Chairperson, hon Chief Whip, hon members, Ministers of Public Works and of Human Settlements, both Deputy Ministers, members of the executive committee, members of provincial legislatures, and my fellow Members of Parliament, let me quickly respond to Mr Groenewald. It is only a blind person who doesn't see the changes that are taking place in all the provinces, where our government is making sure that our people are provided with houses. It is true that the DA is blind, because where it is, it provides our people with open toilets without walls! [Interjections.]
Let me hasten my response, and put it upfront, by saying that we support both budgets unreservedly. Let me caution that this is not a blank cheque but an instrument to be used to complete the journey that was entered upon by our forebears in Bloemfontein in 1912, which culminated in a programme of action that was crafted by delegates from all walks of life in Kliptown when they attended the Congress of the People in 1955 - not in 2008. [Interjections.] Their vision was to create a united, democratic, nonracial, nonsexist and prosperous South Africa.
It is a journey that has brought us to where we are standing today. This vision is succinctly explained in the Freedom Charter, which states:
All people shall have the right to live where they choose, be decently housed and to bring up their families in comfort and security;
Unused housing space shall be made available to the people; Rent and prices shall be lowered, food plentiful and no one shall go hungry; ...
Slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, creches (sic) and social centres;
This was not said by the Minister of Human Settlements or by me, but by those who converged on Kliptown in 1955.
Let me take the debate further by quoting what Marx and Engels said, "If man is shaped by environment, his environment must be made human". It is in this context that the President established the Department of Human Settlements to deal with the programme of action which was placed before us to complete the task of the delegates who attended the Congress of the People in 1955 - not in 2008.
We are appealing to you, hon Minister, to let us make the environment of our people more human by providing them with decent houses, roads, lighting, playing fields, crches and social centres. This is not something new, because when the apartheid regime were building suburbs, they provided people with good infrastructure even before erecting houses. Our people deserve nothing less than what is provided in suburbs.
Whilst we have made strides in addressing the housing backlog, much still has to be done. The challenges are immense in relation to what we have achieved. In all of the protests, the battle cry is for the provision of houses.
We request that you fast-track the accreditation of municipalities to build houses for their own municipalities. The process is very slow. There is no commitment from the department to giving capacity and support to all municipalities. We need to come up with a plan that will capacitate municipalities. We should identify and target municipalities that can be put into this programme, especially municipalities where there is a huge housing backlog. This should be processed and installed in phases until all municipalities are put into the programme.
The intention is to cut out the middleman. The resources that normally go the middleman will increase housing allocations. This will also assist in job creation and the provision of skills. Whilst we are addressing the plight of the poor, we should be mindful of not lowering the standards of the middle class by dragging them deeper into poverty. The subsidy that is provided to them is insufficient. The banks are still charging them high interest rates.
Ke a leboha Letona hobane o boletse hore le e shebile taba ena. [I thank you, Minister, because you have mentioned that you are looking into this matter.]
Hon Minister, you are leading a department which has been ravaged by corruption. Corruption is a cancer that is devouring the benefits that are intended for downtrodden and deserving communities. We met with your departmental officials, but there was no anticorruption plan in their presentation. We are not aware of how you envisage combating this practice and rooting the cancer out of the bones. The time for self-enrichment is over.
Ke a leboha hape hobane puong ya hao o boletse hore ho na le mehato e le e nkang ho thibela monyofonyofo. [I thank you because in your speech you mentioned that you are taking steps to prevent corruption.]
Last month we commemorated the death of Chris Hani, a death and loss from which we cannot recover, even today. This is what a British journalist, John Carlin, had to say about him: If Nelson Mandela was the patriarch, the jailed Messiah, Hani was the man with whom activists identified on a more familiar level. He was the brother in arms, an idol among the black youth, the symbol of armed resistance, before they even knew what he looked like.
His charisma survived the legend.
I am just thinking aloud, Mr Minister. What would you say to Comrade Chris if you were to meet him tomorrow? I know these would be the questions he would be asking: "We were in the trenches together, and is this the society we fought for and sacrificed for our entire lives? Is this the society for which we fought and for which I laid down my life? Is this the society that we tried to create, where the poor are still poor and the rich are becoming increasingly richer? Is this how we wanted to break the monopoly on capital and distribute the wealth of the country to ordinary people?" I know he would ask you all these questions, on and on.
Let me quote his words from the book entitled Hani: A Life Too Short:
I've never wanted to spare myself because I feel there are people who are no longer around who died for this struggle. What right do I have to hold back, to rest, to preserve my health, to have time with my family when there are other people who are no longer alive - when they sacrificed what is precious, namely life itself?
Lastly, Minister, he would be saying to you that you have been handed a baton of leadership, which has been transferred from one ANC generation to the next. What are you doing with that baton in your hand? Our people deserve better. I rest my case. Thank you. [Applause.]