he was released, for the two of us to deal with the violence between our members in the '80s and '90s. He was prevented by UDF and ANC leaders who, he said, almost "throttled" him. When almost a year later we eventually met with Madiba in Durban on 29 January 1991, our President, His Excellency Thabo Mbeki, was one of the scribes. One of our agreements was that both Mr Mandela and I should tour, addressing joint ANC and Inkatha rallies throughout the country. Mr Mandela agreed to doing this with me, beginning from Taylor's Halt in Pietermaritzburg, but Mr Harry Gwala, the ANC leader in the province of Natal, took a busload of ANC leaders who read the riot act to Madiba, who was told not to go with me to Taylor's Halt.

On 19 April 1994, Madiba, Mr De Klerk – the then President – and I signed a solemn agreement that the institution of the monarchy and other constitutional issues would be dealt with through international mediation, as soon as possible after the election of 27 April 1994. This agreement was dishonoured.

After I was appointed by President Mandela as his Minister of Home Affairs, an invitation was sent to me and to President Mandela, in his capacity as the ANC president, from the people of Thokoza. Both ANC and IFP members … [Interjections.]

Mr J H VAN DER MERWE: Madam Speaker, on a point of order: There are continuous noise and interjections while Mr Buthelezi is speaking. I ask you for order, please. [Interjections.]

The SPEAKER: Yes, hon member. You will note that the continuous sounds did not start only with the hon Buthelezi speaking. [Interjections.] Not that they are welcome; however, they did not start with the hon Buthelezi. Please proceed, hon member.

Prince M G BUTHELEZI: They wanted us to unveil a monument which was erected as a memorial to members of both parties who died in that low-intensity civil war. This never happened.

In October 1999, our President, in his capacity as ANC president, and I did unveil the Thokoza Memorial. After doing so, we addressed a joint rally of ANC and Inkatha members. It was decided then that we had to address other similar joint rallies throughout the country. Again, it never happened.

A few years ago, I wrote congratulatory letters to the current president of the ANC, in his capacity as the Deputy President, and to the secretary-general, now the ANC deputy president, raising issues which I felt had to be addressed jointly by us as people of integrity and in the interests of the country. I did not even receive acknowledgement of the receipt of my letters.

A discussion took place at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria about five years ago between His Excellency the President and myself. I was accompanied by the secretary-general of the IFP, Rev Musa Zondi, and Rev Celani Mthethwa. I think the President was accompanied by his secretary-general, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe, and Mr Smuts Ngonyama. It was agreed that the memorandum outlining fundamental issues for our political system in the country was to be discussed further by 15-a-side of ANC and IFP. It never happened.

I could spend several hours listing broken promises and lost opportunities, not for me, and not for my party, but for our country.

We were born in, and lived through, the season of hope at the times when many of us hoped against hope. Our liberation fulfilled those hopes beyond the hopes of many, ushering in a unique season of opportunities. We have had the opportunity of building the strongest democracy on our continent and forging a genuine modern and yet uniquely African state. After the season of hope and the season of opportunities, we are now entering what may become a dark season of regret – regret as big as the opportunities presented to us which we forwent.

Seizing opportunities requires operating for the greater good above short-term sectorial interests. Huge opportunities have been missed, possibly forever, because the pursuance of the personal good, personal enrichment and personal advancement has overshadowed a genuine long-term strategy for the common good.

In his address, his Excellency the President was careful in avoiding many raw political nerves, which I am sure are going to be harped on mercilessly during this debate. I have never shied away from controversy and I am mindful of how in ancient Athens, which was the cradle of democracy and civilization, it was in fact a crime for any man to shy away from controversy; for debate was encouraged and even forced in respect of everything, especially controversy. I too welcome controversy, but we must ensure that the tone of our debate rises to the gravity of the moment and is inspired not by petty politics but by integrity. We must shift away from politics, reminding ourselves that at times of instability, as the present one is, only the country matters, only the issues matter, and only the people matter.

We all know our national challenges, for they have been restated time and again in this Parliament by our President, both this year and in preceding ones. What is required is the necessary leadership to maximise the capacity of our state to successfully conquer them. The President has admitted that the challenges have not changed but have become greater and possibly beyond our capacity to master them within the present paradigm. For this reason, the President sought to shift the paradigm with a number of initiatives which he packaged under the catchy phrase of "Business Unusual".

Most of what the President suggested shows a commitment to doing more of the same, at perhaps a greater pace, with a little more money, more committees, more intergovernmental structures and a little outside help.

It is with regret that I fear that this might not be enough. The challenges of unemployment, growing poverty, widespread corruption, rampant criminality, uncontrolled HIV and Aids and TB, and escalating government inefficiency and corruption have grown larger and more intense year after year.

In addition, a new challenge has been allowed to grow unattended, in spite of my endless warnings in this House and elsewhere, which is the growing disintegration of the state as a politically independent, effective and efficient machine, capable of delivering the policies of the day.

I urge this House to focus on the importance of institutions that anyone can respect in spite of how one feels about their incumbents. As I pointed out at last year's debate, grave damage has been done to the Presidency as an institution, and the events of the past three months have inflicted on it blows from which it may never recover.

We cannot proceed in dealing with any political issue until and unless we re-establish credibility and respect for the Presidency and other institutions, which has more to do with the attitude of its detractors than with its incumbents.

I am reminded here of the American actor John Wayne, who was no authority on constitutionalism, but when commenting on John Kennedy having won over his favourite Richard Nixon, he famously said, "I didn't vote for him but he is my president and I hope he is going to do a damn good job at it." This is what we must hope for South Africa. The issue is not who leads us but where we are being led to, and how we are being led - we wish not to be led by the nose deeper and deeper into the season of regrets.

It does not matter who leads us if we cannot steer our course away from the path to slow self-destruction. The easy way out is to discuss leadership issues and plunge into politics rather than rising to the hard task of dealing with the real issues and living up to one's own political responsibility. There is no point in discussing any change unless there is a serene and objective debate of what went right and what went wrong.

The President reminded us of the course on which we originally embarked 14 years ago and he assured us that we remain on that course. We committed ourselves to that course, which remains the blueprint for a new South Africa. But we must accept that the machinery required to move us down that path has failed us because it moved away from the service of the greater good and a long-term vision to serve a small circle of a few rich and powerful.

Inkosi Albert Luthuli would be the first to disown a government in which Premiers helped themselves before helping the people, government officials steal, and policies are developed not with the people in mind but in consideration of those who can enrich themselves through the implementation. I can just imagine how harshly Inkosi Albert Luthuli would speak to us if he stood in my stead in this place at this time. He would curse those who allowed the fruits of our liberation to rot on the tree as a short summer of opportunity gives way to an early and harsh winter of regret.

We must regain our political soul in a way which is uncompromising and unselfish. The judiciary must be competent and independent, not 99% but 100%, or otherwise it will be 1% corrupt and lazy. The Public Service must be 100% loyal and corruption free, and not 99%, for otherwise it will be made up 1% of crooks and thieves. The police must be 100% capacitated and beyond political manipulation, and not 99%, for otherwise it will be 1% hopeless and crooked. Political representatives – us - must be 100% committed to public service and the greater good of our Republic, and not 99%, because that 1% of their own personal greed and self-promotion is treason. In the service of our people 99% loyalty is 1% treason.

We do not need a new shift into "Business Unusual" mode. We must review what we have done until now and accept that if our business of government had been conducted as it was meant to, it would have succeeded. Many people have been on "Business Unusual" until now as they slept, went to cocktail parties, travelled the world, became richer and made a few of their friends prosperous, while the majority of South Africans became poorer and poorer by the day; crime grew rampant in all our communities, especially the poorer; our industrial basis shrank, reducing our country's future role in the world; our infrastructure became obsolete; the massive domestic and international effort made to counter the HIV and Aids pandemic failed; our institutions of government slowly crumbled under political interference and lack of integrity, competence and professionalism of the politically deployed incumbents; provinces were emasculated and turned into puppets; the institutions of traditional leadership were obliterated; the promised measures to give flexibility to the labour market never came about – Asifuni iGear [we do not want Gear] - and lights slowly began going out, foreshadowing a similar imminent breakdown of the rest of our country's infrastructural backbone.

Everyone will need to live with his or her regrets. For 18 years, since we altogether began forging our new South African Republic, I tried my utmost to focus our collective attention on the importance of properly functioning institutions of government, ranging from provinces to traditional leadership. And I called our attention to the need to liberalise market forces. Instead, our "unusual business", made usual, moved on the basis of a schizophrenic dichotomy between what was being said and what was being done.

Independent institutions were established and then immediately staffed with politically deployed party functionaries reporting to a centralised centre of power, operating in an environment in which a genuine culture of independence could not flourish. Provinces were established but they have now been so emasculated of their powers, autonomy and ingenuity that in their present form they have become a liability rather than an asset to our democracy. So much has been centralised that the core of our government is bound to soon collapse under its own weight. Yet the President has suggested even greater centralisation in the package of measures he announced, which includes supervising committees and co-ordinating organs of state, which should be responsible to perform the required function in the first place but could not do so because their autonomy and initiative were impaired.

Similarly, while paying lip service to the cause of liberalisation of market forces for the past 15 years, in truth doing business in South Africa has become far more difficult; cartels and monopolies have grown and prospered; politics and political deal-making control our economy; the infectious and corrupting influence of the state and its corrupt tender practices has infected vast segments of our economy; exchange controls have not been lifted; and our country has become much more economically inefficient than it was when liberation took place.

The many promises to provide a significant role for the institution of traditional leadership were betrayed, with dramatic consequences which have not yet fully come to pass. I shall just mention one example of a dramatic split between policies and reality, and of a government at war with itself.

In September 2002, the KwaZulu-Natal House of Traditional Leaders set up an HIV and Aids task force which, to everyone's assessment, was the ideal mechanism to deliver HIV and Aids programmes in rural areas.

The hon Minister of Health, Dr M E Tshabalala-Msimang, accompanied by the provincial Minister, hon Dr Zweli Mkhize, met with the KwaZulu-Natal House of Traditional Leaders and praised this task force.

