Hansard: NA: Unrevised hansard

House: National Assembly

Date of Meeting: 09 Mar 2011

Summary

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Minutes

UNREVISED HANSARD

WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2011

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

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The House met at 14:01.

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS – see col 000

NOTICES OF MOTION

Mrs S P KOPANE: Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the DA:

That the House debates the continued mismanagement of the SA Social Security Agency and the high levels of vacancies that exist throughout the agency.

Mr M S F DE FREITAS: Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the DA:

That the House debates high-speed rail and how it should be prioritised, taking into account current transport, urban and rural problems and sprawl in the country’s cities due to apartheid-era planning.

Mr P D MBHELE: Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of Cope:

That the House debates the settlement between the Department of Home Affairs and Gijima, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed information and communications technology company, to continue with its R2,27 billion contract notwithstanding its failure to deliver on the original contract.

Ms M N MAGAZI: Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC:

That the House debates the promotion of racial integration amongst students in our tertiary institutions.

Dr L L BOSMAN: Mr Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the DA:

That the House —

(1) discusses the implications of the recent floods in the lower Orange River system and in other provinces in which a total of 33 municipalities were declared disaster areas, with particular reference to the damage done to infrastructure, the loss of agricultural crops and income to farmers, and the resultant loss of thousand of jobs; and

(2) comes up with solutions to ensure that floods in the future have a reduced impact.

Mr N J J KOORNHOF: Mr Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of Cope:

That the House debates whether the subsidy to maintain all national parks in South Africa is sufficient to take care of the parks for future generations.

Mr G R MORGAN: Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the DA:

That the House debates the climate change negotiations, otherwise known as COP 16 held in Cancún, Mexico, in December 2010, and the determination of outstanding issues that should be dealt with at the upcoming round of negotiations in Durban.

Mr V V MAGAGULA: Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC:

That the House debates strengthening the social contract between the government, teacher unions, teacher-training institutions, parent and SCB organisations, business and civil-society organisations.

Mrs A T LOVEMORE: Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the DA:

That the House debates the issues that should inform the much-needed development of a comprehensive migration policy for South Africa.

FINAL VOTER REGISTRATION WEEKEND

(Draft Resolution)

The DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Speaker, I move without notice:

That the House —

welcomes the news that more than 600 000 eligible voters visited the opened registration stations on the first day of the final voter registration last weekend to register or re-register;

notes that approximately 40% of the people who visited the registration stations were people who registered for the fist time and that 80 per cent of them were young people under the age of 30;

further notes that this marks a 50% improvement in comparison to the last registration weekend held at the beginning of last month; and

congratulates South Africans, particularly the youth, for showing interest in shaping their own destiny.

Agreed to.

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND, STRUCK BY 6.3 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE

(Draft Resolution)

Mr M J ELLIS: Mr Speaker, I move without notice:

That the House —

notes that New Zealand was struck by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake on 22 February 2011;

further notes that more than 146 people have lost their lives in this disaster, causing widespread devastation to the city of Christchurch;

extends its condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in this tragedy;

sympathises with the New Zealand government and the general populace during this time of mourning and grief;

acknowledges the assistance the international community has provided to victims of the earthquake; and

encourages this community to continue with support in whatever way possible.

Agreed to.

KEVIN ANDERSON WINS ATP SOUTH AFRICAN OPEN TENNIS TITLE

(Draft Resolution)

Mr M J ELLIS: Mr Speaker, I move without notice:

That the House —

notes that South Africa’s top-ranked tennis player Kevin Anderson recently won the ATP South African Open by beating India’s Somdev Devvarman 4-6, 6-3, 6-2;

further notes that he has become the first South African in 20 years to win this event;

acknowledges that after winning this event, Anderson rose to 40th position on the ATP world rankings;

further acknowledges that he is part of the SA Davis Cup team which participated in the 2008 Olympic Games and which will represent South Africa in their Davis Cup Challenge against the Netherlands in July;

congratulates Kevin Anderson on his victory; and

wishes him well with his future career.

Agreed to.

EQUAL ACCESS TO EDUCATION, TRAINING AND SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: PATHWAY TO DECENT WORK FOR WOMEN

(Debate on International Women’s Day)

The MINISTER OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: Hon Speaker and hon members, it is encouraging that this august House has allocated this day for the debate on International Women’s Day. We are demonstrating once again that our country, under the leadership of the ANC, is firmly committed to advancing the struggle of the empowerment of women and gender equality. South Africa is proud of its active participation in the global observation of the centenary of International Women’s Day under the theme, “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women”.

Yesterday, women from all walks of life gathered at the Galeshewe Stadium in Kimberley to be part of the national event to observe this great day in the history of the struggle for gender equality. Various provinces, civil society organisations and developmental partners have also organised activities to observe this day. Earlier today, the NCOP also held a debate on International Women’s Day.

At the turn of the century, large numbers of women in Europe and America were taking up employment as workers in various factories. Industrialisation exposed women to various forms of discrimination and exploitation. In 1908, thousands of women marched in New York, demanding shorter working hours, better pay and voting rights. They also marched when more than 140 people of whom 129 were women were burned to death in a factory where they were working. In subsequent years, these women observed Women’s Day on the last Sunday of February to mobilise for the advancement of their rights in the United States. Their campaign was called “Bread and Roses”.

International Women’s Day was formally adopted in 1910 at the second international conference of working women held in Copenhagen. Proposed by Clara Zetkin of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the idea of an international women’s day, which should be used to press for the demands of women in every country, was unanimously adopted at this conference. Following this resolution, more than one million people participated in rallies to mark International Women’s Day in 1911 in countries such as Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The demands of these rallies included women’s right to vote and to be elected to public office, the right to work and to be trained, and an end to discrimination.

On the eve of World War I in 1913, women in Russia and other parts of Europe used International Women’s Day to campaign against the war and to express women’s solidarity across nations. They campaigned for “bread and peace”. The strike by Russian women in response to the high death toll of soldiers — their sons and husbands — during the war forced the Tsar to abdicate power in 1917. Russian women, led by Alexandra Kollontai, a socialist, achieved the right to vote. Russian women like Alexandra Kollontai and other women successfully fought for the women’s vote, and also for the right and benefits of women to maternity leave, including for single women. This was included in the socialist programme.

Since its birth within the socialist movement, International Women’s Day has grown stronger over the past 100 years, leading to this day being officially endorsed by the United Nations in 1977. This was after the United Nations had declared 1975 International Women’s Year, and 1976 to 1985 the UN Decade for Women. The African Union has taken a similar approach, by declaring 2010 to 2020 the African Women’s Decade, with 10 thematic areas that member states have to focus on. The theme for this year is: Women’s Health, Maternal Mortality and HIV and Aids. One of the priorities of this decade is science education and technology. The decade should strengthen the work done by the Pan-African Women’s Organisation, PAWO, which played a significant role in building African unity and solidarity among women during a crucial period in the struggle for freedom against colonialism and apartheid.

Our own pioneer, Charlotte Maxeke, was studying in the United States of America during this turbulent time. She was studying for a Bachelor of Science degree, which she obtained in 1901, and subsequently returned to her mother country, South Africa. She organised women and became the first president of the Bantu Women’s League, which was the precursor to the ANC Women’s League. In 1913, she led women’s protests in the Free State, resisting attempts by the colonial government to impose passes on women. These women burned passes in front of their municipal offices, a courageous act of defiance at a time when the white male-only government of the Union of South Africa was consolidating its authority under General Louis Botha. Charlotte Maxeke was also instrumental in organising South African women’s participation in International Women’s Day activities.

Today we stand proud of the South African women and the women across the globe who took up the fight for gender equality and freedom more than 100 years ago. Their struggle was not in vain. They remain an inspiration to all of us. They inspired various generations of women leaders, including Ida Mtwana, Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophia de Bruyn, Rahima Moosa, Frances Baard, Mmadinoge Kgoloko, Dorothy Nyembe, Albertina Sisulu, Adelaide Tambo, Ray Alexandra, Dulcie September and Winnie Mandela, among many others. Today we salute all these women for their sacrifice and dedication to the struggle for a nonracial, nonsexist and democratic society. Indeed, they are our heroines, and they opened the doors for many of us.

As reported at the 55th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which ended in New York last week, many women remain in feminised sectors of the economy. There is a need to intensify efforts to increase the number of women in economic sectors such as science, engineering and technology, as highlighted by the theme of International Women’s Day this year and also by the UN session on the Commission on the Status of Women. At this UN session, South Africa was commended for the work it has done in education, health and social development — particularly programmes for girls in education in which we have reached more than parity, including at a tertiary level — the Techno Girls programme, and the girls and boys education movement. South Africa was also commended for programmes on HIV and Aids and social security, particularly concerning single women and children.

The statement made by the UN Secretary-General on International Women’s Day highlighted that violence against women and children remains a major challenge across the world. In our country, we have put various pieces of legislation in place to protect women. Government has reintroduced family violence and child protection, as well as sexual offences units in all 176 policing areas countrywide. These units ensure effective access to justice for women and girls. South Africa is also proud of the global best practice model of the Thuthuzela Care Centres, which are recognised by the UN as an excellent best practice organisation to provide comprehensive, one-stop services for survivors of gender-based violence. A number of countries have adopted these models at their national level.

During the 100th year of International Women’s Day, we have also seen the launch of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women: UN Women. The establishment of UN Women demonstrates the intention to deepen the global agenda for gender equality and the empowerment of women. The appointment of Michelle Bachelet, a socialist, freedom fighter, gender activist and the first female president of Chile, as the first Executive Director of UN Women gives us hope that the struggles of women who fearlessly campaigned for bread and peace 100 years ago was not in vain but will be advanced even further.

Before I sit down, I want to report that South Africa was also commended for leading in terms of women in leadership positions in political office. [Applause.] At the moment, 44% of Members of Parliament are women, 43% are female Cabinet Ministers, and 40% are councillors at local government level. We are committed to ensuring that we achieve 50% in the coming local government elections. This is not manna that has fallen from heaven; this has been achieved because of the commitment of the ANC to the principle of 50:50 gender representation. [Applause.]

As we build towards the local government elections, we call on all political parties, including those on my left, to play their role to ensure that gender equality and the empowerment of women are realised. They cannot continue to use women as voting cows without including them on their election lists. [Interjections.] The right to be elected to public office ...

The SPEAKER: Order! Order, hon members!

The MINISTER OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: ... was the original demand of women at International Women’s Day 100 years ago. It remains the fundamental right ...

The SPEAKER: Hon Minister, on that happy note, your time has expired. [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: ... and demand of the women of South Africa. Malibongwe! [Let it be praised!] [Applause.]

Mrs D ROBINSON: Hon Speaker, goeiedag [good day], molweni nonke [I greet you all], Dumelang [I greet you all], today we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first International Women’s Day and review the political and social achievements of women. One hundred years ago, only two countries allowed women to vote.

Some of the reasons given by the Equal Suffrage Association of North Carolina for women having the vote were: Those who obey the laws should help to choose those who make the laws; laws affect women as much as men; laws affecting children should include the women’s point of view as well as the man’s, because public-spirited women make public-spirited sons.

The General Assembly of the United Nations cited two reasons for observing Women’s Day: Securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality and the development of women; and to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security. This is also an opportunity for us as women to network and mobilise for meaningful change. That is why I’m delighted to have so many DA activists in the gallery. Malibongwe! [Let it be praised!] [Applause.]

Can you see how many we have on our list? Look at the changes. We are still struggling to build a society that is fair in which there is diversity, tolerance, justice and equality between men and women. We have a constitution that guarantees human rights and dignity. Yet our society is beset by heinous crimes like rape at the rate of 150 women per day.

Numerous lesbians have been raped by self-righteous straight men applying what they claim to be corrective rape to cure them. Why does it take more than five years for the trial of nine men accused of murdering a lesbian woman, Zoliswa Nkonyana, to take place? Even now, another postponement has been granted by the court in Khayelitsha.

South African law does not recognise hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation. Should this not be reconsidered? For every 25 men accused of rape, 24 walk free. Why are so many serial rapists given bail? The implementation of our justice system needs to be reviewed. The chronic shortage of social workers, prosecutors and magistrates needs to be addressed so that justice can be seen to be done.

All of the topics of the 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, held recently at the United Nations, should be on our Minister’s agenda. These are the economic and educational empowerment of women; getting women into the “green” fields: into nontraditional jobs like construction; providing financial literacy programmes for women; keeping girls at school; and enabling mothers to provide education for their own children.

They also focused on trafficking and prostitution; access to reproductive health rights and medical services to reduce maternal mortality; the specific needs of LGBTI — lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender — people, especially corrective or curative rape; and the needs of the marginalised like disabled women and women living in rural areas.

More attention needs to be paid to HIV and Aids, the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, working with stigma and disclosure; and to comprehensive sexuality education, starting at school, to reduce the number of unwanted and teen pregnancies. More information about birth control should be given to prevent the abandonment and murder of innocent, unwanted babies — a blight on our human rights record.

The way women are presented as commodities or sex objects in the media needs to be reviewed. The feminisation of poverty needs to be overcome. Hunger is a huge problem. Giving women better access to land, technology and agricultural resources is crucial to fighting famine.

