Somlomo, Mongameli ohloniphekileyo neSekela lakho namaLungu ePhalamende ahloniphekileyo ... [Speaker, hon President and your Deputy and hon Members of Parliament ...]
... this is the last state of the nation debate before that watershed moment in the history of our country and people - the centenary celebration of the birth of the ANC, the oldest liberation movement on our continent. [Applause.] Even though the centenary is only about the last 100 years, it is important to recall that the South African nation is a product of many streams of history and culture, representing the origins, dispersal and reintegration of humanity over hundreds of thousands of years. Archaeological findings in various parts of the country and the rest of the continent have now firmly located South Africa and the continent at large as the cradle of humanity and early forms of human civilization.
The formation and evolution of the ANC must be understood within the context of this early civilization and our own development as a nation. Formed in 1912, the ANC was partly a response to the deal between the Dutch settlers and the British imperialist power at the end of the Anglo-Boer War.
In 1910, it formalised a South African statehood premised on political oppression, social subordination and the exclusion of the majority of the people, as well as the defeat of the Bambatha Rebellion in 1906, which marked the end of armed resistance against colonial occupation.
Following this, South Africans from different walks of life, all provinces, all sectors including religious leaders, traditional chiefs, the intelligentsia and others, forged a unity in struggle under the rallying call of, and I quote:
Mzulu, Mxhosa, Msotho hlanganani! [Zulus, Xhosas and Sothos unite!]
Pixley ka Seme aptly articulated, and I quote:
The demon of tribalism and the aberration of the Xhosa-Fingo feud, the animosity that exists between the Zulus and the Tongas, the Basothos and every native, must be buried and forgotten, it has shed amongst us sufficient blood. We are one people.
As a liberation movement, the ANC set to unite all South Africans in their diversity behind the struggle for liberation and the transformation of our society. Being itself a multiclass organisation, the ANC worked with all the people of South Africa and all classes, including the working class and the communists.
It also worked with the Congress of the Democrats,the Coloured People's Congress and the South African Indian Congress. Accordingly, the ANC has always seen itself as a movement that belonged to all South Africans, the African continent and also to the progressive forces of the world.
Being conscious of the fact that the ANC, as a liberation movement, needed to be rooted amongst the people and work with the people, it also worked with the women, youth, rural masses, religious communities, cultural workers and business people. It truly characterised a liberation movement, and took up various issues that affected the people of South Africa.
In so doing, it was able to deal with all issues, from land dispossession to education, bus boycotts, pass laws, inadequate health care and housing, to name a few, and for the holistic transformation of South Africa into a truly democratic, nonsexist, nonracial and prosperous country. Accordingly, the ANC, in its commitment to the people of South Africa as a whole, unambiguously declared in the Freedom Charter in 1955, for our people and the world to know, that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.
Today, I think it is proper to honour some of the people. I'll mention a few who were part of organising the formation of the ANC; people like Dr W Rubusani, T Mapikela, Rev John Dube, S Msane, Sol Plaatje, Pixley ka Seme, Albert Mangena, Richard Msimang and George Montsioa, who played a major role in the formation of this glorious movement.
Thina sonke-ke balapha eNingizimu Afrika, okufaka nathi esikhona kule Ndlu ehloniphekileyo yesiShayamthetho, impela kufanele ukuthi siwakhumbule lawa maqhawe ngoba ukuba akazange ahlangane esontweni lamaWeseli eMangaung ziyisishiyagalombili kuJanuwari ngonyaka ka-1912; abeka isakhiwo esiqinile sokuthi ikusasa laleli lizwe libe ngelikhululekile elibuswa ngentando yeningi, elingacwasi ngobuhlanga nangobulili. Ukuba abakwenzanga lokho ngabe asihlezi la ngokuziqhenya ukuthi siyiphalamende lentando yeningi. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[All of us, the citizens of South Africa, including us here in the National Assembly, must indeed remember these heroes because had they not met in the Methodist church in Mangaung on 8 January 1912, and laid a solid foundation for the free future of this country to be governed democratically, and in a non-racial and non-sexist manner, we would not be seated here with pride of being a democratic Parliament. [Applause.]]
The centenary represents a solemn and historic moment for the people of our country, the continent and indeed progressive humanity in general. The celebration also affords us an excellent opportunity to, as our icon Tata Nelson Mandela said, and I quote:
Take a moment to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds us, to look back on the distance we have come without lingering.
Looking at the vista, we can say without fear of contradiction that much has been achieved over the last century.
