Hansard: NA + NCOP - Unrevised Hansard

House: Joint (NA + NCOP)

Date of Meeting: 14 Feb 2017

Summary

No summary available.


Minutes

 
UNREVISED HANSARD

 TUESDAY, 14 FEBRUARY 2017
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT JOINT SITTING
 
 
Members of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces assembled in the Chamber of the National Assembly at 14:06.
 
 The Speaker took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayer or meditation.
  
 
 MOMENT OF SILENCE OBSERVED IN MEMORY OF 94 MENTALLY-ILL PATIENTS WHO DIED IN GAUTENG
  
 
 
(Announcement)
  
 
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon members, at the commencement of the Joint Sitting on Thursday last week I indicated that members would be given an opportunity to observe a moment of silence today for the mentally-ill patients who died in Gauteng. I will now ask hon members to please rise to observe a moment of silence in memory of the late fellow South Africans.
  
 
 Thank you. Please be seated. [Interjections.]
  
 
 
 FEEDBACK ON ISSUES ARISING FROM STATE OF NATION ADDRESS ON THURSDAY 09 FEBRUARY 2017
  
 
 
(Announcement)
  
 
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon members, during the Joint Sitting last Thursday a number of issues were raised. On some of the issues that were raised we committed ourselves to getting back to the House and I would now like to address the Joint Sitting on some of those issues.
  
 
 The first one was an alleged release of teargas or pepper spray in the gallery. Hon members will remember that guests in the public gallery and some members were affected by what appeared to be a powdery substance that was released in the gallery. The matter was investigated. We are now able to report that a powdery substance was indeed dropped in the gallery. It was contained in a small packet. The item was retrieved and handed to the relevant authorities for testing and the results are still outstanding. The matter is therefore receiving attention, including the circumstances which led to it being dropped in the
  
 
 gallery. However, we can confirm that it was not teargas or pepper spray.
  
 
 The second issue relates to the cable ties. A matter was raised about cable ties that were allegedly intended to be used on Members of Parliament. We have referred the matter to the police for investigation.
  
 
 The third issue was about the presence of armed members of the SA National Defence Force. Hon members, regarding the presence of the armed members of the SA National Defence Force on the precinct, we wish to indicate that the presiding officers have written to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans with a view to seeking clarification on the matter. We await the response of the Minister before we engage further on this. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The fourth issue relates to unparliamentary language. [Interjections.] It has been brought to our attention that certain members engaged in behaviour and used language that could only be described as unparliamentary and unacceptable. Members should be aware that it is sometimes not possible to hear members ... [Interjections.] ... especially when the remarks are not uttered through a microphone.
  
 
 When the Chairperson of the Council noticed an alteration, in particular in the front benches, even though we did not hear the words used she appealed to the hon members to behave appropriately. I would only wish to emphasise the point that insults and similar language do not serve to enhance the dignity of Parliament. [Interjections.] This conduct sets a bad example to the nation.
  
 
 An HON MEMBER: Nothing will happen to them; nothing.
  
 
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon members, we are leaders and it is expected of us to behave as such. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The fifth issue relates to the physical removal of hon members. The Joint Rules provide that when members have been physically removed, the circumstances that led to their removal must be referred to a multiparty committee within 24 hours for consideration. The physical removal of the hon members last Thursday has since been referred to the Joint Rules Committee for consideration. I thank you, hon members. [Applause.] [Interjections.] The secretary will read the Order of the Day.
  
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: No ANC member ever gets thrown out; Ever. [Inaudible.] You are biased and unworthy of that ... [Inaudible.]
  
 
 DEBATE ON THE PRESIDENT’S STATE OF THE NATIONS ADDRESS
  
 
 
 
The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Madam Speaker, His Excellency, the President of the Republic, the Deputy President, hon members, I must declare upfront that the mayhem that transpired in this House last Thursday is highly regrettable. Parliament is an institution established with the core values of accountability, teamwork, professionalism, integrity and as members we must always uphold these noble values.
  
 
 A young boy who had the glorious opportunity of ushering in our head of state with a poetic rendition, was drowned out by heckling and jeering adults who are supposed to be leaders of society.
  
 
 The President of the Republic, His Excellency, President Zuma had to wait for more than an hour to articulate his plans for our country because there were constant interruptions followed by jeering, heckling and even profanities spewed inside this esteemed House with reckless abandon.
  
 
 We must find our moral compass and remember that we are all here because we are mandated by the voting public. We are accountable to the people of South Africa who have entrusted us with the responsibility of leading them in our democratic journey towards a better society. The members of this House must pride themselves in their excellent service to the people of this country.
  
 
 Madam Speaker, the time has come for all of us to restore the dignity and the decorum of this prestigious House. Our Parliament must return to its former glory as a dignified space for hon members to have candid debates in the interests of creating a better life for all South Africans.
  
 
 As a nation, we are deeply saddened by the senseless deaths of
  
 94 patients at Esidimeni Mental Hospital. Our President expressed our collective grief and indicated that the recommendations of the health ombudsman will be speedily implemented without any reservations.
  
 
 We empathise with all those who lost their loved ones in the midst of this tragedy. However, it is disingenuous and even inhumane for political parties to use the death of human beings as a rallying cry for political expediency. [Applause.]
  
 
 For the benefit of those who left before the proceedings were concluded on Thursday, President Zuma‘s state of the nation address is underpinned by the National Development Plan as a bedrock for building a better and more prosperous South Africa by 2030.
  
 
 The NDP is an overarching plan that is aimed at ensuring that all South Africans attain a decent standard of living through the creation of decent employment, elimination of poverty and reduction of gross inequalities. Parliamentarians must put the needs of the people first and not advance their personal aspirations at the expense of the public. They must be compatriots who want to efficiently deliver the much-needed services to the nation.
  
 
 The NDP is very emphatic on an accountable leadership. South Africa needs leadership that is devoted and dedicated, capable and committed, and not self-serving. Let us put South Africa first. Let us put our people first.
  
 
 It is clear that freedom is not always synonymous with equality and this disjuncture is quite prevalent in our society. The gross inequalities in our socioeconomic condition stifle growth in various sectors of our society.
  
 
 According to Statistics SA, white households earn at least five times more than black households. This is an unacceptable disparity, especially 23 years after the dawn of freedom and democracy.
  
 
 In the world of business, most black people are still economically deprived and dissatisfied with the economic gains of our freedom and democracy. Despite more than R600 billion of BEE transactions from 1995 to 2015 amongst the top 40 JSE shares, this has not benefitted many black people. Only 10% of the top 100 companies on the JSE are owned by black South Africans directly - achieved principally through the introduction of the generic code and various sectoral BBBEE dispensations. Of the above, about 60% is in the hands of strategic BBBEE partners, 20% to 25% is in the hands of community schemes and 15% to 20% is in the hands of employee schemes.
  
 
 It was in view of the slow-pace of transformation and lack of inclusivity in the economy that the President introduced the radical socioeconomic transformation. The emphasis here is on fundamental change in the structure, systems, institutions and patterns of ownership, management and control of the economy in
  
 
 favour of all South Africans, especially the disenfranchised black people.
  
 
 We must assure you, hon members, that radical socioeconomic transformation is not just a political rhetoric. It is a more rigorous step in our continuous journey towards building a better and more prosperous South Africa.
  
 
 The radical socioeconomic transformation builds on the previous interventions that were aimed at transforming the our economy. All these interventions are in line with the assertion of the Freedom Charter, adopted by the collective mass of our people under the auspices of the Congress of the People, in Kliptown in 1955.
  
 
 The Freedom Charter states: ―The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole.‖ We are now building on the prescripts of the Freedom Charter by implementing the radical socioeconomic transformation as an intervention strategy to expedite transformation in South African society.
  
 
 Our country is a mixed economic system comprising the state, private sector and social capital. More than 75% of the economy
  
 
 is in the hands of the private sector. This places the private sector as a strategic partner in our efforts to find solutions to the economic challenges that confront us as a nation.
  
 
 We continue to work in close collaboration with the private sector through the CEO Initiative and other relevant structures as alluded to by the President. We also have a historical backlog of a skewed economic system characterised by exploitation and imbalanced distribution of wealth along racial lines. We are now well into the third decade of the democratic dispensation in our country, and we cannot continue to lament the legacy of our divided past.
  
 
 The radical socioeconomic transformation is a vehicle through which we accelerate the process of transferring economic power to the black majority. As the ANC we are unapologetic about its stance of prioritising the black majority in our transformative programmes. [Applause.] We must accelerate radical socioeconomic transformation to ensure beneficiation of the majority of black people who suffered centuries of colonial domination, decades of oppressive apartheid rule and a lifetime of economic deprivation.
  
 
 This radical shift in our agenda requires that we follow the guidance of the NDP Vision 2030 in exploiting optimally the strategic levers that are available at our disposal. We are a responsive government that puts the needs of the people at the apex of its agenda.
  
 
 Access to housing and basic services has improved through the construction of four million new houses since 1994, increasing connections to electricity to 95% of households and piped water to 85% of households. In the education sector, we are unequivocal in our commitment to providing financial assistance to the financially needy and the missing-middle students. Our government has provided funds to ensure that no student whose combined family income is up to R600 000 rand per annum will face fee increases at universities and TVET colleges in this financial year 2017.
  
 
 Madam Speaker, the President spoke at length about igniting economic growth to the extent of elucidating on the Nine Point Plan, which details tangible measures that government will embark upon to ensure that we create jobs. He listed industrialisation, mining and beneficiation, agriculture and agro processing, energy, SMMEs, managing work place conflict,
  
 
 attracting investments, growing the oceans economy and tourism as some of government‘s focal areas as a government.
  
 
 At the core of the radical socioeconomic transformation programme is the creation of jobs and accelerating shared and inclusive economic growth. Our state will play a major role in the economy to drive the transformation agenda. Our government will utilise the strategic levers that are available. This includes legislation, regulations, licensing, budget and procurement as well as BBBEE Charters to drive that programme.
  
 
 Hon members, we have put systems in place to ensure that the policies and strategies that we introduce are adhered to and implemented as a matter of exstreem urgency. We have strengthened our monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure that these interventions must yield positive results and are evidence-based.
  
 
 As the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, we will continue to monitor and evaluate progress on the implementation of all policies, plans and programmes towards the NDP Vision 2030 goals of addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality, and outline remedial interventions where needed.
  
 
 Our responsibilities include monitoring and impacting on returns on investment in our government programmes, such education, health; infrastructure, and including the impact of role of State-Owned Enterprises and Development Finance Institutions, DFIs, in eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and promoting employment opportunities.
  
 
 We will accelerate the roll-out of our monitoring programmes such as the Presidential Hotline and Frontline Delivery Monitoring visits. Practical examples of simple yet profound monitoring interventions would be the progress we have made in areas such as the payment of suppliers within 30 days of receipt of valid invoices, as well as social reforms in mining towns and labour sending areas.
  
 
 Hon members, we shall continue to improve the monitoring and evaluation of mining, land distribution, the development of SMMEs, and other forms of licensing to support transformation, in order to enhance broad-based ownership, local procurement and empowering black businesses.
  
  
 We are increasing our capacity to monitor the implementation all these socioeconomic initiatives to effect change in the living
  
 
 conditions of ordinary South Africans. We are very robust in continueing with these programmes as a government.
  
  
 We shall accelerate our efforts particularly in the economic sector to enhance faster and inclusive growth. We periodically monitor progress to ensure that these interventions yield demonstrable results in changing the living conditions of the majority of the people of our country.
  
 
 Hon members the Operation Phakisa which is a big fast result- oriented programme will take a collective approach to this radical socioeconomic development. Through this programme that is specific interventions in the Oceans Economy, Health, Education, Mining and Agriculture sectors. These interventions were designed as a collaborative effort with business, labour, community and other civil society groups to fast-track the implementation of programmes in order to improve delivery, create jobs and increase investment.
  
 
 All these interventions are guided by the NDP Vision 2030 in pursuit of the demands of the Freedom Charter, which also states
 ―The People Shall Share in the Country's Wealth!‖ The people must share indeed. These interventions articulated here as part of the radical socioeconomic transformation agenda
  
 
 In a nutshell, Madame Speaker, the President‘s state of the nation address, with its strong focus on socioeconomic transformation thrust was timely, appropriate and poignant.
  
 
 The plans that he articulated will add meaningful value and bring about positive change in the lives of ordinary South Africans. It is precisely for these reasons that the ANC, the governing party, lends its overwhelming support to the state of the nation address. I thank you. [Applause.]
  
 
 The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, hon President and Deputy President; hon members, fellow South Africans and guests in the gallery ...
  
 
 ... bagaetsho dumelang.[... greetings, fellow countrymen.]
  
 
 
 The weight of our history lies heavy upon all of us. We must never forget past injustices and we must put right the wrongs of the past.
  
 
 Four days ago we commemorated Nelson Mandela‘s historic speech on the Grand parade upon his release from prison 27 years ago.
  
 
 As we reflect on the state of our nation we must ask ourselves fellow South Africans, how many South Africans enjoy the freedom that Madiba spoke of that day 27 years ago?
  
 
 Three days ago we marked the 51st anniversary of the forced removal of the people from District Six. People were wrenched from their homes and families were ripped apart. I am sure, fellow South Africans, all of us will join me in saying ―never, never, and never again.‖ [Applause.]
  
 
 Yet two weeks ago, a story broke in our news of people torn from their lives and their families right here in a democratic South Africa. We heard of how thousands of mentally ill patients were carted off to unlicensed Nongovernmental Organisations, NGOs, without telling them or their families where they‘re going. We heard how 94 patients tragically died of starvation, dehydration, diarrhoea, pneumonia and seizures. The ANC government under this President, did that. From the Marikana 34 to the Esidimeni 94, this government has turned against the people of this country. [Applause.] This is a murderous government.
  
 
 Speaker, when we proposed a minute silence to mark the tragic death of the Esidimeni 94, the ANC said no. At a stroke, the ANC
  
 
 showed what it really thinks about the vulnerable members of our society.
  
 
 You see, the only thing that this party cares about is power. It cares about getting rich; it cares about big projects like the arms deal and the nuclear deal that are conceived; because in the words of former President Kgalema Motlanthe, they offer opportunities for certain people to take and make money. It cares about the perks of office, the cars, the travels, the blue light convoys, in fact ...
  
 
 ... ke khwaere e e opelang sefelang           se se reng o se bore moreki gonne moreki o tla ba neela dithendara le dikonteraka. [Legofi.] (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
  
 
 
[... it is a choir that sings a hymn that says do not bore the buyer because the buyer will give them tenders and contracts.[Applause.]]
  
 
 The ANC has stopped caring for ordinary South Africans. The ANC has turned from liberator of the people to the enemy of the people.
  
 
 On Thursday evening we gathered to watch the President‘s State of the Nation Address. Long before we entered this chamber it was clear that this government wasn‘t on the same side as the people. Streets were closed off and barricaded for miles around this precinct. There were riot police and razor wire on every corner; there were snipers on the rooftop; there were soldiers with automatic rifles pacing up and down Parliament‘s avenue.
 This, fellow South Africans, wasn‘t the state of the nation; it was state against the nation. [Applause.] The ANC on the other side and the people on the other side. The liberator turned oppressor, the true enemy of the people.
  
 
 In his novel, 1984, George Orwell said ―If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.‖ We saw a glimpse of this on Thursday night and it looked very much like our painful past. The police in riot gear, the deployment of the army, the screams of female Members of Parliament as they were being punched and kicked; indeed, a boot stamping on a human face.
  
 
 South Africa will never forget what happened on Thursday; and we will never forget the reaction of the man at the centre of it all, the President who stands accused of 783 charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering. The
  
 
 President who built his house on the backs of the poor South Africans; the President who is selling our country to foreign agents ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Hon Speaker, I rise on a Joint Rule Book 14(f), irrelevance of the State of Nation Address. [Interjections.] The member is not debating the State of the Nation Address because he was never even in the State of the Nation Address; he left. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The Speaker: Hon member, that‘s not really a point of order, let him raise whatever points he wants to raise. Hon Maimane, proceed.
  
 
 The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: This is the President who is selling our country to foreign agents. We will never forget how he laughed, how he laughed at the violence visited upon members of this House. It was a laugh indeed of the enemy of the people.
  
 
 The ANC has become the party that Chris Hani warned us when he said ―What I fear is that the liberators emerge as elitists who drive around in Mercedes Benz‘s and use the resources of the country to live in palaces and to gather riches.‖
  
 
 While the connected few gorge themselves on caviar and champagne, the young people of this country are yet to taste the fruits of freedom. They are the Born-Frees but everywhere they‘re in chains; they have been forgotten by the ANC, the
 enemy of the young people. They, fellow South Africans, are our lost generation. The lost generation is the nearly six million mainly black South Africans who can‘t find work; the lost generation is the half-a-million mainly black South Africans who disappear from our education system each year; the lost generation is the three million South Africans under the age of
 25 who are not in employment, who are not in education or training; the lost generation is what the quarterly labour force release today tells us that in fact a further 340 000 youths have joined the ranks of the unemployed in this past year.
  
 
 Speaker, when the President stood on this podium to talk about radical socio-economic transformation, he wasn‘t talking about this lost generation. Don‘t, fellow South Africans, be fooled by the language of President Zuma‘s speech; his project and that of the ANC is the accumulation of personal wealth.
  
 
 Noble courses like land reform and black economic empowerment have been captured for the benefit of the ANC‘s elite. When the
  
 
 President talks about accelerating land reform, what he really means ... [Interjection.]
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon Maimane, please take your seat.
  
 
 
 The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Speaker, don‘t give him an opportunity to make himself a fool.
  
 
 The SPEAKER: No, just take your seat. Yes, hon member?
  
 
 
 Mr M A DIRKS: Hon Speaker, I rise on Rule 14(l). Last week Thursday the President outlined a clear programme for South Africa [Interjections.] All I‘m hearing from the Leader of the Opposition is whining and crying and complaining, tell us what the DA is going to do, don‘t whine and complain.
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon member, you are now debating, please take your seat. Proceed, hon Maimane.
  
 
 The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: What the President is talking about when he talks about accelerating reforms, it‘s in fact
 more dodgy deals for ANC cronies. He‘s talking about the narrow- based land deals like the Limpopo farm that Minister Nkwinti lined-up for his ANC friends. It‘s a R130 million of public
  
 
 money that went to enriching two ANC cronies while 31 farm workers went unpaid and a productive farm fell into disrepair.
  
 
 When the President talks about Black Economic Empowerment, BEE, and the black industrialist programme, what he really means is a scheme to make a hundred of his closest friends and family very rich.
  
 
 The President said nothing about the government‘s plan for a trillion rand nuclear programme. We all know that the ANC is forging ahead with the nuclear plan that will enrich the President and his friends on a scale of looting not seen ever before in this country.
  