In conclusion, I quote Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile and the first Executive Director of UN Women: “Women’s strength, women’s industry, women’s wisdom are humankind’s greatest untapped resource.” Women have achieved much, but there are still gaps. Let us, South Africans, resolve to tap into the wisdom and strength of our women, to band together to heal the nation of its social ills, to secure harmony and a human rights culture for all. Malibongwe! [Let it be praised!] [Applause.]

Ms N Y VUKUZA-LINDA: Mr Speaker, hon members and fellow South Africans, allow me on behalf of Cope to join other political parties in saluting all women of the world in recognition of International Women’s Day. In dealing with the topic before us, let me pledge solidarity with and highlight the plight of specific groups of women, who directly or indirectly are affected by lack of access to education and training. By saying this, I by no means seek to exclude those other women who deserve equal attention.

I salute women from ematyotyombeni [informal settlements]. I salute women whose homes are the streets. I know that the Minister of Human Settlements is hard at work trying to fix this. I salute women who are looking after our homes, whom we call maids; I salute women of mineworkers who remain at home hoping for that uneven and unpredictable trickle of money from the bank; I salute the widows of miners who suffered untimely deaths because of exposure; I salute women with no access to information, and I salute women without choice. What can we, even as women, tell you about your plight without us feeling guilty? How much of your lives do we as women genuinely know about? How many of you are aware of International Women’s Day? What does that do to change your lives? This is the guilt I genuinely express.

Yesterday, Mr Speaker, you said that if one wished to raise an issue, you either raised your hand and not your voice. Mr Speaker, allow me today to raise both hand and voice, as I point out sharply the issue of a group of young women, or shall I call them a group of young girls, caught up in the ritual “ukuthwala” [abduction or child brides.]

These are only children, children who are not allowed to grow up like normal girls. As girls, we used to dream about what we would be when we grew up. We used to dream about what cars we would drive one day. We used to dream about our wedding days. These are normal dreams of young girls allowed to grow up normally in a normal society. But these girls who get abducted are not allowed, sometimes even by their parents, to determine what their future can be. They cannot determine, even in the face of a constitution such as ours, who they want to marry and when they want to marry.

Decisions to marry them prematurely — or is it really marriage — are decisions made for them through this ritual. Who is served by this decision of abduction? It’s men. Why? Because they want to. Why? Because they can. A few weeks ago I watched on television with horror an exposé on the plight of these young girls. It was unbelievable listening to men justifying this act as tradition. A 60-year-old man taking a 15–year-old girl as his bride — and you call that tradition. It never was tradition; it is never tradition. [Applause.] It was and it still is a deplorable practice. Even then such a practice was never condoned. Tradition never harms its children; it is practice that does. [Applause.]

Hayini boomama, hayini ngentsana zethu, thina singoomama saziwa ngenimba. Ngoku ke asinakho ukuthula. [No, women, no! We cannot let this happen to our children. Women are well known for their compassion. Therefore, we cannot afford to be silent.]

Women were never quiet in 1910 when they waged an anti-pass campaign in the Free State. They never kept quiet in 1956 when they marched on the Union Buildings. Let us march, this time around, in defence of our children. Keeping quiet is colluding with this practice.

Sithi kurhulumente, kumama uXingwana, nakumama uMotshega, kuSihlalo owongamele iGqugula labaseTyhini apha ePalamente nakwiKomiti ejongene neMicimbi yabaseTyhini,-uLutsha, aBantwana kunye naBantu abaKhubazekileyo, mayiqwalaselwe nzulu le meko kunokuba kusenzeka. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)

[We are saying to the government, to Mrs Xingwana, Mrs Motshega, the Chairperson of the Women’s Caucus in Parliament and the committee responsible for the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, you must pay even more attention than you are doing.]

Let us rally round our little flowers and protect them. It can never be, it must never be that our children are raised this way. Thank you. [Applause.]

Adv A H GAUM: Chair, may I address you on a point of order? My point of order is this: The ANC has always encouraged public participation and of course we are glad that the opposition parties also bring their members here to Parliament.

But there is a very clear agreement in the Chief Whips’ Forum that party symbols should not be displayed in the Chamber. Obviously, the public gallery is part of the Chamber. I just want you to make a ruling in that regard. [Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): Order, please! I think that, as Members of Parliament, we do not wear symbols of our parties in this House. So we cannot allow members of the gallery to do so, either. I thank you. [Interjections.]

Mr M J ELLIS: Madam Chair ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): Before I take your point of order, Mr Ellis, I’ve just been informed, and I do apologise, that apparently we, as members of this House, are not allowed to wear party symbols, but those in the gallery are. [Applause.]

Adv T M MASUTHA: May I address you on another point of order, Chair? I accept the ruling, which I believe is correct, but could you rule on whether members of the gallery are allowed to participate in the proceedings of the House. [Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): In terms of Rule 2, regarding visitors in the public gallery, I would just like to say the following: We welcome the presence of visitors here, but I would like to appeal to you to neither approve nor disapprove of what is said on the floor of the House. You are most welcome here in the House, but in order for me to maintain the order, I would appreciate your kind co-operation. However, I would not like to make you feel unwelcome in this House. So, please, I would appreciate your co-operation. Thank you. [Applause.]

Mr M J ELLIS: Madam Chair ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): Could we continue with this very important debate?

Mr M J ELLIS: Madam Chair, may I say that I actually welcome your ruling. I think that you have been very responsible, if I may say so, in the Chair. It’s right that members in the gallery should not participate fully in debates. I think you are absolutely right.

But, I rise on a point of order, Madam Chair. The hon Gaum stood up and appeared to be reading from a book when he was making his particular point of view. [Laughter.] I think that he was misleading the House from the point of view that he claimed. He appeared to suggest that he was actually quoting from a Rule book. [Interjections.] [Laughter.]

What he had in his hands was anything but a Rule book. I suggest that he was really misleading the House. [Interjections.] [Laughter.] And we would very much like to know what the book really was about. [Laughter.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): Mr Ellis, thank you very much for your point of order, but can we please get back to a very important topic? Thank you.

Mrs C N Z ZIKALALA: Hon Chairperson, 2011 will see International Women’s Day celebrating its 100th year after it was first celebrated on 9 March 1911, and the IFP joins the international community and all other political parties in paying homage to the women of the world on this International Women’s Day. In its first year, it was celebrated and commemorated by only four European countries. Today, 100 years later, it is celebrated annually by all member states of the United Nations.

The theme this year focuses on the fundamental aspects and rights of women being allowed to enjoy equal access as their male counterparts to education as well as to training within the fields of science and technology. One of the main hindrances within sub-Saharan and the South African context to a woman achieving prominence in the above fields is poverty. Young women are being sent out to work by their parents in order to secure additional income for the family. The result is that they are unable to complete secondary schooling and, as a direct consequence thereof, tertiary training. Science and technology are fields in which tertiary training is a prerequisite, and young women should be encouraged by all means necessary to progress to tertiary education.

Gender inequality that hinders young women entering the fields of science and technology must be eliminated. These mindsets must be changed and be brought into the 21st century in order to create the necessary space for a young woman to pursue whatever career path she chooses.

In Africa, for instance, women produce approximately 80% of the food, yet only own 10% of the land. Crime against women is out of control. When it comes to domestic violence, rape and human trafficking, too many perpetrators of these crimes are not ever prosecuted and convicted. It is issues such as these that must be addressed if we wish to pay more than just lip service to uplifting one of our most precious resources.

The eradication of poverty, as well as the commitment of parents to their daughters’ education, inclusive of tertiary education, will go a long way in enabling the young women of this world to pursue lucrative careers within the fields of science and technology which, in turn, will pay handsome dividends for the homes of those families whose daughters have been so educated.

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation.

Whilst the IFP acknowledges that International Women’s Day is celebrated on one day during March of each year, we as the party stress the need that women of our country and of the world should be honoured each and every day of the year and that the values that are celebrated on International Women’s Day must be promoted unceasingly each and every day, and that the women of the world should be treasured and cherished for the women they are. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mrs S U PAULSE: Chairperson, 8 March 2011 marks 100 years of the day when women all over the world were united by the bonds of sisterhood. International Women’s Day, since its inception in 1911, has seen the strides women have made to change the face of the political, economic and social structures of a world that once saw us as the inferior sex.

Speaker, geen vrou moet onderdruk voel in haar omstandighede nie. As ’n nasie het Suid-Afrika die wetgewende raamwerk in plek. Ons het die Grondwet, gelykheid — soos vervat in die Handves van Regte — en talle internasionale konvensies wat ons onderteken het.

Hierdie regte word egter nog steeds meestal geniet deur vroue in die boonste vlak van die samelewing. Ons moet erken dat die meerderheid van die plattelandse vroue en arm gemeenskappe nie voordeel trek uit hierdie regte nie. Hierdie vroue kan net hulle regte eis as hulle dit geleer is en dit verstaan. Dit is waar ons, as regering, ernstig in gebreke bly en ’n onreg doen teen vroue wat nie hierdie regte geniet nie. Rassistiese en stereotipe uitlatings wat op sommige vroue geteiken word, veral die onlangse neerhalende en omstrede verklarings gemaak deur Kuli Roberts, wat grootliks vernederend is vir die sogenaamde kleurlingvroue van hierdie land, moet uitgeroei word.

AGB LEDE: Hoor, hoor! (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Speaker, no woman should feel oppressed in her circumstances. As a nation, South Africa has the legislative framework in place. We have the Constitution, equality — as enshrined in the Bill of Rights — and many international conventions which we are signatory to.

These rights are still mostly enjoyed by women in the upper echelons of society. We have to admit, though, that the majority of rural women and poor communities do not benefit from these rights. These women can only claim their rights if they have been taught them and understand them. This is where we, as government, are found wanting and are doing an injustice unto women who do not enjoy these rights. Racial and stereotypical statements that are hurled against certain women, especially the recent derogatory and controversial comments made by Kuli Roberts, which are extremely humiliating towards the so-called coloured women of this country, should be eradicated.

HON MEMBERS: Hear, hear!]

Mrs S U PAULSE: Such ridiculous comments are bound to sever the bonds women of this country have established over decades, dating back to the march against the dompas.

Die OD doen ’n beroep op alle bemagtigde vroue om saam te staan in solidariteit en vroue te help wat nog nie bevry is nie. Ek dank u. [Applous.] [The ID appeals to all empowered women to unite in solidarity and to help those women who have not yet been emancipated. Thank you. [Applause.]]

Mr S Z NTAPANE: Madam Chairperson, hon members, 8 March 2011 marked the 100th anniversary of the celebration of International Women’s Day. This milestone presents us with a rare opportunity to reflect on the ground we have covered thus far regarding the current status of women, first and foremost as citizens of the world, and then of our country.

We ought to establish if, as a country, we have taken good enough strides to further the causes of women in general, and on gender equity in particular. As a country, we have done well to dispel old and appalling social conventions about the role of women being in the kitchen.

Our observance of the rights of women, as outlined in the Constitution, is an essential starting point for paving the women’s path to decent work. Indeed, our struggle for liberation would not have succeeded without the monumental role played by women.

However, today, as we reflect on these successes and failures, we ought to be mindful of the ever-changing global needs that demand a different set of skills for one to survive.

In our celebrations of International Women’s Day, we must consider the millions of women across the world and South Africa who live in abject penury, with no access to education. We must think about the many women, both young and old, who, as early as the age of 13, were forced into arranged marriages to serve the pleasures of men. They are still seen as inferior to their dominant male counterparts.

We must double our efforts to increase the number of young girls and women who have access to education as a priority. While women are in the majority in South Africa, not enough is being done to address their underrepresentation in fields such as science and technology. Government needs to create incentives such as bursaries, learnerships, etc, for young girls and women who wish to pursue studies in science and technology.

Today, we must also evaluate those areas in which we fail. Among the victims of crime, especially of sexual and domestic violence, women are in the majority. In a whole range of social problems, women constitute the majority of sufferers. On the question of poverty and unemployment, it is once again women who make up a disproportional section of those affected. As a society, our failure to address these issues is an indictment.

The struggle to establish democracy would not have succeeded without the support of women, and would have lacked credibility if it was not explicitly aimed at achieving a nonsexist society. Therefore, we are morally and legally obliged to pursue gender equality. Thank you, hon Chairperson. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mnr P J GROENEWALD: Agb Voorsitter, as ons praat oor Internasionale Vrouedag, dan is dit uiteraard gepas om hulde te bring aan ons vroue. Die VF Plus wil vandag hulde bring aan daardie vroue wat ’n groot rol gespeel het in die geskiedenis, nie net van die Afrikanervolk nie, maar ook van die wêreld.

As ons terugdink aan die Voortrekkers, was dit die vroue wat gesê het dat hulle eerder kaalvoet oor die Drakensberge sou loop as om in daardie tyd onder ’n Britse regering te wees. Hulle het die voortou geneem. Hulle het die leiding geneem. As ons teruggaan na die Anglo-Boereoorlog van 1899-1902, dan moet ons ook daaraan terugdink dat ongeveer 27 500 vroue en kinders in die konsentrasiekampe gesterf het.

Dit was egter Suid-Afrika en die Suid-Afrikaners wat in 1913 die eerste en enigste vrouemonument in die wêreld opgerig het. Dis ’n monument ter herdenking van die rol wat vroue en kinders gespeel het. Dis die enigste in die wêreld. Eers hier in die laat 1970s is ’n soortgelyke monument vir vroue in die Verenigde State van Amerika opgerig.

