Hansard: No Notices of Motion or Motions Without Notice
House: National Council of Provinces
Date of Meeting: 16 May 2013
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
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THURSDAY, 16 MAY 2013
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
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The Council met at 14:00.
The Chairperson took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
FIRST ORDER
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NO NOTICES OF MOTION OR MOTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
(Announcement)
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, I have been informed that the Whipery has agreed that there will be no notices of motion or motions without notice today.
Mr S D MONTSITSI
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CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE -JOINT WORKSHOP OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE AND MILITARY VETERANS AND THE JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE HELD IN ARNISTON ON SATURDAY, 19 MAY 2012
Mr S D MONTSITSI: Chairperson, this is the report that was agreed upon as a result of the Arniston workshop that was held some time ago on 19 May 2012.
Firstly, the main objective of the workshop was to ensure that there are clear guidelines with respect to the understanding and scope of responsibilities of both the Joint Standing Committee on Defence and the portfolio committee.
Secondly, we were also supposed to finalise the programmes of the two committees with respect to the most pertinent issues and also identify some of the most important issues that are affecting the two committees.
Thirdly, Chairperson, it was also to ensure that there are no unnecessary clashes between the meetings of the two committees, because we deal with the same Ministry and with more or less similar issues.
The main issue that I wanted to raise, which is captured in the report, most particularly on the recommendations of the report is: Firstly, the formation of the Joint Standing Committee of Defence. The committee is formed and established, in terms of section 228(3) of the interim Constitution of 1993 and also with respect Joint Rules 120(a) for the membership. Section 228(3) of the interim Constitution read also with Rule 24(1) of Schedule 6 of the Constitution that parties with more than 10 seats in Parliament are legible for membership of the Joint Standing Committee of Defence. Actually, it alludes to the fact that those parties which do not have membership of 10 in two Houses of Parliament, are not legible to participate in the Joint Standing Committee of Defence.
Secondly, the challenges are such that in terms of the restructuring and the calculation of the 4th Parliament, the membership of the Joint Standing Committee, as it stands, during this current parliamentary session, stands at 37. Imagine 37 members in one committee and most particularly a joint committee and meetings are expected to take place on Fridays; it has been a challenge to form a quorum. Fortunately, with the mercy of arrangement of the intervention of the Chief Whips and the Joint Rules Committee, decisions were taken Chairperson, to ensure that the committee becomes operative and conducts its business with a quorum of 11. But currently, we are at the stage at which the Joint Rules Committee has to finalise the membership of the committee.
The Advocate in the National Council of Provinces, NCOP, who assists with the responsibility within our own sector - the members of the Joint Standing Committee of Defence in the NCOP; while our counterpart that side have done the same. The matter is currently with Joint Rules Committee. We plead with you Chairperson, to ensure that this matter is speeded up before the conclusion of this parliamentary session.
I thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Question put: That the Report be adopted.
In Favour: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Report accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
SECOND ORDER
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FIRST ORDER
CONSIDERATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT LAWS FIRST AMENDMENT BILL [B13 D-2013] AND OF REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS
Mrs A N D QIKANI: Thank you hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers and hon members,
Statement on the National Environmental Management Laws First Amendment Bill [B13 B – 2012]
This afternoon, I am given the opportunity to share with you some of the deliberations that the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs had on the National Environmental Management Laws First Amendment Bill [B13 B – 2012] which was introduced by the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, to Parliament. The National Environmental Management Act, 1998 is the environmental framework legislation, which provides for environmental management and related matters in South Africa.
Other specific environmental management Acts were promulgated to deal with specific mediums of the environment, namely the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, 2003, the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004, the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004, the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act, 2008 and the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008.
The National Environmental Management Laws First Amendment Bill proposes amendments to certain provisions under the National Environmental Management Act, 1998, the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004, and the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004. Most of the amendments were identified through the implementation of the legislation and some originated from the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs process of identifying legislation that hampers service delivery.
The process that the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs followed for processing the section 76 legislation includes referring the Bill to the provinces for public hearings and negotiating mandates, with several amendments, were received from the provinces. On accepting some of the amendments proposed by the provinces, the committee received the final mandates and concluded the deliberations on the Bill. One concern raised by the committee is the poor public participation with the provincial competent authorities that will implement the Bill and the department is encouraged to hold more provincial capacity building and expert consultation workshops with the provinces to address the challenges and constraints facing these provincial authorities.
The Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs, deliberated on and considered the subject of the National Environmental Management Laws First Amendment Bill [B13 B – 2012] (National Assembly – sec 76), and referred to it as classified by the Joint Tagging Mechanism, JTM, as a section 76 Bill, reports the Bill with amendments [B13C - 2012]. I thank you Chair. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Question put: That the Bill be agreed to.
In Favour: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Bill accordingly agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
THIRD AND FOURTH ORDERS
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SECOND ORDER
APPROPRIATION BILL
Debate on Vote No 36 – Trade and Industry
APPROPRIATION BILL
Debate on Vote No 28 – Economic Development
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: Chairperson, my colleague, Minister Patel, Deputy Ministers, Thabethe and Mkhize, hon members, representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry, DTI, and the officials from the Department of Economic Development, it's a great pleasure to be here in the NCOP for the second time this week. This time, I am introducing the Budget Vote debate on Vote No 36 - Trade and Industry, which we are appropriately sharing with our colleagues from the Economic Consideration of Development.
When addressing this Council in the past, we noted that a historical feature of the South African economy is that most of the national gross value-added is concentrated in few regions of our country. The latest data confirms the continuation of historical trends with just three regions: Gauteng, eThekwini in Pietermaritzburg and the Cape Peninsula, generating almost 70% of the country's gross value-added. Economic opportunities accordingly become concentrated in these regions, perpetuating spatial inequalities.
In previous addresses to the Council, we have said that we must work to unlock the long-term potential of all regions to stop or reverse the process of economic marginalisation. This has proven to be a stubborn challenge with the limited resources at our disposal and the negative economic impact of the most severe global economic crisis at any time since the 1930s which coincided with the term of this administration. In spite of these circumstances, we have remained resolute in tackling these stubborn spatial disparities, and we are making progress on a number of fronts.
In this regard, as we reported to the National Assembly yesterday, the global economic crisis has put into sharp relief the necessity to transform a large number of structural imbalances, inequalities, and weaknesses that we need to overcome in order to place our economy on a more sustainable, productive sector-led growth path.
Within the New Growth Path, the Industrial Policy Action Plan became a centre piece of the DTI's work with all our actions being co-ordinated or aligned to it. The Industrial Policy Action Plan, Ipap, is the central pillar of the DTI's work. Much of our work is accordingly informed by the Ipap. We reported extensively on the progress we made yesterday and said that one of our major conclusions was at where government has acted purposefully to implement programmes developed in consultation with the industry players, business, as well as labour. Concrete positive results have been achieved.
In our addresses to this Chamber, we have maintained that industrial policy must be a collaborative venture of government in all spheres, acting in partnership with economic actors to implement agreed interventions emerging from our strategic collaboration. In this regard, we have said that special economic zones can be a key component of our industrial development efforts.
At present, our legislation provides for only one form of a special economic zone, the industrial development zone. Over the years, we have proclaimed four of these, whose essential defining feature is that they are our export-oriented industries located near ports or airports. Three of these have become operational.
Despite concerns regarding limited success, the reality is that a number of these industrial development zones, the IDZ, programmes are now beginning to gain some traction. A total of 42 investors are operational on site in the three operational IDZs, that is, Coega, East London and Richards Bay with a total investment value, including both signed and operational investors of R14,5 billion. These investments have created over 43 000 direct and indirect jobs. To give some sense of progress over the life of this administration, in just one of these, the East London IDZ, the total investment value in 2009 was R600 million. Today, it stands at over R4 billion.
Notwithstanding evidence of success, we felt that it was appropriate to learn and draw lessons from what we have implemented and continue to improve. In the course of this administration, we undertook an IDZ policy review and looked at what the potential of economic zones in this country were. The product of this is the Special Economic Zones Policy and the Special Economic Zones Bill is now being considered in the National Assembly.
Taking into account the outcomes of the review, the Special Economic Zones Bill will provide for the designation, promotion, development, operation and management of a broader range of special economic zones than the existing IDZs. The IDZs, as a variant of SEZs, will of course, automatically be part of the programme. Other IDZs could be proclaimed in due course. Extensive consultation has been undertaken with the National Economic Development and Labour Council, and this resulted in important improvements in the Bill as well as developing buy-in by key stakeholders.
In essence, the new policy that the Bill will introduce promotes joint planning and implementation of special economic zones between and across spheres of government. We believe that well-planned and supported special economic zones can contribute significantly to the country's development goals. I must emphasise that strong partnerships among and within the three spheres of government, as well as within each sphere, are vital for the effective planning and development of these zones.
As we have been developing the Bill, we have also been working actively with the provinces to identify 10 potential SEZs, at least, one in each province. Feasibility studies are currently being undertaken in conjunction with the provinces on these proposed SEZs so that once the legislation is in place and structures provided for in legislation are up and running, we can move expeditiously to proclaim those that meet the test of the feasibility studies without much further delay.
As we have outlined in this Chamber, during the term of this administration, the DTI has developed and sought to improve its programmes to promote entrepreneurship, co-operatives and small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, development as central planks are broadening economic participation right across our country. Earlier this week, we were here to pass the Co-operatives Amendment Bill. I reported on that occasion that the total value of approvals of our co-operatives investment scheme had increased from R48,1 million in 2010-11 to R84,7 million, more than 70% increase in 2012-13.
Thanks to the decision which we took here in the National Council of Provinces to approve the Co-operatives Amendment Bill. We are much closer to being able to meet our target by the end of this year, to establish the institutions which the Bill provides for, notably the Co-operative Development Agency and the Co-operative Tribunal. The Co-operative Development Agency will provide the development support to co-operatives. The Co-operative Tribunal will adjudicate over conflicts that often in the past, led to the collapse of promising co-operative ventures.
In addition, as I mentioned on Tuesday, we are working with the Department of Higher Education and Training to establish a co-operative academy. Cabinet has also agreed to South Africa hosting the International Co-operative Alliance General Assembly and the world conference in November, this year. This will be an important opportunity for our co-operators to engage with co-operators around the world to enable us to learn from successful co-operatives and to build important partnerships to promote the potential of co-operatives in this country.
In 2009, the DTI undertook a review of all our SMME support programmes. This review confirmed that enterprise survival rate, especially in the start-up phase is a major problem in this country. Consequently, we decided to pick out and to emphasise support for incubation programmes as a top priority on the basis of experience, both here in South Africa and internationally. That tells us that incubation programmes of various sorts are critical to develop in the capacities of entrepreneurs who are able to be active in the real productive economy.
We believe that this initiative will help to support efforts to grow more entrepreneurs, particularly in the manufacturing sector. In line with this new priority, the DTI introduced an Incubation Support Programme in September 2012. We are working towards having 250 incubators in place by 2015-16 supported by both the private sector and public agencies.
To date, 13 projects with a project value of R373 million have been approved under the Incubation Support Programme in areas such as renewable energy, information and communication technology, agroprocessing, chemicals, mining, and clothing and textile sectors.
We will endeavour to continuously widen and deepen the scope of support for the incubator model. Currently, we are encouraging universities and science councils to also work on hosting incubators. The development of hi-tech and high growth sectors will be the main business of these incubators.
The Small Enterprise Development Agency, Seda, technology programme provides finance and nonfinancial support to small entrepreneurs, through technology transfer, business incubation and quality services. Currently, the Seda technology programme is supporting 42 incubation centres in all nine provinces in different economic sectors. As a result, by December 2012, 265 new enterprises have been created, 2 247 SMMEs were supported, 28% of which were women-owned and 1 651 jobs were created by the Seda programmes.
An agreement has been entered into with two Further Education and Training, FET, colleges in the Eastern Cape and Ekurhuleni in order to establish centres of entrepreneurship with a view to integrate entrepreneurial education in technical areas such as agroprocessing, waste management and welding.
In this financial year, we will continue to promote the products and services of the DTI throughout the length and breadth of South Africa. I invite you to participate in our marketing and media events, particularly our campaigns to take DTI to the people.
Finally, when we addressed this Chamber at the beginning of this term on this administration, we said that we will work closely with our colleagues in the Department of Economic Development. Together we intend fostering a stronger than ever partnership with provinces in order to continue to address the challenges of persisting disparities in the spatial economy and promote rural development. I'm glad to be able to report that we have jointly continued to operate Minmec meetings and that we have co-operated strongly with my colleague, Minister Patel, and the Department of Economic Development.
I commend Budget Vote No 36 to this Chamber. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
The MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
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Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 133
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
The MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Chairperson of the NCOP, Minister Rob Davies, Deputy Minister Mkhize and Deputy Minister Thabethe, hon members, distinguished guests including some retirees from Atlantis who are present here today, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to introduce this policy debate on the Economic Development Budget Vote in this august House. It is appropriate that I introduce the Budget Vote with Minister Davies, whose department has been a great partner in the economic cluster, and whom we have worked very closely with.
In this past year, we have focussed on creating conditions for greater job creation, stronger long-term growth and countercyclical economic interventions to address the less favourable global environment. Cabinet adopted the National Development Plan, NDP, as the overall country vision that also integrates the various elements of policy with improving the capacity of the state; the New Growth Path, NGP, as government's economic strategy, the Industrial Policy Action Plan, IPAP, as the manufacturing driver, and the infrastructure plan as the infrastructure driver.
With regard to coherent governance, in March this year, government hosted the Brics Summit of heads of state from China, Russia, India and Brazil, and we used it to strengthen our economic relations. Immediately after the summit, under the leadership of the President, we convened a meeting with the Brics leaders and more than 15 other African heads of state and government to discuss ways of strengthening this partnership, integration and to promote industrialisation.
The value of this relationship is demonstrated in the growing trade and investment links between ourselves, and between South Africa and the rest of the continent. We made significant progress with the roll-out of the National Infrastructure Plan, NIP, with construction activities now taking place in all nine provinces. The best performing provinces on infrastructure spending for the first three quarters to December 2012 are KZN and Gauteng, measured by the size of spend and the level of the budget used. We now monitor this on a consistent basis.
We improved the level of industrial funding that the Industrial Development Co-operation, IDC, is making available to support local factories, farms and mines. The new Small Enterprises Finance Agency, Sefa, was launched and has bedded down its systems, with a large increase in the level of funding it has approved in this past year, and Deputy Minister Mkhize will reflect further on its success.
The competition policy has focussed on addressing the scandal of price-fixing and collusion between construction companies in past infrastructure projects. But, above all, our focus has been on job creation.
Last week, Statistics SA released its quarterly labour force survey which shows that on aggregate that 44 000 net new jobs were created in the first three months of this year, and 199 000 net new jobs over the 12-month period ending in March this year. The provincial breakdown of the job creation over the past 12 months showed that employment was neutral in one province - no change - it grew in seven provinces, and jobs were lost in one province.
The biggest job gains were in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, both of which grew by 57 000 new jobs each. These two provinces are also the location of two big projects of the NIP, namely the building of the Medupi and the Kusile Coal-Fired Power Stations. The only province which lost jobs in the year ending March 2013 is the Western Cape, which lost 37 000 jobs.
If we take a longer view, namely the state of jobs since the adoption of the New Growth Path, NGP, in 2010, the economy created close to 650 000 new jobs, with growth in all provinces except for the Free State, which lost jobs during this period.
While we welcome the job creation over the 12 months and since 2010, we need to do even better in order to provide jobs to the large number of young people entering the labour market every year. Unemployment is the most serious economic challenge of our time, with its twins - poverty and inequality. To respond to this challenge, we are fast-tracking our efforts. These include using the NGP framework to strengthen the focus on the industrial sectors of the economy.
The IDC has scaled up its level of industrial funding, committing some R27 billion over the past two years, an increase of 48% compared to the previous two years. The Sefa and the IDC will together make close to R3 billion available for youth employment and youth entrepreneurship over the next number of years. The IDC has been directed to expand its development impact, including by focusing on poorer provinces, on youth employment, and above all, on job creation.
The results are showing a positive trendline on investment, on jobs and on development. The results are complemented by the roll-out of the NIP, our 20 years R4 trillion initiative that is building the long-term foundations for growth, development and jobs. In addition to this, we are developing partnerships with business, organised labour and community organisations, partnerships on skills, the green economy, basic education, localisation, and youth employment. I am tabling a report with this august House, setting out the progress we are making with the accords. The efforts draw on and support the IPAP that is overseen by my colleague, Minister Rob Davies.
Our initiatives cover all provinces and I can, in the available time, simply lift a few examples. In the Eastern Cape, we are partners in an effort to rebuild the foundations of its manufacturing and agro-processing base, including through infrastructure development. For example, the IDC is funding a number of green economies and manufacturing projects including the manufacturing of Solar PV panels that are able to generate 85MW of electricity per annum at the East London IDZ and wind turbines in the Coega IDZ. Green is not only about environmental friendliness, but it is also about jobs and development.
In the Northern Cape, we cofund the construction of the world's largest manganese sinter plant and we financially support the expansion of a fruit production and exporting facility that will over time create 1 100 new jobs.
In the Western Cape, national government's small business funding is being expanded, increasing by 174% in the last year to more than R68 million, and of course the new film studio is cofunded by the IDC, who has also been approached to fund the construction of a water tank facility and a beach reservoir at the studio which would enable them to attract productions requiring ocean scenes - appropriate for Cape Town.
