Hansard: NCOP: Unrevised hansard

House: National Council of Provinces

Date of Meeting: 22 Oct 2015

Summary

No summary available.

Minutes

THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2015

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

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The Council met at 14:01.

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS – see col 000.

WELCOMING OF NEW MEMBERS

(Announcement)

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, we have the opportunity to announce to you that this House is happy to welcome two new members, the hon J M Mthethwa from KwaZulu-Natal and hon O S Terblanche from the Western Cape. The two hon members were sworn in recently and we welcome them amongst us. [Applause.]

Ms T MOTARA: I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf the ANC:

That the Council —

notes and expresses its great concern regarding the use of excessive force and poor policing associated with student protests both at Parliament yesterday and in the North West;

takes this opportunity to raise its concern in the manner in which the police managed the protests and the access points of Parliament leading to an unnecessarily chaotic invasion of Parliament;

takes this opportunity to join the call for the immediate release of all arrested students that were arrested throughout the country and the unconditional dropping of all charges against them.

appeals to the police to act with restraint and within the confines of their responsibility to accomplish a lawful and peaceful policing of peaceful student protests for a long lasting solution to the escalating costs of access to higher education which prevents thousands of students from poor families their rights to access higher education as one of the essential elements to access economic opportunities and break the barrier of generational poverty to many families across South Africa. I so move.

Mr G MICHALAKIS: I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf the DA:

That the Council —

debates the state of provincial health departments, specially the loss of professional staff, doctors and specialist in the state‘s employment and how it adversely affects providing adequate healthcare to South Africans.

Ms L MATHYS: I have an urgent motion on behalf of the EFF in terms of Rule 81 of the NCOP Rules:

That the Council —

urgently in today’s sitting takes note of the events that took place in Parliament yesterday in which thousands of students marched peacefully asking the Minister of Higher Education and Training to force universities not to hike student fees for 2016 [Interjections.] – I am still reading, please listen;

further notes that the march to Parliament was a joint effort by students over the past week to force the powers that be both in government and at universities to listen to the concerns that student raised including the #FeesMustFall movement and the decolonisation of the South African higher education system;

acknowledge that the cost of higher education is albatross around the necks of many poor people, the majority are black students in our country, we therefore urge the Council to urgently debate in today’s sitting the provision of free quality education until the attainment of the first degree in South Africa for all South African students as this matter directly affects students in almost all provinces.

Ms L C DLAMINI: Hon Chairperson, I am rising on a point of order because the motion has been read already.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mathys take your seat. Hon Mathys take your seat! Take your seat! Hon Mathys ... [Interjections.]

Ms L MATHYS: [Inaudible.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: No, I am not screaming at you. I said take your seat! Hon Mathys you are being instructed to take your seat. Hon Mathys, take your seat! Order! Order! Hon members, we will respect ourselves, we have a long day ahead of us and a very important debate. We also must be able to accord each other the respect and also accord the people who are watching us that same respect.

Hon Dlamini, you raised a point of order on the basis that the motion raised by hon Mathys has already been dealt with. I actually allowed hon Mathys to continue with the motion because I wanted to find out whether the motion although it is on the same subject, was going to be exactly the same motion as the notice of a motion raised by hon Motara. Although it is on the same subject, they do not speak about the same thing. Hon Motara’s notice of a motion speaks to how students were treated and so forth. The emphasis of the notice of a motion raised by the hon Mathys is that the House must today debate yesterday’s events and that is why I wanted to hear what that motion was about.

I will be advised by the Table, however, up to noon I had not received any notice or request for such a matter to be urgently set before this House. It is raised as a notice of a motion and therefore it will be treated as a notice of a motion. We move on, the next speaker is hon Chetty.

Ms L MATHYS: Rule 81 does not instruct or say anything that you need to be informed prior. It says that any motions or anything that is of national importance. The privileges of Council here are that it can precede any business of the day. I do understand that you are referring to another motion where you need to be notified on that day, however, I am rising on Rule 81.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you madam, I have ruled. Hon Chetty? Oh, please.

Mr A S SINGH: I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf the IFP:

That the Council —

congratulates the appointment of Mr Vuma Glenton Mashinini as Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa;

notes that the position has been vacant since the former Chair, Pansy Tlakula, resigned at the end of September last year; [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: You are disrupting the proceedings of this House. Hon Mathys, you are not going to render this House into this kindergarten thing that you think it is. I ruled on your notice of a motion. Hon member, I am going to be patient. I said and this Table will attest, that I will be advised on that but ... [Interjections.] ... – take your seat or vacate this house.

Ms L MATHYS: I will come back ... [Inaudible.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: No. You will either take it and respect this House. Please take your seat.

Ms L MATHYS: Okay Madam.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: I think that we have respected you enough.

Ms L MATHYS: ... [Inaudible.] ... on something that needs to be done today.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mathys, I am not coming back to you tomorrow. I have ruled on this matter. Firstly, sit down. Sit down!

Ms L MATHYS: Are you addressing me?

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: I am addressing you, sit down. Sit down! Any member who is being addressed in this House sits down. You are quoting Rules but even the simplest of Rules you either do not understand, you choose not to know or you choose not to respect. Firstly, we called for notices of motions. You then stood up using the platform of a notice of a motion and asked for a debate to take place today. You said Rule 81 or 78? Okay 81. You used a notice of a motion to smuggle in a motion which deals with privileges. The Rules state that an urgent motion directly concerning the privileges of this House shall take precedence of other motions and of orders of the day. I then ruled and said that you are asking that this motion be debated today under the guise of notices of motions. I say that to you because there is precedence in this House, motions of privilege also are covered by requests. They are also not taken in the time when other motions are already in motion. Rule 78 deals with notices of motions and in fact this is where we are. I do not think that the hon member can because the other people are at a particular time, choose a motion that she superimposes on the House simply because in her own thinking the matter is urgent. I do not also think that the hon member has read Rule 78(3), Rule 78(2) – you have?

Ms L MATHYS: Yes

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Then you are well answered. We are proceeding with the business of the day. [Interjections.] Hon Mathys, you will either allow us to continue with our business. You will also allow this House to do its business with the dignity it needs or you will withdraw from this House.

Ms L MATHYS: [Inaudible.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Then you are going to allow us to do our business. Hon Singh, please continue you will be given the opportunity to start your motion all over.

Mr A S SINGH: I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf the IFP:

That the Council —

congratulates the appointment of Mr Vuma Glenton Mashinini as Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa;

notes that the position has been vacant since the former Chair, Pansy Tlakula resigned at the end of September last year;

further notes that his appointment came at an opportune time, as the institution was preparing for the 2016 local government elections and would help strengthen the IEC’s governance structures;

also notes that Mr Mashinini served as the IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer from 1998 to 2001, where he was responsible for the establishment and administration of the national head office, all nine provincial electoral offices and approximately 350 municipal electoral offices; and

wishes him well in discharging his national duties. I so move.

Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: Chairperson, on behalf of the DA, I hereby wish to move that on the next sitting:

That the Council –

notes that the Northern Cape ANC Chairperson and MEC for Finance, John Block, was found guilty of corruption, fraud and money laundering by the Kimberley High Court;

furthermore, debates the consideration of implementation of policy, by government, that prohibits any person found guilty of corruption and related crimes from holding public office; and

(3) acknowledges that this policy includes appropriate action in this regard.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: The hon Nthebe!

Mr B G NTHEBE: Thank you, Chair. I have been adequately covered.

NOKONWABA MATIKINCA LEAVES DA FOR ANC AT EASTERN CAPE LEGISLATURE

(Draft Resolution)

Mr M RAYI: Hon Chairperson, I hereby move without notice on behalf of the ANC:

That the Council –

notes and welcomes the resignation of the Eastern Cape DA member of the provincial legislature, Nokonwaba Matikinca, who has decided to join the ANC, the revolutionary movement of her great grandfathers, in the Mount Ayliff region of the Eastern Cape;

also notes that her joining the ANC was followed by 200 DA members who realised that the DA is not really their political home as poor people in South Africa;

further notes that Ms Matikinca chose to sacrifice her position as a member of the provincial legislature which could have given her some comfortable life than to stay in a party where black people have a slim chance of making it into the DA leadership if they are uneducated, do not have a driver’s licence, not computer literate and unable to write media releases;

also notes that the view held by the leader of the DA in the Eastern Cape, Mr Trollip, is that when she joined the party, she had no experience at all, could not write media statements and had no car;

acknowledges that this therefore demonstrates that the DA is a party that caters for the rich bourgeoisie but not the poor and cannot eradicate racist practices; and

welcomes them to realise that the ANC ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Order! Is there any objection to the motion? [Interjections.] There is objection to the motion.

PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES NEWLY APPOINTED NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION

(Draft Resolution)

Mr S J MOHAI: Madam Chair, I hereby move without notice on behalf of the ANC:

That the Council –

notes and applauds that the President of the Republic of South Africa has announced a newly appointed National Planning Commission;
also notes that the commission is comprised of 24 part-time external commissioners, a chairperson and a deputy appointed on the basis of their specialist skills and expertise;

further notes that the newly appointed commission includes the Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe, and Prof Malegapuru William Makgoba, as chairperson and deputy, respectively; and

notes that the commission will be charged with facilitating stakeholder engagements aimed at fogging social compact towards more effective implementation of the National Development Plan to take a crosscutting view, undertake research in the long-term trends, analyse the implementation of short to medium-term plans with a view to recommend improvements for government as well as produce reports to inform policy and planning.

I so move!

ANC TUNRS PARLIAMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA INTO MILITARY FACE

(Draft Resolution)

Ms L MATHYS: Chair, I rise on behalf of the EFF to move without notice:

That the Council –

notes the dangerous and undemocratic terrain in which the ANC-led government, with the support of the DA, has turned the Parliament of South Africa into a militarising face that embodies the spirit of freedom of speech;

further notes yesterday’s scenes, reminiscent of the apartheid violence seen here in Parliament, where there was ANC’s intolerance, arrogance and incapacity to listen to the voices in society, demonstrated when Members of Parliament were kicked out merely for warning the NA that ignoring the cries of students for affordable education ... [Interjections.]

Ms T MOTARA: Chair, on a point of order: The Rules do not allow for a motion to be repeated in substance in the preceding six months. That motion has been dealt with.

Ms L MATHYS: Thank you, I will continue:

acknowledges that the actions of the parliamentary bouncers and the SA Police Service members - the violence of kicking students out of Parliament - is something Verwoerd can be proud of;

further acknowledges that the demand of students that fees must fall is the noblest struggle waged by young people post 1994;

calls on the presiding officers of Parliament to provide leadership and stop being trigger-happy bullies;

further calls on the President to fire the Minister of Higher Education for not implementing the resolutions of his own party for free quality education; and

also calls on the President himself to resign for laughing while the country was burning yesterday.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Motara, you rose on a point of order ... Order members! You were right that the same motion was read at the point of notices of motion, and this time it is on motions without notice. So, technically it is the similar content but not the same, hon Dlamini.

I now want to put that motion. Is there any objection to that motion? [Interjections.] Order members! The motion has been objected to. However, in that motion, the Hon Mathys also has an interesting choice of phrases. She refers to the presiding officers of Parliament as trigger happy and she also says that they are bullies. This is disparaging and it cannot be allowed. It is not even factual. Hon Mathys, I am requesting you to withdraw those phrases.

Ms L MATHYS: Chair, I am not going to withdraw those statements. We are happy to give a substantial motion to support what we have just said. [Inaudible.] ... the Parliament will be quite happy for that to happen too.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mathys, you are alleging that the presiding officers of Parliament are bullies. You are also alleging that the presiding officers of Parliament are trigger happy. You are now saying that you will not withdraw those statements. If you are sure that you are not withdrawing these two statements that you have made, I have no choice but to request you to leave this Chamber. Hon Mathys ... Order!

Hon Mathys, you are ordered to leave this Chamber! Hon Mathys, you have used disparaging words. You have disrupted this House several times. You are instructed to leave this Chamber; otherwise you leave me with no option but to request the usher to help you out. Usher! [Interjections.]

Hon Mathys, I am informed that you are refusing to go out. You leave me with no choice but to call on Parliament’s Protection Services to help the usher to remove you from this House. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

BEST WISHES TO THE MATRICULANTS

(Draft Resolution)

Mr J W W JULIUS: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

wishes the 2015 Grade 12 learners well in their upcoming final examinations;

notes that learners are reminded that the quality of their results will determine opportunities made available to them after matric; and

encourages them to put everything into their studies as matric is the stepping stone towards their careers.

Motion accordingly agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SPRINGBOK RUGBY TEAM

(Draft Resolution)

Mr N CAMPBELL: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

congratulates the Springbok Rugby team in their 23–19 win in the quarter final rugby match of the Rugby World Cup event against the Wales;

notes that their next match will be in the semifinals against New Zealand, All Blacks, on Saturday, 24 October;

wants them to know that they are supported; and

believes they are able to beat the All Blacks and become one of the two teams in the final match.

Motion accordingly agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

WOMEN EXCLUSION IN TOP MANAGEMENT

(Draft Resolution)

Mr D L XIMBI: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

notes with utmost concern the failure of the Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, for hiring black, coloured or Indian women in top management in her department;

further notes that the Department of the Premier of the Western Cape is largely led by white male Afrikaners who were shipped from the Free State and other parts of the country to take control of the administration of the government of the Western Cape while the DA stands in podiums professing equal opportunity and calling for coloured communities in the Western Cape to assist it to retain the City of Cape Town;

further notes that when presenting her department’s annual report, the Department of the Premier acknowledged that out of 63 staff in the senior management level, 10 are coloured women, eight whites, one African and one Indian woman employed in the department; and

takes this opportunity to condemn in the harshest terms the failure of the DA to employ black, coloured or Indian women in top management in various departments in the Western Cape and their systematic attempts to introduce apartheid practices that seek to exclude the majority of our people from senior management positions.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Is there any objection to this motion?

Hon members: Yes.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: There is an objection, members.