Die geskiedenis van ons land toon dat ons graag hulde bring aan ons vroue in terme van hul prestasies en dit wat hulle opgeoffer het vir hul land.

Dit gebeur ook in vandag se moderne tyd. Ons dink aan Santie Botha wat verlede jaar aangewys is as die sakevrou van die jaar. Ons dink byvoorbeeld aan Susan Vosloo wat die hoof is van die kardiologiese afdeling van Groote Schuur-hospitaal, wat aan die voorpunt is van die mediese beroep en aan die sakefront. Al daardie vroue speel nog steeds hulle rol. Ook in vandag se tyd is daar soveel vroue wat die broodwinner is en wat die gesin aan die gang moet hou. Daarom bring ons hulde aan hulle en ons gee graag erkenning vir dit wat hulle doen.

Voorsitter, die woorde van die agb Minister is hol woorde as hy hier kom praat en vertel van die prestasies van die ANC en wat hulle vir vroue gedoen het. Hoekom sê ek dit? Ek wil vir die agb Minister sê solank hulle toelaat dat Jimmy Manyi sê dat wit vroue nie deel kan wees van regstellende aksie nie, mislei u uself. [Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr P J GROENEWALD: Hon Chairperson, when we speak about International Women’s Day then it is, naturally, appropriate to pay tribute to our women. The FF Plus would like to pay tribute today to those women who played a significant role in the history of not just the Afrikaner nation, but also of the world.

When we think back to the Voortrekkers, it was the women who at that time said that they would rather walk barefoot across the Drakensberg Mountains than be subjected to a British government. They took the initiative. They took the lead. When we go back to the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, then we also have to bring to mind the nearly 27 500 women and children who died in the concentration camps.

It was, however, South Africa and South Africans who erected the first and only women’s monument in the world in 1913. This is a monument in commemoration of the role that women and children played. It is the only one in the world. Only in the late 1970s a similar monument for women was erected in the United States of America.

The history of our country shows that we readily pay tribute to our women in terms of their achievements and what they have sacrificed for their country.

It is happening even in today’s modern times. We think of Santie Botha, who was named the business woman of the year last year. We think, for instance, of Susan Vosloo, who is the Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital, which is at the forefront of the medical profession and on the business front. All these women are continuing to play their role.

Nowadays there are also many women who are the breadwinners and who are responsible for the upkeep of the family. Therefore, we pay tribute to them and we readily give recognition to them for what they do.

Chairperson, the words of the hon Minister are hollow words when he comes here to talk about and relates the achievements of the ANC and what they have done for women. Why do I say this? I would like to say to the hon Minister that for as long as they allow Jimmy Manyi to say that white women cannot be part of affirmative action, you are misleading yourself. [Interjections.]]

You are misleading yourself. The ANC doesn’t stand up for women’s rights because you still allow him in your government. Thank you.

Mr G S RADEBE: Hon Chair, Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, I feel honoured and humbled to be part of this very relevant and important debate. Women are like volcanoes: When they offer their experience and assistance to humankind, all maps change and new developments emerge as the truth. It is important that we take note that in this women’s debate, it does not necessarily mean that only women must participate. Men can also participate, because this is not just an issue about women, it is an issue for us all.

Before the 1970s, women’s history was an underreported topic with little public education concentrated on women’s history, but that did not mean women had not made history worthy of exposure or honour. Progress in science and technology has been a key driver of human societal development, vastly expanding the horizon of human potential, enabling a radical transformation in the quality of life enjoyed by millions of people. The harnessing of modern sources of energy counts as a major accomplishment in the past’s scientific and technological progress.

In South Africa, this is not the case, especially when considering the fact that our country has been divided through racial policies for some decades. This, however, does not limit the fact that women’s participation in science and technology remains a powerful force in transforming the socioeconomic ills that dominated the history of oppression of women in South Africa by the previous regime, more especially of black women generally and Africans in particular. This became a reality when the first ever democratic election, won by the ANC in 1994, changed the apartheid laws that were oppressive. As a matter of fact, thousands of women are today employed in factories, private companies and government institutions, while others are self-employed or hold top positions in political parties, for instance in the ANC.

Rural survival strategies demand that young women fully contribute to meeting the livelihood needs in their households from an early age. Consequently, youth, as a transitional stage, barely exists for a large majority of rural girls, and the poor in particular. Rural households and gender-divided labour are such that full control of the production process is virtually impossible for women. It is in that context that the Department of Science and Technology established the Information and Communication Technology Research and Development and Innovation Strategy, targeting rural and other marginalised girls for development.

One of the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution is the right to education. It is important that young girls in rural areas are prepared for productive lives in both rural and urban environments. This will enable more girls on our continent to access education and training and to play an active role in politics in general. The benefit of women’s education can be seen both in terms of their own human capital, job remuneration and the ability to contribute to the economy, as well as in terms of the next generation. Evidence indicates that female education improves infant survival rates and nutrition directly through the quality of care women provide.

The right to education will increase achievements in parity in education at secondary and tertiary levels, increase retention rates for girls and increase literacy levels of women through adult education. On its own, this is already a sufficient reason to celebrate the centenary of International Women’s Day.

Today, we will be celebrating our successes in terms of empowering women in science and technology. In March 2004, Nomathemba Kontyo, a Grade 11 learner at the Fezeka Senior Secondary School in Gugulethu, represented South Africa and Africa at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. She was a finalist in an international essay writing competition on the topic: “Mars and Other Celestial Bodies”. This, indeed, showcases the potential that women have in representing our country internationally.

The proportion of women students increased significantly from 2004 to 2009, with female students making up 48% of the total number of students. In 2009, out of 418 postgraduate students, only 199 were female. The capacities in our Departments of Basic Education and of Higher Education and Training will need to be strengthened in order to mitigate the challenges of women’s access to education and equality.

It is very important that we take note that it is only the ANC that has elevated this progress of women in our country, and you find yourself becoming surprised when the hon Groenewald comes here and claims that they recognise women, whereas here in Parliament they don’t even have a single woman representing them in the FF Plus. [Laughter.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): Mr Radebe, just take a seat, please.

Mr P J GROENEWALD: Chairperson, is the hon member prepared to take a question? [Interjections.] It is a very simple question, a very easy one. [Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): Mr Radebe?

Mr G S RADEBE: No!

Mr P J GROENEWALD: Did he say yes?

Mr G S RADEBE: No!

Mr P J GROENEWALD: Chairperson, I want to ask the hon member ...

Mr G S RADEBE: No!

Mr P J GROENEWALD: ... if the ANC only had four members, would they be women?

Mr G S RADEBE: N-O!

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): Mr Radebe said no. [Interjections.]

Mr G S RADEBE: Chair, in conclusion, I would also like to appeal to the DA not to continue to oppress women — to come and claim here that they represent the marginalised people of our democracy. Thank you, Chair. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mnr A P VAN DER WESTHUIZEN: Agb Voorsitter, namens baie mans wil ek vandag erkenning gee aan die belangrike bydrae wat vroue in ons lewens gespeel het en nog steeds speel. Ons moeders, eggenote, susters, dogters, vroulike kollegas en vriendinne help om ons en ons gedagtes te vorm. Ons onthou met groot dankbaarheid daardie grondslagfase-onderwyseresse wat ons geleer lees en skryf het.

Ons eer vandag ook vroue se bydrae op soveel ander gebiede. Die visie van ’n oop geleentheidsgedrewe samelewing is een waarin elke individu se talente vrylik ontwikkel, maar dan ook ten volle benut sal word. Beide onderwys en vroueregte is daarom belangrike aspekte in ’n oop geleentheidsgedrewe samelewing.

Ons Handves van Regte het baie gedoen vir die bevordering van vroueregte en, soos my kollega die agb Denise Robinson vroeër gesê het, vroueregte is essensieel menseregte.

Tog kan ons nie ontken dat onbillike geslagsdiskriminasie nog elke dag rondom ons plaasvind nie. Die debat rondom vroueregte kan ons baie help in die groter debat oor regstellende aksie ten opsigte van ander verdruktes. Hier het ons nie te doen met ’n minderheidsgroep of ’n groep waarvan ons kan sê dat hulle op taal- of kultuurgebied ver van ons af staan nie.

Alhoewel die debat oor vroueregte in die verlede soms warm verloop het, is daar deesdae in hierdie debat ’n nugterheid wat van groot waarde kan wees, ook vir ons ander debatte oor vorms van onbillike diskriminasie in ons land.

Wat ons met hierdie regstellende aksie-debat help, is dat vroue nie op grond van hul skoolprestasies enigsins as die swakker geslag beskou word nie. [Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr A P VAN DER WESTHUIZEN: Hon Chairperson, on behalf of many men I would like to acknowledge today the important role women have played and are still playing in our lives. Our mothers, spouses, sisters, daughters, female colleagues and girlfriends help us in shaping ourselves and our thoughts. We remember with real gratitude those foundation phase teachers who taught us how to read and write.

Today we also honour the contributions of women in so many other areas. The vision of an open opportunity-driven society is one in which each individual’s talents will develop freely and be fully utilised as well. The rights of teachers and women therefore are important aspects in an open opportunity-driven society.

Our Bill of Rights has done a lot for the promotion of women’s rights and, as my colleague the hon Denise Robinson said earlier, women’s rights are essentially human rights.

Yet we cannot deny that unfair gender discrimination is still taking place on a daily basis around us. The debate around women’s rights can really assist us in the greater debate regarding affirmative action in respect of other oppressed people. Here we are not dealing with a minority group or a group of which one could say that they are far removed from us regarding language or culture.

Although women’s rights were at times in the past hotly debated, nowadays there is a soberness to it which can be of great value, also regarding our other debates around forms of unfair discrimination in our country.

As regards this debate about affirmative action, it is helpful to realise that women are not regarded as the weaker sex based on their academic performance. [Interjections.]]

Adv A H GAUM: Chair ... Chair ... Hon Chair ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): Hon Van der Westhuizen, could you take your seat, please.

Adv A H GAUM: Would the hon member take a question about the Western Cape cabinet, Chair? [Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): Hon Van der Westhuizen, will you take a question? [Interjections.] Let him answer for himself, Mr Ellis!

Mr A P VAN DER WESTHUIZEN: Thank you for the invitation, but it’s declined.

Op die lys van die eerste 27 posisies van die Wes-Kaapse Departement van Onderwys se matriekulante wat verlede jaar presteer het, was 22 van daardie posisies gevul deur meisies. [Applous.] Die gekombineerde statistiek van ’n aantal van ons goeie townshipskole wys dat meer meisies as seuns tot in matriek vorder. Die statistieke van daardie skole se matriekklasse wys dat 60% van daardie klasse deur meisies gevul word.

Ingeval die kabinetwoordvoerder, mnr Manyi, dalk sal wonder of hy ook hier moet ingryp, wil ek sê dat daar nie ’n oorkonsentrasie van vroue in die Wes-Kaap is nie! [Gelag.] Dit wys bloot net wat vroue kan doen wanneer hulle gelyke geleenthede gebied word. [Applous.]

Onbillike geslagsdiskriminasie is steeds ’n realiteit, ook in ’n beroep soos die onderwys. Die tipiese beeld van ’n skoolhoof is vir baie mense nog dié van ’n man. Vroue as skoolhoofde en as senior onderwysbestuurders is nog ver in die minderheid. Eeue se diskriminasie en vooroordele word selfs in die 100-jaarherdenking wat ons vandag vier, nie uitgeskakel nie.

Die DA glo dus dat spesiale stappe nodig is om sulke diep gevestigde ongelykhede uit te skakel. Die posisie van vroue in die gemeenskap moet gedurig gemeet en gedebatteer word.

Agb Minister, die DA bly gekant teen kwotastelsels, veral omdat ons gesien het dat die afdwing van kwotastelsels juis lei tot die skending van menseregte. Ek gaan een voorbeeld noem. Ons vind dit jammer dat die SA Polisiediens dit verlede jaar nodig gevind het om te appelleer nadat die Arbeidshof in die guns van ’n vrou, kaptein Renate Barnard, beslis het. Hierdie appèl is beslis ’n terugwaartse stap vir vroueregte. Dit is ook nog ’n voorbeeld dat die laaste woord in die stryd om vroueregte nog lank nie gesê is nie.

Mag ons volgende jaar, wanneer ons weer Internasionale Vrouedag herdenk, terugkyk en sien dat Suid-Afrika in 2011 wel nog verder op die pad van vroueregte gevorder het. Ek dank u. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr A P VAN DER WESTHUIZEN: Twenty-two positions on the list of the Western Cape education department’s top 27 matriculants who excelled last year were occupied by girls. [Applause.] The combined statistics of a number of our good township schools show that more girls than boys are progressing to matric. The matric class statistics of these schools show that 60% of those classes are attended by girls.

In case Cabinet spokesperson Mr Manyi is wondering whether he should intervene here as well, I wish to state that there is no overconcentration of females in the Western Cape! [Laughter.] It merely goes to show what women can do when they are afforded equal opportunities. [Applause.]

Unfair gender discrimination is still a reality, also in the teaching profession. For many people the picture of a typical headmaster remains that of a male. Females as headmasters and in senior teaching management are still by far a minority. Centuries of discrimination and bias will not even be removed by today’s 100-year commemoration.

