Hansard: NA: Debate on Vote No 1 – The Presidency
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 12 Jun 2013
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 1
WEDNESDAY, 12 JUNE 2013
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
___________
The House met at 14:06.
The Speaker took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
APPROPRIATION BILL
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 1
START OF DAY
APPROPRIATION BILL
Debate on Vote No 1 – The Presidency:
The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Hon Speaker, hon Deputy President, Deputy Speaker, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, esteemed special guests ...
IsiXhosa:
... molweni nonke. [... good day, everyone.]
English:
Once again ...
IsiZulu:
... nginomkhuhlanyana uma ngikhwehlela ningasho ukuthi ngiyaziqhenya. Gatsheni, ngiyabona ukuthi kunomkhunkuli okhunkula njalo uma ngiza la. [Uhleko.]
English:
Thank you for the opportunity to present the Budget Vote of the Presidency to this august House. Today, 12 June, marks the 49th anniversary of the sentencing of President Nelson Mandela to life imprisonment in 1964. On this crucial historical anniversary, our thoughts are with President Mandela and his family. [Applause.] I am happy to report that Madiba has been responding better to treatment since this morning. [Applause.] We are very happy with the progress that he is now making, following a difficult few days.
We appreciate the messages of support from all over the world. It is an honour for us as South Africans to share Madiba with the international community. [Applause.] We fully understand and appreciate the global interest in this world icon. We are so proud to call him our own. We urge South Africans and the international community to continue to keep President Mandela and his medical team in their thoughts and prayers.
During this month of June, we celebrate the contribution of young people who sacrificed immensely so that this country could be free, and so that those coming after them can live a better life. They emulated the youth leaders of the 1940s, Anthony Lembede, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, and others, who knew what was best for this country and its people. Because of their sacrifices and the foundation that was laid for a free and democratic South Africa, our country is a much better place to live in now than it was before 1994 ... [Applause.] ... even though we still have so much work to do.
There are generations of young people who acquitted themselves well in the struggle for our liberation. In this context, we remember in particular Ashley Kriel, the courageous uMkhonto weSizwe cadre who operated here in Cape Town. [Applause.] He was tragically murdered by a security policeman in July 1987. We extend a warm welcome to our special guests, his sisters Michelle Assure and Melanie Adams, who are with us today. [Applause.] May his fighting spirit live forever. [Applause.]
As we move towards 20 years of freedom, we also fondly remember a remarkable woman and fearless freedom fighter and human rights lawyer, Ms Phyllis Naidoo, who sadly passed away on 13 February this year. [Applause.] We are joined today by her daughter Ms Sukthi Naidoo. [Applause.]
The year 2013 is the 20th anniversary of the tragic and brutal assassination of Chris Thembisile Hani. We shall never forget the role he played and the sacrifices he made for our freedom. [Applause.] His dear wife, Mrs Limpho Hani, is our special guest today. [Applause.]
During the difficult years in exile, the ANC ran a highly successful international campaign to isolate the apartheid regime. Among president Oliver Tambo's key lieutenants in executing this campaign was none other than the late Johnny Mfanafuthi Makatini. [Applause.] We extend our warm welcome to his dear wife, Mrs Valerie O'Connor-Makatini, who is in Parliament for the first time today. [Applause.]
We all fondly remember the former Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Mr Roy Padayachie, who passed on so suddenly last year. We thank his wife, Mrs Sally Padayachie, for accepting the invitation to join us today. [Applause.]
I had an opportunity yesterday to have a cup of tea with our special guests. It revealed something to me. As we were making introductions, the first to do so was Mrs Hani, and everybody in the room cried, because they said something has come about for the first time, that they were remembered by this Parliament; that the members of their families could participate. No one could hold back their tears, which said something about the history of where we come from, which, at times, we take for granted, and the families that sacrificed their members.
However, that was followed by very exciting discussions about the history of our struggle, and some of them, our comrades, participated in the struggle. They remembered a lot of incidents where they themselves were part of our struggle. [Applause.] We are very honoured, indeed, that they are here today, because that connects us with the struggle, where we come from, whilst enjoying our democracy today.
As the departmental Budget Votes over the past few weeks have indicated, South Africa is a much better place today than it was before 1994. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve a truly nonracial, nonsexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. We are building a society in which every household will have access to decent housing, water, sanitation, electricity, quality health care and quality education. It must be a society where all feel safe and where no child goes to bed hungry. We shall not rest until that type of society is achieved, no matter how long it takes. [Applause.]
I would like to share with you and with this House our priorities in the economic and social transformation areas this financial year. The Presidency will this year follow a hands-on approach, working closely with relevant departments and social partners to boost confidence in the economy. We will do this against the background of achievements on the economic front since 1994, which must be borne in mind especially as we face the current economic turbulence. These achievements remind us of what our economy is capable of.
The South African economy has expanded by 83% over the past 19 years of our freedom. [Applause.] The national per capita income has increased from R27 500 in 1993 to R38 500 in 2012, which is an increase of 40%. Disposable per capita income of households has increased by 43%. Today employment has increased by more than 3,5 million since 1994, and we have extended social grants from 2,5 million people in 1994 to about 16 million to date to alleviate the poverty of the unemployed and the vulnerable.
One of the key strengths of our economy is our financial sector, which remains robust and healthy, and is well regarded because it is well regulated. That is why we were able to weather the 2009 financial crisis. Currently, the economy continues to grow, but at a much slower pace than previously expected. This presents challenges for job creation and poverty reduction.
Data released last month showed that real GDP growth slowed to 0,9% in the first quarter of 2013. The Eurozone, which is still our largest trading partner, is still steeped in recession. Growth in some major emerging markets has weakened somewhat, affecting the demand and price of our major commodity exports. The rand has become increasingly vulnerable to the global financial situation, including a strong US dollar environment. There is very little we can do about the global economic crisis, but there are things we can do domestically that can assist to improve the resilience of our economy.
We welcome the fact that all stakeholders agree on the need to stabilise the labour relations environment, especially in the mining sector. It is not in the interest of the country to have a tense labour relations environment that is characterised by a weakening of the collective bargaining mechanisms, illegal wildcat strikes, violent protests and loss of life. What we require from social partners is the commitment to resolve labour disputes peacefully, within the framework of the law, and in the interests of workers, employers and the country as a whole.
I recently requested the Deputy President to lead a ministerial team to work with social partners to assist the mining sector with normalising the situation. Work is continuing in this regard and we remain optimistic that a solution would be found. Let me take this opportunity to emphasise that government does not take sides and does not favour any labour union over others in the mining industry. [Applause.] Our interest is in finding solutions.
Now that we have entered the bargaining season in other sectors as well, we urge business and labour to ensure a speedier resolution of wage negotiations. This must take place within the framework of the law and the Constitution. Government cannot act outside of the Constitution and the law. Equally, business and the labour movements cannot act outside the law and the Constitution.
We cannot introduce violence to labour relations and the killing of people. Most importantly, we must not move away from the collective bargaining system and the framework of labour relations that was introduced at the dawn of democracy. Failure to act within the Constitution and the law gives the wrong impression of this critical economic sector in our country, the mining sector. Our law enforcement agencies have been instructed not to tolerate those who commit crime in the name of labour relations. They will face the full might of the law.
We cannot be the ones who undermine our own economy, as various stakeholders. We cannot, on the one hand, call for economic growth, which we all do, and the creation of jobs, which we all do, but, on the other, undermine the conditions that will give birth to that kind of situation of economic growth and job creation.
As we solve these problems, we must bear in mind that we are dealing with an inherited problem. As hon members would be aware, the apartheid system was designed to provide the mines and farms with cheap labour, thereby laying the foundation for the current problems. [Applause.] In the 1960s, when the growth of the mines slowed down and employment on farms began to fall, the apartheid system was too rigid to adjust.
The modernisation of the economy only began in 1994, and we then had to deal with the apartheid legacy of Bantu education, with inadequate skills to take the economy forward. [Applause.] Given the high rate of unemployment, we have a keen interest in saving jobs. We have had to act against the background of structural unemployment that dates back to the 1970s.
Hon members will recall that employment continued to deteriorate during the 90s and also during the last 10 years due to slow growth and declining employment in gold mining and agriculture. Though jobs grew rapidly during the boom of 2003 to 2008, unemployment did not fall below 20%. Employment received another setback due to the recession of 2009. To address this problem, the country needed higher growth and a focus on supporting job creation in a range of ways. We had to do things differently, and we needed to plan better.
We now have a plan to tackle our socioeconomic development challenges, the National Development Plan, NDP. The plan has been one of the foremost achievements of the country since 1994, and it has been adopted by both Cabinet and Parliament, and many sectors of civil society. While there may be differences of opinion on specific details, there is general acceptance of the broad thrust of the National Development Plan. It is normal to have differences of opinion in a democratic society like ours. That is what brings vibrancy to public discourse. That cannot in any way constitute a crisis otherwise we would not be running a democratic country. We would be running something else.
What we are suggesting, though, is that people must offer constructive inputs on the plan and not just debate it for the sake of it. We have moved to the implementation phase of the plan, incorporating the economic strategies, the New Growth Path, the Industrial Policy Action Plan and the infrastructure development plan, which now fall under the NDP umbrella.
To this end, the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation and the National Planning Commission's Secretariat in the Presidency are converting the National Development Plan's proposals into a Medium-Term Strategic Framework. This framework will inform the work of government for the next five years, and will be aligned with the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, which informs the budget process. Going forward, all delivery agreements, sector plans, departmental strategic plans, as well as provincial and municipal plans will be aligned to the National Development Plan.
Given that the National Development Plan is a crucial guiding document for all South Africans, it has to be well communicated to all. The Government Communication and Information System, GCIS, and Brand SA will work together to ensure effective communication and marketing of the plan.
As you are aware, the Presidency leads the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, which is geared to remove bottlenecks in infrastructure delivery. Much of the infrastructure expenditure of R827 billion over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework will be on projects that are already in progress, for which tenders have already been issued. The Ministers responsible for infrastructure shared information on the infrastructure programme during their Budget Votes. Weaknesses in planning and capacity, however, continue to delay the implementation of some projects, a matter that the commission is looking into. It was designed for that purpose.
As part of promoting national reconciliation and economic transformation, the implementation of black economic empowerment policies will continue. A foundation has been laid for black economic empowerment, and over R600 billion in black economic empowerment transactions have been recorded since 1995. [Applause.]
We are seriously concerned about the reach, the impact and the quantity of the empowerment deals and also the level of control and ownership of the economy. The direct black ownership at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange still stands at less than 5%. In addition, annual employment equity reports indicate that white males still own, control and manage the economy. Government is amending the black economic empowerment law to address some of these challenges. We appreciate the contribution of the Presidential Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Council to the law reform process.
Census 2011 revealed that we are essentially a young nation, and that just over a third of the population is under the age of 15. We are thus concerned about youth unemployment. Across the world, governments recognise that growing numbers of young people are left out of labour markets, and that decisive steps must be taken to reverse this trend. As we approach the 20th anniversary of our democracy, young people born in and after 1994 will have completed their education. We must act with speed and determination to ensure that they find good jobs and have other income-generating opportunities.
Last year I requested that discussions at the National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac, on youth employment should be speeded up. I am pleased that the talks led to the comprehensive Youth Employment Accord that was finalised in February this year and signed at the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto on 18 April this year. [Applause.] The accord sets out six commitments by the public and private sectors. These commitments address three cross-cutting issues, improving skills, facilitating exposure to the workplace, and increasing the number of jobs for young people.
On skills, the accord supports second-chance matriculation programmes, as well as other interventions at further education and training level to improve the capacity and capabilities of young people. Already a number of public entities have adopted FET colleges. In government, exposure to workplaces is being facilitated through internship programmes for young people. New job opportunities will be identified for youth in areas such as the green economy and infrastructure projects, as well as in business process services. Our Expanded Public Works Programme, as well as related public sector job initiatives, must now target the youth in increasing numbers.
We also reiterate our call to the private sector to take young people on as employees and interns. We have provided for appropriately structured employment incentives in the accord. This Youth Employment Accord has been endorsed by the main business organisations, namely, Business Unity South Africa and the Black Business Council, as well as the three major trade union federations, the Federation of Unions of South Africa, Fedusa, Cosatu and the National Council of Trade Unions, Nactu. [Applause.] It has the support of youth organisations across the political spectrum, and is the framework for a united effort to tackle youth unemployment.
The President's Award for Youth Empowerment – of which I am patron-in-chief, having taken over from President Mandela in 2009 – marks its 30th anniversary this year. The award was introduced in South Africa in 1983 and over 130 000 young South Africans have taken part in this programme. It is an important partnership with the United Kingdom. To ensure ongoing dialogue with the youth on development issues, the Presidency is to establish a Presidential Youth Working Group. Deputy Minister Obed Bapela will speak further on the Presidency's youth development focus, including the repositioning of the National Youth Development Agency.
We see a crucial role for state-owned enterprises in economic development. In the 2010 Presidency Budget Vote, I announced the establishment of the Presidential Review Committee on State-Owned Enterprises. Cabinet accepted the final report of the committee in April and the implementation detail is being worked out.
Making South Africa an even better place than it is currently will require the continued investment in social transformation and nation-building. We must promote unity and social cohesion. We must also enhance positive values and build stronger families and communities to strengthen the social fabric of our society. It is for this reason that we have accelerated the fight against social ills such as drug and substance abuse. We must save our children and the youth from the trap of crime and criminality, drugs, gangs, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and conflict with the law.
The 2012 annual report of the Central Drug Authority shows that the abuse of hard drugs, such as heroin, cocaine and the drugs known as tik, whoonga or nyaope has reached alarming levels. Increasingly worrying is the reality that these drugs are becoming easily available to children as young as eight years old. During my visit to Eldorado Park in Johannesburg last month, I witnessed at first hand the devastating impact of substance abuse on the lives of young people and their families.
I have directed various government departments to ensure that we address the challenges identified in Eldorado Park, Westbury, Mitchells Plain, and many other communities around the country. In Eldorado Park, with the assistance of law enforcement agencies, a total of 20 drug dens, also known as "lolly lounges", have been closed down. [Applause.] Four addicted children, including an eight-year-old, have been taken to a place of safety. This indicates that we can succeed in this battle. There are 215 local drug action committees around the country, so we dare not fail. They must do their work diligently, assisted by the relevant departments.
As part of nation-building, we also need to ensure that communities are safe and women and children are also safe. We have heard of shocking incidents in recent times, including young people who attacked women old enough to be their grandmothers. Some grandmothers in the town of Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape shared, in the media, their horrific tales of sexual molestation, which is a disgrace to society as a whole. The Departments of Social Development and Police as well as Women, Children and People with Disabilities, are to prioritise Lusikisiki and other areas, given the ongoing reports of serious abuse. Domestic violence or any form of gender violence is unacceptable and has no place in our country. Law enforcement agencies have been instructed to treat gender violence cases with the utmost urgency and importance. [Applause.]
We have reintroduced the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units and are re-establishing Sexual Offences Courts. The community must assist us by coming forward with information. Those who are victims of this crime should not suffer in silence either. We welcome the work done by nongovernmental organisations that support women and children. Government working alone will not be able to defeat this scourge.
South Africa is indeed a much better place to live in than it was before 1994. [Applause.] Each year, we move a step further towards achieving our ideal society. The extension of basic services will continue, and so will the monitoring thereof.
Of importance is to obtain feedback directly from citizens. From its inception in October 2009 to 31 March 2013, the Presidential Hotline has received a total of 160 914 cases, of which 90% have been resolved. [Applause.] We also encourage hands-on monitoring by visiting communities as that is the best way of assessing delivery.
As part of the Siyahlola Presidential Monitoring Programme, we have visited a number of communities in the past financial year. For example, in Gauteng, we visited the community of Sweetwaters to address concerns about poor living conditions in 2010. We returned to the community in August last year to check on progress made since the last visit. Following our intervention, a total of 760 housing units have been allocated to the residents from Sweetwaters and Thulamntwana. [Applause.] A total of 177 housing units have been fenced and the remainder will be fenced as and when the budget in the city becomes available. Water and sewer construction and electrification projects are also under way.
In December 2012, in commemoration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we visited Mpumalanga to monitor government's progress in mainstreaming issues of disability, also under the Siyahlola Presidential Monitoring Programme. We are committed to ensuring that the human rights of people with disabilities are respected and that government meets the 2% target of employing people with disabilities. [Applause.]
We are aware of the concerns about poor service delivery in some areas leading to protests by communities. We see in the National Development Plan the relevant blueprint with regard to improving the capacity of the state and turning around the performance of the Public Service to improve the way government works. Part of this intervention includes our ongoing fight against corruption. The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security, JCPS, cluster has outlined the work that is being done to rid our country of corruption. Cluster chairperson, Minister Jeff Radebe, released the names of 42 persons against whom action has been taken by the JCPS Anti-Corruption Task Team and indicated that more will be named in the near future. This surely demonstrates that government is not paying lip service to the fight against corruption. [Applause.]
South Africa continues to play a role on the continent, especially with regard to promoting good governance and economic development as well as and peace and stability. We will continue to promote the effectiveness of the African Union, especially its financial independence.
South Africa also continues to play a role in peacekeeping on the continent. The deployment of SANDF members on the continent under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union directly contributes to the restoration of peace. It also provides an opportunity for SANDF members to improve their skills in this important responsibility.
During the course of the past financial year, the following external operations continued, the SANDF contingent in support of the United Nations Organisation for Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the SANDF contingent in support of the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur, Sudan; assistance to the Mozambican defence force with antipiracy operations in the Mozambique Channel; provision of disaster aid and relief during floods in Mozambique; and the provision of military advice in the area of military strategy and plans to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Our soldiers have acquitted themselves well on these missions and have represented their country with pride and dedication. [Applause.] We salute them and wish them well.
We commend the government and the people of Zimbabwe for finalising the constitution-making process. [Applause.] In this regard, South Africa urges the political leadership in that country to work on the necessary reforms required to create an environment conducive to credible, peaceful, acceptable, free and fair elections. South Africa and the entire SADC region remain ready to continue to assist the government and the people of Zimbabwe in their efforts to implement the Global Political Agreement.
On global matters, South Africa will continue playing its part in reconfiguring global economic arrangements through participation in the International Monetary Fund, IMF, the World Bank, the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, G20, the Financial Stability Forum, the World Trade Organisation, and more recently, in partnership with Brazil, Russia, India and China, the Brics countries. We were honoured to host the Brics Summit in March this year and the World Economic Forum in Cape Town last month. [Applause.]
In this difficult economic climate, I would like to once again implore all of us to put our country first in everything we do. [Applause.] We have achieved a lot in a short space of time. South Africa is a much better place to live in today than it was before 1994. [Applause.] Government is determined to continue working hard with all sectors to build a prosperous South Africa.
Let me take this opportunity to thank the Deputy President, the Ministers in the Presidency and the Deputy Minister for their support. [Applause.] I also appreciate the contribution and hard work of the director-general, advisers, senior management and all staff in the Presidency. [Applause.] It is my privilege to commend Budget Vote No 1 to the House. I thank you. [Applause.]
THE CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY /Robyn – English/ END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 2
"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,12 Jun 2013,"[Take-02] [National Assembly Chamber Main][NAC-Logger][ct].doc"
The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Hon Speaker, hon President and Deputy President, special guests of the President in this House, distinguished members and guests of this Parliament, it was Madiba himself who said, in his 100-day speech to Parliament in 1994, that:
Down the years, human society has pitted itself against the pestilences of poverty, disease and ignorance. Progress has been achieved while reverses have also been sustained. It is incumbent on South Africa to be in the company of those who have recorded more success than failure.
Thus, in this debate, where we stand as public representatives to debate the budget of the Presidency, we do so in the public interest and by the mandate given to us by the millions of our people who want us to work towards the goal of a better life for all South Africans and contribute to the creation of a better South Africa and Africa.
From the outset, the ANC-led government identified nation-building and land restitution as part of the national agenda. When we gained freedom in 1994, we found a country that was divided into a black and white South Africa, where the black part was divided into ethnic groups which were arbitrarily defined and put into native reserves or Bantustans or homelands.
We also found black people who were de-Africanised and depersonalised to such an extent that they lost their self-respect, self-worth and self-esteem, culture of self-help and self-reliance, and the will for development and progress.
Right at the beginning of your term, hon President, you realised and acknowledged that the degradation and dehumanisation of our people was rooted in our dark and unjust colonial and apartheid past. You recalled that the recovery of the humanity of all South Africans, both black and white, has always been the cornerstone of ANC policy.
Hon President, you called on all South Africans to work together to build a South Africa based on the values and principles of our common humanity, ubuntu/botho. You also made the philosophy of ubuntu a pillar of our international relations and co-operation with other countries. The worldwide recognition that Africa is the cradle of humanity provides us with a unique opportunity to be a major role-player in nation-building and promotion of unity in diversity on the continent.
Hon President, you have already led the way when you pointed out the importance of the African heritage and indigenous knowledge system in nation-building and social cohesion. As you correctly observed, our society is made up of the African, Asian and European streams of history and culture, and that all three streams must be protected and respected. Colonial oppression and exploitation caused underdevelopment and wounded the African psyche.
The democratic breakthrough of 1994 liberated the African body, not his/her mind and soul. Thus, our icon, Nelson Mandela, spoke of spiritual transformation as a prerequisite for social and economic transformation and defined spiritual transformation as the reconstruction and development programme of the soul.
The social ills, such as drug and alcohol abuse, the murder and rape of the elderly and teenagers, as well as teenage pregnancies are a manifestation of the wounds of the psyche of black people in particular, which still needs to be healed. The Moral Regeneration Movement that you launched in 2002, which is ably led by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, is an important part of nation-building.
Moral decay is rooted in our dark and unjust past and it is exacerbated by the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality. As you correctly observed in your keynote address to the Summit on Social Cohesion and Nation-building held in Kliptown on 4 to 5 July 2012:
The challenges of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, landlessness and the divisions around race, class and gender make it difficult to arrive at a socially cohesive and united society as fast as we would want to. Our responsibility as government is to lead the South African people towards a national democratic society that is united, nonracial, democratic and prosperous. It is a society with a value system that is based on human solidarity and ubuntu which promotes a society which prioritises caring and respecting others.