WORLD ACCLAIMED AWARD FOR THE WESTERN CAPE OFFICE BLOCK

(Draft Resolution)

Ms C LABUSCHAGNE: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

congratulates the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works on the new Karl Bremer office block in Bellville, Cape town, which is the first project to achieve a socioeconomic category pilot rating in the world awarded by the Green Building Council of South Africa as part of its five star Green Star South Africa Rating System achieved at the same time.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Is there any objection to the motion

Hon members: Yes.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: There is an objection

SOUTH AFRICA FAILS ECONOMICALLY

(Draft Resolution)

Mr F ESSACK: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

notes that South Africa cannot currently afford the Medium-Term Policy Statement 2015, with some 8,4 million of the working population being unemployed;

notes that the consolidated budget deficit is now projected to be around R162 billion in the 2015-16 financial year;

economic conditions remain grim with growth projections to be further reversed downwards to 1,5% in the 2015-16 financial year;

this government must admit that state-owned enterprises such as the SA Airways, SAA, and Eskom bailouts are bleeding the fiscus;

we need to seriously start incentivising the private sector if we are to get this country back to its feet; and

under the ANC-led government debt has continuously ballooned and is now projected to be R1,98 trillion, approximately 47,3% of the gross domestic product, GDP, in the 2015-16.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Is there any objection to the motion?

Hon members: Yes.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: There is an objection to the motion.

CONDOLENCES TO THE GRAYSTON PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE VICTIMS

(Draft Resolution)

Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

notes the sad passing of pedestrians during the collapse of the Grayston Pedestrian Bridge on the M1 Highway in Johannesburg; and

conveys its deepest condolences to all victims and families affected.

Motion accordingly agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

MVUZO MBEBE PASSED ON

(Draft Resolution)

Ms L L ZWANE: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

notes with profound sadness the death of Mvuzo Mbebe, who was the chief executive officer of the 2013 African Cup of Nations, an executive at the SABC and served as the secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa;

further notes that Mvuzo Mbebe, who died after a long battle with colon cancer, is one of the soccer administrators who has worked tirelessly as champion of sport in our country; and

takes this opportunity to convey its profound condolences to the Mbebe family and wishes them strength in these trying times.

Motion accordingly agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

CONSIDERATION OF NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES PROVINCIAL WEEK REPORT 14 – 18 SEPTEMBER 2015: ADVANCING INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT FOR BETTER SERVICES TO COMMUNITIES

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Hon Chairperson, hon Members of the NCOP, officials of the Department of Transport and other departments that are present here, ladies and gentlemen, this debate, under the theme “Advancing Infrastructure Investment and Development for Better Services to Communities”, takes place during the 60th celebration of the adoption of the Freedom Charter in Kliptown, Soweto. The ANC declared 2015 the Year of the Freedom Charter and unity in action to advance economic freedom.

In our quest to implement and entrench the values of the Freedom Charter, we, as the Department of Transport, are currently celebrating our annual October Transport Month campaign.

The campaign has brought unprecedented levels of success in showcasing transport achievements and governance of the transport sector. It has brought together our people, all spheres of government and the transport industry to support the growth and improvement of transport networks across the country. But, most importantly, it has brought development and service delivery to our communities across the country.

In his state of the nation address in 2012, His Excellency President Jacob Zuma announced the establishment of the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC. The aim of the PICC is to respond to, plan and co-ordinate a National Infrastructure Plan. The projects of the PICC’s National infrastructure Plan under construction are worth roughly R1 trillion and employ more than 200 000 workers on projects such as power plants, roads, port development, rolling stock, increased rail capacity, bus route systems, schools, hospitals, infrastructure build at universities and training colleges, water pipelines, housing and sanitation.

The ANC-led government remains committed to the provision of quality education to our nation. The PICC interventions have resulted in the building of the Sol Plaatje and Mpumalanga Universities in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces respectively. Enrolment of students to these new institutions and other existing centres remains critical because education is the cure for poverty, inequality and other social ills.

We remain resolute that a lasting solution would be found in the ongoing concerns about the high tuition fees in South African universities and tertiary institutions. As government, working together with the South African people, we are committed to finding a sustainable solution to strengthen students financing further. In South Africa, education and skills development account for the largest share of spending, as announced by the Minister yesterday.

Through the PICC we are driving the largest infrastructure investment programme in South African history and on the African continent. Through the 18 Strategic Integrated Projects, referred to as SIPS, we are now driving industrialisation, manufacturing components to support infrastructure, skills development and are looking into innovative funding mechanisms to increase job creation, support black industrialists and look for more work and business opportunities for our young people.

Over the past year, a number of hospitals, schools, roads, clinics, renewable energy plants and other infrastructure programmes have been built creating skills and jobs at a time of weak global economic growth.

Government has announced that more than R800 billion will be spent by the public sector alone in three years. Transport and logistics make up more than 40% of this investment since this is how we improve and strengthen, how we connect people to work, students to colleges and universities, raw materials such as coal to power plants, liquid fuels from Durban to Johannesburg, commodities such as iron-ore and magnesium to our ports, and how we move cargo such as fruits for exports or components from ports to our factories for assembly. This is how we are supporting jobs.

We are striving to connect schools and universities with access to the internet. Today, to facilitate access, some of our buses in the cities provide free Wi-Fi with many other publicly available Wi-Fi hot spots in cities. Whilst we have connected more houses with electricity in our young democracy than what has ever been achieved in the history of the country, we know this is still not enough.

We will continue to focus our efforts on building more infrastructures in an effective manner to support balanced economic development, address service delivery backlogs, increase our net energy supply and provide access to water. Since the enactment of the National Development Plan, NDP, last year we have made solid strides in progressing regulatory approvals. Working closely with Ministers Mokonyane and Molewa, more than 21 water use licenses and 15 environmental approvals have been approved to support the National Infrastructure Plan.

While we are bringing new energy and water plants into the system, the PICC is also focussing on the maintenance of aging infrastructure and the more effective operation of current infrastructure.

From previously importing public transport vehicles, we now have factories which have already assembled more than 36 000 taxis and 1 000 busses. More than 470 locomotives and 15 000 wagons have been manufactured locally. We are now focussing on components for the energy sector, water sector and broadband roll-out. The Minister of Economic Development, hon Patel, announced in his budget speech that the Industrial Development Corporation will support the development of infrastructure and R23 billion has been allocated to support black industrialists.

We have made great strides regarding the implementation of the Integrated Rapid Public Transport System. This is driven by the ANC-led government’s Public Transport Strategy. The main thrust of this strategy is to turn the country’s public transport system around in two ways. The first is through the implementation of the Integrated Rapid Public Transport Networks, IRPTN, focusing on high quality public transport networks, and integrating all modes and Bus Rapid Transit Corridors in 12 major cities. The second way is through the Accelerated Modal Upgrading to transform the bus, taxi and rail fleet in the short to medium term.

An investment of R25 billion has been made in the IRPTN concept that is currently being implemented in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City, Mangaung, eThekwini, Polokwane, Mbombela, Rustenburg, Pietermaritzburg and Ekurhuleni, in various stages.

Some of the achievements in this regard include, among others, the continued roll out of the integrated Public Transport Networks in Johannesburg in the form of Rea Vaya, Go George in George, Ibhongo Lethu in Nelson Mandela Bay, and, of course, the MyCiti initiative in Cape Town, which is already operational with the expansion of the rapid bus services to Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain currently underway.

The ANC-led government has also facilitated the procurement of over 1 000 buses in 6 cities. It has also built over 120 km of dedicated lanes and nearly 100 bus stations. Currently the system is transporting an average of 100 000 passengers on weekdays for both Cape Town and Johannesburg. With additional cities beginning to operate, the numbers are expected to double to 200 000 by 2016 and 300 000 by 2018.

An additional breakthrough resulting from the IRPTN projects is the inclusion of the current minibus operators and drivers in the formal public transport service provision. Government has created a viable solution for urban minibus operators to become formally contracted network companies. To date, eight companies consisting of former minibus owners have been set up in the cities. By end of 2015, the programme will have incorporated the owners and drivers of nearly 2 000 minibuses into public transport networks, with an additional 3 000 minibuses to be incorporated by 2019.

The ANC-led government has, since 2006, scrapped over 60 000 old taxes. Approximately R4 billion has been paid out to taxi operators as a scrapping allowance. This is part of the process to renew the taxi fleet, as envisaged in the Public Transport Strategy, by replacing old and unsafe taxi vehicles with the new taxis that meet all the safety specifications, such as rollover bars and seatbelts.

The taxi industry is the most important part of our public transport system. According to the 2013 National Household Travel Survey conducted by Statistics South Africa, taxis are the preferred type of road transport. Taxis transport 69,7% of commuters, an increase from the previous survey’s 59%. This means that the taxi industry moves 69,7% of 5,4 million passengers on a daily basis. The ANC, and its government, will continue working closely, as we do, with industry to forge unity, and to regulate and professionalise it.

As our unwavering commitment to the 2014 Election Manifesto, we will work with the taxi industry to facilitate their participation in the total transport value chain, for example in the fuel value chain, spares, assembling and manufacturing.

I am pleased to announce that Cabinet recently approved the National Learner Transport Policy for the country. The aim of this policy is to further professionalise the learner transport industry and create a regulatory framework conducive to the transport of our children to and from school. Provinces will develop their customised implementation plans to realise the objectives of this policy and also bring better services to our communities.

Passenger rail also continues to be the backbone of the country’s public transport system, carrying more than 1,2 million commuters daily and undertaking 550 million passenger trips annually. Some of the biggest passenger rail achievements include the success of and plans to expand the R40 billion integrated Gautrain Rapid Rail Link, which was implemented in 2010.

Government continues to invest R1 billion per annum as a subsidy in this service. Its patronage has increased from the humble beginnings of 18 000 passengers to a current 43 000 passengers daily. Plans are afoot to expand this service to areas that were initially excluded.

The recapitalisation of the passenger rail service has also been a major achievement. This includes the Fleet Renewal Programme and the overhaul of the rail infrastructure. An unprecedented R53 billion was approved by Cabinet for the acquisition of new rolling stock over the next 10 years. This will create over 60 000 jobs. Through this investment, Prasa will acquire 1 350 new couches over the next three years.

The first test train will reach South Africa before the end of this financial year. The first 20 trains manufactured in Brazil will be delivered by the end of 2016. An investment of R3,5 billion is also being made for the acquisition of 20 new long distance and 50 metro service locomotives. Thirteen of these locomotives have already been delivered with a further 15 to be received during 2016.

Gibela Consortium has also embarked on the process of constructing a local factory for the assembly and production of new rolling stock in the long term. As members would know, the factory will be built in Nigel in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng and is expected to open its doors in July 2016.

The Passenger Rail Agency of SA will also spend R5,8 billion over the next three years on general overhaul or refurbishment of old rolling stock. It is also important to state that, during the past financial year, the Renewal Programme has resulted in the refurbishment of 291 Metrorail and 298 Shosholoza Meyl coaches.

I am also pleased to announce that the challenges currently being experienced on the infamous and notorious R573 Moloto Road will be a thing of the past. A rail transport system will be built from Kwa Mhlanga to the City of Tshwane to support the daily movement of the approximately 38 000 commuters. The project has now been registered as a public-private partnership. Political and project committees have been established to drive the implementation of this project. The Moloto Road will now be managed by Sanral as part of its non-toll portfolio for upgrade and safety improvements.

Yesterday, the Minister of Finance announced a budget allocation for this road.

Hon members, the massive socioeconomic growth that we have experienced in the last 21 years has had a massive impact to our roads network. Our roads have developed from 540 000 km in early 90s to a current 750 000 km. We also have 153 719 km paved roads, 453 259 km gravel roads and 140 000 km unproclaimed roads. This significant change has resulted in the state doubling its road infrastructure investment over the past two decades. In total, over the past decade, more than R300 billion has been invested in South Africa’s road infrastructure. This has improved accessibility and has helped to eradicate the legacy of apartheid and the social exclusion of our poor communities.

Equally, there has been an increased demand for road construction and maintenance, demanding that we, as South Africans, think deep about how we, as a country, will fund our road infrastructure network.

Even in the current Medium-Term Strategic Framework of 2014-2019, we shall continue to expand our road network. Some of the projects we have planned for the current period are as follows: the N2 Wild Coast Highway; the Nl/N2 Winelands route; the De Beers pass route which will reduce the Durban to Gauteng corridor by 17 km, thereby cutting off the costly and dangerous Van Reenen’s Pass; R11 billion to be spent about on Sanral’s non-toll road portfolio for maintenance, refurbishment and upgrade; the continued implementation of our flagship rural road maintenance initiative, the S’hamba Sonke Programme, which has created over 60 000 jobs over the past two years; and the investment, in 2015, of over R9 billion in this programme, thereby creating over 60 000 jobs.

Hon members, the freight industry is far too important to our country for government to ignore its strategic responsibilities. It is for this reason that we are committed in our responsibility to create the right environment to build a safe, efficient transport infrastructure that can support a competitive South African economy. During this current Medium-Term Strategic Framework period of 2014-

2019, the ANC-led government will be implementing the following interventions.

Firstly, we are developing an integrated National Transport Master Plan that will enhance economic growth and respond to sector plans that rely on transport for competitiveness. Secondly, we are developing an Integrated Freight Corridor Plan which is part of the Durban-Free State-Gauteng Logistics and Industrial Corridor to help expand the coal line to Richards Bay. Finally, we are also finalising the Road Freight Strategy in line with the priorities of the National Development Plan. The strategy will assist the Department of Transport to shift 2% per annum of the goods from road back to rail in the current Medium-Term Strategic Framework period.

Hon members, our national airports, particularly those that are managed by the Airports Company of South Africa, Acsa, have experienced massive growth and investments over the recent past. As a matter of fact, Jan Smuts, if he were to wake up today, would not realise that OR Tambo was once named after him.

These investments have injected much needed stimulus into the growth of our country’s economy.