Your Excellency our President, on February 7, 2008, just a day before the President spoke, the hon Minister of Health presented to all the houses of traditional leaders here in Cape Town the HIV and Aids National Strategic Plan 2007-2011, which no one can find fault with. This strategy calls on the contribution of traditional leaders in the fight against HIV and Aids. In her invitation Minister Tshabalala-Msimang tabled the need, and I quote: "To strengthen the capacity of traditional leaders to design and implement HIV and Aids policies and programmes." On that occasion, I reminded the hon Minister how the task team that we set up in 2002 did not take off because the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government refused to provide any resources, in spite of the House of Traditional Leaders being listed as an entity in terms of the Public Finance Management Act as capable of receiving and spending public funds, a law passed by this House. Our colleague Inkosi Patekile Holomisa - Ah! Dilizintaba - informed me after I'd spoken that he and Inkosi Matanzima - they had spoken before me - had pointed out the same lack of resources and capacity.

The President was made aware of a broad range of issues affecting traditional leadership, including the capacitation of the house, and requested hon Minister Mufamadi to visit the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, together with Inkosi Mzimela, to deal with the matter. This never happened.

Responding to the MP Mr Smith's accusation in this House, during the Vote for his department, he said, and I quote: "The government is being totally dishonest in dealing with traditional leadership." Hon Minister Mufamadi stated, ipsissima verba [the very words], that "what is happening in KwaZulu-Natal is a matter of grave concern to us".

The chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders, Inkosi Mzimela and I, have been in discussions which led to the agreement that we are going to intervene and exorcise this ghost out of the body politic of our country. There was a peal of laughter. He then personally assured me, as we walked up the steps after the session, that he would go to KwaZulu-Natal, as originally instructed by the President, to deal with the issue of capacitation of traditional leaders. None of this has happened.

In his address, the President spoke to the whole nation and said, as never before, that we should address common challenges with every strain of every sinew, as a collective. I don't think there is a worse challenge than HIV and Aids. Traditional leaders should be part of the envisaged HIV/Aids war room. We want to be in that room too, Mr President. What else can we do, being mere spectators and not role-players, in spite of anyone sane recognising that without them, life-saving HIV and Aids programmes cannot succeed in rural areas?

What progress can be made when an hon Minister of state, like hon Minister Mufamadi, has the temerity to say one thing in Parliament and to do its opposite - conducting himself as if he abhors telling the truth even when in Parliament? It is no surprise that plans are being considered to repeal provincial powers even though the matter has not been discussed in this House beforehand. This conduct exemplifies the lack of integrity which is so far removed from the ANC culture of its founding fathers, but which has regretfully become usual.

The President has given us as a good framework in many respects. I challenge anyone of you who can provide a better framework than that which was presented by the President, but I would like to say, with Robert Burns:

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft agley …

Our usual way of doing business for the past fifteen years has been unusual. Indeed, it has not been what it was supposed to be. If we accept this, we can move forward and do what is right in the first place. I have not said today things which are substantially different from what I have said in the past thirteen years on these occasions, for the challenges have not changed. What must change is the way in which we deal with them, which requires us to do more of what is planned and engage less in political posturing.

There is a temptation in this House to find the easy way out of the huge institutional crisis in which our Republic is plunged by resorting to political opportunism and politicking. I urge that we not to walk down that road. The urgency of the time requires focusing on the real issues affecting our people, which have not changed save for their having become worse.

What must change is how this Parliament deals with these issues. Thus far this Parliament has failed in its role. Ours has been a Parliament on call, operating at the bidding of the executive, with no own capacity to analyse, criticise, lead or hold accountable. This Parliament has failed our Republic because it has been led by the nose rather than exercise its constitutional responsibility of leading, formulating laws and developing policies.

Bills are handed down to us to merely approve. Any review of the about 900 pieces of legislation passed by this Parliament in the past 13 years shows how whatever was introduced by the executive was approved by us with little or no substantive change, and that almost nothing was generated from within Parliament at its members' initiative. The present crisis must bring about the centrality and pre-eminence of Parliament. If there is a power vacuum, it needs to be filled by the expanded policy role and leadership capacity of this Parliament.

We can only save our Republic by doing what the Constitution requires of us, which is not only for the judiciary to be independent, the police to be effective and our Public Service to be honest and motivated, but it is also for us as the legislative branch to become the powerhouse and real centre of policy formulation, legislative initiative and political accountability; which would indeed be "Business Unusual" - but a necessary one, this time.

A year ago I tabled a Bill which would have split the offices of the head of state and the head of government. Irrespective of what one may think of it, it was a timely, urgent and relevant proposal, but this Parliament did not even consider it because it was not part of the government's agenda. Yet, as a legislature we have the responsibility and prerogative of setting that agenda.

Talking about the election, which my colleagues in the DA called for, I don't know how they can call for an election before we get people who are going to count the votes, because the ruling party taught us in Polokwane that we should not rely on computers, and that, in fact, all the votes must be counted by hand. [Laughter.] [Applause.]

Let us take the initiative so that we may still capture out of the jaws of regret, some of the lost opportunities and with them fulfil our people's hope. Dlamini! [Applause.]

Mr B H HOLOMISA
 

END OF TAKE

Prince M G BUTHELEZI

Mr B H HOLOMISA: Madam Speaker, hon President, Deputy President and hon members, the hon President referred to his esteemed mother during his speech, and her question of whether this country is still on course. As you are well aware, she, like you and I, calls the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape her home.

Today I wish to hand to you a report on the state of the infrastructure of the Transkei, which was handed to me on 24 January 2008, in Mthatha, by the citizens of the Transkei from each of the 28 magisterial districts, including local government councillors from all political parties.

Like all other people who were subjected to apartheid oppression, there was a legitimate expectation on their part that the infrastructure of their region would be upgraded to be on par with that of the rest of South Africa.

The truth must be told, as you also said in your address, Sir. The NP regime had always viewed that region as a hotbed of revolutionaries and therefore prejudiced the region when it came to infrastructure and development. We hope, therefore, that this report will be taken into account, along with the other challenges being tasked to the "national war room" that you referred to.

The nation is gripped by uncertainty. On various fronts we are confronted by ominous developments. It is true that the way forward for this country must be based on a unified effort by the entire nation. On that, we agree.

Last year, in this House, I expressed the view that we require a national indaba or convention to deal with various national issues. Mr President, you acknowledged that and even suggested some issues such as social cohesion, which could be dealt with at such a forum.

I followed the matter up in writing with the hon Speaker, but never even received acknowledgement of receipt for my correspondence. I believe it is not too late for your government to identify an institution such as the Commission for Human Rights to be tasked to prepare for such a national indaba. We can't leave it to the Speaker anymore. Such a national convention would review the progress we have made since 1994, and identify whether there are any inherent defects.

I take note of what you have said, that you don't agree with the Charles Dickens' quote, but some people outside this House disagree when they observe rogue business elements, wanted by the law, go out of their way to finance the youth and future leaders of this country and encourage them to attack the judiciary and other democratic institutions.

That move can never be equated with wisdom - these are the same people who financed and promoted tribalism with T-shirts displaying ethnic slogans - nor can it be correct that this generation of so-called leaders attacks elders such as Bishop Tutu, Barney Pityana and others without a sign of being called to order by their party leadership. We are talking about a culture of respect that leaders such as us in this House should be cultivating, and not undermining because it serves some short-term party-political or factional agendas.

At this national convention we might talk about another major challenge facing the nation regarding the fight against crime. Criminals are becoming heroes. Robbers and murderers in many communities are now becoming role models that our youth want to emulate. We should not be surprised that such a culture will permeate throughout our society and even into this House.

The basic idea of the ethics of right and wrong and of punishment for crime is not being promoted. That is the reason we are faced with the massive crime wave. Don't you think, Mr President, that the moral fibre of the nation is shaken to its core when the national Commissioner of Police counts amongst his friends drug warlords?

Your politely-worded reference to the future of the Scorpions, Sir, the Khampepe Commission and criminal justice reform seems to contradict the ANC resolution to disband the Scorpions. We are waiting with keen interest for full details.

One thing we have noted is that the concept of combining investigation and prosecution has delivered results. For some people to now advance the academic argument that such a combination cannot be allowed is misguided. Any attempt to blackmail this House – and I daresay even your government, Sir - to bend backwards and forwards to accommodate the funders and campaigners for the disbandment of the Scorpions will be resisted at all costs, including resorting to legal action.

We cannot be the victims of this lynch-mob psychological campaign. Perhaps we should be looking at creating an overarching ministry of crime prevention for the entire criminal justice system, covering the SA Police Service, Justice, Correctional Services, Home Affairs, and Intelligence. Such a ministry could help to better co-ordinate our crime-fighting resources and alleviate unnecessary tensions between various security departments and units. Specialised units such as the Directorate of Special Operations would be accountable to this ministry.

Mr President, you have referred to somebody who suggested a quote to you. Would such a nameless somebody, looking into this House from outside, not think that this preoccupation with disbanding or dissolving the Scorpions was sheer foolishness, given the other major challenges facing the nation, especially since the people who funded and drove this campaign against the Scorpions were wanted by the law themselves? It is still fresh in our memories how easily this country spent R13 million on the Hefer Commission in order to deal with the allegations of one journalist who was part of this campaign against the Scorpions and its leaders.

All of the witnesses whose evidence was later discredited were either under investigation or related to people under investigation for a range of crimes.

These origins and reasons that gave rise to the 24 Apex Priorities identified are well-documented. There has been some progress in certain areas. However, the greediness and looting of state resources by some, be it at local, provincial or national government level, is gradually dashing hopes that these priorities will ever be addressed.

Experience has shown elsewhere that members of an outgoing government tend not to focus as they either look for positions or intensify their looting. Thus the so-called "national war room" will need to be vigilant against this.

Regarding the energy crisis, I believe there is an urgent need to appoint an independent panel of experts to investigate the entire electricity crisis and propose a complete package of reforms and policies to save us from even greater disaster. For too long, we have heard a continuous stream of excuses and reasons for this crisis.

IsiXhosa:

Okokugqibela, Tat' uMtshali, mandibhekise apha kuwe mnt'omdala. Xa urhulumente – ndiza kukucaphulela nje kumavana am - nimwisa, njengokuba benike namkrobisa ePolokwane, kufuneka niyiqhube inkqubo nide niye kuyiqukumbele, ningayiyeki esithubeni. Ndibhekisa kuni ke, Makomanisi. Niyibambile! Enkosi. [Kwaqhwatywa.]

The MINISTER OF SAFETY AND SECURITY

END OF TAKE

Mr B H HOLOMISA

The MINISTER OF SAFETY AND SECURITY: Madam Speaker, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President, hon members of this House, the ANC has declared 2008 the year of mass mobilisation to build a caring society. The programme of mass mobilisation will extend over the length and breadth of our country and in true ANC tradition we will address the interests of all our people in the various communities where they are located. [Interjections.] It will draw all our people, united in action on the ground, into the project to create conditions for a better life for all in South Africa.