In Mpumalanga, the Economic Development Department, the EDD, is working with a large foreign investor who is building a state-of-the-art oilseed crushing facility in Standerton that can support black farmers to provide soya beans to the plant. The construction of the Kusile Coal-Fired Power Station costing R118 billion has been accelerated in the province. The project is currently employing 12 700 people and is set to employ an additional 3 000 people over the next two years.
KwaZulu-Natal is benefiting with the funding of a new factory in Durban for manufacturing plastic-moulded components for motor vehicles, and the support given to the local manufacturing of minibus taxis.
Limpopo is the site of large construction, in what we call SIP 1 of the NIP, and it includes the De Hoop dam, the Medupe Power Station and other projects. The Sefa has provided funding, for example to a young entrepreneur who manufactures conveyor belt components for the mines.
In Gauteng, we launched the Youth Employment Accord on 18 April this year, to bring together efforts across the private and public sectors to provide better skills, work exposure and jobs to young people.
In the Free State, the Sefa has lent R20 million to a woman-owned and -run financial intermediary. This business, in turn, provides bridging finance, working capital and asset finance to small and micro enterprises across the province, including farms buying new equipment, small construction firms building roads and entrepreneurs buying a guesthouse.
In the North West, the department supported the Presidency and worked closely with social partners last year to defuse the strike in the platinum industry, and through a social accord that contained a commitment to return to work, to condemn violence in industrial relations, and to address the challenges of human settlements and collective bargaining in the platinum sector, and also contained a joined commitment to address the issues of income inequality in the economy and the society.
In the next 10 months, we will have 18 large road shows to provinces, to showcase the new products available in government, to tell the people what the small business funding is, to identify the youth employment funds that we've made available to help communities to connect local entrepreneurship with national resources. This is what development is about!
I would like to conclude by thanking members of the select committee as well as the economic development MECs at provincial level, the leadership of SA Local Government Association, Salga, who are our partners, Minister Davies and the team from the Department of Trade and Industry, the Ministers in the economic cluster, and Deputy Minister Mkhize because that team, working together with the national, provincial, and national government are partners in driving jobs, in driving industrialisation and in ensuring development. Thank you. [Applause.]
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP
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Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 134
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members may I remind you to please switch off your cellphones as they cause disturbance in the system in the House. There is no rule that says you should keep your cellphones switched on during session. Please switch off your cellphones. Can you make sure that they are switched off? Take them out of your pockets and bags and make sure that they are switched off.
Mr D D GAMEDE: Chairperson, hon members, Minister Davies, Minister Patel, Deputy Minister Thabethe, Deputy Minister Mkhize and all the guests that are in the gallery.
Firstly, let me congratulate both Ministers for basing their speeches mostly on the interests of the provinces. It really befits this House. So thank you very much for that.
Secondly, before I run out of time, I must say the committee supports both budgets, and then I can continue. Let me congratulate the Department of Trade and Industry for all its achievements thus far and then admit that with all the backlogs and challenges that we have as a country; and that you have as a department; you have performed far better this year.
Well, some of the mandates of the department, which are strategic goals, are to transform the economy, advance Africa's trade, and facilitate broad-based economic participation through targeted interventions to achieve inclusive growth and others. We appreciate most of the achievements about the region, Africa and the world. However, as a committee we still feel that there is still more that needs to be done.
If we look at the issue of unemployment as the statistics were released by Statistics SA, we still have an unemployment rate of about 29,8%. There are about eight or nine million people in South Africa who are unemployed and about 11 million people who are not economically active. There is now more need to support Small Micro Medium Enterprises, SMMEs, and co-operatives so that people can be self-employed. In addition, with about 40 million people relying on social grant this will have an impact even on our economy.
We are also happy to hear that very soon, as the Minister was talking about the Special Economic Zone, Sez, that even the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone, the IDZ, will be designated after all the studies have been completed. Now, in terms of trade industry and industrialisation, this is a good shift because we will be moving to the West Coast. Some of our colleagues have been raising the issue that the West Coast is not catered for. The opening of the Saldanha Bay IDZ, will not only help South Africa but the region and Africa as a whole. Minister, I am happy that now there is a movement on the Richard Bay IDZ. Investors are starting to come in and more jobs will be created. It must also be noted that about R1.6 billion has been appropriated for industrial development, for it is only through it that our own Gross Domestic Income, the GDP, can improve.
The International Trade and Economic Development has promoted African integration and development at bilateral, regional and continental level. This was proven by the visit by His Excellency the President of Nigeria a few weeks ago and the holding of the Botswana Russia India China South Africa, Brics, summit on African soil few months ago.
The programme of taking the DTI to the people is proving to be a huge success. In the province where I come from, it has gone to almost all the corners except in one area that is Gingindlovu, my hometown. We will urge that it goes more to the deep rural areas - as I have mentioned - such as Gingindlovu.
The Techno-Girl programme is the best model to address the imbalances of the past. More and more girls are studying key and critical skills like engineering, metallurgy and other critical science and accounting fields. So we would urge that we spread the wings and we don't end up with the techno girls, we must also have the techno-boys.
Hon Minister, last year, we pleaded with you and would like to revisit the issue of credit amnesty, and you promised to forward it to the National Credit Regulator. And I am happy to report that we have made good progress on this issue. Research has been conducted and the reports were submitted. The discussions are ongoing and we hope to finalise this issue this year. We would have some amendments.
We would like to thank the Minister, your department, the deputy director-general responsible, the director-general and the chief executive officer of NCR.
There are also many Bills that still need to be finalised this year. One of them is the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill, which is very important because billions and billions are taken out of the country. Amongst them - as the Minister has indicated - are the National Lottery Bill and the Special Economic Zones Bill. This is important for the country; the sooner we deal with them the better.
We would urge the department to engage with both the Department of Higher Education and further education and training institutions so that all institutions of higher learning offer courses and skills that are needed by our economy and industry so that we don't have unemployed graduates.
We have always stressed that budgets must speak to backlogs. We are satisfied that this budget of the DTI speaks to that. We appreciate that whenever the committee has an oversight visit, hon Minister; officials from your department are always available. This helps us to solve problems immediately and to share information with the communities.
The work that is done by all DTI agencies is highly appreciated, especially the Small Enterprise Development Agency, Seda, the National Empowerment Fund, Nef, and the National Lotteries Board, the NLB, because they talk to quite a number of challenges that people are experiencing. The support that Seda is giving to SMMEs is highly appreciated, and we would want that to spread it to most of the SMMEs. I met all those that have been supported by the Seda; and yesterday, I just met some of them like Lolo's Guesthouse and Sister Jenny.
Just to touch a little bit on the issue of economic development because my detachment is ready to deal with other issue. We also support this budget as I said earlier on. The department is tasked with many policies for economic development of the country, whether on industrial development or on international trade and at the same time see to it that there is fair competition. It must also implement the New Growth Path and now also oversee the Small Enterprise Finance Agency, Sefa. The Industrial Development Corporation, the IDC, is included.
We appreciate the policies that have been formulated since 2009, especially the Industrial Policy Action Plan, Ipap, 1 and 2. However, in its co-ordination of economic planning, we want to urge the department to assist local municipalities more on their Local Economic Developments, LEDs, for that is really where the economic activities are happening. Both the departments are also urged to assist municipalities so that they take LEDs more seriously. The deployment of LED officers or managers should have the most oversight.
We also have the strong feeling that the budget for economic development, finance and procurement of R6,2 million for 2013-14 is too little compared to the R7,4 million that was allocated for 2011-12 even though it further decreased to R3,9 in 2012-13. This is important for economic planning, co-ordination and procurement. I also appreciate that we have increased this budget.
We hope that the formation of Sefa will play a huge role in fast-tracking the financing of SMMEs and co-operatives, and will assist in cutting the red tape.
The work that is done by the IDC is highly appreciated. They also go an extra mile in doing their social responsibility programme. They have done so in my constituency and many needy schools have benefited because of their assistance.
We would like to thank all officials of both departments for honouring our invite for briefings and for their availability, even after hours. It really shows that working together we can do more. For us as a committee, we support both the budgets. Thank you. [Applause.]
Cllr A B WALKER (Salga)
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Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 135
Mr D D GAMEDE
Cllr A B WALKER (Salga): Hon Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, hon Ministers and hon members, firstly, I would like to start by acknowledging and congratulating the department on the notable strides that have been made in the economy over time. However, it is important to express that we are still very far from achieving our development objectives. Whilst employment levels have increased, unemployment figures have also risen significantly and the economic environment is not becoming friendly towards business, especially for the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises, the SMMEs, and the informal economy.
Articulation of the department's collaborative approach in fulfilling its responsibility to integrate efforts on economic developments is noted. However, practice from local government perspective has proven otherwise when it comes to local economic development. Between the various role-players in the space, it has become increasingly blurry where this function is best co-ordinated. Local government as owners of the space in which economic activity take place are at the centre of all economic activities and would need to be engaged in the roll-out of the initiatives articulated in the vote. A critical step in the policy coherence we crave is improving communication between the different spheres of government about their development strategies and contexts, and I would like to stress that.
Regarding the integrated planning and collaboration, we welcome the undertaking to integrate efforts on economic development across government, and to collaborate with other Ministries and spheres of government. We wish to highlight that local government being the sphere wherein these efforts are to be realised it would need to be treated with the utmost consideration of its differentiated context taking into account the existing planning tools and approaches responsive to the economic environment.
Municipalities are faced with the day to day pressures of responding to economic disparities, and they need to be supported to be adequately responsive in realising the targets that are set out in the National Development Plan.
Concerning the infrastructure development, it is exciting to note the efforts and plans in place to expand on economic infrastructure. However we wish to implore - and it's not putting it too strongly - we wish to implore the department to consider models around the maintenance and sustainability thereof. Whilst the expansion of economic infrastructure will have a positive impact on the economy, it has the potential to impact negatively should it not be adequately maintained. Once again, it becomes important, as expressed earlier, to ensure that all the efforts are effectively mainstreamed to a municipal level both in terms of approach, capacity and resources.
Whilst industry localisation brings a lot of potential to distribute employment creation opportunities equitably, we would like the department to provide adequate support to municipalities to ensure optimal readiness to absorb the investments and adopt a spatially integrated approach.
We must consolidate the gains we have made in the past decade by addressing some of the fundamental constraints, which hamper local government, in our quest to effect development so that the third generation of councillors, who have just stepped into the fray and those who would come after them, to have a more stable, sound and equitable policy framework to deliver on their developmental mandate.
We are committed to working with the Department of Economic Development to ensure an integrated approach to service delivery and that the developmental vision of local government is realised. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mrs M C DIKGALE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 136
Cllr A B WALKER
Mrs M C DIKGALE: Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister Davies, hon Minister Patel, hon Deputy Ministers, Thabethe and Mkhize, hon members of the NCOP, ladies and gentlemen, today we convene to debate two Budget Votes that form the backbone of our decisive resolve to promote economic growth, development and move with utmost speed to ensure that our people enjoy a better quality of life.
Allow me to remind the Council it took this country 350 years of colonialism, segregation, apartheid and colonialism with a special type. We cannot dare in anyway stop talking about its legacy. Indeed, the progress that our nation has made since the demise of apartheid in 1994 and the persistent challenges facing our people, demanded us to continue ensuring a profound level of synergy between these two departments.
I would like to express my profound appreciation to Minister Davies and Minister Patel for ensuring that their Budget Votes find resonance and give practical economic policy directions to the President's state of the nation address and the National Development Plan, which clearly outlined the quest to achieve our national objectives of employment creation, trade facilitation, broadening economic participation and fostering relationships with countries in the African continent. These two departments have also shown our decisive commitment to move with speed to consolidate the driving force behind South Africa's economic growth path over the next medium-term period.
The Budget Vote for the Department of Trade and Industry has a number of programmes and initiatives that support the goals of the National Development Plan. These include programmes that are geared towards developing trade relations that facilitate the goals of job creation, industrialisation and economic development.
The department's trade and investment, and international trade and economic development programmes are responsible for strengthening and renewing economic ties and relationships within the African Union, the Southern African Development Community and the Southern African Customs Union. The department has also set decisive programmes to nurturing South-South co-operation, specifically relationships with India and Brazil; and increasing South Africans' understanding of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Brics, formation.
The department's equity and empowerment subprogramme facilitates Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, and women's economic empowerment, as the building blocks to achieve increased participation by black South Africans and women in economic activity. In addition, the department is in the process of finalising the National Strategic Framework on Gender and Women Economic Empowerment and the informal sector strategy for Cabinet's approval while the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Amendment Bill has been tabled in Parliament.
On Tuesday this week, this august Council gave a resounding approval to this Co-operatives Amendment Bill as one of the key strategic interventions to enhance the co-ordination amongst development support for co-operatives. This Bill seeks to strengthen the intergovernmental structures at all three spheres of government, ensure co-ordination on planning, budgeting, provisioning of services and support to the monitoring and evaluation in respect of co-operatives.
In terms of this Bill, the establishment of the Co-operatives Development Agency ensures the delivery of tailor-made support services to co-operatives organised around the principle of one-stop shop, and to bring support services closer geographically to rural communities where the majority of co-operatives are located. Once more, we commend Minister Davies for this decisive intervention, which will not only ensure that our people too benefit from co-operatives but also get support as and when they request it.
Among the most innovative interventions of the Department of Trade and Industry, is the broadening participation programme. This programme seeks to create an enabling environment for small, medium and micro enterprises, and improve the competitiveness of local and provincial economies to achieve equity, growth and job creation. By appropriation, this is the third largest programme of the department with an allocation of R968,3 million.
The Consumer and Corporate Regulation programme is one of the programmes that is geared towards increasing opportunities for the previously disadvantaged South Africans by attracting both domestic and foreign investments; increasing investor confidence through developing world class regulatory frameworks for monitoring, compliance and enforcement; and creating competitive, fair and efficient markets by having effective financial, economic, governance and related regulatory institutions. We are indeed happy because this programme will continue to serve as one of the significant means to protect our people from unscrupulous businesses.
Hon Minister Davies, it is my appeal to you that this programme must be expanded to the rural parts of our country where the majority of the most vulnerable consumers are subjected to some of the most unacceptable levels of services. Our people are forced to buy outdated products that are not healthy and in many instances under the most atrocious, unhealthy and dehumanising conditions. It is this sector of our nation that needs more protection. We must put an end to businesses that continue to force our grandparents to buy products before they get their government grants.
Allow me to express my profound appreciation to the hon Patel for ensuring that the economic development and dialogue continues to serve as one of the most strategic interventions to encourage many of our people to develop business initiatives that will ensure that they are self-sufficient and penetrate the economy. Indeed, the mammoth task of placing South African economy into the labour absorbing path is to be executed within the existing macroeconomic framework of inflation, targeting the floating exchange rate and export-led reindustrialisation.
We are indeed grateful for your decisive leadership and tireless efforts to ensure that we achieve the objectives that we set for our nation, especially in the New Growth Path and the National Development Plan. We are happy that central to your commitment, is the need to improve infrastructure and network services that support more labour-absorbing industries such as mining and agriculture. This will surely ensure higher labour market participation and help fight unemployment and poverty.
As the ANC, we support the Budget Votes of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Economic Development. We say this because these departments continue to serve as the cornerstone of our collective national effort of placing our economy on the New Growth Path which is capable of creating 5 million new jobs by the year 2020, moving with utmost speed to expand economic opportunities for our people and reducing constraints to growth in the various sectors of our economy. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mrs B L ABRAHAMS
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 137
Ms M C DIKGALE
Mrs B L ABRAHAMS: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister Patel, hon Minister Davies, Deputy Ministers Mkhize and Thabethe, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we need to create opportunities for all South Africans to be empowered and developed into successful entrepreneurs. The Skills Upgrading programme and Apprenticeship programme are both critical factors that need to be implemented sooner than later. By having citizens that are developed and skilled, we will grow our economy and improve the quality of jobs that are being created, and it will be more sustainable.
The big question is: When will the National Development Plan, the NDP, be implemented, what seems to be the delay? The NDP is a plan that can grow our economy and be part of the poverty alleviation that is urgently needed in South Africa. The people of South Africa are waiting patiently for the NDP to evolve into jobs and let them live the better life that they have been promised for more than a decade. The NDP clearly states that the regulatory burden should be simplified for business.
According to the FinScope survey, 90% of jobs are created through the small, medium and micro-enterprises, the SMMEs. For SMMEs to function better and be able to contribute to the economy, and not start worrying about all the red tape before they have actually started functioning, a commission needs to be established to look at the solutions that can address regulation restrictions that prevent or delay SMMEs of becoming successful business entities. What does it cost a small business to be compliant on all three spheres of government? Recall unnecessary red tape and bring out the red carpet for SMMEs.
All the departments should implement the 30 days principle for paying all suppliers. This should not be an option but rather be mandatory to all the departments. Some SMMEs cannot operate efficiently because they have to wait for payments that are way overdue. It should not be a function of the Employment Development Department, the EDD.
Maybe the department can use the winning recipe of the Western Cape where the DA governs. [Interjections.] This recipe is a formula that would assist with the red tape reduction programme, which assists the small businesses with a helpline to ease the frustration of not knowing how to get help but get the help. This is one of the reasons why small businesses in the Western Cape find it easy to grow their businesses. Investments are growing at a rapid pace and more job opportunities are being created. In the last financial year, Wesgro, the provinces trade promotion agency managed to achieve R1,8 billion of new investments, by exceeding its targets.
It is high time that we stop blaming the past and concentrate on the future in developing our people's skills and creating jobs for all the citizens of our beloved country, South Africa.