Our department is currently developing the National Airports Development Plan. The aim of this plan is to position the role of our provincial and regional airports in the socioeconomic development of the country. Some of the airports will include Bulembu, Mthatha, to mention but a few.

In conclusion, as the ANC-led government we remain resolute that public participation is important and a cornerstone of the advancement of infrastructure and development for better services to our communities. We therefore reaffirm our commitment that was made in 1955 in Kliptown by the Congress of the People that “The People Shall Govern”. I thank you.

Mr J W W JULIUS: Chairperson, hon members, the public at large, one can never look at infrastructure without looking at the impact of it on the economic development. For our economy to develop people will have to get jobs and if we are still sitting with a huge figure of unemployment in this country it means that we did not do well on jobs, in terms of infrastructure if you go back. It is a cycle, Deputy Minister. So, please acknowledge that. You know, it is good sometimes to say that we have done this and that and we are now going back and we acknowledge the imbalances of the past, which we need to redress.

However, we also need to recognise our failures of the past 21 years – we need to recognise those failures! What have we done to develop our infrastructure, which would ultimately create jobs for our people? That is precisely what happened yesterday, largely because of the happenings of today in our country. One of the people, a political analyst, mentioned something of the fruit of the root. What we saw yesterday was because infrastructure failed. So, we could not create jobs, and our people are poor because of that for the past 21 years; and I am not singling out only that, but I am saying we had the imbalances of the past, but we should also recognise this. That is directly the consequences of this failing government. We could not create an environment that can create jobs and that is why our people cannot pay for their children to go to universities now. We need to recognise that this is the fruit of our root.

The national infrastructure plan of 2012 has as its aim to transform our economic landscape while simultaneously creating significant numbers of new jobs, and strengthening delivery of services. The aim of this provincial week was to look at progress made in infrastructural development in all the nine provinces and assess our investment for better delivery of services in this regard.

Although three years is not enough to make a conclusive assessment, we have seen how certain provinces through political will and good management, particularly the DA in the Western Cape, have accelerated in meeting the goals and delivering beyond those goals, to create infrastructure that benefits the poor and create jobs to grow the economy.

Hon Chairperson, due to the fact that most of the oversight areas visited by the NCOP delegates during this provincial week were cherry picked by the ANC leadership for praise singing and political mileage, we overlooked our oversight role of problem solving and providing legislative guidance. Being redundant and even appearing irrelevant is a disservice to those who elected us and is a waste of money in itself.

Let us not deny what really went on during this façade called provincial week. There was a clear lack of co-ordination between the NCOP and the provincial legislatures, which led to confusion on their roles and responsibilities in planning this week. I think less time should spent in presentations in boardrooms and more time must be spent on actual oversight at a site itself.

Chairperson, have we forgotten our responsibilities as the NCOP Members of Parliament? It is worrying that most MECs do not attend these oversight visits. I can only presume that they do not care or that this is not a priority to them. In the Free State, for instance, only one head of department was present and no MEC availed themselves during the week. This is seriously hampering the work of the members charged with the responsibility to do proper oversight.

As always, the ANC will and has already come to focus on some small and insignificant achievements but what has become the hallmark of their leadership and time in government, they fail to highlight the challenges faced in the rolling out of infrastructural projects in all the nine provinces.

Minister, you are the Deputy Minister and you had an opportunity to say what is wrong within Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa? You only see what is good in Prasa. You know what is wrong – big trains and small what - I don’t know.

Chairperson, let us look at some truths that you can now swallow: Corruption and slow progress in rolling out of infrastructure projects ... [Interjections.]

Mr T C MOTLASHUPING: You must sit down and stop pointing fingures ... [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: You must address me and not the hon member. [Laughter.]

Mr T C MOTLASHUPING: Thanks, hon Chairperson, I withdraw. It’s not a point of order; I just wanted to establish if the hon member is prepared to take a question.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Julius, are prepared to take a question?

Mr J W W JULIUS: Chairperson, I don’t want to embarrass the member because I know he doesn’t have it he just wants to disturb me; no I am not prepared.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: He is not prepared sir, continue hon Julius.

Mr J W W JULIUS: Chairperson, I notice that about 15 seconds already gone from my time, can we just add it ... [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Your 15 seconds – can we have the 15 seconds back?

Mr J W W JULIUS: Corruption and slow progress is going against the aim of the national infrastructure plan. Corruption is taking away opportunities for growth in our economy, creation of much needed jobs and the strengthening of delivery of basic services to our communities. In fact, the Build Environment Professions Grouping, BEPGs, stated earlier this year that a barrier to infrastructure delivery lies in the lack of transparency during the allocation of professional services and tenders.

If we took our role of doing oversight in all the nine provinces seriously, we would have assessed the progress in infrastructure projects that are in serious need of intervention too, not only to cherry pick the ones that we want to fill a good story for the ANC, people see it and you can’t hide it.

The ANC does not know how to manage an infrastructure project, period. When will it stop that when we discuss or debate projects that we do not have to mention corruption, lack of planning and a failure of these initiatives to the public? When is it going to stop? Because you also mentioned it; in fact it was the highlight of your breakaway last week. I don’t know what to call it.

Where is the transparency with the current nuclear deal, Thyspunt, Easter Cape? There is no transparency. Billions of taxpayer’s rand are being squandered without a whiff of accountability and report on decisions made and progress. Why has the Free State not gone into any contractual deals to build proper flushing toilets, over the past six years? Talk about the delivery of services.

The Centurion Aerospace Village in Gauteng has been paid for, but no development has take place; R65 million has been spent on bulk earthworks, and yet nothing is on sight! Mention these, Deputy Minister. The ANC cannot say that they are serious about transforming our economy; creating jobs and fighting the scourge of unemployment and poverty if we allow corruption and slow delivery in our infrastructure build programmes.

The fact is that unemployment has risen from 31,7% to almost 35%. This means that 1,7 million more South Africans are without jobs compared to five years ago. But we are building infrastructure that must create jobs.

The DA have and will always fight relentlessly to end corruption in government because it is not fair, it is taking away opportunities from all South Africans, especially the poor people who must send their children to universities, and robbing us of our hard earned freedom.

Chairperson, it would not be a crime for the ANC to admit defeat. I suggest you do it before corruption become inherent in this previously proud liberation movement. I thank you.

Ms M MOKOTLA (Free State): Deputy Minister, hon members, hon special delegates, I greet you; the NCOP Provincial Week took place from the 14-18 September 2015. The NCOP delegation together with a delegation from the legislature undertook visits to projects in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality in the eastern Free State. The delegation visited the Diyatalawa Agricultural Village, the Thabo Mofutsanyana Secure Care and One-Stop-Child Justice Centre, the Qwaqwa Veterinary Clinic and the Harrismith Vehicle Testing Station. A public meeting was also held at the Diyatalawa Agricultural Village.

The delegation previously visited the Diyatalawa Agricultural Village during the provincial week held in September 2014. The purpose of this visit was to check on the progress made pertaining issues that were raised by the beneficiaries of the project. Chairperson, some of the progresses made on the projects are as follows:

Firstly, the dairy project was not able to sustain itself because feed for cattle was sourced from outside, however, grass plantation is currently taking place in order to produce feed;

Secondly, proper vaccination protocols for cattle are in place; thirdly, 60 Holstein cattle will be delivered to the farm by the end of November 2015; and lastly, milk produced at the dairy is now being sold to Nestle.

The delegation made the following observations on the project: due to a lack of funding, the dairy project and surrounding area are not being kept hygienic; the milk tanks on site are too big for the amount of milk being produced and milk at times turns sour whilst waiting for the tanks to be filled; the beneficiaries of the project have been sent for training to acquire the relevant skills, but they lack the knowledge of implementing the skills gained; and there is a general lack of teamwork amongst beneficiaries and this prevents the dairy from being successful.

Based on these observations, the following recommendations were made in order to ensure the success of the project: the Department of Agriculture must assist the dairy project beneficiaries to acquire smaller tanks for the storage of milk; a dairy manager with relevant skills needs to be employed to assist the beneficiaries with the management of the dairy project; and the mentor and the Department of Agriculture must jointly submit a comprehensive report outlining a proper assessment of the needs of the dairy, challenges and recommendations that would assist in making the project sustainable.

They should further address challenges as they occur and not delay; continuous training to beneficiaries must be provided by the Department of Agriculture until such time that beneficiaries are sufficiently equipped to run a successful project on their own; the department should mobilise resources to address the hygiene challenges at the dairy project; and the department of agriculture must also assist the beneficiaries to establish marketing partners who can further give guidance.

Chairperson, the delegation also held a public hearing at Diyatalawa with farming communities in the surrounding areas. The following concerns were raised at the hearing: many of the communities requested the delegation to assist with water and electricity supply as well as the provision of housing; the community hall has been vandalised because since its completion, it has been never been opened or utilised. There is a lack of security personnel to protect the community assets; and the community requested that a police station should be built in the village to mitigate the prevalence of gangsterism.

The delegation made the following recommendations based on the concerns raised: that all service delivery concerns be attended to by the Thabo Motsanyana District Municipality in consultation with relevant provincial and National Departments of Road and Transport, Water and Sanitation, Agriculture and Eskom; that all concerns raised regarding the lack of provision of housing be referred to the office of the MEC of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Human Settlements; the community should form neighbourhood watches and community police forums, the CPFs, to protect and discuss better safekeeping of the assets of the community; and the community must hold the councillors accountable to call meetings at least once a quarter where they can raise the concerns and follow up on issues raised.

Chairperson, the delegation, as I have mentioned, also conducted an oversight visit to the Thabo Mofutsanyana Secure Centre and One-Stop-Child Justice Centre in Qwaqwa. The centre was built in 2007. The centre is experiencing the following challenges:

Firstly, vacant positions for child and youth care workers as well as social workers and positions deemed as core functions that will qualify the centre for functionality are vacant;

Secondly, the service provider for catering had not yet been appointed, however the bid process to appoint was in process;

Thirdly, shortage of state-owned vehicles, the SA Police Service, SAPS, did not have vehicles allocated to them;

Fourthly, the development, care, rehabilitation and recreational programmes had not been budgeted for in the current financial year 2015-16; and

Lastly, the organisational structure was not aligned to the national blue print on norms and standards for secure care centres.

The delegation made the following recommendations based on the challenges raised: the Department of Social Development should assist the management of Thabo Mofutsanyana Secure Care Centre to improve its planning and budgeting to take into consideration the fact that it services the entire province and therefore must be able to handle possible pressures; the Department of Public Works must assist the centre with a better implementation of the project to avoid further cost escalations; the Department of Social Development and the management of the care centre should fast-track the recruitment of personnel since the successful implementation of the centre and delivery of services hinges predominantly on the availability of relevant staff; the Thabo Mofutsanyana Care Centre management should prioritise provision of social services and ensure that the centre is fully operational and optimal. In order to augment the rehabilitation budget, the negotiations with Setas for additional money should be fast-tracked; given the current economic conditions, the fact that the Free State Provincial Treasury has already indicated that the centre will not get any additional money, and the challenge with acquiring the vehicles, the centre should prioritise in terms of the real extreme needs to fund its fleet acquisition plan; and the management of Thabo Mofutsanyana Care Centre must provide a breakdown of the budget spent thus far as well as timeframes for completion of processes underway.

Chairperson, the delegation also conducted a site visit at the Harrismith Testing Centre. The centre is situated on the boarder of KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State provinces. It serves two critical routes, namely, N3 and N5 regarding traffic law enforcement routes. The delegation observed the following: the management of the centre has set aside R10 million for procurement of office furniture, however, the budget breakdown could not be provided; out of five LCU eye test operators, only two were functional and three were not utilised; there is a drive-thru collection point for the depositing of money, a filing area which has not been demarcated properly, and a learner’s license classroom which operates manually; at the time of the visit, testing of vehicles could not be done pending accreditation by the SA Bureau Of Standards; and as the management of the centre presented to the committee, there were no chairs at the waiting area for clients, no impounding area for the storage of impounded vehicle, no biometrics for access control entry, no alarm system and most offices did not have office furniture and were not utilised.

Based on these observations the following recommendations were made: the LCU section must be prioritised as a matter of urgency; the centre must prioritise security for the safekeeping of its assets, particularly the filing room and the finance revenue collection office; the finance office needs controlled access since it is isolated from other offices; the MEC of Police, Roads and Transport must give the Harrismith Centre accreditation as a matter of urgency; and the centre must procure computerised machines to ensure that the learner-licensing centre becomes efficient and fully functional.

Lastly, Chairperson, the delegation visited the Qwaqwa Veterinary Clinic. Phase 1 of the Qwaqwa Veterinary Clinic was initiated in the 2013-14 financial year and was financed with the budget of R4 million for the construction of a new Vet Clinic building, renovation of the vet quarters and renovation of the office block and paving. The second phase of the project ... [Interjections.]

These are the observations at the veterinary clinic: the clinic was not completely finished and burglar bars at some doors were still being installed; veterinary services are provided to the entire Free State province through Qwaqwa and Thaba Nchu Veterinary Clinics, five mobile and five prefab clinics. The Department of Agriculture was awaiting the 10 four-by-two-double cabs to increase coverage to the rural areas; and the operational funds at the Qwaqwa Clinic do not sufficiently cover compensation for mileage claims for technical officers who must collect samples across the province and render services. Thank you. [Time expired.]

Mr M KHAWULA: Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, the KwaZulu-Natal NCOP delegation visited the District Municipality of Zululand and uMkhanyakude for the Provincial Week of 14-18 September 2015. Due to time constraints in respect of preparations, I can only say that for future provincial weeks, we need to plan better and make logistical arrangements much better than we need for this provincial week.

Hon Chairperson, like I reported in the previous debate of the provincial week, KwaZulu-Natal is still suffering continuously from the drought that is hitting the province all over. The situation has become even worse than when we last met. The situation has deteriorated to the extent that may be deserving declaration of the disaster status in some parts of the provinces, especially the uppermost north and the lowermost south of the province. The province has become very dry. The IFP is appealing for more attention from the government in this respect.