 
 President Zuma wants us to believe that the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, MPRDA, Bill and proposed state-mining company will benefit the people; but we all know that these are just moves to line ANC cronies with lucrative mine deals; moves that will scare off investment and threaten thousands of jobs.
  
 
 On Thursday we heard about the same old nine-point plan sprinkled with a bit of stop-gap populism like land
  
 
 expropriation, talk of a state-owned mining house and threatening the banking sector.
  
 
 Mr President, are you seriously so afraid of the EFF that you would follow their policies? [Applause.] You must, in fact know that these policies will lead us down the same failed path as Zimbabwe and Venezuela. The fact of the matter is that your plans have been tried; tested and failed everywhere they have been tried. [Applause.] And when you go backwards this is where you will end up; South Africa cannot go backwards.
  
 
 Hon members, we have to look to the future. The young people of our country want a future they have a say in; they don‘t want to be dependent on the sate and a shrinking economy; they want to be independent with opportunities they can use to be truly free. The South Africa we are building is a South Africa where young people will come first; and so the DA has started to map-up a rescue plan for this lost generation; a future we all believe in. [Applause.]
  
 
 Fellow South Africans, we will build a lean, caring and efficient state tasked with creating opportunities for people instead of a bloated, corrupt state that is only dragging us backwards.
  
 
 We will harness the energy of thousands of committed teachers and principals to lead the charge in turning our schools around while shielding our children from South African Democratic Teachers Union, SADTU‘s, destructive influence. We will invest in training existing teachers and recruiting more teachers with excellent skills particularly in maths and science. [Applause.]
  
 
 We'll explore the feasibility of bringing back ... [Interjection.]
  
 
 Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: Madam Speaker, today we‘re supposed ... in accordance with Rule 14(r). I am explaining that today‘s debate is based on the State of the Nation Address. [Interjections.] The DA is grandstanding to say that they‘ve got a plan outside the state of the nation. Let them tell us about their plan in the Western Cape and in the metros.
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon member, please allow hon Maimane to finish his speech. Proceed hon Maimane.
  
 
 Yes hon Steenhuisen?
  
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSTION: Madam Speaker, that is now the third interruption that the Leader of the Opposition has had to sustain. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The SPEAKER: I know.
  
 
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSTION: None of them have been points of order. It‘s very, very clear that they‘re using vexatious points of order to disrupt the speaker. When the opposition defy your rulings we get thrown out, can you please be consistent.
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon Steenhuisen, I‘ve stopped them; I‘ve told them to take their seats; I‘ve told them that those were not points of order.
  
 
 Hon Maimane please proceed. Can we have order, hon members?
  
 
 
 The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Fellow South Africans, We will give parents a greater say over their children's education by exploring the feasibility of a school voucher system. And, to ensure that teachers and principals are supported and held accountable for the performance of their learners; we will seek to create a National Education Inspectorate. We will ensure that
  
 
 school-leavers improve their chances of finding work through a host of diverse education, training and internship options.
  
 
 Those qualifying for university will be able to access funding through an expanded National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS. Our poorest students will be comprehensively supported, and the missing middle, who cannot secure funding or bank loans, will receive support proportional to their family‘s income. We also aim to give matriculants who don‘t qualify for university a free year of technical and vocational training.
  
 
 One of the biggest obstacles when it comes to employing young people is the lack of experience in the workplace. To bridge this study-work divide and equip graduates with the necessary skills, we will invest in a private sector apprenticeship programme as well as a nationwide government internship programme across all departments. But preparing the youth for the job market is only one side of the equation - the supply side, the other half is creating a demand — and ensuring that we have an expanding labour market to absorb millions of young South Africans. And this means sustained, inclusive economic growth.
  
 
 Only the private sector, fellow South Africans, can create jobs at the scale and pace South Africa needs, which is why we will radically reform the labour regime to support job creation ... [Interjection.]
  
 
 Mr M S A MOKOKO: Hon Speaker, I would like to know if the Leader of the Opposition is willing to take a question?
  
 
 The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: No, and it‘s nonsense. Speaker we can‘t keep on going like this.
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon members, I‘d like to remind all of us that this is a very serious debate on the State of the Nation Address of the President. I really would like to prevail on all of us to please allow this debate to happen with the dignity it deserves.
  
 
 Please proceed hon Maimane.
  
 
 
 Mr B A RADEBE: Hon Speaker, I‘m rising on Joint Rule 14(p), about the use of offensive language. The Leader of the Opposition has just said the Member of Parliament is speaking nonsense. Can you rule on that please? Thank you.
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon members, I still prevail on you all and us all for our tempers to go down. Yes, language might be offensive but it‘s not always unparliamentary just because it‘s not nice.
  
 
 Proceed hon Maimane.
  
 
 
 The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Fellow South Africans, We intend to turn South Africa into a nation of entrepreneurs. The small, medium and micro-enterprise sector will have our full support because this is where 90% of our job-creating potential lies. We will do everything we can to minimise the regulations they face, including exempting both small businesses and young people from voluntarily opting out of the minimum wage legislation. We will start a jobs & justice fund like Singapore and Colombia have done with much success, to give entrepreneurs access to the capital they need to start and grow businesses. We will invest in the kind of infrastructure needed for inclusive economic growth, and not the projects designed to give kickbacks.
  
 
 We will, fellow South Africans, stop the nuclear deal and open the electricity grid to more independent power producers. And we will invest heavily in broadband and integrated transport system as we are already doing here in the Western Cape. We will, partly, privatise State Owned Enterprises by offering shares to
 

 

 
 
 employees and excluded South Africans, as well as to the private sector. This will free their boards from capture by the politically connected elites and give South Africans capital to gain access to the economy.
  
 
 We must adopt a once empowered, always empowered policy for the mining industry and we will reject the investment killing and MPRDA Bill.
  
 
 For us, fellow South Africans, Black Economic Empowerment will be about mass inclusion rather than elite re-enrichment. It will reward companies that put young black South Africans through school and gives them mentorship through apprenticeships to grow their expertise.
  
 
 We will empower South Africans by giving them ownership of the land they live on through the transfer of title deeds, and we will identify the vast tracts of government-owned land for redistribution. We will incentivise commercial farmers to establish farm equity schemes whereby workers share in the ownership of existing, successful farms, allowing for a progressive transfer of ownership and skills.
 

 

 
 
 We recognise that inclusive economic growth requires a peaceful, healthy society along with an honest, caring and capable government. And to this effect, we will put an extra 50 000 police officers to the police service and we‘ll train them and resource them properly. We‘ll that ensure they‘re on the streets, active and visible in their communities instead of simply sitting behind desks. We‘ll bring back the specialised police units to face the most serious crimes head-on. Some of these, particularly drugs and gangsterism, are really our lost generation‘s cry for help.
  
 
 We will build a caring state that will protect all our people, particularly the most vulnerable in our communities, people such as the Esidimeni 94. Unlike the government‘s National Health Insurance, NHI, our health plan won‘t bankrupt the country and can be rolled out in half the time.
  
 
 Ours will be an honest capable state. Not one that militarises our parliament. Not one that deploys the army to protect one President. We will stop corruption. We will trim the flat of our bloated, inefficient state by halving the number of ministries, capping spending on consultants, making tender processes transparent and cutting ... [Interjection.]
 

 

 
 
 Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: Hon Speaker, is the Leader of the Opposition ready to take a question about why he visited Israel and the Mayor of the City of Tshwane visited Taiwan ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Are you able to take a question?
  
 
 
 Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: ... outside government international relations policy?
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon member, if you want him to take a question let‘s allow us to ask him. Hon Maimane, are you prepared to take a question?
  
 
 The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: No.
  
 
 
 The SPEAKER: Okay. Please proceed.
  
 
 
 The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Through clean, honest government, we will make our cities attractive to investors, turning them into places of growth and jobs. The DA has inherited metros saddled with widespread corruption and bloated administrations. We will turn these cities like Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane and Johannesburg around and make them work for all South Africans.
 

 

 
 
 Speaker, ours is a dream of a South Africa in which black, white, coloured and Indian all contribute to our nation's prosperity. And if 2016 has taught us anything, it‘s that there is a movement of South Africans who share this dream, who will sweep this government out and bring change. The weight of history lies heavy upon all of us. We can choose to remain trapped in it or we can choose to transcend it.
  
 
 In the words of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, ―At the end of the day we must go forward with hope and not backward by fear and division.‖
  
 
 We will, fellow South Africans, move this country forwards instead of backwards. We will work with the people of this country and not against them. We will bring hope to this lost generation.
  
 
 A Morena a boloke setšhaba sa heso. Nkosi sikelel’iAfrika.
 [God bless Africa.]
  
 
 
 I thank you.
  
 
 
 Ke a leboga. Enkosi. [I thank you.]
 

 

 
 
 Ms E M COLEMAN: Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Your Excellencies, the President and Deputy President, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, our dear guests, I salute my late commander in chief, warrior amongst warriors, Seaparankwe, Mogale Wa Bagale, Impondokwe Utat‘ Oliver Reginald Tambo. [Applause.] Your spirit resonates with the hearts and souls of the many South Africans who remain hopeful for socioeconomic transformation as they did at the dawn of our young democracy. Your spirit lives on in those who will never cease to live by your teachings.
  
 
 The firm stance by the African National Congress on radical socioeconomic transformation is not a mere idea, but a policy imperative that accords with the needs of the moment, and whose place will be recorded in policy history.
  
 
 Let me, in the same vein, define what the ANC means by radical socioeconomic transformation. [Interjections.]
  
 
 I know Minister Radebe did, but I just want to give a little bit. [Interjections.]
  
 
 In the economy, we refer to ownership, control and management of large and small companies. Black South Africans must be brought to the centre of wealth creation and wealth distribution. Our
 

 

 
 
 people‘s capacity to use innovation in business, to run competitive enterprises, and satisfy consumer needs, must be encouraged.
  
 
 All of this must ultimately change the macro-picture in the economy, with black managers, professionals, technicians, skilled workers, and owners of enterprises, all working together to build the 21st century economy. Radical socioeconomic transformation is not 5% shareholding in someone else‘s company, waiting for dividend payments; but is rather owners and drivers of our own destiny, creating wealth and decent jobs. [Applause.]
  
 
 This change must be done with an urgency that befits a country that still has enormous economic backlogs after almost a quarter century of democracy.
  
 
 What makes it radical is both the content and the pace of change.
  
 
 What makes it transformational is that we seek not simply to replace white with black, but to create opportunities for youth, for co-operatives and rural enterprises, to empower workers and the poor, to beneficiate the mineral wealth so that we on our continent can add value to our natural resources.
 

 

 
 
 The major hindrances to socioeconomic justice in this country are the high levels of concentration and anticompetitive behaviour. Despite the excellent work of our competition authorities, this situation makes the South African economy a haven for persistent collusion by cartels. This is the reason for the criminalisation of collusion, price fixing, bid rigging and all forms of cartel behaviour which are harmful to the economy of this country.
  
 
 The competition authorities and the criminal justice fraternity at large will work hand-in-hand to effect the criminal provisions of the Act. That should send a warning to those involved in cartels or are planning to be involved, to desist from this harmful behaviour.
  
 
 In pursuing the economic growth development and prosperity of this country, we cannot leave anyone behind and therefore radical transformation is a must and not just an aspiration.
  
 
 The ANC welcomes the call to strengthen the Competition Act in order to deal with high levels of concentration, and open up the economy to new competitive enterprises with innovative ideas that will unleash the potential of our economy.
 

 

 
 
 Black South Africans must be brought to the centre of wealth creation and wealth distribution. Our people‘s capacity to use innovation in business, to run competitive enterprises, to satisfy consumer needs, must be encouraged. In this context, we warmly welcome the announcement by government and the construction industry yesterday of a major transformation agreement for the sector. Seven listed companies will undertake big changes to their shareholding and partnership models.
  
 
 Murray and Roberts is selling 100% of its construction and civil engineering business to a black South African consortium. [Applause.] Avenge is selling 51% equity in the Grinaker-LTA operation to black South Africans. WBHO will partner with three black construction companies to generate turnover within seven years equal to 25% of its turnover.
  
 
 Similarly significant changes are being made in companies such as Stefanutti Stocks, Raubex, Group 5 and Basil Read.
  
 
 I point these out, hon members, as practical examples of radical economic transformation that has both an economic and a social component.
 

 

 
 
 In the socioeconomic space, it means also tackling the legacy of poverty and underdevelopment of our communities.
  
 
 Investing in infrastructure is crucial to achieving the sustainable development and the empowerment of our communities. This is in line with our 2030 National Development Plan, which recognises the crucial role that infrastructure development plays in growing the economy, creating employment and bridging the inequality gap in the country.
  
 
 In the New Growth Path, infrastructure development is the top jobs driver because sustainable infrastructure is necessary for the creation of employment and the improvement of efficiencies across the economy.
  
 
 In 2012, Government adopted the National Infrastructure Plan which is aimed at transforming the South African economic landscape while simultaneously creating significant numbers of new jobs, and strengthening the delivery of basic services. The plan provides a basis for the establishment of the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, a body which is responsible for the integration and co-ordination of long-term infrastructure projects. The plan also identified 18 strategic integrated projects, SIPs, that have been developed and approved
 

 

 
 
 to support economic development and address service delivery in the poorest provinces.
  
 
 Mpumalanga, for instance – where I come from – has, for many years, been the nerve centre of the South African energy industry. Under apartheid, we generated energy for others, never for our own communities. We lived by the candle while we worked in large power stations. [Interjections.]
  
 
 But now, under the ANC-led government, more people have been connected to the electricity grid in the 20 years of democracy than in more than 100 years of apartheid and colonialism. [Applause.]
  
 
 Our government has managed to connect about 203 000 households within a period of three years, that is from 2014 to date. [Applause.] More power — some 6 000 MW — has been generated than the entire electricity generating capacity of many countries, including even Nigeria.
  
 
 In my home province, the giant Kusile power station is being built. In Limpopo, the large Medupe power station is being built and some of its units have already been switched on and are now
 

 

 
 
 providing electricity even to this legislature and to the homes of ordinary South Africans.
  
 
 I visited Medupe with my committee and saw a construction site with 15 000 workers, half of them young South Africans. [Applause.] Many of the youth working there have been exposed to working life for the first time through a job in Medupe. So, it supplies electricity and it creates jobs.
  
 
 In the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape we are generating electricity from wind and sunlight. These projects also have a lot of job opportunities for small and medium enterprises.
  
 
 The electricity that is now being generated powers the home of Simon Mbara in Mbizana in rural Eastern Cape as well as the industrial park businesses in urban Emndeni in Soweto. Their lives are being changed, allowing for better quality of life and new economic opportunities. [Applause.]
  
 
 That‘s what we mean by radical socioeconomic transformation.
  
 
 
 As part of Government‘s strategy to realise the goals of the NDP, the Nine-Point Plan sets out immediate actions and
 

 

 
 
 priorities for growing and transforming the economy, creating jobs and attracting investment.
  
 
 In this regard, one of the areas of focus is the transport infrastructure. I am not going to say much on that because of time constraints.
  
 
 The President in his State of the Nation address mentioned that Sanral has started with the planning phase of upgrading the Moloto Road Development Project. The R4,5 billion project will include amongst others, vegetation removal, route patrol, pavement layer repairs, repaint of potholes, edge breaks and surface failures, sealing of cracks, road signage reparation and so forth and so on.
  
 
 However, a challenging economic and operating environment has not been conducive for capital expenditure, particularly by the private sector, in recent years. Consequently, investment spending has been lacklustre over the past couple of years. This does not bode well for infrastructure development and investment.
  
 
 The public sector has made an increasingly larger contribution to overall fixed investment activity over the past decade
 

 

 
 
 through its massive infrastructure investment expenditure. The private sector maintained a cautious approach to investment spending in a difficult and uncertain economic environment. [Interjections.]
  
 
 I‘ll skip some.
  
 
 
 In closing, to my comrades on my right then, as well as all progressive South Africans who are ready and willing to partner with us in this next term of our efforts to change the lives of our people, it may be fitting for us to remember the words of Tat‘u Tambo. Addressing the Seventh Congress of the SACP in April 1989, he may as well have given us our marching orders then when he told us:
  
 
 There can be no doubt however, that correctly channelled and directed by us, these pressures, precisely because of their immensity, can bring our victory nearer. We therefore need to rally together and turn these developments against the enemy and towards the attainment of our revolutionary goals. We need to rally together in defence of our struggle and our ideals. As always, the best form of defence is the offensive. It is always in the attack that victory is to be found.
 

 

 
 
 Our enemy may be different today in that it is in the form of poverty, unemployment and highly concentrated levels of ownership, thus hindering the imperative implementation of just economic redistribution of wealth. We have to attack, and must indeed defeat them. At this moment colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, it is all, or nothing.
  
 
 The ANC supports the state of the nation address as presented by His Excellency, Mr J G Zuma. Thank you. [Applause.]
  
 
 Mr M G BUTHELEZI: Hon Speaker, hon Chairperson of the NCOP, Your Excellency, the President, Your Excellency, the Deputy President, hon Ministers, Your Excellencies, the envoys of the international community, hon Deputy Ministers and hon members, we are commemorating the centenary of one of our great leaders, the late Mr Oliver Reginald Tambo.
  
 
 When the apartheid regime imposed the homelands system on South Africa, Mr Oliver Tambo and Inkosi Albert Luthuli urged me to take up the leadership of the KwaZulu Government. In this way, they said, we could undermine apartheid from within.
  
 
 I did what they asked, for they were my leaders. But it placed me on a journey of intense opposition, vilification and danger -
 

 

 
 
 a journey that I endured for many years. Why did I keep going? You may ask. Because I love my country, I respect my leaders, and I follow my conscience.
  
 
 These are the same reasons I keep serving even in a vastly changed political environment, even when chaos regularly erupts in this House, even when we are forced to apologise to our guests, to the nation, to international observers, even when security is breached, and the Constitution is considered pliable, even when the hon Mbuyiseni Ndlozi warns me to move because I quote: ―Things are about to get rough‖.
  
 
 I am descendant of warriors and kings. My grandfather, Mkhandumba Buthelezi fought at Isandlwana on 22 January 1879. I have survived countless assassination attempts. I‘ve been watched by the security police of the previous era and have gone head-to-head with powerful leaders, in short, I am not afraid.
  
 
 But I am tempted to be despondent. After the sitting last Thursday, a message was posted on Facebook that read: ―My heart broke when Prince Buthelezi said; I am told it‘s going to get rough. I don‘t know where to go‖.
 

 

 
 
 Does he realise that that sentence is the voice of the people?‖ This is what our people are saying, Your Excellency. They know that it‘s about to get rough. And they don‘t know where to go. They don‘t know where to turn for safety or how they and their families can avoid the storm.
  
 
 Empty words don‘t provide refuge. There is no longer meaning in the well-worn phrases about a better life for all, government is working hard, we‘re showing signs of stability, and working together we can do more. Our people are desperate for something real - real hope and real solutions.
  