The opportunities that exist for a better life for all and the challenges we face will be laid bare for all to see and appreciate so that the good that is there is seized with both hands and the bad is transformed into opportunity. [Interjections.] One of the challenges we will have to tackle, of course, is crime and criminality, fraud and corruption.

The fight against crime has always been part of the priorities of the ANC that defined the programme for the advancement of the cause of our people. There has hardly been an anniversary statement since we took power in 1994 which has not raised the matter of crime and criminality. In various discussions before 1994 we spoke about crime and how, under a democratic dispensation, that matter would be tackled. At the centre of our crime-fighting project we put the masses of our people and said no police force, however strong, would be able to do its work if it did not enjoy the support and active participation of the people in the fight against crime.

The ANC this year has called upon all our people to sharpen the anticrime campaign. Among other things the anniversary statement said, and I quote:

In reviving the culture of mass mobilisation we must seek active partnerships with civil society, nongovernmental organisations and community-based organisations, and all other formations to form a broad front against crime and all social ills afflicting our communities.

We will seek to work with religious formations and traditional leadership throughout the country, from urban areas to the countryside, to intensify the struggle against crime. We also acknowledge and appreciate the ongoing contribution of the business sector in the fight against this scourge.

The structure and functioning of the different elements of the criminal justice system also received attention during the ANC anniversary, given the importance to the fight against crime and criminality of a properly functioning system of investigations, prosecutions and detention.

You also raised the matter on Friday, Comrade President, when you said:

Cabinet has agreed on a set of changes that are required to establish a new, modernised, efficient and transformed criminal justice system.

You gave an indication, albeit brief, of how the criminal justice system would be revamped, saying:

Among other things, this will entail setting up a new co-ordinating and management structure for the system at every level, from national to local, bringing together the judiciary and magistracy, the police, prosecutors, Correctional Services and the Legal Aid Board, as well as other interventions, including the empowerment of the Community Police Forums.

The ANC agrees with you, Comrade President, that if the relevant initiatives are carried out in an integrated and complementary manner, the fight against crime will be greatly enhanced. Mass mobilisation against crime must target all forms of crime, but especially those that happened between relatives, friends and acquaintances and organised crime.

Various surveys that have been done by government and independent entities have been showing that the greater number of serious and violent crimes, where murder often occurs, happen between people who know one another. They occur within the social environment where victim and perpetrator are usually found together. The answer to social crime, whose victims are mostly women and children, should include a mindset change among our people. Programmes like the moral regeneration campaign should be part of the vehicles we need for the mindset change. That change, among other things, must include a raised level of appreciation of the devastation that is caused by substance abuse. Drugs are killing our children; alcohol is destroying our families.

Those are some of the social ills the president of the ANC, Comrade Jacob Zuma, was referring to in the ANC National Executive Committee Anniversary Statement when he was calling for the establishment of "a broad front against crime and all social ills afflicting our communities". We must mobilise for that social movement to fight against crime, fraud and corruption in our country.

Organised crime, as you noted on Friday, Comrade President, is a big problem. Drug peddling is part of organised crime; so is fraud, trafficking in people; theft of marine and mineral resources; theft of firearms and vehicles; armed robberies; trafficking in endangered species; and the theft of copper cables. I have not exhausted the list, but all the types of organised crime I have referred to affect our people one way or the other.

A revamped criminal justice system must be able to deal with organised crime. It must establish a seamless interconnection between investigations and arrests, prosecutions and sentencing, and imprisonment and rehabilitation. It must be resolute in its campaign to stop organised crime. There must be no mercy for the organised criminal gangs who are undermining the safety and security of our people. What you referred to, Comrade President, as the holistic approach towards revamping the criminal justice system in its totality is a project that must lift up the question of organised crime as one of its main priorities.

We need proper measures to deal with organised crime. We need better human and material resources to achieve our goal in the fight against all crimes, especially organised crime. You indicated on Friday, Comrade President, that there would be interfacing before the end of March between government and Parliament on legislation that we require further to enhance our capacity to fight organised crime. You said:

What will continue to inform us as we take this step will be the absolute commitment of government to fight organised crime and improve the management, efficiency and co-ordination of our law-enforcement agencies.

You mentioned in your address the Directorate of Special

Operations, also known as the Scorpions, one of the law-enforcement agencies that handle organised crime. The other one is the Organised Crime Unit of the SA Police Service. The DSO has been discussed within the ANC many times since its establishment. The discussions covered such questions as to whether the unit was doing its work in accordance with the dictates of its mandate, the way it carried out its investigations, and of course our belief that there is merit in keeping investigative units separate from the prosecution services for better command and control and monitoring, and whether it was proper therefore to locate the investigative arm of the DSO within the prosecuting services.

It is now history that the matter was subsequently referred for adjudication to the Khampepe Judicial Commission. The ANC took the matter to its policy conference last year for further discussion and elaboration, and presented a recommendation to the Polokwane National Conference for the dissolution of the Scorpions and the redeployment of its investigators to the SA Police Service for central command and control, and the improvement of the co-ordination of the work of all law-enforcement agencies that deal with organised crime.

The ANC is not reckless when it pilots a move to change for the better the strategies and tactics that are necessary to fight crime. [Interjections.] We are not averse in the ANC to revising our stance in the face of changes in the tactical terrain to produce better circumstances for our people. We are a dynamic organisation that has always seized the moment to rise to higher levels. That is why we continue to occupy the high moral ground. [Interjections.] It is not reckless when the ANC determines that the fight against organised crime requires a re-look and the better utilisation of the services the country has, better to be able to deal with that scourge in a better co-ordinated manner under the aegis of a single command and control point.

We want to place on the table a proposal for the creation of a better crime fighting unit to deal with organised crime, where the best experiences of the Scorpions and the police's Organised Crime Unit will be merged. The best investigators from the two units will be put together, under the SA Police Service, as a reconstructed organised crime fighting unit. The Scorpions, in the circumstances, will be dissolved and the Organised Crime Unit of the police will be phased out … [Applause.] … and a new amalgamated unit will be created. [Interjections.]

We note with pride the good work that has been done in the past by the law-enforcement agencies and the many successes scored in the fight against organised crime. Both the police and the

Scorpions have done well in that respect. There are many criminals who are in jail serving long sentences after they were busted by the crime fighting units.

Organised criminal gangs are also targeting the Department of Home Affairs. Quite clearly, they have infiltrated that department and, therefore, have recruited corrupt Home Affairs officials to supply them with all the country's legalising documents, from birth and marriage certificates, to IDs and passports.

As "Business Unusual", Comrade President, a process of vetting of officials who handle the crucial aspects of the work at Home Affairs must be introduced. Such vetting must be thoroughgoing to ensure that only trustworthy officials are assigned to sensitive work in that department. We continue to call for improvements in our immigration policies to ensure, among other things, that our legalising documents are protected. We support the department's turnaround strategy and hope that it will help to obviate all the weaknesses there. We have noted also that Home Affairs, working with the National Treasury, Intelligence and the police, are developing a new border control strategy. That strategy will enhance the fight against organised crime and stem the tide of the illegal entry into our country by foreign organised criminal gangs.

In conclusion, I want to reiterate the words of the ANC president, when he said in the NEC anniversary statement:

We cannot allow criminality and lawlessness to undermine our hard-won freedoms and hinder the progress of our nation. We must act now, and act together.

Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Mrs P DE LILLE

END OF TAKE

The MINISTER OF SAFETY AND SECURITY

Mrs P DE LILLE: Madam Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President: Mr President, as you rightfully pointed out in your state of the nation address, our country is faced with a number of challenges. It was good to hear your honesty about our people's concerns, and government's failure in reaching its goals.

However, let us not make another year of failed promises. The ID wants to see less talk and more action. It is the failure to act decisively that has allowed our problems to grow. Half a million South Africans who desperately need antiretrovirals are not receiving them because of our government's failure to act earlier. If you had acted earlier in implementing the Khampepe Commission's recommendations concerning the Scorpions, we would not be facing the possibility of their disbandment due to political interference.

But I think it's very arrogant for the Minister of Safety and Security to undermine the authority of Parliament and to come and stand here and say, "We are going to dissolve the Scorpions." [Applause.] The Scorpions have been established by an Act of Parliament, and the procedures must start here in Parliament. [Interjections.] It is not for the executive to announce the dissolving of the Scorpions. [Interjections.]

Mr President, if you had acted earlier concerning the National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi instead of uttering the phrase, "I trust you", we would be in a much stronger position in our fight against crime.

Dr S M VAN DYK: He should be suspended! Jackie Selebi should be suspended!

Mrs P DE LILLE: The ID calls upon you to act on the needs of our people. Government must provide greater support for the millions of poor and unemployed in South Africa who are now subjected to the triple burden of spiralling food, fuel and electricity prices.

While we welcome the lowering of the pension age for men, we also call on government to extend the child grant for children from 14 to 18 years, and also to extend the school nutrition programme to high schools.

Hon President, you, like the ID, have complete confidence in our people to overcome the immense challenges we face now. We know what it is to struggle and to sacrifice for a collective goal. It is the resilience, inner strength and optimism of our people that overcame apartheid. I know we can overcome any challenge that is put in the way of achieving a prosperous South Africa.

The sinews of our collective body are, however, already being strained. Our workers are working hard, and the 40% of our people who are unemployed are struggling to find jobs in an economy that is not growing to its full potential. The ID believes that unemployment is the number one challenge facing the country, and that government must act with greater urgency in addressing this issue.

The ID has full confidence in the people of South Africa, but we have lost confidence in the government and its leaders. Government is constantly calling on our people to make sacrifices that you yourself are not prepared to make. [Interjections.] Inequality has grown over the past 14 years, and the people have been forced to survive in the most dehumanising conditions, while others have accumulated large amounts of wealth.

The people are asking you, hon President: What more can we do when we are already doing our work? What more can we do when we are already slaving away for a better life? What more can we do when we have kept our contract with the government? What more can we do when we go down the mines each day, putting our lives at risk, while government cannot ensure that there will be enough power to bring us back out?

While our people are forced to work day in and day out at the risk of being fired by their bosses for incompetence, government has put thousands of jobs of our people at risk, and it is not held accountable. For ID, "Business Unusual" must start with action finally being taken against those political leaders who have clearly failed South Africa.