Some concerns were raised by Zululand municipalities during our engagement with them. The sanitation in Ulundi has reached capacity and this is stalling development. The Department of Human Settlements has provided houses in some wards in Ulundi. These houses cannot be occupied because of sanitation incapacitation. Development can no longer take place in Ulundi town because of sanitation incapacitation. This is a matter that needs urgent attention of both the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Zululand District Municipality. Both of them are authorities of government, which are entrusted with sanitation and they must not fail the people of Ulundi.

What is ironical, hon Chairperson, is that the Department of Water and Sanitation appeared before the Select Committee on Social Services last week. From its reports, the department is underspending on its budget in all areas, yet, people need these services on the ground. The Municipality of eDumbe also raised the same issues pertaining to sanitation; the Municipality of uPhongolo and the Municipality of Nongoma also raised similar concerns pertaining to sanitation. On behalf of all these areas, the IFP calls government to action. I normally hear people referring to the hon Minister of Water and Sanitation, as mama action being her nickname; contrary to that, I do not see any action. Therefore, mama action, please act.

The delegation also visited Usuthu Water Scheme. This is a bulk water project by the Zululand District co-funded by both Zululand District Municipality and Water Affairs. Whilst the project is a good idea, planning appeared to have been extremely poor. The report of how much has been spent, so far, in the project from the three role-players has huge contradictions. The consultants have a figure of R321 million, the Department of Water and Sanitation has a figure of R203 million and Zululand District Municipality has a figure of R552 million. As Parliament, we ended up not knowing as to which figure to take as an official figure. The project started in 2005 and is still far away from completion. Whilst focussing on this bulk-water project, the district municipality also wants to start a project of a dam costing R700 million. There needs to be a follow-up of forensic investigations in spending patterns in that district.

We visited roads upgrading projects by the Department of Transport in Nongoma. From the questions asked, it appeared that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is spending between R8 and R13 million per kilometres on average to upgrade the roads in Nongoma. This is another area that needs forensic follow-up investigation.

We visited a class of projects by government in the Ndumo area in uMkhanyakude. These are good projects. These projects are a good copycat of what Umntwana kaPhindangene did when he started townships with the erstwhile KwaZulu government - townships like Ulundi, Mandeni, Ezakheni, Madadeni, Esikhawini and others. Projects were clustered like this by Umntwana in order to sprint out development. Long live the development legacy of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi! [Laughter.]

Isikhathi siyaphoxa Sihlalo. Ngiphoxekile nje Sekela likaNgqongqoshe uma ukhuluma ngomklamo waseBhongolwethu. Hawu inkohlakalo engaka bese uyayincoma! Engathi ningenza okunye. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)

[Time is a disappointment, Chairperson. I was disappointed, hon Deputy Minister, when you spoke about the project in Bhongolwethu. Ah! So mush corruption and you commend it! I wish you can do something else. Thank you.]

Ms N MAYATHULA-KHOZA (Gauteng): Hon Chairperson, hon members, Deputy Minister, special delegates, on behalf of Gauteng government under the leadership of hon Premier David Makhura, and the economic and social clusters, we express our profound gratitude for the opportunity to join this august House’s debate on advancing infrastructure investment and development for better services to communities. We also applaud the NCOP for affording us, the Gauteng government, the legislature and our citizens the opportunity to engage with hon members on this subject in September 2015.

We just want to say to hon Julius that the delegation of NCOP in Gauteng was actually joined by very senior members of the legislature. The Chair of Chairs was there, the chairpersons of committees were there and many members of the legislature were there. As MECs, we take the NCOP Provincial Week visits very seriously. You would know that even the Premier actually participated in this NCOP Provincial week. So it is not correct to say that the MECs do not take these NCOP visits seriously. [Applause.] I thought I should just correct that, hon Chairperson.

Can we also have the information on the Centurion Aerospace Project? I asked the leader of the delegation and she doesn’t know about that project. It means that you went out of the NCOP week visit and did your own visit. So please forward that information so that we can follow up on that Centurion Aerospace Project. We are also concerned that it might be a white elephant, in that it might not be used or it hasn’t been completed. We note the findings and recommendations of this NCOP week visit in the spirit of advancing infrastructure investment and development.

The National Development Plan, NDP, identifies increased infrastructure investment as central to equitable economic growth levels, employment creation – hon Julius, employment creation is vital – skills development and social transformation. Infrastructure investment is a catalyst for sustainable socioeconomic development and it has the potential to improve the quality of life of our people in a most fundamental way.

Infrastructure investment has a central role to play in delivering our radical socioeconomic transformation, modernisation, and reindustrialisation which is line with the National Development Plan. It is in its context that infrastructure development has remained one of the key priorities of the ANC-led government.

For the past five years, the Gauteng government has invested in social infrastructure projects which, for example, include 470 education projects that would benefit the learners in our province. This figure includes such projects as 130 new schools, the school fencing project, restorative repairs of 267 old schools, 1079 grade R classrooms for our little ones in the early childhood development phase, as well as ablution facilities and septic tanks. We have also recently initiated smart classrooms of the future in Gauteng, a project that has been received very well by the learners of Gauteng. We want to roll out that project to all the schools by the end of the term of office.

We have rolled out Wi-Fi hotspots at public spaces, as the hon Minister has said. If you travel from Soweto to town by taxi you will be able to access the internet from inside that taxi.

Hundred of our schools have access to clean water, while 99% of our schools also have access to electricity, and 100% have access to sanitation. However, we still need to address some of the problematic areas with regard to sanitation experienced by some schools.

We have built four new state of the art hospitals, including the Thelle-Mogoerane hospital in Vosloorus and the Bheki Mnlangeni District Hospital in Jabulani as well as two other hospitals in the Tshwane area. We have upgraded and renovated 38 health facilities. We have built about 139 000 houses and provided 69 000 serviced stands for our people. We initiated 50 Green Doors for abused women, children and orphans as well as community youth centres for sports, arts and heritage projects.

These are just a few social infrastructure investment projects that we have provided.

Of course, from all these infrastructure projects, there have been thousands of jobs that have been created for our people. Skills development has taken place. Our people have participated in terms of being contractors and subcontractors as part of the Township Economy Revitalisation Strategy in these projects.

So there are positive impacts coming out of the infrastructure investment in our province.

We also invested in economic infrastructure projects such as what the Minister was talking about, the kilometers of roads in Gauteng. There have been 44,5 km of roads that have been put together. We have improved maintenance of provincial roads, established new drivers licence testing centres for our young ones, intermodal facilities, and 68 kms of nonmotorised transport lanes.

We have also invested in bioscience parks for young entrepreneurs, and in township enterprise hubs to enable township entrepreneurs to do business with our province. We have also invested in automotive learning centres to revitalise the township economy. To contribute to improve the environmental management, we have upgraded, refurbished and rehabilitated our seven nature reserves.

We also implemented the Information Communication Technology Infrastructure. This huge infrastructure investment is indeed bettering the lives of our people who are also benefitting from local procurement, employment opportunities, and skills development.

However, due to an ever-growing population as a result of in-migration and urbanisation, there is a lot of pressure for increased infrastructure investment. We also need to undertake a proper impact analysis of this infrastructure investment. We were really only able to put together this assessment of five years’ infrastructure investment during the lekgotla over the past week. The premier has indicated that we should be able to do a proper impact analysis on the infrastructure investment.

Over these five years, we invested R46,4 billion in the abovementioned infrastructure. In the process, we experienced challenges of underexpenditure. We do talk about challenges, hon Julius. We don’t hide challenges. We are the first ones to say, these are the problems we are encountering as we deliver services and infrastructure.

We experienced underexpenditure due to poor supply-chain systems, not paying our subcontractors and contractors within 30 days, poor project management capacity, poor stakeholder engagement, delays in project completion, cost escalation, poor relationships between departments and municipalities, poor performance by some of the service providers, and corrupt practices.

But we do take action. With all these challenges that we are identifying, we have already taken action against those that are doing these things. To address these challenges and to increase infrastructure investment and improve service delivery, we have developed and introduced the Infrastructure Development Management System, IDMS, which has been approved by National Treasury. This system is helping us to articulate uniform processes for departments in planning and budgeting, procurement, implementation, reporting, monitoring and evaluation of our infrastructure investment.

We have seen a lot of improvement in infrastructure delivery and maintenance as a result of the introduction of IDMS. Consequently, Gauteng’s economy has grown due to this infrastructure investment. It has consistently grown above the national average over these years, reaching 1,7% in 2014, with Gauteng’s R1 trillion provincial economy contributing 34% of our country’s GDP, and accounting for 10% of Africa’s GDP.

However, due to 300 years of underdevelopment, hon Julius, under a racist, nationalist government, the black majority of our citizens, indeed, continue to bear the brunt of inequality, unemployment and poverty, in spite of a lot of progress that has been made by the ANC-led government.

We estimate that we will require R1,3 trillion for the social and economic infrastructure investment, and we are mobilising support from the private sector to invest in our five economic corridors as outlined by the Gauteng government.

During 2015, we held the first infrastructure investment conference for alternative funding of our economic infrastructure projects, including the Kopanong Government Precinct which will be the seat of the Gauteng government, the rooftop solar panels and tri-generation plant which are part of the alternative energy generation programmes of the province, the jewellery manufacturing precinct, and two more innovation hubs. There was a very positive response from the private sector investors who are now waiting for us to participate in the development of the infrastructure.

Together with municipalities, we have identified other game changers, including the revitalisation of township economy, the creation of new industries, of new setas, and of mega human settlements. We no longer want just to build 20 RDP houses there ... 50 there ... We are going to build mega human settlements, e-government, Gautrain extention and expansion, the Bus Rapid Transit, BTR, expansion as well – as it has been cited by the Minister – the metro police in the Ekurhuleni area, the Corridors of Freedom in Johannesburg, the African Development Gateway, the Lanseria airport in the Westrand ...

We believe we are on the right track and we are very grateful to the NCOP for giving us this opportunity. Thank you.

Ms M C FRAZER (KwaZulu-Natal): Hon Chairperson, Deputy Minister, hon members, I greet you all. Thank you very much for this opportunity afforded to me to participate in this debate which seeks to look at oversight visits made during the NCOP Week in Zululand and uMkhanyakude which are the deepest rural areas in KwaZulu-Natal, KZN.

In KZN, infrastructure has been and it is still growing in a tremendous way and it is also one of the key measures in terms of changing the lives of our people more especially in rural areas. Those hon members, who were with us during that week, can attest that KZN is growing, even economically. We are a province at work and we are working very hard.

Due to new projects, roads, state of the art commercial and government building structures, we have witnessed a number of people’s lives changing for the better, improvement of lifestyle to some because of job creation and opportunities which have led to poverty alleviation and moving towards the total eradication of poverty and, of course, we have also witnessed radical transformation in terms of economy. These infrastructure facilities are aimed at uplifting the communities around them.

Interestingly, even the neighbouring countries, like in the case of uMhlabuyalingana, you will find that a country like Swaziland is also getting empowered because the movement between these countries is becoming better and we believe that our Africanism dream is going to be realised because it will be easy to move between these countries.

Amongst these projects, there is Inkululeko Development Project at Ndumo. This KZN initiative is a very beautiful one which has produced a state of the art school. Indeed, we believe that by building this school the doors of learning and culture are being opened.

We have also witnessed the upgrading of existing facilities such as clinics, hospitals, libraries and other government facilities. Those members who were with us, as hon Khawula has confirmed it, were impressed by the work done by Public Works in KZN. We therefore thank them and we are proud to have officials like them. [Interjections.]

Again, the KZN Province has also injected over a billion which is being used for road construction. We are talking about projects like P435, D1841, D1851 and many more projects that are happening. But again, I think it is critical to inform this House that when we are talking about uMhlabuyalingana and Zululand, we are not talking about an easy road to construct because the issues of the environment must also be considered. So I believe that hon Khawula was just talking because we have been given minutes. But all in all it is not like building a road in Gauteng or in the Western Cape where you just - so we therefore thank the Department of Transport for the work well done and, of course, in KZN, we are moving forward. We are working very hard. We also appreciate the role that is played by our officials in the Department of Transport, Department of Public Works and the Department of Co-operative Governance, Cogta. They are doing very well.

It is profound and important to note the good work that is happening in KZN in terms of infrastructure development, especially in Zululand and uMkhanyakude. But again, I think it is critical that we also mention areas where we feel that there are still challenges, like in the case of Zululand. There is a project called Osuthu Nongoma Water, hon Khawula has mentioned it. We were very disappointed as the team because we found that even the officials themselves are not aware of how much is used or how much they have. I therefore, appeal to the district and the political party which is leading that district to ensure that they oversee and don’t fail the people of KZN because there is a lot of money which has been allocated for that project.

In the case of Ulundi, we have learned that they are not getting enough support from that particular district led by the other party, of course, not the ANC. So I am appealing to them to ensure that ...

... ababaphoxi abantu. Bayabanikeza abantu amanzi. Amanzi aye kubantu. [... they do not disappoint the people. They must supply the people with water. Water must be distributed to the people.]

Of course, it is the NFP, okay. We were also very disappointed because we found that even in terms of empowerment, people are not getting empowered with skills; they are not getting trained, yet, if you have noticed the amount of money allocated there, it is too much.

The province continues to look at the zoning of certain parts of the province for improvement in terms of residential areas and also for attracting foreigners for business purposes. We therefore, again, thank the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Department of Human Settlements and others for the role that they are playing. We also acknowledge the role that is played by Salga, in KZN. We have been made to understand that there have been sessions in which they were continuously empowering the district and the local municipalities. They were assisting them a lot.

Madam Chair, to be honest, I focused more on these two areas, otherwise in KZN, there is a lot of action that is happening. We are moving forward and if I can start reporting on that I may take the whole day.

As we conclude, we are inspired by the wise words of Frantz Fanon when he said and I quote: “What matters is not to know the world, but to change it.” I therefore say, as the ANC leading the KwaZulu-Natal Province, we are working very hard and we appreciate the oversight visits conducted by the NCOP in our province and, of course, we support them. Thank you. [Applause.]

