Hansard: JS: Unrevised hansard
House: Joint (NA + NCOP)
Date of Meeting: 25 Jun 2019
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Minutes
UNREVISED HANSARD
JOINT SITTING
TUESDAY, 25 JUNE 2019
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
The House met at 10:01
The Speaker took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers and meditation.
DEBATE ON PRESIDENT’S STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Hon Speaker and Deputy Speaker, thank you very much for this opportunity. Hon President, Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, all important and hon members of this Joint Sitting, my greetings to you ...
IsiXhosa:
... ngale ntsasa.
This is a very special month where we honour the role that was played by young people to put the country where it is today.
This debate on the first state of the nation address in the sixth term of Parliament comes soon after Members of Parliament have taken oath or affirmation to obey, respect and uphold the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. As the majority party, the ANC accepts the mandate to lead government in dealing with complex challenges that our country faces and to achieve a better life for all.
We have accepted this responsibility with humility knowing that our people have embraced our elections manifesto which they helped to shape. Ours is to implement, implement and implement and implement.
IsiXhosa:
Siyabulela kakhulu ukubona ukuba abavoti beli lizwe basathembele kakhulu kumbutho wesizwe. Icekwa ke lilele kuthi ukuba sikhawulezise ukuzisa ubomi obungcono nobomi ababulangazelelayo apha eMzantsi Afrika.
We believe that as we begin our walk in the Sixth Parliament we need to set a tone for the next five years during this debate. We must assert quite boldly that this is a new term and while there is continuity in many respects there will be change.
Change is inevitable. Our President, the head of the state and the government of the Republic of South Africa has acknowledged quite candidly an enormity of the challenges facing our country, our continent as well as the world.
The President talked about the dream because there is no revolution without a dream. Any revolution without a dream is a dead revolution. [Applause.] The President has outlined more that 21 concrete plans on how to take South Africa. You may revisit your own state of the nation address document. He was very specific on how to grow economy.
IsiXhosa:
Uqoqosho alukhuli ngokomyinge ebesiwulindele. Loo nto uMongameli uyichaphazele...
... because as a country we must be honest to ourselves to say whilst we have a clear vision but we must also be practical on issues that are affecting our country and be realistic.
Unemployment remains high particularly amongst young people. Our country endures unacceptable levels of income of wealth inequalities. Inequality has been proven in studies internationally to be a single most important driver of violent crime and social instability.
IsiXhosa:
Umsantsa ovulekileyo kumasilingane unyanzelisa ukuba sibhinqele phezulu ukwenza iinguqu ngokukhawulezileyo ukuze wonke ummi weli lizwe azibone enekamva elikhuselekileyo. Le Ndlu yoWiso-mthetho yeSizwe kufuneka iqinise izihlahla...
English:
... in strengthening our democratic state, we need a state that is developmental, effective and clean. We need a state that is embedded in the network with social partners but at the same time autonomous and not a state that can be captured.
IsiXhosa:
Sifuna ilizwe elingenakuphinda libanjwe ngobhongwana ngamaqothaqikili azingela ephethe ityuwa. Siza kukhokela nkalo zonke sincediswa nguMgaqo-siseko esiwuhloniphileyo xa besithatha izifungo apha ngaphakathi kule Ndlu yoWiso-mthetho yeSizwe.
English:
We are raising this matter based on the concerns that our people have expressed in our interactions with them over a past few months...
IsiXhosa:
... besixelela oko banqwenela ukuba umbutho wesizwe ungakwenza. Sibamamele bonke abantu xa bebesithi le Palamente mayimele bona.
English:
Our people said that they want this Parliament to be about them and their needs and not about the politicians. As the ANC we commit that this is going to be a Parliament about our people and not about the individual priorities. Indeed the people have
given us a mandate to restore the dignity and decorum of this institution.
IsiXhosa:
Bathe bagxininisa ukuba thina bathunyiweyo kufuneka sigcine isidima sale Ndlu yoWiso-mthetho yeSizwe.
English:
I therefore want to foreground my input to some fundamental principles. The principles that we will work tirelessly to restore the integrity and esteem with which Parliament is held by all are...
IsiXhosa:
... intembeko, imbeko, ukuzithoba nokuzinikela kumkhomba-ndlela okhoyo ekumeleni abantu boMzantsi Afrika.
English:
This Parliament must not be a conveyor belt but an activist Parliament that is going to deliver on the needs of our people. In South Africa the Constitution is the supreme law of the
republic. Any law or conduct inconsistent with it is invalid and the obligation imposed must be fulfilled.
Sesotho:
Ke kopa hore ha re bua mona kapa re etsa mosebetsi wa rona - rona bohle ba le teng ka mona - re hlomphe Molaotheo.
English:
A constitutional judgement once said this in 2016, and I quote:
Parliament is the voice of all South Africans especially the poor, the voiceless and the least remembered. It is the watchdog of the state resources, the enforcer of fiscal and cost-effectiveness of the common good of all our people. It fulfils a pre-eminently unique role of holding the executive accountable for the fulfilment of the promises made to the populace through the state of the nation address, budget speeches, policies, legislation and Constitution.
As the ANC, we wish to appeal to all members of this institution to uphold the Constitution by ensuring that Parliament is able to fulfil its constitutional obligation without fear, favour and prejudice. As members of the ANC we are going to hold our executive accountable in ensuring that they deliver on what they have committed. The Constitutional Court judgement continues:
The President is the head of the state and of the executive. The promotion of national unity and reconciliation falls squarely on his shoulders. To him the executive authority of the entire republic is primarily entrusted. He initiates and gives the final stamp of approval to all national legislations. He is a constitutional being by design, a national pathfinder, a commander-in chief of state affairs and a personification of the nation’s constitutional project.
IsiXhosa:
Kuyenzeka ukuba sinike i-Ofisi kaMongameli oko kumele ukuba ikwenze ngokoMgaqo-siseko, njengoko kutyikityiwe kwaye thina bantu bakhoyo kufuneka xa senza izigxeko ibe zizigxeko
ezisisondezayo ekwakheni uMzantsi Afrika. Loo nto iza kwenza ukuba abo basichongileyo basibone sigxininisa kwintsebenziswano, kumanyano nokubheka phambili.
English:
There is a difference between robust debate and the undermining of a person’s human dignity, denigration of a constitutional office on the matter.
IsiXhosa:
Isahluko sesibini salo Mgaqo-siseko sithetha ngamalungelo oluntu abantu baseMzantsi Afrika ekufuneka ukuba bawaxhamle. Loo nto ithetha ukuba nomnye okwenye i-ofisi kumele ukuba anikwe intlonipho nelungelo alifaneleyo. Kaloku sinemvelaphi apho izidima zabantu zazirhuqelwa eludakeni. Ngeli xesha lokukhokela kwethu sithi leyo into kufuneka ibeyinto yayizolo khona ukuze singaphindi sibanjwe yibandezelo nentlupheko.
English:
We have been elected on the basis of the manifesto of our political parties. However, there is only one political party
that overwhelmingly the majority of the South African citizens have elected to form government.
IsiXhosa:
Besiphume sonke apha sisithi ebantwini silungele ukukhokela kodwa abantu beli lizwe baye bayiqonda ukuba bafuna bani abakhokele ngeli xesha. Sithi ke masisebenzeni kunye kuba singakwazi ukuba senze lukhulu njengabemi boMzantsi Afrika. UKhongolose usathunyiwe ukuba athwale zonke iimfuno zakhe kwaye noxanduva lwesizwe lubekwe kuye.
English:
As the ANC we are committed to ensure that voices of all our constituencies are heard. ANC members are committed to become, once again, the tribunes of the people. We need to find new and better ways for organised people to come to public hearings and to take Parliament closer to our people through its activities. ANC is a leader of the society and has a track record that has spanned over a century.
IsiXhosa:
Umkhomba-ndlela ukhona kwaye nexwebhu lwezithembiso zolonyulo luyibeka elubala into eza kwenziwa. Besele nditshilo ukuba imigomo engama-21 ibonakalisiwe ukuba kuza kwenzeka ntoni na ngale minyaka mihlanu. Ezinye ziza kuthi zityakatywe mva kodwa uMongameli uyibeke yacaca ukuba umbutho wesizwe...
English:
... that led the campaign that culminated to the adoption of the Freedom Charter in Kliptown which was on this day...
IsiXhosa:
... awusayi kuyityeshela nanini na.
English:
The President has also highlighted government’s commitment to place research and evidence at the centre of policy making and implementation. He further explained seven priorities for the sixth administration. As the ANC we affirm that the National Development Plan, NDP, which is supported by the overwhelming majority of parties, represented in this House and the most civil society formations. Our people have told us that they
expect government to tackle social and economic challenges in a much more efficient, cost-effective and decisive manner. That is why the President has moved swiftly to integrate departments because we are a listening organisation. We have listened to the South Africans, to other parties who proposed to us to cut down, integrate or merge the departments. The President has done exactly that. South Africans appreciate the determination by the various spheres of government to curb unnecessary spending.
To demonstrate, in the provincial legislatures we have seen how they have cut the expenditure on the state of the provincial address as well as in the state of the nation address.
IsiXhosa:
Siza kujika sibengookhala kwi-ANC abaza kuqinisekisa ukuba iKhabhinethi yenza zonke izibophelelo njengoko izithembiso zolonyulo zisiyalela khona ukuze kuncothulwe neengcambu izigidi zabantu kwintlupheko , ukuswela imisebenzi nokungalingani.
Asisokuze sivume ukutsalelwa etshungwini.
English:
ANC will not descend into an arena of childishness and political vulgarity no matter how much we are provoked, like you are doing but...
IsiXhosa:
... thina siza kuhlala sizikise amehlo kuba kaloku sithunyiwe apha. [Kwahlekwa.]
English:
We cannot be throwing rhetoric insults. We challenge our colleagues from all parties to help us to profile our debates in these Houses. Our people have elected this Parliament...
IsiXhosa:
... ukuba sonke sikwazi ukusebenzisana kunye. Chairman Mao Zedong famously said:
Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.
Ultimately, we would like to be judged by the manner in which the institution delivers to the aspirations of all people of South Africa. While the ANC has overwhelmingly majority in this House, we believe in building consensus by fostering a culture of mature political engagement on matters affecting Parliament. We call on all parties here that we must use all structures that are available at our disposal and most importantly the Chief Whips Forum as the most important platform to manage our strategic issues. This will allow the two Houses of Parliament to get on with their business of exercising oversight, making passing quality legislation and effectively representing our people.
As the ANC we fully endorse the manifesto that was presented here by the President and we are saying that we are ready to work and we are going to work together with all the people of South Africa. We know what is it that we have committed through the manifesto and we will be doing exactly that, notwithstanding the economic challenges of our country. Growing the economy is one of the most challenging aspects of our country. We are prepared to work together with all the South Africans to ensure
that we close the gap between the poor and the rich. South Africa, as a country must be the South Africa that has a South African that is also committed to come out and help the government. We must work in a social contract with the people of South Africa to ensure that we receive what our people have sent us to do here.
We must also take into cognisance that our public servants must also be the public servants that are ready to work as per the mandate of the budget speeches and the policy speeches that will be tabled in this Parliament. We therefore say that we fully support the manifesto and we are going to play our robust oversight to all the members of the executive council. We have a clear plan of action which is a five year manifesto. I thank you very much.
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, hon President and Deputy President, hon members of this House, fellow South Africans.
Setswana:
Bagaetsho dumelang.
English:
Indeed, at this very moment a child is born in this country. That child will be born in a modern high-tech hospital, most likely in a hospital that has a 3D-scan and she will be surrounded by both her parents there. That same child will soon be taken home in a place that will be protected by private security. She will later attend a school with teachers who are present all the time and ultimately she will be one of the few who learn how to code and have opportunity. That child will get through university and ultimately will have a career that stretches out before her. Of course, she will have to work hard, but you can be guaranteed that, in fact, her future will always be there if she chooses to exercise that opportunity.
But fellow South Africans, at the same time as all of that, there will be another child.
Setswana:
Ono ke ngwana yo o tla belegelwang kwa kliliniking. Ngwana yo o tlileng go bolawa ke tlala.
English:
That will be a child who will grow up in a community gripped by fear. She will have no choice but to go to the school nearest to her and she will know that even when she goes to school there may not be teachers in that classroom. She will know that when she goes to that school she will walk for kilometres if she’s in a rural community.
Setswana:
Ngwana oo o tlile go nna kwa lekeisheneng koo e leng gore ditsotsi di tlabo di mo tsenella ko ntlong.
English:
Maybe it might happen that she will finish school, maybe it might happen that she will get a degree, maybe it might happen. But in truth, many of us are starting to know that if she’s not one of the lucky ones she’s unlikely to work, she’s unlikely to find a job.
Fellow South Africans, this is the South Africa that we live in, this is our country. [Applause.] We live in two separate worlds. When we speak about inequality it’s not just a question of income inequality, it’s an inequality of opportunities, it’s an inequality of dreams and it’s an inequality of possibilities. We live in a country of outsiders and insiders. And right now we are making no headway in breaking down that wall between those who have and those who have not.
The tragedy is that on Thursday evening the President gave a vision of a future of South Africa with hi-tech cities, high- speed trains and classrooms where children are taught to code and analyse data and no child goes hungry.
Mr President, I get that. My greatest fear is simply this: Is that, that will only be available to a few of our children and many of our children in this country would be left out of opportunities in our nation. [Applause.]
It cannot be a South Africa for some and not a South Africa for all. And that’s why in the DA we have a dream motivated building one South Africa for all. [Applause.]
Hon members, three stats released this past month paint a very dire picture. It’s a picture of a record unemployment that now stands at 38%. It’s a picture where our economy contracted by 3,2% and ultimately that shows that our investment is declining. If you read that picture, you can see that our country is in crisis. It’s a crisis that we need to face head on.
Our priority must be to fix what is broken in South Africa and to build a South Africa where we can be guaranteed an equality of opportunities. The party of an equal shot, not an equal outcome. So, to do that, we must table reforms. We need a bold plan, we need the right budget, we need the right people and most importantly, we need a plan.
We need to stop debating the mandate of the SA Reserve Bank, it’s already in the Constitution, what we need to do is get on with the business of doing. [Applause.]
So, Mr President, while you are looking to build smart cities, I want to say “Why don’t we make the cities that we have, already, smart?” [Applause.] “Why don’t we broaden access and connect young people to information and opportunities that remain available to a few?”
At one place to start, Mr President, is with the allocation of broad spectrum, we will not reduce data cost until that decision is settled.
So, Mr President, furthermore, instead of building a new bullet train let’s rather fix and protect the trains we have and give them to provinces to run. [Applause.]
We need interventions that will ultimately ensure that we halve unemployment in our lifetime and make sure that, in fact, we give young people a national civilian service where they can work.
Let me tell you something, by the end of the 19th Century cities like New York and London were facing a crisis that seemed to
have no solution. As these cities grew and developed, the thousands and thousands of horses needed to transport people around had left the streets knee-deep in manure.
New York had to employ an army of workers to clear the streets every day. In London, The Times newspaper reported back in 1894 that every street in the city would be buried under nine feet of manure within 50 years.
Of course, this didn’t happen. And the reason for that was because there was a bold new solution. In fact, instead of us having horses, let’s rather make cars.
Henry Ford’s new and affordable motorcar had replaced horses in the cities, the manure problem went away, and of course, history was changed forever.
If we want to challenge the issues that we face today, we cannot be giving solutions that give us faster horses, what we need is bold and new interventions that transition South Africa.
All that the President wanted to give us on Thursday is a faster horse. We need a plan and we need one now, urgently, towards a South Africa of the future. And this plan must respond to these three challenges, Mr President, it must respond to what are we going to do around climate, what are we going to do around technology and what are we going to do around disease management.
So, we must ask ourselves these simple questions: What kind of South Africa do we want our children to inherit? What kind of skills do we need to help them with to step into the future? And can we make sure that our population and our cities are resilient? These are the questions we to have.
We no longer have the luxury of talking about climate. The fact of the matter is that even during these elections we saw floods in KwaZulu-Natal and a drought her in the Western Cape.
So, in truth, if we don’t attend to this question and build cities that are resilient, it doesn’t matter who is in government, South Africa will face difficult days ahead.
Furthermore, elsewhere in the country people are already responding to technology. We are using solutions like Smartphone screening to detect cervical cancer. This must be something we include as part of our plans in rural healthcare.
I hear everybody speaking about the Fourth industrial Revolution. Fellow South Africans, giving tablets to our children is not the Fourth Industrial Revolution, that’s the Third Industrial Revolution. [Applause.]
We should be preparing our children for jobs that don’t exist; that’s the job now. And, so, the overwhelming majority of our jobs are not going to come from mining or manufacturing, they are going to come from fields such as data mining, digital design, coding and a host of technology-driven micro enterprises.
We need a plan that modernizes our economy for the future. Because lets learn this simple lesson: I grew up with Kodak, I grew up with things like Nokia, but in truth, if you look around this room, nobody uses Nokia phones and nobody is worried about
Kodak. The world has changed. If we don’t change with it, learn the lesson from MultiChoice. All of these companies had a monopoly on the world but because of the changes that are taking place were rendered obsolete. The point is simply this, if we don’t adept and change to the world that is upon us, we will fall behind and our people will continue to be unemployed. [Applause.]
Mr President, our vision for South Africa is a South Africa for all in which each child has access to quality education, a modernized economy that puts at least a job in every home, that gives access to healthcare and basic services to all, where citizens live in safe communities free from crime and corruption; a South Africa that is reconciled, a prosperous one and a beacon of hope for the developing world.
That’s only the first part. The second part is actually that we must table a plan, we must figure out a way as to how do we get there from where we are and therefore, inevitably, we have to make hard decisions. It can’t be business as usual. We have to make the tough choices about standing up to unions and alliance
partners. We have to actually upset the network of patronage that has kept so many of the cadres in jobs for far too long despite what they deliver. We have to rethink our policies that haven’t worked in the last decade. And ultimately, we have to step out of the mindset and ideology that belongs in a different era.
None of this is easy. These are tough decisions. That’s why it hasn’t happened. So, instead of talking about real tough reforms, we maybe talk about dreams, we maybe talk about a faster horse; as others on Twitter described it, we maybe talk about Wakanda. [Laughter.]
Fellow South Africans, our nation is in deep crisis. And I believe we can it around if we are willing to act now and make decisive choices. We can begin by building a modernized African country comprised of strong individuals who are able to compete with the best in the world.
Setswana:
Ba ntse ba bua ba re ...
English:
... the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today. We need to plant the trees for the future of our children; knowing that we, ourselves, may never sit under those trees, but we must plant them today. [Applause.]
And therefore, fellow South Africans, I want to propose seven reforms that will enable us to become the modern, inclusive country we all dream of. [Interjections.]
The first reform that we must have is the reform to our state- owned enterprises, SOEs. The last thing we need now is to be committing ourselves and billions of rand to decades of this dinosaur called Eskom. We must immediately split Eskom into two entities and have one company for distribution and another for build. We must allow independent power producers to come on board. [Applause.]
Our country is rich in solar, and if we get this right, what independent power producers and solar will do to Eskom will be
what Uber has already done to transport, it will bring change, the change that we need. [Applause.]
When we build new green economies, we can allow for workers to be reskilled and be reincluded in an economy of the future. We need to allow cities to buy energy directly from independent power producers and stop ourselves from being coal dependent in the next ten years. We need change, and we need reform now. And while we are at it Mr President, I hope you can be bold enough to sell SA Airways, SAA, and focus that money on fixing the trains that we need. [Applause.]
The second reform I want to propose is that I want to propose a reform to our education. Fellow South Africans, we have to introduce charter schools. What charter schools are, are a private-public partnership that allows for our children to be able to walk to schools closer to them, that can give them a quality of education that is private school compared. It will make sure we stand up to unions and give the best teachers the best infrastructure and technology for children closest to communities.
Setswana:
Le nna ke lapile ke go bona bana ba rona ba tswa kwa makeisheneng ba tsaya ditekesi le diterena ba ya kwa dikolong tse di kgakala go na le dikoloi gaufi le bone. A re ba fe dikolo tse dib a berekelang kwa ba nnang teng. [Legofi.]
English:
So that teaching our children to code and to analyse is not a luxury for a few but it is a luxury for all our children in South Africa, whether rural or urban. We need reform and we need it now. [Applause.]
The third reform I want to propose, Mr President, is to our healthcare. What remains true is that you might pursue the National Health Insurance, NHI; it is expensive and it is unaffordable. In truth, it will waste further resources and time in an unrealistic pipedream for which we simply can’t afford.
So, I would propose that our DA’s health plan which gives a range of solutions that will make quality healthcare available for all our citizens. So that whether you are rich or poor you
can gain access to primary healthcare in both public and private healthcare facilities. This solution will provide access to free primary healthcare to be rolled out quicker, cheaper and more fairly. We must also use healthcare technology because this is the future of disease management.
The fourth reform is that we must reform our labour legislation. Mr President, if we want to be true, we no longer the investment destination of choice because of our rigorous labour legislation. Our current rigid legislation has not only driven away investment, it has also created two classes of citizens: the employed and the unemployed.
So, I am urging, let’s look at the tax structure and introduce tax incentives for people who create jobs and setup a jobs and justice fund so that we can invest in research and design, so that we focus on industries of the future.
Let’s relook at the national minimum wage in its current form and allow for sectors’ specific minimum wage; and in fact, give
young people opt out clauses so that they can participate in the economy.
The fifth reform is that we have to build a capable and a clean state. I find it shocking that we come here in Parliament after the revelations of the Zondo Commission have confirmed one thing, and through cadre deployment and monopoly politics we have ended up with state capture.
In truth, the deployments that have taken place in government, SOEs or Chapter Nine Institutions have resulted in one thing, where cadres put the interest of the party instead of the interest of the citizens first. [Applause.]
It is deeply worrying that there are people who are going to be chairing committees that frankly should be in jail rather than chairing committees. [Applause.]
Mr President, I want to ask you. Let’s allow the Public protector to do her job, to table the report into allegations into Bosasa. Let’s set up a parliamentary ad hoc committee where
you can come and give your version of the story. And let’s stop delaying, let’s get to the bottom of this and clean out corruption, once and for all, in South Africa today. [Applause.]
If we are going to reform the state we should have made Cabinet much smaller. Instead, the President made it look as if he’s cutting Cabinet and introduced Deputy Ministers, doubled them up. I want to argue this case that we can reduce the state to 15 ministries, eradicate Deputy Ministers and make sure money is available for the people of this country. [Applause.]
The sixth reform I want to table is in fact that we must extend property ownership to millions of dispossessed South Africans. Our history is such that too many were dispossessed, in both urban and rural. Therefore, let’s give our citizens the right own title. The right, so that black and white South Africans must be able to access the benefit of owning private property as an economic asset that allows them to transfer wealth to future generations. While we at it, let’s give shareholding to younger South Africans so that they can transfer wealth; so that one day we can say we did break the back of the apartheid plan where our
people cannot transfer wealth one generation to the next. [Applause.]
The seventh reform I want to say, Mr President, is that if we want to keep South Africans safe at home, in rural communities, on farms, let us give the SA Police into well run, well trained, highly professional crime-fighting units, let us give this to the hands of the provincial governments. [Applause.] Let us reform policing so that provinces can run it. Hand them over to provincial governments.
Fellow South Africans, if we reform we can begin a way to the future of South Africa. Ten years from now, I want to see a South Africa that looks completely different from today.
We can halve unemployment. DA governments are already forging ahead, and have begun innovating, modernizing and growing the cities. [Interjections.] That’s why where we govern, you’ll find that unemployment is the lowest in the country due to our obsessive focus on city-led. [Applause.]
Today, Stellenbosch has already got an ecosystem in the most productive in Africa, employing over 40 O00 people; more than Lagos and Nairobi combined, and rightly earning the title of Africa’s tech hub.
In terms of renewal energy, eight out of ten municipalities in the Western Cape have already got laws in place to allow for independent solar energy generation; and most of them want to sell energy back to the grid.
This is what a city-led economic growth plan would look like. That’s why we are taking this government to court to ask that they must give the rights to the City of Cape Town to be able to generate energy for citizens here. [Applause.] And we will do it to all the cities.
In terms of education, the DA-run Western Cape’s investment in the future of eLearning has seen over R1,4 billion invested in the past five years. It’s already delivered over 1 160 refreshed computer labs, 28 870 devices for learners and 11 000 resources for our online portal.
To date, 70% of all teachers are trained in eTraining and over 80% of schools are connected to free internet. The Western Cape’s retention rate from Grades 10 - 12 is the highest in the country.
In healthcare, already we know that more of our citizens are connected online and we keep 13 million of citizens’ online records to make sure we give effective healthcare.
Fellow South Africans, we have already started working.
Setswana:
Ga re bue fela. [Tsenoganong.]
English:
We are working.
So, I want to appeal to you, Mr President, and I also want to appeal to all South Africans: Let’s work together to achieve this plan. I have pledged my support to assisting you when you needed support, when you build South Africa, I want to ask you
to help the places where the DA isn’t government so that we can continue the work that we have. [Interjections.]
I would urge you, Mr President, let us free up small businesses to create work, let us sell off our beleaguered SOEs, let us modernize and de-unionize our children’s basic education. We have a plan and let’s begin to work on it.
I want to say this: Every single day in this country I draw inspiration from the teacher who shows up in the classroom despite what has happened, I draw inspiration from the healthcare worker who goes to our hospital, I draw inspiration from the businessman who even when confronted with profit and profit losses still keeps people employed. And in this month I think we need to draw inspiration from the young people of 1976. When they looked out and realised that they could not spend their days dreaming, they decided to take to the streets and fight for what was rightfully theirs.
Mr President, time for talking is over, it is time for us to act, right now. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Madam Speaker; His Excellency, the President of the Republic of South Africa, President Ramaphosa; Deputy President of the Republic, David Mabuza; hon members of the House; distinguished guests in the gallery; fellow South Africans, hon Maimane speaks as if we are still in an election campaign. He seems to have forgotten that the reason that we had the President of the ANC delivering the state of the nation address was precisely because their priorities and manifesto were rejected by the people of this country. [Applause.] It is the manifesto of the governing party that returned to govern that was accepted by our people. [Applause.] President, therefore, you were standing here last week and delivered the state of the nation address. If hon Maimane and the parties in this House want to join us in growing South Africa and making South Africa a better place to live in, our manifesto becomes the compact that we must speak to. That is the manifesto that the people of this country have chosen. Hon Maimane and your party, we invite you to join us. [Applause.]
I would like to express our most sincere gratitude to the people of South Africa for bestowing upon us the responsibility to lead
this beautiful nation once again. We reiterate the oath of office we took that we will serve our people with honesty, sincerity and diligence. I also extend a word of gratitude to our movement, the African National Congress, under the capable leadership of President Ramaphosa, for entrusting us with the responsibility of implementing the vision of growing a better South Africa for all.
I am grateful to our predecessors, those who remain part of the Cabinet as well as those who have since resigned from Parliament. We are taking the baton from you with humility and we remain committed in our pursuit of the collective dreams and aspirations of our people.
The attributes of a developmental state, which we strive to build, include its ability to improve the human capital base of the economy; reducing inequalities, in both per capita income and expenditure; sufficiently modernising its public service, embedding such a state in communities, and fundamentally transforming the economy; and being an entrepreneurial state.
Our strategic thrust led by the President, as outlined in his state of the nation address, reflects our commitment to achieving the status of a developmental state. As a country, we are governed by a range of values and principles, and these lay a solid foundation for building a thriving and inclusive economy and a stable society.
The 25-year review that we have conducted demonstrates quite clearly that we have done very well in the expansion of social services to the majority of our people across all parts of the country, including rural areas. The challenge remains the transformation of the economy, which has not performed well.
The review identifies the structural elements of the economy that remain unchanged and which continue to undermine our economic growth efforts. These include the persistent challenges of spatial injustice and lack of access to land and assets for the majority of our people. It also points to a continued lack of competition in the ownership of the economy, underdevelopment of the small business sector, which would allow greater participation in the economy.
This analysis, our election manifesto, together with the collective voice of our people, whom we interacted with, as we criss-crossed the length and breadth of the country during the election campaign inform our priorities.
The President reaffirmed the NDP 2030 as our lodestar and our vision approved by all parties in society and in this House. While progress was slow, particularly on the economic side, we confirm our intension to achieve our NDP targets to address the challenges of inequality, poverty, unemployment and our challenge with economic growth. The plan for the continued implementation of this vision was eloquently and succinctly articulated by the President in the following words, and I quote:
As South Africa enters the next 25 years of democracy, and in pursuit of the objectives of the NDP, let us proclaim a bold and ambitious goal, a unifying purpose, to which we dedicate our resources and energies.
All our intervention strategies and strategic programmes are guided by this overarching plan. The seven priorities announced by the President emanating from our electoral mandate will play a catalytic role in achieving a number of NDP targets in the next five and 10 years. Government departments will be measured according to their performance in achieving the following priority areas: economic transformation and job creation; education, skills and health; consolidating the social wage through reliable and quality basic services; spatial integration, human settlements and local government; social cohesion and safe communities; building a capable, ethical and developmental state; and a better Africa and world.
Let me remind you that the purpose of the state of the nation address is for the President to report on the status of the nation and outline the overall strategic direction and priorities. This is followed by this debate, where more information is provided on key themes of the President’s speech.
The purveyors of the misguided narrative that the President’s state of the nation address was slim on detail are disingenuous
and very economical with the truth. The President made specific mention of sectors that can turn our economic fortunes around, elucidated areas of great potential, including stimulating local manufacturing and promoting the “buy local” campaign, developing new markets in agriculture and agro-processing, and increasing international tourist arrivals to 21 million by 2030. He went on to say, and I quote:
Drawing on our successes in the automotive sector, we will implement master plans developed with business and labour in industries like clothing and textiles, gas, chemicals and plastics, renewables, and steel and metals fabrication sectors.
Furthermore, the various sector Ministers’ speeches, which are now scheduled for 9 to 17 July 2019 in the precinct of Parliament, will provide even further details of the programmes for implementation. All these platforms allow for debate and engagement at the appropriate level of detail until the process is concluded.
Those who claim that the state of the nation address is all about dreams do not understand that all major revolutions worldwide began with an idea. A people without dreams and without vision and purpose, is a people with no future. It was the dreamers who gathered in Mangaung in 1912 and formed an organisation that would wage a resistance struggle against colonialism and apartheid oppression, informed by the dream of a free South Africa, which we all now enjoy. [Applause.]
In this epoch in South Africa, we are fortunate to have a great visionary in the caliber of President Ramaphosa as the Head of State. He is a big dreamer and a big doer at the same time. [Applause.]
The new smart city that the President talked about is our collective dream. It will be followed by decisive action, wherein we invite young innovative minds who are ICT savvy to share their ideas on the design and architecture of such a future smart city. It is our fervent view that such a smart city must be located in one our rural provinces so as to disrupt the colonial and apartheid spatial patterns. [Applause.]
In his previous state of the nation address in February this year, the President made a commitment to reduce the number of Ministries and departments, in order to save costs and rationalise the structure of government. At the start of this sixth term, the President indeed finalised the rationalisation by reducing the number of Ministers from 38 to 30 and reducing the number of departments by five. It is also the President’s constitutional right and prerogative – let me repeat this - to appoint and disappoint Ministers and Deputy Ministers. Those who wish to exercise this right must first win the elections. I just hope the EFF is listening.
The successful reduction of government departments is a very important achievement, which will result in more efficiency, and integration of programmes for better results at a lower cost to government.
For the new Medium-Term Strategic Framework for 2019 to 2024, which includes resourcing, social compacts and accountability mechanisms, we have a limited set of priorities emanating from the electoral mandate. The new implementation paradigm is a
radical shift to a comprehensive framework, inclusive of resourcing, integration of all public-sector institutions, social partners and accountability mechanisms. This informs all levels of government planning through an integrated planning framework.
It will put more emphasis on social partnerships, resources and skills deployment by the private sector and government. It allows for a clear line of sight for the President, Cabinet and Parliament. The five-year NDP implementation priorities will be spatially referenced, in accordance with the National Spatial Development Framework and will be monitored through an implementation delivery model based on district municipalities.
The broad outline of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework, including the five-year NDP implementation plan was discussed in detail with all the premiers and Ministers at the Cabinet lekgotla and is being tabled at provincial executive makgotla [councils], as I speak. The lekgotla decision was that in one month, all departments and Ministers must finalise their five-
year implementation plan, commitments, and their reprioritisation, and resource allocation.
The NDP five-year implementation plan forms the basis for departmental strategic plans and annual performance plans. The structure of government, including Cabinet clusters, Ministerial and technical implementation fora for co-ordination and implementation will be streamlined for better results and effective delivery. Similarly, early in this Sixth Parliament, we will be presenting the proposed Integrated Planning Framework, which will ensure better integration across all levels of government.
The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, which I am privileged to lead, has spearheaded a public-private growth initiative, PPGI, to promote economic growth and create jobs. In this regard, I want to thank my predecessor, Minister Dlamini- Zuma who was part of the beginning of this initiative. The private sector has committed investment, as articulated by the President, of R840 billion in 43 projects in over 19 sectors of the economy, to create 155 000 jobs in the next five years.
Government has committed to prioritise the elimination of growth inhibitors or binding constraints to ensure the successful implementation of these projects.
As government, we further commit to a robust community engagement and consultation programme through the various lzimbizo programmes, involving the President and Ministers and we will include this in Ministerial performance agreements. We shall ensure that government departments prioritise payment of their debt to each other, to municipalities, to state-owned entities, and the payment of service providers within 30 days. We shall revive Operation Masakhane to encourage our communities to pay for services they receive, and restore the culture of payment.
We are broadening our monitoring system to include frontline service delivery monitoring, citizen-based monitoring, community-based monitoring and more effective use of the Presidential Hotline. All these will be linked to our programme of action and its biannual review weeks and linked to
performance assessments of Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and directors-general.
A capable state requires effectively co-ordinated state institutions with skilled public servants who are committed to the public good and capable of delivering consistently high quality services, while prioritising the nation’s developmental objectives. We will ensure the appointment of the Head of Public Administration, as espoused in the NDP 2030, by April 2020 to spearhead the professionalisation of the Public Service and move to make appointments of heads of departments more permanent, to promote stability in the Public Service.
Developing a capable state requires commitment in overcoming corruption and lack of accountability and this needs a strong political will. Mr President, you have that in abundance. We need sound policies and active citizenry. We shall also ensure improvement in financial and performance management and audit outcomes for all levels of government with a targeted increase of unqualified and clean audit outcomes in the next five years. Similarly, we shall ensure the promotion of ethics and integrity
management throughout the Public Service and private sector and enhance the capacity of law-enforcement agencies to fight corruption, crime and state capture.
We must congratulate the President for achieving a 50/50 split in gender representation in his executive. [Applause.] Gender mainstreaming must be replicated across all spheres of government, as we continue to build a nonsexist society. It remains one of the imperatives that we will closely monitor in the Public Service.
Allow me to invoke the profound words of our iconic writer, the late Prof Es’kia Mphahlele, whose centenary we celebrate this year, and I quote:
Everybody who is willing to work and has a nation-building vision rather than aspirations for a sectional power base should be allowed to come forward and contribute ideas and hands.
With those words, I call upon all South Africans to join hands with us, in pursuit of a better and more prosperous South Africa. It is a new dawn; let us rise to its promise. On behalf of the ANC and millions of South Africans who voted us into power, I fully support the President’s state of the nation address. [Applause.]
Mr J S MALEMA: Hon Speaker and Chair of the NCOP, Comrade President, let me also salute the red benches of the EFF 53 battalion led by the EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu and secretary-general Godrich Gardee.
Fellow South Africans, we want to first send our deepest condolences to the families that lost their loved ones in an accident that claimed 24 young lives in Limpopo.
Sepedi:
A meoya ya bona e robale ka khutšo.
English:
We stand here to express our revolutionary gratitude to more than 1,8 million voters. At their centre are the security guards, domestic workers, farmworkers and mineworkers, petrol attendants, the youth, professionals, students and others who voted for the EFF. You have not wasted your votes. We heard your cries and are here to champion your interest without failure.
We vow to you that we shall never cease to ensure that Parliament remains a House with teeth that bite, particularly at incompetent, mediocre and corrupt fat cats who are permanently sleeping on duty and only wake up on pay day or on the day of stealing.
As expected, we are starting today to hold the executive accountable. We have been convened here for the whole week to debate what was supposed to be the state of the nation address by the newly elected President – a man who held the ambition to be president for almost three decades.
Indeed, this is our duty except that in this case, we really have no state of the nation address to debate. What we have is a
misguided, incoherent, contradictory and proven to be futile ideas mixed in a bag of fantasies.
For a man to be hyped up by the entire local and international media, only to pitch up extremely low, is tragic. We were abused here during the election campaign that saw people like Oprah Winfrey rented and sneaked into the country in the name of the global citizen festival to come and tell us how Madiba wanted you, Mr President, to be president.
After your speech, we now ask ourselves as to what did Madiba see in you which we can’t see? [Laughter.] Your speech didn’t inspire confidence and hope amongst the poor, young and old people of South Africa.
Your own benches here were not moved at all; hence they couldn’t even sing a song in salutation of your tired speech, like they normally do when they feel revived. They didn’t hear umkhombandlela [direction giving]. They didn’t know and still don’t know what is expected of them from your speech.
You didn’t recover any of the lost votes. If anything, those who voted for you are now regretting because they wasted their votes on a President without a plan [Applause.]
You have no new ideas on how to break the country out of a colonial and apartheid legacy of underdevelopment, poverty, landlessness and unemployment. You don’t know how the collapsed health system which led to dysfunctional hospitals is going to be fixed. The schools have become war zones with teachers and learners living in permanent fear because they were failed by their own government.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, is not buying study materials, paying rent and fees for the students yet the fat salaries of senior managers are paid monthly without fail. No one knows as to how this problem is going to be resolved.
Mr President, you couldn’t provide us with a solid vision with regard to the continent. You couldn’t speak to the African continent despite the ongoing massacre in Sudan, instability in Libya, the economic crisis in Zimbabwe which led to huge
unemployment and currency crisis, rightwing terrorism in Kenya and the ongoing occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco.
You couldn’t render a message of solidarity and hope to the Palestinian people who live under apartheid Israel and the people of Venezuela who are fighting against imperialism.
You failed to tell us what is it that you would do differently from how the ANC has handled the economy over the past 25 years. The central tenants of your message remained trapped in the neoliberal conception of development that has failed to work in South Africa and the whole continent.
You were not even brave enough to repeat the manifesto promises that you made across the country during the campaign for elections; amongst these, is an urgent question of land expropriation without compensation. [Applause.] Somehow, your speech was limited to four points: fighting corruption, fighting crime, asking black people to pay electricity and getting 10- year-olds to read to understand.
Beyond these, it was confusion about jobs to be created. At one point it was 155 000 jobs in the next five years, and then it was 2 million jobs in 10 years. Yet the National Development Plan, NDP, speaks of a different target – 10 million jobs by 2030.
In addition, your own Job Summit facilitated agreements with private business to hold back on retrenchments and help create over 200 000 jobs. Capital is not only creating any jobs but doing the opposite – retrenching workers, demonstrating that you are not this captain of industry you are portrayed to be. Your influence and command on private capital is over exaggerated.