The DA therefore believes that special action is called for to remove such deep-rooted inequalities. The position of women in society should be continually measured and debated.

Hon Minister, the DA remains opposed to quota systems, particularly because we have witnessed how the enforcement of quota systems in fact leads to the violation of human rights. I will mention one example. We find it a pity that last year the SA Police Service found it necessary to appeal against a Labour Court decision in favour of a woman, Captain Renate Barnard. This appeal is indeed a step backward for women’s rights. It is another example of how the last word on women’s rights has not at all been spoken as yet.

May we look back next year, when we once more commemorate International Women’s Day, and see that South Africa has indeed made progress on the road to women’s rights. I thank you. [Applause.]]

Rev K R J MESHOE: Chairperson and Deputy President, the ACDP commends women as pillars of society who need greater support in their difficult and crucial role as mothers and breadwinners and who maintain the labour force and inspire the right values in children.

There are many challenges that hamper the furtherance of decent work for women. Traditional perspectives of gender roles that would seek to discourage women from reaching their full potential in more diverse areas of work are but one of them. The changing social, economic and political roles of women should serve to ensure that they, too, have equal access to employment opportunities and the same wages as that of their male counterparts.

In terms of access to education, last year’s Gender Parity Index showed that girls do not experience significant discrimination in access to school. As an example of what access to good education can do for girls, I want to applaud an able, brave and courageous woman who has made South Africans proud and more confident in her office. This courageous woman is the Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, who is a qualified human rights and constitutional lawyer.

The ACDP is delighted that she is neither afraid nor intimidated by even top policemen when discharging her constitutional mandate. We commend her for conducting all investigations, whether big or small, with fairness and justice as she endeavours to entrench good values in public administration.

When it comes to science and technology there is still a serious disparity between boys and girls. We need to encourage girls’ interest in these subjects from Grade 1 and ensure that they have enthusiastic and skilled educators who are able to teach the curriculum in a way that will inspire girls to take, enjoy and pursue these subjects.

Surveys point out that science and technology teachers are mainly men, accustomed to teaching mostly boys and men. But this trend must shift and be adapted to target and include girls too, as we need more women scientists and technicians. The ACDP urges government to find funding for the national plan for teacher education and development and accelerate its implementation. I believe that there are thousands of girl learners who are capable of higher education.

Sadly, this ideal will not be reached unless serious intervention is made. Social surveys cite teenage pregnancy as the number one reason for the dropping out of school of girl learners, of whom few return to school or to their studies. Those who drop out for other reasons are 10 times more likely to become pregnant than those who are still in school, so school has a protective function.

In this regard, our young people need guidance. There is a desperate need for interventions such as the Silver Ring Thing, a project which transforms the attitudes of young people and celebrates sexual abstinence and safe living. The ACDP believes that, given the opportunity, many women can do a better job than men. We believe in our women, that is why women are in the majority on the ACDP national executive council. [Time expired.]

Mrs I C DITSHETELO: Madam Chair, this day comes a few weeks after we had gathered here to listen to and absorb the state of the nation address. Not long ago, our country had the admiration of many countries for the progressive steps it has taken in order to emancipate women. But today I am not sure that we still do. I certainly do not feel that I am in a place committed to gender equality.

Being a woman still means being vulnerable here at home and elsewhere in the world. Every 90 seconds of every day, a woman dies in pregnancy or due to childbirth-related complications. The World Health Organisation reported that 358 000 women died during pregnancy and childbirth in 2008. Ninety per cent of that number comes from sub-Saharan Africa. Little or no resources have been channelled towards expanding birth control to males and, as such, the burden of birth control still rests primarily with the woman.

Globally, women are more likely to be jobless than men and bear the biggest brunt of poverty.

Today, here and elsewhere, boys are more likely to be at school than girls. Two out of three illiterate adults are women. In the entire world, there are only 28 women holding positions as head of state, and women only make up 19% of all legislatures.

More shocking to learn is that, as the rest of the world celebrated and commemorated International Woman’s Day yesterday, Sudanese women activists were arrested and beaten by police as they protested that authorities cease violence against women. Can we therefore sit idly by and just commemorate the day? This suggests to me that we cannot afford to be idle and celebrate the progress made. [Time expired.]

Mrs D M RAMODIBE: Hon Madam Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, March 8 is the celebration of International Women’s Day globally. On this day countries around the world are called upon to participate in the celebration of the centenary of International Women’s Day.

In terms of the theme “Equal access to education, training and

science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women”, my area of focus will be celebrating the organisational lessons of the life and work of Charlotte Makgomo Manye Maxeke, an organiser of the

principles and values of International Women’s Day.

Historically for South African women, locating women’s oppression

both nationally and internationally takes place in the context of the struggle against colonialism, racism, classism and gender oppression. Madam Speaker, allow me before I attend to the gist of my address, to spend a few minutes reflecting on why the United Nations deemed it fitting to celebrate and honour women’s advancement and also to remind us to continue to be vigilant in ensuring that the gains we have made in the equality and empowerment of women are not lost, but maintained in all aspects of life.

When women in New York marched in 1908, demanding shorter working hours, better pay and voting rights, and a fire in 1911 caused the tragic death of 129 working women, this led to attention being given to the working conditions of women and to labour legislation which protects women. We, in the House, outside and beyond, never imagined that those two events would lead to a global day that confronts the entrenched complexities of patriarchy.

The life and work of Charlotte Maxeke is truly a celebration of the contribution she made in every aspect of our lives: in the home, in a job, in the community, and as a mother, worker, citizen and leader. Our great patriot and international leader Charlotte Maxeke first organised the events in celebration of International Women’s Day in the 1930s as the President of the Bantu Women’s League which she founded in 1918.

There she was joined by trade unions and the Communist Party of South Africa. She established co-operatives and also empowered women. What would Charlotte Maxeke say or do on this day? She would have used her extraordinary intellect, diligence, determination, courage and dedication to teach. Her love for the arts, and music in particular, cannot go unnoticed. Her choir, with her as a soloist, performed all over the world in the 1870s. Charlotte Maxeke was offered a church scholarship to Wilberforce University, the African Methodist Episcopal, AME, Church University in Xenia, Ohio, and she accepted the offer. She was the first black South African female to obtain a degree.

As a mathematics teacher, she would have demystified the subject and made it simple for all to understand. She would have been at the forefront in ensuring that we did better in mathematics as a country and encouraged girls to take up the subject and excel at it.

She was the co-founder of the Widow’s Home and the Foreign Missionary Society and the founder of the AME Church Widow’s Mite Society. These two organisations were responsible for funding and educating thousands of young Africans in South Africa, the USA and Britain, and also for caring for the sick and indigent Africans. What a dedicated social justice advocate she was.

She was one of the first female members of the ANC. As an activist, she would have said: It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into slavery; it is a violation of human rights when women are raped in their communities; it is a violation of human rights when women are raped as a tactic of war; it is a violation of human rights when women are subjected to violence in their homes by their own relatives or partners; it is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan families and forced to have abortions or are sterilised against their will. Lastly, she would have said that it is a violation of human rights when babies and children are denied food, suffocated or drowned just because they are girls.

Charlotte Maxeke would herself have challenged even my own party to break the silence and speak from the rooftops to change the gender imbalance at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, in state-owned enterprises and in the private sector in general. She would have challenged all women to write and be outspoken supporters of human rights and dignity.

We are told that Charlotte Maxeke gave uplifting speeches which were described as electrifying, passionate and fiery, yet not inflammatory. Let that be a lesson to us in the House and to all South Africans.

As we celebrate this day and honour the contributions of the many women in South Africa and the world at large, let us remember that we have made strides in that we have more women in the boardrooms of state-owned enterprises, but unfortunately not in that of the private sector. We have greater equality in legislative rights and impressive role models in every aspect of life, but women are still not paid equally in comparison with their male counterparts. Women are still not present in real numbers in business and politics.

Regarding the principles and values of International Women’s Day, this day represents the progressive values and principles of internationalism. It inspires human solidarity and a sense of interrelationship between national women’s struggles and the struggles of women globally. These struggles have been forged with the understanding that the question of women struggles cannot be waged outside of other popular struggles. This has led to women being at the forefront of mass and militant struggles.

The principles of democracy, nonracism, nonsexism and gender equality are rooted in this day. Human solidarity has resulted in the growth of the international women’s movement, rallying around specific national and local needs. The struggle to resolve race, class and gender contradictions and their interrelatedness has been a prominent feature of International Women’s Day celebrations.

Regarding achievements, our government played a critical role in the adoption of the Southern African Development Community Protocol on Gender and Development with its programme on gender equality and commitment to having women making up not less than 50% of all decision-making structures in SADC countries by 2015. South Africa is currently ranked 49th, the third country in Africa out of the 102 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, countries in terms of the social institutions and gender index which represents advances within the continent and the region.

The world is gradually changing regarding its attitude to women. We view this as an achievement, and South Africa is part of this momentum. For instance, our country is a signatory to international instruments that seek to improve women’s lives, including the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Cedaw. We also look forward to women participating in the implementation of the new growth path.

South Africa has made significant progress in the number of women it has appointed to Parliament. A report on the representation of women in the 2009 South African elections indicates that South Africa has moved up from 17th to third position in the world rankings of women in Parliament. This is the largest increase since the 1994 elections.

Post the 2009 elections, women constitute 40% of Ministers and 39% of Deputy Ministers. These figures are a decrease from the 2004 elections in which women constituted 43% of Ministers and also comprised 50% of Deputy Ministers. Following the 2009 elections, women won 45% of the seats in Parliament.

Regarding organisational lessons, on this day different societies have mounted courageous struggles using their local experiences. Historically we organised our communities into organs of people’s power. We should continue to strengthen our structures to take up issues affecting poor women, particularly in rural areas and farming communities, to ensure that they are empowered through equal access to education, training, science and technology.

The evolution of the women’s movement organisationally taught us the power of collective struggles. Our struggles must uphold the principles of unity, selfless service, collective leadership, humility, hard work, constructive criticism and self-criticism, discipline and mutual respect as part of the rich legacy of Maxeke and the traditions of our organisations.

Going forward, we note advances made by women globally. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr K J DIKOBO: Chairperson, hon Deputy President, hon members and guests, as we celebrate International Women’s Day in 2011 under the theme, “Equal Access To Education, Training and Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women”, I want to focus on the April 2000 Dakar Framework and take two points from the Education for All declarations.

In the first declaration, Asian and African governments undertook to expand and improve comprehensive childcare and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

Most of our ECD — early childhood development — centres are still run by unqualified ECD practitioners who do not have standardised or uniform conditions of service. While we know that the minimum qualifications for a person to be a teacher after April 2008 is REQV 13 or REQV 14 — Relative Education Qualification Value — there is no minimum set for ECD practitioners.

Their work cannot be referred to as decent work. They are paid irregularly. Some of them are paid once per quarter. Many ECD practitioners, needless to say, are women.

In villages and rural areas that have no electricity and water, it is the girl-child who has to collect firewood and water, at times early in the morning before going to school.

As a country we have done reasonably well in eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education. Our statistics show that there is parity and, in some instances, girls outnumber boys. But the Dakar Framework also talks about access to quality education, not just education.

The other challenge that we still have to deal with is access to opportunities in the work environment. This is because it does not help to have parity and equal access to education while there is no equal access to opportunities. Azapo salutes all women. Thank you. [Time expired.]

Ms M R SHINN: Hon Chairperson, the first woman to make a substantial contribution to the development of mathematics was an African. Around 400 AD Hypatia of Alexandria, Egypt, taught mathematics, philosophy and the movements of the planets. It is believed that she co-developed the plane astrolabe, the graduated brass hydrometer and the hydroscope, the forerunners of many scientific instruments that facilitated astronomy, celestial navigation and much scientific endeavour.

By all accounts, she was a feisty and assertive woman who would not be bound by the conventions of her day. She drove her own chariot and exerted considerable political influence in her home city.

But this stretching of boundaries to seek verifiable truths was seen by a group of religious fanatics as a threat. So, in the year 415 AD they killed her. She was stripped naked, her flesh was ripped from her bones, her body parts were scattered through the streets, and some were burned in the local library.

Interestingly, these zealots didn’t murder her father who was also a mathematician, philosopher and teacher, neither did they murder the many male scientists with whom she collaborated. It was just Hypatia who was singled out as a threat.

Luckily, women scientists are not treated so harshly today. They are accepted by most of their male peers as equally contributing colleagues. Many have made exceptional strides in all fields and in wining top accolades, such as Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine.

There are many government and private-sector sponsored awards worldwide that single out women achievers in these fields. These are essential in creating role models for young women whose ideas of future careers are formed during childhood.

Our Department of Science and Technology plays a positive role by giving a number of awards to women scientists who are active in both academe and industry. This public acknowledgement seeks to help redress deep-seated prejudices about women’s ability to do maths, physics, science and engineering. Research by the American Association of University Women found that social and environmental factors, not the intelligence and reasoning capabilities, contribute to the underrepresentation of women in science and engineering. They don’t lack ability, but they are often starved of opportunity, resources and support.

What does hamper women scientists is biology. Research published last year by the National Academy of Sciences of the United States said that underrepresentation of women in science is due primarily to issues of family formation and child rearing, lifestyle choices and career preferences, many of them made before young women leave school.