 
 I must thank you, Mr President, for finally explaining what is meant by radical economic transformation. Unfortunately, while the intention has merit, the approach is flawed.
  
 
 Listen again to the words of Mr Tambo, I quote: ‖We have it within our power to transform this country into the land of plenty for all‖. I emphasise ―for all‖.
  
 
 That vision carried through in the Growth, Employment and Redistribution Plan, Gear. It carried through in the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa, Asgisa. But it
 

 

 
 
 doesn‘t carry though in the new plan of radical economic transformation.
  
 
 Gear didn‘t fail because there was anything wrong with it, but Your Excellency, your tripartite partners of the ANC said, we do not want Gear and that was the end of it. It was abandoned by the ruling party.
  
 
 Asgisa wasn‘t flawed; it simply lacked the sustained and strategic leadership needed to implement it. The same might well be said of the NDP, which should be your legacy in years to come, Mr President. Maybe they will say it didn‘t fail too and wasn‘t flawed. It just wasn‘t carried through. After all, some of your tripartite partners have already expressed reservation about the NDP, which all of us accept.
  
 
 The difference between these economic approaches and the programme of radical economic transformation is the complete reliance on merely rearranging the little that exists, moving it from one group to another. Evidently, white monopoly capital is now the only scapegoat for failed leadership on economic policy.
  
 
 I believe in the redistribution of wealth, the creation of social and economic justice as you do. But I also know that if
 

 

 
 
 we shift our focus from growth, and make it all about redistribution, millions of South Africans are going to go hungry. There is just not enough to go round.
  
 
 I warned government about this from the very beginning. When we entered democracy in 1994, I urged us to focus on growth. We needed to grow our industrial bases. We needed to grow our economy. We needed to grow our workforce through skills development. We needed to grow our citizens through education.
  
 
 No matter how you slice it, the pie is just not big enough for everyone to eat. South Africa must grow, develop and progress. Reshuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic will not save the lives of those who are destined to drown if our ship sinks.
  
 
 This is why I have always pushed for accessible quality education. The #FeesMustFall campaign isn‘t new. In 1971, I met with then Prime Minister, Mr John Vorster, to urge him to introduce free compulsory education in what was then called KwaZulu. Mr Vorster refused. He followed the apartheid line that blacks were destined to be drawers of water and hewers of wood, and as such they had no use for education. It was a way to keep us under control because education brings freedom. Education breaks chains.
 

 

 
 
 Education remains the only way to build a future of opportunity, development, stability and hope. It is how we will transform this country into a land of plenty for all, rather than a land where a shrinking resource base is simply redistributed, laying the foundation for a new cycle of poverty, hunger and despair.
  
 
 The greatest obstacle to redistribution is corruption. It‘s not just the media that exposes corruption, maladministration and poor financial management. The Auditor-General consistently reports this reality in our government. We know that inequality is escalating because a large part of the resources that exist is redirected away from laudable goals, which you spelled out Mr President, into private pockets. The road to hell, as they say, is paved with good intentions.
  
 
 The intention to eradicate mud schools, for instance, is commendable. But we have heard about this for years. With the launch of the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative, Asidi, in 2011, 496 inappropriate structures were identified, to be rebuilt by 2014. Six years later, only 173 have been eradicated. That‘s not good enough. The Department of Basic Education receives the lion‘s share of our national budget. Where is that money going?
 

 

 
 
 Let me ask what only the NGO, Section 27, has thought to ask. After the Limpopo textbook saga, we have heard nothing about textbooks being replaced? That is meant to happen every five years. Five years have passed. Now what?
  
 
 Education is the way to economic liberation. Government has a duty to translate the right to education from legislation to reality. I must therefore applaud what you announced - the reprioritising of R32 billion to support higher education. At last we are heeding the cry of our students.
  
 
 But another cry will soon resound from our people, and about this we heard very little. South Africa is facing a water crisis which impacts our economy and our ability to produce food. We desperately need the President‘s direction on what is being done about water to meet this crisis. Without water, land even loses value.
  
 
 The idea that land is the most tangible form of economic empowerment resonates with me. But again, Mr President, education is key. Much of the land allocated to claimants now lies fallow and unproductive. I agree with you Mr President, when you encourage our people to rather accept land than compensation. This does nothing to empower the landowner, or
 

 

 
 
 advance the economy. It becomes an exercise in futility when the land is not used properly.
  
 
 Our people must be equipped with skills as well as resources. We must reignite hope in our nation, so that people will find the strength to pursue self-reliance. Failed leadership is robbing our people of hope.
  
 
 The payment of millions of social grants alone doesn‘t make that alright. And you, Your Excellency, have repeatedly said that it cannot be sustained, because we all have said that we are a developmental state but that leads us in a direction of welfare state. We are fast reaching a point, Mr President, where nothing we do in the future will be able to undo the damage. I thank you.
  
 
 Mr B MKONGI: Speaker and hon members, Mr President, I am not surprised that in this year of the 100 years of the legacy of O R Tambo, apartheid antics will be repeated in this House today. Mr President, you can remember that in 1985 O R Tambo said to the youth of this country that young people must render the country ungovernable and make the apartheid structures unworkable. It was the Botha-Malan regime that characterised us as a lost generation. [Applause.] They called us a lost
 

 

 
 
 generation because we were at the edge of victory for our people and freedom, so they did not want that and characterised us as a lost generation. I am not surprised today when you, Mr President, have declared this year the year of O R Tambo and the year of radical socioeconomic transformation, that our youth will be characterised again as a lost generation. [Applause.]
  
 
 We fought against this onslaught against our people; we fought against the Botha-Malan regime to insult us as I was there in the 1980s in the trenches of the revolution. [Applause.] I fought for this freedom. [Applause.] The youth of this country should refuse to allow a white man in a black skin to stand here today and demonise them. [Applause.] They must refuse. In 1994 when we were mobilising young people in this country to vote for the ANC we were called a ―boom shaka‖ generation. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon Steenhuisen.
  
 
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, we have had several rulings in this House about racial stereotyping and I would ask you to ... [Interjections.]
 

 

 
 
 The SPEAKER: Order hon members, can I please hear the hon Steenhisen.
  
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: I submit to you that the words used by Mr Mkongi that Mr Maimane is a white man in a black man‘s skin, is racial stereotyping that has no place in this House.
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Order hon members! Order! Hon Mkongi, you are aware that indeed racial stereotyping is not allowed in the House. Hon Mkongi, can you just withdraw.
  
 
 Mr B MKONGI: Hon Speaker, I would like to make your work easy to withdraw to say ...
  
 
 ... uzindlebe zikhanyile onobuso obumnyama. [... a white man in a black man‘s skin.] [Laughter.] [Applause.]
  
 
 Hon members, according to Aparu ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker.
  
 
 
 The SPEAKER: Hon Steenhuisen
 

 

 
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, when members of the opposition are asked to withdraw, we are asked to do so unconditionally and not to repeat the slur in a different language. I ask that the hon Mkongi withdraws unconditionally.
  
 
 The SPEAKER: Did you hear him withdraw conditionally?
  
 
 
 UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER: What is conditionally?
  
 
 
 The SPEAKER: I will have to examine the Hansard. He withdrew? [Interjections]
  
 
 The Table confirms that he withdrew. Hon Mkongi, please proceed.
  
 
 
 Mr B MKONGI: It is not surprising, Mr President that in the year of O R Tambo, the Democratic Alliance is going to stand here and grandstand and unveil a plan, a plan that has been a delivery process of the African National Congress. They are giving the people all the plans and the delivery of the African National Congress outcomes for the past 20 years. Parrots are like that, people who can‘t think independently except someone thinks for them, like the African National Congress thinks for them in South Africa. Siyakhokhela. [Applause.]
 

 

 
 
 According to Amparo Castelló-Climent, a senior researcher at the Institute for International Economics, and Professor Rafael Doménech, chief economist for Development Economies from the University of Valencia had this to say:
  
 
 Human capital theory suggests that productivity is based largely on workers‘ knowledge and skills, which are the result of an investment process in human capital. As more productive workers will be rewarded with higher wages, education is thus a key determinant of social mobility and a major factor determining the distribution of income. Therefore, other things equal, we should expect the reduction in education inequality would translate into a similar reduction in both wealth and income inequality.
  
 
 Therefore, as Amparo Castelló and Rafael Doménech have articulated above, it is imperative for any society and government that made the strategic fight against poverty, inequality and unemployment its apex priority to also make unreserved investment to education.
  
 
 To accomplish this noble course, our point of departure is our authentic document, the Freedom Charter which says that:
 

 

 
 
 Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children; higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships allocated on the basis of merit. [Applause.]
  
 
 In order to make this dream possible the people of South Africa adopted their Constitution in 1996 which enjoins us to
 ―guarantee the right of all South Africans to a basic education‖. This was followed by the enactment of the South African Schools Act of 1996 which is the legal foundation for the schooling system in South Africa. It is the first document that promoted compulsory schooling in South Africa for all children between the ages of seven and 15. Our government treats compulsory education as a cornerstone of our modern and democratic society which is aimed at providing all its citizens with a fair start in life and equal opportunities for all.
  
 
 In doing so the South African government priotised education and made a budget available to fund amongst others and expand early childhood education through the expansion of Grade R into all public primary schools, followed by the introduction of a fee free schooling system in South Africa for the poor and working class. [Applause.] This is to achieve a schooling system that is
 

 

 
 
 free and of a good quality for all children of the poor and working class in South Africa.
  
 
 Hon Speaker, it is my considered view that the task of access and free education in South Africa should have a base and it should be cumulative going forward. Free education for higher education should be billed on the giant shoulders of a free basic education in South Africa. [Applause.] Therefore, the strength of free quality education for children opens new fields and possibilities for a free and quality higher education system in South Africa. It is in this regard that I would like to share with the House the progress made by the ANC government to provide free quality basic education for South African learners. A recent progress report by the Department of Basic Education and Statistics South Africa shows that:
  
 
 The participation of the 0-4 year old children in Early Childhood Development facilities in South Africa has increased from 7,5% in 2002 to 48% in 2014. There has been an increase in Grade R participation of 5 year olds from about 40% in 2002 to 87% in 2014; and participation by 5 year-old learners with disabilities in our educational institutions has increased from 80% in 2009 to 83% in 2014. Participation by 7 to 15 year old
 

 

 
 
 learners with disabilities has increased from 77,8% in 2009 to 93,4 in 2014.
  
 
 This is progress in making. The report goes further to show that participation in primary education by seven to 13 year-olds is nearing universal while participation in compulsory education by the seven to 15 year-olds has reached 99% so far. [Applause.] So, about nine million of these learners from about 20 956 public schools benefited from the no fee policy of the ANC government based which is on the implementation of the pro poor policy imperative of this government. The increase in participation of learners from disadvantaged backgrounds and corresponding increase in matric pass rates in recent years contribute to the increasing pressure in numbers of students enrolling for a space in our universities and Tvet colleges.
 This new phenomenon put more pressure on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and other funding instruments for higher education in South Africa. It is in this regard that we witnessed in recent years, a battle cry by students and parents for fees to fall and the corresponding demand for free higher education has reverberated the campuses and streets of our country. Students across different social and economic backgrounds had voiced their disapproval for the alarming rate of increase in university fees. To this end, His Excellency,
 

 

 
 
 President Zuma had to declare 0% fee increment for 2015 and the establishment of the ministerial task team to look at the funding of higher education. It was at this critical point in the history of higher education in South Africa that Comrade Blade Nzimande, the Minister of Higher Education and Training, had this to say:
  
 
 To ensure the progressive realisation of the right to further education, government has developed a roadmap for the transformation of universities and Tvet colleges to create opportunities for access, success, financing and support for students and institutions ... as a result, we have tremendous amount of progress, we have expanded access particularly to the poor through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme having funded over 1,7 million students since 1994. The scheme currently supports approximately 480 000 poor undergraduate students to access higher education and Tvet.
  
 
 However, this 2015 call for free higher education has intensified. The bone of contention is whether government can provide free education for all or free education for the poor. At the moment government is investigating the possibility of free education for the poor and working class including the missing middle. Our government is aware that one of the
 

 

 
 
 fundamental barriers to access higher education in South Africa is exorbitant registration and tuition fees. It is therefore the duty of the state to make sure that education is not a privilege but a right.
  
 
 Notwithstanding the good work done by the Commission of Inquiry into the Feasibility of Free Higher Education in South Africa chaired by Justice Jonathan Arthur Heher and the sterling work by the ministerial task team for finding substantial resources to assist needy students in the missing middle. It must also be acknowledged that the government is already providing free education to Tvet colleges through 80% subsidies to these colleges including the provision of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. [Applause.]
  
 
 Government also provide bursary funding in higher education especially in Tvet college sector which is currently
 R2,4 billion in 2016 from a mere R318 million just in 2010. Since 2010, over one million students have benefited from the NSFAS administered bursary scheme, which means they received free education for those years. This year government has repaid all the debt of all students who receive NFSAS. [Applause.] Thus we believe that these government interventions attest to how our movement, the ANC, has and continue to prioritise investment to
 

 

 
 
 education in South Africa. The fact that today we have more African students in historically white institutions of higher learning including the apartheid created bastions of English and Afrikaans campuses like the University of Cape Town, University of Witwatersrand, University of Free State, and Stellenbosch University, is not a coincidence of history but a product of the ANC‘s protracted struggles to create equality in the higher education sector. [Applause.]
  
 
 It is therefore a historic necessity and duty on the part of the ANC as a leader of society to translate with great sense of urgency our policy pronouncements into the agenda action to radically transform South Africa into a society that benefits all. We do not make this call in a neo-liberal context like the Democratic Alliance which does not acknowledge historical and class inequalities in South Africa, but, to assert the centrality of the historically marginalised, oppressed, poor and exploited masses of our people in this country.
  
 
 One critical task is required though. That historic task is for this Parliament and your good self, Mr President, to legislate and gazette the provision of free education for the poor and working class. [Applause.] These will include, but not limited to, drafting of minimum norms and standards for the provision of
 

 

 
 
 free education. On behalf of the people of South Africa I therefore humbly call on our government to make this matter a priority policy and legislate free education in South Africa. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
  
 
 Mr S C MNCWABE: Madam Speaker, His Excellency the President of the country, the Deputy President, hon members, distinguished guests in the gallery, the President‘s address attempted to cover many important issues and we welcome the feedback and
 progress report he included in his address. Despite the positive picture painted by the President during his address, elaborating on how the government has responded to the #FeesMustFall campaign, we already see violence flaring up at the Durban University of Technology, DUT, and the Walter Sisulu University, WSU, campuses. Once again, our higher education is at risk of upheaval and disruption whilst government seems to be no closer to solving the dilemma than last year.
  
 
 Government must understand very clearly that our students have committed themselves to the cause of free higher education for all those who deserve and that they have our support on that as the NFP. We call on the President today to impress upon the Fees Commission, which has been tasked to research ways to facilitate free education, the urgent need to speed up its enquiry. More
 

 

 
 
 importantly, we call on the President today to give us the assurance that the student grievances will be heard and acted upon, and that we will not have a repeat of the shameful heavy- handed response of government in the past.
  
 
 The NFP, like the rest of South Africa, had high expectations regarding the radical economic transformation programme to be revealed in the President‘s address. We welcome the measures outlined but also have our own reservations about the effectiveness thereof. In as much as we welcome the directive that the small businesses will be considered in various ways to benefitting the economy of the country, but we are concerned that these measures will benefit the individuals, unlike the big number of families which are supported by the cooperatives.
  
 
 The NFP is concerned that nothing much was said about the cooperatives as the community economic development strategy. It will be short-sighted to talk about radical economic transformation but exclude the cooperatives, particularly when we talk of women empowerment and when we consider the excessive levels of poverty prevalent in our rural areas.
  
 
 Kuyiqiniso elingephikiswa mhlonishwa Mongameli baba Nxamalala ukuthi imifelandawonye uma ngabe ingaxhaswa ngendlela
 

 

 
 
 enakekekile nefanele uHulumeni nayo ihlomule kwinkontileka zikaHulumeni ezikhishwayo nakumabhizinisi azimele singabona ukuthuthuka okukhulu emphakathini yethu nakubantu ikakhulukazi ezindaweni ezisemaphandleni. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
  
 
 
[It is an undeniable truth hon President, Nxamalala, that if the co-operatives are supported in a proper and a suitable way by the Government in order to benefit from the contracts that are awarded by government and private companies, we could see a huge development in our communities and among our people, especially in rural areas.]
  
 
 We also welcome the implementation on foreign land ownership. The NFP would like to see this limitation on foreign ownership be extended to micro businesses in South Africa, in accordance with the mandate of our supporters. The NFP is preparing to submit a private members Bill, to give effect to this proposal. We are saying, Mr President, those businesses in the township, your spaza shops, tuckshops, saloons, be reserved for South Africans only. And ...
  
 
 ... ngeke sixolise ngokusho lokho. [... we will not apologise for saying that.]
 

 

 
 
 Finally, we fully support the initiative to fight drug abuse amongst our youth. The NFP agrees that the treatment for drug addicts is necessary and public treatment facilities should be rolled out. However, as long as the scourge of drug dealing is not addressed, we will forever be treating the symptoms of drug addiction and not address the source of supply. The sooner specialist crime fighting units, which the President announced, are brought into operation the better. We stand the risk of losing an entire generation to the dark hell of drug addiction if nothing drastic is done, and that must not be allowed on our watch. I thank you. [Applause.]
  
 
 Mr B H HOLOMISA: Hon Speaker, the Presidency and hon members, as we enter the 23rd year of our democracy, we see a rise in the levels of anxiety and anger among South Africans, with anarchy knocking at our door. Notwithstanding these trends, the UDM acknowledges the great strides South Africa has made since 1994. The most disturbing reality is that we see an increase in the politics of patronage, uncontrollable corruption, the collapse of government institutions, a high unemployment rate, lack of development, failing health and education systems, widening inequality, chronic poverty and ineffective provincial governments. With regard to provincial governments, the question
 

 

 
 
 is: Do we really need these glorified homelands? We should rather strengthen ... [Interjections.] [Laughter.]
  
 
 The SPEAKER: What is the problem? Eric, what is the problem? [Laughter.] [Interjections.] Hon Holomisa, I am busy fighting for your time here but I think they are checking ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 Mr B H HOLOMISA: Yes, it is back.
  
 
 
 The SPEAKER: Okay.
  
 
 
 Mr B H HOLOMISA: ... the local sphere of government and let national government take control and introduce the lacking uniformity. We are celebrating the life of O R Tambo, an undoubted champion of the struggle for a just and free society. It would be interesting to know his thoughts on the so-called leaders who have dumped the deprived masses and took care of themselves at the expense of the poor. We believe that no individual party‘s policy conference could proffer all the sustainable solutions to the challenges we face as a nation.
 This is even more apparent when the governing alliance lacks policy coherence, thus threatening investor confidence.
 