The department needs to create opportunities for local procurement by both the government and private sectors and not doing business with officials on the sly. Parliament should set an example of procuring proudly South African products through the industrial and special economic zones.
Our citizens are suffering due to unemployment, and an urgent intervention is necessary to help them to acquire sustainable jobs that would allow them to buy food for their families, pay for education systems, whichever their need might be, build or own their own homes and even buy vehicle of their choice.
In conclusion, I would like to say that we would allow South Africans to live and enjoy the better life that they hear about and have not experienced yet. I thank you. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 137
Mrs B L ABRAHAMS
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Chairperson, hon members, I would also like to start of by thanking Minister Patel and our colleague, Minister Davies, and a friend and a colleague, Deputy Minister Thabethe. I really also want to thank the hon Walker, who has just left, for being honest about how the Western Cape is benefitting from the Department of Trade and Industry in terms of attracting investors who are coming through to the Western Cape. Wesgro is benefitting. Thank you very much for your honesty.
I also would really like to thank the hon member Walker for not making a mistake. We have heard of people questioning the existence of the Department of Economic Development because it turns to be interpreted by our citizens questionably as: Why talk about economic inclusion because basically, that department has been very strong under the leadership of Minister Patel, as members have said, in ensuring that the people of South Africa were not marginalised in their own country and remained at the periphery as though they were refugees.
It gives me great pleasure to participate during this 4th Budget Vote, and of course, it is my first and the last one. I have been roving around, and have joined Minister Patel last year. I must say that it has been the most fulfilling experience to walk into a sector where a lot has been done in terms of policy pillars. I think hon members you will agree that besides our challenges, a lot has been put into this sector to ensure that we begin to walk the talk of being inclusive, especially talking about economic growth.
I would like to briefly reflect on where we come from so that there is an appreciation of what has been achieved. As far back as the time of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, I still remember and vividly have a memory of how Professor Sampie Terreblanche, an academic Economist and a writer, came forward and said, "Apartheid was beneficial to white owned business because it was an integral part of a system premised on the exploitation of black workers and the destruction of black entrepreneurial activity."
Again, if we refer back, thinking about the Native Land Act of 1913, it is 100 years this year since we saw blacks being forcefully removed and uprooted from commercial land of their birth and being shipped away to the outskirts – of which the effects still remains even today. We have all been talking about 45% of African women who are still located in the former homelands where just over a third of the population is living in these regions, but over half of Africans aged below 15 and over 65 are also still in those extremely poor regions.
I think it is important to reflect on the history so that we realise how much is needed for us to move forward as a collective, especially as public representatives. You have heard hon members about the statistics of unemployment, especially in our provinces. We still have quite a number of provinces that are trying hard in terms of reducing the percentage of unemployment.
Having said that, government has come up with clear policy interventions and those are important in assisting us to begin to be hopeful and for our people to begin to see the light that with all these interventions, we are likely to turn the tide.
Within the economic transformation cluster, the Department of Economic Development plays an enabling role and also that of an integrator for systematic and sustainable economic inclusion across the board. We are the chief negotiator with all other partners. I am sure hon members, you will recall all the social accords that Minister Patel has signed and had referred to.
Our role is therefore crystallised in working with others. Built into our policy strategies, is the need to fast-track economic participation of the most vulnerable groups. As a step forward, we have held economic community dialogues, specifically targeting some of the municipalities located in the 23 poorest districts, inner cities and rural communities. In line with principles of the Social Accords, we facilitated the participation of other sister departments, enterprises and development finance agencies such as Small Enterprise Finance Agency, Sefa and Small Enterprise Development Agency, Seda.
I am happy to acknowledge the chairperson of Sefa, Mrs Sizakele Ransburg - I hope she is in our midst up there - for her effort to work closely with the board in turning around this Development Finance Agency so that it begins to focus and meet the needs of our vulnerable people or all our excluded people. We await the outcomes of the birth of this new agency, as you will recall that it has come out of the amalgamation of the two previous ones, which didn't work very well, but we do believe their commitments, especially in taking road shows, reaching out to communities is in line with our development agenda. They should begin to see the fruits of this development agency.
In our visit to communities, we found out that there are cross-cutting challenges. Even in areas where government has invested hugely and came up with good infrastructure, we still find that our excluded people are still struggling at a level of social infrastructure, lack of bankable projects, barriers to credit access and lack of skills.
With hindsight, we are learning that if we leave our business partners and professional bodies during our community economic indaba, we are delaying our victory. As of today, it is common knowledge that through an integrated and co-ordinated infrastructure programme, government has made huge investments in ensuring that we have an environment that is conducive.
I am not going to say much about the Sips, which really have helped a lot in mobilising our communities and bringing about a sense of hope given the numbers that they have absorbed and employed during their construction. It is important to say that we are beginning to learn that at a lower level, we have a challenge of ensuring that we strengthen our co-operatives and our SMMEs so as to ensure that those who cannot benefit from big ventures, they at least begin to make an entry.
The research by the World Bank shows that in other countries, small firm-large firm relationships have contributed greatly towards highly successful business practices. These countries include Japan, China and Russia.
Small and medium enterprises had an impact on economic growth through the synergistic relationship they had with large enterprises. The sustainability of small enterprises rested on large enterprises as a source of inputs and a source for marketing their products.
We have also benefited a lot from the special economic zone as Minister Davies has explained. And it is my believe that being in partnership with the private sector, our small medium entities could be developed and become suppliers of scale in partnership with the private sector and professional bodies, ensuring that people are skilled, helped to be innovative and helped to grow through the global value chain. Thank you. [Applause.]
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Sorry Deputy Minister, you were disturbed by this machine. I told them long ago that it makes noise when it moves. It was not telling you to stop. The watch is there in front of you and if the time has expired I will tell you. The machine is just doing its work, don't worry and don't be disturbed by it.
Mr B A MNGUNI
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 138
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Mr B A MNGUNI: Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers, hon members, the officials, esteemed guests and the House at large, there is a saying that says, "Study the past, if you would divine the future." In the ANC we are saying, "Forward ever and backward never." Hon Bev that is why we took a resolution in Polokwane that there will be the National Development Plan, the NDP. That is a Polokwane resolution we took and emphasised and adopted it in Mangaung. So implementation is on the way because this document, the NDP, has just been adopted by the Mangaung conference only six months ago. Therefore, we are on course. [Interjections.] This National Development Plan is going to navigate us through the global economic storms. Let's look at the United States.
Currently, the United States is doing well; the growth is about 2%. But let's move toward Europe where there is an economic crisis. You have seen what has recently happened with the bank in Cyprus; we have also seen what has happened in Greece. Let's move on again to Asia, for instance China. China is one of the countries in the world that has been developing so fast, though at the moment, growth has decreased to 7%. Let's look at other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest growing economy in the world. We are looking at growth of plus 8% and so forth. Now the fact is where does South Africa fit in this? The International Monetary Fund, the IMF, projects that by 2013 growth will be 3,3% which will grow to about 4% in the world. We are not moving backwards we are moving forward. Now how does this affect South Africa?
Europe is our major trading partner. China is also becoming one of our major trading partners. The US is still there but the fact is, as Europe's economy drops, our key economy drops as well because it is our major trading partner. We don't get export all the products that we produce in South Africa because of the crisis in Europe. China is growing fast because it is importing most of our iron steel or our iron goes to China because it is one of the fastest growing countries.
But what happens if China's growth decreases? It affects South Africa. What happens to South Africa? The level of unemployment goes up, poverty goes up and inequality goes up. So that is the effect of being in the global village. Because we have people who have vision in the ANC who said we are going to come up with a development plan that will sustain us for 20 years so that we can look forward and focus on where we are going so that our policies and our strategies try to reach a common goal. Let's move over to the labour system in our country.
Yes, you might say that with the kind of labour system in the country, "we are shooting ourselves in the foot". But we don't want to find ourselves in a situation like the one in Bangladesh where the West is profiting quadruple profits, and the people in Bangladesh are getting peanuts.
The unions are there to safeguard the interests of the workers. They safeguard the interests of the down-trodden. That is why we are a free democracy. That is why there is political stability in South Africa. That is why there is investment in the Western Cape because stability prevails in South Africa, not the Western Cape per se, but South Africa as whole is a stable country. South Africa is a democratic country where people can voice whatever they want to say without being detained; unlike in the past. We are a free and democratic society. [Applause.]
Looking at the New Growth Path, as visionary leaders in our we movement foresaw the crises and decided to come up with the New Growth Path so that we can diversify our economy. It would hurt if you were to put your eggs in one basket because if storms come or if you are riding on a bicycle with them and you fall off, all your eggs would be gone. We resolved to come up with the new strategy and the New Growth Path.
What we are basically looking at is manufacturing, mining and tourism. So even though we are diversifying our economy, we are able to grow even when one sector goes down and the other sector remains the same so that it acts as a buffer. Therefore, basically we don't experience much impact as a country. That is why we need to diversify our economy. That is why we have a New Growth Path that will take us forward not backward.
In any developing country there are basically two main things that you produce fresh or agriculture products and some mining products. In South Africa we are blessed because Africa as a whole is the most beautiful continent and as such you have tourism, or you can actually explore tourism to the maximum. That is also why in the New Growth Path we have tourism as the other job-creating strategy besides mining and manufacturing. But we are not saying we are just going to concentrate on tourism.
In Africa, we need infrastructure and that is why today we have the Brics Development Bank. Recently, we had the Brics Summit that was held in Durban where our principals agreed that there will be a Development Bank, and it will be in Africa. Why, because we don't want to go to the IMF again with our caps in hand. We want to develop Africa so that we can trade with our partners.
I just mentioned to you the contrasts with regard to Europe and China, but Africa has potential. South Africa can unleash that potential if we would grow the infrastructure in Africa so that we can trade with Nigeria, Zimbabwe or any other country in the North – the DRC or elsewhere. That is where you are going to unlock development or growth in Africa by developing infrastructure because we can trade amongst ourselves. We need regional integration as far as trade and industry is concerned because we also have the Economic Dialogue programme. On that programme, we must make sure that when we engage with the other countries, the memoranda of understanding that we sign are effective.
We recently took a trip to India. We found that there are seven memoranda of understanding which were signed years ago but are not effective, hon Minister. It is time that we make use of those memoranda of understanding so that we grow our economy, improve relations with other countries as far as trade is concerned because that's the only way we are going to get out of this poverty, out of the triple threats that we are experiencing in South Africa - poverty, inequality and unemployment.
In closing, I just want to say to the special economic zones that we heard that there is R3,8 billion that has been allocated. Chairperson, hon Minister, in my view, though I am not a shop steward for the department, I think that is too little because if Limpopo were to conduct a feasibility study, it's going to cost more than a billion. If the Free State, where I come from, does a feasibility study, it's going to cost more than a billion. Therefore the R3,8 billion, in my view, is a bit short for it to be able to cover all the feasibility studies in the country.
Yes, I do understand that the department did inform us that there is another application to increase fund directed to the National Treasury. We really appreciate if that money could be approved by National Treasury.
We support the budget. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr K A SINCLAIR
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 139
Mr B A MNGUNI
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Hon Chairperson and hon Ministers one of the esteemed members of this august House established, in our vocabulary, a saying which says, and I quote: "You don't complement a fish for swimming." That member has just spoken; it's the hon Mnguni. [Laughter.] You don't complement a fish for swimming!
When this department was established, we said there will be new brooms. Indeed, the new brooms have swept. However, the reality is, I will neither be a praise singer nor an imbongi of something that needs a better approach. The hon Minister, Dr R H Davies, knows that I'm praying at the moment. So, I would rather pray. Nonetheless, we can't say things are right when they are wrong.
The reality is that the unemployment rate and the poverty levels in South Africa are killing our people and our communities that are out there. The mere fact that today we are debating the Budget Vote of the Department of Trade and Industry, the DTI, and Economic Development Department must say something, especially, when we debate their budget as one Vote.
The opinion of the Cope is that we don't need a bloated government. We don't need two separate departments. The Department of Economic |Development must still prove that they can stand on their own and contribute significantly. Not just like a fish that's swimming, but significantly to the cause and the agenda of the government of the day.
This brings me, maybe, to the biggest challenge at the moment, and that's the confusion that has been caused by the uncertainty with regard to the implementation of the National Development Plan, the NDP. One of the colleagues who spoke earlier raised a concern relating to what is happening with regard to the implementation of this plan; a concern relating to when this plan will be implemented. Maybe they must ask internally, within the ANC alliance, what the problem is with regard to the implementation of the NDP ... [Interjections.]
Ms M G BOROTO: Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Nesi would like to ask a question.
Mr B NESI: Hon Deputy Chairperson, is the member ready to take a question?
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Deputy Chairperson, I only have six minutes and if I still have time I will give the hon member the opportunity to ask a question.
Deputy Chairperson, maybe they must try to seek the answer, about the uncertainty with regard to the implementation of the NDP, from the tripartite alliance, the Cosatu. Maybe they must go back and ask comrade Vavi why the Cosatu is not supporting the implementation of the NDP. Let's get to the facts.
There is general consensus in the globalised world that Africa will be the continent with the most lucrative economic opportunities for, at least, the next five decades. According to the report published by The Economist on 1 May 2013, six of the world's ten fastest growing economies of the past decade are in sub-Saharan Africa. These economies include Angola, Congo, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania. All of these economies have enjoyed rapid growth with regard to the Gross Domestic Product, the GDP, per person.
Of importance, is the fact that the trade and investment, by way of bilateral and multilateral agreements, is establishing sub-Saharan Africa as a regional economic power bloc. In today's Business Day, the African Development Bank stated that R93 billion per year must be spent on infrastructure for energy, water, information and communications technology and transport until 2020 in order to meet this region's development requirement.
So, hon Ministers, as you would know, we are at the right place at the right time. However, the big issue is what we are going to do to grab this opportunity. The unfortunate reality, which has been referred to here, is the fact that while many of these countries' economic growth, at the moment, is standing at 8%, South Africa's economic growth is standing at 2,5%. This is a critical challenge that we need to address in order to establish what is causing our economic growth to be at 2,5%.
In this context, hon Ministers, the fact that there is very little progress and movement with regard to Southern African Customs Union, Sacu, and South Africa's role in facilitating agreement must say something. In the objectives of establishing a successful Sacu, it is imperative that we forward the mandate to improve the lives of the people in this region.
Now, this mandate can only be approved by, firstly, establishing solid diplomatic relations. However, it's more than that; the secret is imbedded in the commitment by the leadership of these individual countries. To this extent, Cope then asks a very significant question: What is being done in South Africa with regard to establishing sound policies that will enhance the future of this country?
This is infecting the uncertainty. This is affecting the investors' confidence. For example, issues like Marikana and even the landing of the jet plane at the Waterkloof Air Force Base are creating negative perceptions about South Africa. The unresolved Southern African Development Community co-operation and integration policies are not giving South Africa the opportunity to engage in this lucrative time. As I said, we are at the right place at the right time. The perception that South Africa is still the economic bully, as we have experienced lately, is also not good for the image of our country.
In conclusion, I want to say that these two government departments have got a window of opportunity to engage in order to improve the quality of life.
I don't know if I'm reading from different statistics, hon Minister Patel, but the statistics that we've seen reveal that unemployment has indeed increased in South Africa; and at the end of the day, that is the issue that matters. I want to thank you hon Deputy Chairperson. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 140
Mr K A SINCLAIR
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: Chairperson, I would like to acknowledge the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, Minister of Economic Development, Minister Patel, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Mkhize, members of the National Council of Provinces, MECs, head of departments, officials from the Department of Trade and Industry led by Director-General October, the council of trade and industry institutions, leaders of organised business and labour, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to specifically recognise the following special guests in the gallery: The 2012 Techno-Girl and 2013 competition winners from Ponelopele Secondary school in Kaalfontein, Tembisa as well as the Techno-Girl first runner-up school representative from Tetlanyo in the Northern Cape, Boitumelo Olifant. This is the programme run under the Department of Trade and Industry, the DTI, for mentoring and nurturing young school girls, to make sure that they can be better future leaders and business people for tomorrow, and in the academia that they will want to choose.
We also have three people who went through this programme. One of them is working at the Reserve Bank, one is an optician and the other one is concluding his studies at the university. I would also like to acknowledge Nomarika Motaung, my mentee; Sister Jenny, the 2012 small, medium and micro enterprises award winner for South Africa and the runner-up for Africa, for skin repair products for burns and wounds; Mangqoba Katane, a young social media guru who is very passionate about small business development, and currently working with the Seed Container Park, Secopa, in Soweto, an incubation that we support; Mamalolo, a beneficiary for tourism enterprise; and Kgotso Mokoele an incubatee from the Secopa manufacturing, who is a young business person. These are the people we are assisting.
I have listened to lots of stories, like what the hon Abrahams said about the red tape and the fact that we don't assist the SMMEs. Today they are here in the gallery with us. As the Department of Trade and Industry, we have supported them and will continue doing so. [Applause]. We also have the president of the SA National Apex Co-operative Ltd, Sanaco, in the gallery, Lawrence Bale.
The current administration focuses on creating decent jobs, economic transformation and inclusive economic growth. Of course, my colleague has already answered you in terms of the Western Cape Investment and Trade Destination Promotion, Wesgro. It is heavily supported by the Department of Trade and Industry nationally, and not only the Western Cape. We support them all the time with money that comes from the national government. It is not a victory for the Western Cape.