Women’s current underrepresentation in maths-intensive fields is often attributed to gender discrimination by grant agencies, journal reviewers and research committees. However, this research shows that women fare as well as men in securing jobs, funding and publishing their research in scientific journals, as long as they have comparable resources.

Given the same research resources as their male counterparts, women scientists are as innovative and as productive, but most of them work in underresourced teaching posts. While this gives them the flexibility of working hours to raise their families, it allows little time for original science.

Choosing to raise a family usually clashes with that stage of their careers when academe expects them to make their greatest intellectual contributions. This is not a career-limiting milestone for most men. To liberate women scientists to fully exploit the opportunities their ingenuity and education afford, our research institutions, universities and commercial enterprises must, as an economic strategic imperative for our nation, devise nonlinear career paths for our scientists.

We must bring innovation to the way the scientific workplace operates to ensure that our women scientists can unleash their full potential. I look forward to the day when we no longer need to use gender to draw attention to the exceptional contributions women make to the world of science, technology and engineering. [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Chair, the Deputy President, Ministers and members of the House, I would like to start by acknowledging and responding to some of the comments that were made by speakers. I agree with hon member Vukuza-Linda that, indeed, “ukuthwala” [abduction] is nothing but a criminal, heinous, callous, evil act and all self-respecting South Africans should look down on that practice.

I am told by the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities that, working with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, they have commissioned the SA Law Reform Commission to work towards formulating a Bill to declare “ukuthwala” [abduction marriage] a serious crime and a serious offence. [Applause.]

I am also told that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development will soon be tabling a Bill on human trafficking, focusing on women and child trafficking. So, I do hope that some of these pieces of legislation will enable us to address some of these heinous crimes that are committed against women and girl-children in particular.

I want to remind the House again that, in addition to this year’s theme of “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women”, the UN has declared the decades of 2010 to 2030 decades for mobilising at a grass-roots level the emancipation of women. With that theme in mind, I ask members - especially members of the parties on my left – to pull themselves together because we need them. They can’t continue this overturning they are doing because ... Unzima lomthwalo. [... there is lots to do.]

We need all of them, and not this story of having the opposition, when they have to take the responsibility globally, saying it is ANC this and the ANC that. As women, we need a plan. What is your plan? You need a plan as the opposition of what you are going to do to join the world in the battle for emancipation; and not the plan that you have, of an overturn for expedience. When there is a dying party, you want to take the remnants thereof, and then have one token woman in the executive committee. That can’t work. We need a plan. [Applause.] One to ten is just pathetic; it’s not good enough. Also, regarding a plan in which women will be kept in the gallery, we want them here, not in the gallery. [Applause.] We want them here and we want them in your exco.

Mr Groenewald, if you were a member of a party informed by principles like those of the ANC — nonracialism, nonsexism, a democracy that is underpinned by human rights values — you would not speak with a forked tongue like you do: rightfully acknowledging the role of Afrikaans women who have played a noble role historically and then end up opportunistically throwing in Mr Manyi’s name where it doesn’t fit. [Interjections.] This is because it is not Mr Manyi who said that the FF Plus should only be represented by men. This is patriarchy and has nothing to do with Mr Manyi. It is about the principles of the party. [Applause.] [Interjections.]

Mr P J GROENEWALD: Agb Voorsitter ... [Hon Chairperson ...]

The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: I’m not going to take any questions; don’t worry.

Mr P J GROENEWALD: ... is die agb Minister bereid om ’n vraag van my te beantwoord? [... is the hon Minister willing to take a question?]

It will be an easy question, hon Minister. Are you prepared to take a question?

The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Nee! [No!]

Mr P J GROENEWALD: Why not? It is an easy one.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): The Minister does not wish to take a question. Will you please sit down. [Interjections.]

Mr P J GROENEWALD: I rest my case, hon Chair. The previous speaker from the ANC said no. If they were only four members, there would be no women. [Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs F Hajaig): She said no, and I am saying will you please take your seat. Thank you.

The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Moruti [Reverend], I come from a party which respects nonracialism and nonsexism — principles that we have always lived with. That is nothing new; it’s policy. Reverend, Ms Madonsela was schooled in the ANC. That is why she behaves the way she does. She was not schooled in church or elsewhere.

As I said, the decade is for the mobilisation of women, Ms Ditshetelo, not for moans and complaints. The call is for action from all of us.

Re tlo etsa eng ... [What are we going to do ...]

... with other women in the world? It is an international day. It calls upon us as women of this country to ask how we can participate in this global phenomenon of women oppression, and not only complain and come up with nothing. We need a plan. So, in the Women’s League we continue to organise ourselves as women because we are very mindful of the negative effects of patriarchy on women’s progress.

For once, as women and patriots, let’s remember that women’s struggles are international struggles. Women oppression respects neither age nor race, and it has no borders. Therefore, as global citizens, we are all called upon to join hands against this evil patriarchy. Let’s not mention poor Manyi’s name opportunistically where it does not belong. And don’t blame the people where it does not belong. Deal with the one out of 10 — and don’t raise things — because one to 10 is a crisis.

It is a distinct honour for me to address this House on the occasion of International Women’s Day, which this year is celebrated under the fitting theme of "Equal access to education, training and science and technology”.

Moving on from what the preceding speakers have said, one thing that is very clear, at home and abroad, is that the question of gender equality and the emancipation of women remains unresolved and therefore begs serious attention; not 1:10, or Manyi.

Patriarchal power, which is evil, has dominantly kept many of the world’s women outside the mainstream of economic life, while relegating others to minor and junior roles in the economy.

It is this untenable state of affairs that prompted former Chilean President and the inaugural Executive Director of the United Nations’ UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, to say during a luncheon they held in February that:

The neglect of women’s rights means the social and economic potential of half the population is underused. In order to tap this potential, we must open up spaces for women in political ...

... 50:50, not 1:10 —

... leadership, in science and technology.

It is in this context, as we celebrate the heroic struggles of women of the world, that we also reflect on the global pathway we seek in building a new African and global agenda in which decent work for women can become a reality. Tapping into the untapped resources of women is, therefore, not only the right thing to do – and taking them off the gallery and bringing them here – but a political and economic imperative.

Over the years, unequal power relations of male-dominated societies have relegated women to this hidden economy, thus preventing women from fully making a meaningful and vital contribution to human development and economic growth. It is this that gave rise to the decision to launch International Women’s Day 100 years ago to expose the conditions under which women live and work.

This debate on International Women’s Day is very crucial for our women in Africa and the world. The evils of gender inequality and economic exclusion are alive and well, and are so stubborn that they require of all of us as women to be magnanimous. For once, let’s work in unison to confront patriarchy as an evil that affects all of us across the political and even the racial divide, including your economic or class divide.

In an article celebrating International Women’s Day, Kanya D'Almeida recalls a milestone on the global path for the attainment of gender equality. I quote:

In 1945, more than half a century ago, the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco wrote women's equality into its canon, creating an indisputable commitment to gender equity in the post-World War global order.

In June 1981, the people of this continent adopted the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which called for the elimination of every form of discrimination against women and for the protection of the rights of the woman and the child, as stipulated in international declarations and conventions.

Kanya D'Almeida said, and I continue:

Women continue to struggle, far below the level of their male counterparts, in every single aspect of human society. Only 11 of the 192 heads of state are women ...

... no Manyi or anybody; it’s just patriarchy —

... one in three women in the world will experience rape or sexual assault in her lifetime.

All these problems, as I have said, are the evils of patriarchy that requires magnanimity and unison.

The challenges facing women globally include occupational segregation, the gender wage gap, joblessness, abject poverty, gender-based violence, underrepresentation in political and economic decision-making processes and racism. Clearly, this state of affairs has necessitated, rightly so, the need for more concerted efforts to better advance the agenda of gender equity and women’s empowerment. All is not lost. We have cause to celebrate the great strides that we have made so far in the battle for gender rights.

I have to say again that in South Africa we achieved equal access to education for boys and girls many years ago, as consistently reported in the Unesco – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation - Education for All Global Monitoring reports. As we moan, let us also tell the truth that, as a country, we have made strides. Girl-children make up the majority of students at higher education institutions. This marks a very positive increase, especially noted last year, in female graduation rates in medicine and engineering in South Africa. More needs to be done, but there is also cause for great celebration as we commit ourselves and move in unison around the emancipation of women.

As South Africa, we pride ourselves that, indeed, we are one of those countries - as Minister Xingwana has said — that is leading in terms of women representation. Why? We don’t keep women in galleries, but we bring them to the House. As women, as the ANC, we have brought about more women representation. As it stands now, we are targeting 50:50. Watch this space. [Applause.] I don’t know what you’ll say when you are still at 1:10. Watch this space; we are going for 50:50 now. We have an opportunity, in May 2011, to advance gender parity in the local sphere and to lay the ground for the creation of more decent jobs and more opportunities for the advancement of women. Women worth their salt will come here, knowing that this is where opportunities are and this is where opportunities exist for women to uplift other women.

We know that statistics on employment show that more men are employed than women and that men occupy more top management positions than women. As South Africa, we welcome the establishment of UN Women by the UN General Assembly — done this year under the leadership of Michelle — which must serve as the penultimate body on women’s empowerment and gender equality. We believe that this new agency, UN Women, with the necessary support and co-operation of member states, will raise the profile of gender and women issues on a global scale. UN members, including South Africa, have a duty to ensure that this UN entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women works effectively and takes to greater heights the global agenda of gender equity.

In this way in the long run, through focused and strong leadership, we can and must turn the creation of decent work for women into a reality, and thus improve the lives of millions of women and girls throughout the world. In this way, we can transform “the unpaid care economy” and “the informal and hidden economy”. The creation of UN Women, which began its work in January 2011, shows a global commitment to a central focus on the goal of gender equality and the emancipation of women.

Lastly, what we really need is gender mainstreaming in every single aspect of human society, coupled with accountability and a proven commitment we only see in people-centred and nonsexist organisations, such as the ANC, which have undertaken, as a starting point, to work tirelessly for 50:50 gender parity. That is why I am saying one out of 10 is going to leave you far behind. It is a fact, and a first for South Africa, that the ANC-led government has affirmed the political and human rights of women.

For South Africa, the centenary of International Women’s Day could not have come at a better time. It comes two months before the local government elections and less than a year from the centenary celebration of this great and noble organisation.

Expanding equal access to education, training, science and technology, as part of the international theme, is one way of securing decent work for women. We need to probe what has been achieved at the recent 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, at which our country was represented.

Lastly, as we celebrate International Women’s Day, we must not lose sight of the need to accelerate progress in our goals of gender equality and the emancipation of women. Men shall not be free until we have secured a better life for women – all of them, not sitting in the gallery, but here making decisions on behalf of the nation. [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

CONSIDERATION OF REQUEST FOR PERMISSION IN TERMS OF RULE 249(3)(b) TO INQUIRE INTO AMENDING OTHER PROVISIONS OF THE COMPANIES ACT (NO 71 OF 2008)

There was no debate.

The DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Chairperson, I move:

That permission be given to the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry to inquire into amending other provisions of the Companies Act (No 71 of 2008).

Motion agreed to.

Permission accordingly granted to the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry to inquire into amending other provisions of the Companies Act (No 71 of 2008) in terms of Rule 249(3)(b).

CONSIDERATION OF REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF RECOMMENDATION OF CANDIDATES TO FILL VACANCY ON COUNCIL OF INDEPENDENT COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (ICASA)

Mr S E KHOLWANE: Chairperson, Deputy President, Members of Parliament and our guests, the catalytic role played by information and communications technology, ICT, in our economic growth and development cannot be overemphasised. In 2005 we as a country acknowledged and accepted that fact, and we came up with the Electronic Communications Act, which advocated the convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting and postal services.

The significant and central role of the Independent Communications Authority of SA, Icasa, in the ICT sphere is the following: to regulate the cost of electronic communications services so that they can be affordable; and to ensure the expansion of our electronic communications network — infrastructure — so that everyone in South Africa can have access to electronic communications.

However, for Icasa to succeed in achieving its role, we need to strengthen continually its capacity in the light of the changing technological and market environment. We need a competent and well-resourced Icasa, which can regulate and also have the capacity to monitor adherence to its regulations.

The regulation for the wholesale call termination cost, which came into effect on 1 March, is most welcome and will see the cost of telecommunications in the call termination wholesale price going down to 73 cents.

A vacancy for one councillor for Icasa will exist on 1 March 2011, and the committee, after having interviewed the candidates, recommends that the House, in terms of section 7 of the Icasa Act, Act 13 of 2000, as amended, submit to the Minister of Communications a list of suitable candidates which is supposed to be at least one and a half times the number of councillors to be appointed.

As the committee we have deliberated on the matter and all parties agree that Dr Marcia Socikwa and Ms Nomonde Pearl Gongxeka be recommended by this House to be submitted to the Minister for consideration, in that one of them be appointed as a councillor when the term expires on 31 March 2011. We hope that the House will accede to the recommendation of the committee. I thank you. [Applause.]

There was no debate.

Question put: That Dr Marcia Socikwa and Ms Nomonde Pearl Gongxeka be recommended for appointment to the Council of Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.

Question agreed to.

Dr Marcia Socikwa and Ms Nomonde Pearl Gongxeka were accordingly recommended for appointment to the Council of Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.