This entire confusion explains why the President resorts to fantasizing. So, after being stuck for four hours in a train in Soshanguve, the billionaire President was so traumatised that he now fantasizes about a bullet train from Messina to Cape Town [Laughter.] Before the much complicated bullet train, Mr President, you need to get the Soshanguve train to work and take people to work on time. [Applause.]
Comrade President, when you got stuck in a train, we were excited that now the President knows the reality that our people are subjected to. You come here and said nothing about that experience. Since you have seen it with your own naked eyes, you never told us that this is the plan on how you are going to fix train problems in South Africa.
You said nothing about transport to a point where your Minister of Transport became so frustrated and had to quote you on your bullet train dream because he couldn’t find anything relating to transport in your speech. [Applause.]
The most tragic is the ignorance and disrespect shown to the conference resolutions of your own organisation simply because you personally do not agree with them. Mr President, we urge you to recall that conference resolutions are binding. Even Nelson Mandela with famous and world celebrated stature still recognised them as the mandate from the membership which must be implemented.
Let us remind you that on page 31, resolution 15 under the economic transformation section ... [Interjections.] ... it reads: expropriation of land without compensation should be amongst the key mechanisms available to government to give effect to land reform and redistribution. [Applause.] On page 32 of your own resolutions, resolution 29 of the economic transformation section reads: it is however a historical anomaly that there are private shareholders of the Reserve Bank.
Conference resolves that the Reserve Bank should be 100% owned by the state. [Applause.]
This is the same document which includes the election outcomes of the leadership including your own election as the president, which shows that the election of leaders is as important as resolutions on policy.
We were taught as young leaders in the youth league by Kgalema Motlanthe that we must respect our own decisions or risk rendering the collective structure that took them irrelevant. He also taught us of the necessity we have to translate conference resolution into a programme of action. But the document in your
own organisation called “the Eye of the Needle” - a document about the calibre of leaders that must lead a movement; we are told; once a decision has been taken on the basis of the majority views, it binds everyone, including those who held a contrary view.
You will therefore recall that as a result of this principle; Chris Hani was angry at a decision to suspend the arm struggle. Once a resolution was affirmed by the higher structure, it was binding. He had to go around the country and explain it to others as if it was his own view. [Applause.]
Mr President, in the 2018 state of the nation address, you came here and said, guided by the resolution of the 54th national conference of the governing party, the approach to the land reform will include expropriation of land without compensation. In January, this year, you repeated and said; we will support the work of the Constitutional Review Committee tasked with the review of section 25 of the Constitution to set a provision of expropriation of land without compensation.
Now that you have been elected, you have turned your back on the promises you made to the electorate ... [Applause.] ... because you undermine our people like that. Last week, you have completely retreated on expropriation of land without compensation and nationalisation of the Reserve Bank.
Let us warn you; if you do not respect the resolution of your own conference, imagine what message you are sending to those who did not want you to be the President. You are saying to them that the decision or the outcome of you being elected as a President is not binding since all other decisions taken in the same conference are not binding. [Applause.]
What is the state of our country today, Mr President? Unemployment which has reached a new high level of 27,6%; meaning that over 9,9 million young people are unemployed in South Africa. We must create jobs because when you say that you are going to create 2 million jobs in 10 years, you are almost saying to more than 7 million young people that you are not going to get jobs for the next 10 years. That is why you are saying 2 million.
An honest President would have said, even if you elected me, the seven million of you will not get jobs because I have no plan to create jobs.
Comrade President, it must be made clear that the crisis in Higher Education will not be resolved, particularly under the new leadership of the Department of Higher Education. It has no capacity. It has demonstrated before that it doesn’t have the interest of the black child at heart.
Let us warn you that this free education you have promised our people is not being delivered. There are no proper libraries. Our children are not receiving learning materials because NSfas doesn’t have the capacity to give those children. No access to food and accommodation and that is what constitute the life of our children today.
Comrade President, we don’t need an amper [almost] free education. We need a real free education ... [Applause.] ... where there will be no registration fee; where all children who
qualify to get a seat at tertiary level will only be required to produce their matric results, earning them a seat at that level.
We must make it very clear, Mr President, that the issue of resolving inequality is not going to happen in South Africa if we do not resolve the land question. We must, therefore, warn you that if you do not expropriate land without compensation and return it to its rightful owners, the democratic project remains in permanent threat. Our people are going to engage in an unled revolution because they will be fighting for what rightfully belongs to them.
We sat here and warned the ANC that we cannot use the land question to encourage people to vote for us. It is an emotive issue and when we speak about it, we must mean it and not what you did to the electorate.
We will never resolve the social ills in our society if we do not resolve the land question. If we do not change the patterns of property ownership in South Africa, white people will continue to think that they are superior because they own the
means of production. [Applause.] We make no apology and neither are we ashamed to repeat the call that the land must be expropriated for equal redistribution.
The first and the most practical step towards creating quality life for our people is by giving them the land. We must not retreat in our endeavour to amend the Constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation.
Mr President, we will not win a fight against corruption if the President is involved in allegations of money laundering. We want the President to come clean, to explain and take the country into confidence as to who are the people who donated money in the CR17 campaign and what do they stand to benefit? I am not even sure if your party policy allows that you must set up a fund to finance a campaign if you want to become this or that in your own party. We need the names, not leaked documents, Mr President. You ought to call all these trustees and ask them to give you a report of who donated money and what are the expectations of those people.
We don’t have an intention, none whatsoever, to remove you as the President because your people have elected you democratically but if you’re going to come across as being a constitutional delinquent, we will be left with no option but to engage in an impeachment process.
We want you, President, to take full responsibility where a mistake was committed and announce which practical steps you are going to take in correcting those mistakes. We don’t see anyone in your party, if you were to be removed tomorrow, who can replace you; otherwise we will all be in a disaster. [Applause.] We are in a disaster now; we don’t want to be in a worse disaster. [Laughter.] Please, help South Africa by taking it in your confidence.
Make sure that you lead by example. You are a human being. You will commit mistakes. Where you have committed a mistake, you must come out and confess and say South Africans will decide my fate. Don’t be the most dishonest person beyond the one who came before you. We thought we were in a worse situation; we don’t want to be in an even worse situation than we were before. We
want a President that is ethical, honest and a President that opens up and say; how do we fix this mistake which was committed in my name?
President, we must tell you that people are poverty stricken now, people unemployed now, people are landless now, people are being raped now and crime is too high now. They are not dreaming about it. That is the reality of their lives. Stop dreaming!
Implement programmes that are going to change their lives. How can an ordinary man walk into a shop holding a R100 note in his pocket, with the power to buy a cool drink; arrive at the counter and say to the shopkeeper; I dream of buying cool drink when you have the power to buy a cool drink. [Laughter.] You have no luxury to dream; you are a President. You are an implementer. You have the power to make things happen.
You want a bullet train. Stop dreaming. Announce how you are going to do it. If you don’t know, ask Paul Mashatile; he spoke about monorail at some point in Gauteng and demonstrated how it can be done from Johannesburg to Soweto. We were still traumatised by Gautrain and said we don’t want monorail. You
come here worse than Paul Mashatile and just say bullet train from here to there and don’t tell us how it is going to be done.
You want to create a city. Stop dreaming. Tell us about the land where you want to create a city, how long will it take you, how much you need to create the city? You have the power to do so.
You have the power to fight corruption. Don’t be scared of corrupt individuals, they will not remove you. You are a President now. Don’t worry whether you’ll come back or not. Take a decision now. You have the power to take a decision. Stop dreaming about taking decisions when you have the power to take decisions.
When you appointed hon Pravin against the Public Protector’s report, you took your powers away because you said his review suspends the remedial action. You can’t even remove a Deputy Minister from now onwards. If the Public Protector says these are the remedial actions against a Deputy Minister; that Deputy Minister will lodge a review of that remedial action. You will be stuck with a corrupt Deputy Minister because Pravin made it
difficult for you to be a President. Stop dreaming. Take a decision. Wake up! [Interjections.]
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE NCOP: Chairperson of the NCOP, Comrade President and Comrade Deputy President, hon members, the ANC I am a member of has never assigned any one out of its structures to be its spokesperson. No one has a right to anoint himself as a guardian of ANC traditions and its conference resolutions. [Applause.]
As a tried and tested mass party of the revolution with accumulated fighting experience of over 107 years, the ANC has never been found wanting in finding solutions to its own challenges the problem faced in society. As a discipline force of the left, we have never chosen the rosy path of shortcuts, easy solutions to complex problems neither pondering on the popular sentiments with unrealistic solutions. We will resist that temptation even today.
The overwhelming majority of the people of South Africa voted in the national and provincial elections. They voted the ANC and
the President Cyril Ramaphosa at the head of it thus reaffirming their confidence to his leadership an uninterrupted service to the course of the revolution in South Africa.
Hon Chair, this state of the nation address takes place after the renewal of the democratic mandate of the ANC to lead a process of fundamental change and transformation in our country. It has captured the fundamental aspiration of our overwhelming majority of our people as articulated in the 2019 election manifesto of the ANC.
Contrary to some false narrative peddled by some in this House, the priorities identified by the President in his state of the nation address represent continuity in change in the uninterrupted efforts of the ANC to build a better future for all. These priorities are anchored on the vision of the Freedom Charter, the 1989 Harare Declaration, the Ready to Govern and other policy positions of the ANC adopted by various conferences.
Our 2019 election manifesto and government 25 Year Review has detailed our success stories over the last 25 years and the challenges that lie ahead. As a leading party of the revolution, we have drawn many hard lessons on the choices we have made, their implementation and successes and failures. This has emboldened us to be more focused rigorous in our implementation and monitoring of our plans as mandated by overwhelming majority of South Africans.
We will do this drawing from the accumulated experience of the last 25 years which has enriched our insights and wisdom on fundamental task of governance. Our experience of governance cannot be matched by any party in this House, although we will continue to humble ourselves by welcoming constructive contribution of every party that shares our vision on fundamental aspects transformation.
As the President has pointed out, we do this mindful of the harsh global and domestic economic conditions which continue to limit our capacity to accomplish our strategic goals at a scale
and tempo of our own choice. This calls for greater efficiency and prudent on the management of our limited resources.
We are further emboldened by the President who has demonstrated resilience and capacity to translate our policy priorities into action for building a capable and ethical state without fail over the last 16 months of his presidency.
The President has established various inquiries to look into the governance of some of our critical institutions like SA Revenue Service, the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the Public Investment Commission alongside Judicial Commission of Inquiry into allegations of state capture.
These Inquiries continue to make serious breakthroughs that have restored the confidence of our people. The establishment by the Hawks of the National Clean Audit Task Team in the municipalities continue to disrupt the comfort zone of rent seeking and corrupt patronage network that they have been looting municipal finances. Whilst we respect the fundamental constitutional principle of presumption of innocence until
proven guilty by a court of law, we salute these actions by the security establishment for the recent spate of arrests of municipal officials suspected of corruption and fraud across the country. This is indeed the new dawn in action, Mr President.
As this debate takes place on the 25th anniversary of our constitutional democracy, it imposes immense duty upon us to pause and take stock of the lessons of the past and efficacy and effectiveness of the architecture of our democratic state in fulfilling the strategic tasks we have set for ourselves. This we should do not out of intuition but on the basis of the concrete lessons of the past 25 years.
The abiding lesson of the past 25 years is that the people and the people alone are the decisive factor critical for the victory of the national democratic revolution. It is against this background that the ANC from 1994 till to date has always been paying high premium on the welfare and the needs of our people.
As demonstrated in the 25 Year Review, we have integrated the fragmented education system by creating one nonracial and nonracial education department with one curriculum for all.
Today, South African children are not denied education access to education because of their socioeconomic conditions through such policy intervention such as no fee paying schools, National School Nutrition Programme and scholar transport.
It is in this regard that we celebrate the success of Gauteng and the Free State Province for over a number of years for being leading provinces even with the matric results in our country. [Applause.]
Our social wage has expanded significantly over the last 25 years and today covers over more than 17 million beneficiaries.
The provision of free health care services to the poor, children and pregnant women is among key policies that has restored the dignity of our people. Today, South Africa stand counted amongst few countries with improved life expectancy and best practice
model on the issue of HIV and Aids pandemic despite the challenges that remains.
The recent passing of anti-monopoly legislation by Parliament will go a long way in deepening the radical socioeconomic transformation by ensuring that our economy does not resides in the hands of the few elites. We reaffirm our commitment to industrialisation as a sustainable path way towards sustainable jobs. It is in this regards that townships are such as Dimbaza, Mdantsane, Botshabelo, Quaqua, Kanyamazane and many others will benefit through massive manufacturing that will produce finished products.
According to our Constitution, South Africa is a single sovereign democratic state with three spheres of government that are constituted as national, provincial and local government that are distinct, interrelated and interdependent. The Constitution further enjoins these three spheres of government to co-operate with one another in advancing national development agenda.
In pursuance of this constitutional imperative, our government has established robust systems and structures of intergovernmental relation, the efficacy and effectiveness of these systems and structures can only be measured by the impact they make in forging the integrated co-operative governance and mitigating the current uneven development and capacity amongst provinces and municipalities.
The National Development Plan is very instructive on the dual challenges of duplication and fragmented planning across the three spheres of government which most documented research attributes to poor service delivery and development. Mr President, this therefore makes it more compelling for this Sixth Administration to pay high premium on integrated co- operative governance system.
Our ground breaking efforts in this regard will surely ensure that there is no child who daily walks more than five kilometres to school, no indigent family on the housing waiting list for more than ten years, no money allocated for housing is returned to Treasury because the municipality has not allocated sites for
building and other challenges associated with fragmented planning.
Our systems of provincial and local government are located at the coal face of service delivery, development and participatory democracy.
Over the past years, our systems of provincial and local government have undergone fundamental changes and reconfiguration to adequately respond to the development challenges facing our communities. Amongst the catalytic economic infrastructure development that has been built in our townships, including transport infrastructure, building roads in pursuance for local economic development.
The 2010 Football World Cup hosted by South Africa will go down the annals of our history as one of the decisive moments in the spatial distribution of world class commercial sports infrastructure to all nine provinces. This has increased tourist attraction of most of the provinces beyond Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
The accomplishment of these high level world class infrastructure projects have demonstrated the capacity and potential of provincial government and municipalities as critical agents of change in the transformation of development and economic landscape of our country. There are many exciting lessons to learn from the Township Economy Model by Gauteng Province with all its challenges. Key among this is the township economy is feasible and can be achieved.
To do this requires bold and conscious action. This should include leveraging of our development finance institutions to have a conscious bias in investing in township economy, translating our commitment to localisation of production, procurement of goods and services into concrete plan and reorientation our spatial development framework to consciously locate more business and commercial sites in the townships.
Key to the clarion call by the President which flows from the National Development Plan is the partnership among different sectors of society, our communities and government in pushing back the frontiers of poverty, unemployment and inequality. This
partnership presupposes structured dialogue, reflection and collective action on the identified priorities. As the systems of our democratic governance located closer to the communities, the provincial and local government are best placed to occupy forward trenches in the facilitation of public participation.
This should not only be limited to legislative process but should also include the monitoring of the impact of government policy to our communities. We must also remodel our public participation framework to be more exciting and inspiring to draw meaningful involvement of the widest possible section of our communities.
The more the disjuncture and fragmentation between three spheres of government the more the capacity of the democratic state to fulfil its task is weakened. This point is succinctly captured by the ANC conference resolution, and I quote:
The more we build a developmental state, the more we create conditions for integrated cooperative governance system.
And the more we strengthen the cooperative governance
system, the more we create conditions for a developmental state.
The story of our last 25 years is the story of a foundation build to create an integrated co-operative governance system both at an executive and legislative levels of the state. The NCOP Taking Parliament to the People is a single most strategic intervention where three spheres of government are brought together under one roof in conversation with our people.
The key question that South Africans will seek an answer to is how braced are these strategic initiatives to monitor the strategic tasks of the Sixth Administration as outlined in your state of the nation address, Mr President. This is the critical question that should inform planning of Parliament and legislatures in this Sixth Democratic Parliament.
The planning should reorient the legislative sector to be more activist and people centred as articulated in the strategic vision of Parliament. Thank you, Chairperson. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Prince M G BUTHELEZI: Hon Chairperson of the NCOP, hon Speaker, your Excellency The President, your Excellency Deputy President, hon Ministers and hon Deputy Ministers and hon Members. As we sat in this August House last week, we were reminded of two historic speeches. The first is Dr Martin Luther King‘s “I have a dream speech”; which he delivered in August 1963 although rather than the American dream, this was deeply rooted in the Chinese dream. The second speech that came to mind was former President Obama’s oft repeated, “Yes, we can."
More than 70 times the President said the words, “we will, we will do this, we will achieve that”. By contrast, the words “we have” were uttered only seven times. So, there is a very gaping chasm between what has been done, and what Government intends to still do.
Two things were sorely lacking last Thursday: the now and the how. Mr President, you asked us to imagine an impossible future and you told us that there is nothing we cannot achieve if we work together. This is a bold dream. Unfortunately, even in the senior leadership of the ruling Party there is a failure to work
together. The result is conflicting statements on crucial issues, such as the mandate on the South African Reserve Bank.
Of course we all want the country you dream of your Excellency. But do we dare dream of building smart cities tomorrow, when today we can't even get the basics right? The picture you painted of hardship and poverty is familiar to all of us. The picture of bullet trains and cities with integrated Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is possible to imagine. But is it possible to achieve?
I don't mean hypothetically, and I am not making judgements on our worthiness as a nation or on our potential. I am talking nuts and bolts, rands and cents. I asked during February's State of the Nation Debate, where will the money come from to achieve these grandiose plans? We are already borrowing just to stay afloat. Where will the money come from to do all the things you say we will do?
Since I asked that question, South Africa has experienced a 3.2% drop in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the first
quarter. We are in deeper trouble now than we were then. We need more than hope, Mr President. We need economic growth and we need it now.
A recent editorial in the financial mail magazine opened with this apposite line, “It’s been a difficult week to be a South African.“ Well I say hon Chairperson of the NCOP, for many South Africans, every week is a difficult week.
If all our goals have a timeline of 5 or 10 years, you won’t be here Mr President to answer for them. Your Excellency, so what about now? What about tomorrow? You talk about a 10 year plan for economic growth. But we don’t have 10 years. And how do we know that things will really get better, and not worse? We need solutions now. We know how heavily Government is relying on foreign investment as a lifeline for our economy. So we welcome the news that 250 billion rands worth of projects are in the implementation phase, we welcome that Mr President. But, our enthusiasm slips though when we remember that R230 billion is needed by Eskom. We really are chasing our own tails. Long before black-outs, we knew that a stable and sustainable
electricity supply is vital to our economy. Why was Eskom allowed to sink to this level of crisis? When the warning bells sound, we must take heed.
The warning bells have sounded loud and clear for the SABC. Financial crisis threatens another imminent black-out, not the lights this time, but the news.
We need to respond appropriately when key people suddenly start resigning from State-Owned Enterprises, when Chief Financial Officers talk about day-zero, and when bail outs are costing more than our economy can afford. This is not the time to dream.
Mr President, you spoke about difficult choices and bold steps, about doing things that won't please everyone, things that will stretch our resources and capabilities. We all accept that this is needed. But what are those bold steps and difficult choices?
How, for instance will we halve, if not eradicate, violent crime in the next 10 years? Coming as I do from KwaZulu Natal where violent crime is a daily reality, I am eager to know what
exactly is planned and how it will be expedited. One can only hope that the Minister will unpack this for us when he delivers his budget speech.
Whatever is going to be done differently, it will demand that corruption first be eradicated from all ranks of law- enforcement, so that bribery, abuse of power, failure to act and dereliction of duty will no longer plague our efforts to secure justice, security and peace. It is genuinely possible to eradicate violent crime, eliminate hunger, push child literacy to 100%, employ 2 million youth, and get our economy growing faster than our population. If these things are genuinely possible within just 10 years why has it taken 25 years to figure out how to do it? Does Government really have it figured out now?
Your Excellency, we cannot wait for 10 years. Fortunately, we won't have to, because situated right in the Presidency is the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. This Department must now set quarterly measurable targets based on the ten year plan, and report not only to the President but to
the country, through Parliament on whether these targets are being met.
We all have lofty ideals. When it comes to delivering the dream, however, it falls on hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers and Directors Generals, and to the many officials in Government administration to do so. It’s not about the ideas, it's about who delivers on them. When we have officials even at the highest level, failing to comply with the Public Finance Management Act, our loftiest dreams will come to nought.
There is a simple question South Africans are asking. We all heard it loud and clear when we travelled the length and breadth of this country. The question is this, where are the arrests?
This question has not been answered. Why have no arrests been made when so much evidence of corruption has been brought into the public spotlight? Corruption cannot be relegated to a few lines in a speech. It must be dealt with as a foremost priority. Thus the IFP will continue our call for the establishment of an Integrity Commission dealing with corruption, as a Chapter 9 institution.
Your Excellency, the IFP thanks you for giving us the responsibility of chairing the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in the 6th Parliament. We are confident that the Hon. Mr Mkhuleko Hlengwa will fulfil this responsibility with the same integrity that our Party is known for.
Mr President, the IFP is not shy of giving plaudits where plaudits are due. We are pleased to hear you say that municipalities must be properly supported. The fact is that local government remains a lower priority in Government's books. This is a result of the centralised system of government which the ruling Party sought during constitutional negotiations, we recall this as our chief negotiator Mr President. The IFP on the other hand sought decentralised governance, governance from the ground up. We wanted to empower local and district municipalities to become drivers of economic development, service delivery and social justice. We wanted strong local government, so that the people would genuinely determine their own destiny.
The dreams you espoused on Thursday were national dreams, overarching dreams. But the dreamers are local people. We need local solutions.
Your Excellency, I personally would like to thank you for raising the issue of rising HIV infection rates, particularly in young women. I lost my children to Aids as you know and I am a committed activist for eradicating this disease. That is why I wear the red lapel ribbon every day of my life.
Years ago, I was the first national leader to speak up about losing a child to Aids was myself and then after that the hon Nelson Mandela our former President did well. We try to actually remove the veil of silence.
Mr President we have asked that in the national interest all parties offer support inside and practical solutions. That is the hallmark of the IFP. Please be assured that we will do just that, and that we do it because like you, we love South Africa.
Dr P J GROENEWALD: Can we just get the time correct, please, Chair? I don’t have just one minute! [Laughter.] Okay, I get some extra! Fine.
Afrikaans:
Agb Voorsitter, deur u ...
English:
Hon President, there is nothing wrong with having dreams. In fact, I do believe that real political leaders should have dreams. But then we must say to each other, it must be dreams to last forever. That’s the difference.
Every time I delivered a speech from this podium in previous state of the nation addresses, congratulating the hon President on his election, I said that the FF Plus and its supporters want to build South Africa. We want to build a better future for all.
In your campaign, hon President, you said at Stellenbosch that you wish you could tie the white young people of South Africa to a tree, and prevent them from leaving South Africa. But did you
ever ask yourself why the white people and the young people of South Africa leave South Africa? It is because they can’t find jobs. And they can’t find jobs because of affirmative action.
You say that you want to use their skills and their expertise. The fact of the matter is that you cannot do so. Because of affirmative action, they have to go and seek jobs in other places of the world. And yes, the world reaps that expertise from the people and the young people of South Africa.
Still, you discriminate against the young white people of South Africa. Your own youth employment scheme ... white young people cannot participate in it, because they are white. If you go and look for instance what your secretary-general, Ace Magashule, says ... he is still blaming the white people of white monopoly capital. His argument is it is still because of the white people that we cannot have economic growth.
With great respect, that is a kick in the teeth of those people who really want to build South Africa.
Do you want to recognise them? Do you want to enslave the young people and the white young people of South Africa? Because, if you think you can enslave them, you are completely wrong.
If you look at your MEC for Education in Gauteng, always blaming Afrikaans schools for his own failures and using them as a smokescreen ... [Interjections.] ... instead of attending to the schools that are real problems.
Does the ANC have a problem with my mother tongue, Afrikaans? Because that is what Lesufi says. But I didn’t see you repudiate him, hon President.
I said before, do away with black economic empowerment. [Interjections.] And can I say that I am supported in this by black academics like William Gumede? You know, during election time I put in some petrol in my car. The attendant said to me, I’m going to vote for you. And I asked him why. He said, you are quite correct. When it comes to black economic empowerment, it only favours the political elite.
I’d like to say that you would like to build the economy. But, how can you build the economy if you have a construction mafia stopping 74 construction projects, demanding a 30% shareholding in the company? How can you build the economy if more than 110 engineers in the construction business left South Africa because of these criminal elements?
I want to say to you today, if you don’t curb these criminal activities, you will not be able to build the economy. More than
16 trucks burnt over a weekend! The people who keep the economy rolling, but they burn them and people lose their lives because of crime in South Africa.
You will have to ensure that, if you want the economy to grow, you curb the powers of the unions. You know, and everyone in South Africa knows, that when it comes to the state-owned enterprises, SOEs, you have to retrench people. But the unions come to you and the ANC and say to you, you will not do that. That is part of the problem. You will have to curb their powers. You will have to revise South Africa’s labour laws.
I come to crime and I want to ask you, why is it so difficult to publicly condemn farm murders in South Africa? In South Africa we have black farmers, we have coloured farmers, we have Indian farmers, and we have white farmers. The food you had this morning when you had breakfast ... you must thank the farmers for it. Everybody who is going to have lunch must thank the farmers for it. [Interjections.]
Afrikaans:
Ek wil vir die agb President sê, verlede jaar ongeveer hierdie tyd was daar aanvalle gewees op moskees – een in KwaZulu-Natal en een in Malmesbury. U tree onmiddelik op. U benoem onmidellik ’n presidensiële komitee van die Ministers van Polisie, Verdediging en Justisie.
Ek wil vandag vir u sê, ’n plaasmoord is nie net ’n moord op ’n individu nie.
English:
It’s not only a crime against an individual; it is also a crime against a community. It is the women and children who pay the
price of a farm murder when they are tortured, when boiling water is poured down their throats, when hot irons are used to burn the women, when they force a 12-year-old girl to watch her mother being raped. That’s torture. But still, you refuse to publicly condemn farm murders. [Interjections.] I appeal to you. It’s simple. And I will say to you, hon President, I will invite you to a funeral of someone murdered on a farm, and you can invite me to any other funeral you wish.
Lastly, I want to say that there is one outstanding matter, and that is section 235 of the Constitution. It deals with self- determination. It also determines that national legislation has to determine what happens with section 235. There is an accord in place between the Freedom Front, the ANC and the government in 1994. I appeal to you that we meet, that we take this step forward to ensure that section 235 of the Constitution – which deals with self-determination – be taken forward.
Afrikaans:
Ek dink dit is die enigste artikel in the Grondwet wat bepaal dat nasionale wetgewing wel geskryf moet word wat nog nie
geskryf is nie. So, in daardie opsig het ons ook ’n grondwetlike verantwoordelikheid en plig.
Agb President, ek wil afsluit.
English:
Do you know that there is a song called The Green, Green Grass of Home? It’s about this prisoner who sang that he wanted to touch the green, green grass of his home. And then he says, and when I awake and look around me, I was surrounded by four great walls. And yes, I then realised that I was only dreaming.
Because he is a prisoner.
Hon President, you are a prisoner of the ANC. [Interjections.] Break away from that! Then you can save South Africa. Then you can save the economy. I thank you. [Interjections.]
Ms N T MKATSHWA: Hon Speaker, Chairperson of the NCOP, President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President of our country, hon David Mabuza, hon Chief Whip of the Majority Party, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon Members of
Parliament, distinguished guests and fellow South Africans, today, 65 years ago, thousands of activists gathered in Kliptown to lay out a vision for a South Africa that we today inherit. The vision, aspirations and dreams of our people were documented in what became known as the Freedom Charter - the backbone of the Constitution, which guides the work of this House.
Comrade President as a member of this House, who is a young black woman, I stand on the shoulders of the women who played a role in the drafting of the Freedom Charter; I stand on the shoulders of Ruth First, Dora Tamana, Albertina Sisulu, Beata Lipman, and others.
Comrade President, I stand on the shoulders of the first women to form part of the first parliament of our young democracy. I can only but imagine the suffocation they endured in that boy’s choir of an executive. Today, as we young women join them on these benches, I draw strength from their resilience. In fact, I stand their resilience.
Murhangeri wa tiko [Leader of the nation], it is with no doubt
that under this democratic South Africa, the future of the children of this nation can only get brighter. South African youth are doing amazing things in various spheres of society locally and internationally. Just look at ShoMadjozi’s recent achievement.
However, allow me to share my activist colleague, Dr Sithembile Mbete’s conversation with a 9-year-old girl whom when she asked: what do you want to be when you grow up? The young girl responded by saying “sizobona”.
Allow me to share, Ms Shaeera Kalla’s conversation with a 20-year- old young man at Rosebank Mall, whom when she asked what his dreams were, the young boy responded, “I have no dreams, let me first survive tomorrow”.
President Ramaphosa, we must ensure that the gloom that hovers over parts of our country does not strip away young people from their right to envision to dream and imagine bright, healthy and meaningful lives. The process of envisioning one’s future should not be a privilege.
Comrade President we continue to build our nation and design the social fabric of our society - sleepless nights we must have, unsettled by the realities of these two young people and many like them.
Setho seHlomphehang, Mme Modise we must khawuleza, for our inability to address some of the socioeconomic challenges of young people in our country will lead to a death of imagination among some young people in our country. Our inability to ensure that young people through the attainment of knowledge and skills are active participants in our economy will attribute to the social decay in our society. How do we build a nation when the future of the country fails to imagine their role within it?
The key to nation-building as Amilcar Cabral says: “is to rid our land of every noxious influence of oppressive culture.”
How is it Mongameli [Mr President] that whilst you speak of growing South Africa through a social compact which requires contribution of various parties, through sacrifices and trade- offs, others speak about ...
Afrikaans:
... terugslaan. Regtig, agb lede! Terugslaan ...
English:
... to what? To a time when the efforts of the masses of this country to fight for the land would bear no fruits?
The above mentioned privilege Mr President is the very same privilege that underpins various hate crimes in our society.
The ANC has promised in its manifesto, to finalize the legislation before parliament, aimed at preventing and combating hate crimes and prosecution of persons who commit these offences. In line with your call to implement, masikhawuleze Mongameli [let’s hurry Mr President] because this legislation will mean that no hate crime goes unpunished. Any abuse based on race, gender, religion, disability and albinism will be legally and decisively dealt with.
We must tell you that, homophobes in our society must be aware of the fact that any abusive behaviour towards the lesbians,
gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, queer, intersexuals, asexual, LGBTQIA+ will face legal consequences.
Taking into consideration the demographics of this country, and whom the life expectancy of many is reliant on, women are very fundamental to building this nation.
As we build our new nation, we are guided by the preamble of our Constitution that reads: “ we aim to establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.”
Gender-based violence is one of the greatest plagues of our time. Our women are not safe, our queer bodies are not safe, the night and day scares us, the city scares us, and so do rural areas, public spaces, our homes, universities and schools too.
Is there any space for us in fact in the society? If there’s not, we must with the sjambok, which is the laws of this country address those issues.
Mr President, you speak to the establishment of the Gender-Based
Violence and Femicide Council; and as we acknowledge the launch of the Gender-Based Violence Hearings and the Sexual Offences Court in the 5th administration.
As we work towards social connectedness and building an intersectional society, we must include the representation of young women and gender non-conforming bodies in the structures that will lead these processes and institutions. However, we must also acknowledge, Mr President, that the scourge of patriarchy won’t be solved by solely increasing the representation of women in an oppressive system but rather the dismantling and breaking down of any institution and societal construct that entrenches patriarchy. To quote American Iranian activist Hoda Katebi: “a seat at the table does not mean you are off the menu”.
Hon Fikile Masiko, a Whip deployed by the governing party to the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, together let us work to whip patriarchy out of this society. Let us whip it, whip it real good.
Hon Lamola, our Constitution is considered a world-leading document; we must conceptualize and design a world-leading response to gender-based violence. As per our manifesto, we must capacitate and equip the police and the court system to support survivors of gender-based violence and sexual assault.
Mr President, as we increase the visibility of police we must ensure that our people do not live in fear of our police nor are they triggered by police.
Our police must not assimilate the intolerance of the apartheid police who when overseeing protests nor must they regurgitate sexual harassment towards victims entering police stations.
Hon Cele appreciating the contribution to youth employment through training 5000 young people into the police; we must ensure that we harness a blooming police force whose actions will resonate with a democratic South Africa through programmes like Conflict Negotiation, Mediation and Resolution Training and Rehabilitation programmes.
Core to the student protests of 2015-16 was nation-building. Our generation reminded society that you cannot build a nation whilst others are left behind academically and economically. Out of that came great strides in the sector of higher education, however, consequence of our call for free quality and decolonized education, talented young South Africans like Kanya Cekeshe find themselves behind bars; others charged, expelled, suspended, emotionally scarred and politically despondent.
Comrade President, the unconditional release of Kanya and all others must be prioritized by your administration. We call for your presidential pardon.
Comrade President, South Africa being one of the greatest leaders of the african continent, we endorse your call for a world-class visa regime, best academic minds on the continent must collaborate with our academics and universities and all our institutions. Our children must go to great Kingdoms of Mali and Ghana to learn of our majestic and glorious history and young African learners must come here to learn our history.
Our LGBTQIA+ community members in other countries who do not feel safe must feel safe in South Africa.
President we want you to finalize the legislation on language in our schools. African languages must be taught in schools, they must be institutionalized; more importantly, we need to create societal value of our languages. As the Vice-Chancellor of University of Cape Town, Prof Phakeng says “In South Africa, someone can speak nine official languages and still be deemed illiterate and not fit for employment”.
Comrade President, we create value in our languages by ensuring public servants must learn them, in Mdantsane, doctors speak and diagnose our patients in isiXhosa, and teachers must be able to teach foundational topics in mathematics in more than one language.
Fellow South Africans, our world is changing, technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution have the potential to be great equalizers of our time, however they may also drive the greatest concentration of wealth and deepen inequality. Fellow South
Africans, as we work to build our nation in this 4IR, we must ensure that the 4IR does not happen to us but that we inform how it unfolds in our country.
Allow me to lobby you, President to use our education system as a niche to achieve what you intend to achieve in building a national democratic society.
I heard my good friend Nomangxongo Sixishe at the pre-state of the nation address debate with the youth, quote me in saying, we must use schools to propagate and harness a special type of South African that will grow to be charged with the desire to drive out all these isms that burden our society; racism, sexism and classism.
Let work from the words of Thomas Sankara, who implores citizens to: “become active agents in the transformation of their society instead of remaining spectators”.
President ...
IsiZulu:
... Masisheshe, sigeze, sifezekise.
E n g l i s h :
You have set out the line of marching Mongameli [Mr President], we are lobbied and we commit ourselves to executing it. Thank you very much.
Afrikaans:
Ms C LABUSCHAGNE: Agb Voorsitter van die Nasionale Raad van Provinsies, agb President, Lede van die Parlement, mede Suid- Afrikaners, die President het in sy rede verwys na sy droom vir ’n nuwe era. Agb President, daardie droom kan net verwesenlik word, indien die ANC drasties van koers verander, andersins herinner dit my net aan ’n ou bekende liedjie wat sê: “Dreams are good friends!”
Die werklikheid van die hier-en-nou is egter die volgende.
Eerstens, word 10 miljoen Suid-Afrikaners elke oggend wakker met die wete dat hulle nie geld of kos vir hulself of hul gesinne het nie.
Tweedens, het hulle waarskynlik ook nie die vooruitsig om ’n werk te kry nie, maar hulle moet steeds voortbeur om ’n wetsgetroue, verantwoordelike landsburger te wees.
Derdens, het ons jong mense wat wel die geleenthede het om hulself te kwalifiseer met kennis en vaardighede, geen sekerheid dat hul wel ’n werk gaan kry nie en baie van hulle verlaat die land.
Vierdens, weet die kwesbare persone in ons land, wat op toelaes moet leef, nie meer wat die begrip “bo die broodlyn” beteken nie.
Vyfdens, die wat wel ’n werk het word daagliks armer en hulle bekommer hulself oor die veiligheid van hul pensioenfondse, indien hul een het.
Verder, vakbondleiers verteenwoordig die minderheid van werkers in ons land, maar hulle veg meestal vir hul eie politieke voordele.
Laastens, dié wat kapitaal het om te belê, kyk gevolglik na geleenthede buite Suid-Afrika.
English:
Mr President, the ANC’s strive for a developmental state through the New Growth Path would have created five million jobs in 2020. The policy statement on developmental local government aimed to build capacity to enhance servile delivery in local communities. However, in the NCOP we witnessed various interventions in local governments due to a lack of capacity or political motivations.
In 2017, President Ramaphosa‘s new deal for jobs, growth and transformation set a target of 3% growth in 2018 and 5% in 2023. Costs would have also been out through a reformed Eskom as well as greater use of renewable energies. Efficient use of the public purse and structural systems are however prerequisites
for these policies to successfully contribute to economic growth.
Our state-owned enterprises, central to development and growth, however distinguished themselves in weak management, poor governance and unsustainable bailouts, with the result of widespread state capture and the direct impact on our economy.
Afrikaans:
Slegs ’n stabiele groeiende ekonomie, wat werksgeleenthede en welvaart skep, gerugsteun deur bekwame regeringsvlakke kan hoop en vertroue vir die toekoms bied.
In die Wes-Kaap, waar die DA sedert 2009 regeer, kan ons wel, nieteenstaande oorkoepelende negatiewe ekonomiese omstandighede, bewys lewer dat ons innoverende beleide en planne, gebaseer op ’n markgerigte ekonomie, ’n positiewe invloed op ons inwoners uitoefen.
‘n Paar voorbeelde hiervan is dat die Wes-Kaap: ’n 14% laer werkloosheidsyfer as die res van die land het, met 508 000 nuwe
werksgeleenthede wat geskep is, wat dui op ongeveer ’n viermalige groei oor die afgelope dekade; ’n 72% suksessyfer in landbougrond hervormingsprojekte het, teenoor ’n 10% suksessyfer in die res van die land, sedert 2009, R500 miljoen spandeer het op die ondersteuning van 357 grondhervormingsprojekte en
R80 miljoen word op ’n jaarlikse basis vanaf die privaatsektor hiervoor bekom; die die toon aangee met die skep van energiesekerheid en sonkraginstallasies het toegeneem vanaf 18 megawatt tot meer as 110 megawatt, hoofsaaklik deur besighede; agtien munisipaliteite maak ook reeds voorsiening dat energie teen vergoeding teruggevoer kan word in die kragnetwerk; ‘n retensiesyfer van 63% vir Graad 10 tot 12 bereik het met die 2018 matrikulante, teenoor die minder as 50% in die res van die land.
English:
Not only did the DA-led Western Cape make strides in cutting unnecessary regulations for businesses, we introduced the Premier‘s Advancement of Youth Programme providing 750 matriculants with jobs and training every year. [Applause.]
Furthermore, we rapidly increased the delivery of basic services to above 96%.
Afrikaans:
In die Wes-Kaap word daar jaarliks inspeksies op
150 polisiestasies uitgevoer. ’n Kommissie van Ondersoek is ingestel, wat gelei het tot die promulgasie van die Wes-Kaapse Gemeenskapsveiligheidswet wat die vestiging van die kantoor van die polisieombudsman moontlik gemaak het.