Ms M J APHIRI (Limpopo): Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, hon MECs present, if any, hon members of the NCOP, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen ...

... ke a le dumediša. [... I greet you.]

While we are debating the Provincial Week report, it will be aloof to ignore the students activism emerging in a number of our higher institutions of learning. However, we appreciate the efforts made by our ANC-led government through the hon Dr Blade Nzimande by engaging all the vice chancellors of all higher institutions of learning with a sole purpose of resolving these impasses.

We are of the view that the commitment shown by the hon Minister is in line with the ANC election manifesto of prioritising education as one of the key priority areas in terms of our 2014 election manifesto as well as the National Development Plan. By doing so, we will comprehend the essences expressed by our former President Nelson Mandela when he said:

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

The National Development Plan highlights the importance of infrastructure investment in meeting the social and economic objectives of the country. The National Development Plan, NDP, advises that South Africa needs to invest in a strong network of economic infrastructure designed to support the country’s medium and long-term economic and social objectives. This economic infrastructure is a precondition for providing basic services. I feel very much honoured and privileged to participate in this very important debate in this august Chamber and make an input on the report of the Provincial Week which was held very recently across the country with a special focus on infrastructure investment and development.

Let me hasten to say that the Provincial Week programme is a mechanism that provides the delegates of this honourable House an opportunity to interact with their provincial counterparts and to obtain fresh mandate in a quest to ensure that the needs and aspirations of the provinces are properly articulated and addressed to improve the lives of the people.

The recent Provincial Week has indeed offered us the window of opportunity to meet the provincial leadership such as the executive council led by the hon Premier Mathabatha, and other key stakeholders as well as visiting some of the infrastructure service delivery points and projects to assess the success and challenges faced by the province.

It is a pleasure for me to inform this honourable House that the Limpopo province has made some great strides in infrastructure investment and development in an endeavour to address the challenges relating to water supply, road, health and economic development. It is, however, important to note that Rome was not built in a day and that there is light at the end of the tunnel that this government will indeed change the lives of the people for the better. It is hoped that the light that we see at the end of this tunnel is not that of an oncoming train that is coming to crash all the successes we have made.

The Provincial Week did not only look at new projects, but also focused on making a follow up on previously visited projects and service delivery points to assess the state of progress since the last Provincial Week.

The ANC-led government, through the three tiers of government, is mandated to provide its people with basic infrastructure such as roads. Access to such infrastructure is considered as a basic human right, irrespective of where people live, their race, gender or income level. Notwithstanding the progress made in some of these projects, more needs to be done particularly on the Elim-Vleifontein Road and the Magoebaskloof Tea Estate which stand out as projects with slow progress. However, we have mandated the provincial government to fast-track the tarring of the Elim-Vleifontein Road which has passed the design stage, as I speak.

While we express our concern regarding the slow progress on this matter, we are pleased to report to this august House that Road Agency Limpopo is committed to have the road construction completed by the end of November 2015. The delegation will be kept informed of the progress on this matter.

As for the Magoebaskloof Tea Estate which was a beacon of hope after having been returned to the Makgoba people in terms of the land restitution, is lying fallow with a myriad of challenges. It is therefore requested that national, together with the provincial government, should intervene in this project. This project has the potential to create more sustainable jobs as well as temporary jobs during harvesting season.

The ANC-led government adopted the National Infrastructure Plan with the aim of transforming our economic landscape while simultaneously creating significant number of new jobs and strengthen the delivery of basic services.

The investment and development infrastructure will have economic spin-offs for this country as it will create the required job opportunities and sustainable jobs for our people, thus pushing back the frontiers of poverty. It was very interesting to learn that one of the beneficiaries of a toilet facility delivered by the government of the day did not want to use it because he thought it was so beautiful that it should be reserved for very important guests. This shows how appreciative our people are when their lives and dignity are being changed for the better.

The NDP makes significant recommendations on how to grow the economy in a structured and integrated manner with achievable targets of eliminating poverty and reducing inequality. Mining as a strategic sector and a significant economic user of infrastructure in line with practices from other mining communities around the world, should contribute fairly to the development of infrastructure for economic use.

Limpopo province has several mining houses that are contributing to the economic development of the province. However, there are several challenges relating to beneficiation and social responsibilities of these mining houses in the areas where they are mining. The province has seen several protests which sometimes turned into violence. These protests are related to job opportunities. While it is understood that communities have a right to protest, we despise violent protests and damage to property.

As I conclude, allow me to clearly indicate without reservations that the Provincial Week programme in our province was an overwhelming success. It gave the delegates an opportunity to see for themselves the successes and challenges that the province is faced with and we hope that they will be able to articulate this in this House very well on behalf of the province.

I therefore, on behalf of the province, support the Provincial Week report that we have submitted and hope that all the commitments and intervention strategies that the provincial government made during the programme will be implemented to the latter, and that those that require national intervention will be taken up by this honourable House.

Mohl Modulasetulo, go gamola tšie ga se go e tamolla. [Hon Chairperson, this matter needs not be prolonged.]

Mr S K MASHILO (Mpumalanga): Chairperson, Deputy Minister, members of this House, ladies and gentlemen, comrades and friends, allow me, on behalf of the province, just to present the important report of the NCOP that took place during the Provincial Week of 14 to 18 September 2015, at Nkangala District Municipality in Mpumalanga.

Hon Chair, we decided to report as a province on what the visit of the NCOP took. I must, however indicate that we had about eight MECs, including the Deputy Speaker and all members of the provincial legislature that attended that, which therefore, confirms that the province is very serious in taking NCOP. [Applause.] Members of the DA can attest sitting there.

Indeed Chair, the focus was based on the infrastructure investment and development, including challenges experienced. Infrastructure investment lies at the heart of the stimulatory fiscal package of our government and is pivotal to the National Development Plan, NDP and the New Growth Path.

Chair, I must indicate with a degree of authority that the ANC-led government is leading from the perspective of placing the people at the centre of their development. I must further emphasise that significant progress has been made so far.

We take cognisance of the issues that were raised during the ANC manifesto of the 2014 National Elections. Indeed, delegates were briefed on the Municipal Infrastructure Grant, including the expenditure there on.

In Nkangala municipality, the whole of seven municipalities were made to present the report through the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta. I must indicate in this regard, Chairperson, that the municipalities such as Emakhazeni, Steve Tshwete and Dr J S Moroka municipalities spent 100% of their Municipal Infrastructure Grants allocations at the end of the financial year, June 2015.

The Dr J S Moroka and Steve Tshwete municipalities received additional funding in March 2015 for good performance as per the assessment of the national and provincial and Treasury. That shows that our municipalities are on course and does understand that the money given must be spent as such.

The provincial government and the district municipalities prioritised water and sanitation. It is a fact that in Thembisile Municipality there are no water resources. The municipality found itself in this position today because apartheid just dumped them there in the past with no source of water. They depend solely on Tshwane, Rand water and the Dr J S Moroka municipalities to get water. What a poor municipality.

In all fairness, water infrastructure is being installed in terms of the infrastructure. You go around Thembisile, you will find in each and every street there is an infrastructure, there is a tap water, in other streets the water can’t come out because they don’t have sufficient water in that area.

There is, as well, a standing RDP standard of taps that are installed in the informal settlements. In Emalahleni in particular, where we have too many informal settlements there is some standing pipe of water and people do access water in that regard.

However, our challenges remain on the sanitation in our areas, which is a matter of concern. As the ANC government we have made this acknowledgement, and at all cost, we are doing our best to address this backlog. In terms of the roads and storm water, the delegation was highly briefed about the Coal Haulage Road Rehabilitation and Repair Programme. Indeed, the programme is aimed at monitoring the road network for the easy supply of coal to Eskom power stations in the province.

As you all know, Mpumalanga is indeed the power of electricity. We are taking care of the areas where the power stations are. As we reported on that meeting, it was given that to build a tarred road, you need almost R9 million to R11 million per kilometer depending on the lines and culverts of the area. That suggests why it is so expensive to construct a tarred road of a good quality.

In this regard, the department did engage a number of the mines in our area to respond to this particular challenge and we are happy they are coming on board in responding to some of the areas that we have mentioned. The road is a coal haul route delivering coal to the Arnot power station. That road is between Hendrina and the power station Arnot, and is called the D139.

The road requires almost R201 million, which is currently under construction and is fully funded by the public works as a province. The road between Middleburg and Wonderfontein, which is almost 21,7 kms, in the main, is also under constructions and the following are being done: rehabilitating the pavement by strengthening extra layer; upgrading intersections; widening bridge structure; improve water drainages; stone pitching and fencing of the area are currently underway.

Of course, I must indicate, Chair that such high projects do not go without any challenges. One of the key challenges is when the farmers are refusing our people to access borrow pits in that area despite being engaged. A matter in the main derails some service delivery in the areas and I’m not surprised later on when we get criticisms in that regard.

In terms of the Moloto rail corridor, a presentation was made by public works and we are quite pleased today to hear from the Deputy Minister that the project is on course and the good work is in progress.

We as well welcome the transfer of this road to the national department and subsequently to the South African National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral. However, we must put in record that we will not support the E-toll or toll-gate towards that particular road. Since the rail does not have the toll-gate, we believe it is a major solution to our challenge.

Our economy in that area is under attack, unemployment is high and poverty is growing. We have a strong belief that if we build this infrastructure, we are to address the major problem that is facing the municipalities of Thembisile and Dr J S Moroka.

Certainly, we are pleased that the Minister of Finance presented that report yesterday and we are certain that soon this project shall be kick-started. As we have seen in other areas, the projects of this nature have started.

In terms of the human settlements, the Emalahleni local municipality is one of the municipalities that are overcrowded because it has a number of mines. As people see storms and smokes growing in that area people see opportunities.

I must indicate that as a province, we have put almost 12 000 houses as an integrated housing settlement in that area; a very beautiful and well integrated settlement with a nice infrastructure. That presents a good progress in that regard and we are certain that we will achieve our objective as the ANC government.

In terms of the human infrastructure, there is one big sector that was left off the list and that is the human infrastructure investment. Our municipalities have created a mayoral bursary fund, which is in line with their needs to subsidise or to give our children bursaries; that is, an engineering section, artisan, electrical, quantity survey, finance, water laboratories, just to mention a few.

As we do so, we are certain that our communities will benefit, and we want to support as well, that our children must be given this subsidy as our government is intending to do. We are certain as a province that the University of Mpumalanga that is currently under construction is going to address a number of challenges that the province has faced over a time. As it has been quoted earlier, education is the only key of a success, and it is the only key to make a development of a country. Investing in the young people is like investing in the world.

Let me conclude, Chairperson, by quoting one of the sons of the soil Dr Kwame Nkrumah when he said, “I am not African because I was born in Africa, but because Africa was born in me.” [Applause.]

M H GALENG (North West): Hon Chairperson, Mme Thandi Modise, Deputy Minister, Mme Chikunga, Acting Chief Whip, Ntate B Nthebe, hon members of this august House and members of various legislatures, from the onset allow me to – for record purpose – indicate that I’m not a chair of chairs as stated in the Speaker’s List, but the Chief Whip of the North West Legislature. As the North West, we appreciate the initiatives by the NCOP and the visit by the hon members of this House to province of North West, specifically to Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality.

The North West Provincial Legislature welcomes all the initiatives that aimed at enhancing and oversight work and improve lives of our people. Across government, infrastructure remains one of the key challenges that require much attention. Amongst other contributing factors to infrastructure backlog is skill capacity and funding. However, we appreciate and acknowledge the commitment our provincial government and other spheres of government to address these challenges. We must further acknowledge the massive investment by the ANC government towards infrastructure in line with the National Development Plan.

The acting premier during the time of the visit of this House to the province indicated that the provincial infrastructure budget including conditional grants amount to R5,9 billion and spending it started to increase and progress was also noted on projects. Through our oversight functions as the legislature, we continue to interact with the executive members responsible for infrastructure delivery to ensure value for money and adherence to plans adopted by the legislature. The provincial government through provincial Department of Finance and the provincial Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport had been in engagement with the Development Bank of Southern Africa for funding model that will address roads infrastructure which was anticipated to take place in three months.

Hon members, challenges on municipal infrastructure grant spending is also of concern. As the legislature, we have continuously engaged the member of the executive council, MEC, responsible for the department of local government and we welcome initiatives done to support our municipalities. The back to basic strategy is expected to yield positive results in some areas where we have witnessed some challenges in local government. In fact, as oversight structures we must ensure that we hold executive accountable for all plans and commitments that we pass in our legislatures.

The provincial government has met with Eskom to address electrification challenges in the province through the Premier Infrastructure Co-ordinating Council in Moses Kotane and other parts of the province.

Through Setsokotsane Programme, the provincial government has addressed many challenges in different municipalities, and our ongoing engagement with executive led by the premier has reaffirmed its commitment on the implementation of Setsokotsane Programme across all municipalities. The Setsokotsane Programme through its approach and the results within the short space of time is indeed a good story to tell and the great achievement by our province.

As the province we have also recognised challenges relating to housing delivery and sewage. We must appreciate the commitment by the provincial government to address challenges faced by the Tswaing and Ditsobotla Local Municipalities that relates to sewage and housing development.

In addressing road infrastructure challenges, the provincial government and municipalities will continuously engage SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, and relevant stakeholders to explore and find new ways to accelerate roads infrastructure investment. We welcome and acknowledge discount rates announced by the Minister of Transport for the surrounding communities of Swartruggens toll gate.

Public protests are within constitutional rights of our citizen, but we must all condemn vandalism of public property and destroying the future of our kids. Learners must feel safe to go to school, use libraries and other facilities that government has made available to our communities. Burning and destroying of school will not be tolerated for whatever reason. If communities demonstrate, it must be a peaceful demonstration and the government will attend to their grievances.