Yesterday Minister Davies told us in the National Assembly that the Western Cape government, under the DA, closed a lot of Red Doors where small businesses used to get assistance. We opened them up. We opened the Small Enterprise Development Agency, Seda, offices. So, you must just shut up, listen and argue the points that you will be able to stand for. Do not come and grandstand. [Applause.] You must check your facts, and then come and talk about something that you have checked before.
The development plan identified poverty, unemployment and inequality as challenges facing our country. Women and youth have not been fully integrated into our economic system. In the coming financial year I will be leading and championing a launch for women empowerment initiatives of the DTI.
The National Strategic Framework, as alluded to by hon Dikgale, will then be taken through the processes of our committees, as well as Cabinet, to make sure that we can empower a lot of women. We have done these in partnership with the International Labour Organisation, Ilo, and we think that it a good strategy that will empower a lot of our women. However, we have other programmes that I will not go into because of time.
We do have a good Techno-Girl programme, which take girls from where they are and make sure that they become future business people.
I am not going to talk about the co-operatives; the Minister had already alluded to.
In so far as the red tape is concerned, we support small businesses. Yes, we have a mechanism in place and have partnered with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta. We are looking at the issue of the red tape, while at the same time we are assisting the small business people, and that is why we have some of them in the gallery. We are actively assisting them. Some of these issues are of the past and we are trying to make sure that we deal with them. It is systematic that we have to do that.
In terms of the survey of the World Bank, we have recorded number 41 to 39. It is because of the interventions that we have done and the company Acts that we have passed as the department, trying to deal with these challenges. Of course, we have listened to the chair, and will try to take the DTI to the people. We have so far gone to 40 areas, dealing with this issue and making sure that we take our service to the right people that will form co-operatives and businesses.
To conclude, as the ANC-led government, we are doing our best. We take trade missions in and out of this country, and with the last one, we won the gold award twice in succession. Last year, we won it for good products that we displayed with our business people, and most of them SMMEs. Surely, I want to say that Dr Rob Davies is running this department very well.
Hon Sinclair, don't tell us to go and ask Comrade Vavi what to do. You must go and ask Comrade Shilowa and Comrade Lekota as to which Cope is the right one, and when you will be going to court so that you can come and argue on something that you can do. Please check your facts right. Go to another court case and leave us to govern and make sure that we deliver.
We know our people's lives better than you do. [Applause]. Some of our people have been assisted and we will continue assisting them. Whatever you come here and say won't really take us back, but instead you are strengthening us. Please go and check which Cope is the right one; what you are going to do next; and which court case you are going to attend. Thank you. [Interjections.][Laughter.] [Applause.]
Ms E C VAN LINGEN
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 140
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Ms E C VAN LINGEN: Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers Patel and Davies, Deputy Ministers and members, with South Africa in partnership with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Brics, countries, it must punch well above its weight and get fit to fight for our Africa's vision for economic development and trade. South Africa is vastly behind our counterparts in the Brics countries. We cannot blame the decrease in China's growth for the fact that South Africa is not growing, hon Mnguni.
In Africa, China is still the biggest importer in at R524 billion or with a 16% share. On the continent, we are only sitting at a 3,3% share, which is R106 billion. We are a bit advantageous. We have to do what we are supposed to and should wake up very quickly because Nigeria is catching up fast, with the gross domestic product, the GDP, growth of 6,82% and unemployment rate of 14%; whereas our unemployment rate is actually 25,2%, as the Minister so rightly said.
The only problem is that the truth about the Western Cape is not quiet the truth, because in the first term this year, we have created 8 000 new jobs and reduced unemployment to 23,3%, which is the lowest of all the provinces. [Interjections.] When you look at the bigger picture in South Africa, those that have given up looking for work and those who cannot find one have gone up by 73 000; that becomes a staggering 38%.
When you look at the Institute for Justice Reconciliation's report that came out today - the 2012 SA Reconciliation Barometer Survey, it confirms that there is a 37% unemployment rate, and that two thirds of those people are under the age of 35. Unfortunately, 49% of those people have indicated that leaders do not care about their needs. A third said that government is not doing enough to get them jobs. The problem is that we are not getting into the areas and make contact with the right people.
Fifty-eight percent of the youth said that they will change political parties for the 2014 elections. That's how strongly they felt about the jobs. It is our duty to change that and make things work for the young people. We must look at the youth wage subsidy, vocational training and apprenticeship programmes, and the extension of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
Hon Minister, I think we should get it from the money that you are getting from the various companies that have been fined for the collusion with other companies. I also want to thank you very much for giving us a beautiful spread over the provinces and an idea of what is going to happen in our there. It is the first time ever and we thank you for that. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr F ADAMS
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 141
Ms E C VAN LINGEN
Mr F ADAMS: Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister Patel, hon Minister Rob Davies, hon Deputy Minister Mkhize, hon Deputy Minister Thabethe, hon members of the National Council of Provinces, Councillor Walker from the SA Local Government Association, Salga, the Director-General, Mr Lionel October, and a special welcome to the new Director-General for Economic Development, Ms Jenny Schreiner, who is attending her first Budget Vote debate and speech in the NCOP, welcome Ms Schreiner.
Over the years the ANC has demonstrated its commitment, and resolved to continue pursuing the objectives of building a better quality of life for our people and creating a nation that embodies and reflects a nonracial, nonsexist and democratic South Africa. It is for this reason that we committed ourselves to the empowerment of the poor and the need to develop strategies which bring them ever so closer to meaningful participation in the economy.
In the 51st national conference – I heard people talking about policies - but a person who is in a party without policies, and where the court must decide on their policies, hon Mokgoro, how can they come and stand on a platform and say that the ANC has got no policies? We even have a policy conference. They have no policies because most of the time they attend court in order to get policies. [Laughter.] I want the hon Sinclair, through you Deputy Chairperson, to listen. The ANC reasserted its commitment to speed up equitable growth.
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Hon Deputy Chair, I rise on a point of order. Is it proper that the hon member misleads this House? What he is saying is not true. [Laughter.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: What's your point of order?
Mr K A SINCLAIR: He is misleading the House.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: No, hon Sinclair! What is your point of order? Just be direct!
Mr K A SINCLAIR: The point of order is that he is misleading the House. [Interjections.] Cope does indeed have policies. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Do me a favour and sit down! Just sit down! [Interjections.]
Mr F ADAMS: Deputy Chairperson, maybe in Cope's boardroom or its caucus room, but South Africa has never seen the policies of Cope, as South Africa and the world at large has seen the policies of the ANC. The ANC reasserted its commitment to speed up equitable growth and ownership in the country's economy by creating more economic activities and support for our people. As we considered the existing obstacles on the path of building a strong, resilient and inclusive economy, we noted, amongst others, –I want to repeat - an inclusive economy, not like the Western Cape that rides and piggybacks on the national departments that sustain and grow jobs, while they take the credit and claim that they are doing it. They are misleading this House and South Africa ... [Applause.] ... because the Western Cape government has not created even one single job without the national government through the department of Minister Rob Davies.
Let me show how they manipulate the system. [Interjections.] The Minister opened a factory in Atlantis called Hisense. The Minister, out of courtesy and as a cadre of the ANC, invited the Premier of the Western Cape. As the Minister was opening this centre and this work-creating place, the premier ran down the stairs, leaving the Minister. She went and waved to the crowd ... [Laughter] ... instead of addressing the peoples' needs and wants. Afterwards in the media, the premier claimed that she had opened Hisense, and that she had created jobs. It was Minister Davies who had done that, and not the Premier of the Western Cape. I want the Western Cape to get their facts straight and stop piggybacking and using the national government. [Interjections.] We need to develop an active and well-resourced industrial ...
Mr W F FABER: Chairperson, I rise on a point of order. I would like to know if the founding member of the DA will answer a question. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: I beg your pardon?
Mr W F FABER: I would like to know if the hon Freddie, as an ex founding member of the DA, will answer a question. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Faber, can you take your seat?
Mr W F FABER: May I not ask a question? [Laughter.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Can you take your seat? [Laughter.]
Mr F ADAMS: We needed to develop an active and well-resourced industrial and trade strategy aimed at creating decent work, which Cope and the DA does not have, but which the ANC does have. We needed a co-operative movement that would support more equitable growth and ownership in our economy, and empower our people whilst providing important services more affordably and efficiently, to poor households. Most importantly, we recently reviewed the current legislative framework for co-operatives, to encourage the formation of small-scale producer co-operative financial institutions or consumer co-operatives.
The ANC thus resolved to support the mobilisation of a social movement to initiate the development of co-operatives as an instrument of economic growth and development. It also committed itself to moving with greater urgency to ensure that government urgently establishes, at all levels, appropriate enabling legislation, an appropriate institutional framework and resources for producers, consumers, services and credit co-operatives. We also resolved to ensure that the Departments of Human Settlements, Finance, Agriculture and Rural Development and Land Reform in particular, must develop programmes that support co-operatives and educate the public about them. Educate the public about them, hon Van Lingen, and not by piggybacking on other persons' hard work, or by misleading South Africa on the hard work of the ANC-led government. There is proof in the gallery concerning what Deputy Minister Thabethe said. I am asking the DA: Where is your proof? [Laughter.] [Applause.]
At the ANC's 52nd National Conference in 2007, we resolved to pursue transforming the structures of production and ownership through policies that promote and sustain, amongst others, small business, small-scale agriculture and co-operative forms of ownership by building institutions that can effectively access and develop these sectors.
A lot of work was to subsequently go into the project of the development of the small, medium and micro enterprises, the SMMEs, and co-operatives. We said this because we recognised that the SMMEs are principle driving forces of economic growth and development, which the DA-led government in the Western Cape does not see. They have closed Red Door. One of the DA members said it's not true, but they have closed Red Door. A member of the DA should show me a Red Door that is open. They closed it because they don't want to drive the development programme of the ANC-led government. The only thing that they drive is to support the haves and forget about the have nots. That's the only programme that they are driving. [Applause.]
We said this because we recognise that SMMEs are principle driving forces of economic growth and development. They are critical in generating employment and also serve as one of the most effective mechanisms to help diversify economic activity and make a significant contribution to exports and trade. SMMEs are vehicles that ensure economic inclusivity and increased participation by South Africans in the mainstream economy. They are flexible and can adapt quickly to changing market demands and supply situations.
The Budget Votes of the departments of Economic Development and Trade and Industry clearly demonstrate that as the ANC we have moved with utmost decisiveness and speed to build an environment that promotes development. I want to ask again, what can the DA and Cope for that matter ... I'm not sure whether Cope is still in existence ... [Laughter.] ... because there are two of them, yet we don't know which one ... What can they show South Africa that they have done? Yesterday or the day before, our President gave us an example. He went to the public to listen. What did the DA leader do? She went and danced. [Laughter.] She went to dance and toyi-toyi. Our President went to talk, just like our Ministers.
When you look at the Department of Economic Development, which is a baby of only four years old, yet they have done much more, much more than the DA has done since its inception in 2000. Yet, they want to tell hon Davies, and a party that has been around since 1912, what to do. They are still fighting. The progs are fighting the Afrikaners in the DA, and the English are fighting the Afrikaners. That is why Premier Helen Zille is pushing them out. She says she wants her prog comrades back and is pushing the Afrikaners out. [Interjections.] [Laughter.]
In many ways the ANC, through its resolution at the 53rd National Conference, was underscoring these achievements and setting an agenda going forward when it resolved that in addition to creating jobs, eradicating poverty and overcoming extreme inequality, our transformation agenda also embraces the creation of a nonracial entrepreneurial class.
The hon Faber has left, and I wanted to answer him.
The SMMEs and black economic empowerment, the BEE, policies should focus on the development of entrepreneurs providing productive inputs into the real economy, rather than shareholder transactions, and should seek to build co-operative institutions and other forms of ownership.
I'm hearing a murmur from the other side that I'm the only coloured person in the ANC. In the ANC, we don't see race! We don't see colour! I want to pose the question: What is a coloured? [Interjections.] The ANC is a nonsexist and nonracial organisation. [Interjections.] Whether you are coloured, white, pink, yellow or purple, everybody has the same rights and privileges in the ANC.
Mr D JOSEPH: Hon Chair, I rise on a point of order. The speaker is misleading the House because under the ANC-led government we are still classified as coloureds, whites and blacks on the forms that we have to fill in. He is misleading the House.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Joseph, with due respect, that is not a point of order. Please don't waste the speaker's time. Continue. [Laughter.]
Mr F ADAMS: At the 52nd conference, we resolved that we needed to develop an active and well-resourced industrial and trade strategy aimed at creating decent work. We now have an Industrial Policy Action Plan, Ipap, 2, a developmental Trade Policy Strategy as well as the New Growth Path, NGP. These policies and plans underpin, and is the foundation on which the national plan is built. The national plan, coupled with the NGP and the Ipap 2, are the implementing and working documents of the ANC. The others don't even have a plan to talk about, yet they come here to criticise our plans. We have a plan. [Interjections.] We are not just talkers, but we are doers. The ANC is doing. The ANC has freed South Africa.
The ANC looks at women's empowerment. Yet, in the cabinet of the Western Cape, there is not one single woman because the Premier thinks, and she has said, that women just go to rallies and meetings to fill up their plates, and leave the ANC Women's League. That is what she said. I want to tell her that the ANC Women's League and the women in the ANC ... Here is a typical example of two women comrades, the hon member sitting there and our hon Chairperson as the Chair; our young ladies up there - that is the extent to which the ANC government is working.
An HON MEMBER: They are just sitting there. [Laughter.]
Mr F ADAMS: I think that remark should be treated with the utmost contempt. To say that the women are ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Sinclair, it will be very bad of me to ask you to leave the Chamber if you don't decide to change your attitude. [Interjections.] Do you understand?
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Chair, I never did anything. I just ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Well, I'm not deaf!
Mr F ADAMS: Chairperson, with due respect, I think that the hon Sinclair owes the women ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Can you just forget about it?
Mr F ADAMS: No, Chairperson! The hon Sinclair owes the women an apology for saying that our leaders and mothers are just sitting here. [Interjections.] That is what he said, Chair. I think he owes you and the other women of South Africa an apology.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Mr Sinclair, we actually will need a written apology. [Applause.] Hon Adams, can you conclude your speech?
Mr F ADAMS: The ANC supports the Budget Votes of the Departments of Trade and Industry and Economic Development. And we want to thank our Ministers. Ministers, please ...
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Chairperson, I rise on a point of order. To my best knowledge, there should be an opportunity to firstly explain the context in which something was said and then you must ask ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Well, unfortunately Mr Sinclair, I won't even give you that chance. Please let the speaker conclude his speech.
Mr F ADAMS: I want to thank Ministers Davies and Patel, the DGs, the Deputy Ministers and staff of both departments. As the hon Gamede said, they go the extra mile. Sometimes we ask: What are the Ministers on? They have the drive and they work. We want to thank them for making South Africa work and letting our economy grow. We thank everybody in the Council, especially our Whip, the hon Maine. We want to afford him a special welcome in the Council today. [Interjections.][Applause.]
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 142
Mr F ADAMS
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: Chairperson, one of the pleasures of coming to the National Council of Provinces is that this is a Council and a Chamber that has got in its heart an understanding of the fact that we have in South Africa three spheres of government and we have intergovernmental relations. We are also supposed to work in those intergovernmental relations in the spirit of co-operative governance.
So, it comes as a surprise when I come to a debate in the National Council of Provinces to hear hon members Abrahams and Van Lingen behaving as though the successes of programmes in one particular province of this country were the exclusive preserve of one sphere of government. I want to ask hon remembers: Are we to believe that the investments, the growth that we have seen in this province, has got nothing to do with the fact that there are 469 companies in the clothing and textile sector that had benefited from the R1,5 billion that we have deployed in the Clothing and Textile Competitiveness programme ?
I know that it is not the case, because I walk around these places and I see the machinery and equipment that has raised their competitiveness and turned them around from an industry which has been bleeding to an industry which has stabilised at least to a degree. I wonder whether some of the growth they are talking about in the Western Cape, owe something to the fact that in 2011 we changed the incentive scheme of business process services such that earlier this year we were awarded the European Outsourcing Associations Award as the destination of choice for business process service outsourcing. [Applause.] Also, R5 billion worth of investments in business process servicing which has created 6 483 jobs in this country owes nothing to the work of the Department of Trade and Industry, the DTI?
This is a bit of a shibboleth that is being created, which is completely false. The hon Adams referred to the Tellumat factory in Atlantis and he made some points about it. I want to make a few more. We went to this factory and it was employing people that have been laid off when the Tedelex factory closed down a few years ago. Minister Patel and I were both there to hear that unfortunate announcement. I asked those workers how many of them had worked for Tedelex, and most had worked for it.
We recreated their jobs. We had a presentation from the owner of the factory and he told us that the Tellumat factory owed its existence to: Firstly, the 12I Tax Incentive schemes put in place by the DTI; secondly, to the designation of set-top boxes put in place by the DTI; and thirdly, to the tariff rebate scheme put in place by the DTI. Now, I don't want to claim everything but I do want to say that there is a gentleman who calls himself the shadow minister of trade and industry, who comes from the same party as these two. This guy at one stage said, "We need to have a lighter touch industrial policy." I asked him and I am still waiting for an answer. Which in the name of light touch industrial policy ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Excuse me Minister.
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: It's not a point of order but we will listen to it. [Laughter.]
Mr A LEES: In the first instance, I will request that the hon Minister apologise to me for addressing me in the manner that he has just done. That was not what I wished to raise, but I do request that you rule that he apologise for the way he has addressed me.