Tans bedreig die toename in misdaad, veral geweldsmisdade en die gepaardgaande ontoereikende hulpbronne van die polise, die algemene veiligheid van alle inwoners, skole, besighede, toeriste. Suid-Afrika word tans beskou as een van die 20 onveiligste lande in die wêreld.
Om jou beste te probeer is soms nie genoeg nie. Dan moet dit wat nodig is, gedoen word, aldus die dispuut wat deur die Wes-Kaap verklaar is om polisiëring ook as ’n provinsiale funksie in te stel. ‘n Professionele en gemoderniseerde polisiemag op provinsiale vlak is tans essensieel.
Alle Suid-Afrikaners verstaan tans duidelik wat Churchill bedoel het toe hy gesê het, en ek haal aan: I no longer listen to what people say; I just watch what they do.
English:
Behaviour never lies. Actions speak louder than words.
Afrikaans:
Ons vra aksie vir veiligheid en ons vra aksie vir ekonomiese groei. Ek dank u. [Applous.]
Rev K R J MESHOE: Deputy Speaker, Mr President, one of the few statements that President Ramaphosa made during the state of the nation address that the ACDP warmly welcomes is his reassurance that government will not interfere with the constitutional mandate of the SA Reserve Bank, which is to protect the value of our currency in the interest of balanced and sustainable growth. He stated that:
Today we re-affirm this constitutional mandate which the Reserve Bank must pursue independently without fear, favour or prejudice.
The ACDP encourages the President to be resolute in his defence of the independence of the SA Reserve Bank and ignore those who are calling for its nationalisation. This being said, the ACDP did not appreciate the President’s dreams. To many South Africans, these are old dreams that belong to the pre-1994 era. Even before the democratic dispensation of 1994, most South Africans living in informal settlements, dreamt of living in modern brick houses that would give them a sense of dignity.
Students dreamt of studying in universities of their choice, graduating and finding competitive employment. The reality is that, after 25 years of democracy, these dreams have not materialised. To hear the President talking about these dreams as if they were something new was a huge disappointment.
Another major let down was to hear the President saying:
If we are to ensure that within the next decade, every 10 year-old will be able to read for learning, we will need to mobilise the entire nation behind a massive reading campaign.
The President knows full well that when we were 10 years old we could read with comprehension, yet the President dreams that it will take another decade before all 10 year-olds can read with understanding. One of the many reasons why most 10 year-olds cannot read with comprehension or write legibly is because the Department of Basic Education has not prioritised basic reading and writing skills.
The ACDP calls on government to abandon their wicked plans to introduce new textbooks on comprehensive sexuality education that will teach nine and 10 year-old learners about masturbation and oral sex. Comprehensive sexuality education does not have the best interest of African children at heart. Government should instead focus on ensuring that our children are equipped with mathematics, science, robotics and basic computer skills in addition to reading and writing skills. The ACDP applauds the
proposal to introduce subjects like coding and data analytics at primary school level.
Deputy Speaker, the President also said he is committed to building an ethical state in which there is no place for corruption and plundering of public money. If he is committed to this, the ACDP wants to know as to why certain Cabinet Ministers that are having allegations of corruption hanging over their heads appointed. We believe that the President’s goal of building special cities [Time expired].
IsiXhosa:
Mnu N L S KWANKWA: Molweni malungu ahloniphekileyo, Mongameli, Sekela Mongameli, asiwabulisi kodwa wona amasela.
English:
President, indeed to turn South Africa around what this country requires is a compelling vision for the future, a comprehensive plan and unrelenting implementation as well as a team to make sure that the implementation of that plan does take place. We do indeed give you credit that at the very least you do have a
vision, but what you delivered in the state of the nation address last week was not a comprehensive plan of how to turn the situation around. We acknowledge that for instance you are saying that the National Development Plan, NDP is a critical plan going forward as a strategy on how to reignite growth in South Africa. We however find this as a contradiction because, a number of proposals you made are about direct intervention or are interventionist policies in the South African economy. If you consider the NDP, it is a neoliberal document that centres on trickled down economics and unfiltered markets.
You need something more aggressive, a strategy that is going to anchor the industrial plan of South Africa. A typical example is that, South Africa faces its worst unemployment rate especially amongst youth. If you were to read different sources, others would put it at 50%; you said over 50%; others would actually put the figure at 57%. If you were to consider the narrow definition of unemployment rate which is 27% and the expanded definition is 36%. The issue here President is that, if we are to address not only the unemployment crisis, the poverty problem in South Africa and extraordinarily high levels of inequality,
you are going to need to think outside of the box. You must not try to use ANC policies that have failed to create jobs over the past. An industrial strategy is critical to this issue and will outline it shortly as to what we are saying.
The other question that is important President, is that let us talk briefly about the mandate of the SA Reserve Bank and say, the debate currently as it ensues in public misguided. It conflates a number of much related but slightly different issues. Firstly, you have ownership of the central bank which is an ideological discussion. Secondly, it is the discontent with the implementation of monetary policy which is inflation targeting and its tendency to overreact in times when inflation shoots up. Thirdly, the mandate of the central bank as captured in Section 224(1) of the Constitution deals with the issue of price stability. Furthermore, Section 224(2) of the Constitution deals with better co-ordination between monetary and fiscal policy which is what has not been happening in South Africa.
In order for us to have a more on once debate on this issue; we need to understand the different and the various levels in which
this matter operates. The other issue that is important President...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, your time has expired.
IsiXhosa:
Mnu N L S KWANKWA: Yile mizuzu mithathu, leli yelenqe eli belibangela ukuba ningafuni ukuba i-UDM ithethe apha, la masela.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You must learn to keep to your time.
Dr K D RAMOKGOPA: Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, esteemed Members of the 6th Parliament, fellow South Africans, in entering this debate we take great counsel from the instructive piece penned by Brent Filson titled “In Leadership, Dreams Are The Stuff That Great Results Are Made Of.
In this piece, Filson posits that:
A dream embraces our most cherished longings. It embodies our very identity. We often won’t feel fulfilled as human beings
until we realize our dreams. If leaders are avoiding people’s dreams, if leaders are simply setting goals, they miss the best of opportunities to help those people take ardent action to achieve great results.
Having been galvanised by the compelling vision of the President, Gauteng province, which accounts for a third of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, ranks as Africa’s 6th largest economy and is the 26th largest global city region, is poised to cement its unassailable position as South Africa’s principal economic driver by mounting the most comprehensive response to the social conflict in this country in support of the state of the nation address.
In the context of Gauteng, the creation of new cities refers to the remaking of decaying industrial and historic towns, the in- situ development of light industrial manufacturing, office and retail activities in existing dense human settlements. The remaking of towns such as Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark, Nigel, Krugersdorp, and Bronkhorspruit into smart integrated spaces
weaved into an urban conurbation called the Gauteng City-Region will be achieved by the 6th Administration.
The remaking will be characterised by crowding in public infrastructure and services, such as schools, clinics, police stations, libraries and accommodation of public social services buttressed by residential densification of the core supported by a modern road network that promotes mass public transport that is integrated, safe, reliable, efficient and affordable. This remaking will be further undergirded by the expansion of broadband coverage and the fostering of black industrialists in the renewable energy space.
The focus on seizing value–chain opportunities in manufacturing, through the special economic zones, SEZs, is a key intervention to increase investment that facilitates labour-intensive growth and increased exports to foster a positive trade balance.
Gauteng will advance the realisation of the Tshwane-Silverton auto SEZ, conception in the next twelve months. The SEZ will encompass Mamelodi, Eesterust and Nelmapius which are classified amongst the poorest areas of the Tshwane corridor. The full
delivery of the completed infrastructure will yield a total production of R5, 2billion and is projected to create over
19 000 jobs during the construction phase and 2055 permanent jobs.
In addition, the Gauteng government will also aggressively pursue the expansion of the OR Tambo SEZ through the development of infrastructure to accommodate the pipeline of investors for phase one and phase two, focusing on agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, advanced components manufacturing and tertiary metals processing, including mineral beneficiation. During the operational phase, it will yield over 13 000 jobs across the two phases. The GDP contribution of both phases is estimated to be in the order of the magnitude of R2 billion.
Moving beyond the contours of popular expressions, Gauteng will make definitive strides into the realm of the Industry 4.0. The success of the 4th Industrial Revolution is predicated on the availability of reliable, high-speed, affordable and universal internet access. To this end, Gauteng will expand the wall-to- wall broadband coverage while taking the bold steps of ensuring
last mile connectivity becomes a reality across all historic township areas, which will facilitate internet access to thousands of poor to middle-income households in the province. We do this acknowledging that the maturity of the internet ecosystem has the potential of growing GDP by up to 1,5%.
Gauteng will accelerate the development of the innovation hub into the continent’s most prolific innovation real estate, a space that has the necessary and cutting-edge innovation infrastructure and eco-systems that accommodate and encourage fast growth of future sectors and new technologies to be harnessed and commercialised.
This will be done through the development of the remainder of the 66 hectares in collaboration with the private sector. This will see us developing solutions and skills for the new economy. At a more basic level, the Gauteng Department of Education will accelerate the roll-out of schools of specialisation aimed at preparing young people for the future design of work.
Gauteng is determined to ensure the resilience and prominence of small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs and co-operatives as the mainstay of the South African economy. This will be achieved through the upstream value-chain capture of Gauteng’s big-ticket spending areas of housing and roads. This approach, will facilitate the creation of women and youth owned manufacturing and production of the primary road construction inputs of asphalt and aggregate; housing construction primary inputs of bricks and cement. The success of these identified champions manufacturing will be premised on the guaranteed off-takes by the Gauteng government.
The location of the manufacturing plants will be deliberate to give effect to the township revitalisation programme by locating in the under-utilised industrial parks of Ga-Rankuwa, Vereeniging and Rand West. In advancing the local content accord, the province will implement the promulgated regulation of 75% local content threshold, and further designate additional sectors and products in line with the provincial procurement budget.
On the issue of agriculture, the dynamic and complex urban space
- that is Gauteng, lends itself to smart and precision primary agricultural production and the associated value chain activities. Agriculture has the highest employment absorption capacity of any sector with relatively low levels of levels of barriers of entry.
Gauteng commits to commercialize 53 black farmers across the five primary commodities of grains, horticulture, piggery, poultry, and red meat. These already identified farmers are projected to generate a combined gross annual turnover of R5, 3million and their market access will be facilitated by the completion of five township hubs and twelve Agri-parks to the tune of R720 million. The commercial farmers will be concentrated in the regions of Sedibeng and West Rand. We are confident of generating over 20 000 employment opportunities through this bold initiative.
Deputy Speaker, in the spirit of the Gauteng City Region, the provincial government is determined to build co-operation and solidarity across the three spheres of government to achieve
better alignment and synchronisation in meeting our ambitious targets. In addition, strides are made to create a competent, agile, responsive and Gauteng government. Further, Gauteng will enter into a social compact with all key stakeholders aimed at committing to these bold interventions of meeting the desire of our people to be happy.
In addressing the overall capacity of the state, the province will firstly, enhance joint planning with all spheres of government as well as state owned enterprises, SOEs, secondly, provide support to municipalities, particularly in the districts and local municipalities through synergies in rolling out sectoral and economic programmes, and strengthen collaborative measures with accrediting and standards bodies to enhance manufacturing capacity as well as market access.
We are under no illusion that the road ahead will be free of potholes but we draw inspiration from the wise counsel of Anatole France when she asserts that “to accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. Thank you very much. [Applause]
Ms N N CHIRWA: The president and commander in chief of the EFF, commissars and fighters, Deputy Speaker ... President, I stand here on behalf of the EFF for the very first time to respond to your stale, empty and meaningless state of the nation address. [Interjections.] Today, 25 years after the attainment of political freedom, the face of poverty, landlessness, unemployment, homelessness, poor health and abuse is still largely black. It is young and is most likely, women. In your address you only mentioned this identity once.
Mr President, you have sold your soul to the captains of industry who are wholly white and men. In return, you have made it your mission to sell dreams to the people on whose ticket you now occupy office. While you are dreaming sir, black youth are unemployed or languishing in jail because of your failure to secure their future. Black grandmothers are raped daily, with a lower than two per cent chance of ever finding justice. Black people in general are still landless. They do not have the luxury to dream as your white-gotten wealth allows you to.
I am infuriated by your tone-deaf attitude to thousands of lesbian women who are subjected to corrective rape and who face their tormentors in the streets because our criminal justice system cannot protect those who sex differently.
Mr President, your government is responsible for many, and the most heinous of crimes. You jailed Kanya Cekeshe; you jailed Bonginkosi Khanyile and are complicit in the brutal murders of Benjamin Phehla and Bongani Madonsela just because they asked for the free education that you promised them when they were still toddlers in 1994. [Applause.] You have over a million students across all universities but you can only accommodate under 130 000 students. Where must the rest stay? [Interjections.]
Mr B A RADEBE: Deputy Speaker, on a point of order.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member? Hon member, hold on.
Ms N N CHIRWA: Without any intention to build universities ...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member? Hon Chirwa, when you are spoken to you stop speaking. Yes, hon member? Why are you rising? Press the button there.
Mr B A RADEBE: Deputy Speaker, the speaker at the podium said the President is complicit in murder. I think that is unparliamentary.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, it’s sustained. It is correct. Hon member, withdraw that statement. Hon member, withdraw the statement. You listen to the presiding officer.
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker: She never said that. She said that your government is complicit in murder. There is a court ruling about ... affirming that saying here in the Joint Sitting ...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member? No. Hon Shivambu?
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: ... because when the commander in chief said that the ANC government killed ... [Inaudible.] ... that was affirmed by court. That is permissible, Deputy Speaker.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Shivambu? Hon Shivambu? Hon Shivambu?
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: Also, it’s not tradition to disrupt maiden speeches.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, hon Shivambu, you are wrong.
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: [Inaudible.] ... is out of order. [Interjections.] You must allow hon Naledi to complete her address now.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member? Hon Shivambu? Hon Shivambu, you are wrong. Hon Chirwa, withdraw that statement.
Mr G A GARDEE: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What’s your point of order?
Mr G A GARDEE: Deputy Speaker, we hope ...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What’s your point of order, sir? [Interjections.] You keep quiet, hon members! You keep quiet! You should allow your member to speak. [Interjections.] Hon member, go ahead.
Mr G A GARDEE: Chief Whip, you see the Deputy Speaker has started what he did ... [Inaudible.] [Interjections.] Deputy Speaker, we call a point of order on two basis. Firstly, a maiden speech cannot be interrupted. [Interjections.] You have allowed that. Secondly, Deputy Speaker, where there is no certainty and there is a dispute about remarks and utterances in this House, in the best interest for this House to flow in the debate, refer it to Hansard and allow the poor speaker to continue. Don’t be disruptive as you were in the past Fifth Parliament and now you are starting again.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Gardee? Hon Gardee, please take your seat.
Mr G A GARDEE: Haibo ... [Interjections.] ... can we be saved from you?
An HON MEMBER: Hon Deputy Speaker, on a point of order.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon ... Hon ... No, can I make a ruling here please? Hon Chirwa, withdraw that statement ... [Interjections.]
... because it is out of order. I plead with you to do so please. Withdraw the statement.
Ms N V MENTE: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, I have ruled on this. There are three of you.
Ms N V MENTE: No, you must ask her if she said it or not. You cannot say she must withdraw. She has not consented to having said that. She did not consent. You must ask her. Stop being emotional, man.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, no, no, no, I have sustained the ruling. I heard the member and I am asking her to withdraw.
Ms N N CHIRWA: I mean, it is not a lie that Benjamin Phehla and Bongani Madonsela were killed fighting for free education.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, hon member. Hon member, don’t do that. Hon member? Hon member? [Interjections.]
Ms N N CHIRWA: It is not a lie.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You are ... I’m going to switch off this microphone. You are going to have to leave the podium if you are not prepared to withdraw. [Interjections.]
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: On a point of order. On a point of order. [Inaudible.] ... we will deal with this one later at a ...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You withdraw or ... Hold on! Hold on! Hon member?
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: We withdraw for now. We will deal with this ... [Inaudible.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member? Hon Shivambu? Hon Shivambu, you are not a presiding officer. Take your seat. Hon member, withdraw the statement.
Ms N N CHIRWA: I withdraw, Deputy Speaker. Without any intention to build new universities or expand the capacity of the current universities and technical vocational education and training, TVET, colleges, where do you want all these learners in South Africa to go?
I will also take this time to remind you and your colleagues of Thandi. Thandi is the black girl born in 1992 that Trevor Manuel used to illustrate her positionality when he presented the International Monetary Fund, IMF, imposed neoliberal National Development Plan, NDP, during his time as Minister of Planning in 2011.
The MINISTER OF TOURISM: Point of order, Deputy Speaker. Point of order, Deputy Speaker.
Ms N N CHIRWA: The NDP has failed to locate Thandi. Today Thandi is excluded.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, why are you rising?
The MINISTER OF TOURISM: Thank you very much. On a point of order: The conduct of members who come to Parliament in terms of the gallery. The former member who is sitting up there is taking pictures ... who is not supposed to be in the House. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon members in the gallery, you are welcome but please don’t break the rules. Go ahead, hon member.
Dr M Q NDLOZI: Deputy Speaker? Deputy Speaker?
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Allow your speaker to proceed, hon member.
Dr M Q NDLOZI: No, on a point of order: Don’t allow these people who are suffering from jealousy to disrupt this young, brilliant, black woman from delivering her speech. This is her maiden speech.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, hon Ndlozi, you are disrupting her yourself.
Dr M Q NDLOZI: This is her maiden speech, Deputy Speaker. Can you please give her a chance?
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, and you are ... No, hon member?
Dr M Q NDLOZI: You are jealous, man. She’s outshining you.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Take your seat. You are out of order. You are out of order. [Interjections.] Hon members, allow the member to speak.
Mr J S MALEMA: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What’s your point of order, hon member?
Mr J S MALEMA: We are asking you to protect her. It’s her maiden speech. Please protect her. You are not doing that.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, you yourselves raise points of order in the middle of her presentation. Just like all other members are raising points of order, the rules require that we must listen to anybody who raises a point of order in the House. She’s no different. If a point of order is raised in the House it must be listened to. We can’t assume that it can’t be said.
Please take your seat and allow her to proceed.
Mr J S MALEMA: No. Deputy Speaker, a point of order was called relating to people who are doing something in the gallery. You did not see them yourself. You called them to order. You did not see what she talked about ... instead of telling her to sit down so that you protect the speaker ... [Inaudible.] ... sustain your own ... Please protect her.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Malema, I’ll invite you in future to help me make orders in the House; not today. Hon member, proceed.
Ms N N CHIRWA: Today Thandi is excluded from Rhodes University for protesting against rape culture. Thandi is financially excluded from completing her qualification because your National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, did not pay for her last year of study. Thandi was turned back from a clinic because of a shortage of contraceptives. Thandi then fell pregnant and was again turned back from hospital because the waiting list for abortion services can stretch to over five months.
Thandi is now the one in four women who’ll live in absolute poverty for the rest of her life for having kept a baby she did not want and couldn’t prevent carrying because of your government, Mr President.
Thandi is one of the 1 200 young women who got infected with HIV today despite numerous global efforts available to prevent this from happening and your failure to have it accessible for Thandi in Taung.
Thandi was protesting outside Parliament a few days before your address Mr President, wanting health rights for her fellow domestic workers.
Thandi is on nyaope and she will commit suicide before the new dawn because of depression. Thandi is also landless. Thandi is a rape victim living with her rapist in the same house because your police officers lost the docket.
Mr President, Thandi is unemployed and will remain unemployed for the next decade because you cannot cater for her needs in your job creation plan that rules out 80% of unemployed young people for the next decade.
All these social ills and failures of your government reproduce the kind of violence our country is associated with today and you have not the slightest idea how to resolve this. Let us therefore once again tell you what you should consider.
The state must ensure 50% women representation in all spheres representing economic benefits, political participation,
managerial and leadership responsibility. The state must introduce compulsory gender education and training for all, from school level up to the highest level of all public services. The state must introduce compulsory education on gender justice to police and establish specialised law enforcement units to deal with women related crimes.
The time for meaningless frameworks and commissions on the gender question has long expired, Mr President. Introduce a special inspectorate in the Department of Labour to monitor, report and enforce gender parity and equality in the workplace. Don’t just talk about the decriminalisation of sex work if you do not mean it. Stop unfair discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and intersex, LGBTQI, individuals when they want to adopt children in need.
Decommodify basic needs such as education and health so that they are driven by need and not the maximisation of profits.
Your focus on health should be on primary health with a commitment to the attainment of universal health care coverage, quality clinics with strong immunisation and vaccination
programmes, prevention, promotion and education-orientated health care, protection and promotion of informal traders and allowing them to trade in the streets of Braamfontein, Sandton, Hatfield in Pretoria, Sea Point in Cape Town and at taxi ranks where women vendors get threatened with rape every day.
Lastly Mr President, if you are unable to do all of these things, move over and allow Thandi and other fellow young people to wake South Africa up from this nightmare you have collectively subjected us to for the past 25 years. [Applause.]
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: That is what we wanted to present; the best address thus far.
Mr V ZUNGULA: Hon Deputy Speaker, hon President, and people of South Africa you deserve better. You deserve servant leadership. When you voted on 8 May, you were hoping that own dreams will be finally realised. You were hoping that the much vaunted new dawn, would indeed bring aspirations in your lives, as articulated in the Freedom Charter. Instead, last Thursday, you were presented with a dream of an individual. This dream did not
represent a relief from lived experiences of sharing water with animals.
IsiXhosa:
Kucacile ukuba uMongameli unilibele bantu baseXolobeni, bantu baseseKhukhune, bantu baseMkhanyakude.
English:
All he dreams of now are what matters to the rich and affluent. High speed trains and smart cities, not even built by South African but built ngama China [Chinese]. Last Thursday, we hoped the President would account on the past 18 months he is been in the office, instead he pretended he was not second in command of the previous administration. The true state of the nation address that should have been tabled is as follows: The 3.2 % decline in Gross Domestic Product; GBP is the biggest quarterly contraction in 10 years; all major sectors reported a negative growth; despite having pro big business legislation; major companies like Naspers will be dual listing and unemployment rate including discouraged work seekers is sitting at 38 %.
Businesses are shedding jobs as we speak, the government
continues to support big businesses whilst neglecting small, medium and micro-enterprises SMMEs, who have proven all over world to be job creators.
The role of government is not creating jobs but create enabling environment for businesses to thrive and create jobs. Mr President, exempting state-owned companies SOCs, state-owned enterprises from Public Finance Management Act, PFMA and as well as South Africa’s Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act, PPPFA will make them even make them more agile and competitive. Repealing PPPFA will make enable more entrants in both developments of the SMMEs.
Amending section 25 to enable expropriation without compensation, will unlock more land to be used for public good. Fifty seven murders a day and having a gender base violence rate that is four time high than the global average is not acceptable.
IsiXhosa:
Mongameli uthuleleni omama nabantwana besifa?
English:
Our crime rate is almost the same as war-torn countries like Afghanistan. The President, we as the ATM are saying you need to employ all police reservists to boost capacity as well as police visibility. We need more action, less plans and summits!
In conclusion, a President that has zero tolerance for crime against himself (personally), guarded by snipers and machine guns but is willing to wait 10 years to halve violent crime against its own citizens, is a self-centred president who is not putting South Africa first.
IsiXhosa:
Mongameli uthuleleni abantu besifa?
Mr G G HILL-LEWIS: Deputy Speaker, as this is our first debate since the election, let me begin by congratulating Mr President on your election as the President of the Republic. I am sure the President dreamed (fond as he is of dreaming) of beginning his first full term in office in more favourable conditions, but the last decade under this government means that we meet today in this Chamber at a time of great of national anxiety. No amount
of presidential fantasy can mask the harsh economic facts that we must now face together as a country. The haze of Ramaphoria has given way to the sober reality of what we face. Years of excess and sin - spending, debt and corruption - have all caught up with us now. The cupboard is bare, there is no more money.
Our national debt has never been higher. Millions of people in our country are desperately worried about how to get work or whether they will still have a job at the end of the month. They worry what will happen to their life savings, how they will pay the bills, and what the future holds for their children. To the President, the last ten years is just a “lost decade”, but to the country it is an entire “1ost generation” of unemployed young people. A moment like this requires bold and decisive leadership. It is one thing Sir to lift the national gaze with a vision of the very distant future. It was absolutely right to focus the attention of the country on the urgent need for faster economic growth, but unless that is matched by a real commitment to make the difficult choices to actually achieve growth, then it’s all just empty words.
It is easy to speak of growth and jobs. President Zuma did that in his first state of the nation address in 2009 and nearly every state of the nation address there after. If you say we are going to obsess about growth, then you must also commit specifically (by name) to stopping all of the growth, kill policies that your government is responsible for. If you say you are committed to responsible economics, then you need to commit explicitly to debt reduction. If you say you’ve got a plan for Eskom, then you better had to tell the country exactly what it is. If you say that yours will be a government of doers, then you better stop promoting all of the takers. Dreaming has its place, Sir, but it is no substitute for real action and there was precious little of that, in Thursday’s address. The central question I was left with from your speech is this - Why could you not make one single concrete announcement? Not one! The answer is this: There is no agreement in your party about a focus on growth. Is there? There is no agreement on responsible economics [Applause.]. There’s no agreement on what to do about Eskom, or reducing debt, or the Public Wage Bill.
There is no consensus in the governing party about any one of the major questions facing our economy. [Applause.]. Far from it! The truth is, this President is in office, but he is not in power. Sir, it is easy to call- is the truth- it is easy to call on the courage of citizens to endure these hardships, they must currently endure, but where is your courage in matching dreams with tough action? Don’t talk to us about courage, show it yourself. You cannot go on forever, Mr President finding a messy compromise in every problem, leaving everyone guessing as to what you really think, and telling everyone what they want to hear. It’s time that you stare down the enemies of growth.
Mr President, you do not make a crocodile a vegetarian by feeding it more meat. Every time you compromise with the looting, lunatic left, you just embolden them more. One day, when you have compromised everything away, they will come for you. They are not your friends. They are not the friends of South Africa; they are a danger to this country. It is time that you call them out. It is time that you show that you are prepared to make the tough decisions necessary to achieve growth. If you are really committed to growth, here are few
things you can do in your reply tomorrow, they are not difficult: Get rid of your 17 priorities and 15 goals and consolidate them all into one, economic growth, above all; open the way for the Metros to purchase electricity from whoever they want; scrap the Carbon Tax, for it is nothing but than a Manufacturing Tax; make clear that there will be no more money for South African Airways, SAA and make clear your opposition to the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank and the prescription of assets. [Applause.]
If you do these few things, you will show that you meant what you said, but if you do not, then we can only conclude that you are in thrall to your political pay masters. So while it’s very difficult to know where you stand Sir, it is absolutely clear where the Democratic Alliance stands. The enemies of growth have lost the economic argument completely, but still they continue to dominate the debate. Everything they propose, everything, has failed everywhere it has been tried. It is time that we took control of the economic argument. We are the only party with the ideas and sound economic principles that will deliver a future of broad prosperity for all. [Applause.]. We are determined that
the cruelty of poverty can be eradicated from our society. That is our highest ambition and our sole obsession. The only way to eradicate poverty and build prosperity is to grow the economy faster, through policies which unleash enterprise and individual aspiration.
We are committed to fiscal responsibility as the foundation of economic growth. We know that millions of South Africans depend on public services, and that precisely because so many depend on those services, they need to be well funded and well run. We recognise that, without growth, government has no money to spend on the poor. You do not sustain a country on debt, only on investment and savings. To grow, we must have policies that support the risk takers, policies that recognise that entrepreneurs create jobs, not government. Policies that support private ownership, uphold the rule of law, reject narrow protectionism, and embrace the global market. That is where we stand, Sir. That is what sets us apart [Applause.] as the party of jobs, of growth, and of broad prosperity for all.
We are keen for a fight. I want to tell the ANC and the other branch, the EFF that we in this party find it obscene that millions of young people can’t find work because of your bad ideas. [Applause.] You are clutching to the sinking wreckage of a statist ideology, and you threatening to take the whole country down with you. Not on our watch. We love South Africa too much to let you drag us down with you. [Applause.]. Sir, we will fight your failed ideas that have got us into the mess we now face. We will defend the independence of the Reserve Bank, and we will protect the retirement savings of ordinary hard- working people. [Applause.] This will be the defining fight of the next five years. We are ready to make our case with growing confidence and vigour.
It is time for the rational centre of the South African politics to dominate the economic debate, to stand up for what works and for what is right and to beat back the enemies of growth, whether they be here or there. If you are not prepared to do it Mr President, then we will. [Applause.]
Mr Y I CARRIM: Deputy Speaker, Comrades President and Deputy President, comrades and friends, so the opposition party insists that the President’s state of the nation address, Sona, is ... [Interjections]
Mr N SINGH: Hon Deputy Speaker ...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, hon Singh?
Mr N SINGH: I am rising in terms of Rule 14(s). Is it not an appropriate time for us to adjourn for lunch because it is one o’clock? [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I keep the time, sir. Thank you very much. I will let you know when you must go and eat, hon Singh.
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Deputy Speaker ...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, sir.
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: I would like to second that motion.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The decision was not placed on the Order Paper. It is rejected. Go ahead, hon Carrim.
Mr Y I CARRIM: I take it you haven’t extracted any time from me over those superficial interventions, right? [Interjections.] Okay.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Go ahead. I will start your clock.
Mr Y I CARRIM: Now, here we are. You are saying, as opposition parties, that it is high on vision, low on detail. But, one could argue, better that high ... [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You are screaming, hon members. Allow the member to speak.
Mr Y I CARRIM: ... high on detail and low on vision, because, President, if you had presented a shopping list as it were, they
would have attacked the state of the nation address just as much. They would have said: “Ah, you see, these are empty promises. It is a shopping list. Where is the capacity to deliver?” So you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.
But that’s how most of the opposition parties, regrettably, operate in our Parliament. It is endless, rampant opposition for opposition sake. No recognition here that, despite our many differences, we do have a common national interest. And never more than now with our faltering economy, our job challenges and our increasing inequalities, as the state of the nation address openly and frankly admitted. We need each other – not just in the interests of mainly the poor and disadvantaged, but also in the interests of all of our people.
This is the main message of the Presidency’s state of the nation address. It has been there since last February: that we need partnerships of government, Parliament, the trade unions, business, civil society and the public generally to foster economic growth, create jobs, reduce inequalities and
consolidate our democracy. It’s about a social compact. It’s about creating social cohesion and working together, never mind our entrenched differences.
And, if you want to get the co-operation of other political parties and other public stakeholders, you cannot spell out an overdetailed set of targets and then ask people to join you. In part, it’s this that underpins the Sona. It has to convey – it is meant to convey – a vision, especially of the first Sonas in a new term of Parliament.
It is in this sense of a heightened vision that the dream term was used. It was to convey hope and to point to the enormous potential of this country, President, which we agree with. And this was said at the very end of a very long speech. In fact, it occupies less than 6% of the speech, as I know it.
Yet the opposition parties pounced on that minority section of the speech and ignored the detail that was spelt out. And the details have come, and they will come. They have come today in the Ministers’ inputs. They will come in the Budget Vote
debates. They will come when the Medium-Term Strategic Framework, the MTSF, is more clearly spelt out in a month or so, as Minister Mthembu explained, and they will come through our Parliament’s effective oversight over the executive. If there are not enough details and timeframes, then it is our responsibility as Parliament to ensure this within the next three months or so. If then it is not there, then we – not the executive – will be held to account.
When it comes to the details of Sona, opposition parties say they are not new. Of course, not all of them are. That’s because the President didn’t start with his Sona last week. This started in February 2018. There have been three Sonas since then and there has certainly been progress.
Let’s start with some of this. Firstly, staring us in the face daily, even on a Saturday, is the Zondo commission. And, whatever you say about that commission, it is very, very rare, even in an established democracy let alone in a developing democracy, that a party which is facing the most contested elections ever allows the Zondo commission to go ahead,
revealing mainly, regrettably, our dirty linen in public. [Applause.] And yet, 57,5% of the people voted for us.
There is also another commission on the Public Investment Corporation, the PIC: the Justice Mpati commission. There is also the Mokgoro commission that led to the removal of two very controversial people in the National Prosecuting Authority.
There’s the Nugent commission that has led to a credible SA Revenue Service Commissioner. There was, of course, the investment conference last year, where you reported that R250 billion of the R300 billion in investment projects had actually been implemented, or is beginning to be implemented, and so on and so on. [Interjections.]
I identified, for what it’s worth, 19 targets you had, President, and timeframes. Others will spell that out. Do we need more details? Yes, Comrade President, as Parliament we do.
In order for us to exercise our effective oversight, President, we have to have your Ministers – the Ministers of our country – spell out in the Budget Votes what they are going to do
precisely, so that we can hold them to account in the interests of a Parliament that is in the best traditions of the national democratic revolution: a national democratic Parliament, Parliament as a tribune of the people, Parliament as an organ of popular power, which is what the ANC spelt out in 1994. [Applause.]
Now, the President is accused of being a dreamer. But who are the off-the-rail dreamers? Who are the real, biggest dreamers? They are the DA and EFF, of course. The DA was dreaming – a fantasy, Mr Lewis, a fantasy, that you are going to run Gauteng, either as a majority or in alliance with others, as well as the Northern Cape. [Applause.] [Interjections.] Oh man, oh man; in your worst fantasy, Mr Lewis, in your worst fantasy, you actually thought you might even run the country as part of a coalition. [Interjections.] And, where are you now? You’ve fallen flat. I can’t even see you. I hear the noise, but it’s so much that: noise, no substance.
Let me also put it you: In the real material world we live in, you lost 1,5% of your vote. Worse, you lost votes amongst the
African constituency. So, you know what? You have no chance of coming to power. [Interjections.]
Now, what is it? If you put together the ANC’s 57,5% and the EFF’s 10,7% it means that we are more or less at 68% of the parties that have a substantial base amongst the African population. So what has changed since 1968? Nothing much, regrettably, President. We have a highly racialised voting pattern. It’s not something to gloat about. This is not what the ANC wanted, but what it does suggest, Mr Maimane, is that your party has probably reached its ceiling. [Laughter.] [Applause.] [Interjections.]
Frankly, you can go on dreaming. If you think you are ever going to run this country: Dream on, I say! The ANC and other forces liberated you to dream. Thank us for that. [Interjections.]
And what about the other big DA dream, their delusions in the free market and their disdain for the state? Despite the huge progress this country has made, it has, regrettably, the most
acute income inequalities in the world and, further, regrettably, is highly racialised. Sadly, that’s where it is.
If we don't significantly reduce this, a social explosion is looming. Were it not for the intervention of the state, not least through our social grant programme and indeed our pro-poor programmes, we would all be swept away by this explosion, not least the EFF.
Now, the DA’s dream is that privatisation and the free market will prevent this. How? Just how, Mr Lewis, is the DA’s blind faith in the market going to address the highly racialised socioeconomic challenges we confront? In no developing society in the world has the free market on its own reduced inequalities. How do you think you are going to do it in South Africa? Even the DA’s tentative edging towards a more state- oriented liberalism has caused huge ructions in the party and led partly to the reason why you lost your votes. When we say to you ... [Interjections.]
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: You lost your position.
Mr Y I CARRIM: I don’t care. I am here for what it’s worth. [Laughter.] [Applause.] Now, let me put to you ... Let me put to you ... But, hey, I served 25 years – 25 years! Why should I want to be back? [Interjections.] Anyway, so I am and you have got to deal with me, okay! So, let me put this to you. No, let me put this to you, DA: You have an identity crisis. You don’t know whether you are the party of Tony Leon’s rampant free marketism or Colin Eglin’s progressive empathetic liberalism. [Interjections.] You are divided. You are split. It’s hilarious, Mr Day-Lewis, that you say these things because your party has no identity. You are riddled with angst and you have no future. [Interjections.]
And, it wasn’t just the DA ... [Interjections.] It wasn’t just the DA that was dreaming, comrades and friends. It was also the EFF. “We will win the elections” they kept saying. “When we take over in the May 2019 elections”, we will do this and we will do that. Well, what happened? The reality is they could muster only a 2,5% increase over their 8,2% result in the 2016 local government elections. Now get the maths right; you have so many PhD people. [Interjections.]
Dr M Q NDLOZI: Point of order ... Point of order, Deputy Speaker.
Mr Y I CARRIM: They are only 40% away from being a majority. Only 40%. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What’s your point of order?
Dr M Q NDLOZI: It is unparliamentary to deliberately mislead the House about the losses of the ANC and the gains of the EFF. [Interjections.] Look at the benches, brother. Don’t be overwhelmed by your ego. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member ...
Dr M Q NDLOZI: That’s why you are in the NCOP and not in here
...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member ...
Mr Y I CARRIM: That’s fine! [Interjections.] That’s fine! [Interjections.]
Dr M Q NDLOZI: ... because they lost. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Ndlozi ...
Dr M Q NDLOZI: Next is the old age home. [Laughter.] [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Ndlozi! Hon Ndlozi! [Interjections.] Order! Hon Ndlozi, you can’t say a member is deliberately misleading. [Interjections.] That is unparliamentary and you must withdraw it. [Interjections.] Withdraw it. You know the Rules.
Dr M Q NDLOZI: I withdraw that he is deliberately misleading the House.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, no, no! Unconditionally, hon member!
Dr M Q NDLOZI: I unconditionally withdraw and sustain the old age home destination. [Interjections.] That is your destination.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Ndlozi, could you kindly please withdraw unconditionally?
Dr M Q NDLOZI: I “kindly please withdraw” and sustain old age destination.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member! Hon member, this is the last time. Withdraw, please!
Dr Q M NDLOZI: Didn’t I do that? I withdraw.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Okay.
Dr Q M NDLOZI: Are you happy, brother?
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Take your seat. Go ahead, hon member.
Mr Y I CARRIM: Well, it’s not an attack on me; it’s an attack on the IEC. These are their results, right? So, if the DA dreams about the free market, the EFF dreams about an all-powerful Father Christmas state that will deliver everything and anything to everybody overnight. [Applause.] And let me tell you: It’s not simple Mao suits of the 1960s they want for all; it’s Louis Vuitton red overalls. [Laughter.] [Applause.] “Nationalise,” they say. “Nationalise” and, hey presto, everything gets solved.
This is idealism of the worst sort. The EFF claims to be Marxist. Where is the historical materialism? No assessment of the historical juncture, of the concrete economic and political terrain, of the domestic and global balance of forces, of the strength of the state, of the readiness of the working class and its allies for socialism. And where, exactly, is the EFF’s socialist-struggle working-class base? Where is their trade union movement? Where are the workers? Where in the world? When did Lenin and Marx say that the youth would be the revolutionary motive force for socialism? Not Lenin, not Marx and not the other great hero, the great Frantz Fanon, ever said that. [Interjections.]
So, why this youth fundamentalism? Everybody beyond Malema’s age is a reject, is a hack. Yet they admire China. What is the average age of members of the central committee or the government of China? [Interjections.]
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: Point of order ...
Mr Y I CARRIM: The EFF is voluntarism ... The EFF ... [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What’s your point of order, hon member?
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: Can you ask this demoted Member of Parliament to say “Hon Malema”? It is the law here in Parliament. He must respect us.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Okay.
Mr Y I CARRIM: Mr Malema is acceptable; “Mr Malema”. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Okay. All right.