Hon President, here you gave the country the clearest definition of the national democratic society that all of us must work hard to build.
Speaking at the same summit, Comrade Gwede Mantashe, the Secretary-General of the ANC, emphasised the importance of social cohesion and social solidarity in the following words:
Our 'South Africanness', which we celebrate through our Constitution, is the glue which contributes to and binds social cohesion and nation-building, and therefore it is an important pillar in our unity in diversity.
Land dispossession has played a major role in creating the divisions and injustices of the past. The decision of your administration to accelerate land restitution and to reopen the process to enable those who failed to lodge claims by the cut-off date to do so will be a major contribution to social cohesion and nation-building. It will give meaning to the commemoration of the centenary of the Land Act of 1913.
Chief Albert Luthuli correctly observed that the treatment of women as minors and the restriction of their access to land is not part and parcel of African culture. It is one of the legacies of colonialism and apartheid. Women participated and led wars of resistance against colonialism and apartheid. Names that come to mind include Mbuya Nehanda of Zimbabwe, Queen Nzinga of Angola, Queen Mother Ntombi of Swaziland, Queen Manthatisi of Batlokwa and Queen Modjadji of Balovedu of Limpopo province.
The female leaders waged wars of resistance in defence of their land and sovereignty. [Applause.] As Parliament, we shall celebrate the lives and contribution of female leaders to the struggle for land and freedom. [Applause.] The contestation of our history has recently been taking centre stage, most notably because many would have us believe that our history began in 1652, when in fact our history goes back millions of years to the cradle of humankind, which is what Africa is.
Our story is told by those who could record it, not by those who lived it. The recent contestation of our beloved icon, Nelson Mandela, whose image with a fellow South African was appropriated by the DA to give legitimacy to their diluted and fragmented party history is a case in point. [Applause.] We find it distasteful to watch the vultures circle and opportunistically grab what they believe would make them shine whilst selectively airbrushing and in the process distorting our history. [Applause.] [Interjections.]
This fourth administration that you lead hon President, has notched many deliverables and improved on those since 1994. These are ensuring that access to primary and secondary education has been expanded to include almost the entire age cohort. A reception year has been introduced. Ten million people have been accommodated in formal housing. Primary health care has been expanded. Access to electricity and water has been significantly expanded. Enrolment in higher education has almost doubled. The economy has grown and is more diverse today than in 1993 and public revenues have increased.
Though divisions of race, gender and class remain, reflected in inequality across these lines, the ANC government's policies are ensuring that we steadfastly work to remove such inequalities. The acceleration of land restitution and the reopening of the land claims process are important steps in building a better life for all our people and a better Africa.
The recognition of Africa as the cradle of humanity provides us with a sound basis for the recovery of our common humanity and advancement of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance. The acceleration of land restitution and the reopening of the land claims process will go a long way to healing the wounds caused by colonial land dispossession, colonial oppression and exploitation, and will thus contribute to the creation of a better life for all.
Hon President, your vigorous pursuit of progressive Pan-Africanism has yielded results. [Applause.] Today, we have a daughter of the soil, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, at the helm of the African Union Commission. [Applause.] Hardly a year after her elevation to the leadership of the Commission, the AU declared 2013 the "Year of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance".
Even the traditional naysayers in this House cannot deny that it was our own Pixley Isaka ka Seme who kindled the spirit of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance in South Africa, Africa and the diaspora. As South Africans and Africans, both black and white, we must celebrate this achievement in word and deed. We must join and light the flame of hope, and work together with Africa and her diaspora to create a better Africa and a better world.
We trust that the institutionalisation of the African Renaissance in the last 15 years by the former Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, hon Sibusiso Ndebele, will be emulated by other provinces and co-ordinated at the national level. As Parliament, we have instructed the Parliamentary Group on International Relations, the PGIR, to develop a year-long programme to celebrate Pan-African nationalism and African Renaissance. We trust that Minister Ndebele will be an important player in this regard.
This morning, the multiparty Chief Whips' Forum agreed to the development of a year-long programme of dialogue and celebration of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance.
Hon, President, your constructive engagement with traditional and religious institutions, and their involvement in Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance programme, will enhance your nation-building agenda and help to deepen and entrench democracy and the culture of human rights.
On the African continent, South Africa has become increasingly drawn into the resolution of conflicts and the promotion of peace and stability on the wider African continent, for instance, in Burundi, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the DRC, and the Central African Republic, CAR.
The South African government should continue to play a positive and constructive role in conflict resolution, peace-building and deepening and entrenching democracy on the African continent, guided by the vision of an African continent that is peaceful, prosperous and democratic. Our foreign policy is premised on the principles of ubuntu, and the White Paper on South Africa's Foreign Policy that states:
This philosophy translates into an approach to international relations that respects all nations, peoples and cultures. It recognises that it is our national interest to promote and support the positive development of others. Similarly, national security would therefore depend on the centrality of human security as a universal goal, based on the principle of Batho Pele. In the modern world of globalisation, a constant element is and has to be our common humanity. We therefore champion collaboration, co-operation and building partnerships over conflict resolution and peace-building. This recognition of our interconnectedness and interdependency, and the infusion of ubuntu into the South African identity, shapes our foreign policy.
The declaration of the recent 50th anniversary of the AU/OAU shares with us the commitment to accelerate the African Renaissance, a deepening and entrenchment of the principles of Pan-Africanism. It states that:
Our common destiny, our shared values and the affirmation of the African identity, the celebration of unity in diversity and the institution of the African citizenship ...
... must be aimed at –
... reviving our cultural identity, heritage and history.
The celebration of the 50th anniversary has called on the Pan-African Parliament and local and national legislatures to celebrate the Year of Pan-Africanism and Renaissance to enhance awareness of the new generation of Africans about the ideals of Pan-Africanism. This urges the public to be involved in the activities so that the gap between the people of Africa and the AU can be bridged with a view to sharing, rallying and uniting all behind common objectives and views.
Hon President, you have often spoken about an activist Parliament and government and about ensuring that the people are heard and that they actively participate. You stated, and I quote:
Government can't operate in isolation. It has to link up with the people and the people should also understand that this is their government. They must not be shy to take initiative, to interact with government in various ways and must be able to talk and say that things are not going right.
In your various visits to communities across the length and breadth of this country, hon President, you have demonstrated the critical importance of listening to the people. The visits to the Sunnyside Police Station during a busy weekday morning, your acknowledgement and visit in response to a plea from a concerned community member in Eldorado Park, the launch of the Presidential Anti-Rape Campaign in Mitchells Plain, your visit with musicians to address their issues, your Siyahlola Monitoring visit to Mpumalanga, your meetings with religious leaders and traditional leaders and various engagements with communities by hon Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, eloquently testify to a Presidency that knows where the people live, what their fears and aspirations are, and responds to the people's needs. [Applause.]
The current debates over service delivery challenges bring the role of legislatures into sharp focus. As the governing party, the ANC has the responsibility to develop an active citizenry through ensuring that active representation and participation by our people take place. It does this by having them gaining access to and input into our policy processes through our legislatures, strengthening our interactions on the ground with communities, taking cognisance of our people's concerns and addressing them via legislative amendments, and welcoming the participation of civil society organisations, advocacy groups and other interest groups in our legislative process. This is what we mean by an activist Parliament and legislatures.
As I conclude, since the beginning of this parliamentary term in 2009, this administration has been focused on building an activist Parliament, legislatures and local councils. The need to ensure that these legislatures are people-centred and people-driven is situated in our capacity to lead a common national and African agenda and to mobilise all of society to take part in this implementation.
As we approach our 20th year of democratic rule, let us heed the words of one of the greatest proponents of peace in our lifetime, Nelson Mandela, who said:
At the end of the day, the yardstick that we shall all be judged by is one and one only. That is, through our endeavours here, we are creating the basis to better the lives of all South Africans! This is not because the people have some subjective expectations fanned during an election campaign. Neither is it because there is a magic wand that they see in the new government. Millions have suffered deprivation for decades and they have the right to seek the redress they fought for.
Thank you, hon Speaker. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION / /Mosa//A N N(ed) / End of Take [15:25:15]
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 3
THE CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Mr Speaker, hon President and hon members, today all of our minds will be focused on President Nelson Mandela. At this sensitive time, our thoughts and prayers are with uTata's family and his loved ones. We are reminded that President Mandela's term in office proved that a leader's words and actions matter. He defined the truths of his time in simple terms.
In his first state of the nation address on 24 May 1994, he plainly said that the acid test of the legitimacy of his administration would be the progress made in delivering measurable freedoms. Our former President defined freedom with unmistakable precision:
Our definition of the freedom of the individual must be instructed by the fundamental objective to restore the human dignity of each and every South African.
Accordingly, he spoke of the goals of freedom from want, freedom from hunger, freedom from deprivation, freedom from ignorance, freedom from suppression and freedom from fear.
On this occasion of the 2013 Presidency Budget Vote, we must all take note of these wise words of our former President. We must hold ourselves up to this high standard for this is the South Africa our predecessors set out to build in 1994. But, Mr Speaker, this past year has seen us take a major step backwards from achieving this goal. Over the past year this government has merely stumbled from crisis to crisis.
It is an unavoidable conclusion that President Jacob Zuma's lack of purpose and direction is at the very heart of the problem. One doesn't have to look very far back to see why. Two weeks ago, President Zuma spoke at a press conference in an attempt to reassure the global markets about the state of South Africa's economy. Speaking about the crisis afflicting the mining sector, he said: "It is only in undemocratic countries that there are no strikes."
He added that, "I don't think we should take strikes as a problem." Within hours, the value of the rand had plummeted by 3% and breached the R10 to US$1 mark. The rand's fall showed that the markets have reached the same conclusion that the rest of South Africa reached some time ago. They have no confidence in the President of the Republic.
One year ago at this podium I asked the President to put aside self-interest and not to seek re-election as leader of his party. I said that if he were to do this, he would have an opportunity to devote himself to the challenges of government and youth unemployment.
I said that if the President made this commitment, he would have an opportunity to put his undoubted talents of warmheartedness, compassion and conflict resolution in the service of our great nation.
The hon President did not heed this call and, tragically for South Africa, the past year has seen South Africa unravel even further towards the culmination of a failed presidency.
The rand slumped after President Zuma's press briefing because of what he has done and because of what he has not done.
What is it about our President that causes a run on our currency? The answer is his leadership and his record. Since last year's Presidency Budget Vote the hon President's failure of leadership has manifested itself in five major crises.
In August 2012, 34 mine workers were shot dead in cold blood by members of the SA Police Service at the Lonmin Mine. This was not a random event. High levels of poverty and inequality, an apartheid-era migrant labour system and the broken labour bargaining system set the context. But Marikana, above all, represented failed presidential leadership. The hon President's toxic and client-based relationship with Cosatu left him powerless to intervene.
The President did not foresee the Marikana crisis because he and his government only cared about the concerns of the mine workers who belong to the ANC-affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers. What did he care for the unconnected outsiders in the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, AMCU? How could he play the role of honest broker in the dispute when members of his own party's executive are major shareholders and board members of the very same mining houses in which Cosatu unions are dominant? [Applause.] [Interjections.]
The crisis did not begin and end in August last year. Since the initial unrest at Marikana we have seen continued leadership failure from our President. His government still refuses to empower small unions to participate in wage negotiations. We have seen continued carnage and bloodshed. On 12 May AMCU organiser Mawethu Steven became the latest victim when he was fatally shot outside Rustenburg.
The economic fallout of Marikana has been as incalculable as the human pain. In September last year, the Marikana tragedy triggered the downgrading of South Africa's sovereign credit rating by Standard and Poor's and Moody's. Both agencies cited political and economic instability as the reasons for the downgrades.
Over the past year, billions of rands in economic output have been lost due to wildcat strikes. If the President was serious about avoiding another downgrade he would provide leadership and policy certainty to facilitate reforms to the labour dispensation and enable smaller unions to have a say in negotiating wages. A strong president would move swiftly to counter fears about nationalisation and mining super-taxes. He would lock in policy stability to attract investors.
The President must lead the process of labour market reform by providing direction to this government. Unfortunately, it is clear that this government has learnt no lessons from the national tragedy at Marikana.
With an election looming, the President capitulates to Cosatu at every turn. Even ANC stalwarts like SA Reserve Bank governor, Gill Marcus, are now beginning to speak out. Last week, she said that decisive leadership is needed to tackle South Africa's domestic challenges, which have reached crisis proportions. But the President's response this seems to be, "crisis, what crisis?"
In October last year, the President's lack of decisive leadership was reinforced by his response to the scandal surrounding the upgrade of his private home, Nkandla, to the tune of over R200 million in public money. South Africa owes a great debt of gratitude to the dogged determination of the independent media that shone a light on this shameful affair. It is no coincidence that our citizens' right to know has been imperilled during President Zuma's term in office.
According to Freedom House, South Africa was classified as free, with a score of 30 out of 100 for freedom of the press in 2009. But this year, South Africa slid to partly free, with a score of 35 in the same category.
This time last year, we could never have imagined that the President's Ministers would deploy a pernicious apartheid law, the National Key Points Act, to try and prevent the truth about who authorised the Nkandla upgrade from emerging.
If the President really wanted to reassure the markets two weeks ago he would have asked that the inquiry report into Nkandla be declassified immediately. Only bad governments thrive under the cloak of darkness. Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear. [Applause.]
In April this year, this same veil of secrecy was drawn over the murky circumstances which led to the tragic death of 15 South African National Defence Force soldiers in the Central African Republic. Many more were injured. We still do not know the precise circumstances of how and why our soldiers died at the hands of rebels who had seized power after toppling former President François Bozize. The President has failed to provide full answers. In every crisis, he misses the opportunity to take the nation into his confidence.
Last year, I posed a question: Does the hon President use power, or does power use him? This year, the revelation that the President's close friends, the Gupta family, used the Waterkloof Air Force Base ... [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order! Order!
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: ... for a family wedding answered that very question. The President has presided over the creation of a nepotistic state within a state.
Presidential leadership requires both executive confidence and a respect for democratic institutions. But the President's management style of cronyism and patronage has led to the collapse of good governance across the administration.
That same lack of executive responsibility has also led to the failure to appoint a head of the Special Investigating Unit and a suitable National Director of Public Prosecutions.
On this occasion of the last Budget Vote of President Zuma's term of office, it is clear to all, friend and foe alike, that this Presidency is over. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
The many crises of this leadership and of the leadership on his watch and his failure effectively to manage his own government make it impossible for him to redeem his Presidency. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order, hon members! Order!
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: But despite this dying Presidency ... [Interjections.]
Mrs J D KILIAN: Hon Speaker, on a point of order: The gallery is also participating. Would you please inform the House? [Laughter.]
The SPEAKER: Hon members, order! Thank you, hon member. Let me state this to the hon members. Honourable guests in the gallery, we always appreciate and welcome your presence in Parliament. This is the Parliament of the people. Members of the public in the gallery may, however, not express themselves and participate in the deliberations of the House. They may not loudly approve or disapprove, for example, by applauding or clapping to what is being said. Members in the House will applaud on your behalf. [Laughter.]
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: The many crises of leadership on his watch, and his failure effectively to manage his own government make it impossible for President Jacob Zuma to redeem his Presidency. But despite this dying Presidency, blue skies are piercing the gloom. There is an alternative. The 2014 general election will be a game changer because the nation's fastest growing political party is transforming the electoral landscape day by day. [Applause.] [Interjections.]
Next year, five million young South Africans will come of age and register to cast their votes for the first time. They will vote for the party that actually delivers on the promise of a better life for all. [Applause.] [Laughter.] [Interjections.] The DA is marching towards government in Gauteng and the Northern Cape because we exercise power on behalf of the people and we never let power use us. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order, hon members! Order!
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: There is a clear choice between leadership under the DA and under the ANC on every major issue facing our citizens today. Take the economy, for example. Since the hon President took his oath of office in 2009, 2,2 million more South Africans have joined the ranks of the unemployed. The President's endless preoccupation with placating his Cosatu allies has cost the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs through the youth wage subsidy. During his time in office, South Africa has experienced one of the lowest growth domestic product growth rates in our peer group - recently downgraded from 3% to 2%. This is completely out of step with growth rates in other middle-income countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Chile, whose GDP growth averages over 5%.
Gauteng is the economic heartland of South Africa consisting of 34% of the country's GDP. But there are two million people who are out of work in Gauteng. This means that 30% of the labour force cannot find work or have given up looking, 481 000 more than when the President took office in 2009. This is why we say a vote for the ANC is a vote for more unemployment. [Interjections.] The DA is working hard to win Gauteng to get the province back to work. [Interjections.]
A growing and inclusive economy also depends on fixing our broken education system. Providing a decent education for every child is more than just a virtuous goal. It is a fundamental human right. But President Zuma has failed to push for higher standards in education and training in South Africa to survive and prosper in a fast changing world. Since the President has come to office, the quality of the South African education system has declined from 110th to 140th out of 144 countries in the World Economic Forum's rankings.
The hon President has also failed to improve South Africa's notorious ranking as the second worst country in the world for quality of Maths and science education. This is why we say a vote for the ANC is a vote for a broken education system. [Interjections.]
The Northern Cape in particular has suffered from poor governance in education. The education system nearly collapsed in the John Taolo District Municipality last year. The Acting Premier, Grizelda Cjiekella, stood by powerless, while children were prevented from going to school by members of the community who were protesting about the poor delivery of services. Schoolchildren missed four months of education in Olifantshoek and other towns. Under the leadership of a DA premier in the Northern Cape, we will fix the education system. [Applause.]
The rapid growth of the DA amongst people from all walks of life means that the new politics of change in South Africa is upon us. Last week, we were delighted to support the ANC's motion to debate the inspirational KnowYourDA campaign right here in Parliament.
South Africa won democracy and freedom not in spite of liberalism, but because of the bravery of liberals in overcoming the soul-crushing legacy of apartheid. Ours is the noble legacy of Selby Msimang, one of the 1912 founders of the ANC, who co-founded the Liberal Party; of Jordan Ngubane, the editor of Inkundla ya Bantu, who eventually left the ANC to take up the liberal cause after helping to position Inkosi Albert Luthuli to become the ANC President; ours is the history of Helen Suzman, who worked tirelessly in Parliament to expose the worst excesses of the apartheid government; and it is of Tony Leon's Democratic Party, which played a major role in co-crafting our liberal democratic Constitution based on nonracialism, equality and tolerance.
As I look across to the government benches, I know there are Ministers who identify with those values. Our daily politics may be divided, but we share similar principles. When hon Lindiwe Sisulu's valiant attempts to establish an anticorruption bureau are mocked by the President's conduct, she must know that only this side of the House shares her determined resolve to end corruption. [Applause.] When the hon Gordhan's relentless struggle to lock in economic stability is rocked daily by the President's dithering, he must realise that his vision can only be implemented by an alternative government. [Applause.] The hon Pandor, who has spent years fighting for education reform, only to have her efforts repeatedly frustrated by Cosatu, she too must know in her heart that with our track record the DA is most likely to raise education standards to prepare South Africa for a changed world. [Applause.]
This is the time for members of the governing party who love this country to consider their response to this tragic conflict of loyalty. Every leader in history is tested by how they rise to unpredicted events and trials. Today the truth needs to be set out clearly.
In the life of a democratic nation, rarely has a leader been so personally responsible for setting into motion a chain of crises as our President. Every major crisis of the past year could have been avoided if the President had exercised principled and selfless leadership.
And so, today, I would like to appeal directly to the governing party to spare our country any future damage by not nominating President Zuma to contest the 2014 election. [Applause.] South Africa cannot afford one more wasted year. If we are consigned to another six years of failed leadership, South Africa may never recover the lost ground. Hon colleagues, for the sake of South Africa, today let us unite across party lines and vote against the Presidency Budget. I thank you. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
Mr M G LEKOTA /Arnold / GC / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 4
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
Mr M G P LEKOTA: Hon Speaker, hon President and Deputy President, and members of the House, it is appropriate that we should join millions of people at home and abroad at this time to reflect on the condition of the father of our nation and hope and pray that he makes a speedy recovery. As the leader of our struggle and the architect of our democracy, Madiba bridged the chasms that divided us, he forged the Constitution that freed and united us, he created the moral compass that guided all of us and he bred the hope that inspires to this day. In his suffering, therefore, we walk around stoically, hoping that our prayers will be answered and that he recovers.
In a world where political expediency rules, he held a divided nation together through integrity, clarity of vision and adherence to the rule of law. He placed total store by our Constitution, which he led in shaping in the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, Codesa, process. He sought to infuse the rights it guaranteed into every walk of life. We shall forever be grateful to the foundations he helped to lay.
Turning to Vote No 1, the Cope cannot give support to this Vote ... [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order, hon members!
Mr M G P LEKOTA: ... for the reasons I will clearly outline. First of all, because the example Madiba set was not followed. I recall today that as the Chairperson of the NCOP, members of the executive of the party to which I belonged at that time did not come to the House to answer the questions in the NCOP because they relegated the NCOP to lower status than this Other House. I rebuked them and the papers carried that. Some of the members of the executive were very angry and they took positions questioning why I, a member of the ruling party, was insisting that they should meet the obligations of the Constitution. Whilst they did that, President Mandela came on the side of the Constitution and supported the correctness of my position. It was my duty to make sure that members of the executive met their obligation in so far as they had to carry out functions in the NCOP. [Interjections.]
There are colleagues here, Ms Pandor and others, with whom we served there and we were supported in the wrongness of the executive which did not want to be held accountable. [Interjections.] I am not surprised at the noises that are being made because it shows clearly that to this day there are many who have not as yet understood that lesson of history. That is why there is a staggering deficit of accountability in our politics today.