The point of order that I wish to raise is that he has referred to "those two or these two." Is he referring to hon members of this Council? If so, please could he withdraw that remark and refer to them in the way it is expected of us in Parliament.
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: My deepest apologies. The two hon members concerned come from the same party as the gentleman who calls himself the shadow minister of trade and industry. I say that I am still waiting for an answer. Which of those measures should we pull in the name of having a light touch industrial policy?
Now I think that this comes to the crux of the matter. We are not saying that we have turned the corner and that everything is rosy in this country. What we are saying in the current version of our Industrial Policy Action Plan, is that we have seen that where we have made purposeful interventions as the government in conjunction with the key stakeholders both business and labour; we have seen discernable results all over this country, including in this province.
We are saying that we believe that a case has been made for the people of South Africa to decide on the next elections to raise the game of this, because we have been moving along making steady progress, and we now need to make a large leap forward in our industrial policy in the future. That is what we are saying.
The hon Abrahams also raised the question about the National Development Plan and the SMMEs. I actually don't think that she knows what the National Development Plan is saying about SMMEs. It doesn't say what she says. It does say that we need to grow our jobs through SMMEs and also that there is a problem of excessive regulation, but it doesn't say that deregulation or removing red tape is the only magic bullet for the growth of the SMMEs. It doesn't say anything of this sort. But her party believes and thinks that the only thing that you need to do is, remove red tape, and SMMEs will suddenly flourish. Now, I don't know if they know what they understand by red tape.
Mr A LEES: I request you to request the hon Minister to withdraw the remark that our party, the DA, believes that that is the only way of addressing the problem. He cannot speak on behalf of the DA.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Lees, hon Lees!
Mr A LEES: I am listening Madam.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Ok. The Minister was making a statement based on what the hon Abrahams uttered while standing in the podium. So, as it is right now, let us be good listeners and stop criticizing unnecessarily so that we can actually go through this programme amicably. Thank you.
Mr A LEES: Madam Chair, may I request that you peruse the Hansard and make a ruling in due course.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: It depends.
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: You see Madam Chair, if I may continue ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Minister, do your work and don't dwell on other issues.
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: No I am not going to dwell on this point, except to say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Deputy Minister Thabethe told us that in this province, there was in existence of a Red Door programme based on the premise that small business development depends on providing advice, mentoring, support and all kinds of things of that sort. We all know that when you meet a small business person and they want to come into small business that is exactly what many of them need.
The fact of the matter is that that programme in this province was closed down. There is nothing to replace it except what we did. I went out to Atlantis and to Khayelitsha and we opened a number of Small Enterprise Development Agencies, Sedas, outlets to replace the Red Doors that were closed. [Applause.] That is what we did.
Let me come briefly to some of the other most sensible remarks that were made in this debate. A number of speakers spoke about Africa. I am afraid, I don't think hon Sinclair, knew his Southern African Customs Union, Sacu, from his Southern African Development Community, SADC, but the fact of the matter is that the African continent is fundamental.
Let me just say that the African continent - we have been arguing about the way forward - is industrialisation and regional integration beyond our existing established communities. We have been championing and foregrounding the SADC, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Comesa, East African Community Free Trade Area, and also underpinned by infrastructure development.
We are working on all of that because we know that through partnerships that we built with countries like Nigeria in the motor industry, we have reached an agreement with Nigeria to start a negotiation of a motor industry sector agreement. We can assist them to industrialise, and at the same time we can develop complementarities that will support further industrial development in South Africa. That is what we are trying to do.
Let me also say that I take the point that was made by hon Dikgale about the consumer problem particularly facing people in rural areas. The National Consumer Commission has got a programme of outreach but I think we take the point. We need to find more effective ways where consumer issues that are particularly rife in low-income communities and in rural areas are drawn to the attention of the commission.
There was also a proposal that we should engage the municipalities around their Integrated Developmental Plans, IDPs. I think that is a big debate and it depends on what is meant. We don't have, as the DTI an enormous amount of capacity to go and assist municipalities to develop the IDP. But where the municipalities come up with particular business ventures or lines of industrial development through the IDP, we will be saying come to us, we will welcome that engagement and we will bring a dedicated team to see what we can do to assist. I think that at the end of the day it does really amount to what happens on the ground.
I just want to say one more thing that the hon Abraham said again, and I welcome the fact. She said that we need to buy much more proudly South African. Not just the examples she gave, but all of us need to embrace the buy local. We as a government and as a department have taken a bold decision which is not universally applauded. We have said that we will designate percentages of products which we procure and will have to come from locally produced sources. We say that is leading by example. We would like to see everybody else follow suit. I welcome that intervention and I hope that we can all agree on that point at least. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT+
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 143
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
The MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Deputy Chair, thank you for the opportunity to make the closing remarks, and I would like to acknowledge and appreciate the constructive ideas, raised by a number of the hon members, that in fact mirror the very issues we are seeking to implement as government.
Hon Gamede spoke about Local Economic Development. We think in particular that the integrated development programmes, the IDPs, need to be adjusted to the national infrastructure plan so that there would be some talking between local development and national planning.
Councillor Walker spoke about the importance of maintenance programmes and infrastructure. We endorse that. They are important because they preserve the assets and lengthen its working life. Also, they are critical generators of jobs. The multiplier impact of investment in maintenance is very significant.
The hon Mnguni spoke about the role of the New Growth Path job drivers. He is absolutely right because they are about diversifying the economy at times when reliance on only one model, the export of raw minerals, is not helpful to our long-tem development.
The hon Adams spoke about the role of co-operatives and small business enterprises. I think, as the Deputy Minister Mkhize indicated, this is an integrated approach that we are pioneering.
The hon Dikgale spoke about the importance of social dialogue by bringing in together many voices in the society of workers, business people, government and communities in partnership. I think they are very, very helpful ideas and they are also the aspects of the debate.
Let's hear about the issue of Africa and Brics, which came up from hon Sinclair and hon Van Lingen. The hon Sinclair says that the infrastructure spending requirements on the African continent is R93 billion. The hon Sinclair, it's not R93 billion, but it's $93 billion. [Laughter.] That's approximately R850 billion at the current South African exchange rates. That number didn't come out from nowhere, but it came out from our engagement as a South African government with the other governments. At the World Economic Forum we announced that number. So, we appreciate that you are quoting the number that we have generated, but we just urge you to get the dollars and the rands correct. However, I think the point that you made is an important point and others have taken it. This is where government is investing now.
The hon Sinclair, you contrast the 8% growth in some African countries with our own growth as if it's something we should be ashamed of. When Nigeria and Angola grow at a fast rate as they are growing, it's because they are oil exporting countries, there is a huge global oil demand and also it's that they are getting some of the infrastructure right. We can benefit from that. We see that not as a threat to South Africa, but as an enormous opportunity. What are we doing?
We are now increasing the trade of manufactured products with the rest of the continent. Last year alone, we increased trade in manufactured products – in value added products - beneficiated product if you like - by R20 billion more than the previous year. That is 21% higher than the previous year.
Today as I stand here, there are some 90 000 jobs in South Africa in manufacturing that are purely dependent on our trade with the rest of the continent. Take the example of Ford. Ford manufactures the Ford Ranger bakkies in Rosslyn, Pretoria. One out of five of these Ford Ranger bakkies are sold elsewhere in the continent. So, when the rest of the continent is growing fast, we see that as something to support and as an opportunity to embrace.
The hon Van Lingen talked about South Africa's role in Africa. I think the statistics I have quoted indicates that we have really moved way beyond just being a theory of what we need to do, we are finding our mission in the African continent and we are utilising our manufacturing capabilities to ensure that Africa is serviced by manufactured products made in the African continent. We have to reverse the deindustrialisation of the continent.
Cllr Walker and others commented on jobs. Cllr Walker, I think you are right. Employment has gone up, and so is unemployment. Unemployment has gone up in the first three months of this year because of the large numbers of school leavers that have entered the labour market. But 44 000 new jobs were created in three months. Let's celebrate that. [Applause.]
Finally, I wish to point to the fact that it doesn't help us to contrast provinces. One of the hon members spoke about the Western Cape saying that is a winning recipe. I think it was hon Abrahams. This doesn't help.
In conclusion, I have before me the quarterly labour force survey and it says: Compared to the year ended March 2012, employment increased in seven of the nine provinces, with Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng being the biggest contributors. There were no changes in employment in the Northern Cape, while the only decline in employment was in the Western Cape by 37 000.
It is here in the quarterly labour force survey which I am prepared to leave it here and make it available to the hon members. We don't celebrate that because those are our people in the Western Cape are also our people, and in partnership we need to create jobs in the Western Cape. [Applause.]
Thank you very much for the way in which the debate was conducted by a number of speakers. The Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Economic Development take from this debate the message that provinces are really keen on partnership and we thank you for that.
Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
FIFTH AND SIXTH ORDERS
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 144
The MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
APPROPRIATION BILL
(Policy Debate)
Debate on Vote No 15 - Basic Education:
APPROPRIATION BILL
(Policy Debate)
Debate on Vote No 17 – Higher Education
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Hon Chairperson, esteemed colleagues, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon and thank you very much for this opportunity. Indeed it is a singular honour for us to address the Council on this occasion of the Policy Debate on Vote 15, Basic Education. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Members, if you are still with us in this Chamber, can you please behave.
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: We welcome the People's Parliament you have initiated among communities further to improve and promote cooperation between Parliament and the Executive to unlock service delivery. Through these interactive, we have gained even more value from the oversight role that you play. In terms of budget 2013-14, we are encouraged by the many advances together to build a better education system for all.
The overall budget for this year for our department stands at R17, 592 billion. Last year it was R16, 344 billion, which is an increase of R1,248 billion. The budget allocation to Provincial Education Department stands at R17,454 billion. It will reach R199, 624 billion in 2015-16. This does confirm the government's commitment to education.
Umalusi has been allocated R97, 6 million in 2013-14 and will reach R112,7 million in 2015. Kha Ri Gude receives R549,7 million in this budget. This mass literacy has reached over 2, 9 million adults. For this we add R59, 2 million for the Extended Public Works, the EPW, of Kha Ri Gude which is a major contributor to job creation.
On improved quality, we have placed undivided attention on improving performance across the system using the Education Sector Planning framework, which we call Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025. This year, we have been allocated the amount of R25 million for the national initiative to improve the learning outcomes. We know the challenges and are therefore better placed to improve quality and efficiency while we consolidate our gains in access and equity.
The school participation in our country is nearly 100% for basic compulsory band, meaning the 7-15 year age range. Reports also show that there are fewer out of school children and those who have dropped out. Census 2011 reports said the proportion of the population without any formal schooling decreased from 17,9% in 2001 to 8,6% in 2011. Over 8 million children, in over 82% public schools received free education, in nonfee payment system
The conditional grant for the National School Nutrition has increased to 266 million in 2013. The HIV/Aids and life skills conditional grant has also increased to 2013,5 million. We commit ourselves to continue to improve access to quality early childhood development. In line with the drive to build an equitable education system, we are prioritising inclusive education. There is progress in the four priority areas we agreed on last year, which is, Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement, Caps, assessments, workbooks and infrastructure.
A major setback around the delivery of Caps-orientated textbooks in Grade 1 and 4 in 2011-12 is definitely a thing of the past. There is evidence of improved learner performance even in those districts we have said were underperforming. Surely our interventions are bearing fruit over time and we will sustain these four priorities. The three T's also remain on the agenda of quality teaching and learning.
Fellow Compatriots, the sustained improvements in matric exams results are a result of systematic interventions for strengthening and raising performance in all levels of the schooling system. The matric pass rate rose to 73, 9% in 2012; so our target of 75% by 2014 is well within reach. Under this government, the number of learners who qualify for bachelor studies almost doubled over the past 12 years. For instance, in the year 2000, there were only 70 000 learners who qualified for bachelors degrees. In the year 2012 matric results there were almost 106 000 learners who qualified for the bachelors degree.
We are also encouraged that the recent trends in international Mathematics and Science studies show that South African learners have improved in Maths. In 2013, Dinaledi schools have been allocated R105,1 million.
On the curriculum implementation as we said last year, our continuing focus is on the phase implementation of the revived curriculum and assessment policy statement. In 2012, we moved to Grades 4, 6 and 11, and Grades 1, 3 and 10 were covered last year.
I am worried though, by the low levels of reading and writing in the foundation phase. This has emerged in the audit of the provincial reading programme that we conducted this year and in February. The audit report proposed the kind of support we must give to teachers and learners. The senior phase Caps orientation for provinces started on the 8th March and will end on the 24th of May 2013. The Grade 12 Caps orientation was conducted in all provinces between February and April this year. We will complete the process with the roll out of Grades 7, 9 and 12 next year.
We want to thank all our colleagues in all nine provinces and provincial departments for their role in implementing changes to the nation's now concise and comprehensive curriculum.
In 2013-14, we will increase our focus on technical secondary schools. We have been allocated R220,9 million for the recapitalisation of these schools, to improve facilities and equipments. This will assist in addressing skills shortages and joblessness across provinces.
We have also completed the sign language curriculum. It is piloted in two schools in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces. A new policy will come into effect in 2014 mandating the learning of African languages in all schools. This builds on the work done to improve competencies in African languages. We list among the successes the progressive development of the National Curriculum Statement for Grades R to12 which is a major milestone since the days of fragmented apartheid education departments.
What is also taking root is the use of Annual National Assessment, Ana. From these we have empirical evidence to inform planning. In 2012, we have administered language and mathematics tests to more than 7 million learners in Grades 1 to 6 and 9 in more than 20 000 schools, with all provinces involved. The results show that learner performance in literacy varies from satisfactory to good, with clear signs of improvement.
As you know by now, a formidable challenge is in performance of numeracy, particularly in Grade 9. An amount of R75 million, to strengthen the existing Ana programme is allocated for 2013-14. We have increased learner access to workbooks and coverage to improve literacy, numeracy and importantly, reading. By the end of 2013, around 114 million full colour national workbooks would be have been distributed to schools.
Through savings from developing content in-house, we have expanded the scope to cover Braille workbooks. We have provided all the 22 schools for learners who are visually impaired also with Braille embossers. This Braille equipment is for the production of Braille scripts, tactile graphics and printing of day-to-day Braille materials for teaching and learning. The department is working with provincial departments to develop a maintenance plan for each of the schools to ensure that Braille equipments are at all times fully functional.
Again, for workbooks in 2013-14, we have been allocated an amount of R859 million. On textbooks, in 2009, the Saqmec, the South African Quality Measuring Commission results put us as a country on 45% coverage for literacy and 36% coverage for maths. We are proud to say that through our survey in 2011, it placed us at 78% coverage for literacy and 83% for maths. We are very proud that indeed we are beginning to increase the number of books in the hands of learners in our schools.
Fellow compatriots, as we address inequalities in education, we remain mindful of economic disparities resulting from apartheid education. This is a part of the rationale for centralising the procurement of books. The national catalogue for Grades 1 to 6 and 10 to 11 was completed and availed to provinces in 2012. We completed the national catalogue for Grades 7 to 9 in March 2013.
On school infrastructure, this is an area of great concern to which we are paying serious attention as a sector. Improved expenditure on infrastructure budgets and the number of completed projects indicates progress. More schools received water, sanitation and electrification and many more continue to do so. We want to see synergy in infrastructure planning between National and Provincial Education Departments. We are therefore finalising a comprehensive infrastructure investment plan. We are working on partnerships with the departments of Labour and Correctional Services also to supply us with desks.
For the infrastructure allocation to be transferred to Provincial Education Departments through the Education Infrastructure Grant, we have been allocated R6,630 billion over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, the MTEF, and it will increase to R10 billion. Preliminary expenditure for 2012-13 for the education infrastructure grant is at 96%. An amount of R1,9 billion will go to schools' backlogs grant which is called Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative, Asidi. There were also challenges affecting Asidi targets, including liquidation of contractors and poor performance by others.
For this year, we are planning to replace 200 inappropriate schools, 132 will be in the Eastern Cape, 30 in the Free State, 3 in Kwa-Zulu Natal, 3 in Limpopo, 5 in Mpumalanga, 1 in the Northern Cape, 1 in North West and 25 in the Western Cape. These schools projects are multiyear. We are striving for 25% completion by end of 2013-14. We will provide sanitation to 873 schools, water to 448 and electricity to 369.
We want to thank our people for supporting us in providing and maintaining school infrastructure. Those who had seen the new schools we have built in the Eastern Cape will agree that they are state of the art, with fully furnished libraries, laboratories and admin buildings. Schools in the Eastern Cape will never be the same again. [Applause.] By the end of May, we will hand over the completed schools to the provinces so they can pass them to our people officially.
Quality teaching is high on our priority list. As the President had said, we want to see teachers in school, in class, at least teaching seven hours a day. It was very important for me that we should find an amicable solution to the two months long impasses with Sadtu because the interest of the child must always come first.
In 2013, the Integrated Quality Management Systems, the IQMS, has been allocated R39, 7 million. In 2013, we completed an audit of 114 district-based teacher resource centres and we have developed norms and standards for them. Again, we have been allocated R893,3 million for Funza Lushaka to increase the number of young people who want to take teaching. We have received from Nick Taylor, the CEO of National Education Evaluation and Development Unit, Needu, the unit's first national report on the state of literacy teaching and learning in the foundation phase. Accordingly, we will definitely engage with their recommendations. Needu has been allocated an amount of R13,4 million.