Mr Y I CARRIM: The EFF is voluntarism, with no foundation in materialism. This idealism, this voluntarism is closely linked to its populism, and this populism is closely linked to its militaristic posture. [Interjections.] There is no armed struggle. We are a democracy. They are in Parliament. Why do they have, as their head, a “commander in chief”? [Laughter.] Where is their internal democracy? Who is he commanding ... towards what end? No clarity, right! [Interjections.] [Applause.]
He thinks ... [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Order, hon members!
Mr Y I CARRIM: He was too young to be in the armed struggle, rightly, but I have no doubt he would have taken part. He thinks that if you fire a rifle in the air at an EFF rally that that makes you a soldier. [Laughter.] And the EFF, let me tell you, is all tactics and no strategy. Normally, your tactics, as we
all know and he knows ... he comes from the national democratic tradition. Comrade Malema, why is it that you don’t accept this, please? You see, you have a strategy overall and you subordinate your tactics to it. No, no, no! The EFF is tactical. Everything is tactical. So, they swing from one extreme to the other.
Identity crisis! One day they are opposing the Public Protector. The next day they are supporting the Public Protector. We don’t know what’s going on! One day they are opposing state corruption or “state capture” as we call it. The next day they are defending the perpetrators of that corruption.
One day they are supporting ... For example, let me ask you: Can you respond, Mr Shivambu, when you speak? The state is weak. The state-owned enterprises are weak. Even the President and the Minister of Public Enterprises say that. What sort of state is going to be able to take over property completely and disperse it, Mr Malema? Think too, and let’s engage around that. Somebody else is going to deal with the land issues. I have only two minutes and 44 seconds left.
So, you can be tactically flexible, but it must be part of an overall strategy, right? Now, the EFF claims to be Marxist, in what sense, you can’t tell. Like the DA, you two parties are the opposite sides of the same coin: both suffering from an identity crisis; both don’t know where you are going because Mr Zuma is not here anymore. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
This is not to say, President, that we don’t have our own internal problems. They are there. Even the peasants in Outer Mongolia know it and the frozen citizens of Alaska know it. We have to do something, Mr President - you and the Deputy President, and the secretary-general wherever he is. I hope he is listening, or at least somebody will convey this to him. [Interjections.]
Let me put this to you. We are a ... [Interjections.] No, no, no! Let me finish. I am about to finish. You will be rid of me. Now look, we are a national liberation movement. We are not a typical party in a cohesive sense like the DA and EFF are meant to be. We are a broad movement of all classes and all strata of the population, and we are in alliance with the SA Communist
Party – mercifully, President – and the Congress of SA Trade Unions, Cosatu, and the SA National Civic Organisation, Sanco.
So, it is obvious we can’t be ideologically cohesive, Mr Malema. You know that - in the way you could be and the DA could be. So, what’s your reason for not being ideologically cohesive, DA? I don’t know. You are a party. [Laughter.] [Applause.] But you know what? We respect the free market. The President, the Deputy President and the Ministers have gone overboard. We believe the free market has a role to play.
We are committed to the private sector. We are not frightening them away. It would be foolhardy and anti-Marxist even, President ... general secretary of the party in your other capacity, you would agree. Now, we are saying: We want a national democratic revolution - advanced, consolidated and deepened. We want a national democratic society in which there is both the market and the state. That’s why we reject some of what they say - certainly, everything they say, and some of what they say. The market and the state, right? That’s what we want – a co-operative relationship between them.
We are saying that we can’t do it on our own as the ANC. We need all of you, despite our differences, despite what I have said here because I was provoked by Ms Chirwa more than Mr Malema. [Laughter.] Mr Malema, by the way ... No, no, no, Mr Malema, I was going to be very conciliatory, Mr Malema, because I saw you on TV and obviously I googled you because I had to do the sweeping. You are much more temperate today than you were in the media, but I can see now you set Ms Chirwa to do the work, right? [Laughter.] [Applause.] Mr Shivambu, you are the Chief Whip of your party. As I know it - when I came here in 1994 - you don’t interrupt a maiden speech, but in return the maiden speaker ...
Ms H O MKHALIPI: Order, Deputy Speaker ... Order, Deputy Speaker
...
Mr Y I CARRIM: I only have 13 seconds.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What’s your point of order?
Ms H O MKHALIPI: He must stop undermining women. [Interjections.]
Mr Y I CARRIM: No, no, no ... [Interjections.]
Ms H O MKHALIPI: The hon Chirwa is capable of speaking in this Parliament. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, what is your point of order?
Ms H O MKHALIPI: You must never undermine women, chief. Please! The hon Chirwa is better than you. That is why you got demoted. You got demoted by your own party. Stop that, chief. That’s why you ran away from the SA Communist Party. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, take your seat.
Mr Y I CARRIM: Why would I run away from the ... [Inaudible.] I remain a member of the politburo. What’s your problem? But you know you are not right. I mean that is an outrageous thing to say. What I am saying is this: If you do a maiden speech, as I
understand it, Deputy Speaker, you have to be temperate, and don’t criticise too much in your first speech. Now, she did that, which is what was provoked. Isn’t that her fault? Thank you very much. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon members, it is now time for you to go
... Hon Mohai, how can you stand and drink water like that? [Laughter.] Hon members, take your seats. You must follow the order, please. Some decorum is useful. Please, man! Some decorum is useful. It is time for lunch. You will be invited back here by the bells when they ring. Please be on time so that we proceed with the affairs of the House. Thank you.
BUSINESS SUSPENDED AT 13:16.
BUSINESS SUSPENDED AT 13:16 AND RESUMED AT 14:24.
Afternoon Sitting
The MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Viva hon comrade Carrim! Viva! [Interjections.] I think hon Carrim did a lot of the
things that I was going to do today, so; you gave me the good opportunity to just focus on what I came here for. Hon Speaker, hon President and Deputy President, Members of Parliament ...
IsiZulu:
... Bantu bakithi emakhaya, bantu baseNhlazatshe, nansi ingane yenu ime phambi kwePhalamende namhlanje. Imisebenzi yenu yokuyifundisa ayiwelanga phansi. Ngicela abazali, ogogo nomkhulu, obaba nomama, o-anti nomalume ukuthi benze konke okusemandleni abo ukuthi bafundise izingane zabo, ukuze nazo ngelinye ilanga zibe nethuba lokuma la ngime khona.
Kungani ngisho njalo? Ngicela ukuthi imali kaHulumeni, izinhlelo zikaHulumeni eziphuma kuMnyango Wezokuthuthukiswa Komphakathi kufanele zisejenziswe kahle. Kubekhona ilungu elibuze ukuthi, bazofundiswa ngani? Ngathi liyakhohlwa ilungu ukuthi loHulumeni we-ANC uyayikhipha imali yokufundisa izingane. Ngisekuwona loHulumeni ka-ANC, ngifuna ukunitshela ukuthi bengilalele umsakazo ngelinye ilanga kukhuluma enye ingane encane ithi ithole umsebenzi eKapa. Ithi yona yafundiswa ngugogo nomkhulu wayo ngemali yesibonelelo senhlalakahle. Okumqoka akushilo,
uthe, “manje sengzonikeza ugogo nomkhulu ithuba lokuthi ngibancede ngoba mina sengithole umsebenzi.”
Kusho ukuthi yona lengane le ayizicabangeli yona yodwa, icabanga nokuthi kufuneka isize ugogo nomkhulu ukuthi bafundise abanye.
Ngisho ngoba ngiyazi ukuthi abaningi bethu kuleNdlu ehloniphekileyo bazimisele ngokuthuthukisa izimpilo zabantu baseNingizimu Afrika. Kungakho nje i-state of the nation address, Sona kaMongameli ikhulume nge-7 point plan efuna ukuthi sonke sibambisane ukuze iNingizimu Afrika ithuthuke. Lo msebenzi sawuqala kudala siyi-ANC nabantu baseNingizimu Afrika. Namhlanje mhlonishwa Mongameli, ngifuna ukusho ukuthi, ngime-nje la kukhona izinto ezintathu ezingijabulisayo. Okokuqala, i-ANC inqobe ukhetho. Yingakho namhlanje silana ... [Ihlombe.] yingakho nawe unikezwe leli gunya lokuthi ube nabantu ososebenzisana nabo, nami ngingomunye walabo obakhethile.
Okwesibili Mnu Mongameli, ngifuna ukusho la eNdlini namhlanje,ngoba ngime la, laphaya phezulu kwigalari kuhleli intombazane yami, intokazi yami uPhindile Zulu. Laphaya phezulu kwigalari kuhleli abazukulu bami ababili uQhawe noNobuhle.
Ngifuna ukusho-ke Mnu Mongameli ukuthi labantwana abahleli laphaya bahleli ngoba ugogo wami nomkhulu wami bangifundisa, ngahamba ngaya enyuvesi ngaqeda. Yingakho ngithi leyamali yesibonelelo senhlalakahle kufuneka abantu bayisebenzise kahle ngoba owami ugogo nomkhulu babengenawo uHulumeni ababengaya kuwo. Ugogo wami nomkhuli babesebenza laphaya eGoli. Umkhulu uze washona ephuma ehostela Mongameli, ukhishwe yithi umkhulu ehostela.
English:
For over 50 years he struggled, working in Johannesburg, living from one to the other.
IsiZulu:
Ngakhoke labantu-ke abacabanga ukuthi namhlanje bafuna ukusitshela ukuthi ayikho into enhle eyenzekile, ngicela babheka laba bantwana abalaphaya kwi-galari. Balaphaya kwigalari ngoba mina ugogo nomkhulu bangifundisa. I-ANC yangisa esikoleni, ngaqeda, namhlanje ngineziqu ze-Master’s ngoba i-ANC yakwenza lokho kubelula. [Ihlombe.] Yingakho futhi ngithi omama nogogo nomkhulu no-anti ngiyacela ukuthi, ngiyazi ukuthi lemali
yesibonelelo incane kodwa ngiyazi ukuthi bayakwazi Mnu Mongameliukuyisebenzisa. Enye into, eyesithathu engijabulisayo namhlanje, Mnu Mongameli, ukuthi ngithe uma ngibheka laphaya ezinkundleni zokuxhumana ngahlangana nomunye obekade ethola iziqu zakhe namhlanye kwinyuvesi efanayo naleya engathola ezami iziqu ngo-1987.
English:
She was graduating from a university in Moscow - and here is the difference – when I graduated there Mr President; I had to borrow a dress for the graduation day. She did not have to do that, somebody from here was there to see her graduate. Me, on my graduation day, I had to borrow a dress, shoes and all I had was that blue sash that showed that I had completed my task, that I had passed and that I had done everything. Nobody must come today and tell us that nothing has happened in South Africa. If you do not know what we have gone through, what we have been through, then you can stand up here and talk as if nothing has changed in South Africa.
IsiZulu:
Thina-ke Mongameli asipheleli nje ngokukhuluma ngoba bayathanda ukukhulumela safuthi ngapha. Abantu ngaphandle kwaleNdlu bakuzwa uma uthi Thuma Mina. Bakuzwile futhi uma uthi Khawuleza.
Siyathumeka thina futhi sizokhawuleza.
English:
In the words of ...
IsiZulu:
... uBaba umhlonishwa uShenge [Buthelezi] namhlanje, okhulume ekuseni, uthe ...
English:
... it is about, “the nuts and bolts.”
IsiZulu:
Ngifuna ukusho kuyena ukuthi, siyabonga.
English:
The nuts and the bolts are going to be delivered, right here in this House. We are here as the soldiers of our people, carrying
the whole of our people. Mr President, the ANC gave you the mandate to select your team that can take your dream, the dream of our people forward.
IsiZulu:
Ngoba-ke Mnu Mongameli ulande u-Ben Okri kuleNdlu ehloniphekile
...
Setswana:
... le nna ke tsere tšhwetso ya gore ke batla go mo tlisa mo Ben Okri ...
English:
... and what he further says in response to the people who do not see where the country is going. This is what he says, and I quote:
The Exhausted are those who have come to the end of their powers of imagination, who have limited their possibilities, who have thought themselves into the dead ends, that they call the highest points of their
civilisations. Those who are exhausted have lost the greater picture, the greater perspective; they are trapped in their own labyrinths, their lovelessness selfishness.
For those with limited dreams there is chaos to come disintegration, nightmares.
He further, Mr President, says, “The exhausted should therefore clear the stage for new dreamers for warriors of love, justice and enlightenment.”
IsiZulu:
Ngicela basuke endleleni yethu.
English:
That is what I am saying. [Interjections.] It is for this purpose – Mr President – that I stand here responding to your clarion call, and from the social development perspective, I will outline – not only today but also during the Budget – what our focus will be. The National Development Plan, NDP, accords a central role to social protection in tackling the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. It also
strongly advocates for a minimum level of social protection floor, below which no one should fall. These include fighting child and adult poverty through the social assistance programme and a minimum income guarantee for the most vulnerable in our country.
In this regard, we will work jointly with Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency to finalise our work on the national definition of social protection floor as well as the comprehensive social security reform process. We will, therefore, work together across all spheres of government and with social partners to break away from the silo approach, this has been one of our biggest challenges in government but we are aware that is what we need to do. I do want to say, when they speak about economic development, human settlement, health, social development, all those, they have a greater impact on social development and I would like to say, social development must not only be seen through the eyes of the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, social grants, it must be seen for what it is.
Social development is about the development of every individual
in our society, each and everyone to see the value in themselves, their communities and in the future of South Africa.
So I call upon all my counterparts to work with me here and make sure that social development, we turn it into what it is. We will continue working with civil society organisations to support prevention and early intervention services, with special focus on parenting programmes and community action programmes.
Keeping in mind that we are a developmental state – which must never be forgotten - the ANC-led government introduced a social assistance programme which 25 years down the line ensured that over 17 million poor and vulnerable South Africans receive social grants. This means the government spends more than
R13 billion towards social assistance. Our long-term goal is to create a nation that is self-sustainable and contribute to socioeconomic development. Mr President, I do want to say that, working together with the Minister of Small Business Development, we need to make sure that those that have the capacity and capability of coming out of social grants and standing on their own two feet and making that money to work for
them because some people think, as black people we enjoy just standing here and ...
IsiZulu:
... sikhongozele.
ILUNGU ELIHLONIPHEKILE: Obani labo?
English:
The MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: It is not true. As black people, we have always been proud of ourselves. We have always provided for our families and all. It is just that we were disrupted by a system which made my grandparents hewers of wood and drawers of water. Hon Speaker, as a government we are obliged to address the scourge of social ills confronting our communities across our country. These include the intersection between the unacceptably high levels of alcohol and substance abuse, gender-based violence and femicide, as well as rising HIV infections, particularly among young women, and the relatively low numbers of men testing for HIV and actually starting treatment. To this end the department has partnered with the SA
National Aids Council, Sanac, and the Men’s Sector for the implementation of Goal 4 of the National Strategic Plan for HIV, Tuberculosis, TB and sexually transmitted infections, STIs. We are currently rolling out the boys and Men and Championing Change programme. And this we believe, Mr President, working together, both men and women, it is our responsibility and not the responsibility of women to negotiate around these issues.
Working together with provinces, municipalities and social partners, the mobilisation of both men and boys in the fight against HIV and Aids and gender-based violence seeks to lay a solid foundation to transform existing gender imbalances. We will work with communities and the National House of Traditional Leaders to confront harmful cultural practices, norms and values that make young girls and boys as well as women, more vulnerable to gender-based violence. Almost every hon member in this House has witnessed the horrors of drug addiction, whether it is through the struggle of one of our own family member or through the struggle of a friend, a colleague or a neighbour’s child. It might take us many years or even decades to bring this scourge under control, but we must start in earnest in the coming
months, working together with the police as well as the justice system. To this end, we will table the National Drug Master Plan to Cabinet in this financial year, with priority given to strengthening the Central Drug Authority’s capacity to carry out its work. Our efforts to confront this scourge include making treatment and rehabilitation available to help our young people.
Mr President, as you pointed out during the Sona, we need a new social compact if we are to achieve a South Africa we want and I also do want to say that, in the building of that new South Africa that we are talking about we should not just be thinking of the houses, the workplace, we should also think about the South African who has to inhabit that South Africa, so I put together the South Africa we want but also the South African we want to live in it.
On a related matter, we have also successfully concluded provincial dialogues in all provinces as part of the build-up activities towards the Presidential Social Sector Summit to be held later this year. Our social transformation agenda, which is part of the overall vision of a South Africa we want, has been
delivering positive and encouraging results for our people. We must continue to build on this by remaining a nation and a people committed to ideals of human rights and human dignity as espoused in the Freedom Charter and concretised in our Constitution. These are the values of which we must never lose sight as we deliver on our new mandate. Thank you, Chair. [Applause.]
Afrikaans:
Mnr J W W JULIUS: Speaker, die President, lede, Suid-Afrikaners, laat my toe om ons mense te herinner van ’n bekende gesegde wat lei: Die lewe is ’n droom, maar om te droom is geen lewe nie.
Dit was deur Constantijn Huygens geskryf. President, jou regering moet drome waar laat word. Jy kan nie saam droom nie. Daar is mense wat wag vir jou om hul drome waar te laat word. [Applous.]
Dienslewering in plaaslike en provinsiale regerings is waar die meeste mense se drome waar gemaak moet word. Dit is die drome oor ’n veilige omgewing, skoon water in hul huise,
kragvoorsiening wat bekostigbaar en stabiel is, en amptenare wat eerlik, betroubaar en hardwerkend is.
Terwyl die President droom, gaan al meer mense ongelukkig gebuk onder ’n voortdurende toename in swak dienslewering en korrupsie op plaaslike regeringsvlak.
Terwyl die President droom, word mense se drome verpletter as gevolg van korrupsie en politici wat daar is om hul eie situasies te verbeter, hulself te verryk en die mense swak te dien. Dit is die toestand waarin ons land is huidiglik is.
Wat vir die President ’n wonderlike droom is, is vir die mense van Suid-Afrika daar buite ’n aaklige nagmerrie. Hulle droom vanaf 1994 en is nou moeg van droom. Hulle wil aksie sien en nie mense wat saam hulle droom, wie eintlik die werk moet doen nie. [Applous.] Die mense voel dat, na 25 jaar, kan ons nie meer droom van basiese dienste wat jare gelede alreeds moes gebeur het nie. Ons kan nie aanhou glo nie. Iemand het my die naweek gesê dat ...
English:
Someone told me this weekend that the President reminds him of Vuyo and his “wors” [sausage] idea – a big, big dreamer.
One of the most progressive ways to root out corruption in local government is by conducting lifestyle audits to test whether politicians and officials in this sphere of government live according to their income. The President made promises of starting the process of conducting lifestyle audits in 2018 already. There is still nothing. We are still waiting. While the President is dreaming about this, the looting continues.
Today, I am proud to announce to South Africans that in the very progressive and transparent DA-run Western Cape Government, MECs under the leadership of the capable premier, Alan Winde, already agreed to undergo lifestyle audits at the start and end of their tenure in public office. [Applause.] These are political office bearers that understand that they are there to serve the people and not fill their own pockets with the people’s money like most of these ANC politicians do.
President, you also mentioned the issue of drug abuse in our country. I commend you for doing that or rather I love the dreaming about the solution for drug abuse in our country, but let me give you a rude awakening on that. Our borders are pourers. Drugs and other illicit goods get smuggled in and out of our country on a daily basis. We cannot stop the scourge of drug abuse in our communities, if this government cannot secure our borders, and don’t allow drugs to come in our country on a daily basis. You are responsible for the drugs in our country. You are responsible for that.
Mr President, you failed to mention how the people in informal settlements and rural areas will be provided with greater access to clean running water in their homes. There are people that are still using bucket toilets in South Africa, this while the President boldly announced a bullet train and a dream city. It is only for the elite sitting there. Your friends and families will stay in that dream city because that is what you want – better quality for you and you forget about the people out there that are struggling. [Applause.]
This flies in the face of people who have been waiting for years to get a home. This flies in the face of the people of Alexandra who are still waiting for the promised renewal of their township where billions of rands were squandered by corrupt ANC politicians in local government and that province specifically. Just like Zuma and Ace Magashule now, those officials are calling press statements to hide the truth. Theydont want to come up with the truth, but I can gladly tell you that I commend Mayor Mashaba. You will commend out with the truth and you are all going to jail. The people of Alexandra will get what they deserve.
Ms M C DIKGALE: Hon Speaker, on a point of order:
English:
... who is not in the House to protect himself.
The SPEAKER: Hon member, I am going to let it go. The Rules, your powers and immunities cover members who are here and they do not preclude people to be mentioned. Let us listen to what he
says and it is then up to members in their debate to take that up.
Afrikaans:
Mnr J W W JULIUS: Die rede waarom die DA-beheerde Wes-Kaapse regering die laagste werkloosheid syfer in Suid-Afrika het met
14 persentasie punte laer as die nasionale syfer, waar die helfte van werke wat in Suid-Afrika geskep is tussen kwartaal 3 van 2017en 2018, waarom 82% van die 2018 Wes-Kaapse begroting bestee is aan dienste vir die armes, waarom 91,5% van huishoudings 30 minute van die naaste gesongheidsorg fasiliteit woon, is omdat DA-regerings verstaan dat die mense se geld op die mense bestee moet word en nie op hulself, soos hierdie ANC- lede nie.
Die redes is dat openbare verteenwoordigers van die DA voorstaanders van deursigtigheid is en daarom stem hulle in om leefstyl oudits te ondergaan.
English:
Can you do lifestyle audits on yourself?
There is a reason why, despite a depressed economic and governance environment, DA-led governments are always a step ahead. There is a reason why 99% of Western Cape residents have access to piped water, 97% have access to electricity and 98% to waste removal.
There is a reason why people in the Western Cape can expect to live longer. There is a reason why this province, run by the DA, boasts with a 72% success rate of all land reform projects.
There is a reason. What are the reasons for this? South Africans, the reason is that, in the DA, we don’t just dream; we make dreams come true. [Applause.]
Speaker, another reason why we do so good is that we are proudly led by a united team with an impressive, young, energetic, knowledgeable, decisive, and incorruptible, dynamic, hands-on leader, Mmusi Maimane. Thank you. [Applause.]
Ms N NCUBE-NDABA: Hon Speaker, Deputy Speaker, His Excellency President Ramaphosa, Deputy President D D Mabuza, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members and ...
isiZulu:
Bahlali baseNingizimu, Sanibonani.
English:
Hon Speaker, the ideal of creating a national democratic society can only be realised through the efforts aimed at undoing patriarchal relations of power in the same way we give efforts to eradicating racial oppression and class super exploitation.
Our Constitution profoundly identifies nonsexism and nonracialism as its foundational values. The inclusion of the term ‘nonsexism’ was not an accident of birth, but was born out of a collective dream towards realising a democratic society that is free not just from racial oppression, but equally free from gender inequalities and discrimination.
Hon Speaker, during a series of lectures presented in universities across the country in the centenary year of Oliver Tambo’s birth, former Justice, Albie Sachs, gives a reflection on a workshop held by the ANC in 1988 in Lusaka which was meant to present the constitutional guidelines which would form the basis for the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
Speaking on behalf of the women who attended the workshop, our fallen stalwart, the late Mme Ruth Mompati, made the following remarks, and I quote:
I see in the introduction we speak of three hundred years of colonialism and racism. But we say nothing about a millennium of male domination. And what about the sexism we encounter in our daily lives today inside the organisation? It’s not just inequality in structures that we are talking about. It’s the culture, the values and the things people just take for granted in their daily lives that are keeping us back.
The dream of realising a world that would not only denounce racial domination but equally put in efforts to undo male domination was beginning to take form. Dreams act as a compass to choose a path among many options. They shape our choices and ultimately link to a purpose in life. This dream formed as a basis for our progressive Constitution that is recognized worldwide. Hon Speaker, ultimately the text of the constitutional guidelines was changed to speak not only of 300
years of racial domination, but served as a benchmark which denounced a millennium of male domination.
Gender-based violence is a profound and widespread problem in South Africa impacting on almost every aspect of life. It is systemic and deeply entrenched in institutions, cultures and traditions. While government’s posture towards gender-based violence has been a commitment towards primary prevention through awareness creation, community engagements and holding perpetrators accountable, we must emphasize that there is no single factor alone that is a direct cause of gender-based violence. It is caused by a combination of drivers operating at different levels of the social ecology, which is why the approach to gender-based violence cannot be one dimensional. It affects society as a whole and as such, requires collective efforts from all sectors of society. This stance recognises the complexity of gender-based violence and highlights its deep rooted nature in relation to the history and socioeconomic realities of South Africa.
In this regard, through legislative reforms, specific programmes and to an extent, public private partnerships, the ANC-led government has continuously prioritised the improvement of women access to justice and economic opportunities.
During our elections campaign trail, the ANC made a commitment to our electorate towards prioritising gender mainstreaming across all sectors of society. The most important being that of building safer communities and safer lives. We committed to equip police and courts to support survivors of gender-based violence. In keeping with this commitment, President Cyril Ramaphosa, on Thursday night delivered his second state of the nation address and noted that ending gender-based violence is an urgent national priority that requires the mobilisation of all South Africans and the involvement of all institutions. Work is already underway in the Presidency as an indication of the serious nature of this scourge and reflecting government’s commitment to tackle it.
In November 2018, a Declaration of the Presidential Summit Against Gender-Based Violence, GBV, and Femicide was held where
the President sat down with civil society organisations to chart priorities to end gender-based violence. The summit was part of the 25 demands handed to the Office of the Presidency by the #TotalShutDown movement on O1 August 2018. The Presidential Summit Against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Declaration was later launched on 29 March 2019 at the Booysen’s Sexual Offences Court in response to Article 9 of the Presidential Summit Declaration. On this day, the President signed the summit declaration together with key civil society organisations. This declaration is historic in the sense that it was the very first to be concluded on gender-based violence and femicide and between government and civil society.
It must be stated that while the life sentences imposed at the Sexual Offences Courts on cases received from the Thuthuzela Care Centres increased by 36,5% in the 2017 financial year, we are not blind to the realities that survivors of gender-based violence face through secondary victimisation. The retraumatisation of the sexual assault, abuse or rape victims reproduces itself through victim blaming, inappropriate behaviour or language by medical personnel and police officials
who handle such sensitive cases. We thus implore the Minister of Police to take on the plea of women across the country and racial spectrum to ensure that when survivors report these atrocious crimes that they are handled with compassion and sensitivity from police officials.
This scary and sad reality is emphasised by Prof Pumla Gqola in her book entitled; Rape, A South African Nightmare. Professor Gqola writes about The Female Fear Factory and states that, and I quote:
The manufacture of female fear is concerned with regulating women’s movement, sexuality and behaviour. If women fear that they will be punished for being raped and for speaking about it, and they see evidence of this repeatedly in how other women who survive are treated, it makes sense that although many go for counselling, they may choose not to report it to the police.
Hon President, we encourage that all incoming portfolio committees in this sixth Parliament, exercise their oversight
mandate without fear or favour in ensuring that gender mainstreaming becomes a reality through the sufficient allocation of adequate resources. Arising from the seven key priorities mentioned by the President, gender mainstreaming should be included and prioritised in the planning of programmes of each department and SOEs, state-owned enterprises.
In conclusion, in echoing the sentiments of President Ramaphosa, let me equally make a clarion call on all South Africans to become champions of the fight against gender-based violence and femicide. A dream is an invitation to do something. As such, the ANC invites society at large, political parties across the House and civil society to be part of this dream. I thank you. [Time expired.]
isiZulu:
Mongameli, thuma thina sonke.
Xitsonga:
Nkul T B MATHEVULA: Manana Xipikara, xosungula ndzi rhandza ku xeweta Maafrika-Dzonga hinkwavo eka tindhawu to hambanahambana
laha mi nga kona. A ndzi rivali ku xeweta presidente wa mundzuku wa tiko ra hina ra Afrika-Dzonga, “commander-in-chief, CIC” [murhangeri wa vuthu] Sello Julius Malema.
English:
The EFF’s founding manifesto cardinal pillar number three says that, we must build state and government capacity which will lead to the abolishment of tenders. Since the formation of the EFF in 2013 and when we came here in Parliament in 2014, we made the call for the state capacity because we know that economic transformation requires a strong people-centered state that has the ability to develop a clear strategic vision and deliver services. We made this call because we know that the private sector interest is to make profit at all cost including the lives of our people, like what we saw with Life Esidimeni.
Today, we are sitting with a backlog of 1000 special schools, a backlog of over 300 000 kilometers of roads that needs to be paved, we have more than 3,9 million people waiting for houses and the number of informal dwellings have now increased by over
2,1 million. We have more than 54% of households without running water inside the houses. Mr President ...
Xitsonga:
... vanhu va Giyani va ndzi rhumile. Va ri va karhele ku nwa mati na swiharhi.
English:
Water and sanitation pipeline backlog are over 400 kilometers. The current level of infrastructure backlog is a clear indication that the state has collapsed, incapable to deliver services and undermine any effort to improve the lives of our people. Instead, billions are wasted through tendering processes which we know has collapsed and it is used to steal money.
Mr President, why do we outsource security guards, cleaners, drivers and general workers? Why do we go on tender to buy toilet papers, stationary and other things which we can go and buy straight from black-owned manufactures? Why must hospitals buy food when there are kitchens in hospitals with workers? Why must government outsource the repairing of ambulances and wait
years for one ambulance to be fixed when government can open its own workshops and hire its own mechanics? [Applause.]
It is because of this sad reality that we welcome the recent announcements by the new premier of the Northern Cape on his commitment to increase state capacity, as this is in line with EFF policies and we will not be surprised when the rest of the government adopts this approach. We also want to warn the new premier that in his attempts at increasing state capacity he will be challenged at every turn by those only interested in the politics of the stomach.
The reality is that the tender system has been used as a means for self-enrichment for those in government and those connected to the ruling party. That is why we must do away with it and increase state capacity. Throughout the world there are examples of how this can be done and there is no better example than China.
In China the state provides services and uses the state as the driving force for economic development. As a result, the Chinese
have been able to lift 800 million people out of poverty in a 40-year period according the World Bank’s own data. That is
20 million people lifted out of poverty a year. This has never been done in the history of the world and was because of the role played by the state. Increasing state capacity will not only improve service delivery and standards of living, but it will also create millions of jobs.
If government is to build 3,9 million homes, tar roads and build schools, state companies are needed. Under an EFF government there will be a state construction company, a state cement company and many other states companies whose sole mandate will be to deliver services. These companies will be able to employ millions of South Africans in quality jobs that will provide benefits. An EFF government will also increase exist capacity, will employ more doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, plumbers and electricians, all of which are needed if we are to provide quality services to our people.
However, sadly, the ANC government remains committed to its embrace of neoliberalism and greed of profit over the people.
Only an EFF government can truly improve the state of our nation and one of the ways we will do this is by increasing the state capacity. Mr President ...
Xitsonga:
... pfukani emilorhweni, mi tirhisa phuphu ya vunkombo, leyi yi nga ta pfuxa tiko ra Afrika-Dzonga. Ndza khensa.
The MINISTER OF HEALTH: The hon Speaker Mme Modise, hon President Ramaphosa, hon Deputy President Mabuza, fellow Cabinet colleagues, Deputy Ministers, hon members, ladies and gentlemen and fellow South Africans, the President has made a bold declaration of his vision for a future health system as a clear instruction to the sixth administration, which I stand here to commit to and want to quote to what the President said: Putting in place a quality national health care system that ensures all South Africans have access to quality health care, based on need and not on the ability to pay, promoting social solidarity and working towards a cross-subsidisation of services, contributing to the collective health and wellbeing of one another, ensuring that resources are well managed and efficiently deployed.
The President has highlighted the challenges experienced by our people as they approach the health services such as staff shortages, shortage of medication, inadequate infrastructure, the raging burden of noncommunicable and communicable diseases. He has offered the clearest instructions on what needs to be implemented to correct the health services. I rise here to pledge that the entire health sector, both on the public and the private sector stand ready to respond to the President’s injunction.
Both private and public sector have responded positively with huge enthusiasm to the fundamental reorganisation of the health services.
All the issues tabled by the President are a reflection of the issues raised with the President, whilst moving from house to house seeking a mandate and his visits to various institutions and hence constitute the undertaking to the sixth administration to deliver health care as a human right and not as a privilege.
Despite our post1994 democratic breakthrough and the multiple efforts that were aimed at improving access to health care services especially for the vulnerable, the South African health system has stubbornly remained two-tiered, fragmented and inequitable and consisting of the public and the private health sectors.
From a funding perspective, the private sector has grown from being a complementary service provider in the 1960s to now being a significant source of health care funding and expenditure. On the other hand, the public health care sector which is the backbone of delivery for the majority of the population, whilst achieving major strides in tackling South Africa’s quadruple burden of deceases such as consisting of HIV/Aids, TB, maternal and child mortality, noncommunicable diseases, injuries and violence, now faces many challenges mostly related to the inadequate funding, poor quality, and inequitable access to health services.
In his state of the nation address the President noted that we as a country must reach the 90-90-90 targets for HIV epidemic
control. This means 90% of all HIV positive persons must be diagnosed, and that they must be provided with treatment and 90% of those must have the virus suppressed. We have shown that it can be done. In fact hon members, with the support of communities, we can reach the 90-90-90 targets. There has just been a study report which is released by the Doctors Without Borders in Eshowe, where they have shown increase on testing from 76% in 2013, to 90% in 2018 and also an increase in viral suppression from 93% to 94%. So, this in effect means that the 90-90-90 targets have therefore being reached well before the December 2020 deadline.
Mr President, you have given us quite an intense and immense task, but we are determined to achieve these targets. We want to plead to the members of this House that we need to work together for this task requires all South Africans working together.
As noted by the President, we are working hard to ensure that we initiate an additional 2 million antiretroviral treatment by December 2020. We still need to do more by initiating treatment
of these affected and infected individuals. To achieve this, we need to work with partners and communities at all levels.
Available evidence indicates that adolescent health and young women require special attention as they are most affected. Men and boys also, have to be given attention. They should not be left behind. No one should be left behind. We will also work with men’s civil society leaders, developmental partners, political leaders, business and labour to facilitate provision of health services targeting men and boys from all walks of life and encouraging them to be tested and put on treatment.
We will be working with SA National Aids Council, Sanac, led by the Deputy President and its men’s sector for the successful initiatives to promote testing amongst men and boys and also improving access to care.
So, we want to ask the members of this House to work with us in this particular campaign and I want to note that the hon Buthelezi has been very consistent on this, in that regard; I think all of us need to emulate and join him in this fight.
I also wish to inform this House of the state of this epidemic that we have estimated 7,4 million people living with the virus. At the end of March this year, about 4,6 million people are on antiretroviral treatment. Now this is also an important issue, because it estimates that we also apart from that we have another 300 000 who are on the private sector. Of course, the government in the past few years has achieved quite a lot in putting many people on antiretroviral treatment and achieved what we could call an epidemiological improbability of raising the life expectancy from about 49 years to about 64 years within a space of under 10 years.
However, it is clear that we cannot depend on treatment alone to stop the infections. Therefore, we need to really focus on stopping the infections. Regrettably the highest number of new infections is still amongst the adolescent girls and young women. It is also important to note that it is older men infecting younger girls and that is an issue that we have to confront as society.
Amongst them, we have an estimation of 212 infections per day. So, a lot more needs to be done in this regard. Therefore we need to ensure that the department also continues to increase the efforts on a number of areas like the provision of information on the risks of early sexual debut and unprotected sex, improve information about condoms and access to pre- exposure prophylaxis as well as focusing on men and in this particular case older men who are infecting younger women.
We also need to strengthen collaboration with various levels of government such as municipalities as well. We also have to focus on the issues of partnership with various sectors of communities. This for me is where this campaign has to go.
Hon members and hon President, today we woke with media reports stating that according to the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA, Denosa, about 400 nurses have not found employment in Limpopo. These and many such stories are the reason why the President spoke about this issue and I quote:
We must attend to the capacity of our hospitals and clinics. An 80-year-old grandmother cannot spend an entire day in a queue waiting for medication.
All of these issues are issues that we need to be giving attention to. I have actually personally seen these concerns when we visited the Mamelodi and Pelonomi Hospitals, not only just about the issues of overworked health staff, but also the issues of the concerns around security. All of this is the work that we have to do to improve quality of the health systems.
Therefore we are finalising the work that was done by the President on the Presidential Summit Compact so that we can then bring all the players to work together in dealing with the issues of health care services.
The President implored us to drastically improve the quality of care in our facilities. To ensure that our public health facilities meet the certification standards as prescribed the Office of Health Standards Compliance which is a national monitoring health system that we have embarked upon. To this end the Minister of Health will be embarking on a number of other
steps such as analysis indicating that patients who come to our facilities, a number of them come just to collect chronic medication. We therefore want to reduce these long waiting times in the public health care sector. We are focusing on a programme which we are expanding called the Centralised Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution, CCMDD. This is a programme where you would get medication out to the community without people needing to go themselves to the hospital. This work is actually being done.
We also have a system to look at the stock visibility which means we not only look in the hospital, but we also look in the productive line within the manufacturers to see where the problem is arising which gives the shortage of medication.
Since last year, there has also been an outcry about the shortage of medicines particularly the antiretrovirals as well as the contraceptions. Now on these ones we have actually engaged manufacturers quite strongly, and therefore we indicated that the manufacturers that fail to deliver will be held to greater accountability for nonsupply.
Additionally, we are also working with Treasury to tighten up the alternative procurement mechanisms because when we are dealing with the National Conference on HIV and Aids the people living with Aids raised this issue very strongly. We have undertaken to work with them directly to monitor and ensure that there is improvement in the supply of medication, particularly in the supply of medication, particularly at the level of treatment of HIV and TB.
We would also like to hear a bit more from our patients. Therefore we want to involve them as we deal with the improvement on the monitoring over the supply of medication.
We shall be implementing the health patient records as well to ensure that we can monitor the movement of our patients as well as monitor the necessary interventions needed to improve on the medication.
Many of the private practitioners that we have spoken to; have indicated enthusiasm in working closely with our National Health Insurance, NHI, system, of course it is important for us to make
this point because I was a bit concerned when the hon Maimane raised the point of about a child borne in a clinic, almost creating an impression that there might be something wrong with such a situation. We actually still need those clinics, those community health workers and those private family practitioners working together in a well structured district health system based on primary health care. So, we must not create an impression that if you are in part of that system there might be something wrong with you. [Applause.]
It is also important that we deal with the issues of the equipment shortages in our facilities and also improve our procurement systems as well.
South Africa spends 8,6% of the gross domestic product, GDP, on health care, which is comparable to other middle-income countries with 4,1% of the GDP spent on the uninsured population, who receive care in the overburdened public sector. Private medical schemes cover approximately 16% of the population, with most of the principal members of these schemes
working in the formal sector. An estimated 4,4% is spent on 16% and that is a gross distortion that needs to be corrected.
Again here one has to be concerned about the statement that the hon Maimane raised that the NHI is unaffordable and it is expensive because we are doing a wrong calculation. When you calculate how much money you save and you do not calculate how many lives you lose, you then lose a count there. [Applause.]
In this case we just want to clearly say that universal health care coverage is the future and the National Health Insurance will happen. [Applause.]
We cannot ... [Interjections.] That is the only way we are going to be able to address the issue of inequality and therefore we can discuss different modalities, but we should not be going back to the question of whether we should or we should not be implementing the National Health Insurance. That debate is over.