Today, we have rulers and not governors.[Interjections.] They took away the Scorpions and gave us the Hawks. They took away our right to a police service and foisted a police force upon us. They ignored the Constitution to push the Protection of State Information Bill down our throats. They curtailed open debate in this House. They showed scant regard for the legislature and secretly sent troops to the Central African Republic, without engaging with this Parliament.
They expended hundreds of millions of rands in Nkandla and channelled the report on it to a committee that meets in secret, because they do not want accountability. They do not want the people to see. [Interjections.] Symptomatic of the accountability - I dare say by the way - only Deputy Minister Cronin openly condemned the outrageous expenditure in Nkandla. He is the only person amongst the ruling party who did that. That was something noble. That is an example to be emulated. Those who are holding their tongues today are forfeiting their right to express any moral repugnance tomorrow.
Symptomatic of the accountability nightmare is the failure of many Ministers to come here to this House and answer questions that the opposition raises. We have consequently been asking for a meeting with the Deputy President to discuss the large number of questions, which very many members of the executive do not want to account for in this House.
Countrywide the situation is, of course, shambolic and shocking. In a city that bears Nelson Mandela's name, a capable municipal manager was by all accounts harassed into resigning because she was determined to fight corruption. A similar situation prevails in the Deeds Office in Pietermaritzburg. On the other hand, shockingly, Block and Botes are back in the Northern Cape executive. [Interjections.]
Secrecy and a failure to uphold ideals were anathema to Nelson Mandela. In defence of his ideals, on the way to Robben Island, he told the Rivonia Trial that he was prepared to die for that which was right. Interestingly, even after he came back from Robben Island, he remained true to that position. When Louis Luyt wanted him to appear in court to testify, and many advised that he should not do so, he rejected that advice. He went and stood in court, and answered the questions he had to answer. [Applause.] In doing so, he affirmed the constitutionality of our judiciary, not just prescribing to others, but acting out that which he wanted everybody else to follow.
Nelson Mandela set what I call the gold and platinum standards for governance. He wanted to be beyond reproach, but not beyond criticism. His moral and visionary leadership won us the esteem of the world. Whilst he made the truth visible, the present executive is determined to make unpalatable truths invisible. True followers of Mandela are those willing to be bound by the moral rectitude and intellectual rigour he demonstrated. All others are name-droppers who pretend to be the carriers of his legacy. [Applause.]
What South Africa needs today, as the crisis of governance deepens in our country, is visionary and moral leadership. I am not surprised therefore that Gill Marcus joined, a few days ago, a growing chorus by asking for decisive leadership as the country descends into an unpalatable situation of directionless and unguided national drift.
Hon President, we would have supported this budget as it is set had you, at least in my view, taken the step to reduce this Cabinet of Ministers and Deputy Ministers, that go up to 64, consuming huge quantities of resources that should be addressing the needs of our people. Had you only done that. Have you looked at the example of President Uhuru Kenyatta in Kenya, who has just reduced the Cabinet of his country from 44 to 18 to release resources that can then address the needs of the people of his country? [Applause.]
By our reckoning, the National Assembly itself needs a review and we must consider whether nothing could be done to save resources and redirect them away from consumption to deal with the issue of the conditions of the people. We cannot afford to have a government that is preoccupied with itself and with this handbook of how much they must earn when the people have nothing to earn and eat. Because of the increase in executive members, the administration itself increases. If you increase the number of Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and all of that, you must then employ more staff for them.
A huge chunk of the budget goes to feeding individuals who are busy talking and writing, and people have nothing to eat. [Interjections.] In fact, that bloated administration the Minister of Finance has constantly advised on. But nobody listens to the Minister of Finance. The more he says we must cut down on the bloated administration, the more you employ friends and family, the more you increase it, and then what happens? [Applause.]
What happens, of course, is that inefficiency sets in. The line of administration just to get a certificate signed is too long. It is so long that in the end the Guptas land at Waterkloof Air Force Base because nobody knows who is doing what. [Interjections.] We must stop this situation. Government should be looking after the people.
I want to say to my colleagues, the members of the House, both on the side of the ruling party and the opposition, the time has come that we must unite as the legislature. [Interjections.] We must say to the executive – we are the legislature – that we will not have you there because you are failing all of us. We must revolt on behalf of the poor, hungry and homeless. We, you and I together, that is what we were elected for.
The SPEAKER: Hon member, your time has expired.
Mr M G P LEKOTA: I appeal to you. We must carry out that responsibility. Amandla! [Applause.]
The SPEAKER: Order!
Mr M G P LEKOTA: Amandla! [Applause.]
THE MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION / KC//A N N(ed) / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 5
Mr M G P LEKOTA
The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY - NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION: Hon Speaker, His Excellency President Zuma, hon Deputy President, Cabinet colleagues, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, as I listened to your address yesterday, Mr Speaker, here at this podium, I was reminded of how far we've come since President Nelson Mandela delivered his first state of the nation address.
It's important that we take the time to reflect on the journey that we've travelled, but at the same time to ask whether we've made sufficient progress. We must reflect on where we find ourselves now as a country, but also locate that reflection within the shifts that have taken place globally over this period.
Tony Judt offers this short but powerful reflection in his book, Ill Fares the Land, wrote:
Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. For thirty years we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose. We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth. We no longer ask of a judicial ruling or a legislative act: Is it good? Is it fair? Is it just? Is it right? Will it help bring about a better society or a better world? Those used to be the political questions even if they invited no easy answers. We must learn once again to pose them.
Social transformation is not a gift from the gods and neither is it always a product of cataclysmic events. It is a product of a deep realisation that the conditions under which we live and under which we are required to raise families are unacceptable and unjust. It's a product of a deep probing of the kind that Judt encourages us to practice.
It is also a probing that requires of us as members of this House and as leadership generally to remind ourselves of where we come from and what has guided us through our life. To the two speakers who spoke before me, I would use the words of the great Amilcar Cabral and say, Claim no easy victories, mask no difficulties and tell no lies. [Applause.]
Indeed, if the hon Mazibuko weren't that keen on Freedom House and she wanted to understand what is happening in education, I would take you today, Madam, to Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Gugulethu, and show you what is happening under the administration of your sky blue. [Applause.] I will show you what is happening to the lives of the children of the poor, and then you would know ... [Interjections.]
Dr D T GEORGE: Speaker, I rise on a point of order: Could you please remind the speaker that he needs to address the Chair and not the member directly? Thank you. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Correct. Proceed, hon Minister.
The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY - NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION: Social transformation is also a product of the resolve by members of society who decided that they no longer will leave the future of their children to chance; that no longer will they accept living in inhumane conditions; when people decide that the health care provided to the sick among them is everyone's collective problem; that the drugs and crime that rip families and communities apart are everyone's problems; when education authorities, teachers, learners and parents recognise that they are on the same side, and then they begin to share a common goal.
Social transformation is a product of being conscious about social injustices, taking decisions to act on those injustices, of planning the course of action and of executing those plans. We have acted according to this spirit from the very founding of the ANC in 1912 to the gathering of people from all walks of life in Kliptown in 1955, to the negotiations that gave birth to the democratic South Africa.
All of these events in our life as a nation were characterised by a deep sense of recognition that the situation we found ourselves in was untenable and we resolved to do something about it. We continued in the same vein after 1994, guided by Nelson Mandela's words that:
The purpose that will drive this government shall be the expansion of the frontiers of human fulfilment and the continuous extension of the frontiers of the freedom.
It was this approach that guided the drafting and adoption of our Constitution, the revision and replacement of apartheid legislation and the formulation of policies. The establishment of the National Planning Commission was part of the process where, as a nation, we had to find a more effective approach to addressing our challenges.
Ten months ago, we presented to President Zuma, this House and the nation the National Development Plan. We presented a product of two years of research and analysis, purposeful dialogue and deliberation on the future of our country.
We presented a product in which the National Planning Commission took the opportunity to listen to thousands of South Africans from all walks of life share their thoughts, fears and visions about the future. We presented a plan which embodies the dreams of the people of this nation. As the poet William Butler Yeats, in his 1899 poem, Cloths of Heaven, writes:
Had I heavens' embroidered cloths
unwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light, and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
What has happened since we have spread this dream for South Africa at the feet of members of this House? In the weeks and months after tabling the plan in this House, various political parties, including of course the ANC, debated the plan extensively in their conferences and adopted it as a programme to guide our collective efforts as a nation for the next 17 years.
The NDP has galvanised society into seriously thinking about and debating the future of our country. In any given week there are conferences, seminars and workshops to discuss the NDP in various parts of our country. Not organised by the commission or the secretariat, they are organised by people across a wide range of sectors who care about the future of this country. Newspapers carry articles, analyses and opinion pieces about the NDP on a daily basis.
It's trite to say that not everybody agrees with all the details in the NDP, but there is no denying that it has become a central part of our national narrative. Political analysts, media commentators and, indeed, members of this House are increasingly evaluating government actions, policies and strategies on whether or not they are aligned to the NDP. So, clearly we have the country talking about the plan, but what about action?
Cabinet endorsed the plan during the extended Cabinet lekgotla in September last year. This paved the way for the focus to shift to implementation. Government departments immediately began to include some of the recommendations of the NDP in their annual plans for the current financial year, while the process of disaggregating the NDP into the first of the five-year plans in the form of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework also got under way.
Having listened to various members of the executive present their budgets over the past few weeks, members should have a clearer sense of how implementation will be structured over the coming years. Allow me to pay tribute to the many colleagues in the various spheres of government and many fellow citizens in all manner of organisations who have begun this process.
When the Minister of Finance tabled the 2013-14 Budget earlier this year, he took the NDP as the starting point. The Minister announced, among other things, reforms to strengthen the fight against corruption in the supply chain management system. He also assigned a deputy director-general in his department to this initiative.
This was followed by the announcement of a number of reforms championed by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration to address capacity weaknesses in the Public Service, as well as strengthen the fight against corruption. You heard that, hon Mazibuko. Just this week Minister Radebe ... [Interjections.]
Dr D T GEORGE: Speaker, I rise on a point of order: I have raised that point before to remind the member that he should address the Chair and not to address the member directly. It is very clear in the Rules. Thank you very much, Speaker.
The SPEAKER: Minister, address the Chair. Proceed please.
The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY - NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION: Alright. Mr Speaker, I hope the hon Mazibuko listened to what I just said, sir. [Laughter.]
Just this week, Minister Radebe announced the far-reaching decision by the Justice and Crime Prevention and Security Cluster to release publicly a list of names of people who've been convicted of fraud and corruption, demonstrating the zero-tolerance approach to corruption that the NDP proposes.
The Minister of Sport and Recreation recently handed over an outdoor gym to the community of Rocklands in Mitchells Plain, taking forward one of the proposals in the NDP to promote physical activity and healthy living. The collaboration between the Ministries of Sports and Recreation and Basic Education has reintroduced school sports and physical education into schools across the country.
Towards the end of last year, the Ministry of Health also launched a pilot project on integrated school health as a critical element in our revitalised primary health care system. All of these are recommendations contained in the NDP.
The City of Johannesburg recently announced a major infrastructure investment programme. This will include the introduction of transport corridors to connect the different parts of the city through affordable and accessible mass public transport in line with the NDP and the city's own growth and development strategy. These are only some of the many initiatives where government has begun implementing various aspects of the plan.
But it is important that I restate the point made previously, that this is not a plan for government only. The NDP invited South Africans from across sectors to work together in partnership to implement the plan and we have been humbled by the enthusiasm shown by so many South Africans. For example, stakeholders in the early childhood development sector are currently engaged in discussions to find effective models of collaboration to take forward the proposals of the NDP.
This collaboration involves different government departments, NGOs and the private sector. Earlier this month, the MEC for Education in KwaZulu-Natal, the hon Senzo Mchunu, in his budget speech announced that the province would establish a partnership with different sectors, in particular the private sector, on an initiative to improve learning outcomes as proposed in the NDP.
Minister Motshekga also announced a national equivalent of this initiative called the Education Collaboration Framework in her Budget Vote speech last month. Hon members, in February this year, the President convened a meeting between government and business to discuss how to implement the NDP together.
It was agreed that the two sectors should meet on a regular basis and a follow-up meeting is expected to take place soon. In addition, Business Leadership South Africa, BLSA, has put together task teams that are focusing on identifying how the business sector can contribute to the implementation of the NDP.
Two weeks ago, the commission was invited to a meeting of young people representing a number of organisations. These young people expressed enthusiastic support for the NDP. They see it as something that the youth should be actively involved in shaping and implementing. They took it upon themselves to assist in making the long NDP document more accessible to young people. They also resolved to create a "dashboard" to monitor implementation of youth-related proposals in the plan and to hold government and business accountable and to meet annually to track the progress of implementation.
In this June, Youth Month, it's important to celebrate the spirit that these young people are putting before us. My benchmate, Minister Radebe, and I are of the generation of 1976, so I think that it is appropriate that we start handing over to young people who demonstrate this spirit about the NDP. [Applause.]
Mr President, it's important to reassure the nation that the NDP is indeed our roadmap and that people are striving to make it work. Rather than patting ourselves on the back, we should instead be asking whether the initiatives being implemented will actually deliver change to those who need it the most. It is often easy for us to forget the realities of poverty when arguing the principles of exact positions. Many of those who are able to provide detailed analyses and criticisms of proposals do it from positions of relative comfort.
While it is crucial that we implement strategies and policies that are thoroughly considered and discussed, and that we debate the merits of proposals, quite often alternative proposals are absent.
Turning to the criticism of NDP proposals on the economy, and through you, hon Speaker, let me just say to the hon Mazibuko, no, I want to say to you, Mr President, I admire your power. [Laughter.] You made a speech two weeks ago. It impacted on the rand, the Brazilian real and on the currency of every developing market. That was one speech you made. [Applause.] Now, if hon Mazibuko believes that, I want to invite her to Profr Ben Turok's economics class. [Laughter.] Clearly, she does not understand what economics is about, therefore the indicators that she is using to make a point have no substance or effect, Mr Speaker; I'm not addressing her. [Interjections.]
So, turning to the criticism of NDP proposals on the economy, it is worth highlighting that there is not much disagreement on the goals and targets. Much of the disagreement centres on the proposed strategies to create jobs, grow the economy and ensure economic inclusion. Even if we accept that the criticisms of the proposed strategies are valid, this begs the question whether we should wait for complete consensus before starting to tackle the many challenges we face.
Are we able to face the unemployed young people and the thousands living in poverty and say, we aren't treading on your dreams? Will we be able to hold onto our integrity when they remain locked outside of the labour market by the actions we take or fail to take? Will they believe us when our actions sometimes close rather than open opportunities? Will our policy positions hold true when our actions as leaders in the public sector, business and labour exacerbate the living conditions of the poor instead of improving them? How can we look them in the eye when the gap between incomes of the rich and the poor remain so high? Should we not be asking ourselves why we aren't doing more.
The NDP follows a comprehensive approach. By emphasising the building of human, physical and institutional capabilities, the NDP offers us an opportunity to make the transition from an undesirable situation we inherited to an economy we can all be proud of. It contains proposals on how to transform the space economy, the relationship between where people live and work, and a careful selection of where different kinds of economic activity should take place.
It also includes proposals on how to improve the quality of education and develop the skills of our people how to create sustainable human settlements and the social safety net that should be provided. It addresses weaknesses in the Public Service and focuses quite clearly on corruption.
All of these proposals are carefully selected to enable us to move from where we are to an improved state. But that requires that we have a firm understanding of our current circumstances. In this I regard again want to quote Tony Judt, when he writes:
History is not foreordained, we mere mortals must invent it as we go along – and in circumstances, as old Marx rightly pointed out, not entirely of our own making. We shall have to ask the perennial questions again, but be open to different answers. We need to sort out to our own satisfaction what aspects of the past we wish to keep and what made them possible. Which circumstances were unique? And which circumstances could we, with sufficient will and effort, reproduce?
The NDP does not offer easy, pat solutions to the challenges we face. It could never be easy to change the path of our history. Reaching this point in our democracy has not been easy either, nor has it been by accident or without thought. In the past 20 years, the ruling ANC has adopted and implemented many policies that are sound. Just so that we are clear, policies that were in most cases adopted by consensus by all political parties represented in Parliament and led by the ruling party, policies designed to ensure that we change the reality that we inherited. When the policies do not have the desired outcome, we should have the maturity to reflect and the flexibility of mind to change our approach or discuss changing the policy, if required.
This is precisely what the NPC has done. We can only grow from learning, but there cannot be any learning if we do not implement. Similarly, if our present strategies contained in the plan do not work, we need to address them, but we cannot wait for the perfect plan as such a thing does not exist. Learning as we implement allows us an opportunity to get better at implementation rather than merely becoming better at planning.
The implementation of the plan is now the responsibility of government and the nation. The NPC will play an advisory role in order to contribute its expertise and independent perspective to the implementation of the plan. This will include advising government and other sectors on implementation, commissioning research to deal with gaps, facilitating collaboration between different actors and mobilising support for the plan.
The NPC has started working with the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation and the National Treasury to develop the Medium-Term Strategic Framework. Careful attention will be paid to how the different proposals will be sequenced, in particular identifying those that need to be prioritised in the first five years.
We understand that the only way to ensure that South Africans know the plan is to make it easily accessible. As the President said earlier, we've translated the executive summary into all 11 languages, which is now available on our website. More copies of the NDP will be printed and distributed to all public and university libraries, FET colleges and Thusong Centres. Work will start immediately with producing a pocket-sized version of the NDP to ensure greater accessibility.
Good planning requires credible evidence. The NPC manages two main research programmes. The first one is the National Income Dynamics Study, a panel study aimed at providing data that allow us to answer questions such as who is moving ahead in terms of income and who is staying behind and why. The second is the programme to support pro-poor policy development. This programme offers grants to researchers to undertake studies in government priority areas with the aim of extending the evidence available to policy-makers.
For the 2013-14 financial year, the NPC is allocated a budget of R77.7 million. Of this, R49.713 million is allocated to the Ministry subprogramme; R20.127 million to the Research and Policy Advisory subprogramme and R7.8 million to the Communication and Public Participation subprogramme.
In conclusion, I want to reiterate, as a nation we must define what we want to become. This is what the National Development Plan does. To be able to do that, we must know where we are. Knowing what we are includes the recognition that as a nation we are not all that we would like to be. This is the responsibility of history; the recognition of what we are, what we want to be and the journey in between.
In dealing with this, it's very important that we, as colleagues, as hon members of this House understand, always, the burden of responsibility that rests with us. It is the burden, so beautifully articulated in those words of Yeats, when he says of the poor, who have only dreams, "Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams". Thank you. [Applause.]
Prince M G BUTHELEZI / EKS/LIM CHECKED// END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 6
THE MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION
Prince M B BUTHELEZI: Hon Speaker, His Excellency, the President of our country, Nxamalala; His Excellency, the Deputy President, Mkhuluwa [big brother]; hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers, hon members, I would like to say on behalf of myself, my family and the IFP that at this time we are all praying to the Almighty God to show His mercy on us now that our icon is ailing.
I know that some of us have had our threescore years and ten. I think even in the Cabinet we have someone who is living and who was born at the same time as us, me and Madiba. People expect us to die, but God is merciful. We pray that Madiba will recover.
Hon Speaker, May I ask all the men to pay tribute to Madiba.
IsiZulu:
Sukumani nonke! Ah! Dalibhunga!
Hon MALE MEMBERS: Dalibhunga!
English:
Prince M B BUTHELEZI: Your Excellency, our country, South Africa, is unique among parliamentary democracies throughout the world because every year in this House, we debate our Presidency's budget without having had the benefit of scrutinising it in parliamentary oversight committee. While the budgets of all government departments are pored over and questioned before we come here to express our agreement or disagreement, the Presidency's budget is presented as a fait accompli, and we rise in this House with scant capacity, in other words, to debate what is being spent, where it is being spent and how it is being spent.
Every year, the IFP points to this deficiency and warns that it should not continue. We called for an oversight committee on the Presidency, but this has not yet materialised. We will not abandon our call, for we believe it remains necessary for the sake of transparency and to protect the integrity of the Presidency. As long as this is not done, there will always be wise stories, real and imagined, about what goes on in the Presidency.
Let me now speak with broad brush strokes before focusing on the details. In this budget cycle, emphasis has been placed on the need to rebuild the fiscal space in the long term, so that there will be room in government's budget to provide resources for specific purposes, without jeopardising our country's economic stability.
As was pointed out in the guidelines to the 2012 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, a significant increase in borrowing, interest costs, debt and then servicing debt has eroded fiscal space. Thus, in future, less money will be available for purposes other than servicing the debt. The question now is: What will be neglected?
The IFP has pointed out that, despite the emphasis on rebuilding fiscal space, there is no discernible plan for doing this and, indeed, debt and borrowing seem to be the only strategy for the foreseeable future. How will we pay back this enormous and ever-growing debt, and when?
There is a sense of crisis, which is usually accompanied by the response: We'll fix things later. For now, let's just keep our heads above water. But that is neither responsible nor feasible, unless we accept the inevitable collapse of our country's economy.
We cannot escape the reality that our government spends more than it receives. That, on an ongoing basis, is a recipe for disaster.
Let us look then at the specific figures in the Presidency budget. It is difficult to come to terms with a figure of R67,3 million for travel and subsistence or R5,8 million for inventory, stationery and printing. One asks, are these justified figures? Again, an oversight committee, if it existed, could have investigated whether this is justified at budgetary level and whether cost and authorisation structures needed to be reviewed.
Other figures in the expenditure estimates jump out as patently unreasonable. The mandate of the Presidency is to support the President, the Deputy President and other political principals in the Presidency to execute their responsibilities. But how much support does the Presidency itself need to fulfil this mandate?
Apparently, the Presidency needs R18,1 million's worth of computer services, R58,3 million's worth of consultants and professional services to provide business and advisory services, and R25,2 million's worth of consultants and professional services relating to legal costs.