 

 
 
 It is in this regard that the UDM resolved that, in preparation for 2019 and beyond, we will during this year convene a consultative conference which will be open to all citizens, to amongst others: Take stock of the 22 years of our democracy; identify areas of intervention to bring about meaningful economic transformation; review the legislative framework that impedes fundamental socioeconomic transformation, including the Constitution; develop mechanisms to stop corruption and maladministration; take stock of the quality, qualification and placement of our civil servants including those who provide security services to the nation; improve our constitutional democracy with the introduction of a people-driven electoral system; introduce legislation for transparent political party funding and find a lasting solution to reduce tension between the social partners at The National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac, in particular labour, government and business.
  
 
 At the envisaged national consultative conference, we shall also evaluate the agreements between the ruling party and the apartheid government before and during the Codesa negotiations. Meaningful transformation, including the transfer of land and control of the economy, will never be realised so long as those
 

 

 
 
 agreements are used as scarecrows and lock the majority of our citizens outside the economic mainstream.
  
 
 South Africans, it is our collective task to ensure that the ideals of a truly democratic and prosperous society as envisaged by O R Tambo and others are realised. In this regard, I encourage you to take advantage of the proposed conference to ensure that we reclaim the original objective of the struggle we have so dearly fought for.
  
 
 Wakhe wathi uTata uXobololo we-ANC phaya eTranskei, kunzima amapolisa namajoni esetyenziswa ukucinezela izimvo zabanye abantu, wathi, ―Holomisa, thathani le hoko niyiphindisele ePitoli.‖ Sizibona sisehokweni ke ngoku kule nto sikuyo. Ngoko ke kuza kufuneka nivote kakuhle xa kufika ithuba kule minyaka izayo. Asinakuze siphathwe ngabantu abatya imali karhulumente, beyitya ngenkani, amasela. Soze sikwazi tu. [Kwaqhwatywa.] (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
  
 
 
[Tata Xobololo, an ANC member in Transkei, when police officers and soldiers were used to undermine views of other people once said, ―Holomisa, take this sham back to Pretoria.‖ Now we see ourselves in that sham.         Therefore you need to be careful when you vote in the coming years.         We cannot be led by people who
 

 

 
 
 forcefully misuse government funds, thieves. We cannot allow that at all. [Applause.]]
  
 
 Mr S G MTHIMUNYE: Your Excellencies, President, Deputy President and hon members, fraternal greetings to your good selves. To the flowers of our revolution on my right and all the women of our country and the world, happy Valentine‘s Day. [Interjections.]
  
 
 Hon Speaker, one of the key central legacies of colonialism and apartheid in our country has been the deliberate underdevelopment and exploitation of our people in rural South Africa. Despite substantive progress in improving the quality of life in the villages and rural areas by the democratic government of the ANC, rural areas continue to be characterised by structural faults of persistent poverty, joblessness and limited economic opportunities. In many instances, the burden of rural poverty falls hardest on women who are the majority in former homeland villages and rural communities.
  
 
 Since 1994, the primary challenge of rural development has been the need to combat the legacy of the marginalisation of the people. In redressing these social and economic conditions, government has improved access to resources in rural areas.
 

 

 
 
 These include land, water, training and skills development, rural infrastructure and other public services.
  
 
 The ANC-led government is firm on its liberation principles and has put corrective laws, policies and plans which seek to deal with the social and economic conditions of the poor in rural areas. In this regard, government has placed a high premium on the redistribution of land in both urban and rural areas for the benefit of those who were denied access under colonialism and apartheid. As such, we declared that, in particular, rural development is a central pillar of our struggle against unemployment, poverty and inequality.
  
  
 Our approach to rural development is informed by the need for land transformation with production for food security, and redirecting the agrarian system to be inclusive, competitive and developmental. Moreover, the ANC-led government has worked tirelessly to enhance support for smallholders and rural enterprises, and to build on the potential for rural sustainable livelihoods, particularly for the African woman. The National Development Plan, NDP, affirms that:
  
 
 Rural economies will be activated through the stimulation of small-scale agriculture; tourism, including the creative and
 

 

 
 
 cultural industry; and mining investments and related spinoffs. Public-sector procurement will also be leveraged to stimulate local activity. Much will depend on strengthening local institutions; the flow of infrastructure funding; equitable social service provision; and addressing land tenure reform and regulation in respect of water and mining.
  
 
 Our government has established the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, whose objective is to co-ordinate, integrate and accelerate implementation and to develop a single common National Infrastructure Plan that will be monitored and centrally driven. Infrastructure is a key priority of both the NDP and the New Growth Path. In the rural context it is this strategy that must drive integrated municipal infrastructure investment and accelerate skills development. Quality, affordable infrastructure raises economic productivity, permits economic expansion and allows marginalised households and communities to take up new opportunities.
  
 
 The Strategic Infrastructure Plan, with regard to agrologistics and rural infrastructure, supports the need to improve investment in agricultural and rural infrastructure; the expansion of production and employment; and support of small- scale farming. The infrastructure plan also highlights the need
 

 

 
 
 for the inclusive provision of multiple services such as facilities for storage – silos, fresh produce facilities and packing houses; transport links to main networks via rural roads and branch train lines; fencing of farms; irrigation schemes to poor areas; improved research and development on rural issues including expansion of agricultural colleges; and process facilities – abattoirs, aquacultural incubation schemes and rural tourism infrastructure. These are precisely the infrastructural investments that are needed for rural areas to unlock economic potential growth.
  
 
 Statistics SA‘s Household Survey of 2015 indicates that the majority of our rural provinces lag behind regarding road networks. In the Eastern Cape 24% of roads are gravel; KwaZulu- Natal has 20,3% gravel roads; the Western Cape has 13,2%; the Free State has 13%; and the Northern Cape follows with 12,5%.
  
 
 With regard to electricity, the challenge is the ageing lifespan of some power stations. A massive consumption of electricity goes to industries. Water remains scarce in South Africa. There is growing usage of cellular phones as a means of communication across the country. However, there is a challenge of access to the internet, especially in rural provinces.
 

 

 
 
 Some of the recorded achievements of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform regarding infrastructure development in rural areas relates to the development of agriparks in
 44 district municipalities whose primary function is to build a rural economy by establishing district markets in which government – both municipal and provincial – with agribusiness, emerging farmers and co-operatives are brought together to buy and sell in a defined market, thus building rural economies and ensuring emerging farmers have a secure market, which in turn will create employment, and revitalise the local agriculture and agroprocessing value chains.
  
 
 In the 2016-17 financial year, R20 billion has been budgeted for infrastructure and bringing the various aspects of the agriparks development process into production. The government will provide financial and material support for agriparks for 10 years, after which farmers in various districts must assume complete control.
  
 
 The government has provided comprehensive development support to smallholder farmers and land reform beneficiation for agrarian transformation. A total of 414 farms have been supported and
 754 farmers trained under the Recapitalisation and Development Programme. In facilitating the development of rural enterprises and industries, 216 rural enterprises were supported in rural
 

 

 
 
 development opportunities and 9 516 people benefited from skills development provided in this programme. A total of 6 005 jobs were created in rural development initiatives. Over 48 projects to improve production in support of improved food security have been completed. The number of infrastructure projects to deal with the drought amount to 115. The River Valley Catalytic Programme recorded 20 projects. The number of rural enterprises supported in 27 district municipalities is 216. There are
 16 nonagricultural industries supported in line with the Industrial Policy Action Plan, Ipap. Regarding skills, there are
 198 agricultural graduates deployed in rural areas.
  
 
 
 Statistics demonstrate that a lot has been done to invest in sustainable initiatives and programmes in the rural economy, particularly in infrastructure, whilst more still needs to be done to unlock the economic potential in rural areas.
  
 
 With regard to roads infrastructure, whilst progress is encouraging, maintenance remains a major challenge. The development of co-operatives and small, medium and micro-sized enterprises, SMME‘s, in the production chain is critical and locking the retail sector into buying locally manufactured goods and services in rural areas must be taken to higher levels.
 Local procurement as envisaged by agriparks is key to this.
 

 

 
 
 Key industries in rural areas must assist in skills development, focusing on the development of labour that can meet developmental needs in these sectors as well as the introduction of new forms of production. In this regard, both the private sector and municipalities must partner in establishing training centres geared towards skills development.
  
 
 In resolving rural economic constraints, government has in its Nine-Point Plan included the revitalisation of agriculture and agroprocessing value chain, as well as committed to unlocking the potential of SMMEs, co-operatives, and township and rural enterprises.
  
 
 In promoting a greater level of inclusion, the ANC-led government is supporting SMMEs and promoting youth entrepreneurship and jobs for young people. Loan funding of R4,5 billion for empowering youth enterprises has been undertaken. This includes financing from the National Youth Development Agency which also partnered with the Industrial Development Corporation and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency in a three-way partnership that has resulted in funding for young people in rural areas, linking them to rural economies.
 

 

 
 
 In his State of the Nation address in 2011, President Zuma highlighted the significance of the small business sector as a critical component for job creation and asserted that government will continue to provide financial and nonfinancial support to SMMEs. We therefore need to cut administrative costs, avoid duplication and direct more resources to small businesses.
  
 
 In 2015, the President further noted agriculture as a catalyst for growth and he made a commitment that government was working with the private sector to develop an Agricultural Policy Action Plan which will bring one million hectares of underutilised land into full production over the next three years. We have witnessed the commitment in Limpopo where the provincial government supported the Nwanedi Cluster comprising of
 300 farmers growing vegetables in the Musina, Vhembe District.
  
 
 
 On the challenges regarding SMMEs, co-operatives, township and rural enterprises, government has committed to increasing procurement from SMMEs and co-operatives.
  
 
 In improving the capacity and potential of SMMEs, government has entered into agreements with the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services to assist informal and microbusinesses in the field of manufacturing and agriculture.
 

 

 
 
 A total of 61 youth-owned enterprises have been funded to the tune of R17,9 million through the Co-operative Incentive Scheme.
  
 
 These achievements and pronouncements is an accurate reflection that the ANC-led government is hard at work to implement its promises to the people of South Africa and has clear policy programmes aimed at transforming the lives of ordinary people of our country.
  
 
 In his book, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, one Brazilian revolutionary, Paulo Freire, writes:
 
 
 This has become inescapably and urgently the concern of man because history shows us that both humanisation and dehumanisation can be real alternatives. But of these two, only humanisation can be man‘s true vocation.
  
 
 By man I mean mankind. Therefore, the struggle for this liberation must not be carried out by the oppressor but by the oppressed:
  
 
 to restore the humanity of both the oppressors and the oppressed. The oppressor class is too dehumanised to lead a liberation struggle.
 

 

 
 
 I thank you, hon Chairperson. [Applause.]
  
 
 
 Dr W G JAMES: Hon NCOP Chair, last Thursday, Speaker Baleka Mbete refused to hold a moment of silence for the 94 South Africans who died in her government‘s care. She acted like a small-minded and partisan person in a callous tone that was more befitting of a jailer than the Speaker.
  
 
 I saw a dismayed Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa trying to catch her eye. I watched him carefully, beseeching her to rethink, but she lacked the empathy and insight to realise that this was the moment to seize the moral high ground. Her undemocratic and unsympathetic ways were on show for the country to see and they highlighted that she simply doesn‘t get democracy.
  
 
 Ombudsman Makgoba fingered Gauteng MEC Mahlangu and senior officials in the Gauteng province. I have seen a letter written by Wits University occupational therapy students sent on January 2016 to Premier David Makhura as well as to national health officials warning them of the looming peril in those institutions.
 

 

 
 
 The DA has therefore asked Health Minister Motsoaledi to investigate why his national officials did not act. To her great credit, the Director-General for the department, Precious Matsoso, regretted that she did not have the urgency of judgment to get a court order to compel Gauteng health to do the right thing. But what I am asking you, hon members, is about the highly respected Deputy Director-General of hospitals, Dr Terence Carter who also must have known. And what about the Minister himself? These senior officials diligently report to him. He should tell the House – he is presently having a press briefing in Pretoria - whether he did indeed know what was happening. He did a very good thing in having the ombudsman investigate - but then, I am afraid, it was too late. Ninety four human beings had already died. There can be no conclusion other than that this national government lacks the judgment and ability to intervene in matters of life and death when confronted with water-tight information.
  
 
 Despite your participation, hon Jeff Radebe, this government of yours does not govern. It is paralysed, it is dysfunctional and it is uncaring. And what it does, it mops up problems after they have happened, it does not prevent them. [Applause.]
 

 

 
 
 Minister Motsoaledi, to his great credit, and I respect him for this. But he mopped up after it happened, he did not prevent it
 - even if he was confronted with the facts.
  
 
 
 The attitude - I tell you - to patients afflicted with serious mental illness reminds me of the other countries we should never ever be associated with, such as the former Soviet Union and the Southern Balkan countries of Romania and Bulgaria, as well as today‘s Cuba. In those countries, the mentally infirm were regarded as despicable cargo. They were seen as less than human. They were considered to be burdens on the state rather than a reminder to all of us of our common human frailty requiring care, dignity and respect. [Applause.]
  
 
 Minister Motsoaledi wants to create a National Health Insurance bureaucracy using the same dysfunctional state employees and employing the same uncaring and incompetent state officials to run it. Recent events tell us that we should be terribly afraid of that option. It will create massive opportunities for corruption and looting, not to mention the repercussions in terms of health services.
  
 
 In fact, Minister Motsoaledi does not get it and neither, I am afraid,does President Jacob Zuma. A single-payer national
 

 

 
 
 system of funding patients in the public and  private  health care sectors will destroy the public sector because nobody will go there any more and i t w i l l flood the private sector because everybody wants to go there. Besides, he needs to triple his current budget to finance it - money that simply  isn‘t there, that‘s what the Finance Minister tells us all the time.
  
 
 The DA offers  a simpler, a more practical model that  requires no additional taxes called Our  Health  Plan  -  w h i c h  y o u s h o u l d r e a d - it would radically improve the frontline of care, offering far  better  maternal and  child care services, far better hospital management, far better ambulance and emergency services and  accelerated  clinic-building programme for underserved areas, especially in rural areas and expanded training of health and medic al  professionals.
  
 
 We propose financing the expanded programmes by  bringing  the R17 billion medical aid tax credits onto budget. We will introduce major reforms to medical aids so that they compete on price and on quality of service and know who they can write up. We will reform the regulators so that they are free from political interference as well as ministerial dictates.
 

 

 
 
 The Health Minister, Motsoaledi, talks  a  lot but is incapable of deep structural reform. His ham-fisted efforts to intervene in the Council of Medical Schemes, the Health Professional Council of SA, the SA Nursing Council and the National Health Laboratory Services, have served only to deeply undermine them. The termination of the very capable Fareed Abdullah‘s contract has sent the SA National Aids Council with the deputy president chairs into the danger zone, leaving the Medical Research Council today as the only body still standing.
  
 
 It is a noticeable absence that the President did not say anything about HIV/Aids in his speech. While our country is not doing badly on this issue, it remains an ongoing national concern requiring the hands-on involvement of political leaders at the highest level in managing the epidemic. The fact remains that HIV/Aids is not burning out because of the continually rising infections, especially among young women, which is cause for great concern.
  
 
 Our young people, the lost generation, are denied access to opportunities because they are not able to get the quality health care they need. The failure of our current health care system fails young South Africans too. It is yet another impediment keeping the youth from realising their potential.
 

 

 
 
 We are training South Africans as doctors in Cuba on an ever expanding scale, but Cuba is a country which does not specialise in HIV and tuberculosis medicine, which are our country‘s greatest health burdens.
  
 
 I am hopeful that change is coming - change that will help address our country‘s quadruple burden of disease. This change will be built on the back of our up and coming young medical professionals, the interns who do not deserve the intern placement debacle of last year. What they do deserve is the courtesy - which was originally promised to them - of having a say on their internships and community service placements. They also deserve proper administration and a decent mechanism to inform them of available jobs after they have completed their community service.
  
 
 Change will be built on the back of young South Africans like Wits University‘s occupational therapy students who cared enough about the issues to write a letter that if it was taken seriously, could have prevented so many deaths. These young, committed, diligent and clever people – black and white, male and female, represent hope for the future. We must give them a meaningful stake in our future because they will drive change.
 

 

 
 
 And do we need change? The Zuma administration wasted the little democratic momentum South Africa had after former President Mbeki‘s time. President Zuma simply acts to keep the lid on a stagnating country imperilled by his corruption and cunning militarism, as we witnessed last week. By his example he smothers the dreams and aspirations of our young people by failing to drive the deep reforms needed to make our economy grow and employment opportunities expand. Speaking of his cunning militarism, when President Zuma returned from exile, Mr. Mandela refused at first to see him. [Interjections.] President Zuma should tell the nation why.
  
 
 Since I have 10 seconds, I would like to read a quote from a newspaper about the hon Bongani Mkongi which said: ―Join the ANC in Cape Town today at 14h00 to burn down the billboard saying
 ‗Zuma Must Fall‘‖. [Interjections.] This is our hon member here who said that the ... [Time expired.] ... inhabitants must also be burnt to death. I thank you.
  
 
 The MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM: Hon Speaker,
  
 just one comment about what the hon James has said on the issue of Esidimeni tragedy. The hon Minister has requested the Speaker that he would like to make a Minister‘s Statement on the matter. Therefore, we would request that we don‘t pre-empt the matter.
 

 

 
 
 Again, the hon Leader of the Opposition is falling into the trap of what could be called journosprudence. What he reads is written by journalists and the attitude of journalists that politicians are essentially corrupt. Therefore, what they read in the read in the media is true. That is journosprudence. It is a pity that a leader of a political party would fall into a trap like that.
  
 
 We have requested the Speaker to refer the matter to the Public Protector, so she will have the chance to discuss the matter here. That is the headline on the Sunday Times on Sunday.
  
 
 The road is long and full of difficulties. At times we wander from the path and must turn back; at other times we go too fast and separate ourselves from the masses; and on occasions we go too slow and feel the hot breath of those treading on our heels. In our zeal as revolutionists we try to move ahead as fast as possible, clearing the way, but knowing we must draw our sustenance from the mass and that it can advance more rapidly, only if we inspire it by our example. That is Che Guevara.
  
 
 The President is not frightened by the EFF. The hon Leader of the Opposition made that comment here. No, he is driven by this reality; remember the President is leading a revolutionary
 

 

 
 
 movement. [Interjections.] Now, it is against this revolutionary perspective that the late Joe Slovo characterised our country‘s ascendancy to state power as constitutional revolution. What the hon member is comparing us with is anarchy and not revolution.
 We are very clear of what we are talking about and what we are doing. [Applause.]
  
 
 The 53rd National Conference of the ANC, the governing party, decided on radical economic transformation as a characteristic feature of the second phase of the national democratic revolution. Therefore, the President is not frightened of the EFF; he just carrying out the revolutionary task of the governing party of South Africa. [Applause.]
  