The implementation of the National Health Insurance is aimed at moving South Africa closer towards universal health coverage,
wherein all citizens irrespective of their socioeconomic status will be covered to receive quality health care services based on their health needs. In the past it was racial. If you are on the wrong side you knew how the impact of the health services was going to be. This time around it should not be an issue of a socioeconomic division that determines whether you are going to die of simple deceases or not.
So, therefore in our case we are focussing on the National Health Insurance as a health financing system designed to pool funds and to ensure that these pooled funds are actively used to purchase health services with a cross-subsidisation of the healthier subsidising the more sick and then the younger subsidising the older and then we have a normal system like that. It is happening in most of the countries in Europe, UK, Germany, France, etc. We are actually copying the system that is already happening. So, we cannot understand why we must go back to a debate about whether we need it or not.
In this regard, the National Health Bill is actually on its way to Cabinet and therefore it is going to be introduced in this
House very soon. Out of that we really want to ensure that the strong governance mechanisms which are put in place, improved accountability on the use of all of the allocated funds. We want to make a huge progress on that one and on that basis therefore we need your support at that level. [Applause.]
The SPEAKER: Hon Minister, your time has expired.
The MINISTER OF HEALTH: We have had support of the members of the various stakeholders who came to say, “Thuma Mina.” [Send me.] Mr President, we are ready to sign the accord. They are saying, “Khawuleza!” [Hurry up!] We are supporting you. Thank you. [Applause.]
The SPEAKER: Thank you, Sir. The hon Mazzone.
Ms N W A MAZZONE: Madam Speaker, hon President, Deputy President, and fellow Members of Parliament, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. There comes a time in every country’s history when the brave need to stand up and they need to be counted. There comes a time when the people must have
their voice heard and can no longer face the abuse of government.
There comes a time when we must stand together and demand that injustice comes to an end and fight. Fight with all our might to obey, protect and save our Constitution. As we teeter on the edge of collapse, that time is now.
Speaker, to stand up and speak truth to power is not easy. When you know that billions and billions of rands are at stake, and those who were willing sellers to willing buyers in the feeding frenzy that was, and still is, state capture, will do anything, and by anything, I mean anything, to avoid justice - one has to look deep for a source to steel your resolve and maintain your determination.
I visited Robben Island, and while I was there, I was told that on the darkest days, when hope was at its lowest and when the situation seemed desperate, our Nation’s father, President Nelson Mandela would recite a poem by William Ernest Henley called Invictus. Invictus is an adjective in Latin meaning
unconquerable, invincible and undefeated. I now regularly read this poem when I require a boost in my resolve. “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
Speaker, through you, I use the opportunity that I have today to speak to the President, not just as a politician, not just as a member of an opposing political party, but as a fellow South African. I am outraged and frustrated more than any words can explain at the blatant slap in the face that all South Africans were recently dealt when the ANC announced its proposed chairpersons of our parliamentary committees. [Applause.]
I took it as a personal left hook to the jaw when I read with utter disbelief that the very man who was accused of offering a blank cheque to Advocate Vanara, the evidence leader in the Public Enterprises Inquiry in state capture at Eskom will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat. [Interjections.]
An ex-Minister who has been repeatedly accused of interfering with the South African mining industry for the enrichment of the Gupta family will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat.
[Interjections.] The woman who destroyed what was left of the SA Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat. [Interjections.] The woman whom without explanation sold off the entire South African strategic fuel reserve will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat. [Interjections.] An ex-Mayor of Buffalo City Municipality who was found guilty for nine counts of fraud will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat.
The SPEAKER: Hon Mazzone, please take your seat. Why are you on your feet, sir?
Mr B A RADEBE: Hon Speaker, the speaker on the podium knows very well that to cast aspersion on the members of the House must come as a substantive motion. [Interjections.] She cannot make those [Inaudible.]... [Interjections.] ... and be left unchallenged. No one has been found guilty anywhere. Thank you.
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, what the hon Radebe is trying to do is to inject the National Assembly Rules into the Rules of the Joint Sitting. There is no such rule in
the Joint Rules. Hon Mazzone has not mentioned a single member by name and therefore her comment is within the bounds of free speech. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
The SPEAKER: Please take your seat, sir. Hon Mazzone, please continue. [Applause.] Order! Order!
Ms N W A MAZZONE: Speaker, South African to South African, this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. This is that one step too far. This is the proof that the Zuma faction is still well and truly in charge of the ANC ... [Interjections.] ... and that it matters not if the driver has changed — the bus is the same. We have been taken for absolute fools.
Hon President, as the leader of the ANC, steel your resolve and dismiss these people from Parliament. Prove that you are indeed the master of your fate, that you are the captain of your soul, and that you are not being led by the nose by factions in your party. [Interjections.] While the Zondo Commission completes its work every single day, we, the people of South Africa are
exposed to horror and nightmares, the likes of which play out in the James Bond movie.
Trips to Switzerland to fill bank accounts, urgent medical treatment for premiers who alleged that they have been poisoned, stays and spa treatments at the Oberoi Hotel for business deals, midnight telephone calls to Paris calling off deals for our ailing airline, and these are to name but a few.
UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER: Where were you?
Ms N W A MAZZONE: Winter has come, the wall has been breached, the line of defence has become thinner and those who are brave are systematically set aside. “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” [Interjections.] Now is the time for those of us who are still here to work together, to make a real difference with real plans. Now is not the time for mere dreams. We dare not allow ourselves to be silenced for our work is far from over. We have as our sword the mighty Constitution and we have as our shield our brave and incorruptible Judiciary. [Interjections.]
Now is not the time to accept the excuse that those implicated are innocent until proven guilty. Now is the time to ensure that our oversight is in fact strengthened. This is a direct instruction from Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. We can start this actual oversight in the Presidency in the form of a portfolio committee to oversee Vote 1 as requested - I may add, numerous times by the hon Steenhuisen in the Rules Committee.
Now is the time to sit down as fellow South Africans and not just dream of the future we want, but to actually create the environment we so desperately require for our economy to grow and succeed. It cannot be that state capture that is now estimated to have wiped out a third of South Africa’s
R4,9 trillion gross domestic product, GDP, no longer exists, but we are expected to celebrate the frontloading of R230 billion rand to Eskom. Mr President, Denel has no money this month to pay the salaries – this is it. We have hit rock bottom!
Our state-owned entities are broken. They are destroyed, and they are archaic in their design. They are destroying our country’s economy and they are making living in South Africa a
nightmare and not a dream. We are at the cliff’s edge, the dream has faded, and the reality is a horror. Doing the right thing is not easy, speaking truth to power is hard, but let us now bite the bullet and put a stop to the misuse of our state-owned entities for political gain.
Speaker, the President himself has said he wants us working together. Mr President, give us the opportunity to do just that; give our ideas a chance. Let us put South Africa first.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Hinds, and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charge with punishment the scroll.
Speaker, through you, allow me to end as I began. Mr President, now is the time to steel your resolve, you are the master of your fate and you are the captain of your soul. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF POLICE: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Hon Maimane, could you help save Van Damme from Zille ... [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Hon Minister ... [Interjections.] Hon Minister, I have hon Van Damme in the House, please proceed.
The MINISTER OF POLICE: No, I was speaking on behalf of hon Van Damme to be saved from Helen Zille. [Laughter.]
Ms P T VAN DAMME: I don’t need saving. Thank you very much.
The MINISTER OF POLICE: Madam Speaker, Deputy Speaker, President, His Excellency, the Deputy President, hon members, fellow Ministers, Deputy Ministers, some of us did not visit Robben Island to understand what place is it. We spent some years there. We did not go there as visitors. [Applause.]
Receive our greetings this afternoon in the name of safety and security of the citizens of South Africa. In this new dawn, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of South Africa, the
hon Cyril Ramaphosa, posed a fundamental question to this august House in his state of the nation address and said; “what type of South Africa do we want?”
He furthermore gave marching orders in ushering this new dawn and said;
Talking time is over, it’s time for action - let’s implement.
Let’s maybe try to work towards that going forward. Madam Speaker, therefore, in creating the South Africa that we want, a thorough prognosis and understanding of the current status quo is equally important in order to determine the strength of the manpower, machinery, technology and partnerships needed to formulate a convincing and realistic response to the priorities, and fundamental goals as directed by the President.
The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security, JCPS’ collective approach in responding to the service delivery agreement of ensuring that the people of South Africa are and feel safe will
be intensified and operationalized to meet the target of reducing violent crimes to half in the next decade, increase police visibility, improve human capital investment, prioritize gender-based violence and femicide programmes. This is in line with the National Development Plan Vision 2030 that; people living in South Africa should feel safe at home, at school and at work and that they enjoy community life without fear, women walk freely in the streets and children play safely outside and in the gardens. Mr President, this is one priority that you made a call for, and we are determined to achieve it.
Unfortunately, I did not hear the hon member Groenewald as he was speaking about the farmers because I left the House to go and see the family at the Lavender Hill where the police was gunned down and killed at 4’o clock this morning. So, this violence that you are talking about is something that we feel everyday, it’s something that we experience, it’s something that we touch and it is something that we are a part of. So, we can’t dilly-dally around it. We need to put all the efforts regardless of political affiliation, colour or anything because once it comes close to you, you understand it better. So, the call that
you made should be to all South Africans and not just to the ANC members and not just to the government, but to all South Africans.
In the new dawn, our policing approach will align with the new crime patterns of enhancing resources in combating economic crimes, in stabilising the troubled trucking industry in transport and the zama zamas which are notorious in mine hijackings. Last year, these zama zamas, took R41 billion out of the economy. So, it is nothing but economic sabotage and we really have to work on it and make sure that South African money goes where it’s supposed to go - to all South Africans. But also, the truck hijackings, truck stoppage crime that is in the transport industry, tax industry, and all that will have to work together and harder.
The specialised focussed policing will also extend to support the specialised task teams focussing on political killings, police killings, high profile killings, high profile cases and taxi related killings. Madam speaker, the fight against corruption is currently intensified. The Hawks are making
serious inroads in economic crimes and we are witnessing significant arrests in this regard. To date, we have 1800 dockets which have been submitted to the National Prosecuting Authority, NPA for determination. They are dealing with corruption in the Republic of South Africa. [Applause.] That is why the determination will have to be made. So, we are pushing on this one.
The plans to fully capacitate the unit with sufficient resources and relevant manpower are underway. To this end, a detective academy will be established to strengthen the capacity and training of new detectives and specialized investigators. Co- operation between prosecutors and investigators through prosecutorial guided investigation will be intensified to improve the success rate of all priority cases. Moreover, the project of the establishment of specialized courts will be enhanced in order to promote the effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice system.
Hon members, the continuous report of alleged police corruption is receiving attention, hence we are enhancing the capacity of
the watchdog bodies in this regard. The process of the appointment of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID head is currently underway. In responding directly to the scourge of gangsterism, the Anti-Gang Unit will be elevated to a national division and other specialised unit will be introduced. This unit will extend its mandate in dealing with other fear crimes that are terrorising our communities. These include murder, rape, car hijackings, house robberies, house burglaries and cash-in-transit heists.
The success rate of the 72 hour activation plan is gaining momentum. This plan mobilizes maximum resources to ensure that preliminary investigation is done thoroughly and to guarantee that no evidence is lost and perpetrators are expeditiously brought to book. This was done at the backdrop of the spike in cash-in-transit heist which dropped drastically in 2018.
Crime trends are global in nature; therefore our efforts to enhance international relations will be strengthened. Our active participation in INTERPOL Programme is yielding positive results in fighting transnational crimes and terrorism. Extensive
technological advancement in the fight against crime is crucial. The JCPS cluster departments will set aside dedicated funding to improve technology that will drastically reduce all priority crimes. Automated systems will be introduced in certain environments to improve efficiency. The world revolves around technology and no country will succeed in the fight against crime without significant investment in technology, within the spectrum of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Hon members, community participation in the fight against crime is crucial in achieving any of the set targets, as we all agree that violent crimes are a social problem. The extent of the brutality in most contact crimes such are murder and rape, abuse of drugs, alcohol and gangsterism indicates the extent of social decay that needs a collective approach to resolve.
The cluster is currently implementing the Community Policing Strategy and Communities in Blue Policing Concept, which is aimed at re-affirming the government’s commitment to building safer communities through community policing partnerships, and to further operationalise the concept of community policing with
a view of stimulating active citizenry and citizen participation in the fight against crime. Crime and violence in schools is on an alarming rise and is a growing phenomenon that needs to be handled and dealt with decisively through our school safety plan with long term solutions.
Gender-based violence is unacceptably high in South Africa which inhibits women’s ability to enjoy rights and freedom on the basis of equality with counterparts. The Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, FCS, becomes extraordinarily important. There are currently 183 FCS Units which creates a specialist investigative environment to deal with gender-based violent crimes including sexual offences, with a focus on serial rape-related cases.
Furthermore, the police have established 1 047 dedicated victim friendly facilities at police stations countrywide to accommodate and assist. I heard the hon member Chirwa saying that there is no special focus on these. There is a lot hon member. We can sit down and talk and invite your input because we take this one very serious.
In financial year 2017-18, the FCS unit has achieved 692 life sentences and out of 3 234 dockets, we have sentenced those people to 30521. We are very scared Mr President, that the correctional services of South Africa will be soon be full lifers. We are putting a lot of lifers there that are in the scourge of working on abusing women.
Lastly, the question of gangsterism and criminality cannot be achieved by the police alone. We are facing a serious problem in policing when it comes to something called environmental design. I had somebody talking about a paradise Western Cape. There is no paradise Western Cape here. [Interjections.] Join me, join me, and let’s go to Khayelitsha ... [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order! Order! [Interjections.]
The MINISTER OF POLICE: Let’s go there ... [Interjections.] ... the people that died ... [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Minister, give me a second. Hon members, you may haggle but don’t drown the speaker on the floor
The MINISTER OF POLICE: Hon Speaker, the police that were shot last week were shot because there is darkness, there are no lights in Samora Machel. If you go to Bishopscourt, if you go to Hout Bay, no one will be shot there because it is forever daylight. The cameras are all working. If you go to side C in Khayelitsha, the police will be shot under the camera but you will never find that information because the camera in Khayelitsha has not been working for eight years. [Interjections.] So don’t come here and talk as if we don’t know this Cape Town, accompany us. We are making the call to the provincial government; work with us to deal with the crime situation here. Make life better.
Make sure that the people of the Western Cape that are in Khayelitsha, Samora Machel and in Siqalo, understand that Cape Town is also for them just like those that are in Bishopscourt. [Applause.] But for now, maybe some years back somebody called them foreigners here, maybe that is how they are kept in the Western Cape. So, don’t come here and tell us about where you govern – where you govern. Let’s go and see how those people ... this is the only province where people carry toilets like their
bags, potty potty. It is the only place and nowhere else. Anybody that respects any human being was not going to give them a toilet as my bag to move around with it. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
So, the DA must really understand that the people of Khayelitsha deserve the same things that the people in Bishopscourt deserve and that will help. [Applause.] Don’t tell us about how to rule better. You are only partially ruling better in Western Cape but I want to invite you. [Interjections.] Let’s go to Siqalo.
Maybe, you can ask those that know where Siqalo is because most of you don’t know where it is. You absolutely don’t know where Siqalo is. [Applause.] [Interjections.] I will take you for a tour and we will go to Siqalo. Thank you very much, hon Speaker. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS AND INFRASTRUCTURE: Madam Speaker,
Mr President, Mr Deputy President, we may look different, have experienced apartheid differently and support different political parties, but few will disagree on the absolute priority of reigniting the economy to create jobs especially for
young people. A few will disagree on the need for a more consultative and responsive government, with the means to accelerate service delivery and also a willingness to learn from the past. Where we are today, is too far apart from the country we dreamt of becoming in 1994. We must take urgent, practical steps to narrow that gap.
A state of the nation address is not magical melt away of problems. Realistically, state of the nation addresses are not, unlike the instructions that come with jigsaw puzzles. They do not tell us exactly which pieces go where. They show us a picture and a sketch of framework, but it is up to us in our public, private and civil society sectors to make it work. Our performance in this regard has been up to scratch. Wherever the election took us, people raised similar issues. They are tired of watching parliamentarians failing to hold government to account; tired of corruption without consequences; tired of being poor, hungry and landless when others are so rich.
Madam Speaker, the state of the nation address acknowledged much of what needs fixing South Africa. It contained visionary
elements, such as building a modern city Mr President, but also a welcome shift in emphasis from planning to implementation.
That is the shift that I noticed. We already have a National Development Plan, NDP. We need hard, sensible, honest work to deliver on it. As a Minister I am fully committed to the implementation of that agenda. As the leader of an opposition party I am committed to holding government to account for implementation. Those who ask if accepting a position on the executive may compromise my role as an opposition leader should know that, I would not have accepted the position if it came with a muzzle. Weighing the state of the nation address priorities against GOOD’s plan to fix South Africa [time expired].
Mr M NHANHA: Hon Speaker, Hon members, fellow South Africans. Mr President, during your maiden state of the nation address, you quoted Bra Hugh Masekela’s song, asking the country to send you. South Africans indeed sent you. Now, with very little to show as the leader of this nation, you want South Africans to go to sleep and dream. For 25 years, Mr President, residents of Makana Local Municipality have been dreaming for a better life but
their dreams have been shattered at every turn. The President himself was recently in Makhanda to celebrate Freedom Day. The traffic lights were not working for months but were fixed in haste, in anticipation of the arrival of the first citizen of the Republic of South Africa.
The citizens of the City of Saints have been subjected to constant threats of electricity cuts by Eskom due to the municipality’s inability to pay their bills, with continuous defaults on payment arrangements made with the power utility. Most residents pay their monthly service bills in Grahamstown Mr President, yet find themselves having to remove their own rubbish because municipal workers just do not pitch for work.
The residents sometimes have to drink water with traces of the deadly E.coli bacteria, this being a result of the poor state of our water reticulation system. The City of Saints is now the city of potholes, with illegal dump sites, rubbish strewn in every street, uncaring management, maladministration and downright corruption.
IsiXhosa:
Ugqirha u-Zweli Mkhize nomama u-Pamela Tshwete babeziyele eRhini bazibonela intlalo embi yababtu baseRhini.
English:
Sadly hon members, the architect and initiator of the Makana rot was promoted by this ruling government and today he is with us as an hon Member of Parliament.
However, the same cannot be said about the tenure as the DA government on the other side of the historic Fish River valley. During the 2016 Local Government Elections, the voters of Nelson Mandela Bay chose to vote for change by electing a leadership of clean governance and transparency [Applause]. In a short space of 10 months after the DA-led coalition government assumed office; in Nelson Mandela Bay we were voted the second most trusted metro in the country. This is according to the SA Customer Satisfaction Index, as opposed to the second last position our predecessors comfortably occupied. During the two financial years of 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, we managed to spend 100% of our allocation of the Urban Settlement Development Grant funding. This led to National Treasury further allocating
R170 million and R200 million in appreciation of a job so well done. Unfortunately, matters are less positive with the current leadership in Nelson Mandela Bay. A week before their financial year end, they have only managed to spend 62% of the Urban Settlement Development Grant funding and only 50% of the capital expenditure, disgraceful.
An Integrated Public Transport System which was meant for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, at a cost of R2 billion was abandoned by the then ANC-led government. After 18 months of assuming office, the DA-led coalition got those buses on the road. [Applause] In an effort to make the city a lot safer, we employed and trained
114 metro police, as well as introduced a ghost squad whose primary mandate was to curb bad or illegal driving in and around the city. Before we left the city hall, people of Nelson Mandela Bay felt a lot safer. We spared no effort in fighting corruption, not only in words but through action as well, because where the DA governs, we do not tolerate or promote people that steal from the poor.
IsiXhosa:
Umve umntu esithi iimpuku azityiwa,bhuti Sakhi, kodwa zivele ngemisila emlonyeni.[Kwaqhwatywa]
English:
A number of municipal officials identified for wrong doing, were either fired, charged or placed on suspension. Some of those officials have been brought back by the current administration, obviously, to let them continue their wrong doing by picking up from where they left off. Indeed, the good saying says “birds of a feather flock together”.
I have spoken to a number of residents in Nelson Mandela Bay and all of them including business recall the realities of the DA- led coalition, and are calling for its return. Finally hon members, join me in wishing my daughter who is sitting up in the gallery, she turned 17 years yesterday. Happy birthday Ngcolo, I love you my daughter [Applause].
IsiXhosa:
Ngaloo mazwi malungu ahloniphekileyo, lo mthendevu wasemaMpondomiseni, ithole leenkuzi zamaKrancolo, ooMgema, ooMsiza, ooMbuyeni, uyatshaya. Enkosi [Kwaqhwatywa].
Mr C H M SIBISI: Madam Speaker, His Excellency, the President of South Africa, hon. members, distinguished guests and fellow South Africans, I greet you all. Hon Speaker, whilst the NFP supports the President in many initiatives outlined in the state of the nation address and believes that many of these initiatives can be achieved, if he could be more practical than being theoretical. However, the NFP is concerned that you have failed Mr President to highlight the struggle of many working class citizens in South Africa. The commuters continue to struggle daily as trains are cancelled and delayed because of the incapacity of Prasa. When you go to Soweto, KwaMashu, Kwa- Langa, you will see that people ...
IsiZulu:
... abakwazi ukufika emsebenzini ngesikhathi uPrasa izitimela zakhe zifa njalo ...
English:
...then you are failing our people. Before we can implement the bullet train dream Mr President, we need to pay vital attention to the current systems that are in place. We also agree with the reconfiguration of Eskom and the appointment of the chief structuring officer. We also further support the R230 billion that is to be given to assist Eskom.
Transformation in the education sector is correct to align education with the demand of the fourth industrial revolution by introducing coding and robotic related subjects at school level The R3.9 billion plan for black commercial farmers is commended however; the contribution that the Land and Agriculture Bank of South Africa wants from the applicant must be abolished because it prevents black people from accessing the allocated funds.
Rural development remains sidelined and marginalized. We have many citizens flocking to the cities for employment only to be disappointed, for our cities are unable to accommodate and meet the demand. Much of our people are still sleeping in empty stomachs and we are making our people to beg in the land of
their forefathers. The 55.2% youth unemployment rate must be top of our agenda. We cannot ignore that a large percentage of our young people are available to work and have taken active steps to find jobs but they cannot find employment. This is indeed a national crisis. Our people are being turned to a new society where they are being made paras (thugs). In fact, we are being foreign to our land because of how our people are treated. The proposed two million jobs are not enough although we note that it is a realistic projection given the economic condition. We believe more support for those young aspiring business men and women can add value in increasing that two million figure.
Mr President, whilst the NFP commends your hopeful spirit, we need to emphasize that radical plans need radical implementation; the time for lip service is over. Thank you
The MINISTER OF SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Chairperson of the NCOP, Your Excellency the President, the hon Deputy President, Madam Chief Whip, fellow Members of the Parliament, all dignitaries and the president of South African Local Government
Association, Salga, I need to say that specifically so that the home province can account.
Tshiven?a:
Ndi masiari avhu?i.
English:
This state of the nation address and its debate are taking place when the country is still commemorating the 43rd year since the June 16 student uprisings. As you have said, Mr President, we cannot impose our solutions on the youth; everything we have to do must be led by young people themselves.
Just to recommit to the announcement we made at your pre-state of the nation engagement with young people and as a special gesture to the national Youth Day commemoration, we shall fund
43 young entrepreneurs drawn mainly from the National Youth Development Agency. This funding is available to support the sustainability and expansion of the businesses of those entrepreneurs.
We are targeting young entrepreneurs who can create a minimum of
10 jobs, because we already know, hon Hill-Lewis, that entrepreneurs create jobs.
Instead of me freezing on my maiden speech, the technology is freezing on me, but as any other person, I always feel safe and have a backup plan. Yes, it is my maiden speech. Can I not be heckled?
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, members!
Mr J S MALEMA: Hon Chair. She must take her time. We are not like people from her party. We understand. It is your maiden speech.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Please, proceed.
The MINISTER OF SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Commander-in-chief,
CIC, the people from my party are accepting, because as we in the ANC Youth League boldly declared in our 24th national congress and on that congress theme that economic freedom is in
our lifetime and this remains a generational mission. Our contribution to that mission is a programme to enable job creators because young people can’t continue to be job seekers. [Applause.]
Research has found that small businesses, if sufficiently supported, can play a vital role in economic development and inclusion as the barriers of entry are limited. Therefore, ours are twin tasks: firstly, is to achieving the National Development Plan, NDP, goal for small, medium & micro enterprise, SMMEs, to contribute at least 50% to the gross domestic product, GDP, by 2024; and secondly, is the transforming our economy for inclusive ownership. We shall not allow the ownership of our economy to remain in the hands of a few.
It is for this reason that the ANC in our elections manifesto, we have undertaken to scale up support for SMMEs, co-operatives, townships and village enterprises. To achieve this, we have plans that include the expansion of incubation centres to all 44 districts and eight metropoles that support village and township
enterprises. Linked to this, will be the extension of incubation period to a maximum of five years.
Indeed, Mr President, the scaled up support for SMMEs will require the state to play an entrepreneurial role - a role where the state is able to take some risks and enable the economy to grow. In this regard, we are taking some risks with our SMME funding model.
We are to introduce blended funding facilities that match loans and grants at a particular ratio. The details of the blended funding model will be provided when we table our Budget Vote. On the other hand, an integrated support packages including funding will be finalised with sister departments for co-operatives.
One of the challenges for SMMEs and co-operatives is access to markets. As the President has announced, we will create product- specific market places where SMMEs and co-operatives will trade their products. In this financial year, we will rollout five such markets. The plan is also to use these markets as centres where SMMEs and co-operatives trading in similar goods can
collaborate to scale up their product volumes and gear themselves to support big markets.
As part of our improved support to SMMEs and co-operatives, government will provide technical support to address some technical challenges inhibiting access to market, such as product quality. We will use a similar model when SMMEs and co- operatives operate from the revitalised local industrial parks, business centres and special economic zones.
Statistics SA has reported the resurgence in small business activity. However, the survival rate of both SMMEs and co- operatives is very low. On our part, we have a responsibility to ensure this sector access the incentives available for them.
Hon Maimane, this includes the employment tax incentive and applying for exemption from paying the minimum wages for those SMMEs that cannot afford. It is already there. Our government has thought and planned about that.
It is common knowledge that the business world is moving online, commonly known as digital platform. Without an active role of the state, youth and small businesses in our townships and rural areas risk to be left behind by the digital economy. It is for this reason that government is moving with speed to rollout digital hubs in townships and rural areas. This is to support tech-enabled platforms for self-employed youth and any other small businesses in those areas. This year, we will commence with the roll out of four such hubs in Capricorn in Limpopo, Mangaung in Free State, Ehlanzeni in Mpumalanga and Bojanala in North West province.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: If members can just be patient, I am told that the team is here attending to the issue of sound system. Yes, they got it right.
The MINISTER OF SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: We are back. Indeed,
this is in line with the district-based approach the President announced during the state of the nation address.
As the President committed our government to lead from the front on improved co-ordination, we are finalising agreements with the private sector and other development funding institutions, DFIs, for a much more co-ordinated effort in supporting SMMEs and co- operatives, which eliminates duplication and leverages the resources for a more impactful implementation.
We are here to implement the ANC manifesto, and it was indeed pleasing to hear members of the opposition benches speaking on ANC conference resolutions for they lack their own plans.
Interestingly, for a technology person, technology has failed me throughout the day. As I conclude, I would like to thank you Mr President for launching the buy local campaign at such an august occasion of our nation - the first state of the nation address of the sixth administration.
Tshiven?a:
Ri khou to?a uri buy local campaign i sa fhelele fhedzi kha u vha fulo. Ri khou to?a i tshi ?isa tshanduko ya mihumbulo kana kuhumbulele kwa vhathu vhashu, uri vha zwi ?ivhe uri musi vha
tshi shumisa masheleni avho vha tshi renga zwithu zwapo, vha khou tikedza kha u alusa ikonomi yashu.
English:
Like someone else said, buy local is not about buying from a local Chanel and Louis Vuitton store, it is about buying locally produced and made goods. [Laughter.] It is about growing the demand for our economy. We are committed to walking the journey with SMMEs as they deliver quality goods for all markets as we promote the buy local mindset shifts. Following on your giant footsteps, Mr President, I am beautifully dressed by Mr Rembu Ramagoma of Muhuyu House of Creations based in Pretoria West in Tshwane. [Applause.]
Tshiven?a:
Ndo livhuwa.
Ms S GWARUBE: Chairperson, on Thursday night, we watched with great anticipation as the President delivered his state of the nation address. In truth, the speech was big on dreamy rhetoric and thin on much needed details.
More concerning was the absence of a plan to provide quality health care for our people. Each and every one of us in this House is familiar with the deep despair and helplessness which comes with sickness. It is at those times that nothing is scarier than being dependent on a health system that has been neglected for decades and has been systematically unravelling at the seams. The reality is that millions of South Africans are too familiar with that scenario.
Several weeks ago, I too, was reminded of the importance of the work that we do here. I lost a family member who was still in his prime following a short illness. His death impressed upon me why we need to improve the quality of health care in this country, not just for our family members, but for the people who rely of this government’ service.
The millions of South Africans who have no other choice, but to surrender themselves to an overburdened health system are the people that the DA is here fighting for. [Applause.]
Mr President, your address on the health system of our country was simply not good enough. There are urgent commitments that South Africa requires from you when you respond to this debate tomorrow; firstly, fixing the broken health system, this requires an honest reflection about what has gone wrong in the health sector of our country.
The DA unequivocally supports universal health care for our people. However, in doing so, we cannot destroy the economy; risk a brain drain and rampant corruption. The Presidential Health Summit held last year, was simply an admission that there are deep inequalities when it comes to access to health. This is a known fact. The gap between those who have health coverage and those who rely on the public health sector are huge. However, this is because of decades of neglect and poor policies by the ANC government.
The rural Eastern Cape where I come from is visual representation of failure by this government. Nothing works. Dedicated and hardworking health care professionals are thrown into areas that have not seen delivery in decades. These are men
and women who want to serve, but are hamstrung by the unavailability of medicine, crumbling infrastructure and no medical equipment.
In KZN, thousands of patients died due to the oncology crisis which the ANC’s nominated chairperson for the health committee, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo has now presided over.
Yes, the rising cost of private health care needs to be addressed and this can be regulated by using existing legislation such as the Medical Schemes Act 131 of 1998. However, the fact that pregnant women who use our health facilities are taking a gamble with their lives is something that the ANC government needs to accept responsibility for.
The fact that the elderly are tied to chairs waiting for medical care as was done in Mamelodi Hospital is entirely on this government. The fact that there is a lack of access to reproductive health care leads to young women getting backstreet abortions and children under five die annually due to poor
living conditions is an absolute indictment on this executive. [Applause.]
The National Health Insurance, NHI, as it stands, premises its entire existence on the need to level the field of access. It does not seek to improve the existing health facilities and levels of care. The NHI, in its current form will nationalise health care. We cannot allow a piece of legislation that has neither been costed nor effectively planned for destroy the little that we have.
The DA will oppose this Bill until it places the patient at the centre of its conception. [Applause.] We trust that the newly appointment Minister Mkhize will begin working on the basics.
Some of our health care facilities are death zones.
IsiXhosa:
Abantu bethu bangena ezibhedlele bekhangela uncedo baphume ngeebhokisi. Eyona nto abantu abayifunayo kukungena ezibhedlele naseziklinikhi bafumane abongikazi noogqirha aboneleyo.
Abantu bakhangela urhulumente oza kuqinisekisa ukuba abantu abadala abafiki ngonyezi, balinde imini yonke baphinde bahambe bengancedwanga. [Kwaqhwatywa.] Mphathiswa nawe Mongameli anisokuze nivume intsapho zenu ziye kufumana uncedo kwizibhedle zethu kuba niyayazi imeko ezikuyo. Nibayekela njani abantu abasonyulileyo baphatheke ngoluhlobo?
English:
The President should use the opportunity tomorrow to assure the families of the loved ones of the Life Esidimeni tragedy that they will receive their compensation.
In addition, the President should ensure that the people who were responsible for the death of hundreds of mentally ill patients are held to account. Those who are guilty, both politicians and officials must be fired. They must be held criminally liable for having played “upuca” with the lives of our people. [Applause.]
The fact that Qedani Mahlangu is still embraced by the ANC and enjoys a leadership position is an indictment on you and your organisation, Sir.
The problems that we face as a country are not insurmountable. They can be resolved, but they require us to go back to the basics of good governance like the DA has in the Western Cape. When we come to this House to talk about the success stories of the DA, we are not bragging, but we are bringing solutions to the table. [Applause.]
In the Western Cape, we serve over 75% of the province’s population who rely on public health care, but the outcomes are objectively better than any other province in the country. [Applause.] This is easily confirmed by the fact that we have the highest life expectancy for both men and women. This is because we have used a combination of innovation, political will and commitment to our people.
Most critically, since the DA took back Western Cape in 2009, we have invested over R6 billion on infrastructure and maintenance.
This means, we have built new clinics, new hospitals and ambulance stations and upgraded existing ones. This investment has drastically improved patient experience.
To manage waiting times and critical medication stock outs, we have invested in two major innovations; we have a central depot that manages the stock outs. That is why when the national Department of Health bungled the tender for antiretroviral, ARVs, a couple of weeks ago, this province managed the crisis better because of effective planning. [Applause.]
In addition, the Western Cape is the only province which is at the advanced stage of digitalising patient records.
IsiXhosa:
Kweli iphondo abantu abasayikulinda imini yonke kuba iifolda zabo zingafumaneki.
English:
The critical point to be made here is that, if the DA can do this in the Western Cape, it is possible to do it across the country. [Interjections.]
We do not need any more summits, symposiums or imbizos; we need this government to do its work. Failing which, we will hold you accountable. We will ring the bell on corruption. We will demand better health care for our people. We will fight against the disastrous NHI and put forward a credible plan. The DA will never neglect our constitutional obligations. The people of this country deserve nothing less. [Time Expired.]
Mr M P GALO: Chair, the address by President Ramaphosa mirrors the ANC’s incapacity to plan, forecast and make projections to devise solutions to our challenges, for instance, the word “we will” appears no lesser than 35 times in the President’ speech. Shockingly, the word “achieved” appears only six times. This means the ANC is perennially planning, while the country is on autopilot mode.
The President promised to create two million jobs in ten years, yet spoke nothing about his concrete solutions to achieve that.
In his words, “consistently reaching high rates of growth,” the President quoted Ben Okri quite extensively. Ben Okri has also written that and I quote: “The challenge of our times has always been the challenge of leadership.” While Ben Okri sustains the President’s vision of dreams; he also asserts that the reality of freedom demands more consistency, vision and courage.
The cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane, Cape Town and Ethekwini are not only running out of space, but they are also not tech-savvy and responsive to the demands of our people. The ANC administration dreams about building a world class city, but can barely manage a power station, a train station or oversee a successful social welfare programme, SASSA.
While our people are migrating to the cities, we cannot ignore the cycles of grinding poverty and despair still gripping their livelihoods. Whereas we are a people of resilience, determination and optimism, these positive traits will remain
meaningless unless they are underpinned by realistic targets by government.
Of the seven priorities that the President pronounced last week, none implicated rural development and integration, that aspects of which appears in his February address, where he said the following and I quote: The focus we have placed on revamping industrial parks in townships and rural areas has brought about discernible ...
Give me more minutes. [Time Expired.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON: No, no, you can’t get any minutes.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: The Deputy Minister of Small Business saved six minutes and these minutes will go to the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: Chairperson, Your Excellency, the President of the Republic ...
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: No, maybe I should just correct that. The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs will get three of the six minutes. The other three minutes will go to hon Mbalula.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: I hope you did not count that interjection as part of the three minutes. [Laughter.] Chair, Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of South Africa, President Ramaphosa and the entire leadership collective, Madam Speaker, Deputy Speaker, colleagues and hon members, it is indeed an honour to address this audacious gathering the highest in the country where great minds must enter into a theatrical battle of ideas with the sole intention of giving birth to the best pathway to take this country forward.
In order for us to reach our destination, we must firstly understand where we are. Our beloved motherland is faced with great adversity where our economy in the first quarter contracted by 3,2%; 40,7% of young people between the ages of 15 to 34 are not in employment, education or training. They linger in rural dwellings, townships, towns and cities, trapped
engulfed by the diminishing hope of a better tomorrow. They have taken refuge in drugs, alcohol abuse and crime. Those who have defied the odds and have access to higher education are concerned about their future as they face the reality of graduate unemployment. Those who have made it as professionals in various spheres are frustrated due to racially based promotion systems in the private sector frustrating their upward mobility towards a better future.
To solve the problems faced by our country we do not require political grandstanding and populist sloganeering, but requires discipline, clarity of thought and the ability to think and act in unison to make sure that tomorrow becomes better than today. To make sure we change the cause of history such that we are remembered as a generation that triumphed against great adversity.
IsiZulu:
Asizele ukuzodlala lapha. [Ihlombe.]
English:
We have been able to make 90% of public schools no-fee paying schools. We surely can go beyond and ensure that by 2024 all undergraduate students are funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS. This we say boldly because our commitment to change the lives of young people through education was reaffirmed by the scraping of the R967 million of historical debts benefiting 52 414 students. [Applause.]
An uneducated nation can never grow economically and education should not be seen as social expenditure, but should be seen for what it truly is, an investment for the future of this country. No country has successfully made the transition from being an underdeveloped country, to being a developed country without a substantial investment in education and building its human capital.
We have done well by investing in NSFAS from R70 million in 1994 to nearly R15 billion in 2018, resulting in the doubling of the student population in this period. We are now taking off to greater heights by building infrastructure to enable our universities to have higher intakes in order to speedily resolve
the higher education backlogs. We must build more state-of-the- art universities with sufficient residencies and academic capacity and research that produce world-class graduates who will lead innovation, that will fuel and grow our economy.
These are graduates whose ground breaking innovative ideas must be supported financially. Innovation is key to economic development and industrial growth. The burning spirit of entrepreneurship that lives amongst our youth must be supported. Development finance institutions must fund innovative ideas on the soundness of the business case and never on the basis of financial standing in society, which was inherently imposed to our young by pre-existing historically disadvantaged backgrounds. How do we expect a fresh university graduate beaming with innovative ideas to have accumulated assets to be used as collateral?
The rolling out of small business incubation centres will change the destiny of many young South Africans as they will provide youth start-up companies with both financial and technical support. In the year 2015 a grant funding of the National Youth
Development Agency, NYDA, for an amount of just R49 590 given to Frutee Belliez which is owned by Lisa and Lona Mthethwa in Durban for their idea of producing healthy snacks and smoothies using fruits and vegetables, today employs 10 people of which nine of those people are below the age of 35. Surely, if we are to make an investment in young people will see more jobs being created for young people. [Applause.]
Young people will no longer be bystanders and watch the mineral resources from the belly of their motherland leave to create jobs for international communities. The implementation of a targeted beneficiation program through the introduction of export tax will ensure greater local use of our resources which will in turn create local jobs. This will be the backbone of our industrial parks and special economic zones.
The Coega Special Economic Zone with a direct employment at firm level, which peaked at 8 210 in the 2017-18 financial year with 64% of all employees at the firm level being youth is a shining 1beacon of hope that indeed tomorrow will be better than today.
This is evidence that once the program of special economic zones is implemented in full it will create jobs mainly for the youth.