CONSIDERATION OF REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF RECOMMENDATION OF CANDIDATES TO FILL VACANCIES ON THE SABC BOARD

Mr S E KHOLWANE: Chairperson, Deputy President, Ministers present, guests and Members of Parliament, on behalf of the committee I would like to take this opportunity to thank both my predecessor, the hon Ishmael Vadi, and Miss Alma Nel, the then committee secretary, who were both instrumental in laying a good foundation for this process of the appointment of the SABC board.

These vacancies came about as the result of the resignation of four members. I am sure all members in this House are aware of that. On behalf of the committee I would like, again, to thank the four members who resigned from the SABC board for availing themselves to serve on the board, even though their services were short-lived. Furthermore, we must appreciate their professional conduct during their tenure and after their resignation.

Broadcasting in the context of any state, more especially a developmental one such as ours, will always be contested terrain. To believe otherwise would reflect a lack of integrity in dealing with this complex matter.

The request to fill four vacancies at the SABC was received by the committee. Accordingly, we called for the public to give nominations for the board in terms of the Broadcasting Act of 1999. The deadline for the first nomination was 15 November 2010. However, we had to extend the deadline after a request from the Save our SABC Coalition, which was accepted by the committee.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the decision of the Save our SABC Coalition to suspend their call for the boycott of the nomination process. We received 84 nominations, and on 13 January 2011 the committee agreed to shortlist 14 candidates who were interviewed on 18 January, 19 January and 20 January 2011.

In terms of the nominations, there was not a single nomination received from any political party. However, during the interview process some of the candidates revealed their political affiliations. That was due to the questions posed by members of the committee to those particular candidates.

It is my considered view that all the parties in the committee understand the role of the public broadcaster and its significant role in a developmental state, hence the maturity they displayed throughout the process.

To this effect, I would agree with the hon Michael from the DA who has been quoted in the newspaper The New Age as saying, and I quote: “We wish the board members well and we guarantee them our support. This particular round of nominations was done professionally.”

On 1 March 2011 the committee deliberated on the 14 interviewed candidates to select the four persons to serve on the SABC board. By now you are all aware in the House that the committee could not reach consensus on this matter.

The democratic process in terms of the Rules of the House, in particular of the the National Assembly, was employed to select the four candidates. The committee therefore resolved that the House, in accordance with the Broadcasting Act, Act 4 of 1999, recommend to the President that the following candidates be appointed to the SABC board, namely Dr Sethe Patricia Makhesha, Mr John Sembie Danana, Advocate Cawekazi Benedicta Mahlati and Mr Lumko Mtinde. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mrs N W A MICHAEL: Chairperson, given the turmoil that the SABC has undergone in the past years, including compromised integrity as a public broadcaster, allegations of bias, financial mismanagement, governance failures and a state bailout of over a billion rands, the new members of the board have much work ahead of them.

The DA is especially pleased with the nomination of Dr Makhesa. We believe she was an excellent candidate and we believe she will bring a sense of integrity and even-handedness to the board.

We were disappointed that the strongest candidate, in our opinion, Mr Govin Reddy, has not been appointed. We are, however, encouraged by talks within the committee of placing these brilliant, yet unsuccessful candidates, on the advisory board that the Minister is required to establish. Mr Reddy’s experience and the value he can add to South African broadcasting cannot be lost or ignored.

I must voice the DA’s very strong concerns over the nomination of ANC and SACP member Mr Lumko Mtinde. Despite strong objections to his nomination, his name now serves before this House. Mr Mtinde is an outspoken advocate of the mooted media tribunal.

We are of the opinion that it is highly inappropriate for an advocate of a body that shuts down and regulates expression and speech to be appointed a governor of South Africa’s primary source of information.

The public broadcaster should be mandated to relay all information and news accurately, fairly and without any fear of state censorship. On these grounds, the nomination of Mr Mtinde by ANC majority vote seems counterproductive, especially given the current hazardous state of the SABC and its current reputation. This House must please understand that the DA wants the SABC to be a success.

It is in the interests of all South Africans that the SABC operate successfully. It is for this reason that we strongly encourage the Minister to disregard the name of Lumko Mtinde and request the committee to submit to this House another more suitable candidate.

The DA believes that the new board, when constituted, should be cognisant of the fact that the SABC is a public broadcaster and not a state broadcaster. To live up to its mandate, the board will have to govern effectively as custodians of South Africans’ primary source of news, information and entertainment.

Chairperson, in conclusion, allow me to thank those members of the board who stuck it out through very turbulent and often very unpleasant times. Allow me to wish the new members well again and remind them of this: It is an honour to serve your country. Do so with passion and integrity and only with the interests of all South Africans in your heart. Do not allow any form of political interference, and always operate in the interests of democracy and transparency.

In light of the unquestionable need for a free media, allow me to end with this quote from Voltaire: “I may disagree with what you say, but I will fight to my death to have you have the right to say it.” I thank you. [Applause.]

Mrs J D KILIAN: Chairperson, the ANC proved yet again that it is a party that cannot be trusted, and voters in the coming elections must not be hoodwinked again with beautiful undertakings and false promises. [Interjections.] Cope believes that the whole process for the appointment of members to the SABC board was a scam. No matter how the ANC objects in the House today, the truth must prevail.

For the past three to four years, some elements within the ruling alliance have become hellbent on taking control of the SABC. Whereas we, as a committee, agreed what the identified skills shortages were in the board, miraculously only one of the successful four candidates qualify in terms of those criteria. Excellent candidates on the shortlist of 14 were overlooked.

Notwithstanding the intention of the Broadcasting Act to prevent government influence on the SABC, the ANC’s anxiety to take control of this process was clear right from the start. Why did the ANC not ever question the four resignations from the board? For any public broadcaster to lose four prominent board members of the calibre of Ms Barbara Masekela, Mr David Niddrie, Mr Makgatho Mello and Ms Felleng Sekha within a very short space of time signals that there is a problem. Why was the President in such a rush to accept these resignations with immediate effect? They could have served a three-month notice period.

The fact is that these persons tried in vain to alert the former Minister of Communications about political meddling in the affairs of the SABC board. And the President threw down the gauntlet with a subtle message to everybody: Nobody questions me or the ANC.

Of the four new board members, Cope can, unfortunately, only support one: the unanimously appointed Dr Makhesa. Cope has no issue with the other individuals per se, but we have a major issue with the abuse of the nomination process by elements in the ANC, and about how the ANC in the committee, as if per instruction, rammed the decision through.

Not surprisingly, serious concerns and questions raised by opposition members in the committee were carefully edited out on the SABC news channels, just like opposition parties and their messages are carefully edited out.

We are compelled to expose the deplorable manipulation of the nomination process by Luthuli House here today. Four nominations were made by one person, of whom two were successful and serve before the House.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon member, your time has expired. [Interjections.]

Mrs J D KILIAN: It is deplorable that the ANC today has hand-picked the members of the board, which is not in the interests of democracy. [Interjections.] Thank you. [Applause.]

Mr K M ZONDI: Hon Chairperson, first of all, the IFP would like to thank members of the public for the heightened interest they have shown in the affairs of the SABC. When four vacancies occurred on the SABC board owing to the resignations of former board members last year, members of the public were invited to nominate candidates to fill those vacancies, and responses were received from 84 individuals. The committee had to shortlist 15 candidates who had to be interviewed.

We want to point out that, actually, all 15 candidates that were shortlisted were good candidates. This made the process of selecting the four candidates even more difficult. Therefore, the four candidates that are recommended to this House for nomination to the SABC board were, in our view, selected from the cream of the crop.

It is for this reason that the IFP implores this House to support the recommended four candidates to fill the vacancies on the SABC board. [Applause.] We do so for several reasons. Firstly, the SABC has been mired in controversy of one form or another for a long time now. This has dented the image and reputation of the SABC board as the public broadcaster.

Secondly, we now need to give the SABC the opportunity to rebuild their good reputation and to inspire the confidence of the nation to ensure that anyone who is appointed to the SABC board is an individual of impeccable credentials, capable of functioning as part of the team to promote the best interests of the SABC above individual and sectarian interests. Thirdly, we do not think that any of the four recommended candidates deserve harsh judgment before they have been given an opportunity to prove themselves. [Applause.]

The IFP regrets the fact that there was no unanimous agreement on the four candidates presented here, but believes that they should be supported in spite of whatever misgivings there are from certain quarters about this or that candidate. Also, the IFP feels it is the duty of the Portfolio Committee on Communications to exercise strict oversight and vigilance on how these candidates perform their duties as members of the SABC board.

The IFP, therefore, supports the four candidates presented to this House for nomination to fill the vacancies on the SABC board. I thank you, hon Chairperson. [Applause.]

Ms M N MAGAZI: Thank you, Chair. Hon members, Deputy President, all protocol has now been observed. Our historical background and the fact that we fought a liberation struggle to correct the injustices that enslaved the masses of our people mean that the transformation of the public broadcaster would be contested terrain with deep-vested political and ideological interests.

This, regrettably but understandably, has seized the SABC for different periods of time. Today, whilst we are going through the process of appointing candidates, it is this background that makes this debate so significant. We are primarily concerned with the public interest. How this is defined and by whom it is defined, give rise to the contestation.

Whilst today this debate may, at face value, be a procedural exercise, the political weight that is attached to it goes beyond the mere recommendation of appointments being accepted by this House. The fact that we have struggled with the transformation processes of the SABC should come as no surprise. The shareholder in this case has a clear perspective of what is required. Yet, in order for that to be translated requires a board and a chief executive officer who share that vision and mission. If not, we get dragged into the endless tactical struggles around individuals, who wish to extend their concepts of what the SABC should be, and then apply hegemony to try to get what they want.

On this occasion, I believe we need, yet again, to state what is expected by the ANC government as a shareholder from the board, the CEO and those whom we are recommending for appointment. It may have been said before, and we know it has, but, clearly, for whatever vested interest certain people chose not to listen.

So, here it is again in the hope and belief that this time we will all be moving in the same direction, respecting the provisions of the Act that establishes the SABC and being committed to the philosophy which underpins the existence of the SABC.

In broadcasting, it would be unthinkable to rely solely on market forces to ensure the provision of services in an inclusive manner to all South Africans. Public broadcasting is directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs of our society. This means including all South Africans in the sociopolitical developments that characterise the transition to a national democratic society.

With regard to policy instruments that give concrete expression to the fundamental right to freedom of expression, for the SABC to give expression to the fundamental right of freedom of expression, it must go beyond treating South Africans as a mere audience and market captive to its services. It must also approach South Africans as citizens who constitute a public entitled to the many rights that are enshrined in the Constitution, broadcasting and many other statutes.

Secondly, the role played by the SABC is shaped by the history and current context of the country. The SABC has the most pervasive means of communications and has a direct role to play in the establishment and consolidation of democracy, democratic values, norms and standards, and the building of a common consciousness of being South African with a shared frame of reference.

Thirdly, the SABC as a public broadcaster, owned by the South African public, has a special responsibility to ensure the presence and reflection of South Africans from a South African point of view. The SABC must advance South Africa’s national and international interests and project South African values to South Africans and the rest of the world.

Regarding the issue of governance, the contestation is great. Those who are going to make appointments must be reminded that theirs is the duty to ensure that the board functions according to the mandate that has been given, and not to any other undeclared mandate. Vested interests are supposed to be declared upfront, and, if not, the passage of time will reveal this and this will only lead to the weakening of the board.

Whilst we have legislation which defines the mandate of the public broadcaster, it is how this legislation is implemented that will either lead to the realisation of the spirit and intention of the legislation and the ANC government policy or not. It is important to remind those on the board and those to be appointed that policy comes first, and legislation is a reflection of policy.

If this is the case, why then do we have problems with this scenario? We have Soros-funded thinking groups who want a disguised mercantile dictatorship called “independence” against democrats who want power to rest with the people. The “Soros-ites” and the “De-Klerk-ist” constitutionalists are essentially the same.

What the ANC government requires is as follows. The board rules the corporation and not the executive. We have had this battle before and we have cleared the confusion. The board must not get involved with detailed management. This must be left to the CEO. The board must not get involved in executive functions and, worse, be paid for that.

The CEO has clearly defined functions, as does the head of news. These and others should report to the board, whether directly or indirectly. There should not be a dual power situation in the SABC. The shareholder is the ANC government ... [Interjections.] ... and this role is overseen in public by the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications. This is how the power of the people is exercised. [Interjections.] The committee vets appointments to the board and makes recommendations to the President. It continues to receive reports from the board, in public, on behalf of and as instructed by Parliament. [Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, hon members!

Ms M N MAGAZI: The chairman of the board, like any other chairman, is not a boss but should be ruled by the decisions of the board. This, too, has been a matter of struggle and it has been resolved in favour of the board. When it comes to the SABC, there are no nonpartisan positions. Most of the verbiage comes from the “De Klerkists”, “Sorosites” and their fellow travellers.

The ANC government must ensure that the public broadcaster responds in a swift and decisive manner to its mandate. The governance model must be informed by the broader social transformation objectives, which require that the public broadcaster retain a strategic position in our national democratic society. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Adv A D ALBERTS: Agb Voorsitter, die VF Plus verwerp die aanstellings wat die parlementêre Portefeuljekomitee oor Kommunikasie in die SABC-raad gemaak het. Al die aanstellings was ANC-voorkeurkandidate. Dit beteken dat die ANC sy greep op die SABC verder versterk het, en dit is ’n kommerwekkende tendens, spesifiek beskou teen die agtergrond van die komende plaaslike verkiesing.