 
 Economic transformation is not for itself, but to transform the social conditions of our people. In this context, radical socioeconomic transformation denotes a fundamental change in the structure, systems and patterns of ownership and control of the economy. That‘s what all is about. The key features of what the President is talking about are the structure, system, ownership, control and institution. That is what we are pursuing and we have to uproot the current system and structure of the economy. The structure and system fundamentally favour the minority of
 

 

 
 
 South Africans at the expense of the majority of South Africans, and that is what it is about.
  
 
 Therefore, within this context, the following will be done to ensure the attainment of our overall goal of radical socioeconomic transformation in relation to land reform.
 Firstly, undertake a precolonial audit of land ownership, use and occupation patterns. This is very important. Once the audit has been completed, a single law should be developed to address the issue of land restitution without compensation. The necessary constitutional amendments should be undertaken to effect this process. Yes, this is constitutional revolution; we will do it but within the confines of the Constitution of our Republic.
  
 
 We will redesign and establish the National Land Claims Commission as a Chapter 9 institution. These are fundamental structural changes which will be introduced to ensure that South Africans get land back, for the period 1994 to date. The hon Leader of the Opposition is talking about plans and what are we going to do. Let us talk about what we are doing as a governing party of the people of South Africa. [Applause.]
  
 
 For the period 1994 to date, 4,8 in fact, 5 million of hectors of land have been acquired through the land redistribution
 

 

 
 
 programme. From just the period of 2009 to date, 1 743 farms have benefited from the Recapitalisation and Development Programme. In respect of the restitution programme, 3,3 million hectares were restored from 1994 to the end of January 2017.
 Financial compensation amounting to R11,6 billion was paid out. That is what the President was talking about and correctly so. Again, President you were correct because, if you look at this, you look at R11,6 billion and that is 2,772 million hectors of land. That money bought those hectors instead of that land being transferred back to the people. The President was correct to say, let us emphasise to our people that where it is necessary, they must opt for land as a priority and not money, much as the Constitution allows them the alternative of getting money.
  
 
 One of the most serious challenges facing the implementation of land reform relates to incoherent institutional transformation. Again, remember we were saying the structure, system, institutions, control, etc, are elements of radical socioeconomic transformation. This is what we are talking about here. Therefore, one of the most serious challenges in this regard is incoherent institutional transformation. This is what it means. If you look at the land parcels, for example, the trust, lenders helped by the trust, one has to go through the Master of High Court to get to know who are the members of these
 

 

 
 
 trusts and what race are they? We have done the land audit. The second phase of the land audit is to determine race, nationality and gender. The preliminary report indicates that the challenges are at the institutional level where the trusts are, for example, under the control of the Department of Justice and Correctional Services.
  
 
 Now we are busy discussing with the Minister to ensure that we get to know who are the members of these trusts and how many of these members of this trust are black so that we can get their true nationality. Lots of people towards the end of apartheid started camouflaging the ownership of their properties in South Africa into these trusts. The shareholdership of companies under the Department of Trade and Industry is another question that we need to resolve with the Minister and the Department of Trade and Industry. This is very important because part of the challenges institutionally is that when we took over in 1994, we deracialised records in the Department of Home Affairs and also the Deeds Registry in South Africa.
  
 
 Now, you are not in a position to go although it is our control and so on. We looked at these files and say this is a problem. That is why government has now taken a decision to prioritise electronic deeds system and it is going to come before this
 

 

 
 
 House. The Law Society of SA has assisted us in drafting an electronic system so that it cuts the costs and the time.
  
 
 If one takes the Eastern Cape today, institutionally, when one buys land in the Eastern Cape, one hires a conveyancer there who hires a conveyancer in Cape Town. One pays two people or two conveyancers and the whole administrative burden lies with people who buy land. Therefore, we are moving towards electronic deeds registration system so that people can lodge electronically and cut the middle people costs. [Applause.] That is the institutional transformation that is going to come. The Bill is going to Cabinet tomorrow. The committee has approved it under the leadership of the President. It is a short Bill focusing on cutting the costs for the small people who buy land in our country. The hon member Mthimunye has dealt with that and I‘m am not going to repeat this question that talks about urban land and so on in South Africa, which is very important.
  
 
 He spoke about the question of water very well. Mr President, do you know what is happening on this question of water? The irrigation system is along the river valley. Most of the owners of the land upstream irrigate very heavily and the farmers downstream get very little water. They have no water. The Minister knows this and I have raised it with her. This is
 

 

 
 
 institutional transformation. It is not just taking the land from one race group to another. What do you do institutionally to ensure that that land serves the purpose for which it was bought? [Applause.] That is what we are going to do.
  
 
 The next question institutionally, Mr President, the late hon Kader Asmal said: The Eastern Cape is the capital of game farms. In the Eastern Cape the fence around your own yard is high almost everywhere because there you have land. We have to make sure that the change of land use in South Africa is prohibited. We complain all the time that we don‘t have enough food. Why?
 Because the land use is changed from production to game and we have no land to produce. That why the agricultural Land Holdings Bill is critical.
  
 
 I just signed it, Mr President, you know it very well. You pronounced on this and it is coming to the Cabinet. It went for public hearings and the people have said that 12 000 is too much. They have cut it down by 7 000 hectares. They say the maximum must be 5 000. The people have spoken; we have gone to them on this one. [Applause.] That is radical transformation. It is going to come to this House. We have signed that Bill today and it is going to come to the Cabinet, and soon it will come here.
 

 

 
 
 Hon Speaker, these are but a few examples we are talking about. The above points speak to the need for a coherent institutional transformation so that we make sure that together we can change effectively. However, there is this talk about willing-buyer willing-seller; I saw this in the debate. No, we are no longer using it. The ANC in Mangaung took a resolution that government must create the Office of the Valuer-General. The first Office of the Valuer-General in South Africa is there. I am talking about institutional change and things that are hidden but constrain fast transfer of land towards the majority of South Africans. In South we don‘t have valuation standards. We only found out because of the Valuer-General now. He has adopted international valuation standards. South Africa does not have them. He is busy drafting them now so that we can begin to do that.
  
 
 Universities have not adjusted their curriculum in terms of training valuers in South Africa. The Valuer-General has entered into an agreement with the University of Cape Town, UCT. The first group of valuers went through an in-service training two months ago at the University of Cape Town because universities themselves have not adjusted to the five factors; they continued to use market value and trained the valuers. The valuers of South Africa have a huge limitation. [Applause.]
 

 

 
 
 However, good news is that we did not have to wait for the Expropriation Act from this House. In the first year of the Valuer-General last year, we saved more than R50 million in cutting costs of the land. Therefore, we acquired more land. The result is that we spent all our money for land acquisition this financial year. That is institutional transformation which we ignored for a while. Mr President you led us towards this one.
 We are here. We are doing it.
  
 
 
 Therefore, let us try to help the hon members here because they don‘t understand what is going on in this country. Hon Speaker, you read last week that the hon Mayor of Cape Town is handing over land to Constantia people. She just woke up one morning and then called the people. It is like a miracle from heaven, isn‘t it? No, I signed off that in 2013 [Applause.] [Interjections.] Cape Town is the only municipality in the country which charges for land owned by the municipalities here. We have had to pay R120 million; they have been holding it out. She was holding it out. It is not because she was kind. No, she stole the opportunity. [Interjections.] I signed it off in 2013 and approved it by they did not want to release it because they want money. [Interjections.]
 

 

 
 
 We are going to work on the legislation in all municipalities in the country so that land owned by national, provincial and local government is transferred free to the people. When they claim land, they must get it free. That is the resolution in the ANC Lekgotla. [Applause.] That is not happening in the Western Cape province. That is the DA-led government. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Minister, please take, your seat. Order! Members, order. You are recognised, sir.
  
 
 Mr I M OLLIS:   Chairperson, will you ask the hon Minister whether he will take a question on this issue? [Interjections.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Minister, do you wish to take a question?
  
 
 The MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM: No, if I have
  
 time at the end, hon Chairperson.
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Please proceed, sir.
  
 
 
 The MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM: Listen to
  
 this institutional change in communal lands. It says Institutionalisation of perpetual land use right for communal
 

 

 
 
 land-dwellers with the one household and one hector minimum holding for each household to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality and unemployment. To date, women and the aged are the main beneficiaries of this excellent programme. I could talk about it but I do not have enough time now.
  
 
 To further promote radical socio-economic transformation, there is the 50/50 programme. This is a radical economic transformation thing. Hon President, we have three guests in the gallery somewhere. Ntuli, Suzzanne and Ncebakazi‘s mother, where are they? Please rise and let the President see you. [Applause.] Where is Suzzane? They are here.
  
 
 Mamela, uNtuli ufumana lo mhlaba e-Westcliff, kwaZulu-Natal ePietermaritzburg. Xa ephakama ethethe isiZulu uthetha athi‖ ngizokhuluma isiNgesi ke manje‖. Yathi laa nto ... (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
  
 
 
[Listen, Ntuli got this piece of land in Westcliff, Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal. He stood up and announced in isiZulu, ―Now I am going to speak English‖. Then he said ...]
  
 
 Fellow South Africans, I was a farm worker here, employed by this man. Today, I own this business with him. I am a farmer.
 

 

 
 
 [Applause.] There he is, Mr President.
  
 
 
 Umama kaNcebakazi. [Ncebakazi‘s mother.]
  
 
 
 That lady there said, ―you know, I am not leaving until you speak - you workers.‖ I‘m talking class not just race.
  
 
 uthi umama kaNcebakazi, isizathu sokuba singathethi siyoyika ngoba ndiqale ukuphangela apha ndiphangelela abazali bakaMark, ngoku ndisebenzela uMark. Urhulumente wam uthi usinikile umhlaba ngoku siza kuphatha. Singabasebenzi kwaye iintsapho zininzi apha. Uthi‖ ndiyacinga ukuba abantwana bethu sizakubafundisa, sizakutya, sizakunxiba‖, uyeva.
  
 
 Xa egqiba uthi, mamela ke ngoku, bafuna ukuqesha umphathi wefama kuba kaloku baphethe nabo ngoku. Nanko uBhasi efaka isicelo [Kwahlekwa.] kwenziwa udliwanondlebe abamqesha, baqesha omnye umntu. [Kwahlekwa.] Yhoo, waqumba wazithatha zonke izixhobo zakhe wemka nazo. Nabaya phezulu egalari, omnye yipanable industry, uNtuli ngusomahlathi, yisugar necrop. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
  
 
 
[Ncebakazi‘s mother says, ―The reason we do not stand up to speak is because we are afraid, because when I started here I
 

 

 
 
 was working for Mark‘s parents and now I work for Mark. My government says it has given us land and now we are going to be bosses. We are workers and we have big families here‖. She says,
 ―I think we are going to be able to give our children education, and feed and cloth ourselves‖. Do you hear that?
  
 
 In concluding her speech she said they wanted to employ a farm manager because now they are also bosses. The baas went ahead and applied [Laughter.] and he failed the interview, so they employed somebody else instead. [Laughter.] Lo and behold, the baas got so upset that he took all his equipment and left. There they are up there in the gallery; one is in the pineapple industry and Ntuli is a forester, and is also involved in the sugar industry.]
  
 
 I wish Suzzane was here, Solms-Delta the one estate that export wine in Franschhoek. She says, ―I started to work here in 2001 and I was a domestic worker.‖ She speaks English.
  
 
 Sy is Afrikaanssprekend, maar sy het daardie dag Engels gepraat. [Her mother tongue is Afrikaans but she spoke English on that day.]
 

 

 
 
 When I started work here in 2001, I was a domestic worker and I never thought that I would ever own this business. Now, I own this business with Prof Solms.
  
 
 That is her story.
  
 
 
 Dit is die storie. Dit is ‘n goeie storie. [That is the story. It is a good story.]
  
 
 I am talking about people here in the Western Cape. [Applause.] Mr President, I am going to invite you to Saamstan here in the Western Cape. When we were handing over that business - remember we buy the land and then we give the workers a land-use right certificate which they take into the business with their labour power. The owner comes with business, skills, and markets and so on. That is 50/50. They own the business and the state owns the land. That is how it is. Therefore, that is what is happening in the country here.
  
 
 Saamstaan is hier in die Wes-Kaap. [Saamstaan you will find here in the Western Cape.]
  
 
 I invited the Premier, the mayor of the district, the mayor of the municipality to Solms-Delta and none of them came.
 

 

 
 
 [Interjections.] That is because they could not visualise workers taking over control of big business like this.
  
 
 Ons het gekom. Ons is nou daar. Baie dankie. [We came. Now we are there. Thank you very much.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, members. Hon members, I wish to recognise the presence in our gallery of the former Dutch Speaker of Parliament of the Kingdom of Netherlands, [Applause.] Ms Verbeet. She is with her husband, the former Minister for Culture, Social Services and Recreation, Mr Wim Meijer. You are welcome to our Parliament. Hon members, we will now take a 15- minutes break. The bells will ring to alert the members of the resumption of business. The proceedings are suspended.
  
 
 Proceedings suspended for 15 minutes.
  
 
 
 The PREMIER OF THE NORTHERN CAPE: Hon Chairperson of the NCOP, His Excellency, the President of South Africa, hon members of the National Assembly and the NCOP, ladies and gentlemen, I have been asked to speak about township economies. I went to do a little bit of research. What I found is that 38% of all working age citizens of this country are staying in townships, while
 

 

 
 
 only 25% of the money or income in townships is being spent in the township economy.
  
 
 What is the impediment on our township economies? That is what we must ask. I want to say that no amount of rhetoric will change what I am going to tell you now. It never fails to amaze me. I am surprised by how people think they always know better; when we know what they are doing is not necessarily the best for the people of this country. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The impediments on township economies exist exactly because of the past neglect by the apartheid regime, where you find that there is a lack of investment in our townships. You find that there is overpopulation because people have been forced, in their own country, to stay where they are not able to make a good life for themselves, where there is isolation from urban centers and a lack of resources and infrastructure. [Interjections.]
  
 
 It also never fails to amaze me how people who claim that they know so much can sometimes be so ignorant. [Interjections.] I am very privileged to stand here to speak about my province, the Northern Cape, where we, along with the rest of South Africa,
 

 

 
 
 want to translate political emancipation into economic wellbeing and prosperity for all our people.
  
 
 The African National Congress is the only and true party at service of the people and remains committed to expedite the radical transformation of our economy, in order to enhance the participation of the masses of our people in the mainstream of the economy. [Applause.] This has a direct bearing on the black majority and more specifically, on women, the youth and people living with disabilities.
  
 
 At a broad level, the National Development Plan, NDP, aims to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030. Accordingly, the National Development Plan concedes that South Africa can realise these goals by drawing on the energies of its people, growing an inclusive economy, building capabilities, enhancing the capacity of the state and promoting leadership and partnerships throughout society.
  
 
 We have never claimed to be the best because we know we can always do better in the eyes of our people. Those who claim that they are the best must wait for their turn, so that we can see what they can do. [Applause.]
 

 

 
 
 Our province, under the capable and progressive stewardship of the African National Congress, is in the process of reviewing the provincial growth and development plan, which corresponds to the NDP and seeks to achieve the following broad objectives: providing overarching goals for what we want to achieve by 2030; building consensus on the key obstacles to us achieving these goals and what needs to be done to overcome those obstacles; providing a shared long-term strategic framework within which more detailed planning can take place, in order to advance the long-term goals set out in the Northern Cape Growth and Development Plan; and creating a basis for making choices about how best to use the limited resources that we have at our disposal.
  
 
 Die Noord-Kaap ondersteun die beleid en bevordering van plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkeling en die ontwikkeling van kleinsake ondernemings volkome, sowel as kooperatiewe verenigings, om seker te maak dat mense in die woonbuurte aan die ekonomie kan deelneem. Dit word gedoen deur die identifisering en ondersteuning van lewensvatbare en volhoubare geleenthede vir entrepreneurs in alle sektore in die provinsiale ekonomie.
 

 

 
 
 Die plaaslike aankope van goedere en gebruik van dienste deur die regering, ondernemings in staatsbesit en private maatskappye is ‘n groot belegging vir die_provinsie en dit kan of ‘n ekonomiese katalisator wees of lei tot lae of geen groei van die ekonomie nie. Daarom doen ons ‘n beroep op Transnet, Eskom, die Square Kilometer Array, SKA, die independent power producers [onafhanklike energieproduseerders], IPPs, en eienaarskapmodelle om te verseker dat plaaslike besteding plaasvind en dat die rand wat gegenereer word ten minste vier tot ses keer binne die provinsie sirkuleer.
  
 
 Onthou, ons het gesê dat net 25% van die inkomste in woonbuurte binne woonbuurte spandeer word. Die meeste van ons mense gaan uit om in voorheen bevoordeelde gebiede hulle geld te spandeer. Daarom is dit vir ons, as die Noord-Kaap, belangrik dat ons seker maak dat die rand hersirkuleer in die provinsie en ons woonbuurte, sodat ons mense by ons ekonomie sal baat vind. [Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
  
 
 
[The Northern Cape fully supports the policy and promotion of local economic development and the development of small business enterprises as well as co-operative associations, in order to ensure that people in the townships are able to participate in the economy. This is done by identifying and supporting viable
 

 

 
 
 and sustainable opportunities for entrepreneurs in all sectors in the provincial economy.
  
 
 The local procurement of goods and the use of services by the government, state-owned enterprises and private companies are a large investment for the province and this may either be an economic catalyst or may lead to low or now growth in the economy. That is why we are appealing to Transnet, Eskom the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the independent power producers (IPPs) and ownership models to ensure that local expenditure takes place and that the rand that is generated circulates at least four to six times within the province.
  
 
 Remember, we said that only 25% of the income in townships is spent within the townships. Most of our people go out to spend their money in previously advantaged areas. This is why it is important for us, in the Northern Cape, to ensure that the rand is recycled in the province and in our townships, so that our people will benefit from our economy. [Interjections.]]
  
 
 The Northern Cape has a tremendous resources base distributed over a vast province with rural characteristics that we need to radically transform. As a province, we seek to address issues of economic growth, unemployment and inequality. This resource base
 

 

 
 
 promises tremendous potential in terms of the wide open spaces within itself. Additional to this, are the added advantages of the agriculture sector, our rich mineral resources and the blessing of nature‘s heat and wind sources of energy. This, we are using and we must use to ensure that we grow the economy and that we create local employment and ownership, to address the economic triple challenge we face.
  
 
 Based on what I have outlined, the resources base economic potential is extensive and promising, but also very capital intensive. Therefore, the Northern Cape is currently a prime destination for foreign direct investment, new industries and innovation that should radically transform the province.
 Billions of rands flow into this province via public and private investment. Hon President, thank you very much for making us, as the Northern Cape, a hub of renewable energy. We are currently also one of the provinces that are, in terms of the mining industry, one of the fastest growing provinces. While other provinces are closing mines, in the Northern Cape, we are opening mines, as we speak. [Applause.]
  