While these figures may pale into insignificance in comparison to larger figures mentioned, if we break them down into cost-per-person or a cost-per-day figure, how can such amounts be justified? If we say that these amounts do not matter, where will we begin to adjust personal attitudes within the Public Service in the spending of money that ultimately is not ours?
Furthermore, while consultants provide business and advisory services to the National Planning Commission, the National Planning Commission in turn advises and provides support to the Presidency. The National Development Plan is a key performance indicator, but whose performance? Is it the performance of the Presidency or the performance of consultants? What we seem to have is consultants, consultants and more consultants at every level.
The Presidency may quite reasonably, of course, need consultants that are "specialised in skills not core to the work of the personnel in this programme". The Presidency cannot allow these services to be obtained at a higher cost than is absolutely necessary. That would be an open door to corruption.
Tragically, the cost of corruption within our government overshadows the cost of anything else. This cost, far more so than the cost of a higher governmental interest bill, will be felt by our children and our children's children. We know that since 1994 some R21,4 billion a year has been lost by government due to corruption alone. According to the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution ...
The SPEAKER: Hon Shenge, I am afraid your time has expired.
Prince M G BUTHELEZI: Thank you, sir. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT / Kn/src(ch) / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 7
Prince M G BUTHELEZI
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Hon Speaker, His Excellency, President Jacob Zuma, hon members, special guests of the President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, once again I am honoured to have an opportunity to address this august House on the occasion of the Budget Vote of the Presidency. Over the last few of weeks this House has been focusing on the all-important task of evaluating the work of the executive. Underlying this pivotal exercise is the constitutional imperative to account to this House for the use of public resources.
I imagine that all of us who sit in this House have a great appreciation for the import of this budget-making process in providing us with the opportunity to reflect on our work. Our task is to provide strategic oversight that is intended to identify, manage and minimise risks in governance, delivery systems in institutional arrangements and in existing procedures.
Another important aspect of our work involves the co-ordination of multiple stakeholders. Here we focus on inter-governmental relations and relations with other relevant stakeholders in terms of their mandates and accountability so as to achieve alignment. We also seek to secure high-level agreements with all stakeholders as well as to clear institutional impediments.
We have had to pay special attention to facilitating accords by focusing on forming partnerships outside of government where these enhance prospects of programme success, especially with labour, business and committees.
Our experience shows that when overall strategies start to open up new opportunities, those closest to such opportunities spatially and in terms of their profiles, skills and experience will benefit first. Through the inter-ministerial committees and councils we focus on the marginalised by paying particular attention to strategies that enable the productive inclusion of the poor, who are otherwise likely to be excluded from such processes. [Applause.]
We have had to pay attention to supporting innovative approaches to improve the prospect of delivering better and faster services. We now turn our attention to detail regarding some of the specific programmes. As members of this House know, poverty reduction remains one of our key priorities. Responding to the needs of the most vulnerable communities by fast-tracking service delivery in an efficient manner is of the utmost importance.
The War on Poverty Campaign facilitates the unlocking of challenges in the implementation of programmes to deliver services. These challenges are threefold. They relate, firstly, to system weaknesses across various departments. Secondly, they result from inadequate turnaround times to improve service delivery, including poor intra-departmental integration and co-ordination, and thirdly, a lack of access to information further constrains the rate of delivery in certain communities.
Government's anti-poverty programme specifically focuses on overcoming these challenges through better co-ordination of relevant departments for maximum impact in identified areas. The intervention plans resulting from this process are regularly monitored to ensure that communities benefit from government services. We have also identified change agents in poor households, whom we have connected to the relevant services. A sustainable long-term solution to challenges of poverty is through the creation of jobs at scale. In the short term, the creation of these jobs outside of the private sector resides in the public employment schemes, particularly in the Expanded Public Works Programme and the Community Works programme.
South Africa is an energy-driven economy. As such, alongside our objectives to ensure energy security, is the need to pursue an appropriate energy mix that includes clean and renewable resources to meet the demands of our economy. More than at any point in our history, energy is assuming increasing importance as the lubricant of our country's development. At the same time, we continue to face peculiar fundamental development issues.
Government sees energy as central in meeting basic human needs and improving living standards. To this end, South Africa's electricity generation has to be increased significantly in the next few decades to facilitate economic growth. Therefore the way to go for us in the long term is to become globally competitive in the use of innovative technology for the design, manufacture and deployment of state-of-the-art nuclear energy systems. Nuclear power is ideal in this sense, because we can build large nuclear power plants at points around our coastline, and potentially elsewhere in the future. Nuclear power plant construction is a major undertaking, which will bring significant economic benefits to local industry.
We remain committed to strengthening and investing in research and development of clean energy technologies from a multitude of sources, while conscious of ensuring minimal environmental impact and safety of generation methods. Beyond this, South Africa has well-established regulatory health and safety standards critical to the management of nuclear systems and facilities. These measures include regulations on licensing, nuclear construction and fabrication, health and safety monitoring and the training of the required skilled personnel.
Nuclear safety assurance and our good record in this respect should be maintained and enhanced as a primary foundation upon which consensus on more nuclear electricity generation can emerge. Further, government has approved the establishment of the National Nuclear Energy Executive Co-ordination Committee to make high-level recommendations concerned with the Nuclear Energy Programme.
There are many role-players to bring on board in our roll-out of nuclear energy in the power sector, which includes civil society, business, academia and government. Government is determined to play an instrumental role in this due to the importance of this programme for our country's future.
Human resource development is one of the five core programmes necessary to drive the implementation of our reconstruction and development agenda. Over time a number of significant initiatives have been undertaken in the area of human resource development which have had varied impact on the country's human resource base. All these are underpinned by a set of principles, among which equity, access and redress are central. In this connection, government has established a coherent and comprehensive HRD policy framework consistent with its broader development and investment strategy.
This human resource development policy framework is intended to be responsive to new economic realities. Since 2010 the necessary structures for the implementation of the Human Resources Development Strategy have been established. The various workstreams of the Human Resource Development Council are busy identifying blockages to implementation with the aim of recommending mechanisms to take our work forward. Our aim is to finalise this work by December this year.
The response to the dual epidemics of HIV and TB in its broadest terms encompasses prevention of new infections, provision of a comprehensive package of services to those who need them, mitigation of impact and addressing the social determinants. In this regard, it is fair to say that South Africa has made huge strides and that we continue to invest in numerous strategies to move us closer to our vision of an Aids-free society in our lifetime.
Our response is guided by a series of strategic plans developed and implemented since 2002. Since the implementation of the first national strategic plan our response has yielded notable results.
Through the South African National Aids Council, Sanac, we have built a multi-stakeholder forum which has brought together the country's collective wisdom to bear on these epidemics. What began as a huge threat to our nation has now become one of the largest treatment programmes in the world, with the latest surveys indicating that the number of new HIV infections has decreased from 650 000 a year in 2000 to 290 000 in 2012. [Applause.]
Using the mandate of Sanac as a basis for evaluating our work, we can demonstrate the progress we have made, identify gaps which still require our attention and, most importantly, determine critical next steps in our response.
As the highest body established to oversee the national response, Sanac has been tasked with the following mandate: To advise government on all HIV and TB-related policies and programmes; to oversee the development and implementation of national strategic plans; and to expand partnerships for an effective response and ensure that sufficient resources are made available to implement and sustain all programmes.
In order to deliver on this mandate, we have sought ways to ensure that Sanac is a structure fit for this purpose. In this regard, following a thorough review of the monitoring and co-ordinating mechanisms, a new Governance and Accountability Framework has been adopted and is now being implemented through the Sanac secretariat.
On the policy front, significant progress has been made through the introduction of numerous impactful evidence-informed policies across the prevention, treatment, care and support continuum. It is important to highlight that these policies cut across various government departments, thus ensuring that our approach is coherent and mainstreamed. Whilst government continues to provide bold, decisive and inspirational leadership, other sectors and key stakeholders have taken the cue and are now implementing robust programmes in a significant and consistent way. A few examples of note in this regard are: The work currently under way to revise the National Policy for HIV and TB for the education sector; the introduction of HIV and TB treatment in correctional services facilities. Many other sectors are working jointly with government to develop and implement initiatives that target those at risk; collaboration with the mining industry to tackle TB and HIV in the mining sector, not only in South Africa but across the region, through established regional structures such as the Southern African Development Community, SADC, and the World Health Organization, WHO, and civil society sectors are expanding, refining and integrating their programmes at the community level, raising awareness and leading dialogue on some of the social drivers of the epidemic, such as violence against women and children, substance abuse and many others.
We have responded to the resource challenge in a number of ways. Firstly, we have increased domestic allocations for addressing the epidemics. Secondly, we have commissioned research to identify how domestic and external resources are utilised to maximise efficiencies.
We have indeed made huge progress but we must not be complacent. The number of new HIV and TB infections is still high, requiring extraordinary efforts from all sectors of society, and support from the development partners.
The most important tasks that lie ahead are to consolidate our successes, scale up what we know works and integrate our work across all sectors. We need to focus on addressing the social determinants of ill health in a more co-ordinated manner, with a long-term focus.
We need to invest more resources in building adequate research capacity to enable us to develop home-grown solutions that address the needs of our people. [Applause.] I would like to salute all those who have contributed to our progress in the fight against these dual epidemics and urge everyone to remain focused on the vision of an Aids-free society.
Hon members, the Deputy President, as the Leader of Government Business, is responsible for the affairs of the national executive in Parliament, and thus he performs a strategically important liaison function between the executive and Parliament, if I may say so myself.
Notwithstanding an inherent tension that naturally exists between Ministers and hon members of the House, our engagement with Parliament has always been a dynamic and energetic one. Relations between the executive and Parliament continue to be strengthened through regular interaction with the presiding officers in both Houses, the political leadership and Members of Parliament.
We regularly participate in and give guidance on executive actions to regional and international fora, which seek to strengthen the effectiveness of Parliament in executing its constitutional mandate. This dynamic interplay between the executive and Parliament is maturing and has resulted in a far more coherent approach in giving effect to our collective efforts to create a better life for all.
The executive has always taken very seriously its accountability to Parliament and has made valiant efforts to respond timeously to parliamentary questions. Oral and written parliamentary questions remain one of the key instruments of oversight by Parliament over the executive. The report of the Leader of Government Business is a standing item on the agenda of Cabinet and constitutes evidence that the executive takes its accountability to Parliament seriously.
During the period of the Fourth Parliament to date a total of 16 464 oral and written questions were asked, and the executive responded to 15 878 questions, which represents a response rate of over 96%. [Applause.]
I would like to commend my Cabinet colleagues for their commitment to enhancing and strengthening the capacity and systems within their respective departments to process and submit parliamentary replies timeously. [Applause.]
Cabinet's legislative programme has also been executed smoothly, and during the Fourth Parliament to date 135 Bills were introduced, of which only 4 Bills were prioritised. This bears testimony to more stringent planning and co-ordination by the executive.
Over the last year we have had the opportunity to engage in few, but vital, Bi-National Commissions, BNCs. The BNCs are a framework within which our political and economic relations will be guided and shaped long into the future.
The historic signing of the Bi-National Commission Agreement between South Africa and Turkey in June 2012 signifies a major achievement in our relations. This is a culmination of many years of hard work, tough negotiations and trade-offs. It covers a wide range of sectors such as trade and investment, energy and minerals, small enterprises, training and development as well the textile and clothing industry. Our relations are on the up and up, as evidenced by a steady increase of trade and investment between our countries. The principle of mutual benefit guides all deliberations and agreements. Another important milestone in the course of last year was the signing of an implementation agreement between our country and Nigeria, with which our relations have reached a high level.
Relations between our country and China, with which we have a BNC, continue to grow. Furthermore the BNC with Germany also held its annual meetings and assessment conference in Berlin as well as a business seminar in Munich.
The President has already highlighted the background to the developments in the mining sector. Indeed, in view of the worrisome current global and national economic conditions, it is important that challenges affecting national interests are dealt with through broad consultation with the aim of building consensus as the basis for socioeconomic stability. In consequence a team of Cabinet Ministers, including the Deputy President, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Labour, and the Minister of Mineral Resources were tasked by the President to engage with all stakeholders to heighten awareness about the volatile state of our economy in the light of the urgency of the issues emanating from the mining sector.
Accordingly, during the past two weeks government has had a series of consultations with trade unions, federations and the Chamber of Mines to discuss measures to stabilise the mining industry and to forestall potential crisis.
Further, on Friday this week we will be holding a meeting with all stakeholders to find broad consensus to consolidate future co-operation and stability. Similarly, since the beginning of this year, we have engaged in ongoing consultation with the Western Cape farmers, provincial government and farm workers' unions to address the challenges facing the farming sector in the province.
One thing that we have observed from all these engagements, including the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, is that we must work hard towards building trust through open dialogue, which is key to the resolution of matters that may easily appear intractable at first.
Our nation has come a long way since the democratic breakthrough of April 1994 that saw our people standing in long, winding queues to cast their votes for the birth of our democratic country. Since that epochal moment the democratic state has focused its energies on cementing national unity, democracy, nonracialism and nonsexism within the key vision of reconstruction and development.
As much as accumulated historic disabilities remain embedded in our social landscape, the democratic state has made notable strides in many key areas. Meaningful changes have been made to the lives of many of our people. We will continue to work for the eradication of poverty, ignorance, homelessness, powerlessness and many other ills that scar the face of our nation. In this respect the five priorities of government represent our determination to reach the goal of a better life for all our people in a much more focused way. We are confident that the progress our country has made so far provides the necessary stimulus for further progress as we march into the future with determination.
Let me conclude by thanking all of you for your participation in this debate that reflects our determination to uphold the values of our Constitution. It is an honour for me to thank the President for the support and guidance he has given me during the execution of my duties since the beginning of this term.
Let me take this opportunity to thank my colleagues in the Cabinet for their support, as well as Ministers and the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, who make our work possible. I also wish to thank the director-general in The Presidency along with all senior management, my advisers, as well as the staff in my Office, for their unstinting support.
Speaker, allow me to join the many voices that have wished Madiba a speedy recovery, good health and long life. I thank you for your attention. [Applause.]
Ms S C VAN DER MERWE /Sam//JN-checked / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 8
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT
Ms S C VAN DER MERWE: Mr Speaker, Mr President, Mr Deputy President, hon Ministers and hon members, our country has produced some truly great internationalists. No leader more personifies that internationalist spirit than Oliver Tambo. [Applause.] In a recollection of his legacy at the inaugural lecture of the Oliver Tambo Lecture Series in Glasgow in 2006, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, said:
South Africa's foreign policy rests on the foundation built by OR. He held the view that the struggle for national liberation is by definition a struggle for peace, and that peace is indivisible. For either there is peace everywhere or there is no peace anywhere.
[Applause.]
O R Tambo was the President of the ANC, yes, but in exile for all those years he was, I believe, the de facto President for South Africans. His ideas still guide us today in our international work. The presidents who have come after him in our organisation and our country have carried his internationalist vision into their work and into South Africa's foreign policy, "either there is peace everywhere or there is no peace anywhere."
We need peace in order to prosper. We need peace amongst nations to build our country, and we need friendship and solidarity with our global neighbours in order to grow and thrive. We are all in this together.
The world has grown smaller since information technology revolutionised our lives. Where we did not know much about what was happening in far corners of the earth when I was a young girl, children today have the latest information directly and immediately on their mobile phones. We know more about the rest of the world and we know that the rest of the world is facing the same challenges that we are.
Consider the following headlines from recent weeks: "Protests hamper economy and tourism", "Wealth gap has widened since the recession between black and white", and "Generation jobless". These headlines could be about South Africa, but they are not. They are real headlines from other parts of the world.
The first, "Protests hamper economy and tourism" is about protests in a report from Turkey. The second, "Wealth gap has widened since the recession ..." is a New York Times article describing the wealth gap between white and black Americans. The third, "Generation jobless" is a headline from The Economist magazine and refers to the global rise in youth unemployment.
Problems of poverty, unemployment and inequality in South Africa are global problems and cannot be solved by us alone. [Applause.] There need to be global solutions to all our most pressing problems because each of us is affected by the other.
The Office of the Presidency is the apex office of the country and the government, and one of its strategic objectives is to support the President and the Deputy President in their work in the international arena. This is in recognition of the importance that international engagements play in the future development of our country. These engagements are both multilateral, between many nations working together, and bilateral,
between two countries.
The first dates that go into the President's international diary are the many multilateral engagements our country participates in at international, continental and regional levels. In fact, many and most such multilateral meetings are mandatory on the President's international programme, including for example, the African Union summits, the UN General Assembly and the Southern African Development Community, SADC, heads of state summit, amongst others.
To resolve the problems that we as a country have identified as priorities, and for the world to move into a more virtuous circle of growth and development, we need to be engaged in all these multilateral discussions. We need to share our own experiences and learn from those who have solved similar problems.
Let us give an example, the burning issue of poverty in our global community. On 1 June this year, The Economist reported that:
Nearly one billion people have been taken out of extreme poverty in the last 20 years. The world should do the same again.
It reports that China has been growing so fast that it is responsible for three quarters of that achievement:
China pulled 680 million people out of misery in the period 1981 to 2010 and reduced the extreme poverty rate from 84% in 1980 to 10% now.
[Applause.]
The article argues that if developing countries can maintain good growth in their economies, if growth is a little faster and if income is more equal, importantly extreme poverty could fall to as low as 1,5%. The article acknowledges, as do I, that there are a lot of ifs, but it is possible.
We need the peace that O R Tambo talked of and we also need growth and development to thrive as countries of the world. Nowhere is that more necessary than on our own continent.
I used an extract from the lecture delivered by Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who we all know is currently the Chair of the Africa Union Commission. She is carrying on the work of our past Presidents in establishing a well-functioning continental body that will deliver African countries from poverty and disease, and that will enable our continent to reach its vast potential. Hon Speaker and hon members, I cannot think of a better, more capable person to be assigned this task. The African Union was launched here in South Africa in 2002, after the Organization of African Unity, OAU, had done its job of freeing the continent from colonialism. Now the African Union must focus on the development and economic prosperity of our beloved and beautiful continent. In this regard the work of our Presidents, from O R Tambo to the present, has begun to bear fruit. The international work of our Presidency forms a constant thread taking forward the vision and ideals of our former Presidents, each building on the achievements of the one before him. [Applause.]
In a world of diplomacy there is no higher political engagement than President to President, and head of state to head of state. South Africa has relatively few bilateral – country to country – engagements at this level because of the importance that such engagements represent. Examples include, but not exclusively, the strategic partnership with China that the Deputy President talked about at head-of-state level, and the strategic partnership with Europe at the same level. These are our two largest trading partners and such strategic engagements signal to our international partners exactly how seriously we take our relationship with them, and the importance of these engagements to the sustainability of our own economy, and our prospects to grow and develop our people.
How do these engagements translate into benefits for our domestic priorities? The President recently visited Japan. Welcome home, Mr President. Japan is South Africa's third-largest trading partner and has invested approximately some R192 billion in our country, which has resulted in some 150 000 South African jobs. As a result of the President's visit, Japanese businesses have reaffirmed that they are increasingly interested in expanding into Africa and using South Africa as a springboard. There looks to be massive growth in a range of investments resulting from this visit, including in agroprocessing, and in increasing the Japanese automotive parts production base here.
These are some of the tangible outcomes of the international work of the Presidency and the President in developing our country and combating our challenges.
Dr Dlamini-Zuma concluded her lecture in Glasgow in 2006 with the following words:
Today, in Glasgow among friends and colleagues of Oliver Tambo, we commit ourselves not to betray his international legacy, both in our efforts to rebuild our country into a nonracial, nonsexist and democratic society, but also in our efforts aimed at the creation of a better Africa in a better world.
Through our President and our Deputy President, the Office of the Presidency and the money we will appropriate for that Office, we will not betray O R Tambo's international legacy. We in the ANC will continue in our work to achieve his vision of a better world. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr J J MC GLUWA
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 8
Ms S C VAN DER MERWE
Mr J J MCGLUWA: Mr Speaker, when examining the state of our nation, the state of the Presidency, the foot soldiers of the ANC, better known as the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, the many scandals, disasters and fiascos, where we find ourselves today politically and economically, and the role that the President has played in all of this, I could speak for days.
Our President says that the National Development Plan contains proposals for tackling poverty, inequality and unemployment, yet he upgrades his own residence, begins to secure a sparkling new jet and has had the South African public foot the bill for his R28 million in legal fees since assuming office. This unrestrained spending by the President and his Cabinet is routinely and loudly justified in terms of the Ministerial Handbook. Yet, when we enquired about the revised version of these guidelines, the President himself undertook to review it in 2009. However, there has not been a peep.
A similar silence is reserved for the mysterious Presidential Handbook, a secret document which may not be made public, and which therefore undermines Parliament's responsibility to effectively hold the executive to account.
This year the Auditor-General pointed out that almost R25 billion have been lost in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful spending by national and provincial departments and entities due to lax internal controls, weak political leadership and a disregard for procurement rules.
Mr President, with R25 billion we could have built 400 schools, 500 prisons, paid R7 million in child support grants, covered the country's total water and sanitation infrastructure for one year and, indeed, paid the President's salary for many terms.
Our research conducted in April 2012 projected that the President will cost R1 billion over two terms of office. That works out to R200,00 per minute. What happened to Operation Clean Audit of 2009? It was just a pipe dream.
Mr Speaker, when Bruce Koloane was being probed about his role as a state protocol officer, he responded in a nutshell by saying:
I take care of the President's international business. I host foreign guests and facilitate conferences and events hosted by South Africa. I co-ordinate the opening of Parliament. I travel with the President, leaving before him to make sure that details like security, venues, travel routes and hotels are ready.
Mr Speaker, our number one has missed a golden opportunity to tell us about the nature and extent of his discussion with Mr Koloane on 22 April this year while they were on the same flight, eight days before the controversial landing of the Gupta plane. I thank you. [Applause.]