With respect to Re ya Bopa early childhood development centre, which is the facility established by the provincial Department of Social Development with the aim, among others, to improve the quality and access to some form of early childhood development services in the province and to improve access to funding of the early childhood development, ECD, programmes. As the legislature, we have and will continue to engage the department responsible for this facility on the findings by this House during the visit to the province. Among other issues that require attention include: Lack of proper fencing which expose our learners to risk or danger; lack of proper play facilities for the children; security on the premises of the school; overcrowding of kids because of high demand for the facility; and new educational toys, furniture and adequate emergency medical kit for the learners.

In fact, in our oversight functions we will make follow up on the commitment by the provincial Department of Social Development to procure fire extinguishers and toys for the facility and the commitment by the Korone Engineering consultants to fence the facility. The NCOP in its visit observed that unemployment and poverty is amongst the serious challenges that continue to characterise our province despite government efforts to reduce these challenges. We must work together to address these challenges at all level of government and the private sector must also play its role and contribute in addressing the challenges.

Challenges of access to government services, as raised in the public meeting of Matlosana Local Municipality, is a crucial point as indicated. Setsokotsane Programme aim at bringing all government services to the people. The premier made a commitment that this programme will be roll out across all districts of the province to change the lives of the people for the better.

The safety of our citizens is a priority, SA Police Service, SAPS, must ensure that our communities are safe at all time. However, let’s remind each other that it is a responsibility of all citizens to ensure that our country is safe and protected. I therefore encourage all community members to participate actively in policing structures such as a Community Police Forum, CPF, street communities and other structures. We appeal to the department to address issues of shortage of vehicles and continue to prioritise hot spot areas.

Noting concerns on the level of quality of service by the local police station, this is unacceptable and the ANC government will not tolerate officials that are not performing their duties. South Africa belongs to all those who live in it, and we shall continue to protect our country at all costs.

Better health for citizens is at the heart of the ANC government, despite challenges experience in the Witrand Hospital on upgrade for the new Community Psychiatric Unit and Psycho Geriatric Unit, the initiatives by the Department of Health in 2011, to house mental patients in community facility to reduce the patients at Bophelong Hospital in Mahikeng is appreciated. At the time of reporting this project was 95% complete with minor work that had to be done, we are confident that the department will meet the deadline for the finalisation of this project. Also with respect to the Potchefstroom In-patient Treatment Centre, as the North West province, we concur with the delegations’ findings and are confident that the new rehabilitation facility will be completed as per the report presented to the NCOP.

The fifth government administration of the North West has prioritised agriculture amongst its pillar for economic growth. However, to enhance agriculture in the province will need water and that will require proper water infrastructure. We note challenges highlighted on Ventersdorp Bulk Water Supply, which include strikes, communication between role-players, etc. However, we will continue to engage the Department of Water and Sanitation as well as the municipality to ensure that this project meets the deadline and properly managed.

In conclusion, as the legislature, we are confident that our provincial government is in the right track on addressing socioeconomic challenges in the North West province. As we celebrate the Freedom Charter, we must make sure that we change lives of our people for the better. However, let’s not forget our role as Members of Parliament or our respective legislatures which is to perform oversight over the executive. Furthermore, plans of government are approved by us, as Parliament and various legislatures, which then becomes our plans. Together we can move South Africa forward. The struggle continues. I thank you, hon Chair. [Applause.]

Mr F ESSACK: I have not even started, hon Chair. Hon Chair, colleagues and fellow South Africans, debating the progress of infrastructure seems insignificant considering that whilst we, as Members of Parliament, sit in this House, our country is literally burning. Let me tell you why. If it hasn’t yet been mentioned or acknowledged in this House, our role as elected representatives to our public is to make careful decisions in the best interest of our people. When our responsibilities are elevated to that of a Minister or a President, then our accountability towards our people becomes even greater.

Let me explain why. At the heart of our politics, and now inherent to Zuma’s ANC, is corruption. Corruption - money that our government misappropriated from the mothers and fathers ... [Interjections.]

Mr T C MOTLASHUPING: Hon Chairperson, to my recollection of facts if I remember quite well, we only have His Excellency the hon Jacob Gedleyihlekise Zuma. I’m not sure why hon Essack resorted to just calling him Zuma.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you sir. Hon Essack, the hon member has acknowledged that hon Zuma is the President of this country.

Mr F ESSACK: Okay, for the sake of the debate, President Zuma. Can we move on, hon Chair?

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you very much.

Mr F ESSACK: At the heart of our politics, and now inherent to President Zuma’s ANC, is corruption. I repeat, corruption - money that our government misappropriated from the mothers and fathers of those students who yesterday begged for a response from their elected leaders. Today, that corruption finds itself in every sphere of our government with infrastructure representing one area of how the ANC is embroiled in enriching themselves at the expense of education, health, and service delivery amongst other key government responsibilities.

Hon Mayathula-Khoza, you are so kind enough to mention that infrastructure is a key for the ANC. Why then do we have higher unemployment? There’s, of course, a direct link between infrastructure and employment if you still need to be educated, we can chat with you after the debate.

Our job as parliamentarians should not be to pat ourselves on the back when we have used public money entrusted to us to create an improved and more functional society. We do not necessarily need a reward in service, and we do not need to enrich ourselves as the ANC has done through their countless corrupt schemes disguised through infrastructure development.

Let me put it in simple terms if we don’t understand the fundamental issue with infrastructure. Now listen. Consider this, business confidence is currently at our lowest level since the dawn of democracy, and businesses offer our people jobs. These jobs are, of course, dependent on infrastructure development to allow businesses to run effectively and progressively. We should not miss the link that job creation and business is vital to the growth of this economy.

Why do we risk this by lining our pockets as public servants? This is a question that the ANC in national government currently must and should answer to the electorate of this country.

Yesterday, Minister Nene committed to infrastructure spending. Our country has continuously committed to this. Let us ask the big questions. The ANC has consistently been precarious with business partnerships, business labour relations, mismanagement of budgets, etc. Let us not sit here today and use words without taking responsibility for them.

In the spirit of freedom, fairness and opportunity we owe it to the people who elected us to serve. We also owe it to the students who made history yesterday, on 21 October 2015. I thank you. [Applause.]

Ms T MOTARA: Hon Chairperson of the Council, Mrs Thandi Modise, Deputy Minister of Transport, Hon Chikunga, Hon MECs present, special delegates from provincial legislatures, Hon members of the NCOP.

At its annual celebration of the formation and birth of the ANC, the organisation that celebrated 103 years of existence, declare 2015 the year of Freedom Charter and unity in action towards economic freedom. We declared in Cape Town, as South Africans from all walks of life did in Kliptown 60 years ago and again declared at the National General Council, NGC, held earlier this month, that the ideals of the Freedom Charter remain the guiding principles to which the ANC will adhere to in order to achieve a prosperous and united society.

Following extensive consultation, the National Development Plan, NDP, was also adopted as a basis for long term planning which will see the reduction of poverty and inequality and the increase of employment in our country. The NDP has noted that infrastructure is poorly located, inadequate and under maintained.

During this Provincial Week we undertook to measure and gauge the progress made in relation to the roll out of national infrastructure projects. The projects are supposed to impact directly on the lives of South Africans, be catalysts for economic growth and ultimately allow the local government sphere of the state to provide basic service as it is their constitutional obligation.

Municipal Infrastructure Grants, MIG, were introduced as a practical intervention towards the achievement of delivery of basic services in our communities. The MIG programme is an integral part of providing municipal services. The provision of municipal services is in most cases dependent on infrastructure; part of planning municipal services is therefore planning for infrastructure. These services include the provision of road infrastructure, transport, electricity, and water and waste services.

One of the most pressing issues is that where national departments are responsible for the spending of certain grants within their competencies, these projects take place in municipalities. We want to impress upon national departments that intend to roll out any projects of any kind, that Integrated Development Plans, IDPs, of municipalities must be taken into consideration first.

As the NCOP our mandate seeks to bring together the three spheres of government and to sharply raise issues faced by provinces and municipalities with the national department responsible. There are vast improvements in the spending capacity of municipalities in relation to the roll out of infrastructure and compliance.

National Treasury has made it their business to costly monitor the spending and compliance with various public finance laws when releasing grant funds to other spheres of government. As the monitoring improves so the delivery of services and ultimately the lives of South Africans will greatly improve.

This is what all of us collectively should be seeking to achieve. As long South African resides within the borders of our beautiful land, they are protected by the Constitution to receive basic services as a human right. Those services can and should not be hampered by borders of wards or municipalities.

The spatial patterns of apartheid that sought to deliberately place the majority of our people far from families, far from economic opportunities and disrupted the families as the nuclear of society must be broken down brick by brick. It must be dismantled until remnants of the effects of this society we construct cannot be seen.

Hon Julius makes accession not for the first time, that provincial week is used as a feel good exercise by the ANC. He misleads the House by saying that sites were identified by ANC members and leaders. One of the sites that we visited as a Gauteng delegation was identified by none other than the Hon Julius himself, unless of course he is joining his Eastern Cape counterparts and his membership must still be processed. To say that we go to cherry picked and feel good projects is not only false but almost nullifies national government efforts to stop the effects of acid mine drainage on the water table as a whole.

The stench that nauseated all of us, the millions of litres of water that needs to be retreated to stop a national crisis from occurring cannot by any figment of one’s imagination be classified as feel good.

We wish to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the nine provinces who we owe our mandated responsibility to, for once again affording an opportunity to engage with the legislatures and executive members. Steadly we are working towards an integrated way of delivering services to our people. We look forward to fruitful future engagements of this nature as we advance the vision of Freedom Charter in creating a non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous society united in our diversity. I thank you.

Mr M MNQASELA (Western Cape): Hon Chair, hon members, I can also confirm that the NCOP Provincial Week that was conducted between the 14 and the 18 of September was a success. In the Western Cape, where I come from, I am comfortable to say that the contributions that came from members and primarily the kind of visit that we conducted presented a picture that shows that in this province we indeed deliver services to all communities at the magnitude which cannot be compared to any other province in this country.

However, I do not want to dwell on that because we have some story to tell which is called the Western Cape story. It is a story that brings hope; opportunities to the people of South Africa; the meaning of freedom to many people in this province and of course the story that says all shall be treated fairly and the spirit of fairness shall exist. I also speak in light of the evidence that we have seen in this country of young people saying, enough is enough, there must be free education for everybody that was promised since 1994.

We can no longer talk about free education randomly and making speeches and slogans. It must be a principle to which we are all prepared and committed as a country if we are to grow. What brings me to that is the fact that today we are talking about infrastructure and the advancement of infrastructure in order to have a complete realisation of services.

If we are to create an environment which is conducive to the implementation of the programme of service delivery, it means therefore that we must start at school and ensure that young people are capacitated. We must be able to encourage them to study mathematics and science at a very young age.

We must also ensure that we monitor that progressively up to high school and tertiary level. That is why in this province we have Masakhisizwe Youth Development Programme which is a bursary programme that encourages young people to take engineering studies, regional planning and development studies, and studies that will empower them and ensure that we deliver a maximum infrastructure programme that will enable us to compete with regional governments in the world.

We must accept that in the general nature of a developing country like ours, we have to compare ourselves to the world cities. It is not by default that we are sitting and debating the infrastructure because when we talk about infrastructure, we talk about bringing services closer to where people live. It should never be that people must work and live far from their places of comfort. They must be able to work in Khayelitsha, live there and to go to school, and if possible the very best school in Khayelitsha.

We must be able to provide best schools and infrastructure in Mitchells Plain and Atlantis, and that is what the Western Cape government is doing. Of the programme of Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Development Initiative, Asidi, the Western Cape said yes, because we went to Eersterivier and delivered that school within a year. Next year the learners will be going to that same school. We are actually happy and thank the NCOP for visiting that school.

Asidi programme is a good initiative that national government is implementing and we are happy for that. But how do we lift the bar in terms of the norms and standards so that we create the kind of school that we need in the townships and villages as the school that you will in the rich and leafy suburbs. We cannot have a situation where we just implement the Asidi regardless of the budget that we have received.

In the year under review in the Western Cape and, in fact, in this current financial year as well, we have said that we will take this budget but we will have match-funding. That then gives us enough resources to deliver the best schools and that is what we are doing in this province. I am talking about the Western Cape story; the story that gives hope. In fact, when we go to a primary and a high school, no more shall you sit in a school where you cannot even have access to a library and a science laboratory.

Thina asikhulanga kukho ezi zinto ezikolweni kodwa ngoku makuthi xa umntwana esiya esikolweni angakhuli efana nala ndlela wawukhule ufunda ngayo aze angafumani msebenzi xa sele emdala, nokuba umzali akanamali. Sithi ke masiqinisekise ukuba kukho i-Wifi engahlawulelwayo esixakeke yiyo ngoku. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)

[When we grew up our schools didn’t have these things, but now when a child goes to school, he mustn’t learn the same way as we did because it will make difficulties for him to get a job when he grew up, even if the parents do not have money. We must ensure that there is free Wifi the one we are busy with now.]

We have game changers in this province and we have done so because what we believe in is that energy is one of the main game changers, and we have taken it as a primary game changer. Education is our game changer. We have said that public transport has to be in the key ... [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, you are drowning out the speaker. Hon members, you are all called to order.

Mr M MNQASELA (Western Cape): Hon Chairperson, thank you for protecting me. Let me highlight the importance of information communication and technology, ICT. It is only in South Africa where - obviously when I say only in South Africa, it is an understatement because we know South Africa is better compared to other African states but we must look at ourselves now as competing with the global community. Hence, we have to compare ourselves now with the developing states elsewhere in the world, countries like India, the Mediterranean cities and also look at the European cities.

When we compare ourselves to the other regional governments, we look at ourselves and say, a child who comes from any of the underprivileged schools must have access to the best and the most efficient and quality service in terms of education. That will enable us to produce an engineer, a brain surgeon, a doctor and in fact, educate people who will aspire to be members of Parliament, Ministers of Education; Transport; and Science and Technology from places like Atlantis, Khayelitsha and Worcester in the case of the Western Cape.