HON MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Mrs P DE LILLE: In standing up for political accountability, the ID is upholding its constitutional mandate to hold government to account. Since the inception of the Constitutional Court, government has been guilty of disregard for the Constitution on several occasions, resulting in the Constitutional Court ruling against government in 55 cases.

Hon President, we have heard your list of promises before. One of the reasons that they have not been fulfilled is that you have failed to act against Ministers who fail to implement government policies and plans. The time for political accountability is long overdue.

We fail to see how we can trust those who created the electricity crisis to also now deliver us from it. It is unacceptable that they are still making decisions over our future energy path, and committing us to spending billions of rands. We will never believe government's spin that the electricity crisis is the result of unexpected economic growth, because our economic growth has been lower than what government has predicted. The fact that the ANC will now benefit from the building of new power stations through Chancellor House adds insult to injury ...

Moulana M R SAYEDALI-SHAH: Shame! Disgraceful!

Mrs P DE LILLE: ... and shows the importance of our motion today in setting up a multiparty committee on public funding.

In view of what I have just said now, I want to inform the House that I shall now deliver a written notice of motion to the Secretary in terms of the Rules, namely:

That, as a result of government's failure to prevent the prevailing energy crisis, the House has no confidence in the President and, therefore, in accordance with section 102 of the Constitution, he and his Cabinet must resign.

[Interjections.]

In this time of crisis, hon members, South Africa needs a government that can inspire us. We need a government that can assure us that we can find solutions if we are united. The crisis is affecting every one of us in this country, black and white, rich and poor, and we need accountability from this government. Thank you. [Applause.]

Dr G G WOODS

END OF TAKE

Mrs P DE LILLE

Dr G G WOODS: Madam Speaker, Mr President, hon members, having listened intently to the state of the nation address over a number of years, and having listened to various Ministers giving their state of department speeches each year at budget time, one cannot help but become aware of the standardised two-part format upon which these speeches are based.

First, there is the cursory overview of why things are generally going well, followed by the itemisation of specific issues to be focused on in the year ahead and a range of ideas in dealing with those issues. This approach creates a sense of good progress and of plans to progress further in the year ahead. The psychology is generally effective, particularly for the ruling party's constituency.

I highlight this observation for a number of reasons which will become apparent. But, in the first instance, I raise this issue because I note in recent years that you, Mr President, have also come to rely on this tactical formulaic approach. And, having appreciated the more composite and insightful theme-driven speeches of your earlier years as President, I am disappointed.

However, to critique the approach itself, the opening overviews usually fall far short of a frank and comprehensive account and rather are a selective assembled picture, depicting progress and promise. Hence, we might question the credibility of these important speeches and be less surprised by some or other subsequent failing in government or departments, which we had been led to believe was operationally ascendant. These speeches often go on to represent unresolved problems alongside yet another set of corrective plans each year, which deductively suggest inefficient management.

For those that might doubt this contention, I suggest you revisit the annual budget speeches of the individual ministries over the past ten or so years - those are the speeches that they give to this House in justifying their budget allocations - and note the annual assertions of progress followed by their latest repertoire of plans and how these will deal with the same issue they ventured solutions for in the previous year's speech.

At the same time, look at how these issues in question were reported on in the corresponding annual report. The fairly emphatic finding which emerges from most government departments is that the political heads of the departments very often have a limited or misdirected understanding of the state of affairs within their departments and do not grasp the significance of failed plans, poorly implemented policies concerning problems which persist and which, in quite a few cases, have lingered for more than a decade. For us in Parliament, this finding implies weak accountability and failed oversight.

Over how many consecutive years has the Department of Justice been giving us encouraging reports and telling us of their latest ideas of how the court backlogs will be dealt with and how the legal system will become accessible to the poor? For how many years have various Ministers of Education told us they were on top of the matriculation problem, the maths and science pass rate problem, the standard of teacher problem, and the appalling throughput rate of our tertiary institutions problem? How many times has the Department of Trade and Industry found it necessary to produce yet another plan to fix its failed industrial policy, its failed small business development policy and its failed fixed investment and export growth policies? Then there is the Minister of Labour and his vacillating initiatives to meet the skills shortage problems which hold back economic growth. There are the inhumane conditions in our overcrowded prisons which go on year after year; the crime that ravages our townships; the levels of corruption in government; the dysfunction of the Department of Home Affairs, and there are many more such examples. I have just identified certain of the ongoing situations for which resolution is necessary if we are to achieve a stable and successful nation and, may I say it, a better life for all.

Mr President, it is almost as an aside that I register, in recent years, the seeming conformity of your state of the nation address to that of the executive template to which I have referred. In this regard, it is interesting to note your significant repetition of issues, albeit with some shifts in perspective over the past three or four years concerning problem areas of government and the new initiatives you introduce each year.

My intention is not to paint a picture of a completely ineffectual government, as Nadeco does recognise and is grateful for the substantial successes of the ANC government that have been recorded. However, the situations I have referred to and the examples I have cited speak for themselves and, unfortunately, speak to those who might have concerns about the future of South Africa. While the attitude towards many of the country's more ominous problems on the part of some of the executive remains inexplicable, the concerned observer might well turn his attention to the administration and their responsibilities in this regard.

The situation here, as many from all spheres of our society have observed, is that the shortage of necessary experience and acquired skills leaves government pitifully short on the ability to manage its way out of big problems other than to churn out expensive and poorly conceived plans. Yet, in a way, it is wrong to blame these directors-general and hierarchies of lower managers. How many of us would refuse a high-paid, high-profile prestigious position simply because we had limited relevant experience? The blame should surely be with those who approve the policies which allow such appointments in the first place.

We observe that government has identified the critical management positions across government and has had organisational experts draw up qualification-linked profiles for the sought-after managers, but then it tends to all fall down at the actual appointment stage by constantly and consistently filling senior posts with individuals who frequently fall short of predetermined criteria. For example, there have been a number of directors-general appointments over the years that we know of where the position was given to intelligent and degreed individuals, but individuals who had no management experience at all, let alone having worked in an organisation with a budget bigger than that of most private sector corporations. In dozens of cases, which we all hear about, these individuals move on after a year or two when the wheels are about to come off. Yet government persists with such appointments at great cost to the country, and in defiance of conventional wisdom. An audit of the CVs of our senior managers would say it all.

It might be suggested that government's tendency to confuse promises with achievements and to accommodate the shortcomings of its administration are symptomatic of a government that has become complacent. This is not intended as a provocative comment but one that resonates with international experiences, experiences which show why governments, especially those which face limited challenges at the poll, so frequently lose functional objectivity, and how the longer such governments enjoy their comfortable stay of tenure, the less rigorous their analysis and the more erratic or lacklustre their performance.

I end by turning to the opposition parties, including my own, as it is a Nadeco concern that I articulate, and remind them all that they all share a responsibility for the ANC's failures. There is a general correlation between complacent and underperforming governments and the weakness of political opposition. Thus, while we cannot be directly blamed for the problems that threaten the country, we must at least acknowledge the consequences of our general ineptitude and of the absence of any meaningful opposition influence. As us little parties continue in our separate little corners with inflated dreams of the next general election, and of the celestial qualities of our party leaders, we will individually and collectively remain as ineffectual as what we presently are. I thank you. [Applause.]

The MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

END OF TAKE

Dr G G WOODS

The MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Madam Speaker and hon members, 27 April 1994 is an unforgettable day to millions of South Africans who celebrated the new dawn, the promise of freedom and equality, and the possibility of restored dignity to millions. It was the onset of building a just and caring society. These were heady days; a time of great hope. The country was vibrant with positive energy; people in their organised formations were seized with defining policies for a post-apartheid South Africa; and women were mobilised, for the first time, like never before.

Do you remember all those workshops, the conferences and animated get-togethers in the towns and rural areas, at universities and colleges, in school rooms, at taverns and at the chiefs' gatherings?

Thirteen years on, there has been a significant change for the better, definitely greater access to economic opportunity and an improved social life for thousands. Indeed, there is a huge paradigm shift in the arena of ideas. Today progressive thinking is dominant. Most South Africans ascribe to the values enshrined in the Constitution. For example, notwithstanding their different political backgrounds, hon members Professor Kadar Asmal and Mr Koos van der Merwe would see themselves as fervent advocates of human rights.

In society at large there is more tolerance of differences, greater interracial connectivity, and greater awareness of human rights such as equality between men and women, workers' rights – all workers are vocal, not only those from the progressive wing – and the advancement of socioeconomic rights. For example, political parties in this House will assert that they are pro-poor; that the poor should be at the forefront. Maybe this answers a question that you, Comrade President, asked many years in this House, whether, as South Africans in our different spaces, we could still say that we are one, we have consensus on some important issues that relate to our lives. In other words, whether there is convergence around what is important to South Africans.

President, it is correct that we say we still live in an age of hope. This is an age of hope. I could be petty and remind all of us in this House that we do not see the signs of the past. Remember signs like "blankes" and "nie-blankes"? I think that even in our memory the crude symbols of the past are fading. You can tell that the members on my left are such strong adherents to the Constitution, so they tell us. [Interjections.] Well, that shows that we are in a new South Africa. We all are and we all should be. [Interjections.]

No, it is not a gift from me, but you have contradictions in the way you say things and do things which show that you are still learning.

Mr President, during your state of the nation address you addressed Parliament about 24 Apex Priorities for the government in its last term of office. You urged us to spare no effort in meeting the goals that we have set ourselves. You said it should be "Business Unusual". The ANC also said that we should be in our trenches out there mobilising our people for a better life. Amongst the 24 Apex Priorities you mentioned, President, is the fight against crime and the creation of a safe environment for all South Africans.

We in the ANC recognise the imperative of an efficient criminal justice system for socioeconomic development. The ANC is committed to the fight against crime and creating a safe environment for all the people of South Africa. It is in this context that we are committed to doing all that we can indeed to improve the justice system in our country. We are committed, for example, to the restructuring of the court system, and to the transformation of the judiciary and the legal sector.

In the past three years there have been ongoing discussions with all stakeholders and the judiciary about the transformation of the judiciary. I would like to thank the judiciary and the legal fraternity for their invaluable contribution in the discourse of transformation. Members of the Sidebar and the Bar have contributed immensely in the drafting of the Legal Services Charter, which was presented to me in November 2007, and which I will put before Cabinet and bring to Parliament in the first term of this year.