I will only mention a few of some of the major achievements of the century because if I had to mention all of them, we'd be here for a week. They are: One, all our people have been united behind the struggle for freedom and democracy, and the restoration of all South Africans' dignity has been achieved; two, we have a legitimate state that derives its authority from the people through regular elections and proper participation in the processes of government; three, popular participation in the processes of government has been established; four, we have a very progressive Constitution with a Bill of Rights; five, we have a single citizenship, one population register and one bar-coded identification document for all South Africans; six, we recognise 11 official languages in our country.
Our freedom of movement, association and speech is guaranteed. As a country, we proudly participate in the affairs of the global family of nations through the multilateral and bilateral forums. We are well on the way towards building a united African nation whose diversity is its strength and that will add to the tapestry of the continent and humanity at large.
Working together with all the people of South Africa, we have also been able to provide basic needs to the majority of South Africans.
Izinto ezinjengamanzi, ugesi, ezempilo, ezemfundo, ukuthuthukiswa kwezindawo ezisemaphandleni, imigwaqo, ezemidlalo nokungcebeleka, izindlu kanye nokunye okuningi esesikwenzile. Kwezesayensi nobuchwepheshe sesize sinemoto kagesi ezokwakhiwa lapha. Ngakho-ke, kuningi osekwenzekile kodwa sisasho futhi ukuthi kuningi okusadingeka ukuthi kwenzeke.
INingizimi Afrika isiyilizwe elithandwa ngabantu bomhlaba wonke, asebakwazi nokulivakashela. Kulo nyaka nje esiphuma kuwo bacishe bafika ezigidini eziyi-10 abantu abasivakashele, ngoba nje bezithandela ukuzobona iNingizimu Afrika enhle. Akusashiwo njengakuqala ukuthi abantu base-Afrika kanye nabanye akudingeki amaphasipoti abo abe nesitembu salapha eNingizimu Afrika.
INingizimu Afrika seyivulekile, iphilisana kahle nomakhelwane bayo, akusaliwa, sesingabantu abaziwayo ukuthi siyakwazi ukwenza uxolo lapho kukhona khona ukungezwani. Sesiyakwazi ukuthumela amasotsha ukuthi ayokwakha aphinde abambe uxolo ezindaweni eziningi. Lokho-ke akuyona into eyenzeke kule minyaka eyi-16 sibusa kodwa ngumsebenzi owenziwa yonke le minyaka le nhlangano kaKhongolose ikhona.
SekuyiNingizimu Afrika eyaziyo ukuthi izingane, abantu abadala nabantu abakhubazekile banamalungelo, noma-ke sazi ukuthi akukafiki lapho sifuna ukufika khona kodwa sesiyihambile indima ende. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[We have provided services such as water, electricity, health and education, and we have ensured the development of rural areas, roads, sports and recreation, as well as the building of houses and many more. With regard to science and technology we now have an electric car that will be manufactured in our country. A lot has been done, but we still insist that there is a lot more yet to be done.
South Africa is now a country liked by people from all over the whole world who are now able to come and visit. In the past year almost 10 million people visited us just because they liked coming to see the splendid South Africa. Nowadays, unlike in the past, it is no longer frowned upon if people of Africa and other countries have a South African stamp in their passports.
South Africa is open and has good relations with her neighbours; there is no conflict and we are now known as people who can make peace where there is conflict. We are now able to send our soldiers to establish and maintain peace in many places. This is not something that had been done only during the 16 years of the ANC being in power, but a task we performed all these years since the ANC came into existence.
It is now a South Africa which knows that children, elderly people and the physically challenged all have rights, although we know it has not reached the level we have aimed for, but we have covered a lot of ground.]
Our forbears have bequeathed a better South Africa, continent and world than the one they lived in, bestowing upon us an obligation and a responsibility to bequeath future generations with a better South Africa than the one we live in today. Of course, the centenary gives us that opportunity to reflect even on what kind of South Africa we are going to be working on in the next decade and also in the next century so that in 2112, those who are living then can say we have bequeathed them a better South Africa than the one we found.
Like Tata Mandela, we can rest only for a moment, because with freedom comes responsibilities and we still have much to do. We continue to face challenges of poverty and underdevelopment which threaten to erode the gains we have made since we received the mandate to govern from the people of our country.
We also pledge that the ANC would become a movement of the future, using its mandate to harness the organisational and intellectual resources of society to attain the vision of a national democratic society.