Ms N R BHENGU / AZM MNGUNI //TH / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 9
Mr J J MC GLUWA
Ms N R BHENGU: Hon Speaker, His Excellency, the President, hon Deputy President, hon members, fellow South Africans, the ANC supports Budget Vote No l. [Applause.] The ANC has tasked me to speak on the economy and focus on the achievements since 1994, growth and investment, the National Development Plan and policy orientation and interface with other policy instruments of the ANC and government, including the role of state-owned enterprises and development financial institutions.
We salute President Nelson Mandela for laying the foundation of economic transformation that we are building on today. We love tata [father] and wish him well.
The achievements since 1994 are the following: our economy has grown by over 80% since 1993 and national income per capita has increased by 40% in real terms; total employment has increased by more than 3,5 million since 1994; gross fixed capital formation increased from 15% of GDP in 1993 to an average of 20% over the past five years; over 1,6 million work opportunities were created in phase one of the Expanded Public Works Programme, the EPWP, and for the period ahead the EPWP aims to achieve 500 000 full-time employment opportunities; public debt was reduced by the ANC government from nearly 50% of the GDP in 1994 to 23% in 2008 ... [Applause.] ... the global economic crisis and the need for a cyclical stance have taken it to 41% of the GDP and most European countries are at 90% and above; the main budget revenue increased from R112 billion in 1994 to over R800 billion last year, while expenditure increased from R135 billion to R1 trillion.
With regard to growth and investment, the reality of growth internationally and the difficult challenges in the economy call upon us to construct a positive narrative and work together to implement it. There are many countries that have great instability, but their economic narrative is extremely positive.
Some South Africans want to focus on the negative. What is urgently needed is to focus on the positive. We need to build on our strengths, which are, good infrastructure, institutions that work, robust democracy, a dynamic private sector, strong public finance and healthy financial institutions.
Overall investment spending remained robust last year, growing by 5,7%. Strong capital investment by the public, the addition of electricity-generating capacity, relatively stable inflation and low interest rates are expected to support improved growth rates over the medium term.
It is true that consumer confidence remains weak and business surveys suggest fragile levels of confidence in the economic outlook. This is likely to constrain private household consumption and business investment during 2013.
Labour unrest and stoppages in the mining sector contributed to a much weaker economic performance in 2012. The present uncertainty in the labour relations in mining and other sectors requires concerted actions by organised labour, business, civic leaders and government.
We need to find a balanced, economically fair and socially responsible solution to gain higher investment, higher employment and improved living conditions. Infrastructure investment is not just about building and maintaining the energy, water and transport networks needed for faster growth, but it is also about raising our savings performance so that we can finance more investment and growth.
In urban development, we will see more investment in housing, rapid industrial growth and job creation. In rural development and agriculture, the ANC government is addressing constraints to land reform and improved support for emerging farmers. In further education and skills development there is great alignment between the skills that are needed to grow the economy and the curricula that our colleges offer.
In regional development and trade, we are beginning to build infrastructure and institutions across national borders that promote more and more rapid growth, investment and job creation.
The National Development Plan has contributed by focusing our policies and programmes on long-term growth and development challenges. The NDP builds on the foundation of the fiscal and monetary policy of the ANC government and acts as a catalyst of ideas to address challenges of growth, employment, environmental sustainability, redistribution, social cohesion, education, universal health coverage, social protection and regional economic development.
With regard to policy orientation, the 52nd National Conference of the ANC at Polokwane resolved that the ANC and its government must build the capacity of the state to pursue the objectives of a developmental state and to ensure that whilst SOEs and development finance agencies remain financially viable and profitable. Their primary responsibility is to support and lead in strategic government development objectives, within a clearly defined public mandate of pursuing an overarching industrialisation programme.
State-owned entities and development financial institutions are powerful instruments for economic transformation and should remain firmly in the hands and control of the state, in order to respond effectively to the developmental goals of the ANC government. [Applause.]
SOEs and DFIs are not created to maximise profit or incur losses, but rather to drive the developmental agenda. [Applause.] The dual mandate of SOEs and DFIs is to achieve a balance between the required level of self-funding and undertaking developmental projects that the private sector under normal circumstances would not.
The policy orientation ensures that the SOEs and DFIs, which are tasked with a costly development mandate, must be strategically positioned to generate the revenue to pay for the costs of these mandates. The policy strategy is to use the strengths of SOEs and DFIs, in directing private sector investment in the productive sector of the economy.
This is designed to stimulate manufacturing and promote entrepreneurship development programmes that will enhance the deracialisation of the economy and the creation of new firms and industries.
In terms of the ANC policy, infrastructure and industrialisation programmes are two major pillars driving the growth and development of our economy. The industrialisation process should seek to construct a new, comparative advantage based on our natural resources.
We are pleased that Public Enterprises is playing a central role in supporting these two pillars. The ANC supports the budget. I thank you. [Applause.]
The SPEAKER / Kn/src / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 10
Mrs N R BHENGU
BUSINESS SUSPENDED AT 17:15 AND RESUMED AT 17:35.
The SPEAKER: Order! I now wish to invite the hon Deputy Minister in the Presidency responsible for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY - PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATION: Speaker, His Excellency President Jacob Zuma, hon Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, hon Minister Collins Chabane, hon Minister Trevor Manuel, who is still outside, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, Mr Mshiyeni Sogoni, Chairperson of Brand South Africa, Ms Chichi Maponya who is in the gallery, the Chief Executive Officer Mr Miller Matola, board members present, Chairperson of the National Youth Development Agency, Mr Yershen Pillay, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am privileged to participate in the Budget Vote of the Presidency and as I do so, let me join the millions in prayers in wishing Tata Madiba good health and full recovery.
In the few coming weeks we will be commemorating the historic gathering by our people who, on 26 June 1955, gathered at the congress of the people and adopted the Freedom Charter, in which one of the pronouncements says; "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white", and the Preamble to our Constitution also states that:
We, the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of our past; honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.
It is therefore befitting that the theme for this Presidency Budget Vote is, "South Africa is a better place today than it was in 1994".
Hon members, the Presidency has a responsibility to lead the country in nation-building, and ensure that we are united in our diversity, have social cohesion towards the creation of a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. As you do so, Mr President, you have been engaging in programmes such as the Siyahlola programme, meeting with the people, talking to them, listening, responding and ensuring that the departments and the Ministers do come back to ensure that this prosperity for all is indeed for all.
Amongst other programmes and activities is the building of the country's brand. This mammoth task was given to Brand South Africa, and a framework was also established for greater co-operation and co-ordination among other agencies that are responsible for marketing our country, namely Proudly South Africa and Tourism South Africa.
We have undertaken a number of initiatives in our efforts to ensure that the South Africa brand is among the 20 top country brands accross the world. Through your leadership, President, South Africa is indeed amongst those 20 top countries in as far as brand positioning is concerned. [Applause.]
The shift in the balance of political and economic power to Asia and other emerging markets saw Brand South Africa focus its activities more closely on Africa and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Brics, countries. This is strategic considering that Brics members will account for over 60% of global growth within the next three years.
The year 2013 began with strong and successful programmes that took advantage of important events to position South Africa further. These include the Afcon 2013 campaign the World Economic Forum programme in Davos, the World Economic Forum recently held in Cape Town, the mining indaba, and the Brics platform in Durban. All these events were utilised for the positioning and profiling of South Africa in the domestic and international media and the public. [Applause.] The Brics summit provided an opportunity for South Africa to showcase itself to the world as the powerhouse of the rising continent of Africa.
Brand South Africa also released its Project Thrive. Investment Perceptions Working with independent institutions is a result of the research for this year, 2013, which contains positive findings for South Africa. The study indicates that while mining and quarrying and hospitality and tourism remain the most prominent sectors associated with South Africa, there has been a significant increase in other associations with other sectors in South Africa's economy amongst international investors, particularly in retail, trade, construction, financials, insurance, real estate, electricity, gas, water supply, post and telecommunications.
So, South Africa is positioning itself very well compared to those countries as far as brand positioning is concerned. [Applause.] Brand South Africa's "Play Your Part" initiative continues to make great strides in encouraging responsible citizenship, pride and patriotism amongst our people.
In contributing to the national discourse about eradicating gender-based violence, Brand South Africa hosted a the Men's Dialogue, focusing on the role of men in the fight against gender-based violence, and to change attitudes and stereotypes in society as part of building a nonsexist society. Deputy President Motlanthe was the keynote speaker at that event.
In the coming year Brand South Africa will focus a lot of effort on the African continent, reaching out to South Africans in the diaspora in the world, including mobilising them to register and participate in voting as we change the law to accommodate them.
South Africa's stature and role in the international arena has thus grown significantly in the past two decades since the advent of democracy. The stature and role has been demonstrated in various ways. For instance, South Africa has twice been voted to serve in the UN's Security Council in a matter of a few years. Recently, South Africa hosted a successful Cop 17 Conference in Durban, and was invited to join the Brics group of nations.
In March 2013, South Africa hosted the fifth Brics summit in South Africa. Therefore, President, your leadership and the leadership of your government does indicate and show with confidence to the rest of the world that South Africa is indeed on the right cause. [Applause.]
Additionally, the focus of South Africa's international engagements will be the African continent. South Africa is using its membership of forums like the International Monetary Fund, IMF, the World Bank, and the G20, in which it is the only African country, as well as the United Nations and the AU, to promotes the African agenda of development, growth and greater prosperity.
Hon members, the only way to ensure success in our country's endeavours is to move together as a united people. South Africa, as with all the rest of Africa, has the advantage of a youthful population. We must therefore harness this demographic dividend window, because when we invest in our youth, we will have invested in our future.
Lfe expectancy in South Africa is on the increase. South Africans are now living longer. The child and infant mortality rate is in decline, and this is thanks to President Jacob Zuma's leadership in ensuring that indeed South Africa's child mortality rate is reduced. Hence the population of young people is now on the rise. [Applause.]
Comrade O R Tambo once said: "A nation that does not invest in its youth is a doomed nation." Among one of the Presidency's mandates is to mainstream youth development in the country through the National Youth Development Agency and also ensure that it creates an environment for young people of our country to realise their potential.
The NYDA has suffered a negative image among young people and had lost the confidence to deliver on its mandate in the eyes of many South Africans. However, it is important to note that a lot of good work has been done by the agency and a lot of young people have benefitted from its service. This, however, does not discount the fact that some things could have been done differently. The NYDA has come full circle now, and as the country commemorates the 37th anniversary of Soweto and related uprisings, young people are looking to the agency to provide much needed relief to realise their potential.
Youth Month will further focus on job creation, skills development and youth empowerment. The call during this month will be on youth and all sectors of society to identify their roles in curbing the economic and social issues that the youth face in the country.
While the youth of 1976 fought for freedom and the creation of a democratic state, our government recognises that the youth of today have a completely different struggle, which is that of substance abuse over and above the fight for economic emancipation, access to quality education, unemployment, HIV and Aids. It is therefore fitting that Youth Month theme for this year is, "Working together for youth development and a drug-free South Africa". [Applause.]
Youth development remains a priority on the government's and the NYDA's agenda. This year saw the signing of the Youth Employment Accord. The Youth Employment Accord is a viable and meaningful approach to youth employment creation, with a deliberate focus on skills development and entrepreneurship. Minister Ebrahim Patel will later announce the model and how it's going to be funded.
In an attempt to further advance youth development, the President has established the Presidential Youth Working Group to afford him an opportunity to interact with the relevant stakeholders in the youth development space. This is essential as it will allow young people to provide strategic advice to the executive on how to implement the youth development interventions in our country, and to ensure that the development of the youth agenda is indeed mainstreamed.
In the recent meeting held with the youth leadership organization, where we were presented with the model of the Presidential Youth Working Group, the youth presented the following big five issues as key strategic priorities for youth development.
Mr President, they will be coming to you with the five issues to engage with and see if indeed government is investing correctly or enough in dealing with these challenges, namely, education and skills development. This will entail intensified skills development for the youth, especially those who have dropped out of school and are unemployed; secondly, the youth economic participation, whose emphasis will be on job creation, particularly entrepreneurship; thirdly, substance abuse and violence prevention, whose priority will be given to actions aimed at combating alcohol and substance abuse as well as prevention of violence against women and children; fourthly, national youth service and social cohesion, where young people will be encouraged to volunteer their services to their communities so that they contribute to social cohesion, patriotism and nation-building; lastly, professionalising youth work, which will focus on ensuring the recognition of youth work as a profession, including the establishment of norms and standards so that it becomes a career of option.
The aforementioned priorities will be presented to the President so that he can take the lead and champion the cause. The Presidential youth working group will be supported, Mr President, by an Inter-Ministerial Committee made up of Ministers and the secretariat made up of Deputy Ministers and technical committees of officials to avoid it becoming just a talkshop so that after decisions are taken they are implemented and followed up on. Also, in addition to the Youth Employment Accord, together with the mainstreaming of the youth agenda, we have already instructed Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, PME, to develop a monitoring tool to ensure that the work that we are doing has impact.
The Cabinet will receive regular reports and the President will convene this Presidential Youth Working Group annually to receive progress reports and engage young people continuously. In SADC the secretariat will be establishing the youth development desk, where each country will be expected to report on progress made in responding to the challenges of development. Africa, the region and South Africa are faced with a youth bulge.
Out of 1 billion, the population of Africa, 60% are young people. The different role models will be encouraged to plan jointly and pool resources in addressing the identified priorities. Most important is the need for each of the role-players to commit to implementation so that many young people can be reached and an impact can be made.
The newly appointed board of the NYDA has stated that one of its main goals is to restore the credibility of the NYDA. The NYDA's new vision, mission and values speak directly to a sense of responsibility in the youth of South Africa. The new vision is to be credible and capable developmental agency for South Africa's youth.
This is in line with the National Development Plan, which singles out young people as key to the development of the country. Hence the review of the 2009 and 2014 national youth policy is under way and indeed the finalisation of the integrated youth development strategy is in progress. The new mission is to mainstream youth issues into society and to facilitate youth development in all sectors of society.
The NYDA has shifted their core business away from giving out loans towards education and skills development. This new plan will therefore focus on tailor-made interventions for job preparedness and placement, and a focus on scholarship provision for those who excel at school.
The NYDA's highly successful flagship programmes such as the Youth Build Programme for out-of-school youth and our career guidance programme will be intensified. Over 1 500 young people will be engaged in the Youth Build programme for the financial year 20013-14. The NYDA plan to reach at least 700 000 young people with career guidance services.
The NYDA will continue with efforts directed at economic participation by offering a range of products, programme services, to young entrepreneurs in need, albeit as a secondary offer.
Furthermore, at the end of April 2013, the NYDA concluded a peer counselling programme in partnership with Sanca, the National Council on Alcohol, and Drug Dependence, in which young people were being trained and will continue to be trained as ambassadors for substance abuse campaigns.
Mr President, we welcome your intervention, addressing substance abuse in Eldorado Park, by clamping down on drug dens known as "lolly lounges". It is indeed yielding significant progress in fighting the scourge of substance abuse. We are, however, aware that the situation in Eldorado Park is symptomatic of issues facing many communities in the rest of the country. Black townships in particular are highly affected.
Our government's focus in Youth Month this year is on a holistic youth development agenda, with specific focus on the fight against substance abuse. Alcohol and substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking are a global phenomena and South Africa is no exception.
This has serious implications for millions of South Africans, because alcohol and substance abuse contributes to crime, gangsterism, domestic violence, family dysfunction and other social ills. Moreover, it has been reported that drug abuse in South Africa is twice the world norm in most cases.
In particular the youth bore the brunt of abuse with the emergence of local drugs such as "nyaope" and "kubar" that originated in the Pretoria townships of Soshanguve, Atteridgeville and Mamelodi, and quickly spread to other townships such as Chatsworth in Durban, where it is called "sugars" or "whoonga". In Mpumalanga it is known as "pinch" and in Cape Town the use of the drug tik is prevalent.
Street drugs like nyaope and tik are destroying the future of South African youth and ruining the lives of their parents. When they should be in school, addicted children are scavenging for money to finance their habit. They steal items such as water taps. We deliver water taps and then they steal them; also gates, copper, aluminium, food, clothes, money in the house, whatever they can lay their hands on, just to get high.
This dangerous drug, nyaope, is made from a cocktail of ingredients such as rat poison, heroin, dagga and antiretrovirals, ARVs. And it is usually sold in small parcels at R30 a portion. Nyaope has not been classified as an illegal drug, but the Department of Justice is moving to amend the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act to ensure that charges can be laid for possession and dealing in these drugs. Charges will rely heavily on dagga and heroin, that are commonly found in nyaope.
We want to inform the youth of our country that these drugs are lethal, they are poisonous, addictive, you can get ill, you can die. Take this message and ensure that you stop taking drugs and loving it to a stop.
Research has also shown that our children go to the extent of infecting themselves with the HIV virus so that they are able to access antiretroviral drugs from health facilities. Therefore, it is very disturbing that, as a nation, we will lose the fight against HIV and Aids because of the new infections that are done deliberately in order for our children to feed their drug habits.
We can succeed only if you as young people help us by helping yourselves. Take responsibility, take a stand against the drugs and stop.
As government, we also recognise that alcohol abuse among young people is a serious threat. Statistics reveal that South Africa has one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption in the world. Raising the alcohol-drinking age to 21 years, limiting alcohol advertisements, a zero-tolerance for drunk driving and public drinking are some of the proposals to be considered by government.
Our government recognises that the drugs problem is complex and it requires decisive, collective and national action. Government has been at the forefront of fighting the scourge of substance abuse through various national initiatives and programmes.
Given the seriousness of the situation, it has convened, and is also implementing an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Substance Abuse, the Anti-Substance Abuse National Plan of Action, led by the Department of Social Development, is a collective effort towards achieving a South Africa that is free of drug abuse. This master plan commits government and sectors of society to work together to reduce demand and supply of illegal drugs throughout a wide range of co-ordinated action, from national to local.
Hon members, a drug-free generation is everyone's responsibility. Government is committed to riding our society of substance abuse, which is the cause of numerous social ills. However, help is needed from parents, civil society and faith-based organisations and communities in tackling this scourge.
We urge parents, relatives and other community structures to play a role in raising awareness and in providing support for those affected. Communities are called upon to report those involved in the trade of illegal substances so that we can fight and beat the scourge together.
We must do this as a nation, as a people, and defeat this demon, and continue to make South Africa a better place to live in. You decide, say no to drugs. You decide, say no to alcohol. You decide, say no to rape. And you decide, say no to violent behaviour. That is the message that we are giving and thanks very much, President, and also the director-general and senior staff in the Presidency for their support. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr B H HOLOMISA / MALUTA ///tfm/// TAKE END
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 11
The DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION, AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATION IN THE PRESIDENCY
Mr B H HOLOMISA: Mr Speaker, hon President, Deputy President and hon members, the UDM supports Budget Vote No 1. [Applause.] We have taken note of government's decision to name and shame people who are found guilty of corruption.
I would like to join this campaign by sharing with the nation the negative effect of political directives on government tenders, which create a breeding ground for corruption. You will recall that political directives gave birth to the controversial arms deal and other related transactions.
For instance, in January this year, hon Minister Pule received and together with her senior officials from the Department of Communications and Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa, Usaasa, approved a half a billion rand application from Cell C for the roll-out of broadband infrastructure in the Emalahleni Local Municipality.
Shockingly, this application was approved without being subjected to the normal adjudication processes as required by law. Had it not been for the refusal on 16 April 2013 by Mr Mmatlou Morudu, Usaasa executive, Business Development Service to implement the project after receiving a written instruction from his chief executive officer, Mr Zam Nkosi, half a billion rand would have been released to it.
If your office does not intervene, Mr President, chances are that Mr Morudu will most probably be removed from his position in order to ensure the unrestrained looting of state resources.
It is strange that government was prepared to pay half a billion rand for this infrastructure at Emalahleni Local Municipality, when it only paid R13 million for the same infrastructure roll-out at Msinga Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, a municipality twice the size of Emalahleni Local Municipality. It makes you wonder.
Another example of the rampant looting of state resources in this department involves a multimillion rand tender awarded to Mthinte Communications to roll out broadband infrastructure to 120 centres around the country.
According to Usaasa's 2012-13 exception report, the total rand value amount of the 80% subsidy for Mthinte should have been R24 million, but the final rand value subsidy amount given to Mthinte was R33,1 million. This means that Mthinte was overpaid by a whopping R8,9 million. In addition, this lucky company was further paid R2,3 million for the branding of Mpumalanga centres that was never done.
Close scrutiny of this first phase of the project reveals an interesting statistic. As many as 23 out of these 33 sites are in KwaZulu-Natal, while only 8 are in Mpumalanga and 2 in the North West province.
The deadline for the connection of these centres was set for 31 March 2013. However, according to the Usaasa 2012-13 exception report, as at 7 May 2013, only 9 out of 120 Mthinte Centres were operational.
Conspicuous in this broadband infrastructure roll-out programme is the absence of plans for other provinces. This leaves the children of other provinces to fend for themselves in order to get access to computer laboratories with Internet connections. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 11
Mr B H HOLOMISA
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Speaker, when the Reserve Bank governor, Ms Gill Marcus, says that we are facing challenges of critical proportions, it means South Africa is approaching an economic tipping point, with the real danger of a slide from which there is no return.
What is causing it? The world recession has little to do with our present economic problems. It is caused by irresponsible trade unions that demand 60% wage increases; an inflexible labour market that favours Cosatu; low productivity; and confusing comments of ANC leaders, where some are proposing socialist and others free-market solutions.
We traded one million jobs for higher wages for those remaining employed. No country does this in the midst of an economic slowdown. The result is very serious, slow growth rate, more job losses, uncertainty and foreign investors voting with their feet.
The President says other countries also have trade unions. That is true, but their labour laws capture their economies and aren't there to pamper Cosatu. Current labour law amendments by the portfolio committee are going to cause more unemployment, and will not solve these problems.
The President will have to choose: Cosatu's or South Africa's interests, 2 million Cosatu votes or 6 million unemployed votes, inflexible labour laws or economic growth. I am afraid those are the choices.
