Hansard: NA: Reply by President on Vote 1: Presidency

House: National Assembly

Date of Meeting: 13 Jun 2013

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Minutes

UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Thursday, 13 June 2013 Take: 1

Thursday, 13 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.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Thursday, 13 June 2013 Take: 1

START OF DAY

APPROPRIATION BILL

Resumption of Debate on Vote No 1 – The Presidency (Reply by President):

THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: Hon Speaker, Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members of the House, this year's Presidency Budget Vote debate took place at a critical time in our country. There is still no end in sight to the global financial crisis and economic growth still seems elusive. We are therefore going through a period that requires unity and common purpose. It requires leaders from all sectors to lead the country towards action that builds confidence in the economy and makes our economy more resilient. It is a time for focusing on solutions and working together to solve our problems. [Applause.]

It is a time for counting our achievements and our blessings as a nation. From our achievements we draw lessons and the strength to overcome whatever challenges we may be facing at any particular time. In this regard, yesterday I raised the need to support the mining sector and to ensure that there is a restoration of labour peace and order in the mining towns.

The mining industry has played an important and significant role in shaping the development path of the South African economy over a century. Cities and towns have been built on the backbone of the mining industry, as have other related industries such as manufacturing, financial services, electricity and transportation.

In addition, mining has been cited as one of the six job drivers in the New Growth Path, which now forms part of the National Development Plan. It is important as well that close to 60% of South African exports are related to the mining sector. Mining companies also account for a large portion of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange capitalisation and attract significant amounts of foreign inflows, which help to finance the current account.

The National Treasury reports that the mining strikes of last year subtracted 50 basis points from growth and an additional 30 basis points from growth in the current year. If it were not for the mining strikes, the economy could have created more than 57 000 jobs. While the mining sector has recorded some recovery in the first quarter of 2013, the sector is still performing below its potential.

It is for this reason that we place a high premium on restoring stability in the mining sector. The Deputy President will meet the mining stakeholders tomorrow. We are encouraged by the seriousness with which the industry takes the intervention of the Deputy President. It is therefore disturbing that some parties see in this serious matter an opportunity for mudslinging instead of supporting the process.

Some hon members of the official opposition have even distorted the reasons for the depreciation of the rand, probably as part of the agenda to continuously portray the country as failing. The fact is that markets were very volatile on the day of the media briefing on the economy. Traders responded to news from the United States on quantitative easing, a form of very lax monetary policy in the United States. This led to the strengthening of the dollar. Thus the rand's weakness is a natural consequence of lower commodity prices and a surging dollar.

Domestic events such as labour unrest would also have added to an already volatile situation. Markets were also surprised by the weak gross domestic product, GDP, figures. There had been an expectation that growth would be between 1% and 2%. When the 0,9% growth figures were released, there was a sell-off of the rand.

The bottom line is that we should exercise caution when dealing with such matters and avoid uninformed or loose talk that may exacerbate the situation. [Applause.] We have noted as well that some opposition speakers used a statement by the Governor of the SA Reserve Bank selectively to suit their own ends.

The SA Reserve Bank has consistently expressed its concerns about the continued global financial crisis and its impact on emerging markets, including South Africa. The government respects the views of the bank, as well as the fact that it acts in the interests of the country and not on a party-political basis.

It is therefore unfortunate that in this debate some people in the opposition have endeavoured to use the bank for their own narrow political purposes. [Applause.] This again reflects how some of the opposition parties function as the opposition for the sake of opposing and fail dismally to recognise the need to put the country first. [Applause.]

Hon members, the ANC took a conscious decision to establish a planning entity in the fourth administration. This is outlined clearly in the 2009 Manifesto of the ANC, as follows:

We will ensure a more effective government and improve the co-ordination and planning efforts of the developmental state by means of a planning entity to ensure faster change.

The National Planning Commission was therefore established as the planning entity referred to in the manifesto. The National Development Plan, produced by the National Planning Commission last year, is one of the key achievements of this fourth administration. [Applause.]

We now have a long-term socioeconomic development road map. It ensures certainty regarding the direction of the country over the next 20 years. The NDP was adopted by Cabinet. It enjoys the support of Parliament. It was also endorsed by the ruling party, the ANC, at its national conference in Mangaung in December. The NDP also enjoys the support of other sectors of society. Very few policy documents have ever enjoyed such widespread support. [Applause.]

Given our democratic culture and tradition in the ANC, we allow freedom of expression and debate. We therefore do not share the hysteria expressed by some in the opposition when people raise their views about the National Development Plan or criticise it.