 
 As indicated, our province is rural and it covers a staggering 33% of South Africa‘s landmass. These resources are what we have and therefore, we need to go about development in a sustainable
 

 

 
 
 manner or our natural resources will be lost and we will not benefit at all. I am speaking about mining, renewable energy and agriculture, which have a short lifespan. Even the SKA has a lifespan which we cannot deny. Therefore, decisions and investments that we make now will realise their full extent in
 40 plus years from now.
  
 
 
 We, as the Northern Cape, a big but small province need these investments, not just to exploit our resources, but to offset investment that will take us beyond the life of mining and other industries. We need to and God willing, we will secure a future for our children and their children.
  
 
 In our endeavour to address radical economic transformation and revitalise our rural economy, we want to build on the gains that we are making in our agricultural sector. This is a key component in the creation of sought-after employment and growing the economy. As such, rural development in the province has been invigorated by the focused establishment.
  
 
 Ek wil vir die agb Minister sê dat ons nie meer kan wag vir die agri-parke nie. Ek het net weer hierdie naweek gesien hoeveel landbou vir ons provinsie beteken en hoe die ekonomie van ons klein dorpies lewe wanneer daar seisoenwerke in die
 

 

 
 
 landboubedryf is. Wat meer kan dit wees as ons mense eienaars is van hierdie land waarop hulle hul eie landbou bedryf? (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
  
 
 
[I want to tell the hon Minister that we cannot wait any longer for the agri-parks. Only this past weekend I saw how much agriculture means to our province and how the economy of our small towns becomes alive when there is seasonal work in the agricultural industry. How much more could it be if our people are owners of this land on which they conduct their own agriculture?]
  
 
 Issues of land reform, water rights and food security are crucial enablers for the Northern Cape and we are also a key player in terms of food security. The extensive agricultural riverbank production sites, ranging from the Vaalharts irrigation to the Vaal, Riet and Orange Rivers are broad. And beyond this are prime mutton, beef and game production areas that serve as protein sources for most of our domestic needs as well as several export destinations.
  
 
 With many land reform and restitution cases completed, huge stretches of commonage support to our upcoming and small-scale farmers and fishermen alike are crucial. We need to enable,
 

 

 
 
 equip and mentor them to become part of the global competitive food production value chain. [Interjections.] Our existing prime protein, fruit and vegetable producers also need to be equipped and grown in order to add value, to produce and export more.
  
 
 Other critical investments include the multibillion euro square kilometer array. It is really exciting to speak about the Northern Cape province and the biggest scientific project in the same sentence - an instrument that scientific communities around the world will talk about for years to come. What this project has done just around the Carnarvon area is remarkable. Through the cyberlab and the computer laboratory at Carnarvon High School and Carnarvon Primary School respectively, we have seen the introduction of ICT in curriculum delivery. The schools also have one of the fastest broadband connectivity in the country.
  
 
 The level of Science and Mathematics teaching has also improved greatly through the introduction of Teach SA Ambassadors at the local schools. This has resulted in the local learners becoming recipients of SKA undergraduate bursaries, which enabled them to study towards the attainment of a B.Sc Degree. Sol Plaatjie University also introduced a qualification in data studies, making it the only university on the continent offering this course.
 

 

 
 
 I just want to tell the President and the Minister that we need the designation of the special economic zone for us, through renewable energy, to create more jobs for our people in the manufacturing side of the IPPs.
  
 
 These are the projects that are following our resources and this means that they are in most instances in our rural and even deep rural areas. In these areas, we, as the Northern Cape, require investment that can initiate our rural economy and advance our communities to transition to become part of the global economy.
  
 
 To radically transform the Northern Cape economy, we need to optimise localisation to achieve rapid socioeconomic transformation. As the Northern Cape, we will continue to give our full support to enable our local population and local entrepreneurs to compete, own and be allocated work from these investments. Local procurement and supply will always remain our top priority. This notion is supported by the fact that expenditure tends to land directly in the local space and therefore, local procurement and absorption of local labour or ownership must be realised through this.
  
 
 I can say a lot about the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme. However, what I want to say is
 

 

 
 
 that this is definitely a game changer. I can just imagine how it will become sustainable for the people of the Northern Cape if the manufacturing side is realised.
  
 
 I want to speak about the last, but not the least issue. Hon President, please, stop this people from benefitting from our gas resources because they are the ones that are always doing better with resources from other provinces. Please, bring our gas resources to our province. It will enable us to open up opportunities with Namibia where we already have an agreement with the Karas Region where you find the Kudu gas fields. This means that we will be able to use our gas resources to serve as a catalyst to open up opportunities in the SADC region, together with Namibia. People don‘t want nuclear because they have nuclear. They don‘t have gas. They are using our gas and they pretend to be the best that God has ever created. Let us please benefit our people from our natural resources. I thank you.
  
 
 Mr N T GODI: Chairperson, comrades, hon members, and my comrades in the gallery, the APC welcomes the President‘s address. At the same time, it condemns the anarchic and racist behaviour that preceded it. Chaos and disrespect should never become the new normal.
 

 

 
 
 In a country with such high levels of inequality, we welcome the minimum wage accord as but a small step in the right direction. It is obscene that five billionaires in this country own wealth equal to that of 26 million South Africans. It is a mockery to speak of democracy with such levels of poverty and inequality.
 However, the APC‘s concern is that early childhood development educators, HIV/Aids counsellors, and home-based carers are not included, yet they work more than 40 hours per week. The APC demands their inclusion in the minimum wage category.
  
 
 Economic transformation should not only be radical. It should be revolutionary. The state‘s stake in the economy should be increased from the current 30% to more than 50%. The state should mine all strategic minerals. We have the largest zinc reserves in the world. We produce 80% of the world‘s platinum.
 Together with Zimbabwe, we control all of it. We need a proper state bank, not the spaza shop arrangement of the Postbank. The commanding eyes of the economy, like Sasol and ArcelorMittal South Africa, should revert to the state.
  
 
 Yes, we must smash the cartels and collusion. Yes, the land of the African people, the land bought, the land never sold – land dispossession was not just about the means of production. It was a loss of sovereignty, dignity, and humanity which portrays the
 

 

 
 
 racism that Africans still experience on the farms, in the factories, in the mines, at the universities, on the beaches, and just about everywhere.
  
 
 I must speak for the people of Cathcart, Daliwe, Ndlovini, and Katikati neglected by the provincial district and local governments. In Ndlovini, they have no electricity or sanitation. In Katikati, there is a section without electricity, and 10 families share a bucket toilet that is changed once a month. There is one ambulance instead of the four promised. The revenue service, the hospital, the railway station, the dilapidated sports field, unemployment, drugs, etc – it is the same in the Makana Local Municipality. It is the same story for the axed mineworkers. It is the same for the people of Makgato in Blouberg, Limpopo. We must act with urgency in the interest of our people. I thank you. [Applause.]
  
 
 Mr J W W JULIUS: Mr President, Deputy President, Chairperson of the NCOP, members and fellow South Africans, let me start with a quick observation.
  
 
 I really need to thank the hon Mkongi for reemphasising the fact that the ANC is just like the apartheid government. You should have known better. I invite you to stop counting your money   at
 

 

 
 
 home and defending corrupt leaders but to go out and see for yourself that there is a lost generation out there. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, they are there. [Interjections.]
  
 
 Dit is nou al een jaar vandat ek hier gestaan het en vertel het van die bloubokkie, sy gal, en die ANC se leuens. Wel, die ANC het hulself daaraan afgevee. Ek wil weer vandag die ANC vertel van ‘n tweede bekende boek geskryf deur Dalene Matthee, Fiela se Kind. Hierdie boek het die temas van ras, klas, identiteit, emansipasie, onreg en geheime aangepak, maar vandag wil ek praat oor onreg.
  
 
 Benjamin, die hoofkarakter, was ‘n weggooilam toe Fiela hom gevind het. Sy ouers het hom weggegooi. Nege jaar later het die Van Rooyen-familie hom geëis as hul verlore kind.  Op die ouderdom van drie het hulle na agt dae ophou soek na hom en toe hulle hom weer vind, was hulle net geïnteresseerd in hoe bes om hom te misbruik. Hulle het hom as hul eiendom gesien en soos ‘n slaaf behandel. Nie net was hulle onverantwoordelik nie, maar hulle was ook gulsig. Toevallig het ons ‘n Van Rooyen wat hierdie beskrywing so mooi pas hier in die Huis. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
 

 

 
 
 
[It has been a year since I stood here and told of the little blue buck, its gall, and the lies of the ANC. Well, the ANC totally ignored it. Today I again want to tell the ANC of a second well known novel written by  Daleen  Matthee, Fiela's Child. This novel tackled the themes of race, class, identity, emancipation, injustice and secrets, but today I want to talk about injustice.
  
 
 Benjamin, the main character, was a rejected child when Fiela found him. His parents had rejected him. Nine years later the Van Rooyen family claimed him as their lost child. At the age of three they had stopped looking for him after eight days and when they found him again they were only interested in how best to abuse him. They saw him as their property and treated him like a slave. They were not only irresponsible, but they were also greedy. Coincidentally we have a Van Rooyen in the House who fits this description beautifully.]
  
 
 This is exactly how the ANC treats the lost generation of South Africa. These South Africans know not the emancipation a title deed brings, never owning the land they live on. Because of vast tracts of government-owned land kept safe for redistribution only to the well-connected, secure in comfort, our people do not progress.
 

 

 
 
 Despite the bravado of the ANC and President Zuma about returning the land to the people of South Africa, nothing was said on land restitution during this year‘s state of the nation address. [Interjections.] Hon Nkwinti, you said our leader just told us what you did not do. Allow me to tell you what you did in terms of land redistribution. The issue of land has been an arduous task for the ANC over the years. In 1994, the ANC committed itself to transfer 30% of agricultural land to black South Africans by 1999. When this target was not met, they simply moved it to 2014. This new target wasn‘t met by the ANC either.
  
 
 By 2016, only 8% of agricultural land had been transferred to black South Africans – falling way short of the ANC‘s own target. You stand here and blame other people, but you didn‘t meet your target. The ANC further committed itself to the settling of all land claims by 2005. By 2016, there had still been 7 419 land claims outstanding, and about 20 000 are yet to be finalised. Thus, the ANC has not met a single target on land that they had set for themselves. After 23 years of not meeting your targets, how can you still expect South Africans to trust you this time around? [Interjections.]
 

 

 
 
 I can guarantee you that if I now ask the ANC Members of Parliament to raise their hands if they had not received a farm
 ... raise your hand if you have not received a farm from government. [Interjections.] Alright. Thank you. It is noted. The hon the Minister Nkwinti is still at Luthuli House busy handing out farms. He‘ll get to you later. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
  
 
 Yes, President Zuma, in your own words ... in your own words, and I will quote. I quote you, Mr President. You said, ―It will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve true reconciliation until the land question is resolved.‖ I think you actually meant to say that due to the ANC not meeting its own targets on land, true reconciliation would not be realised. The ANC has simply forgotten the people of South Africa. [Interjections.]
  
 
 Showing no regard for the discontentment of ordinary and forgotten South Africans, then Free State MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Mosebenzi Zwane – now Minister of Mineral Resources – made a deal with a Gupta-owned company, Estina.
 Perhaps that is why he has been promoted to Minister. In this deal, they were the primary beneficiaries of a lucrative dairy farm project in the Free State even though they had no agricultural experience. You are selling our land to foreigners.
 

 

 
 
 Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: Chairperson, on a point of order: I rise on Rule 14F – irrelevance or repetition in the speech. [Interjections.] The speaker doesn‘t actually focus on the state of the nation address. He is grandstanding, talking about the ANC providing land to the connected. He asks us to raise our hands. When he finds that Members of Parliament have not been given land, he moves on to something else.
  
Mr M WATERS: Chairperson, that is not a point of order.
  
 
 
 Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: Please be relevant.
  
 
 
 Mr M WATERS: Chairperson ... That is not a point of order, Chairperson.
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, members! Please take your seat, hon Waters. Hon Pilane-Majake, you have raised a point of order, but that point of order will not be sustained. This is a debate. Let it continue. [Interjections.]
  
 
 Mr J W W JULIUS: Chairperson, I think I refer to state capture. That is the state of the nation – in case you were not aware of it, hon member.

 
 

 

 
 
 Further, the current Rural Development and Land Reform Minister
  
 ...
  
 
 
 ... ek weet nie waar hy nou is nie. [I do not know where he is at the moment.]
  
 
 He allegedly received a bribe of R2 million to facilitate a deal in which his friends at Luthuli House could benefit from the department‘s R97-million purchase of the Bekendvlei Farm. It is all about the ANC, and the people are placed last! The ANC has forgotten our people. [Applause.]
  
 
 Let me tell you, the DA will prioritise a full audit of land ownership, Minister, and those who receive agricultural land will be supported with the necessary skills or qualifications before they begin farming.
  
 
 Last year, I predicted right here at this podium that my colleagues, Mayors Msimanga, Trollip and Mashaba, in Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay and Johannesburg respectively would be governing DA-led metros. Hon President, I am proud to announce that they are doing just that. [Applause.]
 

 

 
  
 The previous ANC-led administration in Tshwane had incurred about R2 billion worth of debt which the DA-led administration discovered soon after being elected to govern the executive and administrative capital of South Africa. Former Mayor Ramokgopa enjoyed a R30 million-per-year discretionary slush fund to spend without fear of consequence. In the first 100 days of government, DA Mayor Solly Msimanga stopped all excessive and frivolous expenditure on lavish catering, banquets and parties, and luxury cars to save money for service delivery. That is the DA for you! [Applause.] Corrupt officials are now being pursued where we govern. The ANC could not do this because it is their cronies that are corrupt. You thrive on corruption.
  
 
 In Johannesburg, the DA-led administration identified
  
 2 000 title deeds for residents who had been waiting for decades under the previous ANC-led administration. The ANC only knows our people when it benefits them. They have failed us as a nation and, when we seek answers, they use violent, racist rhetoric to divide us, like hon Mkongi has done. When life is abundant, they forget the suffering we had to endure and sacrifice we had to make for this hard-won democracy of ours. They do not know us in poverty, they do not know us in inequality, and they certainly do not know us in unemployment! Thank you, Chair. [Time expired.] [Interjections.] [Applause.]
 

 

 
 
 The MINISTER OF WOMEN IN THE PRESIDENCY: Madam Chairperson, our President, His Excellency President Zuma, our Deputy President, hon Ramaphosa, hon members and distinguished guests, today we continue to draw inspiration from the words of wisdom from our icon, President Nelson Mandela‘s statement when he said:
 
 
 We ought to imprint in the supreme law of the land, firm principles upholding the rights of women.
  
 
 Our government remains committed to advancing and protecting the interests of women in all spheres of life. There are success stories of initiatives and government programmes that sought to empower women by addressing disparities in our economy.
  
 
 This government has made progress in women empowerment, especially in the public sector. What remains a challenge is how we do translate successes in employment parity currently in government to the private sector? It is in how we translate achievements in government to the private sector in terms of our advancement in women that our success should be measured.
  
 
 Our Constitution has a specific emphasis on equality, which also translates to equal pay for the same work. The Employment Equity Act, as amended, seeks to achieve equity in the workplace by
 

 

 
 
 promoting equal opportunities and fair treatment. It further eliminates unfair discrimination in employment by implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages experienced by designated groups which include women.
  
 
 We are proud as the ANC-led government. We have been able to achieve equal pay for equal work in the public sector. We therefore call upon all employers to take steps in eliminating discrimination in the workplace by ending unfair practices such as paying employees disproportionately for the same work, and we welcome the proposal by the process led by the Deputy President, of a minimum wage which will start creating fairness in our country.
  
 
 Failure to adhere to these employment equity requirements will amount to unfair discrimination which goes against the spirit of the Constitution. What remains most challenging for women in realising their full potential in our economy is access to finance including from development finance institutions.
  
 
 In our radical economic transformation, all South Africans have a responsibility to ensure that women benefit from the shake-up in the current structure, systems and institutions of our country. Patterns of ownership and control of the economy should
 

 

 
 
 change in favour of all South Africans, the majority of whom are Africans especially women.
  
 
 It is easier to paint a chronology of how the black majority were marginalised from meaningful participation in the economy. However, it remains our desired outcome to achieve parity of representation and we have therefore embedded gender balance to avoid repeating mistakes of the past.
  
 
 This calls for gender mainstreaming which is about assessing the different implications for women of any planned policy action, including legislations and programmes in all areas and levels.
 In the task which lies ahead of us, government will not only be monitoring progress in terms of women empowerment in all areas of our economy, but will also ensure that there are specific targets designated for women.
  
 
 Socioeconomic concerns where women continue to have high rate of unemployment continue in our country. Whilst we acknowledge that participation by women in the construction industry remains low, we urge for a renewed sense of urgency to support women-owned businesses. Further, it is also found that organisations benefit when their leadership has diverse perspectives and experiences to draw from.
 

 

 
 
 South Africans, especially the private sector, should take valuable lessons from us as we aspire for more women to hold top leadership positions and board roles. We call upon the South African private sector and captains of the industries to take a conscious decision to ensure women are part of their outlook and destinations.
  
 
 This further reflects that gender diversity in corporate boards has a positive impact on decision-making, and that women executives build better workplace relationships. This government has also made remarkable progress in advancing women and gender parity in the workplace in a relatively short period of time.
  
 
 Sustainable Development Goal 5 enjoins us to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. All governments have to mainstream gender equality and empowerment of women in all their Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.
  
 
 As part of Africa, South Africa is not left behind in science and technology in the continent. Today, we are proud of the stellar achievements of South African women who are recipients of the AU Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards.
 

 

 
 
 During the AU Heads of State Summit the following South Africans were awarded: In 2016, Prof Tebello Nyokong won the Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Award in science and technology for her contribution towards the effective treatment of cancer and the fabrication of sensors for various environmentally, biologically and medically-important molecules; [Applause.] and in 2017, Associate Prof Celia Abolnik won an award for her research in avian respiratory viruses, especially those that affect chicken and ostrich production in Africa.
  
 
 Therefore, the inclusion of women – you eat KFC and I don‘t eat that - in positions previously preserved for men is a thing of the past. Women are competitive in science, engineering, ICT Technology and finance. We want to say, thank you ANC for all the policies and programmes, and for advancing the interest of women in South Africa. [Applause.]
  
 
 As women, we continue to constitute the majority of students enrolled at our universities and TVET colleges, and continue to perform better in technical fields of engineering, finance and ICT. This government continues to make resources available for women to advance their studies in various fields.
 

 

 
 
 I want to commend the Minister of Science and Technology, my colleague, hon Pando who has provided 9 353 bursaries of which
 5 435 were offered to women. Congratulations Minister! [Applause.] We welcome your efforts. And further, out of 3 239 doctoral bursaries, 1 699 were offered to women by Quarter 3 of 2016-2017. Siya Qhuba Sihlalo! [We are moving forward, Chair!]
  