In terms of schools in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, in the respect of these provinces, we think that much has been delivered in those areas giving rise to Section 100(1)(b). We are considering steps towards a carefully planned handover to the Eastern Cape Provincial Education Department, but we will definitely have to come through the NCOP to give members a full report.
In the same breath, we want to thank for instance, the different directors who have helped us to improve results even in the Eastern Cape, in particular, Dr Nuku, who has managed to jump his results with 19,8%. I have the last minutes; let me take this opportunity to respond to the call of the national plan that we are cooperating and incorporating the National Development Plan, the NDP, into our planning to make sure that our schooling and the NDP plan are aligned and we are already working on that.
We will again make major announcements about the first projects of the NDP which we are beginning to implement. That will be done possibly by the end of June because we have been doing work to align our work to the NDP. In some, there is there is good progress in respect of delivery of the current electoral mandate.
I want to take this opportunity, to thank my Deputy Minister, Enver Surty and our officials for their support. Thank you. [Applause.]
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 145
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION
The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Hon Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, hon members of this House, our guests, ladies and gentlemen, and comrades, allow me to start with very good news I've just received now that the University of KwaZulu-Natal has taken a decision that as from next year all students who are doing undergraduate degrees will have to do and pass a module in IsiZulu. [Applause.]
IsiZulu:
Siyayibonga le nto ngoba isho ukuthi amanyuvesi akithi angeke asaphinde afane nakuqala kusukela manje nanokuthi akekho umfundi oyokwazi ukuvunyelwa ukuthi agqoke ijazi engalwenzanga lolu limi lwesiZulu kusukela ngonyaka ozayo.
English:
When we established the Department of Higher Education and Training in 2009, we set ourselves clear goals of steadily building a single, coherent, differentiated and highly articulated postschool education and training system. Our primary objective is to tackle the structural challenges facing our society by expanding access to education and training opportunities and increasing equity, as well as achieving high levels of excellence and innovation. Indeed, we have made a lot of progress in this regard, though much still needs to be done.
On our budget allocation for the 2013 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, the MTEF, the department's budget excluding direct charges increases at an annual rate of 7,8% over the three years from R31,6 billion in 2012-13 to R39,5 billion in 2015-16. The amount of R34,3 billion for 2013-14 is an increase of R2,7 billion or 8,6% on the 2012-13 allocation, excluding funds from the skills levy. The skills levy, which is channelled through the Sector Education and Training Authorities, Setas, and the National Skills Fund, the NSF, is expected to increase at an annual average rate of 9,1% over the three years from R11,4 billion in 2012-13 to R14,8 billion in 2015-16.
Our top priority, hon Chair, Minister Motshekga and hon members, is to expand and improve the quality of further education and training colleges, soon to be renamed technical and vocational education and training colleges, TVet.
For the 2012 academic year, we set a target of 550 000 student headcount enrolments. However, a total of 657 690 was achieved representing an increase of 54% over the preceding year, 2011. Over the 2013 MTEF period, we have allocated R17,4 billion to ensure that FET college enrolments continue on this expansion trajectory.
Currently, postschool education and training institutions are unevenly distributed across the country, with rural areas being particularly poorly served. We will soon start building 12 new campuses and refurbishing two more campuses in rural areas of the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga for a start. The first student intake in the new campuses will be in 2014.
Additionally, R2,5 billion for capacity-building and programme expansion has been allocated to FET colleges to focus on expansion of enrolments and we have set aside R2 billion for this, to build institutional capacity we have set aside R365,5 million, and R192 million to upgrade equipment.
Building the institutional capacity of the colleges is essential. We have been working with both the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, Saica, and the Engineering Council of SA, Ecsa, to make key appointments specifically the chief financial officer - we have appointed 48 now who are chartered accountants in the 50 FET colleges, as well as 20 human resources specialists to improve the FET curriculum and to make it more relevant to the world of work.
The Further Education and Training Colleges Amendment Act of 2013, provides for the creation of a new institutional type, to be known as Community Education and Training Colleges, the CET. The present Public Adult learning Centres known as Adult Basic Education and Training, known as Abet centres in some instances, will in time be absorbed into these CET colleges, additional facilities and staff will be provided and the offerings will be extended to provide vocational or community-oriented programmes.
During the course of this financial year, the DHET will identify selected centres to pilot the first Community colleges in 2015. I will soon set up a ministerial committee to advise me on how best to fund the TVET System, as well as the envisaged community colleges, both from the fiscus and from levy funds.
I am pleased to report that there has been a 12% growth in the university enrolments from 837 779 in 2009 to 938 200 in 2011 – we are chasing a million registration. The numbers of postgraduates increased at a higher rate than the overall graduation rate. Research masters graduates increased by 26% and doctoral graduates increased by 15% from 1 373 in 2009 to 1 576 in 2011. We are also still exploring ways to expand postgraduate enrolments substantially.
Linked to the expansion of the university system is the establishment of the two new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. Much preparatory work has been done and I now expect to establish the two institutions as legal entities next month. An amount of R2,1 billion has been earmarked for the development of the universities over the next three years. Both universities will open their doors in 2014 in selected academic programmes, using existing buildings. We are expecting the President in September and October this year to turn the sword for starting the building of the two new universities.
Both universities will be comprehensive universities offering a range of technological and formative programmes. Work towards the academic programme and qualification mix is advanced. Start-up programmes in education, agriculture and hospitality management have been identified for Mpumalanga and in education and information communications technology for the Northern Cape for starters.
Progress has also been made in separating the Medunsa campus from the University of Limpopo and establishing a new university incorporating that campus. In essence, what it means in fact, is that we are actually building three new universities .The former Medunsa will be a health and allied sciences university, including medicine, veterinarian science and dentistry. Veterinary science is very important so that we know that we are able to check that what is labelled beef is not actually donkey meat inside, amongst other things. [Laughter.]
Last November, I received a report from the working group on fee-free university education and I am studying its recommendations. There's nothing wrong with donkey meat, by the way it's just that you must know what you are eating...[Laughter.]... and not be told something wrong - I am told. I am preparing a submission to Cabinet to implement the ANC Mangaung Conference resolution to phase in fee-free education.
Teaching and learning are at the heart of our university system. An amount of R575 million has been allocated to all universities for teaching development grants, to assist in improving graduate outputs and R205 million for foundation programmes to improve the success rates of students from disadvantaged educational backgrounds. In addition, R177 million for research development has been allocated to universities to develop the research capabilities of university staff.
My department, has continued to prioritise the expansion and strengthening of teacher education for all education subsectors, including preschool, schooling and postschooling. We expect to exceed 14 000 new teacher graduates by 2015, compared to under 6000 in 2008 - something that will make my colleague, Minister Motshekga, feel a bit more comfortable. A province-by-province implementation plan to strengthen teacher education capacity is being developed and will result in specific strategies to strengthen teacher education in each poor province, in line with provincial needs.
Plans are progressing to open new teacher education college campuses under the jurisdiction of existing universities. The Siyabuswa Teacher Education campus in Mpumalanga was opened at the beginning of this year. Processes are underway to open three new teacher education campuses in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo for a start.
The year 2013-14 is the third and final year of implementation of the department's Strengthening Foundation Phase Teacher Education programme. This programme has made a substantial contribution to the establishment of a Foundation Phase Teacher Education community, including the teaching of African languages and producing more foundation phase teachers who are able to teach in the African languages.
I have extended the infrastructure grant to universities from two to three years, increasing the R3,8 billion to R6 billion over the period 2012-13 to 2014-15, including amounts aimed at overcoming backlogs in historically disadvantaged institutions. Through cofunding, institutions will contribute a further R2 billion over this period, which means over the next three years we are going to be investing R8 billion in university infrastructure. This shows amongst other things that this government under the leadership of President Zuma is very serious about investment into social infrastructure as well.
For the period 2012-13 to 2014-15 I have allocated R1,652 billion for universities to build and refurbish student residences, and for the first time 86% of this funding is allocated to historically disadvantaged institutions and campuses. We are building more university accommodation in your former black rural universities in a significant way from this year only. [Applause.] We are further talking to Development Bank of Southern Africa, the DBSA, and to the Public Investment Corporation, Pic, to get more money.
A good story is our National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, we have set aside R6,3 billion over the 2013 MTEF period for FET colleges only, beginning with R1,988 billion in 2013 and culminating in R2,2 billion worth of FET college bursaries in 2015 – this is coming from only R318 million in 2009. For the 2013 academic year in particular, we aim to provide bursaries to 222 817 FET college students across all provinces. An amount of R3,69 billion has been set aside for loans and bursaries for universities students in 2013, targeting 210 000 students. One of our priorities is linking the education and training institutions with employers so that students get both theoretical and practical training, which is more effective and increases a student's chances of finding employment.
The department has established a dedicated unit to promote work placement and work-integrated learning. Government departments and agencies at all levels, are now starting to step up their intake of young people for apprenticeships, for example, the Tshwane Metro has set aside training spaces for 500 FET college graduates annually.
Our new Seta Grant Regulations came into operation on 1 April 2013 and require Setas to target funding towards structured workplace learning and experience, promoting partnerships between education and training institutions and employers.
For the first time in its history, the NSF has reached a stage where its annual disbursements are on par with annual income. In addition, all of the fund's R7 billion historic reserves have been contractually committed for specific skills development projects of national priority, such as improving infrastructure and improving and expanding skills in engineering, medical and veterinary sciences, renewable energy, various trades and rural development.
I look forward to the continued support and guidance of this august House, as well as all tiers of government in helping us achieve our vision of a single, coherent, differentiated and articulated postschool education and training system that seeks to expand access, overcome inequalities and achieve high levels of excellence and innovation.
In conclusion, allow me to thank my Deputy Minister, Comrade Mduduzi Manana, the director-general of our department, my special advisor, John Pampallis, who has just awarded a Doctoral Degree and Honorary Doctoral Degree by Fort Hare, as well as all senior management of my staff. Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife, Phumelele, who is up there for all the support that she has given to me. [Applause.] With that, I want to end by saying Malibongwe igama lamakhosikazi! Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Ms M W MAKGATE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 146
The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Ms M W MAKGATE: Deputy Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers in the Council, hon Members of Parliament, distinguished quests, ...
Setswana:
... dumelang bagaetsho.
English:
Hon Deputy Chairperson, the Second Plenary Session Convention for a Democratic SA, Codesa, 2 talks ended in a deadlock on 16 May 1992. The apartheid government and the liberation parties led by the ANC could not reach a consensus on key issues such as the interim government and the constitution. However, as I stand before you today, I have proof and evidence that South Africa has changed and it will never be the same again. [Applause.]
Today, we have one of the best Constitution in the world. We have one education system for all, one curriculum for all learners in South Africa. Our schools are funded on the basis of the needs and not on the basis of race, colour or gender. As we welcome the Budget Votes, for both the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training, it should be a reminder to ourselves of the importance of education in our lives and its centrality in the development of our country and humanity. It is within this context that we should engage with these Budget Votes on education in general, looking at the successes and challenges in this sector in our country within a specific historical context, to give the departments a novel mandate for 2013-14 financial year. I must indicate that I will be dealing with both Budget Votes.
It is a fact that our basic education system has seen more massive and vital changes, strides and gains since 1994. In fact, in just 18 years, the ANC-led government did what the National Party could not do in 46 years of its apartheid rule. Some of the key educational achievements that the ANC-led government has recorded since 1994 include the following - to mention but a few: the deracialisation of the schooling system; over 8 million learners are benefiting from the no-fees school programme; the first national educational plan ever, which is Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025; the implementation of the Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy campaign, which has reached over 2,9 million adults; the Funza Lushaka teacher bursary project continues to grow in size and in terms of success; in 2013-14, the project will cover 14 400 students at a cost of R893,9 million; the successful implementation of the free scholar transport; the National School Nutrition programme which feeds millions of poor learners in our country; the increase in the Grade 12 examination results, from 60,6% in 2009 to 73,9% in 2012; the development of the sign language curriculum, which is being piloted in Gauteng and the Western Cape provinces; the introduction of the Annual National Assessment, Ana, which assesses the performance of the system below Grade 12 and reveals both weaknesses and strengths of our education system.
I must also highlight the fact that the Ana gives us an idea, as the government, of what the weaknesses are in our system. People who are saying that our education system is weak should not mislead us. This action is deliberate so that we can know how to plan and how to deal with our weaknesses.
On the provision of free workbooks and textbooks to public schools, workbooks alone are allocated R859,3 million in the current budget, and about 24 million copies of workbooks were delivered to public schools for use in the 2013 academic year. While it is true that some schools are still experiencing some delivery shortages, it is important to indicate that before the ANC came into power in1994, there were no free workbooks or textbooks provided in South African schools, let alone free scholar transport or nonpayment of school fees.
There's also the development and roll out of infrastructure development programmes such as the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative, Asidi, the provincial infrastructure programmes and the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee, the PICC.
The budget allocation for provincial infrastructure in the 2013-14 is R6,6 billion, which will increase to R10 billion over the MTEF period. The Asidi project will see an allocation of R8 billion between 2013-14 and 2015-16 financial years. The fruits of the Asidi project are beginning to show in provinces such as the Eastern Cape, and for that, the department should be commended.
Achievements go hand in hand with challenges. That is natural, and what is important is to identify the challenges, address them and move forward. That is exactly what the ANC does in its elective and policy conferences from time to time. Some of the challenges that we have identified include the following: the persistent learner performance inequalities especially between former white schools and former black schools; the general low quality of education despite massive investment being made in education, especially in Maths and Science; incidences of learners dropping out of the schooling system as a result of various socioeconomic reasons; textbook shortages in some schools, which is, as a matter of fact, being attended to; and the low levels of reading and writing in the foundation phase, as a matter of urgency, which the Department of Basic Education must attend to.
Another worrying challenge in our education system is the disruption of schooling of poor learners of this country by teacher unions. While we commend the resolution of the impasse between the Department of Education and the teacher unions, I feel bound not only as a parent, but also as a citizen of this country as well to make a call to unions to find other ways of resolving their differences with the department rather than disrupting the education of poor children who are not part of the differences at all.
It is vital to strike a balance between the right to strike and the right to education for our children. Why is the learner always a victim when there are differences between the Department of Education and the teacher unions? Why is it that the learner has to always be victim when there are service delivery protests, something which the child has nothing to do with? Rights have to be exercised in a responsible manner. This has to stop.
With regard to higher education, it is also vital to indicate that this is the fourth Budget Vote of the Department of Higher Education and Training. However, this department has made significant and noteworthy achievements within a four–year period. These include the expansion of access to higher education institutions and the ongoing work to build two universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.
According to the projections of the National Development Plan, the IDP, admissions to universities and institutions of higher learning will increase by 30% by 2030; access and the quality of FET education will improve; and skills development plans, university infrastructure and student accommodation will also improve.
The Ministerial Committee on Student Accommodation has been set-up and its report has been presented to Parliament, and it shows some serious infrastructure and accommodation challenges. Nevertheless, the Department of Higher Education is putting strategies and plans in place to deal with issues such as the overhauling and improvement of the functioning of the Setas, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and the launching of the "Apply Now campaign" to encourage prospective students to apply in time at institutions of higher learning. This is very crucial; incidences of stampede such as the one which led to death at the University of Johannesburg must be avoided at all costs. We are hopeful that the department will be able to launch the central applications system very soon.
It is true that South Africa, in general, is grappling with the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. In specific terms, the Department of Higher Education and Training is still grappling with challenges that include the inadequate admission vacancies at institutions of higher learning and a high shortage of artisans. The number of artisans that we produce is still far below the National Development Plan's projections of delivering 30 000 artisans per year. It is for that reason that the Minister of Higher Education and Training correctly declared this year "The Year of the Artisan" in order to ensure more focus on this challenge.
I must take this opportunity to condemn, in the strongest terms possible, reported incidences of sexual abuse of female students at some institutions of higher learning. These incidences must be investigated thoroughly and the culprits be severely dealt with.
In conclusion, it is vital to indicate that the aim of the ANC-led government is to develop capable, well-educated and skilled citizens who are able to compete in both local and international economies and be able to contribute to the developmental goals of our country. It is for that reason that the Department of Higher Education and Training received a total allocation of R33,3 billion. The ANC supports both Budget Votes. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 147
Ms M W MAKGATE
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon members of the NCOP, guests and listeners, when you educate the child you educate the nation and the country. There is substantial evidence that there is a growth in public spending per learner, a double increase in Grade R enrolment and a general improvement in school participation. The budget of the Department of Basic Education has increased to R16,3 billion in the 2012-13 financial year from R14,1 billion in 2011-12. This is to say that this Vote has received a very healthy amount of funds with which to do the work and meet the expectations regarding the education of our learners.
The bulk of the Basic Education budget for 2012-13 also comprises conditional grants to the provinces. The bulk of the budget also went to Programme 4: Planning Information and Assessment. The Auditor-General's reports have, since 2009, highlighted poor fiscal discipline on the part of some of the provinces. In 2011-12 the Eastern Cape and Limpopo received a disclaimer, the Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga received an unqualified report, and KwaZulu-Natal, the Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape received a qualified report from the Auditor-General.
Despite the adequate allocation of funds, support for infrastructure improvements, a growth in learner participation in education, financial support for no-fee schools, curriculum development and other items, we have nevertheless experienced the failure of our education system regarding literacy and numeracy skills in Grades 1 to 3. The report also predicts that many of these learners will fail to master the curriculum in later years. This is the main reason for the 50% drop-out rate before learners reach Grade 12.