As outlined yesterday, we are already in the implementation phase of the plan. All government departments' strategic plans, as well as those of municipalities and provinces, will be aligned to the plan.

The 19th of June is the centenary of the coming into effect of the 1913 Native Land Act, through which land was summarily taken away from black people. [Interjections.] [Laughter.] [Applause.] Maybe that is part of free expression. [Laughter.] The painful impact of the Land Act is best understood through statements made by ANC leaders at various times. Former ANC secretary general Sol Plaatje summed up the impact as follows:

Awakening on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African Native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth.

In a letter to the Prime Minister of the time, on 14 February 1914, the first president of the ANC, Rev John Langalibalele Dube, said the following in protest against the 1913 Native Land Act:

We have seen our people driven from the places dear to them as the inheritance of generations, to become wanderers on the face of the earth.

ANC president Sefako Makgatho, in his presidential address to an ANC annual conference in Cape Town in 1919, stated as follows:

The Native Land Act still operates as mercilessly in different parts of the Union, and as a result many native families are still working for white farmers only for their food.

Former ANC president Dr A B Xuma best explained the importance of land in his presidential address to the 1941 ANC conference when he said:

The fundamental basis of all wealth and power is the ownership and acquisition of freehold title to land. From land, we derive our existence. We derive our wealth in minerals, food, and other essentials.

[Applause.]

On land we build our homes. Without land we cannot exist. Without land rights any race will be doomed to poverty, destitution, ill-health and lack of all life's essentials.

These words tell the story of where this poverty comes from and where the gap comes from. That is where it originated. President Nelson Mandela, in his statement from the dock in 1964, also described life for landless black people living under a regime founded on the doctrine of white supremacy. He said:

Forty per cent of the Africans live in hopelessly overcrowded and, in some cases, drought-stricken Reserves, where soil erosion and the overworking of the soil makes it impossible for them to live properly off the land.

Thirty per cent are labourers, labour tenants and squatters on white farms and work and live under conditions similar to those of the serfs of the Middle Ages.

It is for this reason that the democratic government had to prioritise land reform as part of redress and as part of the goals of national reconciliation. The Chief Whip of the Majority Party, hon Motshekga, reminded us that the ANC government identified nation building and restitution as part of the national agenda.

IsiZulu:

Uma kuqala uhulumeni wentando yeningi ngowe-1994, abantu bakithi babelindele ukuthi kubuye nomhlaba ngoba kwakuyinto ebaluleke kakhulu kwezombangazwe, umzabalazo kanye nezokubuya kwezwe. Njengoba sizobe sikhumbula lolu suku lweminyaka eyi-100 selokhu kwashaywa umthetho owaphuca abamnyama umhlaba, phecelezi i-Native Land Act, sizobe sibheka indima esesiyihambile ekubuyiseleni umhlaba ezandleni zabamnyama.

Udaba lolu oluzohlala lusihlupha njalo; washo uXhamela ekhuluma kwenye inkulumongxoxo wathi:

Udaba lomhlaba yilona olwaluyinsika yokulwela inkululeko. [Ihlombe.]

Waqhubeka wathi,

Noma sesikhululekile luyosihlupha lolu daba ngoba yilona oluyimpande yenhlupheko. [Ihlombe.]

English:
In the state of the nation address, I announced the reopening of the lodgement of land claims, for those who did not claim during the first window of opportunity. Cabinet has approved the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill for public comment, which will assist those who missed the 1998 cut-off date. I hope my good friend, hon Mphahlele, will have the opportunity to comment sufficiently when the opportunity is given. [Laughter.]

IsiZulu:

Ilungu elihloniphekile liyathanda ukukhuluma ngalolu daba. Ngakho-ke ithuba sizolivula, akhulume ...

IsiXhosa:

... kanobom acacise ukuba yintoni le kufuneka ilungisiwe, ngaluphi na uhlobo.

IsiZulu:

Angasho ukuthi kukhona abantu ababulala inhlangano yakhe. [Uhleko.]

English:

Consultation will be done with regard to the 1913 cut-off date for the descendants of the Khoi and San, their heritage sites and historic landmarks. I think it would be a mistake if we shied away from that issue and did not discuss it and find a solution. The centuries of our struggle will not be done without addressing that issue. That is where oppression and dispossession began. The fact that we decided on 1913 and did not go further back does not mean we who liberated the country should be part of excluding them again. We will have to deal with that matter. It is outside of the Land Act of 1913 but what else can we do? We cannot shy away from it.