We have to ensure that all people from all walks of life and all sectors celebrate and participate in the centenary of the movement. More importantly, we call upon different sectors to use this opportunity of the centenary not only to evaluate the distance we have travelled, but to seriously consider how we will work towards transforming South African society in the next century.
This includes, among other things, the eradication of poverty, disease, illiteracy and underdevelopment, not only in South Africa but on the continent and throughout the world.
As we approach the centenary, it will be important to mobilise the different sectors of society just as our forbears did in the struggle for our liberation.
Njengoba sikhumbula ukuthi i-ANC yaqalelwa esontweni, eMangaung ... [As we recall, the ANC was formed in a church in Mangaung ...]
... religious leaders were there as well, and we encouraged them to celebrate the centenary and to look at strengthening the moral regeneration in our society.
Nabezemidlalo nabo kufanele sibabone bedlala benza konke okudingeka bakwenze ekugujweni kwale minyaka eyikhulu. [We must see even the sport that people are playing and the things they are doing in celebration of this centenary.]
... but also looking at where sports is going in the next century.
The intelligentsia should celebrate and also debate the significance of the centenary, the lessons we have learnt and what needs to be done in future, as well as having intellectual and academic debates in the country. The traditional leaders and rural masses should find creative ways of celebrating the centenary. The traditional leaders were part of the founding members of the ANC. The rural masses should be part of this. Businesses should be partners with government and work towards achieving job creation, employment and economic targets. Women came a long way in the last century and they should continue consolidating their gains.
The ANC has long recognised the indispensability of the emancipation of women in creating strong democratic societies. Our continent, the international community and indeed all progressive forces which have accompanied us on the road we have travelled since 1912, should be part of this celebration.
Finally, I think the youth should mobilise themselves to celebrate the centenary, more importantly because the next one belongs to them. Apart from celebrating, the youth should reflect and see what they think should happen in the next century. This should indeed be a national celebration in the inclusive nature and character of the ANC. All are invited to the celebration of this solemn and historic moment.
Obviously the ANC has a particular vision of society that we need to create. We are not there yet, but I would like to conclude by quoting from one of the finest and noblest sons of this soil, Oliver Reginald Tambo. He was speaking at the United Nations. I will give the long quote because I think it epitomises what we have to work towards. I quote:
Like all other patriots, we love our country and its people, all its people. It is a varied land of snow-capped mountain peaks, of deserts and subtropical greenery covering vast mineral resources. Its warm seas to the east and cold ones to the west contain also large animal and mineral resources. Our people, with their varied cultures, which are continuously mingling and interacting to their mutual enrichment, exhibit, despite their conditions, a great love for life and sensitive joy in the creative and human endeavours of the people of the world, without exception.
We will create a South Africa in which the doors of learning and of culture shall be open. We will have a South Africa in which the young of our country shall have the best that mankind has produced; in which they shall be taught to love the people of all races, to defend the equality of the people, to honour creative labour, to uphold the oneness of mankind and to hate untruths, immorality and avarice. We will have a South Africa which will live in peace with its neighbours and with the rest of the world.
I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr Speaker, we in the DA have until today been speaking about the critical need for jobs to be created in South Africa. Indeed, both sides of this House have been engaged in the debates both within these walls and outside, about the best ways of creating employment for the people of South Africa.
However, Speaker, I fear that sometimes we immunise ourselves against the very real human aspect of this crisis as these debates become saturated with statistics that speak to the economic necessities of the country, but do not truly speak to the necessities of people becoming full citizens of our country.
Motsamaisi ya kgabane wa Dipuisano, e re ke nke monyetla ona ho hopotsa Ntlo ena hore ditokelo di tsamaisana le boikarabelo. Kahoo, re le ditho tsa Ntlo ena re tsebe hore re hlokomele setjhaba sa rona le hore boikarabelo ba batho ba Afrika Borwa bo mahetleng a rona. (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)
[Hon Speaker, let me take this opportunity to remind this House that rights go hand in hand with responsibilities. In that case, as members of this House we should know that we are supposed to take care of the nation, because the responsibility for the people of South Africa rests on our shoulders.]
Before the dawn of democracy and freedom, we endured the pain of unfair labour practices, poverty, unemployment, ignorance, and unequal opportunities. Our hearts still harbour these sorrowful memories, but the sad part of it is realising that all those things are still continuing even now as I am standing before you. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future and hope that beckon us now.