 
 Of the research grants provided again by your leadership to research at universities and research institutions, 1 566 out of
 4 175 that received grants were women. We want to say, congratulations Minister for the good work and for advancing the interests of women!
  
 
 In our quest to liberate women, I want to quote Maya Angelou when she said:
  
 
 You may write me down in history. With your bitter twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt. But still, like dust, I‘ll rise!
  
 
 We recognise the work of pioneers in advancing the women struggle. Charlotte Maxeke‘s work in organising the anti-pass laws campaign in 1913 in the Free State and the establishment of the Bantu Women‘s League set the scene for the formation of the
 

 

 
 
 current ANC‘s Women‘s League in our country, a beautiful movement which continues to lead in the struggle of women.
  
 
 Later in 1956, this is the organisation which led the historical 1956 March, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year.
 This March was led by the following stalwarts who embodied nonracialism and nonsexism by leading the 1956 March: Lilian Ngoyi, Sophie De Bruyn and Helen Joseph. Collectively, these efforts paved the way for the emancipation of women.
  
 
 Today in 2017, sitting in this House, we are all beneficiaries of the heroes and heroines of this struggle. His Excellency President Zuma, in his state of the nation address in February 2011, stated that:
  
 
 Given our emphasis on women‘s health, we will broaden the scope of reproductive health rights and provide services related to, amongst others, contraceptives, sexually transmitted infections, teenage pregnancy and sanitary towels for the indigent.
  
 
 Our current health system provides free access to contraceptives, access to health services for sexually transmitted diseases and work to prevent child pregnancy. What
 

 

 
 
 remains, President, is the provision of sanitary towels for the indigent girl-child. I want to assure you President that as we deal with this, for most indigent women menstruation is often rather an inconvenient biological reality over which there is no control. For most indigent women, menstruation is often rather an inconvenient biological reality which affects all of us.
  
 
 Attending to this recurring biological inconvenience is expensive for most ordinary women, yet this product is a necessity and ranks high in the hierarchy of women‘s needs. For the young women and school-going girls reaching puberty, there is a relationship between absenteeism arising from the discomfort and humiliation associated with lack of access to feminine hygiene product, particularly for those in the rural and urban areas, townships and informal settlements.
  
 
 While the impact of such absenteeism has not been studied, it is reasonable to deduce that poor academic performance by young women and school-girls can be attributed to lost learning days and often leads to dropouts. In response to this, President, we intend meeting your challenge by coming back to this House in June with relevant policy proposals on addressing the indigent challenges facing a girl-child.
 

 

 
 
 Amongst others, what has facilitated our improved performance towards gender equality has been the commitment of the ANC in advancing and recognising the importance of the emancipation of women in our country. The 52nd National Conference of the ANC resolved on a Zebra Policy for gender equality. We have an obligation to address gender inequalities alongside those relating to race. I want to challenge the opposition to follow the ANC policies which are highly progressive. Look at this! It is just a tinge amongst men.
  
 
 Eliminating violence against women is a prerequisite for gender equality and the empowerment of women. In 2016, the President launched the roll-out of the National Dialogues during the
 16 Days of No Violence Against Women and Children. We have since adopted a 365-days programme on eliminating violence against women and children because every hour, there is a woman or a child who is abused or violated.
  
 
 We are rolling out the programme to all provinces in partnership with various government departments, civil society and the private sector. Further, the Department of Social Development led by my colleague, Minister Dlamini, has also partnered with the private sector on gender-based violence through a national
 

 

 
 
 24-hour hotline service which provides access to services of the police, and counselling by social workers and psychologists.
  
 
 We must diversify ownership in the financial services sector to reflect the demographics of our society and women representation. The outlook of black ownership in the top 100 companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange is not encouraging at all. The representation of black women in such companies at board and executive levels is obviously not encouraging. As part of our quest for employment equity, government will work with the private sector to drive the radical economic transformation objectives for the common good.
  
 
 In South Africa, access to finance by women continues to be a challenge. A 2016 study by Oliver Wyman on women‘s progress in the world‘s financial services sector found that at the current progress, executive committee in the global financial services industry will only reach 30% of women in the world representation in 2046. This is a wake-up call for those who think women are secondary.
  
 
 South Africa cannot delay mending the gender gap. It is therefore our objective to reach the target of 30% representation well before 2046 because we are serious and
 

 

 
 
 committed to radical economic transformation of women in our country and the participation of women at various levels. Women are equally knowledgeable and competitive, and there is no doubt that we are able to hold our own on a number of levels including ownership and corporate boards.
  
 
 It is therefore imperative that corporates are not indifferent to the advancement of women and must maintain a strong pipeline of female leadership based on competitiveness because we want more in an equitably fair manner. That is what the ANC believes in. That is why we are here as women in the majority. In the ANC we are not a tinge; we are full participants and are treated equally. Thank you very much! [Applause.]
  
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: Hon Chairperson, ―The fight against corruption continues,‖ President Jacob Zuma bragged in this House, last week. What he should have actually said is, ―The ANC will continue to be corrupt; there is no use fighting us‖ - because that is the plain truth. The corruption scandals that follow President Zuma are not unique to him. They are symptoms of a rampant, systemic and deep-rooted culture of corruption that has destroyed the ANC beyond repair.
 

 

 
 
 I stand here today in support of the victims of the ANC‘s corruption. In particular, I stand in support of South Africa‘s lost generation – young people who were born free but are denied hope, their futures stolen by greedy and corrupt ANC politicians.
  
 
 I speak of learners, such as those at Lower Malepelepe Primary School, in Mdikisweni village outside Tsolo in the Eastern Cape. For five years, they had to kneel on the floor because there were no desks or chairs for them. These were learners, some as young as six years old, whose plight the Eastern Cape Department of Education had known of but had chosen to ignore.
  
 
 It had to take exposure in the media for their schools to be provided with the bare minimum, while the provincial education department failed to spend the R530 million meant for infrastructure at schools. How many more schools like Malepelepe Primary are out there - schools where learners whose rights are ignored because they are poor and black, and where the money meant for their development is stolen, wasted or misappropriated?
  
  
 Then, there are the learners of Gaetsho Secondary School and J M Lekgeta Commercial High School near Lichtenburg, in the
 

 

 
 
 North West, who had to embark on a protest after pleas for scholar transport fell on deaf ears. These were learners who were forced to walk 8km daily through crime-ridden areas, risking being robbed, raped, or worse. This all happened in a province where the Premier, Mr Supra Mahumapelo, wants to spend R6 million on a statue in honour of President Jacob Zuma, while learners in his province beg to be provided with transport so they can go to school safely. [Interjections.]
  
 
 It is disgraceful that in a province where many struggle, money will be spent on a vanity project for a President whose legacy will be nothing but corruption and rising unemployment. I challenge you, Mr President, to say ―No‖ to that statue. [Interjections.] The next statue that the other members of the premier league will order will, no doubt, be in honour of the other paragons of corruption and their bosses, the Guptas.
  
 
 Then there are the young and talented executives who appeared before the SABC inquiry, purged from their positions because they refused to be corrupt. The ANC-led government stood by and watched while Hlaudi Motsoeneng and his enforcers looted the SABC ...
  
 
 Mr J L MAHLANGU: Chairperson ...
 

 

 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme, please take your seat. You are recognised, sir.
  
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: I won‘t take a question from that idiot! [Interjections.]
  
 
 An HON MEMBER: Hey! [Interjections.]
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme, take your seat. You are recognised.
  
 
 Mr J L MAHLANGU: I suppose the hon member does not want to take a question from me. Thank you, hon Chairperson.
  
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: Yes. You were begging for DA membership. Now, here you are coming to show them you are committed to the ANC. Sit down! [Interjections.] [Applause.]
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Hon Chairperson ...
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme ... hon Van Damme ...
  
 
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: Sit down! [Interjections.]
 

 

 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme!
  
 
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: Hou jou bek! [Shut up!] Put KFC in it! [Interjections.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order! Hon Van Damme, you are at the podium. [Interjections.] Order, members! Order! Order!
 Order! [Interjections.] Hon Premier, order! [Interjections.] Hon Van Damme ... hon Van Damme, you are at the podium. You are addressing the House. You are not dialoguing. Please don‘t
 repeat that.
  
 
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: No problem. No problem. No problem.
  
 
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Hon Chairperson, I rise on a point of order ...
  
 
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: Wena, nawe ngeke! Nawe futhi! [You, and you would not! And you too!]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme, please take your seat. [Interjections.] You are recognised, sir.
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Chairperson, I rise on a point of order in terms of Joint Rule 14P.
 

 

 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: What is your point of order?
  
 
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: The offensive language that the hon Van Damme has just used is ...
  
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: Offensive language? You, here, at the state of the nation address were also on the floor shouting, ―F you!‖ to members of the opposition ...
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme ... hon Van Damme!
  
 
 
 Mr S G RADEBE: Akusithi esithe siyobulala uVan Damme. [We didn‘t say we are going to kill Van Damme.]
  
 
 Please, sit down!
  
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Please, please, please, take ... hon Van Damme ... [Interjections.] ... Order, members! Hon Van Damme, I am not ... Order! I have never seen anybody behaving the way you do at the podium. [Interjections.] Please desist ...
  
 
 ‘n AGB LID: Sy‘s ‘n straatmeid! [She‘s a fishwife!]
 

 

 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: ... and take your seat! Take your seat! [Interjections.]
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: As I was saying, Chairperson ...
  
 
 
 ‘n AGB LID: Sy‘s ‘n straatmeid! [She‘s a fishwife!] [Interjections.]
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: ... I rise in terms of Rule 14P: She called another hon member an ―idiot‖. I don‘t think it‘s parliamentary for her to say that.
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you. Hon Van Damme, did you call another member an ―idiot‖?
  
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: I withdraw.
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: You are withdrawing. Please ...
  
 
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: Him, him ... he, here, on the day of the state of the nation address ...
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme! You cannot point fingers at other members! [Interjections.]
 

 

 
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: On the day of the state of the nation address, that member ...
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Please continue with your speech! [Interjections.] Take your seat, hon member. [Interjections.]
  
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: [Inaudible.]
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Take your seat!
  
 
 
 An HON MEMBER: She‘s a straatmeid [fishwife]! [Interjections.]
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon ... Order! Hayi [no], members. [Interjections.] Order! Order! Order! Hon members, this House will not degenerate. [Interjections.] You - all of you - will not reduce this House to this chaos you are causing. [Interjections.] Hon members, all of you who are making gestures, who are vulgar in your language, you disrespect this House, unfortunately – and the constituencies that put us here. Hon Van Damme, please continue with your speech.
  
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: I will add this to my speech: That member, there, on the day of the state of the nation address, was walking in this House shouting, ―F you!‖ to members of the
 

 

 
 
 opposition. So, he can‘t come here and try and tell me about the Rules when he was vulgar. I will continue. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: On a point of order, Chairperson ...
  
 
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: The ANC-led government stood by and watched while Hlaudi Motsoeneng and his enforcers looted the SABC.
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: May I raise a point of order, Chairperson?
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme, please take your seat. What is your point of order?
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Chairperson, I request that the hon Von Damme should move a substantive motion, as I have never said such a thing. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, the point you are raising is that we did get to hear that ... [Interjections.] ... Order! Hawu, kanti ninje? [Do you have to do that?] [Laughter.]
  
 
 Hon members, I know that, earlier today, the Speaker of the National Assembly raised this matter ... [Interjections.]
 

 

 
 
 An HON MEMBER: So what?
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: ... of vulgar language, of language which is unparliamentary. Please desist. We will get into the records and look at everybody who has used that word in this House – and we will refer this matter for discipline. I want to urge you, members, to desist from doing this. Hon Van Damme, you are on the floor.
  
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: The ANC-led government stood by while Hlaudi Motsoeneng and his enforcers looted the SABC and exacted a reign of terror on all of those who stood in their way - all, with the full protection of Mr Zuma, who he had on speed dial.
  
 
 These are only a few of the stories of the lives of victims of the ANC‘s corruption. There are millions more.
  
 
 As the DA, we say we will make very sure that those responsible for stealing your money ...
  
 
 Mr B A RADEBE: Chairperson, on a point of order ...
  
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme, there‘s a point of order. Hon Radebe?
 

 

 
 
 Mr B A RADEBE: I rise on Joint Rule 12, which states that the Rules that are used – the Rules of discipline which are used in the different Houses here – are also applicable in this House. So, the member cannot come here and make an allegation that the President had full knowledge of what was happening at the SABC. [Interjections.] I think that must be brought by way of a substantive motion. Thank you, Chair. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme?
  
 
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: We had evidence in the SABC inquiry that ...
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Van Damme, please take your seat. Hon Radebe, we will get into the matter which you are raising. We will look at whether or not this allegation is baseless. Hon Van Damme, I do not know whether this House has received a report from you. This means that before this House, the National Assembly, receives the motion ... a report from you, it would be better for you to hold your horses. Hon Chief Whip of the Opposition?
  
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: May I address you, House Chairperson?
 

 

 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Yes. I am not a House Chairperson, thank you.
  
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Chairperson of the NCOP, my apologies. I think that the hon member who raised the original point of order has misconstrued it. There are two volumes of Rules. There is Part One and there is Part Two. [Interjections.] Part Two deals with Rules of debate. The Rules of discipline that the member is referring to refers to the sanction of members should they be found guilty of having transgressed the Rules. What he is trying to do is to supplant the Rules of debate of the National Assembly into this Chamber, and that is not permitted. It relates to how long a member can be suspended, and other matters - and that is why he is not the Chief Whip of the Majority Party. [Applause.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Radebe, please take your seat. [Interjections.] Hon members, allow me to chair the House. The Rules which the hon Radebe referred to are fine. What the Chief Whip of the Opposition is saying is also in order. Let us not try and play for time and excuse untenable behaviour in the House. The Rules of both Houses are applicable under different circumstances. For now, the Rules pertaining to Joint Sittings will apply. It is under those other circumstances that the
 

 

 
 
 different Rules will apply and we hope that we will not have to apply them. Hon Van Damme, please continue.
  
 
 Ms P T VAN DAMME: As the DA, we say we will make very sure that those responsible for stealing your money will be brought to book. We will fight ANC corruption wherever it is. [Interjections.] In the provinces, our Members of the Provincial Legislatures will continue to hold provincial governments accountable. In municipalities, our councillors will do the same. [Interjections.]
  
 
 In Parliament, the executive will feel the heat, and in particular, President Zuma. Our litigation for the reinstatement of 783 corruption charges against him has been speeded up. We have also filed papers in the Constitutional Court to seek a declaratory order that he violated his constitutional obligations in not giving effect to the remedial action set out in the Public Protector‘s State of Capture report.
  
 
 It is quite clear that the ANC and corruption are like this - inseparable. It does not matter who the leader is, the culture of stealing money is deeply entrenched in this organisation. The only hope South Africa has is to vote the ANC and its culture of corruption out.
 

 

 
 
 Where the DA governs, in Tshwane, in Nelson Mandela Bay and in Johannesburg, we will bring corruption-free government. After we are elected to national government in 2019, we will stop corruption, halve the number of Ministries, cap spending on consultants, make tender and procurement processes transparent and cut government perks, like travel, vehicles, catering and VIP protection – which will be very hard for you. [Interjections.]
  
 
 Our public servants will know that their job is to serve all South Africans, and not the other way around. A DA government will not tolerate corruption and will not tolerate anyone who is guilty of corruption.
  
 
 The DA will fight this scourge on behalf of all South Africans, and especially the youth, who have had to watch as the ANC has squandered and stolen their futures. Woza, 2019! [Applause.]
  
 
 Mr L B GAEHLER: Hon Chairperson, hon President, hon members, the task of creating the developmental state which its primary mandate is to build an inclusive economy by fundamentally changing the status quo in favour of the poor majority who find themselves in the rural hinterland is now more urgent than before. Further and any unnecessary delay will have great
 

 

 
 
 consequence for our hard-won freedom and the governability of the state.
  
 
 In this regard South Africa must indeed review the many agreements entered into before, and at the Codesa negotiations. Such an exercise will identify the bugbears which make it difficult to ensure that all citizens enjoy equal economic freedom.
  
 
 Whilst our welfare system has helped millions who would have gone to bed with empty stomachs, the painful truth is that super exploitative economic system the new South Africa inherited continues to produce structural inequality and remains enemy number one of our people.
  
 
 Niyeva nto zakuthi? Nimamele ke. [Are you listening compatriots? Listen then.]
  
 
 The UDM suggested that radical economic transformation should not just be a mere rhetoric and we believe that: Patronage and corruption must fall, and prudence and good governance must rise; free education must not be free of quality must it must produce young adults, especially black adults, who are ready to operate new enterprises and be job creators than being job
 

 

 
 
 seekers; whilst progress has been made with housing delivery, the Minster should have clear achievable time frames for the correction of defects in some of the existing building and act decisively ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Order,
  
 members.
  
 
 
 Mr L B GAEHLER: ... against those to be found on the wrong side of the law; recent reports on the alleged maladministration and possible corruption in the Department of Water Affairs is worrying. It flies in the face of the spirit of the announced radical economic transformation. Speedy action must be taken especially given the current drought and water scourge; in agriculture, we need to train more agronomists with practical skills to utilise and manage the land once it is returned to the people.
  
 
 Indeed in words of O R Tambo whose centenary we are commemorating, liberation has no meaning without the return of the country‘s wealth to the people and therefore the existing economic arrangement must be radically changed to the equal benefit of all South Africans.
 

 

 
 
 NgesiXhosa esivakalayo, nto zakuthi, sithi abantu bakuthi bayasokola. Ncedani nitshintshe igiya le niqhuba ngayo Sekela Mongameli, ndiyabona ukuba akekho uMongameli. Lama-30 ekhulwini enithetha ngawo eniwanike abantu kushishino lokwakha awasayi kunceda ukuba anibakhuseli. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
  
 
 [In pure isiXhosa, compatriots, we are saying that our people are suffering. Please try to change the way you do things Deputy President; I see that the President is not here. These 30% you speak about that you gave to the people who are in the construction business will never help them, because you are not protecting them.]
  
 
 Mr L B GAEHLER: Because if you say they must subcontract to the big contractors at the prices of the big contractors you are destroying them. So come up with the system whereby these big contractors are going to be divided so that our people can properly benefit and so that in 10 or five years‘ time or when you are the President, hon Deputy President ... [Laughter.] ... as you are going to be the President ...
  
 
 ... uzincome uthi abaya ndibanyusile. Kaloku abanye aba ndiyayazi ukuba uza kubabetha. Enkosi. [... you must praise
 

 

 
 
 yourself and say that you developed them. I know that you are going to win against the others. Thank you.]
  