The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform outlined work that was being done on the land question. We reiterate our call to those who need land and those who must release land to co-operate and ensure that the process is undertaken amicably, successfully and within the framework of the Constitution. [Applause.]

Honourable Bhengu, you reminded us of the need to construct a positive narrative about our country. You mentioned a few positive attributes, which included good infrastructure, institutions that worked, robust democracy, a dynamic private sector, strong public finance and healthy financial institutions. Indeed, we should learn to trumpet these successes. South Africa is a much better place to live in since the dawn of freedom in 1994 and that message should not be drowned out by negativity. [Applause.]

Hon Meshoe raised the important issue of how we can support shop owners in townships and villages who now find themselves facing competition from enterprising foreign nationals. The Department of Trade and Industry has programmes for supporting small businesses. The statistics for the past financial year are as follows: 1 514 small, medium and micro-sized enterprises were supported through the incubator programme, 314 SMMEs were supported through the Co-operative Incentive Scheme, and 1 213 SMMEs were supported through the Black Business Supplier Development Programme.

I trust that the DA has noted the comments of Minister Chabane, hon Bhoola and hon Ngcobo on the need to be honest and genuine in appreciating President Mandela. [Applause.] Last year, we raised the point that people should not create their own superficial image of Mandela. They must love Madiba, the volunteer-in-chief of the Defiance Campaign of 1952; Madiba, the uMkhonto weSizwe commander-in-chief; Madiba, the revolutionary; Madiba, the long-serving prisoner. [Applause.]

We must not only focus on Madiba, the first President of a democratic South Africa, who implemented ANC policies of reconciliation and transformation. His rich legacy and history must not be distorted. [Applause.] The way the DA potrays him is as if Madiba were born in 1994; as if he had no life prior to that. [Laughter.] If they supported Madiba, they should support what he stood for and what he went to prison for and what he had said over the years. They must not say that Madiba was the only nice ANC man. What did hon Manamela say? He said that he was smooth; ... [Laughter.] ... a smooth African. [Applause.]

Let me reiterate our seriousness with regards to fighting the scourge of drugs and substance abuse. Hon Mfundisi, you are right, it should not take a visit by the President to an area for there to be action or service delivery. You gave the example of my visit to Eldorado Park. Government departments are attending to the drug and substance abuse problem nationwide. It is one of our key campaigns, given its seriousness and negative impact.

It is unfortunate that hon Steenhuisen has dismissed such a crucial programme, one that will save our youth and many families, as electioneering in this debate. He thinks we should not do this because if we did it we would be electioneering. I must say that this is funny politics. He thinks we must do nothing about a problem that is rife, even in the Western Cape, because it is election time. [Interjections.] The mothers of Mitchells Plain, Eldorado Park, Westbury, Mamelodi, KwaMashu, Galeshewe and many areas find hope in the government intervention. [Applause.] An e-mail I received from Lyanne Trenton Snowy of Westbury, pleading for assistance, states that children are "breastfeeding" from tik, dagga, cocaine, heroine and are finding their comfort in lolly lounges. She further states:

Please, the concerns are the same all over, regardless of our colour, creed, religion or status. We are all crying out, "Save the children!" I foresee a lost generation if we do not strike while the iron is still hot.

The DA says, "Sorry, do not do it. It is election time; please, do not do it." [Interjections.] Earlier this week, the Gauteng task team dealing with drugs visited Ennerdale and Westbury to address this question. They are not campaigning; they are responding to the appeals from the people.

An HON MEMBER: They haven't been there for five years!

The PRESIDENT: We have done a lot to promote national reconciliation and nation building. The democratic government also made the removal of racist legislation from the statutes its first task in 1994. Hon Manamela revealed last night that prejudice and racism were still very much a part of some sections of society, even in political parties that claim to be nonracial. [Applause.]

What was said by hon Manamela is supported by what former President Mandela said in his statement from the dock in 1964. He outlined the fundamental prejudice and beliefs that black people are subhuman. He said:

Menial tasks in South Africa are invariably performed by Africans. When anything has to be carried or cleaned, the white man will look around for an African to do it for him, whether the African is employed by him or not. Because of this sort of attitude, whites tend to regard Africans as a separate breed ...

– maybe crude, not smooth ...

An HON MEMBER: That is a very generalised statement!