I must say that great strides have been made in the conceptualisation of a transformed judiciary. The issues that arise around the transformation of the judiciary are of great importance. It is about how we go about having a single judiciary. It is about the whole relationship of important courts in the country, the Supreme Court of Appeal, the Constitutional Court and the Labour Court. Thus it is important that there should be discussions and I must say that Nedlac is also engaged in these discussions.

In the meantime, we have put very important pieces of legislation before Parliament for the renaming of the High Court Divisions. Every time I met my colleagues they would say ...

isiZulu:

... hhayi bo, ikuphi iBophuthatswana? Njengoba ngithi kukhona izinkantolo e-Transvaal bathi kukuphi lapho?

English:

So, I am pleased to say that we are changing that. I am confident that before the end of this year, as you have instructed, President, there will be legislation for the restructuring of the courts before Parliament. Of course, this is going to be preceded by a paper, elements of which are being discussed by us and the legal sector.

Last year was also an important year; we completed the draft policy on the South African traditional court system and we should come before Parliament with the Bill.

Once more I would like to thank all those who have participated and, Shenge, you have been very kind to us; I heard that you have graced one of the meetings in KwaZulu-Natal and made an immense contribution to the policy and the draft that we will bring to the attention of the public quite soon.

We have done this without fanfare, and these were difficult discussions, but I am pleased and I thank all the persons, in particular, our chiefs for being part of the discussions that we have had. I am also told that we have had stakeholders including women's groups participating in these discussions.

One important area that my colleague Charles has touched is the whole revamp of the criminal justice system. I would also like to say something about that. It is a two-pronged approach. There is a review that was taken as a result of a decision taken in 2003. This is a project of the Justice Crime Prevention and Security cluster, namely the review of the criminal justice system.

I say it is two-pronged, because there is the research level, where both secondary and primary research is undertaken, with input from relevant institutions, including tertiary institutions. There is also an important intermediary process, which we have come to call the review of the criminal justice system as well, because it is that. This involves the collation of information that has partly been gathered by the research unit, but also information that is within all the departments relating to the criminal justice system.

This project is very important. It is a partnership between us and the business leadership. An important outcome of this process is the plan of action which can be implemented, and this is the one we are referring to.

The collated information, which I now call a study, indicates gaps and also where we have no capacity along the crime-fighting chain, as a result of which we have immediately embarked on correcting some of the weaknesses that have been discovered through this intermediary process, the criminal justice review. Of importance is that it found, as one of the big weaknesses in the system, not only a lack of capacity, but poor co-ordination. And this was a similar finding by Khampepe. With regard to Khampepe it was not along the whole criminal justice sSystem, but Khampepe had a specific focus and this related to the Directorate of Special Operations in its relation with other JCPS departments.

We have to address this particular challenge of co-ordination. [Time expired.]

BUSINESS SUSPENDED AT 16:08 AND RESUMED AT 16:30.

END OF TAKE

BUSINESS SUSPENDED AT 16:08 AND RESUMED AT 16:30.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Welcome back from the break.

Ms H C MGABADELI: Madam Deputy Speaker …

IsiZulu:

… akwandele muntu ukukhuluma emva kokuthi abantu kade besaphumule. Ngiyabonga.

English:

Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President of the country, distinguished guests, friends and comrades, I greet you all this year. I quote:

… the relay race of continuous rebirth so that the dream of a better life for all South Africans becomes a reality.

That was said by our President on Friday in his state of the nation address.

This debate salutes all the efforts dating as far back as the years we cannot remember, when a black person fought against all wars that were waged against him or her, including the wars of dehumanisation and the wars in which the ANC ended up formally forming this organisation in 1912, with its members ending up being scattered all over the globe. Some even died there, and some of them still cannot be accounted for today.

We as the ANC and those who see the logic in caring for those who brought this nation to where it is today salute the resolution to form the Veterans' League of the ANC, its context and impact, both sociologically and economically. We salute it not just in isolation but within the spirit of continued mass mobilisation, unity and a caring society. The ANC, like so many other countries, cares about their liberators and passed this resolution that I have spoken about. To all of you …

IsiZulu:

… kufanele sikhumbule ukuthi …

English:

We must all remember that we are not talking about veterans who were fighting another country; we are talking about veterans who were fighting a war that was caused by apartheid. I happen to know because my grandmother was working as a domestic servant for a family of white citizens. We were all affected; they were also affected because their son was involved. Almost half of my family were affected, but …

IsiZulu:

Ngiyabonga ukuthi sesila esesikhona manje. Ngiyabonga kuMongameli, kubaholi bethu kanye nakubo bonke abantu abalapha abavela kuwo wonke amacala. Ngiyabonga. Ngicela sikhumbule maqabane ukuthi kwakungemnandi ngesikhathi sitshelwa ngaso leso sikhathi ukuthi uMkhonto Wesizwe awuqedwe. Kwakungemnandi. Kwakungakabi yisikhathi. Kwenzeka izinto eziningi ezibuhlungu ezidinga isikhathi ukuthi sibuyele emuva sibheke ukuthi yikuphi okwenzeka ngendlela eyiyo nokwenzeka ngokungeyikho.

English:

However, in the spirit of unity that the President spoke about on Friday, I will talk later about what I am requesting the President and our leaders to allow us to do.

To ensure that this unity of the mobilised masses towards the building of a caring society is sustainable, we need, among other things, to ensure that all organs of national security are on their toes, day and night, and that they are all willing to be monitored, reviewed and redirected to combat different forms and kinds of robbers that are robbing our land and its resources.

We need to ensure that there is a sharp and fast critical analysis of the rising mountains of private security companies, because they are not organising the masses - they are just private security companies. Let them be replaced by collective security in the form of empowered people, street committees and people that are well empowered.

The opportunity of the presidential pardon that will end on 16 April will add to the process of healing by genuine exposure for the purposes of real closure. We need to utilise it very well.

IsiZulu:

Uthe uMongameli …

English:

… our nation should unite now as never before and strain every sinew of its collective body to address our common challenges, and keep alive the dream that has sustained all of us as we travelled along the uncharted road towards creation of the South Africa visualised in our Constitution, not in our different constitutional parties but in our Constitution.

I want to pause for a moment here and say that I agree with the President. However, I am going to beg everybody. Some of us who were not spectators when we were requested to respect the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were a little hurt a few weeks ago. You know, we were forced to forgive, forget and toe the line, but when the President asked for forgiveness for the electricity and energy failure, most South African citizens said it was not enough.

IsiZulu:

abantu esinabo lapha ePhalamente basho kahle bathi akwenele ukuxolisa. Kanti thina sasenziwa izilima yini uma kuthiwa asixole? [Ihlombe.] Sasingakhulumi ngogesi thina kodwa sasikhuluma ngegazi, ukulahleka kwabantu kanye nokuvunjululwa kwabantu ababengcwatshwe lapho singazi khona. Ugesi yinto esingayazi ngoba ngisho nasemakhaya nasezindlini zasemalokishini ugesi wawungekho. Kwakwakhiwa izindlu zangasese le kude bese uhamba ngomnyama uye endlini yangasese ugula. Size sazifakela thina ugesi. Angisho ukuthi asiwufuni. Siyawuthanda kodwa ngeke uthi ukuxolisa akwenele kodwa thina satshelwa ukuthi asixole. Sesize siyaselula lesi sikhathi sokuxolelwa ukuze wonke umuntu ongakaze axolelwe kahle aqhubeke nokuxolelwa. [Uhleko.]

Ngizocela sizigade ukuthi sithini ngemilomo yethu. Simele umphakathi ngakho asingadidi umphakathi esiwumele. Ngiyacela Mongameli nakubaphathi noma ngingazi ukuthi into engiyicelayo yake yenzeka yini ngesikhathi esedlule, kodwa ngizocela ukuthi yenzeke noma ingakaze yenzeke ukuze lokhu kusebenza ngokuhlangana esikushoyo kungabi eyamaqembu ehlukahlukene. Ngizoke ngicele nje ukuthi kube nemihlangano okuzofundiswana kuyo onke amaqembu lapho sizofundisana khona ukuthi sisukaphi nokuthi siyaphi. Siyeke ukwehlukana ngokwemiqondo yokuthi uvela kumuphi umndeni. Lokho yizinto ezincane.

Sizobe sibambe i-Inter-Parliamentary Union, i-IPU, kulo nyaka ngo-Ephreli. Maqabane, bangani nozwakwethu abathanda izwe lethu i-Kenya …

English:

… is not stupid as it is going through what it is going through now. We will blame nobody if what happened in Kenya can happen here. We still have time to rectify this thing …

IsiZulu:

… siziphe isikhathi sokuthi ake sibambe imihlangano sifundisane …

English:

… as South African MPs who are representing the people of South Africa from different constituencies.

IsiZulu:

Sizehlise nje …

English:

… for the sake of our country and then we go back to our political ideologies …

IsiZulu:

sibone ukuthi iyafana yini lento esiyishoyo emibonweni yethu yezombusazwe kanye nalokho esifundisane khona. Ngiyacela. Kungakuhle uma lokhu kungenzeka.

English:

Let's try it. The road that we need to travel is really long. We cannot travel it disunited as a country.[Applause.]

During the January 8 statement the president of the ANC said something that I want to share with you. We need to openly confront the roots of our difficulties, correct our errors and move on. We cannot just pretend to be moving on when we don't know whether we have corrected our errors and understand what we are – I am not going to be long at all. I am not going to count the number of issues. I am counting this because Kenya is just here. Some of us who normally travel for the IPU are saddened about what is happening. They are not fools but very intelligent and yet it happened to them. Let us not beat about the bush; let us come together and talk.

Some members mentioned these things, including the general – where is he? He has now gone out. He and others did mention these things. May be we differ in words and terminology but it is the same logic. Let us do it. Hon Speaker, Deputy Speaker, the House, my leaders, I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr N T GODI

END OF TAKE

Ms H C MGABADELI

Mr N T GODI: Madam Deputy Speaker, comrades and hon members, allow me to join the House in congratulating the President on his address to the Joint Sitting of Parliament last Friday.

"Business Unusual" - what an appropriate imperative! It must indeed be business unusual if tomorrow is to be better than today. A better tomorrow must not be a mere speculation, wish or hope, but must be manifested by what we do today. Business as usual would imply that a better tomorrow remains a dream perpetually deferred.

That would be a cruel visitation on the people; it would disqualify us from claiming to be walking in the footsteps of, amongst others, President Nelson Mandela, the martyred Rick Turner and the outstanding patriot and leader Robert Sobukwe.