Afrikaans:
Verlede jaar het die President gewaarsku dat die emosies oor grond nie op 'n onverantwoordelike wyse opgejaag moet word nie. Ek stem absoluut saam, maar dit geld vir almal. ANC-lede het nie 'n alleenreg om emosies oor grond op te jaag nie. Ons het net soveel emosies oor grond aan opposisiekant.
As 'n ANC-voorsitter sê dat niemand uit Europa hier aangekom het met grond op 'n skip nie, heropen hy ongelukkig die debat oor wie eerste in Suid-Afrika was en wie wie se grond gesteel het. Dis 'n nuttelose debat.
Daardeur sweep hy emosies op. Nou word dit 'n debat van datums. Wanneer het wie in Suid-Afrika aangekom? Gaan ons terug tot by die "Cradle of Mankind" [die Wieg van die Mensdom], toe ons blykbaar almal hier was? Gaan ons terug tot by die Khoi- en San-mense wat voor die wittes en die Nguni- en Sothosprekendes hier was?
Die logiese vraag is dan: Watter grond het die Nguni- en Sothosprekendes saamgebring toe hulle vanaf die Kongo oor die Limpoporivier Suid-Afrika ingekom het? Of het hulle dan nou weer die grond by die Khoi en San gesteel?
Hierdie tipe debat bring ons niks nader aan oplossings nie. Die enigste manier om die grondkwessie op te los, is om met koue feite na voedselsekerheid, na verstedelikingspatrone, na die huidige grondbesitpatrone, ook na die kommunale gebiede, te kyk en dan met wen-wen oplossings te kom.
English:
As little as the ANC likes Mrs Thatcher, you need some of her labour union reforms. Is the President prepared for new thinking on labour and economic policy directions to resolve the economic crisis?
Is the ANC capable of less emotional and more factual debates to resolve the difficult land problems? If the answer is no, the economic slide is inevitable. If the answer is yes, then surely there is hope for us and you will get the co-operation of all of us to make South Africa a better country for all. [Applause.]
Rev K R J MESHOE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 11
Mr B H HOLOMISA
Rev K R J MESHOE: Hon Speaker, I have been requested by some local businesspeople who have been running spaza shops in the townships for many years to raise their concerns with the hon President. While they claim that they are not opposed to competition by foreign businessmen, they say the competition is unfair as the well-organised and trained foreigners are heavily subsidised and bankrolled by either business cartels or the governments they came from, while their own government, they say, has neglected them.
They claim that in almost all townships and villages, local businesses have been taken over by foreigners who are bankrolled. They say what upsets them is that local black people in townships used to own small businesses during apartheid, but under a democratic government that should be helping them to grow and prosper, they are losing everything.
The Greater Gauteng Business Forum's chairman for the Tshwane region is reported to have said, and I quote:
They are here to destroy local business, and people, particularly local shop owners, are boiling with anger. If nothing is done about this, there will be war.
I, therefore, on behalf of the ACDP that wants peace and prosperity for all, implore the President to urgently look into these concerns and the possibility of training and subsidising local entrepreneurs in the townships who are fast losing their businesses. This, we believe, will avert what some threaten will be an economic war, and not xenophobic attacks.
Government should be seen to support black economic empowerment at the grass roots by focusing on small businesses, particularly spaza shops that are under siege.
As proof that they have been trying to address their concerns with government, they gave me a copy of a memorandum of demands and concerns that was addressed and handed over to the office of the Premier of Gauteng, which, they claim, has done nothing about.
I trust and hope that these threats will not be taken lightly by government, and that the President will meet these township men and women who are angry because of what they claim is unfair competition that has cost them their businesses and livelihood.
Regarding Vote No 1, the ACDP wants to know whether the President has issued an official proclamation for the Special Investigating Unit, SIU, to start the investigation into alleged corruption in the Nkandla scandal. The ACDP also wants to know why the report on what really happened was classified and kept away from all Members of Parliament, except from those serving in the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence.
The fact that both the Minister of Public Works and his Deputy have conceded that procurement procedures have been flouted, and that there were a number of irregularities with regard to the appointment of service providers and procurement of goods and services, when more than R206 million was spent on upgrading the President's private Nkandla residence, should have convinced government that an investigation by the SIU should commence immediately. To date, that has not happened. We are not convinced that there is no cover-up, despite attempts to assure the public otherwise.
The ACDP will not support Budget Vote No 1 for a number of reasons. One of them is the lack of transparency and accountability, particularly regarding the upgrading of ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Ms N GINA / Src / END TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 12
Rev K R J MESHOE
Ms N GINA: Hon Speaker, Your Excellency President Jacob Zuma, the Deputy President, hon Ministers, hon Members of Parliament, distinguished guests in the Gallery, ladies and gentlemen, I greet you all.
We can only create a better life for all South Africans if our young people get the skills and the training that we need to make our economy grow and make our democracy work. That is why ANC government makes education compulsory for all children.
We must therefore ensure that all our children have access to decent and formal education. If our education system is to produce the capable, skilled and empowered people who can turn South Africa into the just and prosperous nation of our dreams, we must overcome the years of neglect that have left most of our children without proper facilities for their education.
Hon Speaker, allow me to quote Mr Hendrik Verwoerd, when he said:
There is no place for the Bantu in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour. What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice? Education must train people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live.
Hon Speaker, the year 2013 marks the 60th anniversary of the Bantu Education Act, which introduced and systematised a racist system of education aimed at severely restricting the educational opportunities of blacks in this country. Most of our government's efforts with regard to education since 1994 have been aimed at overcoming this burdensome legacy together with the entire oppressive inheritance of colonialism and apartheid.
Since 1994 the ANC government has made impressive progress in trying to undo the deep damage that has been made in the lives of black people especially in South Africa. Drastic measures have been taken in making sure that everybody gets equal and quality education in our country.
If Verwoerd and his criminal apartheid regime of 1948 had said the black child must not study mathematics and no black worker must become a skilled artisan, President Jacob Zuma has categorically said the black child must indeed study and be competent in mathematics and that we must increase the production of new artisans, including black artisans in our country. [Applause.]
President Zuma has not only said these things, but has led from the front through leading concrete interventions in education as part of inverting and destroying the Verwoed legacy. [Applause.] In 2009, President Zuma decided to split the former department of education into two. This was indeed a stroke of genius that is beginning to bear fruit. [Applause.]
Unfortunately, Mr President, in this august House and outside there we have some people, like president Lekota, who feels that that was just the waste of resources and that proves that those are people who are without the vision to take our country forward.
I would like to remind this House about what uTata uMadiba said about education, when he said:
Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that a daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of a farmworker can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
[Applause.] [Interjections.]
Ms D ROBINSON: That is DA policy!
Ms N GINA: I am happy if it's DA policy, because it took it from our icon Nelson Mandela because there is nothing that you could have come up with! [Interjections.]
As noted in the state of the nation address - all successful societies have one thing in common – they invest in education, while decent salaries and conditions of service play an important role in attracting, motivating and retaining skilled teachers.
Hon Speaker, the transition of education from apartheid education to education for all is long and rocky. We have come a long way, yet we still have a long way to go. We believe that within two decades, we have made great inroads and covered a lot of ground with regard to our vision of quality education for all. While we believe that more still needs to be done, we should not shy away from good stories emanating from our programmes.
Hon Speaker, in his closing address at the conclusion of the 52nd national conference held in Polokwane in 2007, the President of the ANC, Comrade Jacob Zuma, reminded us all that, as a collective and through our structures, we need to create a united ANC that recognises the legacy left by Comrades O R Tambo, Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela. And that is indeed that is what we are doing as we are putting education as a priority in our government. [Applause.]
Hon Speaker, the question of creating a caring and supporting learning and teaching environment for learners and educators is at the core of our efforts towards ensuring access to quality education. This speaks directly to our task of addressing health, social, psychological and emotional barriers that prevent learners from participating fully in the teaching and learning activities.
The ANC believes that every school should inspire learners and educators to want to come to school and learn in order to make the best of their potential. I am sure that we are going in the correct direction, even through the programmes that are offered at school.
It is a pity that the curriculum that is offered at school is the curriculum whose aim is to shape our learners holistically. By holistically we mean when a child behaves like a member of society, the way a child dresses, the way one presents oneself. It is a pity seeing that some people have escaped those efforts which our government is making. We have great evidence in this House, where you can easily see that this person did not undergo our education which is trying to shape all of us to be responsible citizens of this country. [Applause.]
South Africans have the right to a basic education, including adult basic education and further education. According to the Bill of Rights in the country's Constitution, the state has an obligation through reasonable measures to progressively make this education available and accessible. South Africa has one of the highest rates of public investment in education in the world.
At about 7% of gross domestic product and 20% of total state expenditure, the government spends more on education than on any other sector. Education at all levels remains a top priority of the ANC government.
In 1999, our icon Nelson Mandela made a powerful statement in this House on the constitutional mandate of the legislature and institution supporting constitutional democracy. He said:
Because the people of South Africa finally chose a profoundly legal path to their revolution, those who frame and enact the Constitution and law are in the vanguard of the fight for change. It is in this legislature that the instruments have been fashioned to create a better life for all. It is here that oversight of government has been exercised. It is here that our society with all its formations has had an opportunity to influence policy and its implementation.
[Applause.]
The ANC decided, at its national conference in Polokwane, to assign top priority to education. In order to give practical expression to this decision, we felt that the then Department of Education was too big and overburdened, with a vast and comprehensive series of tasks. So, as I have said, our President took that bold step of dividing it into two departments.
Hon Speaker, during 2010 the Minister of Basic Education, hon Angie Motshekga - under the guidance of our President - declared that there would be a plan for schools in South Africa called "Action Plan 2014", and that this would form part of a larger vision called "Schooling 2025". It is important that you, as a South African, should know about the action plan of Schooling 2025, especially if you are the parent or guardian of a learner in a school.
It is important to tell you this because education has been elevated as a societal issue, so this plan clearly gives you what the ANC government will be doing to make Grades R to 12 schooling better, because it explains how you can contribute towards achieving the goals of Schooling 2025.
Hon Speaker, helping people to develop their skills and enhance their capabilities is an essential part of a sustainable strategy for tackling poverty. Education, training and innovation are central to this. Highly educated and trained individuals have much better chances in the labour market and a nation with highly educated citizens, particularly in science, engineering and technology and the humanities. Census 2011 provides ...
[Time expired.] [Applause.]
The ANC supports this Budget Vote. [Applause.]
Mr I S MFUNDISI ... / MN/ \\\tfm/// / End Take
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 13
Ms N GINA
Mr I S MFUNDISI: Speaker, hon President, the Deputy President and hon members, there is every truth in the adage that "uneasy lies the head that wears the crown". The President will have to live with that knowledge as different matters, some national, some provincial and perhaps others of a personal nature; some issues like the deaths of up to 15 soldiers so far at the hands of the mutineers in the Central African Republic will linger in the air as much as the landing of the Gupta wedding jet at the Waterkloof military Air Force Base. These issues will remain an indelible mark in the minds of South Africans.
It is regrettable that contractors saw fit to inflate prices on the construction of the residence of the President at Nkandla. Collusion by some employees cannot be ruled out in this matter, but lessons have to be learnt from that too, noting that building in the rural area is always much more expensive than in urban areas.
Section 84(2)(e) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa enjoins the President to make some key appointments, such as that of the National Director of Public Prosecutions and others related thereto, like the head of the Special Investigating Unit, SIU. Inordinate delays in effecting such appointments have a bearing on the administration of justice. It is also not in the interest of those who are holding those positions in an acting capacity, as whatever decisions they may take may later be overturned by the appointed incumbents. Public administration calls for a minimum of three months for the filling of posts. It will be difficult to call the Public Service to order if it takes the head of state over a year to have a position filled. There is little or no movement in the Seriti Commission on the arms deal, except that it has not covered itself in glory when one takes into account the spat, and the subsequent resignation by Mr Moabi, one of its former investigators.
Recently, President Kikwete of Tanzania made a telling statement when he said that: We notice the Arab Spring up north, but if governments inland and down south in Africa are not awake to it, we shall soon have a "Job Spring."
The youth are crying out for jobs, alternatively capital to set up businesses, though it is difficult without the necessary skills. But the issue is, skills or no skills, they are citizens of this country who have to be assisted. One wonders how far the Youth Employment Initiative scheme is that saw the light of day in the Presidency.
As Marius Ungerer puts it:
Jobs are created by the private sector within conditions determined by the state. In South Africa we need a renewed attempt at collaboration between the state, business and labour to place the country on a new growth trajectory away from conflict.
We hope the Deputy President, having been assigned to deal with these people in the mines, will ensure that they don't go on moving the goal posts when a solution is about to be found. The UCDP will support the Budget Vote. [Time Expired.] [Applause.]
Mr E M SOGONI
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 13
Mr I S MFUNDISI
Mr E M SOGONI: Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon Members of Parliament, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, comrades and friends, throughout the history of the struggle of the ANC, the ANC has always understood that, in the words of former ANC president Oliver Tambo, "a nation that does not nurture its youth does not deserve its future."
In its governing policy document, "Ready to Govern" 1992, the ANC expressed its vision for the youth of South Africa when it said:
The ANC believes that society has a responsibility to develop and nurture its youth, to allow them to reach their full potential in order to make a meaningful contribution as individuals and as members of society. Their resourcefulness, energy and enthusiasm must be harnessed to allow them to play their meaningful role in our in country.
As we observe the 37th anniversary of the June 16 Uprisings, we cannot fail to take stock of the progress that we have made since 1994 to better the lives of young people. The ANC-led government has made a lot of progress to improve the lives of young people. Government has made it possible for young people to own their own businesses, to occupy senior positions in government, and many are public representatives in all spheres of government.
Our historic document, "Ready to Govern", enjoins us to address the problems faced by the youth who have been directly marginalised by apartheid, with particular emphasis on the immediate challenges of education, unemployment and violence. Under your stewardship, hon President, we have set in place autonomous, broad and representative youth structures to co-ordinate and develop youth activities.
In the 2004 election manifesto, the ANC committed itself to –
... launch a much larger national youth service programme and a new national youth development agency which will be linked to skills development opportunities and building decent work opportunities for young people.
In line with that commitment, the ANC-led government established the National Youth Development Agency, which will be linked to skills development opportunities and building decent work opportunities for the young people of South Africa.
The mandate of the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, is to advance youth development through guidance to and support of initiatives across sectors of society and spheres of government to embark on initiatives that seek to advance the economic development of young people, and to develop and co-ordinate the implementation of the Integrated Youth Development Plan and Strategy for the country. The National Youth Development Agency is a nonpartisan organisation in which youth of many political parties participate. There is a national board appointed by the President, and that board appoints provincial boards. However, the DA prevented its member from being part of the Western Cape NYDA provincial board as its deputy chairperson.
So, in other words, the DA is paying lip service when it says it wants government to create jobs for young people. Of course, the board would never have allowed a rent-a-crowd with blue shirts to take a senseless march to Cosatu House. Many municipalities in the country have youth directorates except the Western Cape's DA-controlled municipalities. Now how do we mainstream youth jobs in the Western Cape? [Interjections.] The DA is not serious about sustainable job creation. [Applause.] [Interjections.] It has no clear policies to improve the lives of the poor. [Interjections.]
The ANC understands the need for a multifaceted strategy and the critical importance of principled engagement in the development of solutions to the unemployment challenge. [Interjections.] I wish you would listen!
The SPEAKER: Order, hon members! Order!
Mr E M SOGONI: Thus, at its 53rd national conference, the ANC resolved that urgent action is needed to get more young people into the workplace. The private sector, public sector, youth organisations and trade unions must unite in action to fight unemployment through interventions that do not necessarily jeopardise the jobs of existing workers or undermine workers' rights in general.
Speaker, maybe before I sit down, I would like to address the assertion that was made here that there is no oversight over the Presidency. I just want to remind hon members that on 16 November 2011, Parliament established the Portfolio Committee on the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in The Presidency under the Standing Committee on Appropriations. The Standing Committee on Finance would do oversight over the National Planning Commission. The President is not a member of this House and, therefore, we cannot conduct oversight over a member who is not a member of the House. [Applause.] [Interjections.]
However, hon members ... [Interjections.] No, listen! Listen! There are processes established by this House to make the President account to this House by way of asking oral questions to the President, which he answers every quarter.
Hon President, your government is keen to see that the youth in rural areas benefit from government programmes. That is why you announced in the state of the nation address this year that the National Rural Youth Service Corps will create 9 rural youth hubs per province, including 23 in municipalities.
The ANC is committed to preventing corruption, and it has resolved to provide leadership to society as a whole in the fight against corruption. The facts are that under this President, we have delivered by creating institutions aimed at fighting corruption. Among these anti-corruption tools are the currently existing anti-corruption unit of the Public Service and the imminent anti-corruption bureau that will be established in terms of statute to investigate corruption-related cases. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order, hon members! Order!
Mr E M SOGONI: The bureau will investigate high level corruption. The tools also include the Ethics and Integrity Framework and the envisaged central database of cases. This will ensure that public servants found guilty of serious corruption cases will be blacklisted and registered in the database. In fact, the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster has already announced 42 names of offenders, with a possible 3 000 others to be announced soon, as was reported earlier.
In a decisive measure aimed at intensifying compliance with the requirements for disclosure of business interests by senior managers, an e-disclosure system for the declaration of financial interests by senior managers has been developed and will be implemented in the 2014-15 financial year to allow for extensive consultation on the tool. Senior managers will be allowed to sign performance agreements. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr L M MPHAHLELE /Mohau/Mia / End of Take
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 14
Mr E M SOGONI
Mr L M MPHAHLELE: Hon Speaker, hon President and hon Deputy President, the PAC welcomes the good tidings that President Nelson Mandela is responding well to treatment. Hon President, this must be the best news you have shared with us today. We also wish to say a big thank you to the doctors, nurses and the entire hospital personnel for making Tata comfortable in this hour of need.
Leaders are supposed to lead by example. In a country that is going through a rough economic patch, we expect the Presidency to be thoughtful in its use of public funds. Reports on KwaZulu-Natal's department of sport and recreation secretly spending R4,2 million on football pitches at the President's home in Nkandla do not augur well for this country. It seems that every sphere of government is obliged to contribute towards the Presidency's welfare. Besides this august House, who else is budgeting for the Presidency? All this information must come to light so that we do not overbudget.
Leaders are supposed to practise what they preach. From the summit of power in Mahlambandlovu, the gospel is loud and clear – do more with less. Is the Presidency doing more with less? Or is it doing less with more? [Interjections.] The nation is suffocating under corruption as leaders steal from followers and the rich steal from the poor with impunity. Even top ANC leader Gwede Mantashe aptly observed that corruption has been elevated to an industry of its own. Who are the captains of this evil industry? [Interjections.] The Presidency seems to be helpless and motionless in the face of corruption.
The PAC cannot and will never support the Presidency's budget when state machinery is used to destroy the party of Sobukwe. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order, hon members!
Mr L M MPHAHLELE: The PAC will never die till Africa is won from coast to coast, from Cape to Cairo, from Morocco to Malagasy. Izwe lethu! [Our nation!] [Interjections.] Ask the Soviet Union. It tried and failed to destroy the PAC. Where is the Soviet Union today? Those who tried to destroy the PAC ... [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order hon members!
Mr L M MPHAHLELE ... were brutally destroyed by history before they could achieve their dream. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr R B BHOOLA
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 14
Mr L M MPHAHLELE
The SPEAKER: Order, order, hon members! This is not a rally! Order! I will name and shame you. [Laughter.] Proceed, hon member.
Mr R B BHOOLA: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Hon President, we appreciate the work that you are doing in Africa to build new terrain for African unity and economic development, and in going to the East, particularly to Japan, to generate investments. I am sure that this has nothing to do with communism. The work around Brics, the whole infrastructure plan and the planning commission clearly emanate from your leadership. I also convey an abundance of prayers to Madiba. [Applause.]
Mr President, the DA will only praise you long after your term has ended ... [Interjections.] ... just like they did with Madiba. Long after he ended the struggle and his term as President, and only then, did the letters of praise come. This is hypocritical! [Interjections.] [Applause.] When times were tough, where were these people who pretend to have been part of the freedom struggle?
Interestingly, some of them are still here today within the ranks of the DA. They held pretty conservative positions and enjoyed the comforts and privileges of the apartheid state, while implementing apartheid laws. [Applause.]
I challenge the DA to make a comparative study with regard to presidential homes elsewhere. They will fail! They will not get any information because, quite correctly, it's classified.
Any report must not disclose details about levels of security and procurement specifications because in doing so you are disclosing confidential information which will compromise security. Presidential security is beyond compromise and by its very nature it is a confidential issue.
If something were to happen to the President ... [Applause.] ... the DA would be the first to say that the ANC government could not protect its President, in terms of security co-ordination. [Applause.]
The Nkandla report is being dealt with by the Public Protector and the Auditor-General. The Speaker has correctly referred it to the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, where the DA can interrogate it.
Minister Thulas Nxesi and the Deputy Minister had clearly indicated that maybe we have been grossly overcharged. Action must be taken against the perpetrators to ensure that our systems are tighter and stronger in future. Corruption and irregularities must be dealt with, but you don't compromise the security of the Presidency by playing petty politics. [Applause.]
The Freedom Charter states that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that includes brown, yellow and pink ... [Interjections.] ... and that is the rock on which our new democratic society is built. The truth is that this government is the custodian of those values and documents.
The MF rejects racism from whatever angle. Remember, in 1949 and 1985 there was a white state that provoked and fanned the flames of racial discourse. Mr President, whilst there are divisions in society, we laud your efforts to keep all South Africans united.
The DA's selective targeting of the Shaiks, Reddys and Guptas smacks of racism. [Interjections.] Interesting enough, hon Kalyan ... [Applause.] ... had her mouth zipped while her own party incites racism, and she behaves like a clown and a professional mascot. [Laughter.] What about the Bothas? And the James Brown issue, which is such a serious fraud ...
Dr D T GEORGE: Hon Speaker, I rise on a point of order.