Die ANC se stoomroller van aanstellings in die SABC se raad het ’n lang geskiedenis. Die VF Plus se vorige verteenwoordiger in die parlementêre Portefeuljekomitee oor Kommunikasie, Dr Pieter Mulder, ’n leier van die VF Plus, het in 2007 uit die komitee gestap aangesien die ANC sy meerderheid in die komitee gebruik het om aanstellings van die SABC-raadslede deur te stoomroller. Hy het by dié geleentheid gesê dat opposisiepartye deur die ANC misbruik word om legitimiteit aan ’n onaanvaarbare prosedure te gee.

En nou weer, net soos met die vorige aanstelling van die raad in 2009, toe die ANC kwansuis die opposisie se kandidaat in ag geneem en haar selfs aangestel het, het die ANC sy eie kandidate aangestel. Hierdie nuwe aanstellings is weer eens ’n bewys dat die ANC nie vertrou kan word nie. Die vraag wat ’n mens jou onwillekeurig wil afvra, is of die ANC vir almal in Suid-Afrika regeer, of net vir sy eie kaders. Minderhede word al hoe meer op die kantlyn geskuif.

Dit bring ’n verdere vraag na vore, en dit is waarom die ANC toelaat dat rasse-ideoloë soos mnr Jimmy Manyi spasie gegee word om beleid te maak wat gemeenskappe polariseer, en ook waarom die SABC-raad nie meer verteenwoordigend van minderhede in Suid-Afrika in die geheel is nie. Waarmee is die ANC eintlik besig?

Die ding is, as julle konflik wil hê, wees verseker dat julle dit gaan kry, maar dis tog in niemand se belang aan die einde van die dag nie. Die party sal die werksaamhede van die SABC-raad — wat eintlik nou ’n ANC-raad is — dophou, en sal nie skroom om verdere stappe te neem indien die ANC die SABC vir eie gewin probeer gebruik nie. (Translation of Afrikaans speech follows.)

[Adv A D ALBERTS: Hon Chairperson, the FF Plus rejects the appointments on the SABC board by the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications. All the appointments were candidates the ANC gave preference to. This means that the ANC has strengthened its hold on the SABC even further and this is worrying, especially against the background of the looming local elections.

The ANC’s fast-tracking of the appointments on the SABC board has a long history. The previous representative of the FF Plus on the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, Dr Pieter Mulder, a leader of the FF Plus, walked out of the committee in 2007 after the ANC used its majority in the committee to fast-track the appointments of the members of the SABC board. At the time he said that the ANC was abusing opposition parties to give legitimacy to an unacceptable procedure.

Now once again, as in the previous appointment of the board in 2009, where the ANC apparently took cognisance of the candidate of the opposition and even employed her, the ANC has appointed its own candidates. These new appointments are once again evidence of the fact that the ANC cannot be trusted. One cannot help but wonder if the ANC rules on behalf of the whole of South Africa, or only on behalf of its own cadres. More and more, minority groups are being pushed aside.

This begs another question: Why does the ANC allow room for racist ideologists such as Mr Jimmy Manyi to make policies that polarise communities? And why is the SABC board not more representative of minority groups in the whole of South Africa? What is the ANC actually doing?

The thing is, if you want conflict, then you can be certain that you will get conflict, but ultimately it really is in no one’s best interest. This party will scrutinise the activities of the SABC board — which is in actual fact an ANC council — and will not hesitate to act if the ANC tries to use the SABC to further its own interests.]

Mr K J DIKOBO: Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy President, hon members and guests, it became very clear to all that there were problems in the SABC board: the controversy surrounding the appointment of Mr Phil Molefe and the suspension of Mr Solly Mokoetle.

We are in no doubt that the earlier rift between the chairperson and the board led to the resignation of the four board members. Azapo supports the appointment of the four candidates and wishes them well in their work. We will do so, hoping that the problems that led to the resignation of the four former board members have been dealt with or will be addressed. Thank you. [Applause.]

Mr C D KEKANA: Chairperson, hon Deputy President, all Members of Parliament, we want to start by celebrating, because while the board was going through this period of turmoil, the SABC had a duty to broadcast the happenings of the World Cup.

Everybody, from all parties, has accepted that our World Cup last year, irrespective of the problems that the board was going through, went very well and that it was the biggest successful thing South Africa has ever experienced. [Applause.] Thank you for the hands, they are nice. [Laughter.]

The other important thing is that the independence of the board, more than any other thing, is ensured through the laws that are in place. It is governed by legislation. There is the Broadcasting Charter, and the independence of the board is also regulated by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.

So, all mechanisms to ensure its unbiasedness and its impartiality are guaranteed by law. However, I want to also say that the board is very important to all of us because the board has a mandate that is in the public interest.

The public of South Africa told us only now in our different political parties that the mandate they are giving us is to create jobs, and this message must be communicated because we are not going to create jobs alone as a government. We will have to create jobs with the people. The people are the best assets for job creation that this country has.

As a result, when analysts say to us we need engineers, we have to go back to our people and say we need to train you as engineers, so that these engineers can create factories to employ people. And I must just say briefly, by the way, that historically, by law, blacks were not allowed to be engineers. That is why all black universities such as Turfloop, Fort Hare, Ongoye, even the independent homeland ones — the University of Bophuthatswana, Transkei — and even the first urban black university, according to P W Botha’s reform vista, did not have engineering faculties. This was because an engineering faculty was forbidden territory. It was a forbidden tree in the garden of Eden. [Laughter.]

The mandate that we have from our people is to create jobs and that mandate says to us the board must drive ...

An HON MEMBER: Would the member take a question, hon Chair?

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon member ...

Mr C D KEKANA: I won’t take a question, but if he listens, it will be answered as I talk. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

An HON MEMBER: Ngumngane wakho okhulumayo. [It’s your friend who is speaking.]

Mr C D KEKANA: We are then saying that the broadcasting mechanism must communicate the strong message that for us to create jobs in the country, we need to produce engineers.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, hon members! The level of noise is too high in the House. Let us give the speaker an opportunity to be heard.

Mr C D KEKANA: In addition to the deprivation of engineers in the past, it was also said by law in this country that blacks could not own factories. And, in fact, if you were there with a shop, that shop was not supposed to employ people. It was the law that blacks were not allowed to employ wage earners and salary earners.

So you can imagine: We are coming from a tradition where the law was making people unproductive, because they were not allowed to be engineers and own their own factories. Secondly, these people could not employ other people. You were supposed to run your shop both in the rural and urban areas with your next of kin: either with your children, cousins ... [Applause.]

Mr M J ELLIS: Mr Chairman, on a point of order: While I appreciate the fact that the hon member receives some applause, which is more than the hon Blade Ndzimande has ever had ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): What is your point of order, hon member? [Laughter.]

Mr M J ELLIS: The point of order is that I have no idea what the hon member is talking about — in terms of the issue, the Order Paper and the issue before the House today. It is totally and utterly irrelevant.

Mr C D KEKANA: The point is that ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, hon member! Mr Ellis, you may take your seat. You may continue, hon member.

Mr C D KEKANA: The point I am making is that, given that history, the mandate of the SABC as a broadcaster is a mandate that is a ground-breaking mandate, because it has to change history. I know this history is irritating to some people. [Applause.] But the point is: What we are actually doing as the ANC government is to use the broadcaster to carry a mandate that is ground-breaking, because we need to do things for the first time in this country.

There is no history and there is no culture of blacks creating jobs. So, we are doing something that is altogether new to people who are listening and getting irritated. [Laughter.] [Applause.] They are probably not used to this type of people coming up and creating jobs and also developing the economy on their own.

This is a very important message that we must carry to our people. Our people must know today that they don’t have other bosses; they are bosses themselves. They cannot expect any other person to create jobs for them, because while people own the economy, they are not creating jobs. Our people must stand up, rise up and create jobs for themselves. [Applause.] This is the strong message that we must carry.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, hon member! Yes, Mr Ellis?

Mr M J ELLIS: Mr Chairman, on a point of order: I read that this item on the Order Paper has to do with the recommendations of candidates to fill vacancies on the SABC board. [Interjections.] While I understand that by creating or filling vacancies they might be creating jobs ... [Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Turok, will you take your seat. Let me listen to this point of order from the hon Ellis first, and then we will come to you. Yes, hon Ellis?

Mr M J ELLIS: You will get your turn, Ben. Mr Chairman, we are talking about four jobs on the SABC board. Why is the hon member allowed to speak at length about job creation in the country as a whole? It makes no sense.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Thank you, hon member. You may take your seat. Mr Ellis, you would realise that, even though we are discussing the filling here of vacancies on the SABC board, this is a political debate that we are having and that allows for broader discussion, and that is what the speaker is doing. So, I will rule at the appropriate time if indeed the speaker is out of order. Hon Turok?

Mr M J ELLIS: Mr Chairman ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Ellis, would you take your seat, please.

Mr M J ELLIS: I have to reply to your point; your ... [Inaudible.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Will you take your seat, please. Thank you. Hon Turok?

Prof B TUROK: My point of order is about that point of order.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Turok, will you take your seat, please.

Prof B TUROK: The hon member is disrupting the speaker and we must not allow that. He is disrupting the speaker ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon member, would you take your seat, please. Hon Ellis, I am not going to take a further point of order from you.

Mr M J ELLIS: I just want to say, Mr Chair, that he was disrupting me.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Would you take your seat, please.

Mr M J ELLIS: He was disrupting me. He was disrupting me.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Would you take your seat, please. [Interjections.] Order, hon members! Hon Kekana, you may continue.

Mr C D KEKANA: Hon Chairperson, I still persist that we cannot see candidates for the board in isolation from a broader mandate of our people. They must have a mandate. [Applause.] When we choose them, we must ensure that, as a nation, we are choosing people that are able and willing to carry out a mandate. Without a mandate, there is no candidate, so the two go together. [Applause.]

This is the duty and this is the big call that our broadcasters are called upon today to perform. They cannot communicate anything, except what is in the public interest. And they cannot communicate anything that is not helping our people to get out of poverty and their plight of unemployment. That is our number one mandate for all parties. Otherwise, we are not caring. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

Question put: That Dr Sethe Patricia Makhesa, Mr John Sembie Danana, Adv Cawekazi Benedicta Mahlati and Mr Lumko Mtimbe be recommended for appointment to the Board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Are there any objections?

HON MEMBERS: No.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): There are no objections.

Mr M J ELLIS: Mr Chairman, I want to say seriously that the DA obviously supports this question, but we have made it very clear that there is one name there that we have a particular problem with.

Question agreed to (Congress of the People and Freedom Front Plus dissenting).

Dr Sethe Patricia Makhesa, Mr John Sembie Danana, Adv Cawekazi Benedicta Mahlati and Mr Lumko Mtimde accordingly recommended for appointment to the Board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

The House adjourned at 16:28.

________

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly

The Speaker

Referral to Committees of Bills introduced

The following Bills are referred to the Standing Committee on Appropriations for consideration and report in terms of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, 2009 (Act No 9 of 2009):

Appropriation Bill [B 3 - 2011] (National Assembly – sec 77).

Division of Revenue Bill [B 4‑2011 (Reprint)] (National Assembly – sec 76(1)).

2. Referral to Committees of papers tabled

(1) The following papers are referred to the Standing Committee on Appropriations in terms of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, 2009 (Act No 9 of 2009):

(a) Estimates of National Expenditure [RP 7-2011]

(b) Budget Review 2011 [RP 5-2011]

(2) The following papers are referred to the relevant portfolio committees for consideration in terms of their respective mandates and the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act (No 9 of 2009):

(a) Vote No 3 – Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs – to the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(b) Vote No 4 – Home Affairs – to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(c) Vote No 5 – International Relations and Cooperation – to the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

Vote No 7 – Public Works – to the Portfolio Committee on Public Works for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(e) Vote No 8 – Women, Children and People with Disabilities – to the Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(f) Vote No 9 – Government Communication and Information System – to the Portfolio Committee on Communications for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(g) Vote No 10 – National Treasury – to the Standing Committee on Finance for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(h) Vote No 11 – Public Enterprises – to the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(i) Vote No 12 – Public Service and Administration – to the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(j) Vote No 13 – Statistics South Africa [Minister in The Presidency: National Planning Commission] – to the Standing Committee on Finance for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(k) Vote No 14 – Arts and Culture – to the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(l) Vote No 15 – Basic Education – to the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(m) Vote No 16 – Health – to the Portfolio Committee on Health for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(n) Vote No 17 – Higher Education and Training – to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(o) Vote No 18 – Labour – to the Portfolio Committee on Labour for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(p) Vote No 19 – Social Development – to the Portfolio Committee on Social Development for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(q) Vote No 20 – Sport and Recreation South Africa – to the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(r) Vote No 21 – Correctional Services – to the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(s) Vote No 22 – Defence and Military Veterans – to the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(t) Vote No 23 – Independent Complaints Directorate – to the Portfolio Committee on Police for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(u) Vote No 24 – Justice and Constitutional Development – to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(v) Vote No 25 – Police – to the Portfolio Committee on Police for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(w) Vote No 26 – Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries – to the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(x) Vote No 27 – Communications – to the Portfolio Committee on Communications for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(y) Vote No 28 – Economic Development – to the Portfolio Committee on Economic Development for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(z) Vote No 29 – Energy – to the Portfolio Committee on Energy for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(aa) Vote No 30 – Environmental Affairs – to the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(bb) Vote No 31 – Human Settlements – to the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(cc) Vote No 32 – Mineral Resources – to the Portfolio Committee on Mining for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(dd) Vote No 33 – Rural Development and Land Reform – to the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(ee) Vote No 34 – Science and Technology – to the Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(ff) Vote No 35 – Tourism – to the Portfolio Committee on Tourism for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(gg) Vote No 36 – Trade and Industry – to the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

(hh) Vote No 37 – Transport – to the Portfolio Committee on Transport for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

Vote No 38 – Water Affairs – to the Portfolio Committee on Water Affairs for consideration and report, as well as Responses to Recommendations in Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports [Budget Review 2011].