South Africa is a beautiful country, Chair, alive with possibilities. The global community marvels at the beauty of our country. This is a huge economic potential for our country.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council Annual Review, in the year 2018 tourism created 1,5 million jobs, accounting for 9,2% of total employment. The tourism industry contributed R425,8 billion to the economy. Tourism is a high impact growth niche for the country.
The implementation of an e-visa regime by the Department of Home Affairs which is currently at functional testing stage expected to be piloted by July 2019 and full production by early November 2019 is a serious enabler of economic growth for the tourism sector. This world-class visa regime will provide for easy, efficient, yet secure access to the country for visitors. This system will enable tourists to apply for their visa’s online resulting to a quicker turnaround time on visa adjudication.
This will bolster our tourism figures and create new economic and job opportunities for the youth.
The expansion of the agricultural sector and agro-processing sector by supporting key value chains will drive our primary agricultural sector and agricultural exports. This will be a huge benefit to our youth who stand to benefit the most.
Our government institutions like the land bank must make intentional interventions that target the youth, not as a by the way, but as the primary segment of society that must be supported to work the land. The aspersions that young people are lazy are blatantly untrue and unfounded. The youth of this country is ready to work the land because they know that our land is our wealth.
We are inspired by the story of Siphiwo Gift Mafuleka from Bronkhorstpruit who used to work for McCain Foods as a crop manager, but has turned the tide and now runs his own successful diversified farm that also supplies McCain Foods. This was made possible because the government believed in a young man’s dream
who in 2009 was 28-years-old. In the year 2009 the government assisted him to acquire land and subsequently the capital required to grow the farm. This government will continue to believe in our youth and expand its programs and as such affirming our conviction that tomorrow will be better than today.
We have a responsibility as this sixth administration to enact legislation that will change the socioeconomic material living conditions of young people. We are called to serve not to come here and dance nor to fight or scream at each other, but to always work together towards a common vision to change the lives of our people. We have a responsibility to speedily put in place legislation that will result to the fall of ridiculously high costs of data. The high cost of data has become a serious impediment that makes costs of doing business highly expensive, especially for startups which are needed to change the lives of our young people.
We have the responsibility to put in place legislation that will see to scraping of experience for entry level positions not only
in the public sector, but also in the private sector in order open the job market for our youth. The time has come to pass legislation for government procurement set asides for the youth. The Youth Employment Service has proved that through the collaboration of government and private business, we can solve the scourge of youth unemployment. The Volkswagen,VW, for example is quite interesting and it shows that indeed we can do more.
Chair, we come from a dark past where our youth was condemned before they were born. They were born into a system that intentionally and systematically excluded them from enjoying the fruits of their own motherland. Their destiny was to be nothing more than mere servants in their own country.
We continue to move away from this terrible past towards a better future where young people are masters of their own destiny, where past atrocities committed against our people will not weigh heavy and haunt their future. The strides and achievements we have made today were once a dream of our forbearers. It was only but a dream that one day a young African
female would be a combat fighter pilot. Today we salute Major Mandisa Mfeka who is an inspiration to other females that nothing is impossible. [Applause.]
Fellow South Africans, the words by Thabo Mbeki holds the truth today when he teaches us that gloom and despondency have never defeated adversity. Trying times need courage and resilience.
Our strength as the people is not tested during the best of times. These are trying economic times for our country, but our resilience informed by our clear program will ensure that we change our destiny.
We will not be deterred by armchair critics who can never see a vision of a better future because they are not visionaries and have lost strategic focus. They can never provide solutions, but will always point to problems. It is also President Kgalema Motlante teaches us that political consciousness does not bid you farewell when it leaves.
IsiZulu:
Umuntu umuzwa esekhuluma khona lapha ukuthi akukho lutho [Uhleko.]
English:
In anyway, President Arthur reminds us that the truth passes through three stages. Firstly, it is ridiculed, then it is violently opposed, and thirdly, it is accepted as being self- evident. Just like the Malawian boy who brought electricity to his village was once declared crazy. He is today celebrated as a hero. We will build the smart city just like we brought electricity to rural Kwa-Zulu Natal whilst others were still saying ...
IsiZulu:
... ugesi uzoxhopha izinkomo. [Ihlombe.]
English:
Today they enjoy this electricity just like they will enjoy the bullet train. Your dream and vision President will go down in history as the start of many great things to happen to our country. We will be remembered that when faced with great
adversity, we triumphed as the people. Mr President, out of nothing comes nothing but out of a dream comes a reality of a close future. What we can envisage is what we can build and make it a reality. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr M G P LEKOTA: Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, hon President ...
AN HON MEMBER: He is a Chair.
Mr M G P LEKOTA: He is a Chair also? My apologies, Chair. Hon President, hon Deputy President and members of the House, last Thursday I thought that a major opportunity was missed. As I listened to hon Cele, the Minister of Police, I understood even more why. You made a paramount point that we urgently need to create jobs. No economy can create jobs without its primary industries, in particular, mining and agriculture.
He said, in his speech here just now, that some R41 billion worth of gold has been taken out of our economy in the past year by the zama zamas. These zama zamas are, otherwise, loyal
working people who, as a result of disinvestment and other things, have not forgotten where they were working and where the gold was.
They are now illegally mining and taking that money. That
R41 billion going to Dubai is being produced by our workers who are now unemployed as a result of disinvestment of people that were frightened amongst others – that is not the only reason – by the threat that their properties will be taken.
Those who left with their money left them unemployed, but they didn’t forget the connection between themselves and those workers. They continue to illegally encourage those people to go underground to dig the gold and diamonds and get that out of our economy. Now we have to get police to arrest these people who, if they had legitimate work, would not be chased by police.
I thought that we should have said ... and I don’t think that it is too late, Mr President, that you might be able to say to the potential investors, both at home and abroad, “please come and invest in South Africa in these properties. Please come and
invest and employ these zama zamas who will work and earn their money, keep their families going, but then we would have this R41 billion to tax and send our children to school with the company tax.”
In a month or two, we will be breaking into August-September, the rain will come and agriculture will be in the same position. [Time expired.]
Mr A G WHITFIELD: Chairperson, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon members, it is, to use his own words, simply shocking that in his state of the nation address the President hardly mentioned the one thing that all South Africans have at the front of their minds every single day – Crime.
A few token references to crime here and there and then, as if out of nowhere, the bombshell announcement that violent crime will be halved in 10 years without even a hint of irony or an actual plan as to how this mammoth task will be achieved. It appears from his speech, Madam Speaker, that the President is
more concerned about bullet trains than he is about the bullets taking the lives of innocent South Africans every single day.
While the President is dreaming his dreams millions of ordinary South Africans are having nightmares. Nightmares of being, attacked, robbed, raped or murdered. These South Africans are our mothers and fathers living in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth and Elsies River right here in Cape Town. They fear that their children, on their way to school or guarding cars outside a mosque like 12 year old Aswin Jansen, may be mowed down in a hail of bullets fired from one of the more than 800 guns stolen from the police and wielded by a gangster who was put back on the streets by the very criminal justice system designed to protect these children.
They are our grandmothers like Nomangesi Peter from Luqoqweni village who, in 2013, was kidnapped, tortured and paraded naked before being killed. Our Gogos are too old to defend themselves from serial rapists and murderers who target these vulnerable women in rural villages and towns because they know that the
chances of being caught by a formidable police force are slim to none.
They are our farmers and farm workers from the former Transkei to Thoyandou who live in constant fear that they will be next because the ANC-led government does not treat rural safety as a priority.
These nightmares are not the imagination of some fictional characters living in some fanciful futuristic country. These are real stories about real people, Mr President. They are experiences grounded in the harsh reality of millions of South Africans sitting at home looking to this Parliament and their President for hope that they can one day live in a safe country. They want to live in safe Cities, towns and villages and not smart cities, town and villages, Mr President. They want to live without fear when they go to work or school.
They want to go to bed knowing that criminals lurking around outside their homes will get caught and that they will be locked up. Surely this is not too much for them to ask. The fact that
there was absolutely no mention of rural safety in the state of the nation address demonstrates just how out of touch this ANC- led government is and how little it cares about rural safety.
In KwaMlaza village in the Port St Johns Municipality, for example, violent crime has led to villagers fleeing their homes after nine people, eight of them women, have been hacked to death or raped and then killed in the past five years with no single prosecution.
In this village the people have given up hope in the police who appear to operate on a catch and release basis – allowing violent criminals to walk amongst their victims. Every other day we read about our farmers, our farm workers and their families being brutally attacked, and more often than not, tortured by violent criminals.
In May this year, Tool and Liezel Wessels were attacked on their farm in Bonnievale. Boiling water was poured over her and she was made to watch as her husband was stabbed to death. Your deafening silence on the violence committed in rural communities
across our country is simply unacceptable, Mr President. Not one reference to rural safety. It is time for bold action to tackle crime and rural safety now. We do not have another 10 years.
Chairperson, we can, however, turn the tide on the rural crime wave sweeping our nation if we act now. The DA has a rural safety plan which can restore hope and order to the most isolated and vulnerable communities: from the commercial farm in Viljoenskroon to the rural village outside Keiskamahoek. It is a plan that focuses on building a modern police force equipped with the necessary knowledge and resources to deploy cutting edge technology in the fight against crime.
We believe that the deployment of drones with heat sensing technology into mountainous rural communities will assist in tracking down criminals and helping police to bring them to book. This is not a 10 year plan, Mr President, this technology is available today to be deployed tomorrow. [Applause.]
We believe that by establishing rural community policing units, with community members trained as rural reservists, policing
capacity will be bolstered in some of the most isolated regions of our country. The DA’s plan offers real tangible solutions to curb this rampant tide of rural crime.
Chairperson, South Africans deserve an honest and professional police service. A police service they can trust, led by men and women of integrity who are well trained and resourced to keep our citizens safe.
In order to build an effective and fit for purpose South African Police Service, Saps, a DA national government would adopt a zero tolerance approach to corruption in the police. You can’t have corrupt police officers chasing down corrupt politicians.
In fact, Madam Speaker, this very Parliament has an immediate opportunity to strike fear into the hearts of the corrupt and criminal elements within Saps by appointing a credible permanent head of Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID, with unimpeachable integrity.
This is our moment to give real hope to all South Africans living in fear that we are serious about their safety. A DA-led
government will insist on the appointment of fit for purpose officers and management who are passionate about policing, and we will move to retrain all police officers to serve with professionalism and protect with pride.
We will establish an effective drug—busting force which will be deployed to those communities hardest-hit by gang violence. And lastly, a DA-led government will make policing a provincial responsibility by giving more of the powers and functions of policing to provincial commissioners and station commanders so they are empowered to tackle crime on a local level.
Madam Speaker, despite the President’s promises in his 2018 address that he would focus on the distribution of police resources to areas hardest-hit by crime, the situation is in fact getting worse. In the Western Cape last year, half of all murders were recorded at only 13% of police stations.
These are the stations and communities that need the resources you promised them last year. Over the past two years, the Western Cape provincial policing ratio has deteriorated from one
police officer to every 385 people, down to one police officer to every 509 people.
Chairperson, our nation is being held hostage by violent criminals who literally get away with murder. In South Africa,
109 people are raped and 57 people are murdered every day.
During this very debate, innocent South Africans will be attacked, raped or murdered. The DA has a plan to turn this situation around, Mr President, do you?
The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Hon
Chairperson of the NCOP ... [Interjections.]
Dr M Q NDLOZI: Chair of the NCOP. Chairperson. Hon Masondo.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Yebo. [Laughter.] What are you saying? On what point are you rising?
Dr M Q NDLOZI: It is a point of order that there is a platform beneath the podium, hon Nzimande, because where I am sitting I can’t see you, I just hear a voice. Just climb the platform
there like hon Naledi Chirwa and the Minister of Small Business Development.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Ndlozi, please down.
Dr M Q NDLOZI: But I can’t see him, I just hear his voice.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Please down. Proceed Minister.
The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Hon
Chair, I’m ashamed ...
IsiZulu:
... ukuthi naniyobheka izintombi esazingabangani nendodana yami bese ubuya uzokhuluma kanjena nami ngimdala. [Ubuwelewele.] [Uhleko.]
English:
Hon Chair, our President, Mr Ramaphosa, Deputy President, Mr Mabuza, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, you know it would have been very better if the DA when talking about safety
in rural areas, equally emphasises safety, health and good working conditions for farmworkers as well, because often all this speech was about really it’s about competing and trying to win back the votes that have been taken away by the FFP, because they seem to be doing this job much better than you.
In his opening speech on Thursday last week, our President made a seemingly innocent but yet very telling and fundamental observation, and I quote:
We gather here at an extremely difficult and challenging time in the life of our young democracy. Yet, we are also at a moment in our history that holds great hope and promise.
The President can be said also to be reminding some of us about what Karl Marx once said that: “Men make history but not under circumstances of their own choosing,” yet, this must be no reason to succumb and shy away from the tasks ahead of us and to change the conditions in favour of the majority of our people.
That’s what is bold about the President’s speech.
First of all, it admits the difficulties that we are facing, but doesn’t succumb to those problems. Secondly, it provides a vision and a roadmap to tackle those problems. I also welcome the President’s focus on the economy, as well as the priorities that have to be achieved. Higher Education, Science and Technology, President, will indeed aim to improve on aligning all its programmes to support the economic priorities as outlined.
Indeed, the ANC is confident, so should its President be, that it is still the best and the only organisation that is best capable to lead the effort of changing the lives of our people for the better. If you have no responsibility for governing, you can say whatever you like, what hon Carrim nicely put as populism. Also, if all that you are concerned about given the challenges that we are faced with in our country is one province, then you know that we have no responsibility to tackle these many problems that are facing the country as a whole.
Let me highlight some of the plans, the progress and gains that we have made in the area of higher education, skills
development, science and technology over the past 25 years. For example, in 1994 the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, spent about R71 million in supporting poor and mainly black students to access higher education. Yet, by 2018 this has hugely increased to R15 billion, and having benefitted more than
2 million students, most of whom being the first in the history of their families to acquire a university degree or a college certificate.
For the first time since 2016 there are more black students studying engineering at university, which is ever in the history of our country. Since 2009, government introduced NSFAS in technical and vocational education and training, Tvet, colleges with an amount of R100 million but by 2018-19 this amount has increased to R5 billion.
IsiZulu:
Ngalezi zinto esizenzayo sekwenzeke umehluko omkhulu ezimpilweni ikakhulukazi zentsha yakithi ngoba loHulumeni kaKhongolose uzimisele ukuthi izikhungo zokufunda zisebenzele ikakhulukazi intsha yakithi. Nanokuthi-ke sithi kwintsha yakithi ikakhulukazi
abafundi, uma senithole lamathuba, sicela ukuthi niwamukele ngezandla zombili niwasebenzise ekutheni nithole imfundo ngoba akekho umuntu oyoyithatha imfundo uma usunayo. Siyeke ukufuna ezithembisa imali esheshayo kodwa ezigcina zifake eningi intsha yakithi enkingeni. Imfundo yisikhathi sokugcina ukuthi intsha yakithi ikwazi ukuthi yenze imindeni yayo ibengcono, nayo ibengcono, kanye nomnotho wezwe lakithi. Kungakho uKhongolose andisa lamathuba kangaka.
English:
The department has just completed the National Plan for Post- School Education and Training, NPPSET, which will soon be released to give further impetus to these policy and goals.
NPPSET is a roadmap for a more integrated, transformed, articulated and effective post-school system. I also welcome the President’s focus, since ascending to office, on a development strategy and approach for our country that is based on systematic, planning and focusing on the 44 district municipalities in our country.
In the light of this, our department, therefore, aims to ensure that within the next 10 year’s there will be no district municipality that would not have at least one post-school education and training institution. Our plan is to significantly expand infrastructure for Tvet colleges, including new institutions and campuses, as well as upgrading of Information and communications technology, ICT, so that our colleges become part of the modern digital era in all the 44 districts.
In line with the President’s focus, over the next 10-year period, we will focus on the effectiveness and expansion of the new bursary scheme in both the university and Tvet college sectors. This will require indeed a strong partnership between government, the academic institutions as well as the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. Students from families earning up to R350 000 per annum receive comprehensive support in the form of a bursary for the duration of their studies.
Over the 2019 medium-term expenditure framework, MTEF, period, in other words, the next three years, the investment amounts on NSFAS will be R82 billion for university students and
R20,4 billion for Tvet college students. The EFF can criticise us if they want to, but you can’t be blind to these achievements that have made a lot of difference to millions of young people in this country. [Applause.]
An infrastructure priority for the sixth administration also includes the development of decent, affordable student housing for universities and Tvet colleges and we will give further details on this during the Budget Votes. Safe to say that, government plans a massive investment in student accommodation. The new landscape for the Sector Education and Training Authority, SETAs, will be implemented from 1 April 2020. The aim of the new landscape is to strengthen, realign and repurpose the SETA system to support our skills development and human resource development plans.
Artisan development remains a priority while expanding workplace-based learning through learnership, work integrated learning and internships. The government will continue to strengthen what we call centres of specialisation, to ensure this; we have identified 26 Tvet colleges, we want these in the
areas in which they specialise to produce highly skilled and highly trained artisans, whether they are plumbers, welders, fitters and turners as these are very important in terms of achieving the many things that the President has outlined which need to be achieved through our economy.
We are glad to say that there are four employer associations participating in this initiative and we welcome that. Again, we must remind the EFF, I was amazed to hear that the President is being criticised that he doesn’t have the influence among business that he claims to have. This is amazing. It shows that hon Carrim was right, in fact, the EFF is not a left organisation.
What make us to be able to change things is not individuals who may happen to be President; it is the waging of the class struggle to change the balance of forces on the ground. [Applause.] That is what we need to do. You can’t be putting the blame on the President because we have never known, well, according to some of you like hon Shivambu, what is it to actually wage a struggle aimed at transforming the relations of
production in society, rather than taking all those problems and giving them to individuals?
It explains exactly who you are. You can’t be left and without being a materialist. We welcome some commitments from the President, amongst others I quote the following:
“We will expand our high-tech industry by ensuring that the legal and regulatory framework promotes innovation, scaling up skills development for young people in new technologies, and reducing data costs.”
The President also continued to say:
“We have the opportunity to be at the forefront of green growth, of low-carbon industrialisation, of pioneering new technologies and of taking quantum leaps towards the economy of the future.”
President, you will be pleased to hear that already the Department of Science and Technology has actually been funding
specified programmes, undergraduate, Honours and Masters Degree students, in order to ensure that we produce students who are accessing high level skills, such that they will become part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as well as the digital era.
For instance, as the Department of Science and Technology, we aim to be in the forefront and on the cutting-edge of big data analytics, so that the dream that the President is talking about is a dream for all South Africans that, indeed we can become a much better country that is in the forefront of high-level technology and digital development.
The Department of Science and Technology has already established the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research from 2011, which is a key driver for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Under your leadership, President, this year we adopted a White Paper on Science and Innovation, and in recent years, the Department of Science and Technology has also enabled the development of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, robotics, photonics and additive manufacturing.
Also, I want to invite the hon members who have got time to come and talk to us as the department; we will take you to see what we are talking about, and what kind of the potential that our country has. That’s why we say that the President is not dreaming; the President is talking about some of the things that we are already doing and which we would like to build upon, so that we are able to achieve what we want to achieve. For instance, we are also supporting specific sectors.
Minister Mantashe, the Department of the Department of Science and Technology is partnering with the Minerals Councils of South Africa, MCSA, in implementing the SA Mining Extraction Research, Development and Innovation, SAMERDI, strategy. Also, the department has bioeconomy strategy aimed at supporting agriculture by boosting innovation to ensure food security.
The government has already initiated a project to ensure that by 2021 all universities and Tvet college campuses are connected to high-speed broadband connectivity. A national Open Learning System is being developed, which is aimed at improving access to high-quality learning materials and resources.
President, I would like to conclude by saying, by combining the Departments of Higher Education and Training with Science and Technology, you have opened huge opportunities to place our country on to a much higher plane in terms of better coordination between what higher education institutions are doing, as well as the science councils.
As the ANC, we end by calling upon our allies, labour, business and civil society, especially the workers and the poor to rollout their sleeves to realise our dream of a better South Africa for all in the true style of ‘thuma mina.’ Thank you. [Applause.]
BUSINESS SUSPENDED AT 17:03.
BUSINESS RESUMED AT 17:31
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES: Hon Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr President ...
Mr J S MALEMA: May I stand on a point of order, Deputy Speaker.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, what is the point of order?
Mr J S MALEMA: I don’t think it would be advisable to allow Mr Gordhan to speak here.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What point of order is that, sir?
Mr J S MALEMA: Because the Public Protector has made findings against ... [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Malema, that is not a point of order.
Mr J S MALEMA: ... Mr Gordhan, and you allow a constitutional delinquent to come and speak here.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, I have said that. That is not a point of order. It is a political statement.
Mr J S MALEMA: Listen, Mabena, listen. Mabena, listen.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, I am going to switch off the microphone if you proceed. You are not ...
Mr J S MALEMA: No, you cannot allow that.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, I will do that. You know that.
Mr J S MALEMA: You are doing the same mistake you did even with the previous President where Parliament was accused of not taking responsibility for the actions that it was supposed to take ...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Malema, you read the Rules and they explain what a point of order is.
Mr J S MALEMA: But let me explain.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
Mr J S MALEMA: I am saying to you that you cannot show a middle finger to a Chapter 9 institution ...
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, no.
Mr J S MALEMA: ... by you allowing a constitutional delinquent to come and speak here.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon member, that is a political statement and you are out of order. I warned you that I will switch off the microphone.
Mr J S MALEMA: Okay.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, take your seat.
Mr J S MALEMA: Deputy Speaker, we will wait outside and when the constitutional delinquent finishes we will come back.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Malema, that is not a point of order.
The DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: I would like to
rise on a point of order, hon Deputy Speaker. Deputy Speaker, may I rise on a point of order.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order, hon member?
The DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Hon Deputy Speaker,
we will not allow a situation where the Minister is being embarrassed by Comrade Malema. [Interjections.] Deputy Speaker, the point of order is that the Minister took the report for review and it is his right to do so. So ... [Inaudible.] [Interjections.] ... has come out of that. Thank you.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Okay, that is correct. Hon Minister, please proceed.
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES: Hon Speaker, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, hon President, Deputy President Cabinet, colleagues, the hon members that are present here today
...
Mr G A GARDEE: Can he wait so that we finish walking out, please. [Laughter.]
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES: Sanibonani.
Mr G A GARDEE: Please, please!
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Gardee!
Mr G A GARDEE: Please! Hey, we are leaving, just wait.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Gardee, just go out if you please, please, and do it orderly. Go ahead, hon Minister. [Interjections.]
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES: Mr President, we commence the sixth administration in a democratic South Africa with a determination to deliver on our vision for a better South Africa for all.
The ANC has a clear and unequivocal vision for a democratic, just, nonracial, nonsexist South Africa. It is a democracy - as you said Mr President - that works for all 57 million South Africans; a democracy that continues to build on the achievements and successes of the past 25 years, while having
the humility to admit the weaknesses and mistakes of the past. The ANC’s strategy and tactics document points out that:
South African society requires an effective state, both technically and in terms of its orientation. In other words, continuing transformation and strengthening of state machinery, including state-owned enterprises, is fundamental to speeding up the implementation of programmes of social change in the context of the second phase of radical socioeconomic transformation
As you have pointed out, in order to achieve our goals we must ensure that we have no hunger in due course, and that we have a higher economic growth and an inclusive growth, employment for 2 million young people, and every 10-year-old should be able to read for meaning, and we must halve violent crime.
We need bold and ethical leadership – not the ones that we just heard demonstrated - to implement the seven priorities, the view outlined. We must nurture a common passion and a common purpose. This state of the nation debate sets out a visionary and clear
roadmap for a different, better South Africa for all. Now we must implement our plans with urgency. And we know that we must do things differently as well. We commit to, as Ben Okri says, to remake ourselves so that we remake the world ... ”
Two of the seven priorities you have outlined, Mr President, are absolutely vital at this stage of the development of our young democracy which is robust, just, inclusive economic growth and a capable, ethical and developmental state. As your state of the nation address points out and I quote:
It is only when we reach consistently high rates of growth that we will be able to reverse the economic damage of our past.
We must give social justice real meaning in the daily lives of all South Africans, not just in debates. State-owned enterprises are part of a capable, ethical and developmental state. State- owned enterprises must play a vital role in generating inclusive growth, in providing efficient and cost-effective network services and deliver public services to both those who can
afford to pay and those that can’t. As the National Development Plan has outlined and I quote:
State-owned enterprises are central to advancing national objectives through providing economic and social infrastructure. If this is done in an equitable and cost- effective way, SOEs can contribute to both deliver a quality and reliable service at a cost that enables South Africa to be globally competitive. To live up to these expectations, SOEs will require clear public-interest mandate, which are consistently enforced.
What is happening globally in relation to state-owned enterprises is that the rationale for the state’s ownership of public enterprises varies among countries and industries. It can typically be said - according to one international organisation
- to comprise a mix of social, economic and strategic interests. Over the last few decades however, globalisation of markets, technological changes, and the deregulation of previously monopolistic markets have led to readjustment and restructuring of the state-owned sector in many countries. Moreover, SOEs’
participation in international trade and investment has grown significantly. They are an influential and growing force globally.
The proportion of SOEs among the Fortune Global 500 has grown from 9% in 2005 to 23% in 2014, driven particularly by the growth of Chinese SOEs. The Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development, OECD, recently conducted a third review of SOEs amongst its members and certain affiliates and it found the following: Countries with the largest SOE sectors by share of national employment were in Europe interestingly, led by Norway with almost 10% nonagricultural employment; countries with the largest SOE sectors in absolute terms by corporate valuation are China which has valued the SOEs at almost US$30 trillion, India at US$338 billion, Korea at US$217 billion and Italy at US$205 billion.
There was a concentration of SOEs in the network industries, that is telecoms, gas, electricity and transportation industries. Mr President, we are pretty much in line with the international terms that we have seen not many years ago, but
just today. And quite contrary to what some of our colleagues and hon members from the DA might have been arguing about earlier on.
The review observes that and I quote:
With many countries experiencing lower economic growth and finding their fiscal space diminished, governments face growing challenges to ensure well-functioning SOE sectors
... good governance of SOEs is critical to ensure their positive contribution to economic efficiency and competitiveness ...
Similarly, there are new trends as you have pointed out in your address that SOEs can actually play a much entrepreneurial role rather than just intervene in situations, where they called market failure, Mr President. I am quoting in this regard from a leading author on the entrepreneurial state who said that in countries that owe their growth to innovation and regions within a country like Silicon Valley, the state has historically served not just as an administrator and regulator of the world creation
process, but a key actor in it and often a more daring one, willing to take the risks that businesses won’t. I trust that my colleague hon Hill-Lewis will note this. This has been true not only in the narrow economies called public goods, like funding of basic research but applause the entire innovation change from basic research to applied research, commercialisation and early stage financing of companies themselves. Such investments ...
Mr G G HILL-LEWIS: Deputy Speaker?
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, hon member, what are you rising on? What is that member doing standing behind you there? [Laughter.]
Mr G G HILL-LEWIS: A body guard.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: One of you should sit down, please. [Laughter.]
Mr G G HILL-LEWIS: Would the Minister kindly take a question?
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES: We will have a debate later on, and a friendly one; do not worry. All the way, I fundamentally disagree.
Such investments, yes, governments invest not only spend and have proved transformative, creating entirely new markets and sectors, including the internet, nanotechnology, biotechnology and clean energy. In other words, the state has been key to creating and shaping markets, not just fixing them. This describes our situation as well, as I said. These are the opportunities that we have.
Deputy Speaker, a year ago, our major SOEs were decimated and found themselves in all sorts of difficulties because of malfeasance that enabled state capture and rampant corruption. Some of the indicators of this malfunction that resulted was the victimisation of ethical black leaders and professionals; operational decline and indiscipline; financial crises characterised by a mismatch between revenue and costs; a shortage of liquidity and high debt in many cases; deliberate mismanagement to facilitate corruption; negligible board and
executive fiduciary accountability and collusion with corrupt activities as well and many are unable to trade their way out of their difficulties.
However, over the past 16 months our work with respect to restoring good governance, stabilising operations, appointing new boards and directly confronting corruption proceeded with efficiency, speed and purpose, although we admit that there is much to do.
At the same time we can find both joy and encouragement from the passion, commitment and excellence among the thousands, if not the hundred of thousands of South Africans who really make these entities work – the ordinary workers, operators, engineers, technicians on the floor itself. Those are the people who drive the locomotives, who design and operate the wagons, who make our power stations work, who maintain the equipments in all of these SOEs and there are also the other crews working at the airlines which you want to shut down - SAA and SA Express.
Join me as I applaud the ordinary workers in these enterprises, ladies and gentlemen. The Presidential SOE Council as you pointed out, Mr President, will take on the formidable but important task of repositioning and reforming our SOE sector.
The council will align SOEs to the national priorities and goals, decide which SOEs are strategic and which new SOEs to establish, for example. The council will advance the Fourth Industrial Revolution, reform procurement by SOE’s to reduce the likelihood of corruption and review the business models, capital structure and sources of financing amongst other elements of the SOEs as well.
More specifically in the period ahead, we will ensure that we promote greater transparency and accountability to overcome poor governance; restore financial sustainability and prudence and create an environment in which – as you pointed out - skilled and professional public servants of the highest moral standards dedicated to the public good can thrive and contribute to a best in world culture; remove all vestiges of state capture and ensure there are harsh consequences for malfeasance.
Let me give you some examples of changes that are happening in various sectors of the economy which impact upon our SOEs as well. The energy sector is moving in a direction where there is a new balance emerging between fossil fuels and renewables. In terms of the logistics, new challenges and opportunities are emerging for increased regional trade from the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.
In aviation there are new designs emerging, virtually every month of different types of fuel efficient aircraft, its consolidation of airlines and low cost airlines which are competing for long haul flights. As far as the environment is concerned, the questions that we have with regard to our challenges is how we can reduce our dependence on nonrenewable sources of energy and carbon emissions and how we can introduce new carbon capture and battery technology in our situation.
As far as SA Airways, SAA, is concerned, we have to be frank with you and the South African public that it is in a precarious financial position. The airline has persistently incurred losses
over the past 12 years due to mismanagement, state capture and inability to service its debt.
During the past period we have been working on a new investment case, if you can call it that, for SAA, in order that we prepare the airline for a partnership with strategic equity partner. So, when our colleague on my left talk about shutting down SAA, they should tell the 11 000 people who work at SAA how their future is going to be. They want to put them on the streets, at the moment.
That is the case with Denel - you might have seen news headlines this morning that Denel can only pay 85% of staff salaries for June, due to liquidity constraints. However, later during the day, the latest update is that a lender has come to the assistance of Denel and full salaries will now be paid to all of the staff at Denel. There is no clearer example of the damaging effects of state capture than the financial strain and uncertainty the 3 500 Denel employees and their families may face each month as a consequence of what we have actually seen.
Let me come to Eskom more directly. The President said last week and I quote:
One reason for the country’s lacklustre economic performance has been load shedding early this year, together with the continued uncertainty in the supply of electricity and the state of Eskom. The lesson is clear that for growth we need a reliable and sustainable supply of electricity.
I will elaborate on some of these issues that Eskom confronted. Today Eskom has successfully managed the system in terms of its “winter plan”, for 94 days without load shedding and hopefully that will continue. A new head of generation business has been appointed last week, Mr Bheki Nxumalo. Of Eskom’s 15 coal-fired power stations, 10 now have permanent power station managers with full authority, much greater than they have had actually before. Soon, the Minister of Finance will be able to announce the appointment of a chief restructuring officer following further consultations in government to focus on the financial challenges that Eskom faces. The Eskom board will also address
some of the challenges within the generation side and ensure that more operational and engineering staff is employed at power stations themselves and outages are actually reduced.
In terms of Eskom restructuring, good progress has been made in relation to working out the road map to implement the proposals in the February 2019 state of the nation address to separate its generation, transmission and distribution functions into three separate business entities, wholly owned by the State. There is no deviation from this strategic path. Eskom’s separation will provide a number of other benefits, including greater transparency of financial and operational performance in each of its entity.
Some of the details being looked into currently are power transfer policies and contracts, internal structural reorganisation, financial reporting and auditing processes for each business, the detailed creation of cost allocations and service level agreements and the implementation of auditable financial statements amongst other elements. Engagements with organised labour have taken place in the past at the more
general level and they will now take place at the more specific level.
As I round up, what will be different in the sixth administration is that we shall exercise our shareholder oversight drill with increased vigour and we will require the board to do the same. We will ensure that the quality and the composition of our boards is appropriate to the tasks that they face and several boards have vacancies that we will fill. We will monitor performance of each of the SOEs more closely and
... [Time expired.] I hope you will give me a minute extra for the disturbance I had earlier on.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, it is gone. Time is gone, Minister, My apologies.
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES: In rounding up, Deputy Speaker, one of the key challenges that we must confront as far as the SOEs is concerned is the moral hazard that SOEs can do what they like because the state will always be behind them. We shall overcome that. Thank you very much.
Ms N P KONI: Thank you very much, not so consistent Deputy Speaker. Now that the Joshua Doore has left, a revolutionary is on the podium. President and commander in chief of the EFF, officials, commissars and fighters from all nine provinces, I greet you.
Let me start by attending to Mr Carrim, an old oupa [grandfather], a beneficiary of today’s ANC male-dominated speaking list. You must be told to your face that you must never undermine women and their agency. Nothing is more demeaning, insulting and misogynistic than when a man, who because he can’t win an argument against a woman, starts saying her views are not her own. She is being used by men. You must stop doing that.
This is what your textbook and mediocre reading of Marx and Lenin has not afforded you — to respect women; young black women in particular. Fighter Naledi can take you on chief. She can take you on anywhere, anytime. You must go and ask your father there in Nkandla, baba Duduzane.
However, let me not waste my breath. Your generation is probably lost forever on the significance of feminist ideology. Let me
now talk to the issue of land which you abandoned because the ANC’s position of expropriation of land was rejected and even rubbished by spurious communists like you. You lost that debate in the ANC conference just like you lost your seat in the National Assembly. You are in the NCOP and I’m going to deal with you. [Interjections.]
Mr President, we listened and we did not hear you talk about land clearly. We were right to say you were bluffing and you did not mean anything you said about the land issue. Land, like mineral resources, should be in the custody of the state, and the state must give permission and rights to use the land for a specific purpose.
The Fifth Parliament did its work. We went all over the country and listened to our people. They were very clear. They want the land and they want it now.
Setswana:
Gompieno, eseng leng.
English:
The idea that you redistribute land by giving our people title deeds – you handed them over before the elections – will not resolve the crisis of landlessness. By the way, title deeds for what? Our people in townships are spaceless, with no sanitation, no water, no electricity. If you say you want to give them title deeds, title deeds for what exactly?
Our people do not have places to worship. Our kids do not have playgrounds but play in dumpsites. Our youth do not have recreational and sport facilities because of landlessness. Today
...
Setswana:
... batsadi ba rona ba batlhakanela mabitla. O fitlhila bo Ramaphosa, bo Zuma, le bo Mokgosi ba tlhakanela mabitla. Ke gore badimo ba rona ba tlhakanela mabitla le magodu. Ga re kgone go fitlhelela matšhwao ...
English:
... to our ancestors. Mothers, fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers cannot feed their families. With more than
15 million South Africans unable to afford to feed their families because of landlessness, these title deeds our people get are used as fake collateral to get our people to borrow money they can’t afford to repay, and the little pieces of land will end up back in the hands of white-owned banks. If anything, this is a deliberate decision to ridicule black people and land struggles. [Applause.]
Mr President, you ridicule black people and their landlessness, yet you tell them to dream about bullet trains and new cities. On what land? That is why we are saying by the end of 2019 the Sixth Parliament should finalise the land question and all the land must be in the custody of the state. The Sixth Parliament must pass the necessary legislation and the EFF will table a land redistribution Act and an agrarian reform Act. We must ensure that the legislation to redistribute land clearly states a minimum of 50% of the land must be controlled by women and youth in particular. [Applause.] We must abolish foreign ownership.
The Sixth Parliament must draft all these laws in such a way that we establish legal structures to manage and distribute land to all those needed for productive and residential purposes.
Now, because you are suffering from a poverty of ideas, should it happen that you run out of that, come to the EFF. [Applause.]
We must ensure that people’s right to land is protected and not subjected to abuse by state officials and mining companies, like what Mr Gwede Mantashe and his Australian company are doing to the people of Xolobeni. To do this properly, we must develop a system to land rights registration to ensure that communal and customary land rights are recordable and afforded the same protection as other forms of rights. We do not say this to render traditional leaders in our communities useless and irrelevant. Our traditional leaders still have a role to play in our communities, including the process to allocate land to all people, in particular women and the youth. I’m repeating this for the second time.
If you are serious about giving our people rights to land, you must equally resource land courts to speed up resolutions of all
land-related disputes. We cannot allow a situation where one acting judge is appointed to hear all land-related matters without the necessary support or resources. We must set up the ad hoc committee to start working on the modalities of the amendment of section 25 of the Constitution.
Mr President, if you are going to change and disown your party conference resolution that is your problem. Don’t tag us and don’t say we did not warn you.
As the EFF, we have made a commitment to our people. We are the generation that has discovered its mission and we intend to fulfill it. We will do so because we know victory is certain and our people will have the land. Amandla! [Applause.]
I want to say to my sister, Comrade Zindzi Mandela, that we are behind you. The struggle continues. Thank you. [Applause.]
Ms N I TARABELLA-MARCHESI: Hon Deputy Speaker, I will not begin my speech with, once upon a time, because I do not intend to tell a fairy-tale about the plight of children in South African
schools. I do not intend to be the Brothers Grimm and paint a picture of an imaginary and magical land that does not exist. I’m here to present the cold, hard facts that we need to reflect on as a Parliament, and the DA is here to also present workable solutions.
While the President spoke about how he met with the people of South Africa during the election campaign, he did not speak frankly of the true state in which the people of our country live, nor did he ever offer apologies for how his party has disappointed and left, particularly our young people, hopeless.
Over the last month I met with teachers who expressed how they are working under awful conditions no human being should. They are overwhelmed and overworked. They expressed how they are not only teachers to our young but they are mothers and fathers to orphans of missing parents; they are social workers to the broken; they are nurses to the sick; and they are police to the disruptive and drug dealers on school premises.
Mr President, the fact is that the majority of our children come from broken homes with unemployed parents who are filled with despair and hopelessness. They come from poverty-stricken homes; abusive homes. They are broken and bring their brokenness to their teachers, their playground and their classroom, which leads to bullying and excessive violence. They witness violence and use violence to solve disputes.
These socioeconomic ills spill over into our environment. The recent murder of a KwaZulu-Natal teacher and the stabbing of Daniel Bakwela by a fellow learner in Gauteng sent shockwaves throughout the country, and that should really worry you, Mr President. Violence has become a real phenomenon in our schools.
Nkokheli, you cannot talk about education in this country and totally ignore the wave of violence that is crashing through our schools.
IsiXhosa:
Kubi ezikolweni, ootitshala babetha abantwana, abantwana babetha ootitshala, abantwana bayabethana kwaye bayabulalana.
English:
Our teachers and learners need our support, and social workers and nurses have a supporting role to play in our schools and must serve that role.