The values of the liberation movement, of people-centredness, have been contaminated by alien class values of corruption and egocentrism. Business as usual would mean the coexistence of these contradictory values. Therefore "Business Unusual" should go further than mere administrative jacking-up to also imply the reassertion of the superior values of selfless service to the people.

It is the conviction of the APC that we must never lose sight of our international responsibilities, especially to the oppressed people of Palestine. We must never lower our voices in speaking out for and in solidarity with the Palestinians, who suffer daily destruction, murder and humiliation.

Comrade President, Africa remains a continent of challenges and opportunities. There are challenges of peace, reconstruction and development in many parts of Africa. The APC adds its voice of concern about developments in places such as Kenya, Chad and Darfur in Sudan. Our leaders and people can and should do better than what we are witnessing right now.

The APC congratulates you, Comrade President, and the government on fulfilling your Pan-African duties and finding solutions to challenges facing the continent, from the reconstruction of the land of Patrice Lumumba, the DRC, to facilitating the Zimbabwe dialogue. We congratulate you and your government; you have our support and that of progressive Africa.

Comrade President, we do concur that the issues you raised as things that government would like to see realised are indeed important. If done expeditiously and fully, they can fundamentally transform the lives of our people, for indeed the freedom we have must have material meaning to the poor.

The fundamental challenge is developing the capacity of the machinery of government. Commitments and targets can be set, but in the absence of government capacity they will remain paper commitments. Last year you spoke about the eradication of the bucket system, but its unhealthy stench is still a daily experience of many communities in our country, such as Boys Town in Crossroads here in Cape Town, which has no toilets, roads or electricity.

To us the starting point is to deal with the high vacancy rates, especially those affecting management and supervisory positions. The timeous filling of key performance agreements will be a welcome improvement, but critical will be the content of those KPAs in relation to the objectives of government and the challenges facing the department.

We firmly agree with you, Comrade President, that improved performance depends on the quality of leadership provided by the executive or Ministers and senior management in a department. This challenge does not particularly and only relate to Home Affairs, but can surely include departments such as Defence, Correctional Services, Water Affairs and Forestry, and parastatals such as the Land Bank if the Auditor-General's reports are anything to go by.

We would have loved to hear you, Comrade President, talk about the missed bucket system eradication deadline. Why has the deadline not been met, is there a new deadline or is it sliding out of your radar?

We expected that in dealing with educational matters you would have touched on the matric results. They have been steadily declining for some years now. This is surely a cause of national concern.

Comrade President, you touched on the issue of accelerated land reform, which you did last year, including increased support for new beneficiaries and emerging farmers. We are worried that there doesn't appear to have been any dramatic shifts. Support for new beneficiaries is definitely not enough, coupled of course, with the embarrassing shenanigans in the Land Bank. Can we be assured that this time around there will be visible and dramatic movements, including the fixing of the Land Bank?

The same can be said of our health system. The experience of many in our public facilities is not a proud one. Much effort and focus are needed to provide health care facilities and services to our people, which should confirm that today is better than yesterday. Our capacity to provide support and care for people with HIV and Aids is not up to desirable levels. If we reacted to this challenge in the same way we dealt with the energy crisis I believe we should have reached almost all those who need treatment and support. We can and must do more, faster. [Applause.]

Dr S E M PHEKO

END OF TAKE

Mr N T GODI

Dr S E M PHEKO: Izwe! Azania! [Interjections.] Madam Deputy Speaker, Mr President and Madam Deputy President, the President's state of the nation address was comprehensive. It was prudent that you dealt with the electricity crisis and reassured our nation that things were not falling apart. Your reference to the issue of the Scorpions and the SAPS was important. You talked about the 24 Apex priorities. Some are not new; nevertheless, they sound like good pudding, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Implementation is critical. Many members of the public have requested me to mention in my response to the President's state of the nation address that they are still humiliated by the bucket system after they were told this degrading system of sanitation would be ended by the end of 2006.

Mr President, there are dark clouds threatening to reverse the relatively few gains of our national liberation struggle for which our martyrs paid the supreme sacrifice. Events are calling all of us to a higher patriotism where the spirits of our heroic ancestors have ordered that this nation must come first and its leaders last.

Let it be fulfilled what was said by that great African writer, the Rev J J R Jolobe, when he wrote:

isiXhosa:

Apho igazi lenu lithe lathontsizela khona

Komila intyantyambo evumba limnandi

Eliya kuthwalwa ngamaphiko empepho

Zithi zonke izizwe zilirhogele.

Serious challenges remain in our country. Land evictions of the African people continue. These evictions are done in the name of development, but in fact they are done for superprofits. Two weeks ago I met the Kanana community in Hammanskraal. They said this was happening in their area. The residents are going to the High Court to challenge their eviction on 15 February.

How do the African people enjoy the fruits of liberation when they have no security of shelter or land? What does liberation mean to those who are being evicted from land and houses? Why is there land for golf courses and game reserves, but not for decent homes for many of our people?

Mr President, this may sound monotonous and tautological, but I must repeat it: There must be legislation forbidding the sale of land to foreigners. [Interjections.] Those who need land for foreign investment must have land leased to them. The sale of land to foreigners when our own people remain dispossessed and landless, and live in inhuman squatter camps has disastrous consequences for the future of our country.

On 21 November 2007 you made a historically bold statement in this House in regard to presidential pardons of especially former freedom fighters such as the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army, Apla. Hon President, we are not questioning the TRC decisions, nor are we casting any aspersions on the integrity of the commissioners, but for the presidential pardons process to achieve its intended objective, I appeal to you to allow applicants whose applications were turned down by the TRC.

I advance six reasons for this appeal: The TRC had flaws although it did register many achievements in a difficult and unprecedented situation. The TRC ignored the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid through which the United Nations declared apartheid a crime against humanity. People such as the late P W Botha refused to appear before the TRC, but they were never imprisoned for the crimes of apartheid. In fact, Mr P W Botha was offered a state funeral when he died. Crimes committed by the perpetrators of apartheid exceeded the offences committed by the victims of apartheid, for instance, numerous massacres of the victims and heinous atrocities by the creators of the "Third Force". The victims of apartheid were disadvantaged when appearing before the TRC in that they had no adequate legal representation. Many applied for amnesty from prisons.

The perpetrators of apartheid, on the other hand, applied for amnesty from the comfort of their homes and cushy jobs. They had first-class legal representation. For example, the state spent R6 million on Eugene de Kock alone.

Mr President, free education for the poor is the best national ...

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, hon member! I did allow you some extra time to go through the six reasons that you wanted to give to the President, but now the time has expired.

Dr S E M PHEKO: Izwe lethu!

Mr M S BOOI

END OF TAKE

Dr S E M PHEKO

Mr M S BOOI: Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, members of the Cabinet and hon members, the President has given a lot of challenges to the nation and to each of us as individuals. This is very important.

The things that Comrade President has said leave some of us to continuously reflect as individuals. I want to read out the point that you have made, because I want to engage you, as you know I always do. You said:

I am confident that 2008 will be one of the most remarkable years of our democracy, as we all work together to realise the core aspiration of our people to attain a better life for all. I say this because, in our own estimation, it is not often that a nation is called upon to strain every sinew of its collective body to attain a dream. And suchis the injunction that history has imposed on us today.

That is a tall order, Comrade President, because you are asking each one of us to reflect on the progress that has been made in the democratic system that has been created. You are asking us how we are conducting ourselves towards the type of the Constitution we have put together, and what do we think about the type of system of governance we have created? Is it functioning? Is it making it possible for ordinary people to reach out to us? Are we able to maintain, in ANC speak, a type of people's contract with our own people? That is the type of tall order you are asking us to find answers to. That is a huge challenge, but a challenge that I do think we would be able to take on as leaders and representatives. If you listened to Prince Buthelezi, you would have a sense of what society is confronted with.

Hon President, I think, as the ANC, we will have to live up to that challenge. It is a challenge that we cannot run away from. If we want to continue to entrench and maintain the democratic practices that we have introduced in our society in the past 10 years, it does call on all of us as a collective embodiment in this House to live up to that.

One of the other things that you have mentioned, which to me is crucial – and I hope hon members will be able to live up to as well – is the issue of unity. I have heard it many times this year and I hope that you will not mind if I reflect on it again because it is a huge challenge to each of us as individuals.

Let me therefore make bold to say that historic moments demand that our nation should unite as never before, and strain every sinew of its collective body to address our common challenges and keep alive the dream that has sustained all of us as we travelled along the uncharted road towards the creation of a South Africa visualized in our Constitution. These are challenges that you have placed upon us.

We as members of the ANC have been debating the various resolutions that we have been presented with. We continuously have to reflect the type of mandate we have been given by our own constituencies, because if it had gone according to what our constituencies and our branches have been demanding, we would have loved to break up the system and make it work totally differently. But under your leadership, we would be able to say this is how the system had to operate for you have laid the basis for it.

One of the things that you mentioned and presented to us as a challenge in your state of the nation address is how Parliament has to deal with the dissolution of the Scorpions. For me the most important thing that you have done is that you have been able to strike a relationship between the executive and Parliament. Parliament has always felt it is being neglected and isolated, but through the manner in which you have presented it, you have laid the responsibility in our own hands, to be live up to that and redefine exactly what we mean when we talk of revamping and transforming the justice system. That is a challenge and I welcome it because it presents a challenge to us as parliamentarians: where do you take the Scorpions? And where do you take the SAPS?

But the challenge is not just about them, because both of those comprise good South Africans. The Scorpions have people of high calibre who have been able to do a lot of good work and investigate high-calibre cases. One thing that is very challenging to all of us is: what do we do with those South Africans in an environment where skills are always an area of complaint? Where do you take that type of people? What do you do with them? And how do you place them so that as South Africans and as a collective embodiment we are able to live up to those challenges you have put to us?

One of the challenges that the late Minister Steve Tshwete put forward on the occasion of launching the Scorpions was that "prosecution led an intelligence-driven investigation, a key element in the fight against crime and corruption. All prosecutions are being brought into line with the national strategy concerning crime and crime prevention". This is the challenge that he left us with.

I think the Khampepe Report presents that type of challenge. For us, as a movement and an organisation, if we reflect on the occasions when the issue of intelligence arose, it was with issues such as Pango and Quatro. Those are the type of experiences we are talking about and we are saying it is within that context that we are raising this issue of the DSO; we are not raising it because we want to alienate or attack certain individuals. We are saying that historically, within the movement, within this embodiment called the ANC, those who were part of Umkhonto we Siswe know that when an intelligence officer is not accountable, it becomes very reckless and it presents you with a very serious problem.