However, this goes beyond that and says that in our planning and spatial development framework, we must talk to the municipalities and encourage them. It cannot be business as usual. When you plan, you do so in such a way that you integrate our communities and that is what we are doing with our Public-Private Partnership, PPP, programmes. We have a number of them. One of them is Conradie Precinct where we are doing a number of initiatives to ensure that we deliver very integrated human settlements.

When you build houses, it should no longer be about just putting houses there and then there is no infrastructure, schools, and places of work. And finally, you need to ensure that skills and skills development become central to our programmes. I must say that Deputy Minister I listened to you mentioning the question of Go George and My City. Those are our flagship programmes. We are very happy that our partnership is paying off and that we are able to come and claim that because we really pride ourselves in that the partnership is working. Thank you very much, hon Chairperson. [Time expired.]

Mr L B GAEHLER: Hon Chairperson, I am happy to take part in this debate.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mphambo, there is a speaker on the podium.

Mr L B GAEHLER: Although numerous laws and policies intended to improve people’s quality of life and promote economic and social transformation were introduced since the dawn of democracy, such have achieved mixed successes and the people are still experiencing unemployment, poverty and inequality.

Sihlalo, bayangxola abantu, Groenewald, musa ukungxola maan, tyhini! [Hon Chairperson, people are making noise, Groenewald, shut up!]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Tata uGaehler, kaloku amaLungu ePalamente avumelekile ukwenza ingxolwana. [Tata Gaehler, Members of Parliament are allowed to make a little bit of noise.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: I fight with them when they drown you. If they do not drown you ... You are protected hon Gaehler against hon ...

Mr L B GAEHLER: Hayi baya hlupha maan aba bantu bakho. [No man, your people are disturbing.]

Rural infrastructure backlogs are a challenge and also inhibit economic and social inclusion in rural areas. In this regard, we propose that the House adopts a resolution on the creation of a dedicated rural infrastructure development fund. Why do we say so?

Kwezi ndawo besihamba kuzo Sihlalo – fakani ezi zinto anisazi isiXhosa nina. [Hon Chairperson, in the places we visited – put on these things you do not understand isiXhosa.]

The complaint was that the current Infrastructural Municipality Grant, IMG fund is not sufficient. It does not address previous backlogs ...

... ezenziwa ngaba bantu bangxolayo. Ngoko ke bayacela ukuba noko kukho le ngxowa mali, ... [... that were made by those who are making noise. Therefore they make a request because there is this fund, ...]

... we will be able to address that previous backlog.

Enye into, ungathi le ngxowa mali isemasebeni kodwa uye ufumanise ukuba le ngxowa mali isetyenziswa kumaphondo athile, amanye awafumani. [Another thing, you may think this fund is in the departments but find out it is used by certain provinces, some have no access.]

There seems to be super provinces in the country. If you look at all the plans you will find that there are certain provinces that are getting more than the others. If you go to the Eastern Cape, you will find that the roads are damaged in the small towns. Yes, Sanral made a good presentation there on how they are going to construct access roads and so forth.

Kodwa ukuba ungena ngaphakathi ingxaki ikhona kwaye inkulu. Okwesibini, ukuba ungena phaya ezilalini, ayikho kwaphela indlela, masithethe inyaniso singabi sixoka apha. [But if you get inside there is a big problem. Secondly, if you go to the villages, there is no road, let us speak the truth no more lies.]

We have a high rate of poverty. There is a problem. That is why we say as UDM, that there must be a fund which addresses the infrastructure of these small towns or we will never catch up with the problem that we have.

Ngelishwa ke aba bakumbutho olawulayo abanakuyithetha loo nto leyo kuba bayoyika. Mna ke andoyiki. Ngoko ke kukho loo ngxaki leyo ekufuneka ihoyiwe. [Unfortunately those who belong to the ruling party may not say that because they are afraid. I am not afraid. Therefore there is this problem that needs attention.]

The current infrastructure is affecting us. You go to towns like Mthatha, Dutywa and Butterworth, the traffic is huge. You take two hours to pass through town because roads are damaged. That is why we are saying that there must be a special fund and this House must adopt it here. This House must adopt that special fund which addresses the infrastructure.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Julius, are you on a point of order or were you just stretching?

Mr J W JULIUS: Chairperson, you need the stretchers sometimes with these chairs but I actually wanted to say that the English translation is a problem on this device. You get both languages, that is, English and the other language.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Translation, an interpretation please. I do not know, they are pointing me elsewhere. Can we attend to the isiXhosa–English translation and interpretation, please? Is it being attended to? I am told it is. Hon Londt, you are having a very good time and the hon member. Hon Gaehler please continue, we will attend to it.

Mr L B GAEHLER: Yhoo bachithe umzuzu wonke Sihlalo. Hayi ndiyakucela malibuye ixesha lam. [They have spent the whole minute, hon Chairperson. I must have my time back please.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL NCOP: We stopped the clock.

Ngumzuzu wonke kodwa mama. [It’s the whole minute mama.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Ndiyijongile. [I’m watching it.]

Mr L B GAEHLER: Hayi phambi koko, uJulius uthethile labe lihamba ixesha. Belihamba ngela xesha ebethetha. [No, before that, hon Julius spoke and the time was moving. It was moving while he was speaking.]

The primary purpose is to address the inherent backlogs and bring back these communities to par with their urban counterparts to the extent that it is practically relevant to the rural socioeconomic development priorities. The current MIG is limited and favours urban municipalities. Investment in rural infrastructure should inform decisions on how and where to invest and towards the most deprived citizens.

The provision for rural infrastructure is an important agent and reduction of poverty and exclusion in strengthening social capital and in providing conditions for improving the provision of services. Rural Infrastructure Grant should be created but we should mobilise the private sector as well. If you remember very well in the past ...

... nina bantu bangena ngoku elizweni, oosomashishini babeLungu bebefaka imali kukhule idolophu; bencedisa. Iphelele phi loo nto leyo xa kungena aba bethu abantsundu? Ndinceda wena sisi, awazi nto. [... those who are new in this country, white businessmen used to invest money to develop a town; assisting. Why did that stop when blacks are in power? I’m helping you my sister, you know nothing.]

Why can’t the private sector help in developing these towns? They are benefiting in these towns by doing business in them.

Ekugqibeleni mntwana kaRhayi noko ubhatyazile; mandiyithethe inyaniso. Aba baseMount Ayliff abantu bathathwe yi-UDM. UDora umthathe yedwa. Enkosi. [Lastly, hon Rhayi you have made a mistake; let me tell the truth. People in Mount Ayliff are taken by the UDM. You took Dora only. Thank you.]

Mr S J MOHAI: Hon Chairperson, Mme Thandi Modise, Deputy Minister, let me start off by quoting a document of the ANC on the eve of the 1994 breakthrough, in 1992. The Ready to Govern document says, and I quote,

The quality of living of all South Africans rests on the infrastructure programme which will result in the cultivation of decent work opportunities and strengthen industrialisation. It will address the legacy of segregation in education, health, welfare, transport and employment that result in deep socioeconomic inequalities. The ANC strives for developmental state which tries to develop all parts of the economy that will ensure equal and quality access to healthcare, education, social security, roads, dams, telecommunication, transport, power stations, water, electricity, waste disposal services to all

The ANC made this statement and committed itself that it will undo the legacy of apartheid rule which its architecture was based on the racism of the white minority regime. Infrastructure was provided across the railway line - it was different conditions - where African majority lives. Therefore, this afternoon’s debate is about the largest infrastructure investment ever seen in South African history. More importantly, this investment is being undertaken at a time of weak global economic growth. Opportunists avoid raising this point, globally and domestically. This posture reaffirms the commitment that was made by the ANC in its 52nd policy conference that the state should continue to roll out state-led infrastructure investment programmes that will promote strategic investment in productive and strategic activities.

It is therefore a signal of our own confidence as South Africa and the ANC in the future of our own country and economy. I am proud to stand here as a member of the ANC and say I am confident about the future of our own country and the strides we are making to build the economy that serves all the people. Thus the national infrastructure plan continues to support the strategic sectors of our economy and to unlock the bottlenecks in the transformation trajectory of our country. It presents an opportunity for us as the ANC to implement the radical economic transformation through structural change of society.

Allow me to point out the overall achievement of this infrastructure investment project. Amongst others, this infrastructure project has supported more than 200 000 jobs. It has also provided a number of opportunities for South African-based factories to provide components of rolling stocks such as buses, trains, trucks and taxis that are all connected to the infrastructure plan. This is a point that the Deputy Minister has alluded to. This is how we industrialise and create strong foundation for the economy.

We state it very clear in the ANC that the quality of infrastructure, better management of infrastructure projects under the conditions of downsized economy, value for money are key in infrastructure provision. It is not for us hide whatever problems may be associated with the delivery of infrastructure.

The opposition parties, as usual, have focused on grandstanding, on political opportunism and negatives. They did not focus on the essence of the debate that we are dealing with today. No programme of major infrastructure anywhere in the world comes without challenges. This will include, but not limited, ... [Interjections.] ... I am saying it. Among other things that we are dealing with here, engineers who are helping us to construct projects here in South Africa are sourced from all over the world because of their expertise. Material is sourced, not only in South Africa, but from all over the world. And how do you relate with those issues under the current global economic environment upon which South Africa took a bold statement to say, it will roll out infrastructure to ensure that the economy does not collapse but mitigates against the weakness of the economy.

Some of the weaknesses that can be associated with this are overspending or project delays. The point is to see the big picture, DA. We are today building the world’s fifth largest coal power station and at the same time building Africa’s largest renewal energy fleet of solar and wind power plants.

Today many of you who took the podium opportunistically raised the legitimate issue of the students’ protest which the ANC, not only embraces in boardrooms, but it takes active struggles together with those students. The conditions they say are conditions that we share in the ANC. We are undoing the legacy of apartheid colonial rule. [Applause.]

Let me tell, the issue of exorbitant fee is not only being the issue of exorbitant fee, it is also about issues of transformation in those institutions - institutional culture ... [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Hon Mohai ... [Interjections.]

Mr S J MOHAI: ... racism [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: ... there is a point of order.

Mr S J MOHAI: The intention is to disturb me, because he feels the heat.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mohai, there is point of order. Hon Essack?

Mr F ESSACK: Hon Chairperson, my point of order is: [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mohai, please take your seat. [Interjections.]

Mr F ESSACK: I want to know if the speaker has got the guts to take a question from me, please.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES: Hon Mohai ...

Mr J W W JULIUS: Talk to me, talk to me!

Mr S J MOHAI: I am not a coward, I can take that question, but let me deal ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Essack, are you the Chairperson? [Laughter.]

Mr F ESSACK: Ja, take my question. Have the guts man.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Essack, address me.

Mr F ESSACK: Sorry, hon Chairperson, will the speaker have the guts to take my question?

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Essack, you asking whether the hon Mohai will take your question, the guts part we cut out.

Mr F ESSACK: Chairperson, I cut out the guts part and let’s see if he has the ... [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mohai, are you willing to take a question?

Mr S J MOHAI: Yes, at the end of my statement, Chair.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: At the end ...

Mr S J MOHAI: Okay.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: ... my hon member. Please, take your seat, hon Essack.

Mr S J MOHAI: Hon Chair, I was making a point, the ANC acknowledges the urgency with which the matter of exorbitant fees must be attended. And even the students of South Africa know that it is the ANC which has got the history and legitimacy to address their problems, as they demonstrated yesterday. [Applause.] Infrastructure is critical for local communities ... [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mohai, there is another point of order. Hon Julias?

Mr J W W JULIUS: Chairperson my point of order is: Can I also be on the list of those who are waiting to ask questions at the end so as to ask whether the hon member did attend the provincial week.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mohai, will you be able to take a question, as requested by the hon Julias, at the end of your ... [Interjections.]

Mr S J MOHAI: Hon Chair, to the hon Essack, once more you operate on snipers. I didn’t attend the provincial week, I was booked off sick. Whoever gave you that dossier, gave you a wrong one.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mohai, the question I put to you was whether you will take a question at the end of your statement. You were supposed to ignore all the other titbits.

Mr S J MOHAI: Well, hon Chair, my attitude to the DA is the same. They belong to one category and I can deal with them in the same way.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Okay, please proceed.

Mr S J MOHAI: Infrastructure is critical for local communities. It assists us to supply water and sanitation to all our people and to connect more South Africans to the electricity grid. I would like to take this opportunity to borrow for the Minister of Economic Development, hon Patel, when he provided statistics in the National Assembly about this matter. The data shows the huge improvements made in the democratic era. As a case in point, whilst only 5,2 million households where connected to the grid at the start of our democracy in 1994, during the period of democracy we added more than 7 million additional home to the electricity grid. Bringing the power of energy to more South Africans, transforming the lives in the process.

Many amongst us are witnesses to this. You have seen townships going from candle light places to residential areas where citizens can switch on light, moving from outdoor toilets to indoor toilets. A living example of this is through building proper houses for our people and massifying electricity infrastructure. This is an indication of the commitment of the ANC in dismantling the limitation to access by the legacy of segregation left by the apartheid regime. Everyday we undo the legacy of apartheid colonial rule. These should be viewed as part of building the capacity of state to ensure effective service delivery across the country.

As the NCOP we want to commend this ANC-led government for the firm action it has taken against cartels and price fixing or as I would call it, private sector corruption in the construction industry. You do not even highlight it because you collude. We have flushed the guilty out of the system and made them pay for overcharging the public. Have you for forgotten so quickly? The government stands in dealing with this. But what is not well known is that government, through the competition authorities, have also taken action against other colluders in the infrastructure supply industry ... [Interjections.]

Mr F ESSACK: Hon Chair, through you, I insist that hon Mohai take my question, with you permission, hon Chair.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, members! Hon Essack, you cannot insist. [Interjections.] You have withdrawn. Hon Mohai?