To mitigate this spate of violence our schools in the Western Cape has introduced a Safe Schools hotline. It allows learners, staff, parents and communities to get help where abuse, crime, drug use and gang activity occurs. This excellent model should be extended to all provinces as co-operation on the ground is vital to preventing violent acts before they occur. Mr President, this is one of the initiatives that we need to combat social violence. We need you to come on board and give a directive, Mr President.
I was actually taken aback when you reinstated Minister Angie Motshekga as the Minister of Basic Education. She has been presiding over this ministry for a decade and under her the state of public education has worsened. Under her we tragically lost two learners in pit latrines ... [Applause.] ... and the number could be more. Under her, eight out of 10 Grade 4
children cannot read for understanding or meaning. Under her we performed poorly in both the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, Pirls, and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Timss. Under her the World Economic Global Information Technology Report of 2016, which ranks the quality of education in 139 countries, ranked South Africa at 137. Out of 139, we were at the bottom. You are a Mabena, Mr President. Just like your predecessor you disappoint South Africa.
In your speech you emphasised implementing the early grade reading programme. As we speak, we have 1,1 million learners in Grade 4. We simply cannot wait a decade to have our learners reading. Our foundation and intermediate phase teachers are already trained. They need professional development.
The SA Democratic Teacher’s Union, Sadtu, has been blocking annual assessments for years and this is a policy impediment. Unless you act, you threaten the future of the generation to come. A DA government will prioritise the future of learners over ambitions of union members.
In the Western Cape we have prioritised basic reading and numeracy skills, and we are seeing results. We are the only province to achieve more than 600 points for reading and Mathematics. That is according to the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality, Sacmeq. This is significantly higher than the national average of
522 points.
You see, Mr President, in the Western Cape 45% of learners in Grade 4 – whilst you are still coming up with your programme, we in the Western Cape are already doing it – can read for meaning in their home language, compared to 9,2% in Limpopo and 22,1% nationally.
However, I would like to applaud your action to move co- ordination of disability initiatives to the Presidency. I hope that in its mandate the needs of the disabled in basic education will be a priority. [Applause.]
You also talked about coding. A fantastic idea. However, you know what? You need to read to be able to do coding. When I
listened to your speech, I hoped that you would give us an update on school infrastructure and how you are progressing with the tablet distribution programme. Or has this one also been abandoned? Mr President, the lack of consistency concerns us all.
IsiXhosa:
Ngoko ndiyakucela Mongameli, yeka ukuphupha, vuka. Yeka ukubamba apha uyeke, ubambe phaya uyeke.
Mr Z M D MANDELA: Jonga ngapha Marchesi.
Ms N I TARABELLA-MARCHESI: Ewe ayeke ukubamba phaa ayeke.
English:
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, hon Mandela.
IsiXhosa:
Ms N I TARABELLA-MARCHESI: Yeka ukuba mombono nje kuphela, yiba ne...
English:
... vision, fund them and execute them. It can either be an improvement in the quality of education, infrastructure at schools ... Forget about the iPads ...
IsiXhosa:
... okwangoku, kuba ezinye izikolo azinambane.
English:
Some schools don’t have electricity. Focus on one thing in the next five years before your boss Ace Magashule pulls the plug
...
IsiXhosa:
... ekugxotha [Kwaqhwatywa]
The PREMIER OF MPUMALANGA PROVINCE: Hon Deputy Speaker, His
fellow South Africans.
Let me take this opportunity to join this august House, and the people of South Africa and congratulate his Excellency the President of the Republic of South Africa on what was a well delivered comprehensive and balanced State of the Nation Address. As the province of the rising sun, we welcome the President’s address as umhlahlandlela, which gives us the
vision, hope, renewal and indeed a new dawn for our nation.
We join the many voices who have correctly stated that this state of the nation address was able to capture the imagination
of our people and reignite their energies, towards the building
a better South Africa for all.
This state of nation address, state of the nation address challenged all of us to reimagine and rethink anew in response
to our current mission to eliminate the legacy of colonial apartheid, hence I’m not surprised today hon member when I hear
you requesting the President to stop issuing our learners with
tablets. So, we are not surprised hearing you making such comments.
The President was unambiguous when he said “we must improve the affordability, safety and integration of commuter transport for low income households”.
The National Development Plan, NDP, demands that both public and private investment should go towards extending bus services,
refurbishing commuter trains, linking high-volume corridors and integrating all these into an effective transport system.
Deputy Speaker, this is exactly what the ANC led government has
been doing since the dawn of our democracy.
True to our commitment to invest in public transport
infrastructure, as outlined in the ruling party’s manifesto. We have successfully launched the national and regional road
infrastructure networks like Maputo Corridor, Moloto Corridor and the Trans-Kalahari Corridor.
We have improved and extended the N1 and N2 road infrastructure linking towns, cities, provinces and neighbouring states.
This is because we acknowledged the strategic role that, the road infrastructure network can play in unlocking and stimulating local and regional economic activity and in the creation of job opportunities.
The President’s pro-poor and unifying vision must be viewed as a
prototype to deliver a just, dignified, and inclusive future for our generation.
It is a cosmopolitan vision that will undo centuries of racial
inequality premised upon apartheid social planning which turned
the majority of our people into pariahs in the land of their birth.
Social and economic exclusion caused by policies of the past is
still evident in the long distances many people, especially the poor, travel from where they live to their places of employment.
Providing our communities with suitable, safe, efficient and
cost-effective transport is crucial in broadening social and economic access.
Deputy Speaker, the ANC-led government has successfully introduced the Rapid Bus Transit in a number of our cities in this country.
This system has reduced costs of travelling in urban areas, making it easier for our young people who are students and job
seekers to commute between townships and cities.
However, too many of our people who live in rural areas are still unable to benefit from such a system.
The NDP is very explicit in advocating for reliable, economical and smooth-flowing corridors linking our various modes of
transport such as road, rail, air, sea ports and pipelines. This is the vision that the President has eloquently espoused in his
state of the nation address.
Mr President, we inherited an ageing transport system whose
development did not have the disabled and vulnerable in mind.
It had no consideration of the safety of the underpaid female security guards, domestic and factory workers, who must wake up every morning at 5 am at an informal settlement, having to travel about five kilometres in a dangerous open veld at dawn to
an unguarded railway station in order to report for duty in town by 7 am.
It is this system that displayed a lack of sympathy or concern
for a frail grandmother returning from hospital at dusk in an overloaded and speeding mini-bus taxi to KaNyamazane. This
transport system thrived because of the racially segregated town
planning designed to keep our people on the outskirts of the centres of economic activity.
These are hard realities that the ANC government has had to deal
with since taking over government in 1994.
Over the period of 25 years, we have been working hard building
bridges, laying roads into previously isolated villages, and providing affordable and safe public transport to connect communities and advance social development.
State entities like South African National Road Agency, SANRAL, and Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, PRASA, have been leading in the implementation of our integrated transport
We created, 328 876 job opportunities for women, 292 803 for youth, whilst 8 872 were apportioned to people with
disabilities. For economic empowerment, we awarded 30% of all contracts to women and 15% to youth.
Deputy Speaker, the Department of Transport has developed a rail
policy framework that seeks to revitalise South Africa’s rail network.
You will recall that in October 2018, the President launched
South Africa’s very first passenger train manufacturing plant in Nigel. This state of the art facility is positioning South
Africa as a manufacturer of new generation passenger trains. To
date, Deputy Speaker, this facility has already produced new trains locally.
We will continue to engage our colleagues in the taxi industry
to also do their part and ensure the dignity and safety of our people by sanctioning the utilisation of road worthy minibus
taxis into their operations.
We also reaffirm government’s commitment to continue to engage with the taxi industry on matters such as the issuing of subsidies to the sector, vehicle financing, and taxi violence.
South Africa’s new dawn Deputy Speaker, must also herald the end of the carnage on our roads. We shall not treat drunk and
reckless drivers with kid gloves.
The new, advanced breathalyser kit that was launched by former Transport Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande in April 2019, will assist
our efforts to remove intoxicated drivers from our roads into
jail cells. We will continue to take strong action against those traffic officers who allow drunken driving by accepting bribes.
In the same breath, we condemn the reckless speeding and lawlessness on our roads. And the new phenomenon of burning
trucks in our roads
restraint and take comfort in knowing that their government is
expediting efforts to resolve the matter.
Deputy Speaker, you will recall that as recently as June 16, we lost 24 young people in one collision. This was in addition to the 45 people who passed away in the same weekend in Limpopo
Mr M NYHONTSO: Dear Speaker, Mr President, dreams do come true.
Tonight please dream about Apla cadres who are still languishing in South African jails and when you wake up tomorrow, please release them. They fought for the land. They fought for the for the noble course on earth which is the liberation of mankind
Mr President, what you missed in your entire speech last week is that the inequality, poverty and unemployment cannot be tackled without tackling the land question first. That is why the Pan Africanist Congress, PAC, always said land first and the rest shall follow.
Note that you narrowly define land because you want to appease our oppressors and international capital. And by doing so, you are hurting the majority of the dispossessed Africans. To you land means mainly a place for building residence
IsiXhosa:
Sifuna ulwandle; sifuna umoya; sifuna izinto eziphantsi kolwandle; sifuna izombiwa; sifuna isibhakabhaka; kwaye sifuna neenyoka, zezethu kuba zezase-Afrika. [Kwahlekwa.]
English:
Mr President, as the PAC, we want that productive land to be controlled by the collective masses of our people and we want the value created by labour in that land to serve the interest of the African people. As the PAC, we want the African people to control their labour power which creates value. This is how you solve problems related to inequality, unemployment, poverty, racism and dependence on foreign capital. This is just economics 101, Mr President.
You also say you will create 2 million jobs in the next 10 years. This is the same story your predecessors have been saying. As the PAC, we advice you to wake up from your dreams and attend to realities that our people are faced with in the rural areas of Centane, Xholobeni, Alexandra, Vuwani and other townships – and rural where the African majority stay
Land restoration and repossession cannot be a dream deferred.
IsiXhosa:
Ootishala bayafa Mongameli ezikolweni, nceda vuka Mongameli. Isizwe silambile.
English:
Students want free education and the youth is unemployed. Youth is unemployed.
IsiXhosa:
Thina silulutsha lwase-Afrika asinayo enye indawo yokuya Mongameli.
English:
We are Africans. We are born in Africa.
IsiXhosa:
Asinayo enye indawo yokubalekela.
English:
If we do not get jobs here, we cannot go anywhere. Let those who want to go leave.
IsiXhosa:
Vuka Mongameli. Enkosi. [Time expired.]
CLLR T NKADIMENG: Hon Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, the hon Chairperson of the NCOP, Your Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, His Excellency Deputy President David Mabuza, hon members and fellow South Africans, the Lion of the East, Gert Sibande, when he was asked how did he dismantled the massive farming value chain in the Eastern Transvaal which was traditionally known for butchering and murdering black people to make them manure in the Eastern Transvaal, he said:
All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.
It is my honour and a humbling privilege ... [Applause.] ... to address this august House leadership on behalf of the leadership of the organised local government. The SA Local Government Association, Salga, stands proud to associate with leaders of the Sixth National Assembly, many of them who have been drawn from the local government sphere to serve the people of South Africa today.
Hon Speaker, allow me to refer to the NCOP Chairperson today as a former President of Salga who once stood in the position that I am standing in today, on the same vein, I would have failed in my duty, on behalf of the sphere of local government, not to highlight the appointment of one of our own, my predecessor, the President of Salga and currently the President of United Cities and Local Government President Parks Tau, who has now been
appointed ... [Applause.] ... as the Deputy Minister of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. As a result of his dedication and commitment towards influencing the international agenda, hon Tau has not only placed South African municipalities on the global map but has extended our local government into the world. We sincerely hope that his new responsibilities will allow him to enrich and continue to transform local government not only in South Africa but in the world.
We must also recognise the appointment of Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the first female Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. We equally wish her well in her duties. [Applause.] Mama, local government is known for its complexities and challenges, but I was taught through our Sotho adage that ...
Sepedi:
... mmago ngwana o swara thipa ka bogaleng.
English:
No matter how hard the situation the circumstances, women always are triumphant. [Applause.] Remarkable progress have been made, hon President, over the past 25 years of our democracy in meeting the basic needs of our people to reduce poverty, to transform our devastated economy and also to serve the interests of our people.
This is clearly marked by our Statistics SA Non Financial Census of Municipalities which confirms that water access to our communities has increased to 72% when it was at 19% prior democratic dispensation, electricity is at 93% and sanitation is at 54%. Rural roads - 205 local municipalities just in the past financial year have build no less than 2 050 kilometres. On average, they build 10,3 kilometres per financial year. Metros, on their own build a minimum of 56 kilometres per financial year. In total, it’s 448 kilometres. Notwithstanding the challenges, it is not all doom and gloom in local government.
You were all born in a municipality somewhere. You grew up in a municipality somewhere. You continue to live in a municipality somewhere. Tonight, you are going to sleep in a municipality somewhere. [Applause.]
We also agree with you hon President that our country is confronted, of course, with severe challenges at local government. We are faced with daily realities of our rapid flow of people from rural areas into urban centres. These are one of the challenges which you have spoken about in terms of the inefficient spatial patterns that we need to deal with which have been left for centuries by the spirit of colonialism.
While we have made remarkable progress in building over three million houses for our people, we have unwittingly perpetuated the legacy of the Native Land Act and subsequent Group Areas Act by locating most of these people far away from the centres of opportunities.
No municipality or planner has desirably planned this; it is because of the distorted land market. It is in this context that Salga welcomes the commitment to provide well local land for housing and for the benefit of our business.
In conceptualising this spatial form and in crafting the actions need to be taken to achieve a future better spatial form, we are
reminded that there are many dimensions which include the spatial development. These dimensions include access to land which must be affordable, safe integrated commuter transport and low income households which are going to be covered, access to smart technology, community services, facilities as well as other resources.
Through these spatial interventions, special economic zones, developing of Agriparks, reviving of the local industrial parks, business centres, township economies, digital hubs and village enterprises, we will bring more development into our local areas. We will focus on all the small and medium enterprises in our municipalities, towns and rural areas to create market places where our people could trade.
Our approach in the past few years through the adoption of the Integrated Urban Development Framework in 2015 focuses on the activating of all the society approach to implement the urban transformation that we all desire to have.
So, cross-cutting goals of urban safety, resilience and strengthening urban-rural linkages are critical. In particular, linkages and interdependencies between urban and rural spaces to ensure the migration are minimised.
As Salga, we remain hon President committed in partnership with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to champion and encourage all those who use electricity and other municipal services to pay for them. We welcome this move and we ensured that though our rights were accepted by electricity supplier, Eskom, all of a suddenly we owed them but we will pay them.
With regard to our District-Based Approach - based on our 1999 White Paper on Local Government says, we would want to develop district municipalities to ensure that we are dependent on a localise area that is able to bring its own fiscus and revenue to develop its people. This is confirmed by a number of so many dysfunctional municipalities in the country which is reported to be district approach versus the local district approach.
You have spoken on an ethical leadership. Our view hon President is that while our problems are interlinked and interdependent, challenges faced by South Africa and this Sixth Administration to respond to cannot be underestimated. But for us as local government to succeed in this district approach and many others, we need to realise that human capital is widely recognised as a primary source of excellence in any organisation, business or institution.
We are proposing to this House this afternoon implementation of mandatory skills assessment mechanism at local government sector and can no longer be postponed. We need to professionalise the sector ... [Applause.] ... in the same way that we have professionalise doctors, nurses, lawyers etc. We need to professionalise the sector, regulated it to ensure that whoever is appointed in a management position has met stringent requirements desired as of a manager in a local municipality. [Applause.]
Currently, a senior manager can transgress in one municipality and be appointed in another local municipality. Hon Nhanha, if I
am wrongly pronouncing your surname, you will pardon me. The manager you proudly say was appointed in the Nelson Mandela Bay was fired in a second local municipality in Limpopo and he currently transgressed where he was appointed. He is currently on suspension. We need to find answers and not pinpoint.
As I conclude, hon Speaker, I say we support all the desires of the President that were taken out. We are alive and cognisant that this road is long. It needs desired and persistence so that we could be able to realise what is read as, government is about the people and it is about putting its citizens first. That’s what hon Mandela said. I thank you. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, it is an exemplary conduct by Councillor Nkandimeng on time.
Mr S E MFAYELA: Deputy Speaker, His Excellency President Ramaphosa, my leader Dr M G Buthelezi, Members of Parliament, fellow South Africans, allow me to say we are not alone when I say that I share your vision for your country. Your very briefing summed up the true nature of the South African dilemma
that we face today as a nation in your state of the nation address.
It is common knowledge that we are the people in a horrible and trouble past that are now task by history to build a new nation together based on a new set of values. So, I was very pleased to hear nation building listed as one of your seven priorities. But nation building, Mr President, requires hard work and dedication. It doesn’t materialise overnight.
The IFP have long held that we remain constructive opposition and some parties. I will say to you and to fellow South Africans today is meant to constructive manner to ensure that all South Africans needs are addressed, practical with those who find themselves in the majority of our vast land and pastures in our rural communities. Mr President, in your entire 6 732 words speech, you made mention the word rural three times. It is alarming that we dream of a future city. Yes, rapid urbanisation is considered. We should try as a nation to focus more than three times on rural communities and their daily realities for
rural and urban areas are not but two sides of the same coins. One is not possible without the other.
The harsh realities, Mr President, faced by our rural communities today is a shame as they do not feel the differences of 25 years into our democratic dispensation. School learners are not able to attend classes and they cannot cross bridges which have collapsed over rivers. Elderly cannot barely be comforted in opening tap with running water or find a quality flushing toilets. Mud schools and houses which are unsafe still provide shelters to most people living in the rural communities.
We must ensure Mr President that the rural and not just urban communities are priorities too as they have never been in a successful urban strategy without taking compensate rural development into account.
It is important Mr President that we through on experiences of other nations to better stir balances between rural and urban parties of their countries such as Kenya and other countries who have implemented very successful co-operatives to ensure that
the rural residence play an active role in their economy. The majority of our rural residence deserves this, Mr President. They too deserve fully to form part of the collective dreams and hopes of our future. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY: Speaker and Deputy
Speaker of the National Assembly, Chairperson of the NCOP, His Excellencies, the President and Deputy President of the Republic, Chief Whip of the Majority Party, the ANC, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, with the performance of our economy at the centre of attention, requiring all our efforts to turn things around to realise our aspiration to grow the South African economy together, the President enjoins us to be prepared to go where we have never been before. That is why it is confusing members to my left – because the President is enjoining us to be prepared to go where we have never been before.
The economy contracted by 3,2% in the first quarter of this year, with mining contributing 0,8% of that 3,2%, to the overall decline, falling by 10,8% as the sector, energy declining by
6,9%, that is contributing 0,1% of the 3,2% of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, decline.
Mining production data released by Stats SA earlier this month indicated that, compared with the first and fourth quarters of 2018, production of many commodities declined in the first quarter of 2019. What is the biggest contributor to this negative growth? It was load shedding. Because every time we have load shedding, a mine produces at the maximum of 70% of its capacity.
The second one is the price of electricity, and the third one, was the five months strike of Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, Amcu. Therefore, it becomes important for us to put our efforts in turning – not only mining around but the energy sector in general and the electricity generation, in particular. This is a harsh reminder to all of us that primary sectors of the economy are important to build the future and modern sectors. We all focus into the future digitalisation and everything that is modern. But if we are going to reach there, we must strengthen the primary sectors of the economy.
Against this backdrop, Prixley ka Isaka Seme had this to say:
“Justly the world now demands-Whither is fled the visionary gleam
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?”
He talks to the dream that seems to confuse members to my left that to them dreaming is an abstract concept. But President Thabo Mbeki again tried to put this more clearly when he said:
“Trying times need courage and resilience. Our strength as a people is not tested at the best of times, we should never become despondent because the weather is bad nor should we turn triumphalist because the sun shines.”
The situation that is facing us as the country in respect of the economy requires us to appreciate that we need to have courage and resilience. We should not be triumphalists only when the sun shines. Because we will make that sun shine.
As we implement the election manifesto in this sixth Administration, we are ever mindful of our tasks. Our economy still depends to a large extent on the minerals and energy complex for its growth and development. These sectors will continue to play a significant role in the future of the economy. Merging the two portfolios under one Ministry enables more attention and focus on them and greater policy alignment, for certainty to the sector and the greater economy.
We remain highly attractive for investment in mining, despite the fact that... I can see the cynical ridicule laughing. It is fine when you don’t know, you don’t know. If you don’t know, you simple don’t know. We remain highly attractive for investment in mining. To improve its overall performance, we must return it – particularly, to the major mineral groups, to growth trajectory.
For the period 2018 to 2020 there is an estimated 60 mining projects in the pipeline with an estimated investment value of R110, 1 billion and projected employment of at 32 000 employees. Of these, ten are exploration projects, 26 are expansion projects, twelve are new mining development projects, four are
new processing plants and four sustainability projects to extend the life of mines, while the remaining balance of five are still unspecified.
Integral to investment attraction, the Council for Geosciences’ mapping programme is critical to identify and affirm new mineralisation systems that are consistent with the new demand trajectory of mineral resources, such as battery minerals. The programme aims to secure a minimum of 5% of the global exploration budget within the next three to five years.
In 2018/2019, non-ferrous metals and minerals production grew by 9,4%. I am highlighting this point because despite the decline in mining production the smaller mineral groups continue to grow. It is your gold that is in decline because it had been mined for more than 130 years, it is platinum and iron ore. But if you go to these minerals that assist to move towards cleaner energy options, and the sector must position itself to take advantage of this opportunity presented. The employment numbers that were released earlier today give early signs that are positive, in the sense that jobs numbers have increased by 22
000 in terms of official statistics released today. Of those, 6 000 are in mining. Most importantly, we must urgently address the reliability of electricity supply to support our growth ambitions.
Our key priorities on energy are the following. Firstly, on top of the list is ensuring energy security of supply through long- term planning. That is why the amount of money that the president committed to revive Eskom is so important because if we can’t ensure that security of supply of energy, the economy is going to pay a big price. Secondly, it is lowering the cost of energy. Thirdly, it is the development of new energy delivery models. Energy storage technology will make renewable energy coupled with storage, a viable option going into the future.
This will replace the traditional power stations. However, what is important is to ensure that we must never destroy what we have because we dream of having something new into the future. That is why it is important that a balanced approach to our energy supply is important.
Working towards the country’s energy mix options, we must move away from the polarized views because our energy debate should not be renewables versus coal. It is the availability of various options to supply energy and ensure that there is security of energy supply in the country. The best way is to find the best balance for our requirements to grow the economy and guarantee development by ensuring security of energy supply along with obligations to address climate change considerations.
The Integrated Resource Plan 2019 will outline our primary energy requirements in respect of coal, nuclear, gas and other energy minerals, plus solar, wind, biomass and regional hydropower resources. To ensure investment in the required energy infrastructure, including power plants, refineries, pipelines, transmission and distribution wires, storage facilities for oil and gas, we must ascertain that all the enablers thereto, particularly legislative and institutional arrangements, are in place.
The mining and energy sectors present a huge potential for exploration, production and beneficiation. For this reason, the
restoration of a stable and predictable policy and regulatory environment is a priority. Uncertainty that delayed the development of the mining industry was removed with the finalisation of the Mining Charter. And the separation of petroleum from the regulatory framework governing traditional minerals, that legislation will come before Parliament early this year.
The process of developing a Petroleum Resources Development Bill, which will in due course be subjected to public participation, Cabinet and parliamentary processes, is underway. The Bill will further provide regulatory certainty to the upstream petroleum industry and stimulate growth and development in this sector. We are convinced that if we develop petroleum into a fully fledged sector will add impetus to the growth of the economy. We are convinced about that. All we should make sure of is to do what is in the best interest of the country.
Mineral beneficiation is critical to industrialisation. We must address, amongst others, the matter of high administered prices to trigger growth and development of the economy. Administered
prices are prices that are within the control of the state. Be it electricity, be it rail and port. It is incumbent up on us as the government to use administered prices to trigger growth and development in the economy. We have control over that.
This is with the intention to reverse the current situation, where the bulk of our chrome and manganese resources are beneficiated in Asia. Despite the increase on the tariffs, bulk of our chrome and our manganese is beneficiated in Malaysia in particular and Asia in general because of the price of electricity. Therefore, we have a duty to intervene with administered prices.
Honourable members, post our national general elections, journalist Palesa Morudu wrote in the Business Day 17 May 2019:
“Last week’s 57% win by the governing party was met with a grudging sigh of relief from the gatvol nation–relief that the polls were over, that it could have been worse. South Africans, once again, held it together and broke with the global trend that is embracing greater extremes. So, here
we are again. The voters have provided a corrective to some of the South African’s worst excesses. But time is running out. The possibility of building a nonracial, democratic and prosperous South Africa based on equality for all and the rule of law has not been extinguished. Much depends on what government does over the next year.”
In response to Palesa and all South Africans, in the July 2019 Budget Vote debates, we will further outline the details of our plans for growth and the minerals and energy portfolio, how they can make a positive contribution to the economy, eradicate poverty and create employment and equality in our society.
Mr President, I can assure you that we are committed to take the command and do what we can do to contribute to the economic growth and positive development of our country and our economy. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Mr M G E HENDRICKS: Hon President I want to alert you to a challenge that South Africa is facing which is worse than climate change and that is the chemical poisoning of our rivers
and the pouring of raw sewerage into our rivers, killing our marine life and creating toxins that are causing nearly a million people to die a slow death in Khayelitsha. So, Mr President I hope you will consider this harm to the environment and save part of the planet for our children.
Hon Speaker, Comrade Chair the President can be assured of Aljama’s support for his vision of a prosperous and peaceful South Africa as espoused in the National Development Plan (NDP). We want a rollout of 10 million jobs. Decent and next generation jobs Mr President and not stone aged jobs.
Aljama wants to ask the hon President to establish incubation job hubs at schools, colleges and universities as we notice that the corporate world is a lame dark in creating the jobs we need. It is in these hubs that new revenistries will be identified like we identified for the internet.
The 4th industrial revolution demands hon President, a cyber civilization with free data and free 5G connectivity. We say hon
President be brave and make coding the 12th official language of South Africa
Mr President we’ve heard earlier on how important the National Health Insurance (NHI) is and it’s not necessary to debate it anymore. We need to bring the NHI to life, it is not right for one to die because one is poor and then have the advantage to live because you are rich.
The 6th Parliament has disappointed the country’s vision for a democratic Africa by being quiet on the untimely death of the first democratically elected President of Egypt. I’m also disappointed that the Defence Force allows a Colonel to introduce his clam phobia into its ranks. For ten years no Colonel objected to a Muslim Major Sis Fatima Isaacs wearing a modest plain scarf not even covering her ears and her military beret and he has started to court marshal her. I thought the Defence Force is free from sexism, poor attitude towards women and is clam phobia. This Mr President is a blot on SONA
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: On that note hon member I would like to advise you to watch your left, the clock is red and it means your time has expired
Mr M G E HENDRICKS: I’m disappointed that with 6th Parliament it also expires.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No hon member. It’s okay, you should have ended where you ended strongly. Thank you very much.
IsiXhosa:
Mnu M BARA: Sekela Somlomo, malungu eNdlu ehloniphekileyo. Mandiqale ngokuthi...
English:
... I find it embarrassing that the ANC speakers are jumping from side to side in this podium when there are 19 seats less than there were in the 5th Parliament. I think that’s embarrassing. Again, a bulk of formal Cabinet Ministers are not here, they resigned because this is not about the people, it’s about themselves hence they decided to leave when they could not
be included in your Cabinet President. The State of the Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa is a clear indication of a government that does not listen to the cries of the people.
The protest before the 8th of May elections were an indication that the people of South Africa wanted an economy that will grow, an economy that will create jobs and thus putting a job in each and every home. In this regard where a young mayor in the Midvaal Municipality led by the DA, Bongani Baloyi. Bongani Baloyi has had five consecutive clean audits and has instructed his administration that, that should be turned around to be able to provide basic services and create jobs in the Midvaal area. I think there’s a lesson to learn there.
A dream without plans is just a wish. I’m not the one who said so, it’s Catharine Peterson. About 10 million South Africans are unemployed and 6.6 million of those are young people. And, the President stands here telling us that 2000 only will be employed in the next decade and the rest must wait on the sideline.
Now...
...umbuzo endinawo ngulo: Njengokuba bebaninzi nje abazakuswela umsebenzi kulo nyaka, uzakubavalela phi Mongameli? Bazakulinda phi ukuze bawufumane umsebenzi? Isilumkiso endinaso ke sinye sesi sithi, intswela ngqesho yabantu abatsha ifana nethumba elizakuthi lakugqabhuka likuxake Mongameli.
English:
Between the first quarter of 2018 and 2019, the South African economy lost 86 000 jobs while the DA let City of Johannesburg created 7 000 jobs in the same period. In Tshwane, the DA led administration has managed to attract 4,3 billion of investment which has translated to 43 950 new jobs since we took office.
These successes can happen when you run a clean administration and take care of corrective measures when wrong is identified. On its recently approved budget, the City of Johannesburg tripled its budget electrification of informal settlements from R260 million in 2016/17 to R750 million over the next three years. Unlike in Nelson Mandela Bay where counselors were threatened by death if they don’t support the budget. That’s what we found where ...
... oodyakalashe namasela behleli kunye bequlunqa ubusela.
English:
In the same vain, City Power has finished refurbishing Roosevelt, Sebenza, Wildrow Park, Nelsfield, Heriotdale, Mondior, Mulberton, Pennville and Waterval Substation. This is to ensure that load shedding becomes a thing of the past and that Johannesburg is open for business.
IsiXhosa:
Yiyo loo nto i-DA isithi, uphuhliso loqoqosho maluqhutywe kwizixeko needolophu zethu, kuba zizo ezisondeleyo eluntwini kwaye iingxaki zabantu zifika kuqala kuzo. Ayinakwenzeka ke loo nto ukuba amasela nabarhwaphilizi basaphila kamnandi, abanye babo baphakathi kwethu apha kule Palamente. Khawukhe uthi xhaa ngamaphupha Mongameli, ngakumbi amaphupha angenazo izicwangciso kuba uzakude uthiywe igama lokuba unguMongameli Ramaphupha [Kwahlekwa]. Alikho ixesha lokuphupha, abantu bafuna iinkonzo kwakunye noqoqosho oluzakuveza amathuba emisebenzi.
English:
The DA is concerned however, with the high levels of crime.
IsiXhosa:
Kangangokuba sicinga ukuba awukhange uthethe ngokwaneleyo ngobundlobongela Mongameli. E-Pitoli kubulawa abantu abangenamakhaya, isidumbu sesihlanu sifumaneke kwiveki ephelileyo. UMphathiswa u-Bheki Cele uyakuthanda ukusondeza ulwaphulo-mthetho kwezopolitiko.
English: You can’t politicize crime, deal with crime wherever it raises ugly head because if you want to increase investment, you must be a crime free society. And we don’t have ten years to wait for crime to be halved. Crime must be fought here and now. In Tshwane 73 new emergency vehicles including fire fighters and ambulances and nine service delivery trucks were bought and distributed with the different regions. Similarly, the City of Johannesburg has added 30 new ambulances to its emergency fleet. This will assist across regions to quick and efficient emergency services.
IsiXhosa:
Sisikhalo sakho esi obusivezile kwintetho yobume besizwe Mongameli. Koomasipala abakhokelwa yi-DA siyayenza le nto usayiphuphayo Mongameli.
The Speaker: Hon member you time has expired.
Mr M BARA: It is only with the DA led government that services…
IsiXhosa:
Enkosi, kodwa undiqhathile[Kwaqhwatywa].
Mr S J BESANI: Deputy Speaker, Chairperson of the NCOP, Mr President, Mr Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, in his book entitled, The Native Life in South Africa, Sol Plaatje relates a brief story of a certain A P van der Merwe from my hometown of Vredefort, who was a Member of Parliament in 1913. This man, A P van der Merwe, supported the rushing in of laws which dispossessed many black people of their land, simply because the people of Mokwallo, Vredefort were fighting and resisting these unjust laws. It is therefore an historical
coincidence that I am part of a generation of parliamentarians who are going to preside over the undoing of that horrible legacy.
The people of Mokwallo, Vredefort and many other small towns and villages have actually voted in favour of reclaiming what Mzwakhe Mbuli calls “the land bought, the land never sold, the land sold, the land never bought.”
It was Dr Xuma, in 1941, who also articulated the pursuance of the struggle against land dispossession. He asserted:
From land we derive our existence. We derive our wealth in minerals, food and other essentials. [...] Without land, we cannot exist.
In his speech, he explained in detail the debilitating effects brought about by the Native Land Act of 1913. Accordingly, he responded to the challenges of that period and what the future would hold if the draconian laws were not challenged.
Dr Xuma called for the rights of Africans to acquire freehold title to the land everywhere in South Africa. His clarion call – that the Land Bank needed to ensure that African farmers are supported in their quest to make the land productive – remains relevant today.
Mr President, your statement that R3,9 billion would be availed to the black commercial farmers through the Land Bank demonstrates consistency in our struggle endeavour to make the land productive. We are indeed on the cusp of achieving the dream espoused by our forebears for decades and centuries. Xuma and Plaatje, in their articulation, dissected what was the challenge we were facing then and continue to face today in respect of land dispossession.
Your statement reminds us once again that we need to do as this generation and in this Parliament to finally conclude the amendment of section 21 of the Constitution, in order to make explicit what is implicit – the power of the state to expropriate land in the public interest to redress the imbalances of the past.
It is us as legislators who must execute this task.
As the ANC in this Parliament, we request that you revive the Ad Hoc Committee on the Amendment of the Constitution. The grinding work of aligning legislation, policy and programmes should unleash a skills revolution and turn the tide of ... [Inaudible.] ... redistribution and restitution in favour of the previously dispossessed.
It is our firm view that land reform remains an important process that we as a country must undertake. It is our collective task as a society.
Mr President, we believe you take this matter of land seriously. Your own efforts in appointing a presidential advisory panel on land reform and agriculture to look into the impediments that exist and have thus far given you a report, already affirms your resolve.
We must never give a hearing to the big lies that, as the ANC, we have reneged on our resolutions. We know for a fact that the
most dangerous disease is that of self-induced untruths to create an artificial debate. We must never give a hearing to those kinds of debate. [Applause.]
Indeed, Mr President, to achieve our objective of land, we need strong institutions of state. We need capable public servants who are responsive to the cries of our people. We need to strengthen the land administration. We need a functional land claims court to quicken the resolution of land and land question. Alignment between departments is critical in order to support those who have become beneficiaries of land reform.
W€ agree with you, Mr President, that land has a broader function beyond agriculture. It is for this reason that we support the release of public land for human settlement and industrial development. We call upon municipalities, provincial governments and state entities to make land available as per your injunction.
The alignment of policies and programmes will ensure that categorisation of support in land and agrarian reform has the
agility to benefit the small farmer and transfer the required skills.
We will tap into the experience acquired from the era of the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programmes, Casp, Communal Property Associations, and the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, CRDP, to the era of the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy, PLAS. As we extract the tough lessons from this era of implementation, there will be an improved clarity as to who is targeted by this radical policy injunction.
We must continue to embrace farming models that have an impact on local economies and improve livelihoods, especially with regard to rural development. The agripark networks are progressive programmes because they enable market-driven combination and integration of various agricultural activities as rural transformation services.
Government has undertaken a comprehensive approach to land reform because it is also anchored on improving the productive capacity of our producers for both local consumption and export
markets. Our imports of agricultural products have increased by 7% during 2018. Hence, we need to respond in a manner that improves our food security and expands the markets.
Accordingly, Mr President, you spoke about substantially expanding the agricultural and agro-processing sectors by supporting key value chains and products, and reducing our reliance on agricultural imports. In this context, private investment also remains part of the equation in land reform.
Access to markets is the biggest challenge faced by black emerging small-scale farmers who are trying to graduate to becoming full commercial farmers. In this context, again, the importance of the state to engage in this programme of expanding support to key value chains and products within the agricultural sector cannot be over-emphasised. In addition, efforts to resolve electricity issues will directly have a positive impact on farmers.
We will be meticulous in passing legislation that will limit the subdivision of agricultural land so that food security is not threatened.
Mr President, you asserted that, in the immediate period, land will be identified and released for smart settlement and farming. In addition to this commitment, the force multiplier for food security is that of releasing spacious land in urban areas so that some portions can be made available for small- scale farming. We need to demystify the notion that our people have a scant relationship with land and therefore know nothing about its value and worth. The 2017 Land Audit Report confirms the patriarchal distribution of individual land ownership.
As we execute these radical reforms, marginalisation of women will be stopped in its tracks. The social reality is that African women are generally tillers of the land. Therefore, their participation is more than just a mere force multiplier in support of food security.
In addition, reviewing the current racial profile of individual land ownership is also a significant part of this radical land reform.
The recently held summit on women and youth in land reform during 2018, expanded on the challenges faced by rural women in advancing rural and agrarian reform. Some of these challenges are: lack of security to land, lack of education and skills for most rural women farmers. Accordingly, these women and youth also made certain recommendations to remedy these historical injustices.
I have heard Mr Groenewald inviting people to a funeral of a farmer. In African culture, we don’t invite people to a funeral. But, I appeal to your conscience to attend at least a funeral of an exploited farm worker. At least that experience will make your experience a little bit much more better. [Aplause.]
The skills revolution in the land reform and agriculture will respond to the effects of climate change and attract a second generation of farmers.
The introduction of technology under the auspices of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will facilitate and energise the participation of the youth in this agrarian reform.
The call to reduce the cost of data is very progressive and in line with economic development. This will create more opportunities for youth in a technologically intensive world.
Currently, in the agricultural sector, some of our farmers have adopted these technological innovations to boost their agricultural output.
Mr President, fellow South Africans, in the 1950s, a dark cloud hung over the South African people. The Communist Party of SA was banned. More than 8 000 people were arrested during the defiance campaign. Many leaders of the congress movement were served with banning orders and placed under house arrest. In fact, on the day the Freedom Charter was conceived, the Special Branch and the police were harassing participants and delegates at Kliptown. However, in the context of these intimidations, harassment and imprisonments, the South African dream was
conceived – the Freedom Charter – this vision that would usher in a united, nonracial, democratic South Africa and deliver the land.
Mr President, by challenging us to dream in the midst of economic crises, in the midst of climate change that destroyed land and thus threatened our livelihood, you have tapped into the tried and tested wisdom of the true South African leaders. Therefore, no amount of ridicule will distract us because we are shaping the future and growing South Africa.
We are inspired by the unrelenting spirit of Vuyisile Minyi, who struck the debilitating blow at the Verwoerdian ideologies in the dark cell of death. We are inspired by the June 16 generation whose love for their country was demonstrated by the bravery of many young people, including and epitomised by the sacrifice of Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr A CLOETE: Chairperson, today we heard much about the President’s dream. Much was said about whether the President’s dream will realise or not. But we should remind ourselves that
we were elected not only to represent the dreams of our constituents, but also to tend to the nightmares our people face every day.
Chairperson, through you ... Mr President, you rightly said that a grandmother should not have to wait a whole day for medicine. But, Mr President, equally, it would be very difficult for two healthcare professionals who were raped in the Pelonomi Hospital while on duty last month, to share your dream.