Those types of experiences, Comrade President, cannot be forgotten. It is within that context that we as the ANC have presented to the nation that we want to deal with the dissolution of that type of background. We have seen such types of things where you will find that when intelligence officers are not guided and they do not remain accountable, they create a problem within society. That is what we are confronted with and we should be able to deal with it.

The call from the ANC conference is to say, let us reflect on that and let us take it as a challenge, so that when we deal with the type of people we are dealing with, we do not deal with them recklessly and in a manner that will look as if we are chasing them away. You must deal with them in a manner that enhances democracy … [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr P J NEFOLOVHODWE

END OF TAKE

Mr M S BOOI

Mr P J NEFOLOVHODWE: Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon members, allow me to start by quoting Amilcar Cabral in Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy Victories when he says:

Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for things in anyone's head. They are fighting to win material benefits to live better and in peace, see their lives go forward to guarantee the future of their children.

In the context of Amilcar Cabral's statement, this debate provides Azapo with an opportunity to raise issues of national importance. Secondly, it provides the people of our country with some idea as to where the national debate relating to issues that affect their lives is heading to.

For the people to "win these material benefits", in Cabral's terms, they need jobs, shelter, water, food, sanitation and other basic necessities of life. To this end, Comrade President, we are in agreement with you about your undertaking to establish a national war room for the war against poverty.

The crisis of poverty in the rural areas in particular requires the total commitment and alignment of all government departments and programmes.

Azapo, through the Is'baya Development Trust, has, together with other institutions, developed an Integrated Village Renewal Programme model, which is ready for mass implementation, should government be willing to adopt this programme as a national programme. I submit, Comrade President, that government therefore does not need to start at ground level to develop a renewal development programme that can be implemented on a mass scale.

To date Is'baya, in partnership with the Agricultural Research Council, has implemented this programme in over 50 villages in the former Transkei area.

To live better and in peace, our people need a state which has the capacity to fight organised crime and all other forms of crime. In Azapo's terms, we need a strong, determined and dedicated army of people that are willing, equipped and ready to crush the criminals.

With this in mind, Azapo will remain firm and resist the temptation to weaken or completely do away with the Scorpions. To Azapo it would be a sad day in South Africa if the Scorpions were to be disbanded merely on the basis that no one knows to whom they report. Azapo believes that, if anything, the high success rate of the Scorpions against organised crime, should be strengthened at all costs. If there are management, reporting or investigation issues that are based on a vendetta agenda by the Scorpions, these must be corrected and eliminated without weakening the country's resolve to fight organised crime. Azapo is therefore pleased that Parliament will have a say in this matter.

Concerning the crisis and challenges in Eskom, Azapo does understand, Comrade President, that you apologised as a matter of principle. What is important, however, is that it should not be enough that those who are employed to manage Eskom should be left to hide behind your principled apology. They should not underperform and take decisions which put the country into difficulties, and merely ask for forgiveness without anything being done about it.

Azapo agrees with Business Unity South Africa, that there has to be some form of accountability; more so since for the past years management at Eskom has been receiving bonuses. People cannot be allowed to put a country into darkness and still receive bonuses. We should all insist that there is a culture of accountability. For instance, because of a lack of accountability companies that make bread colluded to push price up, and subsequently paid a fine, but the price of bread remained at the level reached after cheating.

Azapo is not aware of any reversal that was demanded and we learn that prices even increased after this incident. In other words, Comrade President, in South Africa the rich can cheat, knowing full well that by the time this is discovered they will be able to pay and nothing is done about it. The poor then continue to pay the price. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before we continue, I would like members to join me in welcoming a former member, a former whip of the National Assembly, Oom Jannie Momberg. [Applause.]

Ms N W NGWENYA

END OF TAKE

Mr P J NEFOLOVHODWE

IsiZulu:

Nk N W NGWENYA: Mhlonishwa Phini likaSomlomo, mhlonishwa Mongameli, bahlonishwa, oNgqongqoshe bonke, malungu esakhiwo sokuvikela nozinzo, ngivumeleni ukuthi ngiqale ngokuveza isinqumo sombutho kaKhongolose sengqungquthela kazwelonke esiveza isidingo sokwakhiwa kohlelo olunzulu lokugcinwa kwalabo esebelindele izigwebo. Lokhu kusukela ezimweni ezehlukene ezitholakala ezikhungweni zokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo.

Lokhu kufaka phakathi amacala ngokwehlukana kwawo kanye nobucayi bamacala abasuke bewenzile; iminyaka yobudala yalabo abalindele izigwebo; kanye nokusetshenziswa kwezigwebo zokudonsela ngaphandle. Lesi sinqumo sincoma izindlela ezingcono ezingasetshenziswa ukubhekana nalesi simo. Inkulumo kaMongameli uThabo Mbeki kuleli sonto eledlule ngoLwesihlanu ibhekiswe esizweni – engineqiniso lokhu noMaMkhize lena ngaphandle balalele kepha ngizophinde futhi ngicaphune – ethi uhulumeni uzoshintsha uhlelo lokuqulwa kwamacala obugebengu ngokuphelele. Lo mbono uza nezindlela ezingcono zokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo.

Phini likaSomlomo, ngivumele ngisho ukuthi siyazi sonke ngezindlela ezisetshenziswa yizikhungo zokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo zokubhekana nokugcinwa kwezikhungo zokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo njengokugcwala kwezikhungo. Lena yinselelo endala ebhekene nohlelo lokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo. Lolu hlelo-ke lokulinda kwalabo asebelindele izigwebo luzobhekana nokuxazulula le nselelo.

Mongameli, ngempela kufanele sivume ukuthi baningi labo abalindele ukuqulwa kwamacala abagcinwe ezikhungweni. Kubukeka sengathi futhi badlala indima enkulu ekugcwalisweni izikhungo. Kumele kusetshenziswe izindlela eziningi ezinqala kubhekwe nezimo zecala ngalinye. Lokhu kubuye futhi kuncome ukuthi abantu abalindele ukuqulwa kwamacala bagcinwe ezikhungweni ngokunakekelwa. Lokhu kuzoqinisekisa ukuthi baphathwa ngendlela eyahlukileyo kuleyo eyalabo esebedonsa izigwebo zabo.

Ezinye zalezi zindlela eyokubhekisisa imibandela yebheyili kanye nalezo zindlela ezingaphoqi ukuvalelwa. Imibandela yebheyili kufanele izwelane nalabo abangeke bakwazi ukuyikhokha. Abanye balabo abalindele ukuqulwa kwamacala abo kumele baye ezikhungweni zokuhlunyeleliswa izimilo uma bengakwazi ukukhokha ibheyili. Esinye isimo yilesi esithi izinkantolo azikwazi ukubheka lo mqulu obizwa ngokuthi yi-F62 wokufakwa kwezicelo zebheyili. Izinkantolo ziqinisa izifociya ikakhulukazi kulabo okusamele bavele kwezinkantolo.

Lesi simo senza kakhulu ukuthi abasolwa bahlale kakhulu besalindele ukuqulwa kwamacala abo. Ngesinye isikhathi amacala aba mancane. Kungezeka ukuthi abasolwa bahambe ekuqulweni kwamacala abo besuswa ezikhungweni baye ezinkantolo. Lokhu kungavikela nokweqa kwabasolwa ngalesi sikhathi. Kuyavela-ke nokuthi izindlela zokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo ezisemiphakathini nakho kungalekelela ekwehliseni izinga lokugcwala kwezikhungo kanye nasekusizeni abasolwa ekutheni bashintshe ezenzweni ezimbi.

Izigwebo zabasolwa lapho bengavalelwe khona kufanele ziqiniswe ikakhulukazi emacaleni amancane. Izingane ezineminyaka engaphansi kwe-18 eziboshelwe amacala amancane kufanele zisiswe ezikoleni ezibhekene nezingane ngohlunyeleliswa kwezimilo zazo. Lokhu kudinga ukwakhiwa kwezikhungo zokunakelela, imali kanye nabantu abazokwelekelela kulezi zimo. Ukuqinisa-ke ukushintshwa kwalokhu, iPhepha eliMhlophe lemisebenzi yokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo ngonyaka ka-2005 liqinisekisa ukusebenzisana phakathi kukahulumeni nezinhlaka zemiphakathi kanye nobuhlobo nokusebenzisana eminyangweni eyehlukene kanjalo nokugqugquzela ukubuyisana komphakathi.

Lokhu futhi kuqinisekisa izinhlelo zemiphakathi ezibhekene nokuphatha. Lokhu kufake phakathi lokhu okulandelayo: Ukubhekwa kwabantu abathola ukukhishwa ejele ngesethembiso sokungabaleki; ukuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo okusemphakathini; kanye nokusebenzisana. Imiphakathi kanye nalabo abasemabhizinisini kumele basize futhi banxenxe ukuthi babemukele labo asebeqede izigwebo zabo futhi bemukele namakhono abo abawathole ngesikhathi bedonsa izigwebo zabo. Bakwazi nokuthi bawasebenzise ukuze bakwazi ukuthola amasentshana ukuze baqhubeke nempilo emphakathini.

Imiphakathi kumele ibhekele lokhu okulandelayo: Ukulungiselela ukukhululeka kwalabo ebebedonsa izigwebo zabo. Lokho kuzosiza ekuthini umuntu uma ebuya ekuboshweni angathi kungcono abuyele ejele ngoba lapha akemukelekanga. Ngiyabonga. [Kuphele isikhathi.] [Ihlombe.]

Mr W J SEREMANE

END OF TAKE

Nk N W NGWENYA

Mr W J SEREMANE: Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon members of the House, please allow me, before getting into my speech, to pay special tribute to my colleagues this side in the names of Sandra Botha, Nkosi Buthelezi, General Holomisa and the others who said very important things. I also would not ignore thanking members this side who listened very intently, because intent listening leads to intent and responsible debate and dialogue, and this is what our continent needs direly.

On the surface – coming back home – the South African foreign policy is commendable, even though some aspects of it leave much to be desired or write home about.

How much contact does the Foreign Affairs department have with our citizenry, the electorate or taxpayers who finance these outreach initiatives? We may as well ask how much it costs the country, South Africa, given the massive needs and wants within the country. The adage "being one's brother's or sister's keeper" in itself does not generate revenue, save goodwill.

The message is very clear: South Africa should desist being the sweeper of the mess created by despotic and authoritarian African heads of state and their lackeys. Our overstretched local delivery services and needs will soon stretch to the limit. Remember that "instability is associated with change that fails to gratify social demands of the people and leaving an increasing proportion frustrated citizens".