The SPEAKER: Hon member, there is a point of order.
Dr D T GEORGE: The speaker is insulting a member of the House ... [Interjections.] ... and it is not acceptable behaviour. He must withdraw what he said about hon Kalyan. It's unacceptable! [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order, order hon members!
Dr D T GEORGE: It's unparliamentary and it's unacceptable. Thank you.
The SPEAKER: Order, order hon members! Order! In her ruling on 15 September 1998, Speaker Ginwala ruled as follows:
We have always drawn a distinction between allegations against members of the House and the expression of opinions about the beliefs and policies of political parties. This is part of normal political discourse and any attempt to limit this would set a dangerous precedent.
I agree with this ruling by Dr Ginwala. [Interjections.] Order! Reflections on political parties are therefore not unparliamentary. [Applause.]
Hon member, your time has expired. You may return to your seat. [Interjections.]
Dr D T GEORGE: Hon Speaker, that was not my point of order. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
Dr D T GEORGE: I said that the member who was speaking insulted hon Kalyan by calling her a clown. That is what I was talking about. I was not saying anything about what he was accusing the DA of doing. What I said was that he insulted a member, which is unacceptable. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: I will study the Hansard and come back tomorrow with a ruling. [Interjections.] Hon member, your time has expired.
Mr R B BHOOLA: The MF will support the Budget Vote. [Applause.] [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order, order hon members! Order! Before I call on the next speaker, I would like to remind members of the public in the gallery that they may not express themselves and participate in the deliberations of the House. They may not loudly approve or disapprove by clapping.
I want to remind them that they are our guests and to please behave like guests. [Interjections.] [Laughter.] Order! The next speaker is hon Ngcobo, who will be speaking from where she is seated. [Applause.] You have the floor, hon Ngcobo.
Ms B T NGCOBO / TH / END OF TAKE: 18.38
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 15
Mr R B BHOOLA
Nk B T NGCOBO: Somlomo, Mongameli, Phini likaMongameli namalungu ahloniphekile kanye nezivakashi ezikhona lapha...
English:
...before I start my speech, I would like to know from the opposition if they really loved Madiba or ifthey are just politicking by using Madiba, because they didn't love Madiba whilst he was here. So, they must tell us. Did they or do they love Madiba? [Applause.]
I shall speak on health as a constitutional right as well as one of the priorities of government this term. In his first state of the nation address, the President referred to issues of quality. I quote:
We are seriously concerned about the deterioration of the quality of health care, aggravated by the steady increase in the burden of disease in the past decade and half.
IsiZulu:
Mongameli, make ngincome ukuthi uthe uma ungena wangena nenkunzimalanga yohlelo lokubhekelelwa kweNgculazi. Ngakho-ke lolu hlelo lusijabulise kabi. Empeleni sijabule kakhulu ngoba njengamanje izinga lokutheleleka kwabantwana lehlile, izinga lempilo likhuphukile lafinyelela eminyakeni engama-60. Abantu bayasebenza, abasaphuthi emsebenzini. Lehlile nenani lemithi. Njengamanje, sijabula kakhulu ukuthi sekunephilisi elilodwa eliwushanguzo weSandulela-Ngculazi abantu asebeqalile ukuwudla, labo abaqale ngoMbasa. Kusho ukuthi kancane kancane bayoze bagcine bonke sebewutholile. [Ihlombe.]
Bese sikhuluma ngesifo sofuba, i-TB, siyazi ukuthi isiphucukile kakhulu indlela okubhekwa ngayo ukuthi abantu banaso yini le sifo. Sekutholakala ngamahora amabili ukuthi banaso yini isifo. Okwesibili, abantu abane-TB futhi baneNgculazi, betholakala bene-CD4 count ephansi balashwa kanyekanye i-TB neNgculazi ukuze kwelapheke kokubili.
Amawadi e-TB asekhona akhiwe, ashaya umoya kahle ukuze abantu bakwazi ukuthola umoya kahle. Okusithokozisa kakhulu ukuthi...
English:
... people who had MDR TB got well and were discharged. [Applause.]
IsiZulu:
Okusijabulisa kakhulu ukuthi i-World Health Organisation ijabula kabi ngendlela esenza ngayo. Okunye okusijabulisayo ukuthi ngokusebenza kuka-Sanac sesiyazi ukuthi izifundazwe zisebenza kanzima kodwa kukhona ezisebenza kanzima kunezinye yize noma zonke zisebenza.
Njengamanje i-KwaZulu-Natali, i-Gauteng, i-Eastern Cape impela ziza kahle kakhulu. Ngokuxoxa nomphakathi nokwethula kule Ndlu yesiShayamthetho ukuthi abantu abavele phela ukuthi bahlolelwe iNgculazi ukuze bakwazi futhi nokuthi balulekwe. Izigidi eziyi-15 zabantu zihloliwe. Namhlanje sekuyizigidi eziyi-20 zabantu ezihloliwe eNingizimu Afrika esezizazi ukuthi zinengculazi. [Ihlombe.] Isigidi esiyi-1,6 sabantu sesithola ama-ARV. Izindawo lezi okutholakala khona ama-ARV zikhuphukile seziyizinkulungwane ezi-3 ngoMbasa wezi-2012. [Ihlombe.] Abahlengikazi sebevumelekile ukuthi bangaqala ukunikeza ama-ARV ngaphandle kokuyalelwa ngudokotela. Siyakuncoma ke loko ngoba sesinabahlengikazi abayizinkulungwane eziyi-10 kusukela ngoMbasa wonyaka odlule.
English:
For a long time the health care service had been commodified, but you came up with the suggestion of the NHI. So, the implementation of the NHI is undoing this sordid practice, in which health has been commodified. Due to the vastness of the country, it was not possible to run a pilot across the country, and regions had to be designated so that the districts in the regions could be followed up with and the HNI could be piloted. As we speak, there are 10 pilot sites, 2 for KwaZulu-Natal because it has a high preponderance of HIV and Aids, but on its own it decided to have a third site.
IsiZulu:
I-NHI isiqaliwe ngoMbasa wezi-2013, bonke abelaphi abafunekayo sebekhona nodokotela sebekhona sesenza njengalabo baseNgilandi kwi-National Health system lapho yonke into ye-NHI yenziwa ngodokotela. Siyakuncoma-ke ukuthi loko sekwenzeka ngale ndlela okwenzeka ngayo. [Ihlombe.] Okwesibili, abantu sebezokwazi ukuthola usizo eduzane kwalapho behlala khona. Okwesithathu, abantu labo abafuna ukubonwa ngodokotela sebezobabona vele ezindaweni abakuzo nokuthi i-primary health care sesizoyigqugquzela ngoba abantu sebezothola ukwelulekwa bakwazi ukusizakala nokuvikela izimpilo zabo ukuze izifo lezi ezihluphayo ama-NCD zithi ukwehla. [Ihlombe.]
Siselapho-ke Mongameli, sizosho sithi nje...
English:
...there are recipes for NHI, firstly, the improvement of infrastructure; secondly, the planning, development and management of human resources for health; thirdly, the quality of care in our public health institutions; fourthly, the re-engineering of primary health care; and fifthly, the cost of health care in our country, where people will not be paying for the health services that they get, but the state will pay for that. They will be treated whereever they are.
IsiZulu:
Ngisho umuntu angabanjwa yisifo senhliziyo eceleni kwesibhedlela i-Chris Barnard uzokuthola ukwelashwa e-Chris Barnard, bese eyiswa endaweni lapho bebona ukuthi kufanele aye khona.
English:
We need a lot of skills, particularly doctors. At the moment we have 40 more doctors trained at Wits University, and the two universities will also train doctors, nurses and other allied workers. Right now, there is the refurbishment and equipping of nursing colleges. To date, over 70 colleges and schools are being refurbished. These include 11 in the Eastern Cape; 4 in the Free State; 15 in Gauteng; 12 in KwaZulu-Natal; 6 in Limpopo; 4 in Mpumalanga; and 1 in the Northern Cape. [Applause.]
IsiZulu:
Sizophinda-ke Mongameli sithi siyaziqhayisa impela ngomsebenzi osuwenzile kule sikhashana ukhona ngoba iwadi yabantwana ababenesifo sohudo bephethwe yi-pneumonia ivaliwe ngoba sebephilile. EMpangeni le wadi isinezinyanga ezintathu ivaliwe bese kuthi eGoli izinga nakhona selehlile kakhulu. [Ihlombe.] Siyajabula ukuthi sekuzoqala ukuthi abantwana bathole imithi ezobavikela ekutheni babe nomdlavuza womlomo wesibeletho okuyiwona ohluphayo uma abantu sebekhulile ngoba uyingxenye ye-NCD.
Siyaphinda siyamemezela ukuthi abantu abaqaphele indlela abaphila ngayo njengalokhu washo uMongameli ukuthi abantu mabazivocavoce, bangabi nomzimba omkhulu...[Uhleko.]... bangadephi baze babe bakhulu kakhulu. Lokhu kusiza ukuthi bangaficwa isifo sikashukela nesomfutho wegazi ophezulu. Le zifo esithi "izifo zami," sekwaba ukufa kwami.
Siyakuncoma-ke lokho, ukuthi ngesikhathi sakho, sinezinto eziningi esiziqhenya nesiziqhayisa ngazo ezithuthukise impilo yaba ngcono kodwa kusekuningi okufuneka kwenziwe. Siyakuncoma kakhulu lokho Mongameli.
Ngiyabonga Somlomo, ngiyethemba ukuthi laba abangaphesheya abazolokhu besikhohlisa ngoMadiba ngoba vele babengamfuni. Abangashayi sengathi bayamthanda manje ngoba sesiya okhethweni. [Ihlombe.]
Mr K J DIKOBO
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 15
Ms T B NGCOBO
Mr J DIKOBO: Hon Speaker, Your Excellencies President and Deputy President, hon members, esteemed guests, we agree with you, Your Excellency, that South Africa is better than it was before 1994 and to suggest otherwise is an insult to the memory of those who died and fought for freedom. [Applause.] Some strides have been made. We also share your concerns on how power relations in our economy have not changed.
It is a disgrace that 19 years after the attainment of freedom black ownership of the stock exchange is still 5%. Somehow we seem to have attained political freedom that excluded land and the economy. We have attained the freedom of the flag and anthem with the government that is guarding over the property and wealth of the rich.
Hon President, BEE will not reverse the anomaly. BEE and affirmative action are flawed policies based on the foreign model where the majority affirms the minority. South Africa is peculiar in that it is expected that the minority should affirm the majority. What our country needs, is state ownership of the means of production, land, sea and air space distributed among individuals according to the needs and capacity to use.
On South Africa's role in peacekeeping on the continent, Azapo is happy that we have emphatically, honourable President said that under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union, Azapo is opposed to South Africa's solo efforts at attempting to promote peace, the example being the Central Africa Republic. We will support the deployment of our armed force in the Eastern DRC as part of a multilateral force. The continent must not allow itself to be threatened and intimidated by M23 and other rebels; rebels without a cause. [Applause.]
We need lasting peace in Africa and we will not achieve that with groups that forcefully conscript its citizens including children and raped women with impunity. No child in Africa deserves to grow up under conditions of war. We also say that peace is priceless and nothing should be spared to achieve lasting peace on the continent. Yes, we want labour peace in South Africa. We are in full support of collective bargaining. We also call for equal treatment of trade unions and federations.
Your Excellency, you have told this House that the government does not side with any union. We appreciate the appointment of the Deputy President to intervene and we are going to see how this is done because the perception out there, hon president, is that unions are treated differently. We will support the Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr J J MCGLUWA: Hon Speaker, may I address you.
The SPEAKER: On what?
Mr J J MCGLUWA: I just want you, hon Speaker, to study the Hansard. Hon Mphahlele, if I pronounce it right, said that to the hon members of the opposition they must not lie that they like Madiba, whether that is parliamentary to use. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: What is the point you are raising, hon member?
Mr J J MCGLUWA: I am asking you, Speaker, to study Hansard ... [Interjections.] ... the hon member ...
The SPEAKER: Please take your seat, hon member. [Interjections.] Order, hon members! Order! I haven't invited you to comment. Order! Proceed, Minister.
The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY / GG / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 16
Ms B T NGCOBO
The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY - PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION, AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATION IN THE PRESIDENCY: Hon Comrade Speaker, hon Comrade Zuma, hon Comrade Deputy President Motlanthe, hon members, comrades and ladies and gentlemen, I greet you. Comrade President, you have spoken on our behalf about Comrade Nelson Mandela.
Today we present the Budget Vote of the Presidency which performs the functions of leading the state and government. This office has a tremendous responsibility to ensure that our country is effectively and efficiently governed and that government delivers much needed services to our people. The dual responsibilities of the head of state and government come with heavy demands that require a well-organised and responsive Presidency.
This Budget Vote is presented almost at the end of all Budget Votes by the entirety of government departments. This House has witnessed and listened to presentations by members of the executive, outlining their delivery record and successes they had made since the beginning of this administration. This House has equally been presented with challenges and plans to continue with the mandate of improving people's lives for the 2013-14 financial year.
We are delivering this Vote during the month of June, when the country is commemorating the 37th anniversary of the Soweto and related uprisings of 1976. As the country commemorates the struggle of the youth of 1976 who laid down their lives for all of us to have equal rights and the freedom we enjoy today, we ought to realise that the youth of today have different and very challenging struggles. They have to fight the abuse of alcohol and drugs, for economic emancipation, access to quality education, against unemployment and HIV/Aids.
The 37th National Youth Day and Youth Month are commemorated under the theme, "Working together for youth development and a drug-free South Africa". This is a befitting theme given the challenges of the day. The young people of our country need a National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, which is aware of these challenges and responsive to their needs. The NYDA should be able to reach out to every young person in our country and assist them in reaching their potential.
This Budget Vote is also presented on the eve of our country's celebration of 20 years of freedom. These 20 years of freedom has come through hard work and sacrifices by our people. Since then, as the ANC government, we can say life has indeed changed since we got our freedom in 1994.
As evidenced through the results of Census 2011, the RDP housing programme has built over three million housing units since 1994. The percentage of households with access to potable water has increased from 60% to 90%. Access to electricity has increased from 50% of households to approximately 80%. [Applause.]
Only 36% of households had access to electricity in 1994. Today about 85% of the households have access to electricity. This tremendous achievement and many others in other areas, reaffirm our assertion that life have changed in South Africa since the advent of our democracy. [Applause.]
As hon members would recall, some of our achievements are recorded in the mid-term review we published last year. As a follow-up on the review, we have started doing research work for the production of the 20-year review of the country's progress towards becoming a nonracial, nonsexist and prosperous society. We have set ourselves a target to publish the 20-year review by the end of this year. It will record the progress we have made and the challenges we still face.
When the ANC took office at the beginning of this administration in 2009, it undertook to know where people live and deliver services to them faster and smarter. To this effect, in the spirit of working together and that of participatory democracy, President Jacob Zuma has led from the front by beginning with the process of proactively engaging with citizens.
The President established the Presidential Hotline which has since received over 160 000 calls with a success rate of over 90%. [Applause.] He further undertook several Siyahlola visits to communities to witness if government is delivering and also intervene where required to have services delivered timeously. During these visits, the President brought hope and dignity to those who never thought government services would ever touch their lives.
Since 2009, as the ANC committed to working together with our nation, the President visited eight communities in the North West, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape focused on projects on social infrastructure, public transport infrastructure, human settlements, education and people living with disabilities. These visits have managed to bring water and electricity to our people and, in some cases, unblocked much needed services to communities.
The mandate of the Presidency is to support the President and the Deputy President in leading and galvanising the whole of government and society in order to implement the electoral programme; and also to serve as a centre for strategic co-ordination in implementing government's programmes so as to ensure that all energies and efforts are properly aligned behind the achievement of a common and unifying vision. Lastly, it monitors that government programmes are implemented and also evaluate whether they are achieving their intended objectives.
In fulfilling his governance responsibilities, the President, supported by the Deputy President, also convened a number of forums to consult on a variety of issues and share government plans with business, labour, communities and academic field, among others.
In the year under review, the President also convened a meeting with principals of the 50 further education and training, FET, colleges. The purpose of the meeting was to outline the role of FET Colleges in South Africa, particularly in respect of the country's New Growth Path and the envisioned industrial development trajectory. Part of the monitoring activities of the Presidency includes the Ministerial performance assessment by the President, in line with the commitment made in this regard.
Social cohesion and nation-building remain the key strategic priorities for the government and our society as a whole. Some of the key initiatives undertaken in this respect include interactio with the SA Hindu Maha Sabha during the 100 years celebration, engagement with the Jewish community, renaming of King's House Dube House, and the Presidential Guesthouse Makgatho Presidential guesthouse.
The President also led the nation at the National Social Cohesion Summit, the official opening of the Steve Biko Heritage Centre, the Alexandra centenary celebrations and the renaming of the Bloemfontein Airport to Bram Fischer Airport among others. In this year, we will implement programmes which include marking the centenary of the Union Buildings, the centenary of the 1913 Land Act, and the celebration of the 20 years of freedom in South Africa since April 1994.
The President has already reported on the work of the PRC.
The Presidency has and will continue to facilitate and co-ordinate the President's engagement with the leadership of critical statutory bodies that he chairs, such as the President's Co-ordinating Council, PCC, the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, the National Nuclear Energy Executive Co-ordination Committee, NNEECC, and the Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council.
Government has approved the implementation plan of the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission. The PICC has set the pace of accelerated infrastructure development in South Africa across the three spheres of government. The plan now comprises a total of 18 Strategic Integrated Projects, SIPs. Our work in this area is ongoing.
Therefore, the Presidency will continue to support the Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, on the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committees on the Human Resource Development Council, the Energy Advisory Council, the War on Poverty, as well as the SA National Aids Council. The Deputy President will also continue to lead government's targeted short-term assistance packages as part of a larger basket of antipoverty measures and a co-ordinated programme on poverty alleviation. [Applause.]
The Director-General in the Presidency also plays a significant role in the functioning and supporting the President in fulfilling his constitutional duties. Besides being the administrative head of the Presidency, the director-general also serves as the Secretary to Cabinet, Chairperson of the Forum of South African Director-Generals and Chancellor of the National Orders.
The President, Deputy President and the Deputy Minister have already reported on our international work, so I will not go into that.
During this year and beyond, South Africa will continue to play this leading role in the international arena. The focus of South Africa's international engagements will be the African continent and strengthening South-South alliances, as well as engaging actively with partners in the North.
In terms of the African agenda, in the first quarter of the 2013-14 financial year, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity.
Minister Manuel has already reported on the work of the National Planning Commission.
Turning to administration, to improve the operational environment, the Presidency made many concerted efforts in the 2012-13 financial year to correct the basics, improve internal controls and business processes in order to address administrative challenges. As a result, we received an unqualified audit opinion with matters of emphasis for 2011-12. We believe that these interventions have already shown positive results in ensuring management processes and systems in the Presidency's work. [Applause.] Therefore, the Presidency will therefore continue to ensure that it maintains a positive audit opinion, strengthen identified weak internal controls, and improve compliance in regulatory areas.
In 2012 we undertook the baseline review of the budget allocation of the Presidency, aimed at aligning the funding needs of the organisation to its growing mandate, especially in relation to the Presidency's increasing obligations and responsibilities in the international arena.
Austerity measures, to identify cost-saving measures in existing programmes to relieve the pressure and address the unauthorised expenditure were also put into place at the end of 2011. The Presidency placed emphasis on sound financial management principles so as to ensure the economical, efficient and effective use of state resources. We therefore generated savings of R79,9 million on our budget.
In this financial year, we received an amount of R1,095,07 million, which is allocated as follows: R462,1 million for administration; R77,7 million for the National Planning Commission; R392,7 million for the National Youth Development Agency; R160,4 million for Brand South Africa and R2,8 million for statutory allocations. In the past financial year, the Presidency spent 92% of its budget, with savings realised from compensation of employees, goods and services and capital expenditure.
The Presidency also continues to support the work of the former Presidents and Deputy Presidents.
I would like to thank the President and the Deputy President for their leadership and guidance. I also thank Minister Manuel and Deputy Minister Bapela for the support we give one another in our work. I would also like to thank the institutions that support the Presidency, which include the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, the NPC, GSIS, Brand south Africa, NYDA and MDDA. [Applause.]
I know that the DA has never voted for our vote and no one expects anything different. However, I would like to make the DA understand the implications of their decision. By refusing to vote, you are telling the people that you do not support the National Planning commission, the fight against poverty in the War on Poverty ... [Interjections.] ... the fight against HIV/Aids through Sanac, the HRD Council; you do not support former Presidents, including President Nelson Mandela. It that what you want to tell our people? That you do not support former President Mandela's budget and that you do not support the present President's budget. That confirms the assertion that had been made by other speakers, that you are just paying lip service about their support for our president Nelson Mandela. I thank you.
I ask the House to approve the budget. [Applause.]
Mr N T GODI
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 17
"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,12 Jun 2013,"[Take-17] [National Assembly Chamber Main][NAC-Logger][ct].doc"
The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION, AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATION IN THE PRESIDENCY
Mr N T GODI: Mr Speaker, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President, comrades and hon members, I stand on behalf of the APC to support this Budget Vote. [Applause.]
The APC salutes the role and efforts of your government, Comrade President, in the affairs of our continent. Whilst our past might have been grossly impacted upon by others, the future must surely be in our own hands. Our continent is faced with the imperatives of development, unity, peace and security. When these strategic imperatives are jeopardised, it is not up to France or any other outside force to intervene. Africans must have the capacity to act. South Africa as a key player in Africa cannot be on the periphery of finding solutions to African challenges.
Our continent cannot develop when there is instability, insecurity and unconstitutional removal of governments. Whereas Africa is endowed with natural and human resources, we do not occupy the front rows amongst nations of the world in terms of development. This undesirable condition can only be changed by concerted and united action by the whole of Africa.