Indeed, Mr President, it is unacceptable for a pregnant mother to have her own and the life of her unborn child endangered owing to slow ambulances.
But, Mr President, equally, it’s not acceptable for the residents of Mangaung for the umpteenth time in a year to have no water for four days, as was the case this past weekend. As we speak, the City of Johannesburg has a similar problem.
Mr President, you committed this government to improving service delivery, but how is it possible that the Metro Police Chief had
been appointed in Mangaung more than a year ago, and there is no visible sign of any Metro Police Department as of today. How is it possible that many Free State municipalities that have been placed under section 139 administration of ANC provincial governments remain poorly managed? Again, Mr President, it will be hard for the residents of Brandfort in the Free State to share in your dream for South Africa, when having water is an exception and not a rule.
As long as government persists in appointing unable and unwilling officials to key positions, the nightmare that is the lack of service delivery will remain in South Africa.
Afrikaans:
Intussen verwag die Departement van Openbare Werke dat die privaatsektor nou moet betrokke raak in die bou en instandhouding van infrastruktuur, net om 20 jaar later dieselfde infrastruktuur wat hulle gebou het en bestuur het, aan die staat oor te dra.
Effektiewelik het die departement nou erken dat hy ’n swak staat moet bestuur waarin die regering nie meer infrastruktuur kan voorsien nie.
English:
Nothing good can come of this. As soon as governments are unable to deliver such basic needs as infrastructure, the nightmare of a failed state will begin.
We will also heard about government’s plan for spatial integration. This dream is also becoming a nightmare, again for Mangaung residents, where more than R140 million has been spent, only on planning of the N8 Corridor that should bring communities together. But neither the Auditor-General nor residents can, up until today, see any planning that was done.
Mr President, we have to wake up from this nightmare before we can start dreaming. We can dream of our children being able to read at the age of 10 but, Mr President, will they be able to read in their own language? Will they and their parents have the freedom to choose whether they will have education in their
mother tongue should they wish to, or will government and MECs persist in forcing their anglophile policies on our nation?
Mr President, those modern cities you wish to build should have universities – but universities where Sotho-speaking people can learn in Sotho, Zulu-speaking students are taught in Zulu, and Afrikaans students are able to learn in Afrikaans. This is a dream worth having and endeavouring.
Afrikaans:
Agb President, vroeër hierdie maand het u gesê u wil graag op hoogte bly van plaasaanvalle. Mnr die President, vir Johan van Niekerk van Nigel wat met ’n piksteel aangeval is en Francois Labuschagne van Lichtenburg wat met stokke geslaan is, gaan dit moeilik wees om die droom te deel. Vir die familie van Moolman Meyer van Ermelo wat met ’n panga doodgekap is en Johan Pretorius van Nigel wat doodgebrand is tydens plaasmoorde net in die afgelope maand, sal dit moeilik wees om uit die nagmerrie van plaasaanvalle wakker te word.
English:
Mr President, more than 180 farm attacks already this year cannot be part of your dream.
Afrikaans:
Die VF Plus sê ook dankie aan ons boere en hul werkers wat aanhou boer ten spyte van onsekere beleid, onveilige landelike toestande, duurder insetkoste en swak paaie.
Soos ons leier die agb Groenewald gesê het, die Vryheidsfront wil saam bou aan ’n droom, maar, President, maak eers seker Suid-Afrika se nagmerries word stil; dan bou ons saam. Ek dank u.
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces and the commander in chief of the economic emancipation movement, part of the reasons why the progressive forces in 1917 pursued the Great Socialist October Revolution was because of the decisive and truthful honest leadership of Vladimir Ulyanov Lenin. He said, after the first round of the revolution in 1905, in a perspective called No Falsehood! Our strength lies in stating the truth!, “We must speak the truth:
therein lies our strength, and the masses, the people, the multitude will decide in actual practice, after the struggle, whether we have strength.”
This was affirmed by another Marxist Leninist, Amilca Cabral, the great agricultural engineer from Guinean-Bissau who said: “Hide nothing from the truth and nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories.”
That is the context within which we want to expose some of the issues that were being dealt with here. The theme of the state of the nation address by the President was on dreams. The synonyms of dreams are, in the first category, illusions and hallucinations and in the second category are imaginations and aspirations. We will determine in which category these dreams of the President fall in – is it in the first category or the second category?
I am a bit worried because when he announced the task team which is going to be dealing with the private-public growth initiative
he mentioned a Van Zyl Slabbert. You must go and check on YouTube. He said that we are going to have a Van Zyl Slabbert as part of that committee. Now, Van Zyl Slabbert is dead. He died in 2010. He was part of the elite pact that got us where we are now of economic servitude.
It looks like you draw inspiration even from white ancestors. I thought you are inspired only by those still alive. You even mentioned them there. Wittingly or unwittingly, it is part of that which defines your character in terms if these issues. What are the truths that we have to deal with?
Firstly, the National Development Plan, NDP, is off the rail. If it was the illusionary train that you speak about, it is not a bullet train but actually a coal train going on an opposite direction. The projection that all NDP aspirations are based on is that the economy must grow by an average of 5%-6% annually up until 2020 and later on to 2030. None of that is happening. The economy is growing in a negative.
You had said that you are going to create jobs. Actually, in terms of the objectives in the current print of the NDP is that unemployment next year 2020 must be 14%. Next year there won’t be unemployment of 14% but it will be worse. It will be the 10 million people who will be looking for jobs, are capable of working and cannot find those jobs. Those will be the realities of next year.
This NDP that you want to impose on us is off the rail. It is a coal train that is going on a different direction and you still want to impose that as an agenda that must guide the whole of South Africa towards 2030. It is one of the things that we have to expose and it is one of the things that we are dealing with.
Secondly, South Africa’s debt to gross domestic product, GDP, ratio is approaching 60%. So, the state collectively owes more than R3 trillion. One of the biggest expenditure items in the budget currently is debt services. More than R200 billion out of the little limited resources that we have has to service the debt and it is just paying the interests.
We have an existing budget deficit, meaning that there are expenditure items that have been allocated for but the money is not there which means that we must go back to the market and borrow the money. Maybe that is the reason why you cannot say boldly here that you are going to build the bullet train because there is no money to do so. You cannot say here that you are going to build a city because there is no money to do so.
Now, Minister of Finance, if we are to make a thorough analysis of revenue growth from 1994 up until now, there is no foreseeable future that, even in the next 20 years if the revenue grows in the same pattern it has in the past 25 years, we will be able to deal with these dreams. Let’s call them hallucinations that were given by the President. It will never happen. There is no plan in terms of how we are going to deal with the revenue growth.
The revenue sources are shrinking because the economy is not growing and jobs are being lost. It means that the number of people who contribute to the revenue is going to decline. Now, what must be done, what is to be done, what must happen in terms
of moving forward? I think you need to write faster now because we are going to give you the clearest perspective.
First is that you must stabilise energy supply, and that is not going to happen through the unbundling of Eskom in the manner that has been conceptualised by Investec. The unbundling of chief restructuring officers is an Investec document – part of the contributors to the R400 million that was utilised for the Nasrec conference. It comes from there. Go to the annual report of Investec you will see chief restructuring officer unbundling shed 20 000 jobs in Eskom. That is what we are supposed to be dealing with. You cannot unbundle Eskom in the current crisis that it is experiencing.
If there is any unbundling that should happen in Eskom, it should be to a state-owned renewable company; a state renewable energy component of Eskom that is going to harvest the wind and the sun to create sustainable and renewable energy.
The second thing should be to focus separately on the construction of a nuclear power station in a fiscally neutral
way, Minister of Finance. You can have a built operate transformer model that can be able to stabilise the energy supply from Eskom without affecting fiscus in a manner in which is being proposed.
You also need industrialise South Africa, not in the form of special economic zones that are being attempted currently.
Collectively, we have special economic zones in Coega, Atlantis, East London, one has been declared now in Mpumalanga in Komatipoort and in Musina, I know there is an intention to declare another one in Tshwane, and there is one in OR Tambo.
All of those special economic zones have not, for the past 25 years, created more than 10 000 jobs. Their contribution to the GDP is less than 1%.
So, if you continue in that model of economic zones you must know that you can’t achieve anything. What is to be done? You have to pursue what Alice Amsden calls “late industrialisation”. The components of those include using borrowed technology. You can’t invent now; invention happened with the first wave of industrialisation. We can’t innovate now; it happened in the
second wave of industrialisation. Now we must borrow technology, we must use state subsidies and protection of these industries. We must use the buying power of the state to drive local industrial expansion.
The state in its entirety, all its entities and government, expands more than a trillion rands every year on procurement. Who is the ultimate beneficiary of that in buying the cars and electronics because all of them are made outside South Africa? It is the multi-national corporations which in turn are subsidised here in South Africa.
We spend billions of rands giving to Mercedes-Benz, to Toyota, to BMW and all of the others without developing our own capacity to manufacture our own cars. We need to industrialise domestically and utilise the buying power of the state in order to make sure that we have sustainable jobs in all the areas.
We must pursue what we call in the EFF’s elections manifesto “inward industrialisation with export capacity”. That is one thing that you have to look into.
You made a commitment before that you want to create a sovereign wealth fund and you have not done so. A sovereign wealth fund has to be created so that when some of the foreign direct investment, FDI, which you are chasing come, you match rand per rand in terms of investments. That must happen here in South Africa.
In the current framework this FDI is not going to help you with the developmental challenges that we are confronted with in South Africa. Go and read economic development history.
Heterodox economics are writing that the person who is going to sweep on behalf of the ANC today will not understand what heterodox economics is.
You will understand the context that in the history of economic development there has never been an economy that is developed through FDI. That can’t be your priority number one. There has to be development of productive forces here in South Africa, and anyone who comes, comes as a reaction to the economic development that is happening domestically. That is what they have to look into.
You must also reconceptualise your understanding of a developmental state because you always throw developmental state and what we have in South Africa is not a developmental state. A developmental state is autonomous from capitalist influences.
When the commander in chief says that this imaginary influence that you have on capital is not there he is pointing to the fact that you are not running a developmental state.
A developmental state must be autonomous from capitalist influences. It must be able to direct where investment happens – the content, the form, the pace of investments that happen. But you are not doing so, instead, the capitalists are the ones who are telling you what to do. That is why the minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act was withdrawn, in order to allow Total to continue with the exploration in Mossel Bay.
You are not in control that is why Naspers is going to delist from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The government Employees Pension Fund exposure to Naspers is worth more that R250 billion but they are going to delist from the JSE and they are going to retrench more than 2000 workers. There is government exposure,
you are not in charge and there is no developmental state that is happening under your watch so we must not deal with that in a different form.
Now, the founding manifesto of the EFF has a pillar that speaks to the decentralisation of development and building of new cities. We do not imagine it and we say that this has to be a concurrent effort in different areas. Massive investments in terms of allocation of resources, development of infant industries and protect them, domestically owned industries and have all these cities developing in a manner that is going to deliberately depopulate Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban because in their current spatial framework they cannot accommodate the number of people they have. The infrastructure is going to be clogged in terms of sanitation and a variety of other things. A number of 14 million people in Gauteng in the space that is it has is not sustainable.
How do you achieve a different perspective? We develop the areas where the people who stay in Gauteng are coming from. That can
only happen through a deliberate decentralised development and building of other cities.
In the Sixth Parliament, the EFF as the only socialist Marxist Leninist organisation in South Africa is going to table the following legislations: The South African Reserve Bank Amendment Bill to make sure that we discontinue private ownership of the South African Reserve Bank – joining 90% of central banks in the world. We are going to enact a Bill on the creation of a sovereign wealth fund, model it around the Norwegian sovereign fund which in the current financial year has contributed an equivalent of 500 billion to the fiscus of Norway.
We are going to re-table a proper minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act to put clear conditions in terms of what should be the exposure of the state in terms of ownership of the new petroleum and mineral projects. We are going to table a clear Anti-Tax Avoidance Bill that is going to deal with the question of base erosion and illicit financial flows because commitments have been made here that that is going to be dealt
with and no one seems to be having the courage to come with a clear legislation to deal with base erosion.
We are then going to finalise the process of having a state owned bank. We are going to table a legislation on the in sourcing of all government workers because we need to detenderise the state and give it the capacity to take us forward.
We are the only organisation that can provide leadership in this country. What is happening here are new objectives after new objections - it is directionlessness. The ANC is defined by directionlessness; there is no clarity of what you seek to archive. That is why you come and blow hot air here and then the person who blows the hot air is a clown from the NCOP and then you give him a standing ovation.
That is what you achieve and you are even miseducating these children – the youth. The youth comes here and says that today we are marking the anniversary of the Freedom Charter. The Freedom Charter was adopted on 26 June1955, hon Nompendulo.
Amongst other things it says that the mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industries shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole. That is the agenda that we must commonly pursue as the Sixth Parliament. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: Mr President, House Chairperson, hon members and fellow South Africans ... [Interjections.]
Dr M Q NDLOZI: House Chairperson, we are going to start collecting tuition fee for this free education we are giving you, R1500,00 is an entrance cost now, please. We can’t keep educating you everyday. You will pay entrance fee.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you hon member, can you please sit down. Thank you. You may continue, Minister.
The MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: In the state of the nations address last week, President Ramaphosa set out the goal to revitalise the economy with priority sectors and reimagined
industrial strategy. Our debate today takes place in the context of a tough domestic economic environment, an increasingly uncertain and a fragile global growth, which places responsibility on us to do more to change our performance and our outcomes.
Hon members, the official job survey which was released today, shows a modest quarterly rise of 22 000 jobs in the formal sector, yet the pace and scale of job creation must be stepped up significantly. The economic revitalisation of South Africa will take energy, dedication and months of hard work. It will need the efforts of all of us, Members of Parliament, government officials, managers, investors, workers and learners.
If we work together, and we share the outcomes fairly, we can grow the wealth of the nation; reduce inequalities and poverty, above all, provide more and better jobs for our people.
Industrial strategy is a centerpiece of our economic recovery. It will be evidence led, with greater prioritisation.
Implementation will be more disciplined, but also increasingly responsive and collaborative.
Crucially, industrial policy will no longer be the focus of one department only, but be the common focus across government. Mr President, it has been said that powerful dreams inspire powerful action. In my remarks today, I wish to share with the House and fellow South Africans some specific actions and plans to turn the vision of the state of the nations address into a reality.
Let me start with what we will do differently. First, we will learn from our successes and build on them. A leading example is the auto industry. It is now our major export industry in manufacturing, employing 110 000 South African workers. It is a large and industrially sophisticated sector, producing 3 million cars and bakkies over the past five years alone. It has attracted massive investments from around the world and a local component sector.
The success of the auto industry provides learnings about policy coherence, policy certainty, responsive governance and the value of a strong partnership between business, labour and government. Second, we will focus on implementation. The reorganisation of
government is to ensure that we have a capable state able and willing to do what it says it will do, to focus on practical actions, to break policy paralysis and coordinate across the state to ensure a good fit between incentives and outcomes such as jobs and youth opportunities.
Third, we will speed up decision-making and inject a sense of urgency in the work of government.
IsiXhosa:
Khawuleza rhulumente, khawuleza.
IsiZulu:
Phuthuma.
Afrikaans:
Ons moet wikkel.
Sesotho:
Phakisa.
English:
Finally, we will partner closely with key economic actors. The role of industrial policy is to unleash private investment and energise the state to boost economic inclusion. This is an essential part of building investor confidence and the platform for job creation. The President spoke on Thursday night of industry master plans. What is different is that they will be in the form of sector social pacts, rather than simply government decrees.
Hon members, the executive hit the road running in the past 4 weeks to implement the electoral mandate and the National Development Plan, NDP. On Friday, the day after state of the nations address, 93 agreements were signed between South African suppliers and Chinese companies, to buy local products for export to China, with a contract value calculated at
R27 billion, which will strengthen growth and jobs here in South Africa. [Applause.]
To promote opportunities for African economic integration, two weeks ago Deputy Minister Majola participated in the conclusion
of trade agreements between SACU, and the East African community. These agreements lay the basis for increased intra- African trade and cement the continent’s position as the next growth frontier. At the Africa Big 7 export promotion exhibition, Deputy Minister Gina highlighted the strengths of South African food exporters.
Two weeks ago, Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams and I agreed in Japan with our G20 counterparts on ways to unlock opportunities in the digital economy. We also developed approaches to maintain exports in the face of growing global trade tensions. To ensure South African jobs and trade are protected whatever happens with Brexit, I am engaging with my UK counterpart about accelerating work on a bilateral trade agreement, working closely with SACU partners, and we will prioritise this.
Illegal import of goods through our ports, remain a significant challenge damaging tens of thousands of South African jobs. In the past week, as a start, we engaged with both the new Commissioner of SA Revenue Services, SARS, and the Ministry of Commerce of China to seek urgent and joint action to address
this. What these examples do? They underscore our commitment to practical and decisive actions to address blockages to growth.
On Thursday, President Ramaphosa laid out a vision of an energised economy. To implement it, we are setting clear timeframes and meeting with investors and labour to consider concrete actions to grow industrial output and jobs, building on the Public Private Growth Initiatives, PPGI. Hon Shivambu, it is not Van Zyl Slabbert, but Toyota’s Dr Jan van Zyl.
To capitalise on the R71 billion surge in Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, last year into South Africa, we are engaging domestic and foreign investors to strengthen the enabling environment for investment in the productive sectors; and with the finance industry to unlock the R100 billion industrial finance commitment made at last year’s Jobs Summit. I should make the point that China use FDI very strategically to build the industrial capability and technology while boosting domestic savings.
Hon members, let me share a few examples of significant new investments: Next month, in July, two new investments will be launched, a R135 million high-voltage cable manufacturing plant expansion in Port Elizabeth and the opening of a new R50 million composites factory in Germiston. In August, the Toyota Hi-Ace Ses’fikile minibus taxi plant expansion in Durban will be launched, with a near half a billion rand worth of investment.
In September we will see Proctor and Gamble launch its
R300 million investment, producing Pampers nappies and women’s hygiene products. By October, Best Value Foods, a black-owned fresh fruit and veg operation, will open a R31 million operation in Midrand. In November, we will host the SA Investment Conference and in the same month showcase SA products at the Shanghai Import and Export Expo.
Mr President, in the steel industry, within the next 100 days we will launch a support programme for new plant and equipment in metal fabrication. We will meet investors and stakeholders on the long-term development of foundries and steel mini-mills, including measures to enable the local beneficiation of scrap
metal. To promote local fashion and the South African clothing and footwear industry, within 50 days we will release a draft master plan for the industry, and within 100 days we will have held substantial consultation to build consensus on a sector social pact.
In the chemicals value-chain, we are mobilising South African companies to supply R8 billion worth of goods and services as part of the Golfinho-Atum gas project in Mozambique, partly underwritten by our Export Credit Insurance Corporation, ECIC. In plastics, we will partner with domestic manufacturers to identify opportunities for import replacement. The new Auto Masterplan aims by 2035 to increase local content from 39% to 60%, double its annual car-production, expand employment to
220 000 people and create a R2,5 billion fund to support black industrialists in the sector.
Agriculture and agro-processing provide enormous opportunities for growth. We are now the world’s second largest citrus exporter and beef exports are rising. Within the next 50 days, we will convene agro value-chains with Minister Didiza, to
identify impediments to greater output and to enable black farmers and small-scale farming to expand. We are engaging the sugar industry to address its challenges, and we will encourage the trade authorities to finalise their investigation into unfair poultry trade practices within the next 60 days.
We will defend our poultry industry, which is a significant job creator. The digital economy is vital to a rejuvenated economy. To ensure that data prices fall, working with the Minister of Communications, we will consider and implement the recommendations by the Competition Market Inquiry into data services. We anticipate that there will be negotiation with the large cellphone companies in the next five months, to bring data prices down.
Similar interventions will take place to support the mining industry, the creative sectors and tourism. We will roll out the new changes to the Competition Act to build an inclusive economy in which young people can participate. The first set of changes, expected in the next 100 days will enhance the authorities’ powers to address harmful monopolies, excessive and predatory
pricing and to increase penalties for contravention of the Act. It will also enable though, more collaboration between firms, where this can lead to economic output and jobs.
For too long, retail malls have shut out young new entrepreneurs and small businesses. We will consider the recommendations from the Competition Market Inquiry to provide space for small retailers and to facilitate buyer groups for spaza shops to source more affordability. Government has to date supported some
400 black industrialists through the Industrial Development Corporation, IDC, and the DTI programmes.
Over the next five years, we will support an additional 400 black industrialists’ projects with financial support of some R40 billion. To deepen localisation, we will finalise commitments with state-owned companies to buy from South African producers. Part of what we will do also is to co-operate with retailers to stock and actively promote more goods made by South African workers. Hon members, we need to respond pro-actively to the threat of a global trade war and the slowdown in growth in most of our major trading partners.
Building the African Continental Free Trade Area and making our trade-promotion efforts more effective and strategic are therefore quite critical. We will work with other nations to sustain the rules-based trade order while maintaining the policy space required for industrialisation. A pillar of our industrial policy is the development of new investment clusters through special economic zones, SEZ, revitalisation of industrial parks, business and digital hubs.
In the next three months, we will set up the legal entity for the Bojanala Platinum Valley SEZ in North-West, which has an investment pipeline in place. Within 12 months, we will do the same for the Northern Cape SEZ in Upington and the Automotive SEZ in Tshwane. Ford South Africa has exciting plans to re- energise the Silverton area of Gauteng through the SEZ. In the next 3 months, we will commence support for infrastructure upgrades at 15 local industrial parks, including in Fort Jackson, Butterworth, Mossel Bay, Orlando West, Eldorado, Upington and Thohoyandou.
Our focus now is on immediate actions. However, to build a long- term platform for inclusive growth over the next five years, we will consider measures to promote worker participation in company boards and in ownership schemes, the use of a sovereign wealth fund to underpin investment in strategic and priority sectors and the rollout of the Infrastructure Fund, to enable energy, water, transport and digital platforms to promote inclusive growth, economic inclusion more generally and social cohesion.
Partnership is critical, and therefore we make a strong call on large co-operations, to avoid the resorts because there is a resort sometimes to retrenchments, as we have seen in a number of sector, and most recently, with Multichoice. Therefore, we need that while we have the space to rebuild the economy. Hon members, I can think of no better words to conclude a statement made in June 1965, by that great African patriot, Kwame Nkrumah, who said:
The task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious
challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve - to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life?
I thank you.
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE POSSITION: House Chair, in his first state of the nation address since going to the country, for his own electoral mandate, President Ramaphosa shared with us and the nation, his dreams. Let me be clear, there was nothing wrong with dreams, provided they have a plan, for dreams without plans remain fantasies. The President is also not the only one, who dreams. So while you, Mr President were dreaming of the fantastical cities of Ramakhandla, [Laughter.]! with its bullet train whizzing by, and his Brezhnev era state-owned entities running the show.
The young school leaver in Limpopo dreams of finding a job. The factory worker in Alberton dreams of the last time he had a decent job, the sick person lying in a hospital in Kimberley dreams of proper care and just getting better, the resident in Helenvale who dreams of a safe street free of bullets, gangsters and drug peddlers. The mother in Mpumalanga dreams of just one night when she can send her children to bed with a full tummy.
For it is only in these dreams, Mr President, that our citizens find temporary refuge from the woken horror and nightmare of unemployment, crime, poverty and struggle that is the daily life that is the daily life in existence for far too many of our citizens in this country. [Applause.]
For successive elections, these citizens have placed their dreams at the feet of successive ANC administrations- like the lines of Irish playwright, William Butler Yeats, they have said:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
and yet successive ANC administrations have done exactly the opposite, they have stamped out opportunity, they have crushed the dreams and they have robbed the very lifeblood of survival. After the wasted decade of the Zuma years, and now with your own electoral mandate under your belt, what was needed more than any thing was a good dose of brass tacks, hard reality and bold reforms. [Applause.]
It’s what the nation was desperate to hear and it’s what we were desperate to hear last Thursday and what we were desperate to hear today. Now is the time for action, the clarion call to service, the rallying cry against corruption, the decisive demolishing of the roadblocks to growth and prosperity. Instead, we got dreams and virtuous ends with ten year sell by dates- basically you say to us Mr President for the next ten years: “don’t call me, I’ll call you.” Ten years? We don’t have ten years, we don’t exist in some utopian dream in which we can fluffily float for a decade, and we are in the nightmare of immediacy. We are in a race against the clock to get our country working and get our people back to work.
Dreams without plans are merely fantasies, and boy we did we hear a lot of those today! I will start with the foe communist that we have within our ranks. I see he’s been delegated now to the NCOP, as the colleagues in the NA couldn’t wait to get rid of him. They are horrified; he has popped up in the NCOP to terrorise us once a year at that state of the nation address once again. [Laughter.]
Frankly, disingenuously it says to us that the Zondo Commission was gifted to the Country by the ANC, rubbish, and absolute rubbish! It was the results of the Public Protector report which made it as a finding. [Applause.]. Nothing to do with you hon Carrim, nothing, but a like walking, talking version of Pravda, he carried on with the ranked dishonesty that has became the South African Communist Party. Is it amazing that he can stand here with his hands in his pockets, picking on the DA, picking on the EFF and tearing our manifestos into pieces. Where was your manifesto at this election? [Laughter.]! You never have the courage to put your ideas before the country and let them test it. You are a coward at heart under the petticoat of the ANC. [Applause.].
You talk about identity crisis, well goodness me, if the DA is got an identity crisis hon Carrim, you guys have got schizophrenia on Olympian proportions. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zum, Jacob Zuma, JZ, Magashule faction, the Zuma faction, radically economic transformation and the new dawn, every one of them. You guys can’t even get together in room and have coherent conversation and isn’t amazing, it criticizes the policies of the free market, the policies of the market, well the people in Venezuela, 3,4 million of them aren’t running away from our policies, hon Carrim they are running, they are running away from yours. [Applause.] [Interjection.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Steenhuisen...
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: The people in Cuba can find anything that floats to try and get them across the dangerous crossing to Cuba, because they are running away from the policies that he pronounces. Hon Lindiwe Zulu was here. She arrived here looking like Michael Jackson! [Laughter.]! I was expecting Thriller, but what we got today was Smooth Criminal! [Laughter.]! She spoke a lot about the nuts and bolts. There
were a lot of nuts and I see she has bolted before we had a chance to have a go at her!
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms S LUCAS): Hon
Steenhuisen, please speak through the Chair.
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Sorry can I have my two seconds back, if don’t mind, thank you. [Laughter.]. If got a lot to get through I don’t want to loose my time, you know. Let me tell you this, we have shown where we govern that you can schools that work, that you can have a strong stable growing economy that gives everyone a stake. That you have a clean and accountable government, but all of these require courage and it requires resolve, and that’s what, worries us Mr President. It’s what keeps people awake from their dreams. The question on everybody’s leaps is, Sir: Do you have the courage and do have the resolve? You going to need it buckets loads and you going to have to demonstrate it far more than what you have to date, because up against it.
The longer you fail to take the hard decisions, the harder it will become to do so. The more you delay the deep reforms, the further the economy will drift away. The longer you pander to the corrupt and rotten in your party, the more the doubts are going to pile up. Mr President heed this warning, your secretary general Ace Magashule, is like a vulture that has flown in fresh from picking dry carcass of the Free State. He is moving against you Mr President; he has deployed his minions in all their numbers, into key positions into this Parliament to provide a roadblock against your reforms and to weaken you up for the kill. Just like a vulture, he is perched at Luthuli House, waiting, just waiting for that first carrion whiff of weakness that will signal the kill.
Mr President, you don’t have to believe me when I tell what the danger this man is to your agenda and what a danger he is to your organization. The next speaker, hon Mbalula had this to say; in the run up to your conference he said and I quote “Ace Magashule is definite no, no; he will finish what is remaining of our organization”. [Applause.]
The longer you remain agnostic to the Magashule manoeuvring, and the more you tiptoe around Ace, calling him “My Boss” and telling us that “without him you are nothing” the harder you stamp on the dreams of our citizens. Thank you. [Applause.].
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Hon Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, His Excellency the President, hon Deputy President, Members of Parliament, colleagues and guests, this morning at 5am I got into the central line train from Khayelitsha to Kwa-Langa to do oversight, inspect and listen to the ideas our people have and together begin to address and fix their rightful demands of their government. These are our workers and general commuters who fertilize this economy and must be provided with quality services. I have set out a set of urgent interventions needed to return the central line service into an efficient, trusted and safe service. We are going to get the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, back on track, whether it is the Soshanguve corridor, uMlazi or Mamelodi. Under your leadership, Mr President, Prasa will be back on track. [Applause.]
Deputy Chairperson, we have spent a day listening carefully to the contributions of hon members on the state of our nation. The ANC government regards these debates as very important for our democratic project. The debate on the state of the nation address is aimed at strengthening our democracy, institutionalise it and remind us all that we are people with many views but one destiny, one nation and to get our nation working and our constitutional democracy sound. We must respect and welcome differing viewpoints.
We agree with Professor Wole Soyinka on constructive criticism, that the greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism. Mr President, with that said, I want to share with the House a tweet I received this past weekend. A twitter-user by the name of Kid Colt tweeted a photo of his traffic fine. The charge on the fine is exceeding the speed limit of 80 km per hour by travelling at 75 km per hour. This speeding fine is the kind of
44 out of 10 type analyses of our body politics and political economy we have been subjected to for the entire day by the opposition. This is not what Professor Wole Soyinka was hoping for. It is therefore very clear Mr President that your marching
orders to the Department of Basic Education about tablet computers has to be supported because... [Interjections.]
Dr M Q NDLOZI: Eh, eh, before you speak ...speak properly! Can you call Professor Soyinka properly? He is not Whole Soyinka. African scholars must be respected.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon member, what is your point of order?
Dr M Q NDLOZI: On a point of order: It is really not Professor Whole Soyinka. He must pronounce Professor Wole Soyinka properly, and not Professor Whole Soyinka. A whole day of Professor ... hayi! The whole Transport Minister transporting wrong information!
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: This is what Professor Wole Soyinka was hoping for. It is therefore very clear Mr President that your marching orders to the Department of Basic Education about tablet computers has to be supported because with a tablet you
can access a wide array of information, perhaps you could even understand that there is no New York in London.
President, philosophers often remind us of a quote attributed to Aristotle that criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing and be nothing. The Bantu people philosophically agree with Aristotle, and we say, “ikhonkotha ehambayo” [It barks to the one moving].
President, you have called on your government and South Africa at large to pull together and “khawuleza” [speed up] in steaming economic growth and prosperity ahead.
But how do we make sense of the 44 out of 10 analyses and the rest of hot air? Plutarch said, it is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against another man's oration, nay, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome. We share the podium with hon members and hon critics. Instead of people coming up here to light the candle on our discourse we hear a lot of cursing of
the darkness. We cannot attend to the pressing issues of our time without history, logic and injustice.
Mr President, as the Leader of the Official Opposition stood to deliver his usual sermon, turning this podium into a pulpit, I got chills. I got chills because it was like I was listening to the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher herself - Thatcherism, a crude ideological frame of mind that decimated the United Kingdom’s economy and social cohesion fabric. Ban, ban, ban and ban the unions, extend private education, reduce or cancel poverty wage protection, sell critical state-owned enterprises, SOEs, and strip collective bargaining constitutional protections yet they claim they believe in our Constitution. We know who buttresses this leader of the shadows in the shadows. Those are not reforms. His reforms are to cut public education. He proposes we stop the national health insurance, NHI, which seeks to give our people access to private hospitals. He says it is expensive.
Those are not reforms. What he did not have to say is a cut on social grants. He did not have guts to say that. Warning shots were heard. We know that is what this staunch conservatism ideology leads. We suffered from Thatcherism in this country –
Thatcherism labelled us as terrorists and the cruel apartheid policy.
Those are not reforms; those are deforms! He has a pocket full of seven deforms - deform health care, deform workers’ rights, deform public education and deform minimum wage. [Applause.] Mr President, that are not reforms, but deforms and are affirmations of capitalist and a cultural majority the DA truly represents.
Hon members, we owe being here in the seats we are allocated to the wisdom of the masses. The ANC has listened carefully at this debate and most of what we got is 44 out of 10 types of Thatcherist analyses together with a lot of people who truly see themselves as ANC members because all they are consumed with are interparty issues of the ANC. [Applause.] We invite them to rejoin the ANC seeing that is where the heart is and in any event they left the ANC while still nursing on the national democratic revolution. There is yearning for the ANC and the quality of its decisions that they got to be entered into Hansard today. We thank you for that, hon.
Let me hasten to remind the House about the blood that runs in the veins of the ANC. The ANC is not an Africanist movement, the ANC is not a socialist movement, it is not a capitalist movement and it is not a party for one sex over the other or one race dominating the other. We recognise the circumstances of colonialism and the uniqueness or specialty of it in the context of South Africa. We recognise that South Africa is a class-based society with a deep racial segregationist and oppressive past.
No party should impose its agenda on the ANC. [Applause.] We are a nonracial organisation that wants to create a united and democratic South Africa.
South Africans are well aware that the ANC has never claimed to be perfect. We have always owned up to our mistakes, we never hide them, we stumble and rise up, and right now we are busy rising up for the sake of our people and we are saying we still have dreams, dreams of a nation that is a beacon of hope and prosperity. Our imperfections are best testified through one of the most quotable quotes of our nation’s father, our first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela when he said;
Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got up again.
[Applause.]
Mr President, this is not a license to do wrong, but an acknowledgement of our human fallibilities. I am not perfect and the ANC is not perfect, but do we rise up and self-correct? The answer is a full yes. Mr President, your clarity and visionary address has offered us a clear canvass to paint and draw-out executable and realistic plans.
Deputy Chairperson, the ANC’s vision document, the Freedom Charter is a document of our dreams. We are committing never to rest until the core of the dreams are realised. It is very curious when we see this document being abused and misused in this House by groups that freelance on their ideological grounding. They sometimes wake up being Sankarists, the next day they are Sobukweist, the next they are Charterist and maybe Marxist too and they may just cut the cake of power with conservative liberals in the halls of Tshwane and Johannesburg. This buffet menu politics is ideological freelancing with
unequal opportunity assortment of the so-called commissars whom the ANC is clearly a boomerang on them.
President, the ANC government in 2012 approved the Prasa strategic plan which included a potential for high speed train. This transformational strategic plan found that indeed a Gauteng to eThekwini and Gauteng to Cape Town high speed rail could be feasible. In this sixth administration we shall commission a full feasibility study and financing models to achieve this collective dream. High speed rail is an economic stimulant, it is a new cities and towns’ creator, it is an enabler and multiplier, it is an important tool towards a cleaner air strategy and indeed in speeding up our intended transitioning from road to rail and from air to rail.
Mr President, hon member’s listening skills failed them while listening to your state of the nation address. You said, about public rail transport, we want a South Africa that has prioritised its rail network. No South African should have a problem with an introduction of rail network to Musina and Buffalo City as you said in your address. You committed to
making public transport and all rail a mode of choice for all commuters in this country. Ours is to make sure that Prasa is reliable and safe. We shall achieve this and Prasa will be back on track.
As the secretary-general of the ANC after our unbanning together with our stalwarts, you rallied the nation behind a vision of a free, united and prosperous South Africa – a vision of a society where all citizens are equal before the law and have equal access to opportunities for employment, education, arts and sports. It is a vision grounded on the ANC’s national democratic...[Interjections.]
Mr J S MALEMA: On a point of order: I want to understand that you can’t sleep as Sankarist and wake up as Marxist, but you can sleep as Zuma and wake up as Ramaphosa.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF NCOP: That is not a point of order. Continue, Minister!
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: You can wake up as the ANC and a revolutionary democrat and then wake up in another political party as nothing else that represent a dying breed of political dinosaur.
... a visions of a society where all citizens are equal before the law and have equal access to opportunities for employment. That is the South Africa the ANC is building as mandated by the electorate at each electoral cycle. We are deeply humbled by the gesture of the electorate who returned us as a governing party to continue with the work of advancing social and economic transformation so we can eradicate poverty,
President, those who do not know the pains of governing must be forgiven for flippantly equating it to shopping for cool drink. Just go figure!
Hon Maimane decries the President’s speech as a dream of no tangible action. Not so long ago he was trying to find a Dr Martin Luther King Junior’s dream inside himself. We were just lucky there was no mirror this time. The Freedom Front Plus, the
DA and the rest of course missed Mikhail Bakunin’s pertinent question in his 1870 pamphlet titled Fragments’ discussing property ownership pre-French Revolution, he asked:
In what way did property and capital ever fall into the hands of their present owners? This is a question which, when envisaged from the points of view of history, logic, and justice, cannot be answered in any other way but one which would serve as an indictment against the present owners.
Dr M Q NDLOZI: Chairperson, on a point of order to the hon Minister of Transport: Mikhail Bakunin is an Anarcho-syndicalism diametrically opposed to Marxism and Leninism. What are you transporting? Are you inspired by an anarchist? Do you want to get rid of the state?
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF NCOP: What is your point of order, sir?
Dr M Q NDLOZI: It is a point of order on ideological concoctions and misquoting of people – anarchism. Do you want to get rid of the state, Minister? Do you want the state or not?
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, sir. There is no point of order. Continue, Minister!
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: The political concoction is found right there in the red overalls. [Laughter.] There is no ideology there. We understand the Bakunin’s question well hence we have black economic empowerment, employment equity and indeed our Nasrec resolution on land.
Floyd, hon Floyd, the ANC has already decided on sovereign wealth fund. But the EFF uses the wrong example. Norway government owns all oil assets. It puts all profits into its sovereign wealth fund. We do not have the same situation, but we will take revenues from different sources into a sovereign wealth fund.
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: Deputy Chairperson, on a point of order: There are children who are watching this debate and they are going to be miseducated by what is being said about Norway. The Norway government does not own all the oil assets.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, hon Shivambu.
Mr N F SHIVAMBU: It’s a fact. I think Bindwana is misleading you big time
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, hon Shivambu you may sit down.
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Our existence as government is premised on human justice, human equality and human freedom. Our basic human rights are what we are all here for. Let us thrive for a South Africa that is free of a threat of hunger for all our people, all our youth, black or white, Meneer Mulder.
The President’s message is loud and clear. It is a marching order to all of us whether in government, legislature or civil
society that we must inspire hope through tangible action that resonates with the hopes and aspirations of our people - dream big or go home!
Tangible action comes in the form of the seven apex priorities premised on the understanding that the focus of this sixth administration is on accelerated implementation, working with all South Africans.
The manifesto of the ANC, which forms the bedrock of the mandate of the sixth administration, is emphatic on transforming the economy to serve all our people and advancing social transformation, amongst other priorities. It is the commitments of this manifesto that constitute the bedrock of the seven apex priorities announced by the President.
We have heard our people and we have no illusions about the mammoth task that lies ahead. Our people have embraced Thuma Mina as a mantra of national patriotism. However, they have told us to inject a sense of urgency in delivering services and expediting interventions to make a better life a lived reality.
We have committed to “khawuleza” [speed up] in the implementation of the seven apex priorities of the sixth administration. Human justice, human equality and human freedom
– our basic human rights are what we are all here for. Let us thrive for a South Africa that is free of a threat of hunger, and a threat to dreams. Down with deforms! I thank you. [Applause.]
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: On a point of procedure, usually there’s a sweeper at the end of a debate. We haven’t had a sweeper.
Debate concluded
The Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces adjourned the Joint Sitting at 20:13.
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