How effective and sustainable are our peace initiative inputs into the continent? The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a case in point. Do we hold the DRC stakeholders accountable to strides already made at great cost to the South African citizenry? The Sudan-Darfur saga does not say much about the effectiveness of our intervention in this region. We are mindful, though, of the prevailing intransigence of some key role-players in this somewhat genocidal tragedy.

Closer to home we have the festering sore that is Zimbabwe. Nine months have passed since SADC mandated our President Mbeki to facilitate the restoration of democracy, and I repeat, restoration of democracy. Yet democracy still remains an elusive mirage to many Zimbabweans.

Every time South Africa has promised or seemingly announced to the sane world some success in finding negotiated settlements to Zimbabwe's political crisis, evidence has proved the contrary, if not worse.

For instance, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad claims all is well for resolving political implosion, and I quote him:

There are no longer negotiations needed. What is left is procedural.

That does not seem to tally with the harsh reality on the ground in Zimbabwe! Let's admit our sotto voce or quiet diplomacy has no results at all. Recently Zanu-PF war veterans' utterances that "Zanu-PF knows how to deal with betrayers" in response to Simba Makoni's announcement to contest Mugabe in the elections contradict Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad's rosy picture of what Zimbabwe is today. Outside the Zanu-PF circles we – the South Africans – are suspect and not convincing peacebrokers.

Mr President, simply put, peacemakers or peacebrokers of repute do not take sides in disputes; their function is to facilitate processes intended to resolve conflicts. In the light of the African Renaissance vision and the Nepad initiative, Africa has to come to grips with the many basic challenges of development, undergirded by a firm consistency of peace and stability. We have to insist on the plethora of protocols and treaties that abound in our regional structures and so forth to avoid situations such as those in Kenya and other African hotspots.

Last, but not least, we need to pay even more attention to how we vote at the UN by not voting in such a way that we contradict the very principles of our strong human rights bias, for instance, with regard to our stand on the Burma issue.

Our quest to get into both bilateral and multilateral relations with other countries is very prudent indeed. It is therefore very important that reckless attacks on parties with whom we want to enter into such relations need to be curbed. I refer here to the sabre-rattling attack on the EU members by our chairman of the Foreign Affairs Portfolio Committee, which is, of course, contrary to his style of doing things. I don't know what went wrong then. Sound and fury signifying nothing achieves nothing remarkable, indeed. South Africa and Africa need and deserve far better than empty rhetoric. Thank you. [Applause.]

Mr J P CRONIN

END OF TAKE

Mr W J SEREMANE

Mr J P CRONIN: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President and hon members. Well, we are halfway through the party-political responses to the state of the nation address. I think good things have been said, obviously from this side of the House, but also good things have been said from that side, and I want to acknowledge some of those in a while. But underlying the inputs coming from this side is an agenda, often subtly put, sometimes more crudely put.

For the better part of two years the ANC, or at least parts of the ANC, have been having a debate about the so-called two centres of power. Hallelujah: Across on this side, suddenly, a number of these opposition parties have woken up and said: What is there in it for us? One prominent speaker on this side talked about a power vacuum following Polokwane. They are all circulating around this issue, hoping for a gap in the market. There is no gap in the market, and still less is there a market for you in that gap, which doesn't exist. Some of you are trying to put the ANC against the ANC government. [Interjections.] Let's have a vote of no confidence in the ANC government, says the ID, thinking that it is riding some Polokwane wave, completely misunderstanding what happened. They are riding a wave but there is no one with them on that wave. [Interjections.] Others are trying to pit the government against the ANC. The leader of the DA said that the President must stop the national democratic revolution. [Laughter.] That is, presumably, the national democratic revolution of populists and "the unrealistic left" that the hon Sandra Botha referred to. The DA has changed its tune a little bit. Typical! Having tried to pit the government against the ANC, they are now hedging their bets. They are trying to do both things. Dissolve the current government, they say on the one hand, but on the other hand they say: Let us try and flirt with President Mbeki against the ANC. Let us present ourselves as the moderate centre.

Hon Botha, do not confuse sitting on the fence with being in the centre of South African politics. [Applause.] Sitting on the fence, which appears to be the historical mission of your party and all its predecessors in their various acronyms, means you are on the left, not my left, but the left of the left-behinds. [Laughter.]

The hon Holomisa also played this game, quite subtly. He began by playing the homeboy game. There is nothing wrong with that. He referred to his Transkei origins. At the end of his speech he switched to Xhosa – nothing wrong with that, of course – and then used that to infer jokingly - but in jokes there is always a serious point - that there was some Communist threat and some Commmunist conspiracy, and then came and shook your hand. This was a joke and it was subtly done, but lurking in there is the kind of issue that we are seeing in Kenya today: The flirtation with gaps or imagined gaps, and playing cards which are very dangerous cards. There is no gap and you will not succeed in seeking to divide the ANC from the ANC government. [Applause.] The evidence of your failure is already apparent in the course of this debate.

Pres Mbeki's state of nation address has been very well-received by not only the general public, but by the ANC, by Cosatu, by the SACP – let it be said. [Applause.] And that was not choreographed. That was not a choreographed response. The SACP - I happen to have read their statement since I managed to come across it - commended the state of the nation address for many, many things, in detail, the general thrust of it and many specific issues.

There were also differences. The SACP, for instance, says:

Commending the President for his role in Zimbabwe, for the long hours put into a very difficult situation, bringing together intractable sides …

But the SACP said:

We are not sure that what remains is simply procedural.

We are not sure that is a good choice of words. It is not the fault of the South African government if these agreements are not implemented. They cannot be implemented by SADC or the South African government. They need to be implemented by the Zimbabwean government. [Applause.] In the view of the SACP, which I am not representing there, that is not just a procedural matter. But that is a matter for debate. That is not some strategic clash, some parting of ways within the alliance; it is democracy, it is a debate and a discussion.

At the heart of the ANC's debate around the two centres of power has been a reaffirmation of longstanding ANC policy. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, at a time when the ANC was conducting an armed struggle, amongst other things, we had to be extremely and constantly vigilant that the pressures, the excitement, the logistic challenges of our military struggle did not overwhelm the essential political content of our struggle. We said, in the slogan of the day, that the political must be in the command and therefore, at that time, institutionally, programmatically and in terms of codes of conduct and values, we had to work constantly against the danger which exists in any national liberation struggle where there is a military component, and make sure that the ANC was a political centre first and foremost. A ruling party, as opposed to an illegal national liberation movement conducting an armed struggle, has other challenges and other dangers - we know those, from any ruling party situation - of technocratic and bureaucratic capture. There is that danger, even of corporate capture and of corruption.

When the hon Buthelezi spoke of corruption, we were listening to him. We don't disagree with you. If you want to see a very sustained concern about the problems of corruption and the problems of being a ruling party and the challenges it brings, have a look at the organisational report of the ANC at Polokwane. It is a real issue and therefore, institutionally, organisationally and programmatically, we need to be very vigilant as a ruling party against those dangers. This means allowing the circulation of democratic oxygen within our own organisation.

How can 4 000 delegates decide on the future president of South Africa? That is what we are asked. Some of those parties will have three delegates, and five delegates, and maybe 200 delegates, deciding who is going to be at the top of their list next year in the election. The 4 000 delegates of the ANC at Polokwane did not decide who is going to be the future president of South Africa. They decided who would be at the top of the ANC list. The voters of South Africa will decide who will be the next president of South Africa. The voters in their majority will decide, and if they decide not to go with the top of the list of a three-delegate party, then it is not the fault of the ANC.

To affirm that the ANC needs to be a key political strategic centre doesn't mean the abolition or dissolution of other centres of power. In fact, sometimes the two-centres-of-power debate can give you the impression that there are only two possible centres of power. There are multiple centres of power in any modern society. On the contrary, for the ANC to play the role of a political strategic centre, it requires many centres of power to be flourishing. We need to respect the professionalism, the technical capacity and the autonomy of state organs. It is absolutely essential if we want to play that political centre role. Also, we need to respect Parliament. If the ANC is going to play a political centre strategic role, then we need to transform, develop and enhance the capacities of Parliament. This is absolutely critical. We need a multiparty institution – which it is.

When the hon Holomisa calls for a national indaba, that national indaba should be held here. This is what we are. We are voted to be the national indaba, so let it be that - not a rubber stamp for anyone. Let us be vibrant. For this reason, amongst the hundreds of resolutions passed at Polokwane by the ANC - you only remember one resolution and are completely fixated about that - was an important resolution that we must, as this Parliament, before we come to an end next year – and not this year, because we are not going to have elections this year – we must put an end to floor-crossing. There has been a debate in the ANC. There has been a debate in other political parties. [Applause.] From the ANC's side we are convinced to enhance the legitimacy and good standing of Parliament, the lessons we have learned from the floor-crossing episode, which may or may not have had its legitimation in an earlier period, it runs the danger of dragging us into the politics of politicians, of us as full-time professional politicians, the politics of lists, of wheeling and dealing and of individual career interests, and it takes us away from the politics of millions of ordinary people, of housing, unemployment, of poverty and so on. That is one of the important mandates we are carrying, to strengthen Parliament and not to weaken it.

Also, coming out of Polokwane, the ANC's political committee is committed to fulfilling an important constitutional requirement. The Constitution says that this Parliament must develop legislation to enable us to amend Money Bills. This is very important. We are not to go and play wild and free with Money Bills and the Budget, but it is an important responsibility we have to have an oversight over the public spending. As the ANC we expect the support from all political parties in driving through what is in fact not a "maybe" or an "if", but a constitutional requirement.

The opposition parties will do their best to divide the ANC but they won't succeed. The ANC is united, not because it is a monolithic identity ... [Interjections.] ... but based on our political vision, our commitment to the Freedom Charter, but above all, a sense of responsibility to over two-thirds of the electorate who know from their own lives that, amandla ngawethu, maathla ke a rona! is not just a slogan but a profound understanding that they might have few things, few resources, little capital, no shares perhaps on the JSE, but they do have the possibility of a united, collective power, their majority. That is the historical and contemporary role of the ANC: To provide a political, unifying coherence to that majority. That is a role that will not be assumed by proclamation. It is not a role that you can just affirm through a resolution at Polokwane. It is something that requires daily struggle. You have to earn that role in struggle daily. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Debate interrupted.

The House adjourned at 17:33.


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