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Chairperson of the NCOP, last week under the protection of the phalanx of security behind an impenetrable ring of steel and barbed wire thrown around this Parliament watched over by a Praetorian guard of over 441 military personnel armed with assault riffles, and in the precinct that pushed away the people further away from this Parliament than they have ever been before, in an environment of heightened fear and intimidation of the opposition and the media by the jackboot state, and of course, under the watchful glare of a power hungry Speaker determined to protect her President instead of the people‘s Parliament.
  
 
 This President stood before the nation and described a land so far removed from the ordinary reality lived by South Africans on a daily basis, you were left wondering if it was at all possible for one man to be so detached from the lived experience of our people. [Interjections.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Hon
  
 Steenhuisen, please take your seat. Hon Water?
 

 

 
 
 Mr M WATERS: Chairperson, I am sorry to interrupt the speaker, but it seems our castle corner has moved from that side to that side; all they do is howl, they are not listening to the speech; and I am surprised as you do not call them to order.
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Please
  
 take you seat. Hon members ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 
 Mr X MABASA: On a point of order, NCOP Chair. Should I go ahead?
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: No, sir, I
  
 am going to rule. Hon members, you are allowed to heckle but you are not allowed to drown the speaker on the podium. Ndiveni kakuhle [Listen carefully] you are allowed to heckle but none of you is allowed to drown a speaker. Please proceed ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 Mr X MABASA: On a point of order, Chairperson of the NCOP.
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Are you on
  
 a point of order?
  
 
 
 Mr X MABASA: Yes.
 

 

 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Yes, sir.
  
 
 
 Mr X MABASA: The point of order I want to raise is: Respect for the House is important; there is no castle corner in the House.
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Thank you,
  
 sir. Hon Waters, there is no castle corner in the House. Can we proceed? Hon Steenhuisen.
  
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: It was truly bizarre to hear the President outlining plans that sounded like he was an opposition leader running against his own government than a leader of a party that has been in power for 22 years. How disappointing it must have been for the nine million South Africans sitting at home without work, desperate for a glimmer of hope that things will get better. All they were served was a dish of more high rhetoric more empty promises and yet another year of despair to add to the eight previous years of the Zuma Presidency.
  
 
 And that is why when he droned on in that monotonous monotone he put his own benches to sleep and he made his nation weep. His members slept because they know just as the nation knows that he will never ever deliver. The nation wept because they knew they
 

 

 
 
 knew that these were just words on a page written by the Luthuli House apparatchiks going through the motion. Just like jobs, jobs, jobs. Just like the nine-point plan. Just like the NDP, nothing will come of the speech; it was nothing more than a cynically crafted subterfuge as a batch of discuss the back story of state capture, corruption and failing parastatals.
  
 
 How disappointing it must have been for all those who placed their trust in you, Mr President, to deliver them from their suffering ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Hon
  
 Steenhuisen. Hon members, you are not heckling, you are screaming. Please continue.
  
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Not only have you broken faith with the Constitution, you have broken faith with the people. It was also not surprising that the President had to bring his army with him to Parliament last week. He knew that he couldn‘t win the debate through force of argument. So, instead he sought to win it with a show of force. This is what desperate dictators do when they run out of credibility; they hide from the people behind lines of troops with guns and armoured cars.
 

 

 
 
 Analyst watching the SONA ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Order, Chair.
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Hon
  
 Steenhuisen, please take your seat.
  
 
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Chair.
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Yes, sir,
  
 your point of order.
  
 
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: I would like to ask hon Steenhuisen whether he can take a question.
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Hon
  
 Steenhuisen, would you take a question?
  
 
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: I only take questions from people who haven‘t been named the mampara of the month by the Sunday Times. [Applause.] [Laughter.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: He doesn‘t
  
 take ... [Interjections.]
 

 

 
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Hon Chair ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Please
  
 take your seat he is not willing to take a question. [Interjections.]
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Can I raise a point of order, Chair.
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Honourable
  
 ...
  
 
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: Can I raise a point of order, Chair.
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: No. You
  
 stood and asked whether the member wanted to take a question, [Interjections.]
  
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: I agree, Chair.
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: and he
  
 said, ―No.‖
  
 
 
 Mr G S RADEBE: And he insulted me at the same time.
 

 

 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Hon Bongo,
  
 take your seat. Hon Steenhuisen, continue.
  
 
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Analysts watching the SONA of last week have been debating for days while the President giggled like a schoolgirl while the violence scenes unfolded here in the House. Some have said it was a nervous response, but those of us who witnessed at closed quarters could see that it was anything, but the President was clearly relishing the brutal beating and the awful sounds of flesh on bone breaking benches and the wails of terrified women in pain.
  
 
 Only a true tyrant would derive enjoyment watching those opponents elected to exercise oversight over him being dealt with like this. [Applause.] But as disappointed as those citizens last week must have been with the President speech pales into insignificant with the disappointment they must have felt by the poor grade of speakers fielded by this uncaring, unresponsive, arrogant and inward-looking lot here today.
  
 
 We had Minister Jeff Radebe up here and he spoke about the mayhem, but of course conveniently he forgets the fact that Minister Zulu tore out two of the fags in memory of the Esidemeni 94 that we were told to f***off and called dogs in
 

 

 
 
 this House by members of the ANC including premiers. And then you complain that the EFF disrupts the President with spurious points of order when all you have done today is deploy that exact tactic in this House against DA speakers. [Applause.]
  
 
 Hypocrisy, indeed! You are wrong about JSE ownership. The Public Investment Corporation, PIC, has R1,8 trillion of investment on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, all pensions‘ money of civil servants. And according to the Department of Public Service and Administration the civil service is 91% black South Africa. Go back to the drawing board. I have also noticed from the weekend papers that you appear to have entered the race for the presidency of your party. You have got to be catching up to do because one or two of the candidates are a little bit ahead in terms of their literature. [Applause.]
  
 
 I am still trying to work out what the B M stands for; it could be bad mood. [Applause.][Laughter.] The hon B M Mkongi came to the podium here and spoke about the Botha and Malan regime without recognising the absolute irony that he has become the Botha-Malan regime right here in Parliament, hiding behind tanks, the army and the police to beat your political opponents when you cannot beat them with arguments.
 

 

 
 
 I also heard you when pulling out O R Tambo from the archives if this is what was sitting in the presidency of my party today; too embarrassed to talk about your current leadership, you have got to go back and resurrect them from the past. But I can tell you one thing, If O R Tambo was around today he would be disgusted with what has happened to his party and he would be disgusted with what has happened to you ... [Applause.] ... inciting people on facebook to burn down buildings and other people. You are so desperate to be made the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry. Mr President, can‘t you just appoint the man so that we do not have to be suffering his tirades every year.
  
 
 Then we had the Premier of the Northern Cape, Mrs Luckas up here. She comes here and tells us about delivery and how great her province is doing – 43,3% unemployment, the highest in the country; the incidents of poverty, 42% in the Northern Cape, 2,7% in DA-run Western Cape. The truth of the matter is that, like KFC in the Northern Cape, her government does not deliver. [Applause.][ Laughter.] The only delivery that is happening in her province had been done by ‗Mr Delivery,‘ R57 000 worth of government money spend on KFC, Nandos, and fast food. Not breaking any records in her province, but I hear that the horse- shoe motels are pretty broken up this weekend with your factional fight with Mr Mazabane Soul. Hey? I would suggest that
 

 

 
 
 you go back to your province and sort it out rather than swanking around in your fancy outfit.
  
 
 Minister Nkwinti came here; and after the weekend papers I cannot imagine how you could possibly show your face here today. And I agree with you, I think we should do land audit. I think he is absolutely right, we should start with the land audit at Luthuli House, let see how many government forms have been handed over to the comrades and friends. [Applause.] The hon Mr Nkwiti also talks about the land; he owns three properties: two farms and a house in Kenton, hardly in the ranks of the landless, rather large farm as well. But I notice he brought a whole lot of people to the gallery; Mr Carol Present was not present. I wonder why he was embarrassed to bring him here. But he was not completely honest in terms of the Cape Town land deal. Yes, the city had to spend R5 million of ratepayers money
 ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 
 Ms M C C PILANE MAJEKE: Hon NCOP Chair.
  
 
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Please
  
 take your seat, sir. Hon Majeke, are you on a point of order?
 

 

 
 
 Ms M C C PILANE MAJEKE: Is hon Steenhuisen ready to take a question on how much of land ... [Interjections.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: No, ma‘m.
  
 
 
 Ms M C C PILANE MAJEKE: ... is owned by the members of the DA sitting here.
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Hon
  
 Steenhuisen, are you ready to take a question?
  
 
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: I will take one in Barnes afterwards, I know she will be there. [Applause.] [Laughter.]
  
 
 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: He is not
  
 ready, ma‘m. Please continue, sir.
  
 
 
 The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: But the truth is that in South Africa we can have an inclusive economy that is growing and creating jobs. In South Africa we can have water, electricity, homes and most importantly dignity for our people. South Africa can have excellent schools that feed into a tertiary and skills development system that creates real opportunity for our people. We can have these and we can have so much more, but is going to
 

 

 
 
 be up to the citizens at home that are watching this debacle here today and over the last few days, because they are going to have to be the change that forces the spring of change in South Africa.
  
 
 This ANC has failed you, this Parliament has failed you and what you need is a party that gets up everyday and is obsessed about fighting your corner. The DA under Mmusi Maimane is that party. [Applause.] So, help us vote this moral bin lot out of office so that you can have a government that is truly on your side. A government that fights for growth not Guptas, that brings jobs and not jets, that brings dignity and not despair. You have given us the keys to the metros in the country; it is time to give us the keys to the Union Buildings in 2019. That fight starts now. [Applause.]
  
 
 Mr S ZIKALALA: Hon Chairperson of the NCOP, His Excellency President Jacob Zuma, His Excellency Deputy President Ramaphosa and hon members of the National Assembly and the NCOP, we take honour to represent the only people‘s movement, the ANC, in this debate on the state of the nation address during the important year of Oliver Reginald Tambo. To gain votes, in theory the DA claims to represent the interests of all people including Africans, yet in practice they oppress them. In the very same
 

 

 
 
 Western Cape, there are a number of mines that are operating here yet there is not even a single African involved in the ownership of such mines. Speaking here today the DA purport to be supporting small business and small scale farmers, but it is the very same DA that in all provincial legislatures refuses to support the Expropriation Bill.
  
 
 It is not only that they ended there. The Western Cape remains one of the provinces with a high number of people who are exploited in farm areas. They claim that the ANC is following the EFF policies. No, we are not following the EFF polices. Land expropriation is the ANC policy and we are going to implement it. Radical economic transformation is the ANC policy and will be implemented with no fear. The people who are in coalition with the EFF are the DAs themselves. For the past three years the DA and the EFF have been competing in disrupting this House. The conduct presented here by hon member Van Damme few minutes ago is the same unruly behaviour which is always displayed by the EFF. It is the DA that is in an unholy alliance with the EFF to govern Tshwane, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela. Anyway, it is the DA‘s strategy that when they need votes they pretend as if they support you, but when it is inconvenient, they denounce you. That‘s what you are doing to your partners, the EFF.
 

 

 
 
 When members of this House want to ask questions they are told that they are speaking nonsense. Such language resonates with the same racist remarks that Africans are like monkeys. To make himself relevant, the fading and long-forgotten hon James tries to use the issue of Esidimeni to regain some popularity. The Speaker never refused the House to observe a moment of silence, but rather directed that it will be done here, and it has been done. [Applause.] Because of desperation, the same member in trying to regain popularity degenerates to peddling misinformation to suggest that former President Madiba refused to meet President Zuma. It is a blatant misinformation and farfetched. Let me tell you, you speak as if you are the only ones who govern. I am coming from KwaZulu-Natal, a province of clean audits. [Applause.]
  
 
 For those of you, in particular John Steenhuisen, who didn‘t hear the President‘s state of the nation address, let us help you now.
  
 
 Hon President, the state of the nation address you presented gave a clear message of hope to the toiling masses of our people that their movement has not forgotten them. In the face of barrage of attacks from some quarters you and your Cabinet successfully led the country to avoid the credit downgrade which
 

 

 
 
 was an ultimate objective of the enemy. We all know that had we been downgraded the severe consequence would have been felt mostly by the poor and to the delight of the enemy.
  
 
 The era of radical economic transformation demands that we must consciously wrestle the economic ownership and control form the monopolies and cartels. The pursuit of the black industrialist programme must take the centre stage in order to bring more blacks and Africans in particular into the ownership and control of the economy. Radical economic transformation will remain a pipe dream if we do not restore land to the people. Africans cannot continue to work land for the benefit of the few who stole it with force. Land remains a catalyser for mainstream economic participation, ownership and control. In this regard, the ANC will use its majority to fast-track the Land Expropriation Act. Where land can be restituted, government will continue to discourage financial compensation as this option undermines the transformation of agriculture as a critical economic sector.
  
 
 Baba Shenge, let me assure you that the ANC is continuing with the implementation of the National Development Plan and we are not going to leave. We are going to implement it hence we call it Vision 2030.
 

 

 
 
 Hon President, we fully concur with you when you say we should move beyond words to practical programmes. This directive is in line with the teachings of Amilcar Cabral who taught us that we must always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone‘s head.          They are fighting to win material benefit, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward and to guarantee future of their children. We fully concur with the trust of the state of the nation address
 that things must not be business as usual – all hands on deck to speed up transformation.
  
 
 We must say we need to spearhead local economic development using government buying power to ensure that we include the majority in the mainstream of the economy. We are inspired by the case of South Korea, which is part of the Asian Tigers, whose principal strategy was to promote local economies on the back of the state buying power. The state institutions and state-supported companies in South Korea were compelled to procure from local businesses, particularly from the co- operatives and the small, medium and micro-sized enterprises, SMMEs.
  
 
 In the state of the nation address, hon President Jacon Zuma indicated that government spends R500 billion a year buying
 

 

 
 
 goods and services and added to this is the R900 billion on infrastructure budget. As a revolutionary government led by the ANC, we will ensure that the majority of the people, the motive forces of our revolution, are the rightful beneficiaries of this government spent. [Applause.]
  
 
 In the province of KwaZulu-Natal we are steaming ahead with using the buying power for the state for the benefit of the majority through empowering and securing markets for co- operatives and SMMEs. Our flagship programme, which we call Operation Vula, is the radical agrarian socioeconomic transformation programme. This programme is aimed at transforming the agriculture sector by bringing the historically disadvantaged people into the entire value chain of agricultural produce – from production to distribution in the markets. With this programme SMMEs and co-operatives will be incubated on the prioritised commodities and will supply these commodities to the government-owned and operated district development agencies in all our districts. We will then use the government buying power through the Department of Education, Department of Health and Department of Social Development to buy these products from the district agencies. [Applause.] By so doing, we would secure a long-lasting market for the SMMEs and co-operatives. This is a clear programme that includes those previously oppressed in the
 

 

 
 
 mainstream economy of this country. We are determined to launch and roll out this programme before the end of March 2017.
  
 
 Because we are radical in our approach, as part of Operation Vula, we are also targeting the majority of sectors that benefit from the government buying power to fast-track the integration of people into the economic mainstream. In this regard, we are targeting to widen the scope of beneficiaries in the infrastructure development. We welcome the finalisation of the new regulations that make it compulsory for big companies to subcontract at least 30% of business to African-owned enterprises. This must be implemented immediately by all departments, all provinces and municipalities.
  
 
 However, we must go beyond subcontracting into ensuring that infrastructure material is procured locally. Companies awarded tenders for infrastructure development and building low cost houses must be compelled to procure the building material from local manufacturers in particular the blacks and Africans.
  
 
 The President directed us to be strong on action more than on words. Therefore, our approach on local economic development, through Operation Vula, will expand to ring-fence the production of government furniture, school furniture, the production of
 

 

 
 
 uniforms as well as bakeries for SMMEs and co-operatives. We are confident that if the entire government can adopt this conscious approach, we will succeed in ensuring the participation of the majority into the mainstream economy as one step towards ensuring economic ownership and controlled by the majority.
  
 
 Hon President, one of your novel interventions on stimulating the economy is the focus on the ocean economy. Whilst we believe that there should be strong participation of locals in all the ocean labs identified, the immediate benefit for ordinary people should be on aquaculture. This is because even inland areas that are not endowed with the sea can immediately venture into this area by making full use of dams surrounding the communities. As part of exploiting the ocean economy, we will continue to use the black industrialist programme to help our people leverage on ship building, maintenance and repair.
  
 
 As we adopt more radical approach in our local economic development, we must create through local government, a conducive environment for business to thrive. In this regard, we welcome the establishment of InvestSA, a one-stop-shop that will unlock the red tapes associated with investments. As directed by the state of the nation address presented by the Preeminent last week, as KwaZulu-Natal we are fast-tracking the opening of our
 

 

 
 
 provincial one-stop-shop to facilitate the provision of conducive environment for investors and the business in our province.
  
 
 The renewed focus on local economic development through diversification of ownership and control of the economy brings the real war to the doorstep of the monopoly capital and its offsprings hence the sustained attack against the ANC president and the ANC itself. Thus the road ahead will never be easy, but will instead be bumpy. As former president Chief Albert Luthuli said and he predicted that at times the road to freedom will via through the cross. What we are seeing here today, the humiliation that our leadership is sometimes subjected to, is the affirmation of that prediction by Chief Albert Luthuli.
  
 
 But as taught by Anton Lembede, revolution needs men and women with stamina, integrity and courage, thus we shall not surrender. The enemy will always unleash its scoundrels in red overalls and their partners in the unholy alliance with the DA to try and pull the wool over the eyes of the people. But the people will never be fooled and they have correctly analysed this unholy alliance as nothing else but a monster of the nation.
 

 

 
 
 Special delegates who come to represent provinces in this House do so not representing their parties, but they come to represent provinces beyond party affiliation. The conduct of the Premier of the Western Cape who walked out with the DA members during the state of the nation address could only be interpreted as the cheap political grandstanding. But in essence it undermines the representation of that province in this House.
  
 
 As the ANC we are acutely aware that the unity of the ANC find expression in the unity of the people of our country hence we will tirelessly work for maximum unity of the movement for us to unite the people. The personalised attack to the Speaker of this House during the state of the nation address was nothing else but naivety and hooliganism. Such attacks are born from the notorious apartheid regime. That strategy of divide and rule shall not succeed.
  
 
 As indicated earlier, the state of the nation address did not only bring hope, but also affirms the ANC‘s determination for the attainment of the national democratic society which will be free from poverty, free of unemployment and free from inequality. There is no doubt ...
 

 

 
 
 ... siyaqhuba. Ikhona indlela eyaphambili empilweni engcono kuwo wonke umuntu. Leyo ndlela i-ANC. [... we are moving forward.
 There is a way forward with regard to the notion of the better life for everybody. That way forward is the ANC ...]
  
Working together we take South Africa forward. I thank you.

Debate interrupted

The Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces adjourned
 
 the Joint Sitting at 18:32.