The following paper is referred to the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and the Portfolio Committee on Police for consideration:

(a) Public Protector Report No 33 of 2010‑11 on an investigation into complaints and allegations of maladministration, improper and unlawful conduct by the Department of Public Works and the South African Police Service relating to the leasing of office accommodation in Pretoria.

The following papers are referred to the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry:

(a) Agreement between the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on Economic Cooperation, tabled in terms of section 231(3) of the Constitution, 1996.

(b) Explanatory Memorandum to the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on Economic Cooperation.

The following paper is referred to the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) Annual Performance Plan of the South African Local Government Association (Salga) for 2011‑12.

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson

(a) Strategic Plan and Budget of the Auditor-General of South Africa for 2011-2014 [RP 271-2010].

(b) Strategic Plan of the Public Service Commission (PSC) for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

The Presidency

(a) Strategic Plan of the Presidency for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(b) Strategic Plan of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Strategic Plan of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for 201/12 – 2014/15, including the Strategic Plan of the Marine Living Resources Fund for 2010 – 2011.

Strategic Plan of the Agriculture Research Council (Business Plan) for 2011 – 2012 [RP 14-2011].

Strategic Plan of the National Agricultural Marketing Council for 2011 – 2014.

Strategic Plan of Onderstepoort Biological Products Ltd for 2011 – 2012.

Strategic Plan of the Perishable Products Export Control Board for 2011 – 2012.
Strategic Plan of the Ncera Farms (Pty) Ltd for 2011 – 2012.

4. The Minister of Basic Education

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Basic Education for 2011 – 2014.

(b) Strategic and Operational Plan of the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) for 2011 – 2012.

5. The Minister of Communications

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Communications for 2011 – 2014.

(b) Strategic Plan of the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa 2009 – 2014.

(d) Strategic Plan of the South African Broadcasting Corporation Post Office for 2011 – 2014.

(e) Strategic and Corporate Plan of the South African Post Office for 2011/12 - 2013/14.

(f) Strategic and Corporate Plan of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa for 2011 - 2014.

(g) Strategic Plan of the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA).

6. The Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Strategic Plan of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities for 2011 – 2016.

(b) Strategic Plan and Budget of the Municipal Demarcation Board for 2011 – 2015.

7. The Minister of Correctional Services

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Correctional Services for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

8. The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Defence for 2011/12 – 2015/16 [RP 31-2011].

(b) Annual Performance Plan of the Department of Defence for 2011 [RP 32-2011].

9. The Minister of Economic Development

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Economic Development for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

(b) Strategic Plan of the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

(d) Strategic Plan of the Competition Commission for 2011 – 2016.

(e) Strategic Plan of the Competition Tribunal for 2011 – 2016.

(f) Strategic Plan of the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

10. The Minister of Energy

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Energy for 2011/2012 – 2015/2016.

11. The Minister of Finance

(a) The Estimates of National Expenditure 2011 [RP 7-2011]

(b) Strategic Plan of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for 2011/12 – 2013/14 [RP 35-2011].

12. The Minister of Health

(a) Strategic Plan of the National Department of Health for 2011/12 – 2013/14 [RP 38-2011].

(b) Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan of the Competition Commissioner for Occupational Diseases (CCOD) for 2011/12 – 2014/15 [RP 35-2011].

(d) Strategic Plan of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) for 2010 – 2015 and Annual Performance Plan for 2011 – 2012.

(e) Strategic Plan for 2011/12 – 2014/15, the Annual Performance Plan for 2011 – 12 and the Budget and Levy Notice of the Council for Medical Schemes.

13. The Minister of Higher Education and Training

(a) Strategic Plan of the National Department of Higher Education and Training for 2010/11 – 2014/15 [RP 1516-2011].

(b) Strategic Plan of Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SAS SETA) for 2011 – 2016.

(d) Strategic Plan of the Tourism and Hospitality Sector Education and Training Authority (THETA) for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

(e) Strategic Plan of Agricultural Sector Education and Training Authority (AGRI-SETA) for 2011 – 2016.

(f) Strategic Plan of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) for 2011 – 2014.

(g) Strategic Plan of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(h) Strategic Plan of the Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority for 2011 – 2016.

(i) Strategic Plan of the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) for 2011 – 2016.

(j) Strategic Plan of the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HW-SETA) for 2011 – 2016.

(k) Strategic Plan of the Chemical Industries Sector Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) for 2011/12 – 20131/14.

(l) Strategic Plan of the Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(m) Strategic Plan of the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(n) Strategic Plan of the Food and Beverage Manufacturing Industry Sector Education and Training Authority (FOODBEV-SETA) for 2011 – 2015.

(o) Strategic Plan of the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W&R-SETA) for 2011 – 2014.

(p) Strategic Plan of the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LG-SETA) for 2011 – 2014.

(q) Strategic Plan of the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA) for 2011 – 2016.

(r) Strategic Plan of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (MER-SETA) for 2010/11 – 2015/16.

(s) Strategic Plan of the Construction Education and Training Sector Education and Training Authority (CETA) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(t) Strategic and Business Plan of the Education Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP) for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

(u) Education Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority Sector Skills Plan (Final Draft - 2011).

(v) Strategic Plan of the Financial and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (FASSET) for 2011 – 2012.

(w) Strategic Plan of the Services Sector Education and Training Authority for 2011 – 2016.

14. The Minister of Home Affairs

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Home Affairs for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(b) Strategic Plan of the Film and Publication Board (FPB) for 2011 – 2014.

15. The Minister of Human Settlements

(a) Updated Departmental Strategic and Performance Plans of the Department of Human Settlements for 2011 – 2014.

16. The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation for 2011 – 2014.

17. The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for 2011 – 2016 (Annual Review 2011 – 12).

(b) Annual Performance Plan of the National Prosecuting Authority for 2011 -12.

18. The Minister of Labour

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Labour for 2011 – 2016 [RP 20-2011].

Strategic Plan of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.
Strategic Plan and Business Plan of Productivity SA for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

Strategic Plan of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) for 2011/12– 2015/16.

Strategic Plan of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for 2010 – 2015.

Strategic Plan of the Compensation Fund for 2011 – 2016.

19. The Minister of Mineral Resources

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Mineral Resources for 2011 – 2014 [RP 3-2011].

(b) Strategic Plan of the Council for Mineral Technology (Shareholder Performance Agreement) for 2011-2012.

(d) Strategic Plan of the Mine Health and Safety Council (MHSC) for 2011/12 – 2013/14

(e) Strategic Plan of the Council for Geoscience for 2011/12 – 2013/14

20. The Minister of Police

(a) Strategic Plan of the Independent Complaints Directorate for 2011 – 2016.

(b) Annual Performance Plan of the Independent Complaints Directorate for 2011 – 2012

21. The Minister of Public Enterprises

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Public Enterprises for 2011 – 2014.

22. The Minister for the Public Service and Administration

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) for 2011 – 2012.

(b) Strategic Plan of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) for 2011 – 2012.

23. The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform for 2011 – 2014.

(b) Strategic Plan and Budget of the Ingonyama Trust Board for 2011 – 2012.

24. The Minister of Science and Technology

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Science and Technology for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

(b) Strategic Plan of the Technology Innovation Agency for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

(d) Strategic Plan of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) for 2011/12 - 2015/16.

(e) Strategic Plan of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for 2011/12 - 2013/14.

(f) Strategic Plan of the National Research Foundation (NRF) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(g) Annual Performance Plan of the National Research Foundation (NRF) 2011 – 12.

(h) Strategic Plan of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(i) Strategic Plan of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF) for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

25. The Minister of Social Development

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Social Development for 2011/12 – 2013/14 [RP 41-2011].

(b) Strategic Plan of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) for 2011/12 – 2013/14 [RP 26-2011].

26. The Minister of Sport and Recreation

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Sport and Recreation South Africa for 2011 – 2015.

27. The Minister in The Presidency: National Planning Commission

(a) Work Programme of Statistics South Africa for 2011 - 12.

28. The Minister in The Presidency: Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration in The Presidency

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

(b) Strategic Plan of the International Marketing Council (IMC) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

29. The Minister of Tourism

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Tourism for 2011/12 – 2015/16.

(b) Annual Performance Plan of the Department of Tourism for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(d) Annual Performance Plan of South African Tourism for 2011 – 2012.

30. The Minister of Trade and Industry

(a) Medium Term Strategic Plan of the Department of Trade and Industry for 2011 – 2014.

(b) Strategic Plan of the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(d) Strategic Plan National Gambling Board (NGB) for 2011 – 2014.

(e) Strategic Plan of the National Metrology Institute of South Africa for 2011 – 2014.

(f) Strategic and Business Plan of the National Credit Regulator (NCR) for 2011 – 2012/2014.

(g) Strategic Plan of the National Regulator Compulsory Specifications (NCRS) for 2011 – 2014.

(h) Strategic Plan of the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(i) Strategic Plan of the National Consumer Tribunal for 2011 – 2014.

(j) Strategic Plan of the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa Limited (ECIC) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(k) Strategic Plan of the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) for 2011/12 – 2013/14 [RP 15-2011].

(l) Strategic Plan of the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) for 2011/12 – 2014.

(m) Corporate Plan of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) for 2011 – 2014.

(n) Strategic Plan of the National Consumer Commission (NCC) for 2011 – 2014 [RP 10-2011].

(o) Strategic Plan of the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

31. The Minister of Transport

(a) Strategic Plan (Corporate and Budget Plan) of the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) for 2011 – 2014.

(b) Strategic Plan of the Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company Limited for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(d) Strategic Plan of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(e) Strategic Plan of the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) for 2011 – 2015.

(f) Strategic Plan of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(g) Strategic Plan of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) for 2011/2012 – 2013/2014.

(h) Strategic Plan of the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(i) Strategic Plan of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) for 2012 – 2014.

(j) Strategic Plan of the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) for 2011 – 2014.

(k) Strategic Plan of the Driving License Card Account for 2011/12 – 2014.

32. The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Water Affairs for 2011 – 2016.

(b) Strategic Plan of the South African Weather Service for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

(d) Strategic Plan of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) for 2011 – 2015 and Annual Performance Plan for 2011 - 2012.

(e) Strategic Plan (Corporate Strategy) of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority for 2012 – 2016.

33. The Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities

(a) Strategic Plan of the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities for 2011 – 2015.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. Report of the Mediation Committee on the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Bill [B 15B and B 15D - 2010] (National Assembly – sec 76), dated 09 March 2011:

The Mediation Committee, having considered the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Bill [B 15B and B 15D-2010] (National Assembly – sec 76) as well as papers referred to it, reports that it has agreed to a new version of the Bill [B 15F-2010].

Report to be considered

2. Report of the Mediation Committee on the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Bill [B 16B and B 16D - 2010] (National Assembly – sec 76), dated 09 March 2011:

The Mediation Committee, having considered the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Bill [B16B and B16D-2010] (National Assembly – sec 76) as well as papers referred to it, reports that it has agreed to a new version of the Bill [B 16F-2010].

Report to considered

National Assembly

CREDA INSERT - T110309e-insert1 – PAGES 611-626

2. Report of the Committee on Private Members’ Legislative Proposals and Special Petitions on the legislative proposal to amend the Land and Agriculture Development Bank Act, No 15 of 2002 (Honourable PJC Pretorius), dated 2 March 2011:

The Committee on Private Members’ Legislative Proposals and Special Petitions, having considered the legislative proposal to amend the Land and Agriculture Development Bank Act, No 15 of 2002, and consulted with the Standing Committee on Finance, the National Treasury and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, recommends that permission not be granted to the member to proceed with the proposed legislation.

The committee wishes to make the following observations with regard to its recommendation:

both the National Treasury and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries identified certain challenges that surround the effective implementation of the Land and Agriculture Development Bank Act, No 15 of 2002;

the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries indicated that a turn-around strategy, to deal with identified challenges, has been reported to the relevant parliamentary committees; and
the national executive seeks to address legislative issues relating to the administration of the Land Bank in a holistic manner, and not by way of piecemeal amendment of relevant legislation.

In light of the above, the committee is of the view that the legislative proposal of Honourable PJC Pretorius is not feasible and should not be proceeded with. [Honourable PJC Pretorius (Democratic Alliance) and Honourable L Greyling (Independent Democrats) dissenting.]

Report to be considered.

Audio

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NA: Unrevised hansard

Hansard: NA: Unrevised hansard

House: National Assembly

Date of Meeting: 09 Mar 2011

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