Speaker, in order to make sense of the Employment Services Bill, one needs to paint the setting of the world it is trying to change. Yesterday I heard a bulletin on the radio of a young mother who poisoned her two children and then committed suicide as she could not continue to live on the social grant anymore. This terrible event sums up, in a nutshell, the terrible prospects many people in this country face every day.
Ek kan ook vir u verhale vertel van pensioenarisse wat nie meer woonplek of kos kan bekostig nie en hulleself ook vergiftig of op 'n ander wyse selfmoord pleeg. Ek sien dit veral by die Transnet-pensioenarisse. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[I can also tell you stories about pensioners who can no longer afford a place to live or food and who also poison themselves or commit suicide by other means. I see this particularly in the case of Transnet pensioners.]
So, while we are confronted with these cries for help, it is disconcerting to realise that the ANC is implementing policy that is destroying the economy. The regulatory impact assessment, RIA, report on the Employment Equity Amendment Bill, including analyses by many economists, is scathing in what this piece of racist law will do to the economy.
This law will not only redistribute existing economic value, it will actively destroy economic value. It is furthermore extremely worrying to see the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Bill's passage that will have the same destructive effect on the economy. Even worse is that no independent research exists that indicate that BBBEE is actually working. The proof is rather that it is merely redistributing the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Teen hierdie agtergrond maak die wetsontwerp oor arbeidsdienste sy verskyning. Daar bestaan egter vele gebreke. Eerstens wil die staat deur middel van dwang 'n privaatfunksie oorneem wat bes moontlik ongrondwetlik is. Tweedens wil die staat poste aanbied op grond van rassistiese wetgewing, naamlik die Wet op Gelyke Indiensneming. Laastens wil die staat poste aanbied binne 'n ekonomie wat swaarkry, juis vanwe inmenging op rassebasis wat nie volhoubaar is nie weens 'n gebrek aan voldoende opgeleide kandidate en 'n disfunksionele onderwysstelsel. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Against this background the employment services Bill has put in an appearance. However, there are many flaws. Firstly, the state wants to take over a private function by way of coercion, which may well be unconstitutional. Secondly, the state wants to offer posts based on racist legislation, namely the Employment Equity Act. Lastly, the state wants to offer posts within an economy that is struggling, precisely because of interference based on race, which is not sustainable because of a lack of sufficiently trained candidates and a dysfunctional education system.]
The Bill's objective, to promote employment against the backdrop of affirmative action and BBBEE, is nothing but ANC window-dressing and playing the fiddle while Rome is burning.
Wat die DA betref, kan ek net s dat hulle die minderhede in die land verraai het. Julle het wel laat omgedraai oor regstellende aksie, maar nie 'n woord gerep oor SEB nie, wat 'n nog strenger definisie van bevoordeeldes het en dus meer rassisties is as die ander wet. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Regarding the DA, I can only say that they have betrayed the minorities in this country. You may have made a late about-turn on affirmative action, but haven't uttered a word on BEE, which has an even stricter definition of beneficiaries and is therefore more racist than the other Act.]
When you decided to support the BBBEE Amendment Bill, it was not merely an accumulation of mistakes, as you tried to disguise your support for the Employment Equity Amendment Bill. Are you now going to support this Bill? If not, should Zille, Mazibuko and the MPs who openly supported that Bill not also be redeployed, like the others? Think about that.