The APC believes that South Africa, together with other African powerhouses like Nigeria, Kenya, Algeria, etc, must be the pivot around which Africa is propelled forward. Our disunity is the basis of our weakness and an enabler of neocolonialism. Only in unity can we can rid Africa of the curse of the Berlin Conference of 1885. The quest for Pan-African unity took an organisational form 15 years after the Berlin Conference, with the convening of the first Pan-African Conference in London in 1900. This was to be followed by a series of such conferences, including the watershed Manchester Pan-African Congress of 1945, and the All-African People's Conference held in the newly independent Ghana in 1958. It was followed by the Addis Ababa Summit in 1963, which founded the Organisation of African Unity, OAU, as an institutional expression of the quest for African unity.
Comrades, it is only in unity, in integration – political, economic and military – that Africa can harness its resources to improve the material conditions of our people and defend our sovereignty, having experienced as a people the ravages of slavery, colonialism and now neocolonialism in different degrees. In this important task, South Africa must continue to play a leading role with others. The APC agrees that, indeed, South Africa is a different country from the one inherited in 1994. [Applause.] A lot has been done, yet so much still needs to be done for freedom to have material meaning to the majority of our people. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr J H STEENHUISEN
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 17
Mr N T GODI
Mr J H STEENHUISEN: Hon Speaker, allow me to begin this afternoon by answering the hon Ngcobo's question. We love Madiba. [Interjections.] We join the President and the rest of the nation today in wishing him a speedy recovery. [Interjections.]
A very huge thing today is that we had the hon Motshekga talking about our "KnowYourDA" campaign pamphlets, and yesterday the hon Jeffery also alluded to it. We are delighted that people are reading the material. I hope people will be able to learn something. It was pamphlets yesterday, the YouTube video today!
I really think that the biggest problem is that the ANC is jealous, because they cannot implement their own "KnowYourDA" campaign. [Interjections.] This is for a simple reason: They would not be able to decide which ANC to do the "know your ANC" campaign on. [Applause.] [Interjections.]
Would it be the rabid left of Nzimande, SACP and Cosatu, who hate the National development Plan, NDP? Would it be the national party leadership who sits on the ramp? Or would it be the market-centrists like hon Trevor Manuel, the hon former Minister of Finance, who loves the NDP? You can see that it is an impossible choice for the ANC. [Interjections.]
Perhaps this confusion is best illustrated today by what the President had to say about the unions. The President told the House today that the ANC does not pick sides, but a few weeks ago his Minister of Mining, the hon Shabangu, said that an attack on the National Union of Mineworkers, NUM, is an attack on the ANC. No wonder people in this country are calling it the "African National Confusion". [Interjections.]
The hon Manuel had a go at us about Khayelitsha. We say here today: Yes, hon Manuel, we will go with you to Khayelitsha, on one condition – that you join us on a tour of the rest of the provinces that are run by the ANC. [Interjections.] We will take you to the Eastern Cape, where children have to put up with those mud schools. They suffer under the yoke of the ANC's oppression. You have done nothing about it! [Interjections.]
Every single child in the Western Cape has a textbook in every single subject! [Applause.] [Interjections.] We cannot say the same about Limpopo, colleagues. [Applause.] Those children suffer under the tyranny of the ANC administration in Limpopo. [Interjections.] Perhaps when we are in Khayelitsha, we can visit the Centre of Science and Technology, Cosat, the seventh best performing school in the Western Cape, in Khayelitsha, under the DA! [Interjections.]
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Speaker, will the member take a question?
The SPEAKER: Order! On what point are you rising hon member?
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Speaker, can the member take a question?
Mr J H STEENHUISEN: No, I do not have enough time for questions. Deliver some textbooks; we will talk about questions later.
The hon Manuel waxes lyrical about the NDP. He sings its praises, and we say: Hon Manuel, amen! However, it is not this side of the House that has a problem with the NDP. It is the members on the benches behind you! [Interjections.] It is your alliance partners who reject the plan. Irvin Jim, speaking a few days ago, said that "the diagnostic of the NDP is based on a false, theoretically weak analytical foundation." With friends like that, who needs enemies? [Laughter.] Perhaps he is giving truth to the quote by Winston Churchill that said, "in politics, your opponents sit opposite you; your enemies sit behind you." [Laughter.] In your case, they sit next to you.
Hon Bhengu can twist the figures and add percentages as much as she likes. For the party that promised us jobs, jobs, jobs, the reality is that today 2,5 million South Africans are unemployed, more than when the President assumed office. The figures on public debt are also hopelessly outdated. I would ask the hon Manuel to, before he starts enrolling members of this House and the hon Turok into economy school, perhaps you could also enrol the hon Bhengu there because she also needs a tutorial. [Laughter.]
The hon Sue van der Merwe blames the world for our problems. Yes, the international environment does have an impact, but we also have to help ourselves as South Africans. Last week Gill Marcus, the Governor of the SA Reserve Bank, put it very clearly. She said:
Clear action is required to stabilise labour relations which have created a difficult export environment.
[Interjections.]
Here is the important part, so listen carefully: Government needs to be decisive, act coherently and exhibit strong leadership from the top.
[Interjections.]
The fact that the Governor of the Reserve Bank in South Africa has to remind the government of basics like that speaks volumes for itself. [Interjections.]
Hon Bapela gave us a lecture about drugs. Well, amen! Where have you guys been for the last 10 years? Have you only woken up to the crisis of drugs today? [Interjections.] It is the worst kind of electioneering, where you come and visit communities and promise them the world, when you had the opportunity to do something and you have done nothing at all. That sort of cheap electioneering is quite disgraceful. The DA, on the other hand, has been consistent in our fight against drugs. [Interjections.] Helen Zille has opened several new drug rehabilitation clinics. [Interjections.] She is taking the fight directly to the drug dealers. The voters of South Africa are not naïve. They are going to look for a track record, and in that regard, you are going to be found wanting.
Hon Sogoni, people marched to Cosatu House because they wanted to demand that the ANC and its alliance partners stop blocking the youth wage subsidy. Had that subsidy been implemented, it would have benefitted 440 000 young people by now. You are great at setting up committees, commissions, inquiries, study groups and the like, but none of these have a meaningful impact. The National Youth Development Agency, NYDA - the shortcomings of which were mentioned from both sides of the House today – is a prime example. In the Western Cape, we are implementing the Youth Wage Subsidy, and it is working. [Interjections.]
HON MEMBERS: Where? Where? [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order! Order, hon members! Order!
Mr J H STEENHUISEN: The hon Manamela will be delivering the sweep on behalf of the ANC today. I want to say to him to go and read his Youth Day speech. Sadly, it was weaker than the Youth Accord. [Interjections.] But I agree with one line that he said, and I want to quote it. He said, "However, the levels of poverty, unemployment, inequality and economic injustice have worsened since 1994." Amen! If you wanted to debate the hon Mazibuko, I think you are going to have to go up there and up your game somewhat.
The truth of the matter is – we have seen it over the debates during the Extended Public Committees, EPCs, we have seen it in yesterday's debate, and we have seen it again today – the ANC is fighting for a better yesterday, while the DA is fighting for a better future! [Applause.] Our debate cannot be about refighting the apartheid war. It must be about honouring the past, not living in it, about remembering apartheid, not reinventing it. [Interjections.]
If you have a look at our levels of delivery, the facts show that the DA-led City of Cape Town delivers better quality services ... [Interjections.] ... to more poor people than any metropolitan council in South Africa. It is a fact! [Applause.] A total of 57% of its R18 billion budget is spent on service delivery to poor residents. The ANC talks about the better life for all; the DA delivers the better life for all. [Applause.]
Look at you! Look at what has become of this mighty ANC! This was the party of Sisulu, the party of Luthuli, and the party of Tambo, people able to debate and throw ideas around. Nowadays, the only things that your party is capable of throwing around are personal insults and human waste. I thank you, Speaker. [Applause.]
Mr K B MANAMELA
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 Take: 18
Mr J H STEENHUISEN
Mr K B MANAMELA: Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, and hon members, before I get to the gist of my speech, I just want to indicate that millions of South Africans who have been watching almost every state of the nation address, almost every presidential Budget Vote, ask themselves the question: Where is the respect that, in particular, the hon Lindiwe Mazibuko should be giving our President?
Yes, let us differ with the President. Yes, let us be critical, but there must be substance in that difference and in that criticism. But to treat our President in a condescending and disrespectful way has to be dealt with. [Applause.]
What we have also seen is that the voice of both the DA and of Cope has become so indistinguishable that when one listens to both of them, you would be forgiven for thinking that they are just one political party. It is a shame that the hon Mazibuko not only receives her speech from the Western Cape provincial legislature, but it is also unfortunate that the has-been revolutionary hon Terror Lekota is sharing notes with the hon Mazibuko. It is also a shame that you, hon Lekota, who has left the House, reads from the same script and uses the same verbiage, word by word, effectively becoming and extension and mouthpiece of the DA. [Applause.] You collectively say that the President has failed and should not be re-elected. It is your democratic right, but it is a shame that you cannot afford your own people in Cope the same opportunity we have in the ANC of electing our leaders every five years. [Applause.] If you clean your house ... wherever he is, listening or not, which would be unfortunate – but wherever he is, hon Lekota, and I know the message will go through: Clean your house, and then the people of South Africa will begin to listen to you.
But it is also unfortunate that both the DA and Cope have read the same script offered by Goebbels of Hitler's Germany that the bigger the lie, the more it is repeated, the bigger the chances of that lie being believed. [Interjections.] Let us look, for instance, at the statistics that to unemployment. In 2004 to 2009, when the ANC led the Western Cape, the Western Cape gained more than 138 000 jobs. That is under an ANC government. [Applause.] But under the DA, from 2009 to date – and maybe including the ID – the Western Cape has lost 70 000 jobs and narrow employment has decreased by more than 133 000 jobs. But, wait for it, in the last 12 months, while the country as a whole created 200 000 jobs, the DA lost 37 000 jobs. [Interjections.] Using the logic of hon Mazibuko, which she has extended to the President, the DA must not only accept responsibility and blame, but the hon member and her leader, Premier Helen Zille, must do the honourable thing for the Western Cape people and resign. Please go. Go quietly, and we will not even mention this in the future. [Applause.]
These lies also include what you consistently repeat. We knew that you were going to speak about Marikana. You were going to speak about the illegal landing of the Guptas in Waterkloof. We knew that you were going to speak about Nkandla. We knew that you were going to try and create divisions within the ruling party and its alliance partners on the question of the National Development Plan. But you failed dismally. You came here, and you said everything that you have been saying in the past, and there is nothing new that has been coming from the opposition parties. [Applause.] The first inclination of the opposition to any tragedy or farce, which is in sync with what is repeated daily in the media, is that the President is responsible for everything bad that happens and all the good that is done by government just happens by chance. Flights are delayed – blame Zuma. The weather is bad – blame Zuma. The rand is too weak – blame Zuma. There is a cloud on Table Mountain – blame Zuma. [Interjections.] The hon Lindiwe Mazibuko has bad fashion taste and has been arrested by the fashion police – blame Zuma. [Laughter.] So, everything must be blamed on Zuma. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order! Order! Order!
Mr K B MANAMELA: Previous ANC speakers underlined many of the highlights of what this fourth ANC-led, democratic administration has achieved under your leadership, Comrade President. Building on earlier advances by previous ANC-led administrations, the fourth administration has driven major improvements in life expectancy and a major reduction in mother-to-child HIV transmission.
It has also introduced, for the first time, a 20-year approach to planning and tabled the National Development Plan, a vision that we are all proud of. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, Numsa, Cosatu, the SACP, everybody, is proud of this vision that has been presented. The administration has driven the massification of our public employment scheme through the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, and the Community Work Programme.
There are many other important qualitative shifts driven by the post-2009 administration, and I want to dwell on one important shift, the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, the underlying statistics of which speak for itself. It was the third administration that really kick-started a massive government-led infrastructure programme that led to a successful Fifa Soccer World Cup, and this administration intends doubling government expenditure on infrastructure. No wonder even the Financial Mail – although it does not acknowledge that it is government's intervention – acknowledged that construction is the runaway leader in terms of the relative development of gross domestic product growth by sector.
The labour market statistics for the New Growth Path period of the third quarter of 2010 also presents a similar story: success, success, and success. If you come to this podium in an election year, you will not see that success. If you come to this podium after having read the garbage that is being spread in the media and everywhere else, you will not see the success that this fourth administration has actually achieved. [Interjections.] The PICC's impact is not just directed at unlocking untapped mineral resources through the co-ordinated development of rail lines, water pipelines, energy provision and human settlements, it is also beginning to unlock plans that have long been sitting idle, even under the apartheid administration, such as the Mzimvubu Dam, on which, as a result of the intervention of this Presidency, progress is being made. [Applause.]
Residents of Kosovo Informal Settlement in Philippi have been told by Mayor De Lille that she has now suspended sending of council sanitation staff to empty toilets. The residents say the toilets, which are supposed to be emptied twice a week, haven't been emptied in three months. [Interjections.] It is important to remember that the sanitation crisis in Cape Town is not new. First there was the open-toilet saga. There was also the disastrous City-led maintenance of communal toilets by using a completely botched EPWP project. Let's be fair, it is not only in Cape Town that there is a problem with sanitation, but the problem is the response of the DA to this crisis in relation to the Western Cape.
What does the DA say? According to the policy, which is on their website under "Our Policies" and "Housing Policy", the DA says to communities suffering this terrible indignity that "providing adequate shelter is first and foremost an individual responsibility". It is a principle that they repeat three times on that website. [Interjections.] Essentially, what they are saying is: Black man, you are on your own. [Applause.] Impoverished black women, the homeless, those who are crowded into unhygienic informal settlements, you are basically on your own. The DA is without you. The DA assures you that most people are quite able and willing to play their role, particularly if bureaucratic obstacles are removed. So, for them, it is a problem of bureaucracy. That is why they cannot empty toilets in those informal settlements. [Interjections.]
I think that, of course, we are very clear that we do not condone what happened over the last few weeks, where people were throwing faeces. However, if you label people as "aliens," they will be alienated. If you label people as "aliens", as "refugees," they will be aliens. They will behave in the same way. Since we have been saying "amen" a lot and talking about the Bible, it is the same Bible that says "whoever sows injustice will reap calamity" and that "for whatever one sows, that will ye reap". We have seen what the premier and the mayor have been reaping over the last few weeks. [Applause.] In Philippi and in Du Noon and Khayelitsha, all of the communities are coming to their own conclusion about your attitudes and your policies – that they stink. They don't want that.
The same leave-it-to-the-market approach is to be found in the DA's perspective of the reindustrialisation of our economy. The DA has rejected our government-led Industrial Policy Action Plan, Ipap, arguing instead for a light touch from the state. The DA tells us that government's role is to pick winners and leave the rest to the market. Last week, Hisense launched a television and refrigeration plant in Atlantis, which they were encouraged to do through a R28,6 million investment by the Department of Trade and Industry as a result of Ipap. What did Helen Zille do? She ran for a photo opportunity. [Interjections.] She forgot about her criticism of Ipap; she forgot about her criticism of the New Growth Path; she forgot that she was advocating divisions on the new development plan. She was pushing everybody, trying to be in the main frame of the picture on that particular day. [Applause.] She didn't say to the Chinese and the Vice President of China, who were there, that their state-led industrialisation was a threat to our democracy. She didn't say to them that we did not want their investment because it was as a result of state intervention. She didn't lecture them about their liberal ideology, that of leaving everything to the market. Instead, all she was interested in was whether the voters in Atlantis would see her in that picture. That is what the DA is all about – their opportunism when it comes to policy articulation vis-à-vis their opportunism when it comes to getting rank and file votes from our people. [Applause.]
There is one other form of opportunism that I think, hon President, we really need to expose. [Interjections.] The DA and their friends have a great deal to say about corruption in government, and we must deal with corruption in government. It is our collective responsibility to do that. What are we to make of the virtually total silence of the DA in relation to the multi-billion rand fraudulent collusion on the part of at least 18 construction companies, including six major South African companies, as exposed by the Competition Commission? Peter Bruce even encourages them to continue doing that by saying –
... surely the idea in some industries and in some circumstances would be to see the value in price collusion ... The only way to get things done, and done shipshape, was to allow the big firms basically to divide up the work among themselves. Now Patel wants to police collusion in the state's big infrastructure programme.
Essentially, Peter Bruce is brazenly, in a business newspaper, advocating criminal behaviour. This is not just petty theft. This is not R100. We are talking about 300 projects that involved more than R47 billion. Let's leave it to the market. Yet, our friends here who shout the loudest when there is a publication about allegations of corruption in the newspapers were quiet when it came to this. We thought because they support competition, which is liberation – support competition, the market, and all of that – we thought they would be the first ones to make a statement. Yet, they sat back and relaxed. Maybe they said that these companies were too big to fail. Maybe they are even too big to jail. We must focus on the minnows, on the small ones, on the government bureaucrats and so forth. Those are the ones who must be jailed. It is wrong for the DA to keep quiet about this. [Applause.]
There has been a creeping and personalised attack, President, from the opposition, not on the Presidency, but on you as individual, on your person. Obviously, because we are going into elections, this excitement, this adrenaline, is obviously going to be coming up. [Interjections.] It is not new. In fact, in 2009, British columnist Peter Hitchens wrote in the Mail on Sunday and told his readers that "a hopelessly one-sided and rather crooked election" will be taking place in South Africa and that ours will be a failed state. What was the basis of this attack on the ANC and also on its president? They said that the President –
... completely lacks the Westernised polish and smoothness of Mandela and Mbeki ... South Africa's largest tribe are a proud fighting people, and Zuma will not be a mild leader, as Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, his two forerunners, were ... Young men, brought up in the warrior spirit, wander in angry and resentful groups, strikingly unlike the more peaceful Xhosas to the south.
No-one – and my apologies for quoting this nonsense, and this bilious, unreconstructed colonial trash – but no-one can and will openly say some of these things. I don't imagine that, at least in public, but some in the DA do repeat these things. They do repeat – you know, I have an article here by ... this is the DA. This is what "KnowyourDA" is all about. The DA is reproducing almost similar garbage as is reproduced in Western countries, about how racist some of the individuals in the DA are and about the anger by some of the black politicians in the DA who cannot take it anymore, who are sick and tired of how racist some of the councillors are. Some of them even go to the extent of confessing to the fact that the DA will be too dangerous to take over the Port Elizabeth metropolitan area. People internal in the DA are praying that the DA in that area does not take over the metro. [Applause.]
You don't have to spend millions of rands on "KnowyourDA", developing propaganda and 12-minute videos. [Interjections.] You have to spend millions of rands making sure that some from your benches and some in your councils down there become true South Africans and forget some of this nonsense that is being repeated in this article and this email, which – and I want to read some of it because you may think that I am creating this. One of the things that chap reproduces or repeats is that there is a 25% pregnancy rate amongst schoolgirls because we have out-fornicated everyone and spread disease. [Interjections.] He goes on to say ... the e-mail refers to black people as "dumb idiots who wait for handouts". The e-mail further refers to the President as "having more wives than brain cells". Now, this is a party that looks upon not only the President but also young girls in schools and black people in general, even those who are in the DA, as idiots, as beasts whose main preoccupation is sex. Yet, the DA says that you need to "KnowyourDA."
That is not the only evidence. If you look at what is happening in the Western Cape; if you look at the composition of government in the Western Cape; if you look at the bureaucracy in the Western Cape, it is lily white. It is a reflection of what was happening under apartheid, and we don't want to see that being repeated in the eight other provinces. [Applause.] We now know the DA. We know that it stands for this racism that is being distributed by Cllr Slabbert in the Eastern Cape. Stop saying that "a job is a job", particularly those people who are on this side of the bench and who are aware of these problems. Stop being the acceptable "darkie" in the DA. You know where you belong. It is not enough to just say that "a job is a job". Let's get on with it. [Interjections.]
Mr J J MCGLUWA: Speaker ...
The SPEAKER: There is a point of order. Yes, sir, what is the point of order?
Mr J J MCGLUWA: Speaker, is it parliamentary to use the word "darkie" in Parliament? [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order, hon members! Order, hon members! [Interjections.] Order! Order! Order! Continue, sir.
Mr K B MANAMELA: I mean, listen ...
The SPEAKER: No, hold on. Are you continuing with your point?
Mr J J MCGLUWA: No, I asked a question, Speaker. Is it parliamentary to use the word "darkie" in Parliament?
The SPEAKER: There is nothing in the Rules that says you cannot use "darkie". [Interjections.]
Mr J J MCGLUWA: They ruled against ... [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr J J MCGLUWA: Speaker, they ruled against Minister Blade Nzimande. [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order! Order, hon member! Order! I am still speaking. I will study the Hansard. I will check, and I will come back on that.
Mr J J MCGLUWA: And Manamela will apologise.
The SPEAKER: I will. Yes, thank you. Proceed. [Interjections.]
Mr K B MANAMELA: Thank you, Speaker. What you heard here today, hon President, and going back to what Hitchens said, I suspect that the DA wants you to exhibit "Westernised polish and smoothness". I am sure that you have heard how hon Lindiwe Mazibuko speaks. That is "Westernised polish and smoothness." When you are dealing with them and their constituency, they want you to be a mild leader. When it comes to the trade union movement, when it comes to Cosatu, the homeless, or the marginalised, they want you to do completely different things. You are supposed to tell the unions, the poor, and everybody else that you are the boss. That is when your leadership is being questioned – when you are supposed to, in their words, be dealing with Cosatu. When it comes to them, you must be this polished person, you must be nice to the markets, you must be nice to the world and everybody else, and you must forget about the real people who ensured that the ANC leads and that the ANC will continue to lead. [Applause.]
In closing, President, we, as the ANC, support this Budget Vote, because it represents the future. We do not have the responsibility and luxury of sitting in the opposition benches. You have the responsibility to govern. You do not have to please anybody except the real electorate, the real people who put the ANC into office. We hope that through this budget, you will be able to do that. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate interrupted.
The House adjourned at 19:45.
/Mia
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