Mr S J MOHAI: Chair, I was about to make this important point, that part of the issue at the heart of the delivery of public infrastructure, the investment of the state-led programme, that had hindered progress that we make as a country is around issue of cement and steal makers. These are crucial points that billions of our country are focused on. And I think we should be given an opportunity to debate these matters as members of this hon House. Otherwise members know that these are questions with which captains of industries must be confronted for the state to succeed in rolling out the programme on infrastructure provision.

Maintenance of infrastructure must become the main focus in the next four years. I am pleased that the mid-year national Cabinet Lekgotla, when it met with premiers in July this year, highlighted the importance of maintaining our infrastructure asset base. This is something we should focus on in our oversight work so that we built greater consciousness at local level on the importance of fixing broken infrastructure and more importantly maintaining them so that they do not break.

As highlighted by the Minister of Finance in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement yesterday, the economy is facing new global head winds as a result of slowing growth in China and still sluggish growth in other developed economies. As Members of Parliament, we should support all efforts that are aimed at ensuring that infrastructure development is funded and its funding is not cutback. We now need to engage every province, metros, and indeed, local municipalities to check as to whether they are shifting more resources into infrastructure. This is the role that the NCOP can master the most. The National Development Plan sets an ambitious target ... [Interjections.] [Time expired.] ... Two things I want to deal with, in conclusion, hon Chair. How does infrastructure address the triple challenge? This is just to educate the hon Julias a little bit.

Firstly, the increase in government expenditure to billions of rands stimulates demand for goods, labour and services required for construction and maintenance. It is indeed government’s infrastructure investment that has been a bull work of South African economy over the past seven years since global financial crisis without expansion in government investment. Our modest growth would have been weaker.

The second greatest important point is that the effect of infrastructure investment on the country’s medium to long-term growth prospects and adequate public infrastructure investment can put the country on a higher growth path. Investment in public infrastructure increases South Africa’s competitiveness. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr F ESSACK: I apologise profusely, hon Chair. But please, with your permission, Mr Mohai promised that he would take our questions. Please call him back to the podium. Please, Madam Chair, because I must him this question in the House.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: You can ask him, but his has time has expired.

Mr F ESSACK: Hon Chair, but you assured us that you will give us a chance ... [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, hon Essack. His time has expired and now I have the Deputy Minister on the podium.

Mr F ESSACK: Alright, perhaps next time, hon Chair. [Laughter.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Hon Chairperson, let me express appreciation for the inputs that have been made by the hon members here as they participated in this important debate. Let me indicate, Chairperson, that the report that has been debated in this House today is indeed taken seriously by government. All departments will have it and see what they can do about it. In fact, we will implement some of the resolutions or take note of some of the resolutions.

In closing the National Consultative Conference in Kabwe, Zambia, in 1985, the former president of the ANC, Oliver Reginald Tambo, said, “Working together as fellow South Africans, we have it within our power to transform this country into the land of plenty for all, where the nightmare of apartheid will just be a faint memory of the past.”

The hon Julius asked a very important question: What is the ANC doing to reverse the imbalances of the past? Standing here, I highlighted quite a number of things that the Department of Transport is doing, but within 20 minutes I could not cover everything. I just want to mention some other things we are doing as government. Last year on 15 October the President launched Operation Phakisa that focuses on the ocean economy. Let me just say that on the eve of our democracy, some people here in South Africa, who are never mentioned by name, sold all our ships that we had on the register of South Africa so that the government that came into power would therefore find a South Africa that did not have ships that are flying South Africa’s flag.

Through the ocean economy, we have been able to identify five priorities. Regarding maritime transport and manufacturing, we have identified 18 projects that are clear. Of those projects we have said which ones are due for maintenance and refurbishment, and which projects are new. Regarding those that are due for maintenance and refurbishment, we can say here that they have a budget and we are actually doing exactly what we are supposed to do as government. In terms of those that are new, we know which have budgets and therefore need partnerships with the private sector and investors and we have identified them.

We have said there is oil and gas exploration and we are already moving in that regard. We have moved manganese from Saldanha Bay to the port of Ngqura and from Port Elizabeth to the port of Ngqura, because we want to create space for the exploration of oil and gas. I must mention that, in this regard, we are doing a lot in addressing the skills shortage that we have in the maritime sector. We already have a memorandum of understanding with Malmö University in Sweden. We are sending students there. He asked the question and I am responding to the question. So, we are doing much as the department and as the government.

We also are looking at aquaculture. We have already established a market for that, and we are continuing with that. The governments of oceans are talking - we are dealing with issues of maritime tourism. That is what the government is doing. I must report here today that indeed, and correctly put, the legacy of President Zuma is that for the first time we have ships on our register. [Applause.] There is a ship sailing that is flying South Africa’s flag.

Mr F ESSACK: Hon Chair, I don’t mean to disturb the speaker. I just want to make a point of correction through you: it’s not “sheep”, it’s “ship”. Thank you.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you for the English.

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Thank you very much. It’s ship, sir. You are correct. It is a ship or a vessel. Thank you very much for the correction. The point I am trying to make is that we now have a ship that is flying South Africa’s flag. We are able then to say to the owners of the ship: You are going to employ South Africa’s seafarers. Therefore as a country we can now produce seafarers that will actually be absorbed by a ship or vessel that is flying South Africa’s flag. We are able to say to the vessels: You are going to be repaired in South Africa and you are going to buy food in South Africa. We are doing that. This is happening here in South Africa. Siya qhuba. We are moving South Africa forward.

It has been a tragedy to have about 13 000 ships coming into our ports all flying flags for other countries. Now, we have flagships that are flying our flags. We now have two for that matter. We took six weeks to register the first ship. We took six days to register the second one, and we are going to be registering others, I think, six ships before the end of this year. We will celebrate when we have about 50 ships flying South Africa’s flag. Thank you very much, Chairperson. Siya ghuba. [We are moving forward.] [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

Question put: That the Report be adopted.

IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.

Report accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

REASON FOR DEBATING THE REPORT AND IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL DELEGATES

(Announcement)

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, I just want to remind you why we are debating this report. It is important for the NCOP to debate the provincial report, the constituency reports, and the Local Government Week reports simply because we do take time off from Cape Town and go to the provinces. This is also because we have, on numerous occasions, brought together the provinces and Salga into the planning of these programmes. It was also important - and it was very interesting - to listen to especially the special delegates. We invite special delegates especially during the provincial week of Local Government Week. Usually the matters that obtain from the ground are matters which sometimes fall squarely on local government and/or in the provincial sphere. There are matters which fall on the national government, which the committees here can take up directly with the national departments and Ministers.

I hope that in the future we will have the special delegates responding to the reports. In other words, we do not expect provinces to come and narrate our own reports to us. We expect either the chairpersons, the whips or the MECs to come here and say, “These are the matters which you raised when you were in the province. This is how we have dealt with them, and this is how we intend to deal with them.” We also expect, Deputy Minister, that the recommendations of this House will all be given the same attention. We also want to say that inviting provinces entails expenditure and going to provinces entails expenditure, and the NCOP is beginning to say that we need to be doing things a little bit more economically and follow up on every cent we spend.

I want to say that I do agree with the members who say that infrastructure is important, but I also agree with the points made by Mr Gaehler. He says that - and this is a point which some provinces used to make when some of us were leading them - that there is a need for standards when it comes to infrastructure across the provinces; that perhaps as the NCOP we need to begin to ask our questions. If you are going to level the playing field for the previously disadvantaged you really want to join the run to follow the number. In other words, the bigger provinces still get the bigger allocations. The smaller provinces always stay behind because the monies allocated to them do not enable them to catch up on issues of ... [Inaudible.]

That point, I think, is the point that Mr Gaehler was making. We have raised that point numerous times. That is the point which, I think, umphako [provision] we are giving to you, Deputy Minister. I wish to thank you very much for this debate.

RESIGNATION OF MS B S MASANGO, AND WELCOMING BACK OF MS M F TLAKE

(Announcement)

I have two other announcements. We welcomed two members. Sadly, we have lost a member, because we have received the resignation of the hon Masango. She will not be lost to Parliament; she will just be lost to the House. We wish her well.

My second announcement is to say “Welcome!” to the hon Tlake. She was sick for a while. She had to undergo a very serious operation. I, honestly, was not expecting her to be back before the end of this year. Welcome back, ma’am.

The Council adjourned at 17:18.

__________

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

WEDNESDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2015

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

Draft Bills submitted in terms of Joint Rule 159

Justice Administered Fund Bill, submitted by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services.

Referred to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services and the Select Committee on Security and Justice.

TABLINGS

National Council of Provinces

1. The Chairperson

Notice of intervention issued in terms of section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution, 1996 to Umkhanyakude District Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal.

Referred to the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs for consideration and report.

Notices of extension of intervention issued in terms of section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution, 1996 to Imbabazane Local Municipality, Kwazulu-Natal.

Referred to the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs for consideration and report.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Council of Provinces

Report of the Select Committee on Economic and Business Development on the Cape Town Agreement of 2012 on the implementation of the provisions of the Torremolinos Protocol of 1993 relating to the International Convention for the Safety of Fishing Vessels, 1977, dated 13 October 2015

The Select Committee on Economic and Business Development, having considered the request for approval by Parliament of the Cape Town Agreement of 2012 on the Implementation of the provisions of the Torremolinos Protocol of 1993 relating to the International Convention for the Safety of Fishing Vessels, 197 and the Explanatory Memorandum to the Convention, referred to it, recommends that the House, in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution, approve the said Convention and the Explanatory Memorandum.

Report to be considered.

Report of the Select Committee on Economic and Business Development on the African Maritime Transport Charter, dated 13 October 2015:

The Select Committee on Economic and Business Development, having considered the request for approval by Parliament of the African Maritime Transport Charter, and the Explanatory Memorandum to the Convention, referred to it, recommends that the House, in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution approve the said Convention and the Explanatory Memorandum.

Report to be considered.

THURSDAY, 15 OCTOBER 2015

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Council of Provinces

Please see pages 3662-3683 of the ATCs.

FRIDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2015

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Classification of Bills by Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM)

The JTM in terms of Joint Rule 160(6) classified the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill [B 23 – 2015], introduced in the National Assembly, as a section 76 Bill and as a Bill falling within the ambit of section 18(1)(a) of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2003 (Act No 41 of 2003).

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Council of Provinces

Please see pages 3685-3782 of the ATCs.

TUESDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2015

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Assent by President in respect of Bills

Merchant Shipping Amendment Bill [B 12 – 2015] – Act No 12 of 2015 (assented to and signed by President on 19 October 2015).

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Council of Provinces

Please see page 3975 of the ATCs.

WEDNESDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2015

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Draft Bills submitted in terms of Joint Rule 159

Division of Revenue Amendment Bill, 2015, submitted by the Minister of Finance.

Referred to the Standing Committee on Appropriations and the Select Committee on Appropriations.

2. Referral of Bill to National House of Traditional Leaders

The Secretary to Parliament has, in accordance with section 18(1) of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2003 (Act No. 41 of 2003), referred the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill [B 23 – 2015] (National Assembly – sec 76) to the National House of Traditional Leaders, which must, within 30 days from the date of the referral (19 November 2015), make any comments it wishes to make.

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Minister of Finance

Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure, 2015 – [RP 351 – 2015], which includes:

Vote No 1 – “The Presidency” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 2 – “Parliament” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 3 – “Communications” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 4 – “Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 5 – “Home Affairs” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 6 – “International Relations and Cooperation” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 7 – “National Treasury” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 8 – “Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 9 – “Public Enterprises” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 10 – “Public Service and Administration” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 11 – “Public Works” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 12 – “Statistics South Africa” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 13 – “Women” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 14 – “Basic Education” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 15 – “Higher Education and Training” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 16 – “Health” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 17 – “Social Development” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 18 – “Correctional Services” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 19 – “Defence and Military Veterans” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 20 – “Independent Police Investigative Directorate” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 21 – “Justice and Constitutional Development” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 22 – “Office of the Chief Justice and Judicial Administration – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 23 – “Police” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 24 – “Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 25 – “Economic Development” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 26 – “Energy” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 27 – “Environmental Affairs” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;
Vote No 28 – “Labour” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 29 – “Mineral Resources” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 30 – “Science and Technology” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 31 – “Small Business Development” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 32 – “Telecommunications and Postal Services” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 33 – “Tourism” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 34 – “Trade and Industry” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 35 – “Transport” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 36 – “Water and Sanitation” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 37 – “Arts and Culture” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16;

Vote No 38 – “Human Settlements” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16.

Vote No 39 – “Rural Development and Land Reform” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16.
Vote No 40 – “Sport and Recreation South Africa” – Adjustments Estimates, 2015-16.

Adjustments Appropriation Bill, 2015 – [B 28 – 2015].

Division of Revenue Amendment Bill, 2015 – [B 27 – 2015].

2. The Minister of Transport

International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, 2010 (HNS Convention), tabled in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.

Explanatory Memorandum to the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, 2010 (HNS Convention).

National Council of Provinces

1. The Chairperson

Provincial Week Report 14-18 September 2015.

Please see pages 3988-4211 of the ATCs.

THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2015

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Minister of Finance

Report and Financial Statements of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) for 2014-15, including the Report of the Independent Auditors on the Financial Statements and Performance Information for 2014-15.

National Council of Provinces

1. The Chairperson

The Revised Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals, 2015, tabled in terms of section 12(5) of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, 2009 (Act No 9 of 2009).

Referred to the Select Committee on Finance for consideration and report.

Submission of a petition calling for intervention of the National Council of Provinces (from Ms Zanele Lusithi, a representative of the South African Homeless People’s Federation in Blouwberg Western Cape).

Pursuant to Rule 234 the petition is accordingly referred to the Select Committee on Petitions and Executive Undertakings for consideration and report

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Council of Provinces

Please see pages 4367-4408 of the ATCs.

Audio

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Documents

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Hansard: NCOP: Unrevised hansard

House: National Council of Provinces

Date of Meeting: 22 Oct 2015

Summary

Minutes

Audio

Documents

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