The PRESIDENT:

They do not look upon them as people with families of their own; they do not realise that they have emotions - that they fall in love like white people do; that they want to be with their wives and children like white people want to be with theirs; that they want to earn enough money to support their families properly, to feed and clothe them and send them to school.

They are crude; they are not smooth. That is a problem. [Applause.]

We are thus challenged to work harder still, to eradicate racism and related intolerances from society. It must not find its way into what we call "democratic expression". It must not. In our "democratic expression" we must detect that we are trying to bring reconciliation to all of us; that we are trying to build a new South Africa, a rainbow nation, in earnest.

There should be no insinuations of any other type, including those that undermine other people's cultures. There must not. We must build the nation that we want; the one that we all say we are working to build, particularly this House. This House represents the people out there, who have many different views, which is why we have many political parties. But I think there are ideas on which we all come together, namely that we want to unite our country and that we want to live in a nonracial South Africa - because a racial South Africa caused problems. Those ideas must come out in our interventions. We cannot play around with those matters - unless we did not know what apartheid and racialism was. Maybe some of us were not born then.

We trust that some members of the opposition will not be found wanting in this regard. When we talk about some of these things, we need to agree, as the leaders of political parties. These are some of the matters we cannot play around with. If this man Madiba, whom we love so much, could at one time, as a freedom fighter, have said the words I have just quoted, then that must tell you where we come from. [Interjections.]

An HON MEMBER: [Inaudible.]

The PRESIDENT: Don't make that remark because I am going to talk about that changing of your mind. Usually, I do not want to do so. I am dealing with these matters here because some of us have the view that we are changing this Parliament into something that our own people, the ones who elected us, do not understand. They do not understand what is happening. They say so because they do not hear constructive things. [Interjections.]

I have said to the leaders of the opposition that I will respect an opposition that is constructive; not negative and destructive. An opposition that closes its eyes to reality because it has to find something negative reduces this Parliament into something that makes even young people say, "What is happening to this Parliament of yours?" They don't understand. [Interjections.] [Applause.] There is no respect - nothing. What are we teaching the citizens who voted for us?

I would imagine that we all need to accept reality. We are not helping people out there - nor the country, for that matter. Even if we differ, let us differ with respect. [Applause.]

One of the strong points of the ANC is that over the century, it has always differed from its opponents with respect. [Interjections.]

Hon MEMBERS: Oh no, no, no!

The PRESIDENT: That is why the overwhelming majority of this country will continue to vote for the ANC. Even when negative things are said about the ANC by the people who knew oppression, when it comes to voting, those people will vote for the ANC. That is because in the ANC they see the future; an organisation that is working to change South Africa. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

It would be very meaningful if opposition parties engaged in matters of policy and in matters of importance in terms of where we are going. They should not just shout as loudly as they can. As Shakespeare said in Macbeth, they are "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". [Applause.] As the ANC, after a debate, we want to sit back, think and consider what people have said. We do not just want to recall noise and anger, which we then will not worry or think about because it does not help. [Interjections.]

Many who are present here and who have been around will know that we have tolerated extreme – extreme -victimisation in this country. [Interjections.] We have learnt that it is not right to do so; that you must liberate the oppressor – and that is what we have done. Those who have remarked here that they have changed their minds - we made them change their minds! [Laughter.] We will continue to do so. [Applause.] You can pile on the personal insults but we will not respond. We are not going to respond because we can't go to your level. I do not know whether you are too high or too low. [Applause.] I do not know; I can't describe it.

We learned with sadness the news of the passing of Mrs Freda Cronin, the mother of Deputy Minister Cronin. We extend our sincere condolences to the Deputy Minister and his family. Also allow me to extend our good wishes to trade unionist and freedom fighter Reg September, who turns 90 today. [Applause.] May he have many more!

On 17 August 2013, the Departments of Sports and Recreation and Arts and Culture will host the inaugural Nelson Mandela Sports Day in Johannesburg. The Springboks and Bafana Bafana will share a field, taking on foreign opponents. This will be followed by a cultural diversity international concert. The event is part of celebrating the legacy of Madiba. It will also promote nation building, reconciliation and patriotism.

We wish all young people a successful national Youth Day commemoration on 16 June. We also extend good wishes to all fathers because 16 June this year is also Father's Day. [Applause.] Let us remember that South Africa is indeed a much better place than it was 19 years ago.

On behalf of the Deputy President, the two Ministers and our Deputy Minister, we thank you all for your support of our Budget Vote. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

The House adjourned at 14h54.


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