Hon Deputy Speaker, I am sorry that the Finance Minister couldn't join us today, but to the Deputy Finance Minister, the bottom line is that other emerging market economies are growing twice as fast as we are in the same global economy. Could this be because every time the Finance Minister proposes reforms to the labour market, like he did in 2012, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Cosatu, runs to the President to ask him to stop? Is it because every time he proposes holding public servants and teachers to account the SA Democratic Teachers Union, Sadtu, and the SA Municipal Workers' Union, Samwu, block his efforts? Is it because every year he puts more money into infrastructure spending the state-owned entities underspend their infrastructure budgets by 20% to 40%? Could it be because the reform agenda of this government in the NDP is held hostage by vested interests within the tripartite alliance?
Are these the reasons that South Africa grew at 1,9% last year while other middle-income countries like Chile, Malaysia, Peru and Vietnam all grew at between 4% and 5,5%? Thank you.