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Timms, states that, when it comes to quantity and quality performance at the highest level, South Africa is not globally competitive. The National Education Evaluation and Development Unit, Needu, has also stated that our teachers cannot teach – a very strange statement, simply meaning that our teachers lack the ability to convey the message of learning and teaching. This is supported by a test conducted by the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality. The Sadtu is dictating to the education department that there will be no monitoring, control and evaluation of teachers and pupils in classes However, this is precisely the main elephant that is killing the quality of education in schools, and it is not the Department of Education department itself. Maybe their aim is to get rid of Minister Motshekga and Director-General Soobryan, because they know that these two will call the Sadtu.
Another problem is the brain drain in schools. In previous years huge numbers of principals, deputy principals, heads of departments and most senior teachers have left the profession by taking severance packages. We should undertake an audit of the education sector's work force and its capacity. This is very important, so that we may know exactly what we have in the Basic Education.
Nothing can replace mother-tongue education, nothing can replace the quality of education and training in reading, writing and numeracy during the foundation phase and, most of all, nothing can replace discipline in the classroom, as regards learners, teachers and principals. When we visited the provinces we found in some schools that, from Grade R, teachers were teaching learners in English, while those learners were actually isiXhosa or Sepedi-speaking. So that is also one of the problems in the education department.
Yesterday the Select Committee on Sport and Recreation was informed by the Department of Basic Education that they have no mandate on the delivery of school sports fields. We understand this, but nothing is being done from their side to make sure that at school learners and teachers have to participate in extramural activities, such as athletics, soccer, rugby, netball, cricket, chess and so on. Sport and physical education are the backbone of a healthy mind and body. From the Department of Basic Education to the provinces, to the circuits and to the schools, we must make sure that this problem will be addressed at the different schools. It is not your problem, but it is right there, where you don't have the mandate to tell the teachers to do this and not to do that.
The former Model C schools have the benefit of well-developed sports grounds, but a learner with a 50% pass mark is not allowed to register at those schools, even if that learner is a talented sportsperson. That policy was developed by the school governing bodies and this is not acceptable to us. If there are learners with a sports talent and there is a school that is able to accommodate them, they should be given that opportunity.
Basic education is the entrance to education for the nation. It is really very important that this foundation of our learners' schooling should be of a very good quality. However, this is not the case and we are the ones responsible for this failure in education. We must make sure that we reach that goal, especially in the foundation phase.
As regards the Department of Higher Education and Training, its overall aim is to develop and support a top quality higher education and vocational education sector and to promote access to higher and vocational education and skills development training opportunities of a standard required by the employer. This goal is excellent, when we actually achieve it.
This department has received an allocation totalling R34 322,5 billion, excluding direct charges against the National Revenue Fund for the Sector Education and Training Authorities and the National Skills Fund. The bulk of the budget is spent on Programme 3: University Education, followed by Vocational and Continuing Education and Training. University Education takes 82,5% of the budget, while Vocational and Continuing Education and Training takes a share of 16,5%. This spending is for the increased enrolment of students in institutions of higher education and in the further education and training colleges. This increase in student enrolment will place a bigger work load and pressure on lecturers, so hopefully there are plans and methods in place to support these staff members at the universities and FET colleges.
Although the sub-programmes Programme Management and Planning and Institutional Support have received 16,5% and 96,62% of the total budget of Programme 4: Vocational and Continuing Education and Training, it is of huge concern that the decreased allocation will hamper the execution of the monitoring and evaluation mandate of the programme. This is actually a very important area, where we must monitor and evaluate in order to make sure that the quality of education in the higher education institutions is of a high standard.
The goal of quality delivery is in question. Don't budget to fail; budget to succeed. On top of this negative trend, we sit with the problem of poorly prepared students in our Basic Education sector. Only 30% of all first-time entrants graduate within five years. This is very worrisome. It is better to make funds available for the improvement of educational processes than to focus on enrolment growth. And I am not saying that we must not improve on the enrolment of students.
We must, however, also make sure that we support these students when they arrive at those institutions, so that they can achieve more. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Ms M L MOSHODI
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 148
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS
Ms M L MOSHODI: Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, one writer once said, "The roots of education are bitter but its fruit is sweet". The Congress of the People in Kliptown in 1955, said that the doors of learning shall be open to all.
While debating today's budget of the Basic Education we need to look at the bitter sweet roots and fruits of the ANC education system and make an analysis if it meets the aspirations and the wish of our people's education, as resolved in Polokwane in 2007 and reconfirmed or emphasised in the 53rd National Conference of the ruling party in Mangaung in 2012.
As we are about to complete a second decade of freedom, post century after birth of the oldest liberation movement in the continent, can we boldly and proudly say that the doors of education have been opened to all those who were targeted by the then minority regime to be drawers of water and hewers of wood?
South Africa today is one of the countries in the world that has the highest expenditure in education. In 2011, the education budget in our country was 6% of the gross domestic product, the GDP. Even developed countries such as US spend far less on education as a percentage of GDP as compared to South Africa. Our 2013-14 education budget comprises 21% of the total budget. This indicates commitment from the ANC-led government in meeting the aspirations of the drafters of our guiding document, the Freedom Charter.
The High Education budget has seen enrolment rates at primary and secondary levels increase to 102% and 98% respectively in 2009. According to the economic report of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the OECD, these enrolment percentages are higher than any emerging or developing country.
The bitter roots of this is however the quality of education itself. The report states that South Africa has reached high educational attainment but the quality of education remains dismal. This situation has long been seen by the ANC, hence the 53th Conference of the ANC resolution that: The ANC takes responsibility and ensures that both elected leaders and deployed cadres in the administration are held accountable.
It is a great concern that the 33 112 candidates who passed Mathematics either at 30% or 40% will ever complement - later in life - the kinds of skills we so need to grow our economy, reduce unemployment and end poverty.
South Africa is part of the global village that is competing for every sort of market available, for every resource - whether human or material – available and every space in whatever platform. Therefore, the quality of our education needs to be competitive to our counterparts in order to survive in this global village. This has been indirectly referred to by the national conference resolution that a committee be established to examine all matters raised such as the debate including the matric pass requirements, textbook provisioning and the annual national assessments results.
Early childhood development is key in ensuring improved results at a later stage, as it is the basis and the foundation of the diversified discipline that a child will follow in his or her entire life. As the ANC, we believe it is critical that South Africa meets the goal of universal access to Grade R by 2014. It has been through the visionary leadership of the ANC-led government that South Africa has achieved Millennium Development Goal No 2 in male and female enrolment ratios in primary education.
According to the 2010 MDG report, we are likely to meet the MDG Goal NO 2 in totality by 2014.
It is vital to mention just a few of key educational achievements which the ANC government has recorded so far, and these include the following: the development of sound, democratic and inclusive educational policies; the establishment of one education system for all our people; the improvement of matric results from low levels to the current rate of 73,9%; the establishment of no-fees schools which benefit millions of poor learners; and the school building programme which includes facilities such as libraries, laboratories and administration offices. And in his state of the nation address, President Zuma announced that the salaries of teachers must be reviewed. It is true that there are still challenges in our education system, but some key milestones have been achieved.
The bulk of the allocation in the budget goes to Programme No 2. It is one of the most important programmes and it impacts on the outcomes of the whole system. The shortages of textbooks have caused such a row in society. We are however confident that the department will speedily lay this matter to rest.
In conclusion, we cannot overlook the importance of improper financial management practices and systems.
I would like to take this opportunity in congratulating the Free State Education Department for the unqualified audit opinion for the year 2011-12. Further, I would like to congratulate the MEC, the hon Tate Makgoe for obtaining an 85% pass rate in matric last year.
Free State ke profense yeo ke tswago go yona [I come from Free State.] We are also looking forward as the province to finally occupy the top spot in the not so distant future in so far as matric results are concerned. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 148
Ms M L MOSHODI
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nzimande and other Ministers present, the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Education and Recreation, hon Makgate, hon members of the National Council of Provinces, officials led by the director-general, heads and executive of all our portfolio organisations and institutions, members of the ANC Youth League, national task team present today, distinguished guests, comrades and compatriots, over the past 18 years we really have been engaged in a protracted process of reconstructing and developing a society that is based on the principles of freedom, development, prosperity and the realisation of our vision for a better society which will largely depend on our ability to provide access to quality higher education and training.
As the ANC-led government, we strongly hold the inclination that education is critical lever that can reverse the cycle of intergenerational poverty and growing inequalities in our society.
This is the fourth budget speech of the Department of Higher Education and Training to the Fourth Democratic Parliament of post 1994 South Africa. It is indeed an honour and privilege for me to deliver my first budget speech as the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training to this esteemed House wherein I will share some insight on some of the key areas that form part of my delegations.
In trying to draw your focus on the provincial implications of the work we have done and are about to do. I wish, in the first instance, to commend this esteemed House which has, over the last four years, dealt with major legislative amendments which have helped aligned the work of the department. The amendments dealt with the shift of legislative responsibilities from provincial Member of Executive Councils, MECs, and heads of departments to the Minister and Director-General of the Department of Higher Education and Training.
Records indicate that at the first meeting of the Council of Education Ministers in 2009 all MECs, without excerption, requested the newly appointed Minister of Higher Education and Training to make legislative shifts which will see the functions of further education and training, FET, colleges as well as adult education and training centres moving to the national level. Esteemed and hon members of both Houses immediately embarked on a thorough legislative process with the intention to seeing all pillars of the postschool system being co-ordinated at national level by the Department of Higher Education and Training
Last week, I indicated in my part of the budget speech to the National Assembly that we completely agree with the National Development Plan to accelerate efforts to integrate issues of disability into all facets of society, ensure equitable service provision for persons with disabilities and eradicate the physical information and communication barriers, which may prevent persons with disabilities from participating fully in the learning experience.
We are happy to report that the partnership between the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority , Seta, and the SA Disability Development Trust saw at least 404 disabled people being trained in the wholesale and retail field in five provinces namely, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. Progressive host employers have since opened up their work places for the 400 disabled people to acquire workplace skills and we commend them for heeding to our call of turning every workplace into a training space. During this year, I will be visiting special schools across the country to encourage disabled learners to enter the post-school system as we are still lagging behind in this area.
As I indicated in my speech to the National Assembly last week, the Minister of Higher Education and Training launched and declared 2013 as the year of the artisan at an auspicious event at the Tembisa campus of the Ekurhuleni West FET College in Gauteng. The launch signalled the beginning of an artisan development advocacy programme that is being rolled out across the country led by my office as mandated by the Minister. The advocacy programme is being rolled out under the theme, "It's cool to be an artisan" and is already finding considerable resonance among many South Africans and is being supported by large numbers of persons mainly our high school learners. Each event also links a local secondary school to a local FET college and in this regard we are working very closely with our Setas so that they facilitate workplace training for our students.
We have further directed our FET colleges to host open days for high schools in order to promote their programme offerings. We call on all South African to heed to our call and join us as we promote artisan development in our country.
This is really to elevate the status of artisans and further build a strong skills base in South Africa in our final attempt to improve the employment prospects of our young people.
When we launched the "Apply Now" campaign last year, the aim was to create awareness of career options and application procedures to be followed for post school education and training. The intention was to reduce the long queues and some of the chaos that generally take place at most of our universities at the beginning of each academic year. I am pleased to report that we reached out to Grade 9 to Grade 12 learners in all of the 6 000 public high schools and distributed 600 000 booklets throughout South Africa in 2012. I also visited selected universities at the beginning of the year, namely, the University of Venda, the University of Johannesburg, the University of Fort Hare and the University of Zululand to monitor the impact of the "Apply Now" campaign and I am pleased to report that the registration and late application process ran very smoothly.
Hon Makgate, I must say that during this academic year we had minimal walk-ins, less long queues, no reported student protest linked to the registration process and no stampedes whatsoever.
For 2013 we have updated the Apply Now booklet and will distribute it in June to all high schools in the country. We will continue to reach out to as many learners as possible during this academic year.
In January this year we successfully implemented the Central Applications Clearing House facility as a precursor of the central application system. The service helped to guide learners who had not applied for university places on time and who had not been successful at the institutions of their choice on the various educational opportunities within the post-school system and helped direct them to available spaces in the system.
As I said last week to the hon members of the National Assembly, we are on course. Let me take this opportunity and extend my gratitude of thanks to the President of the Republic, His Excellency J G Zuma, for his guidance, the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nzimande, for his support and my colleagues in the executive for their continued teamwork.
To members of the select committee, your constructive role in playing your oversight function is most commendable. To the management and staff of the department under the stewardship of the director-general, your zeal and commitment is appreciated. To my family, thank you for agreeing to share me with the nation. To my staff, thank you very much for your commitment and delegation.
The above strides really illustrate an education system that is steadily improving and definitely taking an upward slope on the maturity path. These strides will, without doubt, help our people imagine and realise endless possibilities for a better life free from poverty and social deprivation. We dare not fail them. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
Mr O DE BEER
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 149
THE
DEPUTY MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Afrikaans:
Mnr O DE BEER: Agb Tydelike Voorsitter, agb Ministers, en agb Adjunkministers, lede van die Huis, asook ons gaste in die gallery, 'n geruime tyd gelede is 'n belofte gemaak om ontslae te raak van tydelike skoolgeboue. Talle skole in Suid-Afrika het nie net 'n tekort aan studiemateriaal – handboeke, woordeboeke, werksboeke of plakkate – nie, maar ook die basiese dienste ontbreek, soos elektrisiteit, onderwyserkantore, lekkende dakke, gekraakte mure, met talle leerlinge wat onder bome en in die modder onderrig word.
Die tekortkominge van infrastruktuur, asook die skoolhulpmiddels, is te blameer vir daling in die gehalte van onderwys. Die tekortkominge van ordentlike toiletgeriewe, biblioteke, en laboratoriums word blameer vir die swak prestasie van skole in alle grade. Daarom is die uitstel van die opgradering van infrastruktuur van 2014-15 deur die Departement van Basiese Onderwys nie goed genoeg nie. Die Nasionale Ontwikkelingsplan moet nie gebruik word as verskoning om die mylpale wat deur die administrasie gestel is in 2009 uit te stel nie.
English:
While many schools are not suitable for quality learning and teaching in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, a number of schools are closing down. In the Eastern Cape, more than 500 schools were identified to be shut down; in the Northern, Cape 25 primary and secondary schools; in Mpumalanga, 14 schools and in the Western Cape, 27 schools are identified; Gauteng has 46 and there is a backlog of 120 schools to be built.
In total, mass mobilisation was made in 700 schools in the Western Cape. The mass mobilisation which was used in the Western Cape, or the vehicle which was used in the Western Cape, could be used to raise the voice of those 700 schools as well, if it was in the interest of the child and not political gains.
In the study conducted by Prof Charles Simkins for the Centre for Development and Enterprise in 2010, it was found that half of the university entrance level pass in maths is produced by only 6,6% and for science only 5,5%. In another study conducted by the Economic Department of the Stellenbosch University, it was found that illiteracy is costing the country more than R500 billion.
The TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams): Order! Order, hon De Beer. On what point are you rising, hon Nesi?
Mr B NESI: Thank you, Chair, is the member ready to take a very short question?
The TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams): Are you prepared to take a question, hon De Beer?
Mr O DE BEER: Just after the sitting.
The TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams): No, he is not. Proceed, hon member.
Mr O DE BEER: In the World Economic Forum, global information technology report in 2013 that South Africa is still at the bottom of the pile when it comes to maths and science education compared to other countries. The University of the Witwatersrand School of Education lecturer, Lynn Bowie, blames teacher's backlog in terms of their knowledge in teaching maths and science.
To the Minister of Higher Education, I want to know if he is aware of the fact that when students move from one higher institution to another for any reason or to relocate for work purposes from one province to another, the students are expected to repeat subjects that they have already passed because the second institution will not credit them for those subjects. This disadvantages them further financially and they take longer to complete their education.
The Minister of Basic Education has lost touch with the applicable legislation aimed to maintain a stable labour relations environment. This has resulted to the demands by the unions in the education sector for her to step down. The Minister has to bring back professionalism in the sector and not erode the status of teachers. Pay teachers good salaries to teach effectively. Pay the 25 teachers from the schools in Grahamstown what is due to them. Thank you very much.
Ms D Z RANTHO
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 149
Mr O DE BEER
Ms D Z RANTHO: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, Angie Motshekga, hon Minister, Dr Blade Ndzimande, hon Deputy Minister, Mr Mduduzi Manana, members of the NCOP, special delegates, ladies and gentlemen, comrades and friends ...
Afrikaans:
... ek wil net een ding hier regmaak. Die onderwysdepartement moet nie verwag dat die agb De Beer iets positiefs sal sê nie. [I just want to correct one thing. The education department should not expect hon De Beer to make a positive contribution.]
IsiXhosa:
Uyabona Mphathiswa, umntu otsiba-tsibayo, othi esemanzini, aphinde abe ngaphandle, uye ancame angazazi ukuba uphi kanye kanye. Masimxolele ke u-Onell.
English:
The hon Onell, I'm inviting you to the Select Committee on Education to come and visit us and hear the news of all the departments of education.
Since 1994, the education system in South Africa has undergone significant and extensive restructuring. This is reflected in the new policy and legislative framework that has been established by the ANC-led government. We have also seen major shift from the fragmented education system, which was the major characteristic of the education system during apartheid in South Africa to a more effective and formidable education system with ...
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams): Order! Order, hon member, Rantho! You, hon members at the corner that I'm looking at now, please stop having a debate concurrent to the one we are having and listen to what the member is saying. Thank you.
Ms D Z RANTHO: Hon Chairperson, as the ANC, we have said in order to deal decisively with the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment and place South Africa on a better growth path, there should be improvement in access to higher education and training. We said this because we are aware that apartheid used the very same education as one of its most effective tools to entrench inequality and social marginalisation in our society. We are profoundly happy that one of the outputs of the Department of Higher Education is to increase access to occupationally directed programmes in areas of need and thereby expanding the availability of immediate level skills with a special focus on artisan skills and other mid-level skills.
The President announced in his 2012 state of the nation address that close to 14 000 learners were placed in workplace learning opportunities in 2011 and over 11 000 artisans had completed their trade tests. We are also aware of the commitment that we have made in the in the National Development Plan, the NDP, projections of delivering 30 000 artisans per year and support all your initiatives, hon Minister and your department, to ensure that we start producing the 30 000 artisans per year.
The success of our national support programmes and interventions to expand financial support to previously marginalised communities and the poor over the last eighteen years of our democracy have resulted in considerable increase in enrolments. We welcome the initiatives of the ANC-led government and the department to expand financial support to these learners.
We want to also take this opportunity to express our profound appreciation for the R3 million, which has been allocated to develop the two new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. We want to express our profound appreciation to the Minister Ndzimande and his Deputy and the entire department for championing this great initiative and working tirelessly with the greatest urgency to identify the land and building areas for these two new universities.
For us, the universities will open space for students who may have not been admitted to current institutions of higher learning because of the unavailability of space, and to encourage more learners in these two provinces to pursue further studies. The two new universities will also enable us to achieve the objective that we have set in the NDP to increase student enrolment by more than 30% by 2030.
As the government that is committed to building a better quality of life for all our people, we are happy that expanding the higher education sector will contribute towards rising incomes, higher productivity and then shift our society to a more knowledge-driven economy.
We are also aware that in 2011, R200 million was utilised to assist 25 000 students to pay off their debts to institutions of higher learning. The NDP states that all students who qualify for assistance by the National Students Aid Fund must be provided with access to full funding through loans and bursaries to cover the costs of tuition, books, accommodation and other living expenses. This is in line with Strategic Goal 1 of the department, which is to increase the number of skilled youth by expanding access to education and training.
The increase in enrolment in higher education has resulted in an urgent need to provide more accommodation to meet the increasing numbers. We are also aware that in many instances, our higher education institutions have facilities that are geared to cater for the increased numbers that enrolled in Universities and colleges across South Africa. In some instances, some of these facilities are old and need to be completely renovated. The fact that only 5,3% of first year students get accommodation in our universities is very worrying.
The report of the Ministerial Committee on Student Accommodation stated that our higher education sector needs more than 300 000 beds as compared to 108 000 beds that are currently available. It is for this reason that we welcome the initiative of the Department of Higher Education and Training to put more resources to infrastructure development in the higher education sector. It is for this reason that we welcome the commitment made by the hon Nzimande to build twelve campuses by 2014.
Apartheid has left an indelible mark in our society. In the higher education sector, it resulted in the exclusion of those who cannot afford to pay for their studies and all related expenses such as accommodation and travelling. As the ANC-led government, we take great pride in the impact that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, Nafsas, continues to make to the lives of the students who are from poor families. We want to welcome the increase in funding for the Nasfas and the intervention of the Minister to ensure that this scheme makes a formidable impact to the lives of poor student.
In conclusion, former President Nelson Mandela, a great son of Africa and a tireless servant of our people, once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world". We are indeed happy that, hon Nzimande, his team and the department have heeded to the wisdom of President Mandela to use education in transforming South Africa and changing the lives of our people for the better. You have demonstrated that, as Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Unesco, once said, "There are no immovable barriers to education." The weakest of our society who were denied access to education because of their economic status and conditions, today wake up engulfed with a great sense of hope and pride that their lives too are destined to change.
Lastly, the Freedom Charter, which is a historic document of the people of our country, asserts that as a consequence of the victory of the struggle for national liberation, the doors of education and learning shall be open to all. Indeed, many of our people, including our youth, died and sacrificed for the realisation of this objective. They did so because they understood their importance and all our communities' right of freedom from ignorance, and to break away from the shackles of generational poverty.
Finally, as the ANC, the programmes and initiatives outlined by the two education Budget Votes today, clearly demonstrate our commitment to succeed in our efforts to produce an educated and appropriately skilled population.
It is for this reason that, as the ANC, we rise unashamedly to support the Budget Votes of the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training. I thank you. [ Appluase.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 150
Ms D Z RANTHO
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers of Basic Education and Higher Education and Training, Deputy Minister, hon members of this House, the debate itself is a clear indication of the fact that the Department of Basic Education is on course in terms of its strategic outlook. If we look at and reflect on the Action Plan to 2014, we will discover that the first priority identified by the department was Early Childhood Development. This was followed by accountability and then the promotion of Mathematics, Science and Technology, the importance of districts and, generally, about quality education, monitoring and evaluation.
The debate itself clearly indicates that education is the continuum that starts from the period of gestation for the cognitive, emotional development of the child, right through, from the cradle to the grave. Therefore, the department has invested quite significantly in early childhood development. We can celebrate the fact that, in the past five years, we have significantly increased the number of learners in our Grade R classes, from something below 400 000 to something above 750 000, emphasising this particularly important task.
What I do appreciate about the debate is the fact that we celebrate the achievements of the department. At the same time, however, we alert the department to the challenges that we face, as a department, in relation to education. We recognise, all the while, that our system of education is not something that is created anew. It is a result of a divided past, where, indeed, the vast majority of our people were denied the opportunity of quality education and deprived of the appropriate infrastructure and support within the system of education. That does not detract, however, from our responsibility to ensure that we would address the issues of equity in a significant way.
We are, indeed, celebrating the fact that we have almost 100% access in terms of education. Recognising the importance of foundation learning, we celebrate with great pride the fact that every Grade R child has a resource in his or her hand, in a language that he or she understands; every Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 child receives eight books, one on literacy, one on numeracy, one on English as a first additional language, and one on life skills, in one year; and that child could be either a poor child or a child from an affluent family. That means that we provide universally for our children.
We recognise the fact that we have enormous challenges with regard to literacy and numeracy. For that particular purpose, we have emphasised the importance of enhancing the capacity of our learners in improving skills in literacy and numeracy. For that reason, we have distributed more than 114 million workbooks to our learners from Grade R to Grade 9 to ensure that this augments the ability of the learners in these critical areas.
The journey is not going to be an easy one. Indeed, it is going to be an arduous one, which will mean that our learners will have to work harder; our parents will have to support our learners and motivate them; our educators will have to improve their skills in terms of content knowledge and pedagogy; and that we will, indeed, have to mobilise society to ensure that they recognise that our President has declared that education as an apex priority.
What the hon Makgate has recognised as a challenge is the importance of recognising and affirming the inequality that exists within our system of education. Indeed the question then is: What have you done about it? What we have done about it – and I am glad that the Minister of Higher Education and Training has done significantly better than in the previous years – is that we have ensured that more than 85% of our learners attend no-fee schools. We have ensured that no child who cannot afford his or her fees is excluded from school. We have ensured that more than 8,5 million children are fed every day in our schools, and that, in itself, is a significant change.
We have ensured that we provide workbooks and activity books to our learners and that every child in Grades 10, 11 and 12 receives a Mathematics and Science book, whether he or she is in a Quintile 1 or Quintile 5 school. We have invested significantly to ensure that we improve the content knowledge of our educators, particularly in the gateway subjects of Mathematics and Science. We celebrate the fact that there has been a significant improvement in the performance of our learners in Mathematics and Science, and that in the past five years we have more than doubled the pass rate of learners above 50% – you know, from less than 30 000 to more than 65 000. However, we believe much more has to be done in this regard.
We say with humility that the challenge is huge. However, as we do so, we should not be those who spell doom and gloom, those who argue that there is no hope for our children, and that we have no belief in their ability to achieve. You know, as we speak about schools, generally, what we do find ... and I say generally, because I certainly respect the input of the hon member of the opposition, Mr de Villiers, which is in stark contrast to that of the hon De Beer.
Afrikaans:
Meneer, as u iemand is wat u toespraak goed voorberei, lees dit asseblief goed, jy weet. [Tussenwerpsels.]
English:
That is a problem that we had. You basically speak about things that you do not have much knowledge about. You merely talk about the closure of schools without reflecting on the fact that the challenge that was faced in the Western Cape above the closure of the schools was not the principle of closing or merging the school, but was the process of consultation that was so necessary to ensure that we, indeed, follow the democratic process. So, whatever happens, whether it happens in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo or the Eastern Cape, it means that the law prescribes a particular, democratic, consultative process which has to be followed and not compromised. It is not a matter of ...
Afrikaans:
... julle kan maar daar in KwaZulu-Natal toemaak, maar julle kan nie hier in die Wes-Kaap toemaak nie.
English:
It is not that. So, please, really, do not come with political polemic without understanding the underlying causes, because it reflects very poorly on the quality of public representatives that we bring to this Council. People would ask: Surely, is there a test for public representatives? [Applause.]
The hon De Villiers certainly reflects on certain tests that are conducted, but the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Timss, test, for example, shows very, very clearly that South Africa has improved by one-and-a-half years in terms of its performance in Mathematics and Science. The recent Timss test says that what is encouraging and heartening in terms of the performance of the learners is that the improvement does not come from the right, that is, from the more affluent learners, but from the left, from those who are more in the Quintiles 1, 2 and 3, to show that, with regard to Science, the improvement is significant because it comes from those who are from a poor socioeconomic background.
Certainly, the challenges still persist, but what we are saying from the Timss result is that there are encouraging signs. They said no other country has progressed as swiftly as South Africa has in terms of that improvement in a very limited period of time. So, I would want you to look at that very, very critically.
With regard to the issues of the foundation phase, I certainly reinforce what you are saying.
Afrikaans:
Dit is wel so dat 'n moedertaal baie belangrik is in die eerste drie jaar.
English:
It is our policy that in the first three years of the learner's life, he or she must be taught in the mother tongue. However, not all our languages are equally developed. The reality in our South African context is that, although we are multilingual, given the fact that our apartheid past only recognised two official languages, we were unable to develop the other languages. These are now being developed over time, but our learners have to switch over in the fourth year. The reality is that those learners who switch over without being assisted in their first additional language, such as English, have serious difficulties in Mathematics and in literacy.
What we have now done is that we have argued to say, please continue to teach learners in the mother tongue in the first three grades. Ensure, however, that you integrate English from Grade 1, so that when the switch of the language of learning and teaching takes place, the child is not at a disadvantage. So, we have carefully and practically and pragmatically looked at this particular task, and we certainly look forward to the time when learners can go beyond Grade 3 in their mother tongue. To that end, the University of KwaZulu-Natal are developing a particular language.
In tandem with the Minister of Higher Education and Training, we can celebrate the fact that, next year, every child in Grade 1 – that will be approximately 1 million learners – will be doing an African language, irrespective of whether they are from an English-speaking or Afrikaans-speaking background. It is important for purposes of social cohesion and nation-building, and I think we should do that incrementally but not irresponsibly: first Grade 1; the next year, Grades 1 and 2; the year thereafter, Grades 1, 2 and 3, so that we can develop the capacity of our educators to teach in the mother tongue as well as in a first additional language. What we are saying and what we are arguing about is that the changes we are bringing about are systemic. They are comprehensive. As we do that, we must monitor the improvement. So, let us recognise that we did not defend the lack of ability amongst our learners, whether they were from Model C schools, or not.
We said that we have the challenge of literacy and numeracy. We then tested more than 5 million learners in terms of literacy and numeracy, so that the Minister of Basic Education could tell you what the performance of any child, in any school, in any class, in any district, in any region, is and compare it to the performance of any other child in any other district, in any other school, in any other province. It has not been done anywhere else in the world. Last year, we tested 7,2 million children. We can see and celebrate the fact that, whilst we started with a low baseline, there is a dramatic improvement, and that improvement occurs primarily and principally in the earlier ages. So, our choice about emphasising the foundation phase for learning, indeed, was the correct choice.
I know my time is just about up but I would like to thank the hon Ministers of Basic Education and of Higher Education and Training for the collaboration that we have with each other. I would like to share with you that, as we develop our teacher centres in our technical and vocational schools, we have developed 114 teacher resource centres for in-service education training, Inset, so that there is an accessible venue for teacher development, because we regard that as critical.
I would also like to thank the director-general and the members of staff, as well as all the hon members of this particular Council for the continued support we receive as the Department of Basic Education. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 150
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION
The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Hon Chairperson, in closing, let me start by thanking my Office, including my chief of staff and my parliamentary office for always being helpful in facilitating interaction with Parliament, and also, of course, all our institutions – I can see quite a lot of representatives here. I forgot to thank Orlando Pirates for having been very generous in allowing Kaizer Chiefs to have a taste of success after many, long years in solidarity. [Laughter.]
Let me thank the hon members for acknowledging the progress that both departments are making, also underlining the fact that we might have two education departments but we have a single education system, as Deputy Minister Surty was also articulating here.
I agree with the hon chairperson Makgate that this business of sex for courses or marks must be condemned. That is why I have asked the Oversight Committee on Transformation to look into this matter, how widespread it is, and to make specific recommendations.
To the hon De Villiers, I want to say that we are committed to reversing the ratio of university to college students. It is 3:1. We want it to be the opposite in 20 years from now if we are to absorb a lot of our young people. We are also concerned about lecturer training, both at universities and the further education and training, the FET, colleges. That is why we are allocating money and at the FET colleges we are developing a dedicated lecturer training qualification so that we can improve throughput at all levels.
I must say, actually, that if the DA here can be a little more sober than their National Assembly counterparts, we could have some progress. [Interjections.] It looks like you are engaging. We can engage with you. The other madness in the National Assembly is actually something else! [Interjections.]
The Hon De Beer, the issue you are talking about of transferring courses – he is not here; he has left. [Interjections.] They always like to leave, like they left the ANC.
The issue of articulation is important. We are looking into this comprehensively. At the moment, you can transfer from first year at one university to second year at another, but you cannot do that from second to third or from third to fourth. It is something we must look into so that we minimise wastage.
Of course, I must say I am disappointed with Cope. Each time, they sound more like the DA rather than an organisation that stands on their own. It is a pity that the hon member has left, because I really wanted to engage him around something. [Interjections.]
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Chairperson, as the hon Minister will know, an injury to one is an injury to all. [Laughter.] Cope is indeed here.
The TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams): Hon Sinclair, is that a point of order? [Interjections.] What is your point of order?
Mr K A SINCLAIR: No, I just want to say...
The TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams): No, no, no. Sit down. Sit down! That is not a point of order. You may continue, Minister. [Laughter.]
The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Yes. Do not steal our Cosatu slogan. [Interjections.]
I would like to thank the hon Rantho for all her comments. I wish to say something to her on accommodation, in particular. We, as a department, have published a draft residence policy which focuses, amongst other things, for instance, on the need to improve the numbers of first-year students who must be accommodated. We must prioritise them – because that is the transition year – as part of improving the pass rate.
There is also the issue of catering facilities in our universities, because we are concerned about the fact that, you know, there has been the outsourcing of catering. My own view is that students are at university, not to cook, but to study. This thing, also, of shameful, poor students going to Pick 'n Pay or Checkers and coming back with small packets and those who are rich coming back with a whole grocery bag full is just not acceptable. That is why, as part of this infrastructure for residences, we are insisting that there must be catering facilities so that we are able to deal with the ... [Applause.] [Interjections.] ... and what? [Interjections.] Yes, and the creation of jobs. I really do agree with that.
Lastly, we would just like thank all the members very much, especially the members of the select committee, and particularly the members of the ANC study group. Long live the ANC, long live! [Applause.]
The TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams): Hon Ministers Nzimande and Motshekga and Deputy Ministers Manana and Surty, thank you very much for the debate. On behalf of the Chairperson of the Council, our Acting Chief Whip and Members of the Council, we wish you well in your endeavours. We would like to wish you and your departments well for your future ... [Interjections.]... Order! Order! I know you are hungry and you want to go but we will be going shortly.
Thank you very much, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers and your departments, and on behalf of the Chairperson of the Council, the Acting Chief Whip and Members of the Council, we want to thank you for availing yourselves of your time and for honouring the debates.
Debate concluded.
The TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams)
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Thursday, 16 May 2013 Take: 150
The TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams)
UNPARLIAMENTARY LANGUAGE
(Ruling)
The TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F Adams): Hon members, just before I adjourn the House, I would like to make a ruling on a matter that happened on 23 April 2013 in this House. I am ruling on a point of order raised by the hon De Villiers on Tuesday, 23 April 2013, that "it is unparliamentary to say that the hon member is telling lies". The hon De Villiers objected to the statement made by the hon Qabathe during a speech that Premier Zille was telling lies, and I had stated that I would check the Hansard and make a ruling. I have consulted the Hansard records, and the hon Qabathe did, in fact, make this statement.
Hon members, Rule 46(a) of the NCOP Rules provided that no member may use offensive language in the Council. Language in expressions used in the House must conform to a number of Rules. Erskine May states that "good temper and moderation are the characteristics of parliamentary language". Tradition has evolved that there are words or phrases that are deemed inappropriate for use in the Council whilst it is in session. The words of an hon member must not offend the dignity of the Council.
My ruling is that the statement made by the hon Qabathe is unparliamentary, and that the hon member will be asked to withdraw her statement the next time she is in the House. I so rule.
The Council adjourned at 18:09.
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