Mohlomong nako e fihlile ya hore re ke re botse, haholoholo mokgatlo ona o busang hore na re feela re phethahatsa ditoro tsa Ntate Nelson Mandela na? Re a tseba bohle kamoo a buellang tshireletso ya ditokelo tsa botho le toka ka teng le hore e be tsa bohle naheng ena ya rona. (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)
[Maybe the time has come for us to ask ourselves, especially the ruling party, if we really are fulfilling Nelson Mandela's dream. We all know how he promotes human rights and justice, and how he emphasises that they belong to every person in this country.]
Mr President, during your inauguration speech you made a commitment to our people and to the world, and I quote:
For as long as there are workers who struggle to feed their families and battle to find jobs, for as long as there are rural dwellers unable to make a decent living from the land they live on, for as long as there are children who do not have means or opportunities to receive a decent education, we shall not rest, and we dare not falter in our drive to eradicate poverty.
You further said, Mr President, that workers, who would ordinarily be facing retrenchment due to economic difficulty, would be kept in employment for a period of time and be reskilled. How can we talk about human dignity and justice for all if there are millions of our people who go to bed on an empty stomach.
How can we talk about human dignity and justice for all if there are South Africans who remain unskilled, uneducated and unemployed and if there are South Africans who are still losing their employment or their jobs every day.
How can we talk about human dignity and justice for all when there are South Africans who up to this day don't have shelter?
Speaker, I fear that the question of human dignity, as raised by the President, which should be at the heart of all our discussions about job creation, has been sacrificed at the altar of outdated and irrelevant labour principles that are counterproductive to our aim of ensuring that South Africans of working age, who choose to, can go and find a job.
Speaker, it seems sometimes irrational to me that we are still having this discussion when 17 years of an inflexible labour market has already proved the point: millions of unemployed people who are joined every year by yet more unfortunate people for whom working, like basic dignity and decency, will remain out of reach. We share South Africans' relief that many in the ANC government have come to share our perspective and realise that we first have to talk about how people can get employment in order to ensure basic decency and dignity before we concern ourselves with arguments that are doomed to irrelevance if we do not have employable people to apply them to.
We should be wary of pretending that in our struggle for dignity and human decency, we have reached the end point where we can refine our new system before we have even achieved some of the most basic goals of dignity for our people. Let us not overburden our labour system with stifling protective measures before we have even ensured that people have employment.
Ha ho motho ya utlwang bohloko ba ho hloka mosebetsi jwaloka motho ya tjamelaneng le bona. Bohloko ba seeta bo utluwa ke monga sona. Mme o qetella a hloka le seriti le ho ikutlwa e se letho ha a sa fumane moputso. Taba ena ha e ame yena feela empa e boela e ama le ba lelapa la hae hammoho le batho ba bang ba sebetsang hobane ba qobellwa ho lefa lekgetho le phahameng hore ba tle ba kgone ho thusa bana ba sa sebetseng. (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)
[No one feels the pain of being unemployed than the person who is facing that dilemma himself. The pain caused by a shoe is felt only by the person wearing it. That person ends up losing dignity and feeling useless because he doesn't earn any salary. This issue does not affect him only, it also affects his family, as well as those who are employed because they are compelled to pay higher taxes in order to help those who are unemployed.]
About 15 million South African people in our country are still receiving social grants from the state. We should not regard this as a success or achievement; it is a shame on us and appears so to the world, if you consider the natural resources that we have as a country. Maybe the other question that we need to be asking ourselves is: Do social grants make people happy? Evidently not, but ironically, they contribute to putting food on the table. They then become even more insecure because they fear that the government may withdraw or reduce the size of their grant.
Grants can also add to the humiliation that unemployed people feel about being dependent and unproductive, and therefore unable to make decisions about their lives. Every time when they collect their grants, they are subjected to different forms of humiliation from the government officials, such as still standing in long queues on rainy days with no shelter to protect them, no chairs to sit on, no toilets to use while the same officials have expensive furniture in their offices. In addition, they are stigmatised by the rest of the society as lazy, idle and worthless.
Mr Speaker, the DA is concerned about the fact that a large section of our population depends on social grants. A society in which the majority depends on social welfare cannot sustain its development. The DA strongly believes that the contribution of productive opportunities and skills improvement would reduce dependence on social grants and result in citizens becoming more self-reliant. South African people are hard-working people and are not lazy. Give them the opportunity.
Hon Minister Trevor Manuel once said at the International Social Security Conference that was held in Cape Town:
Social security arrangements also have immense power to do damage - when they promise too much, or are too inflexible, and hence contribute to fiscal unsustainability and perhaps financial crisis, and also when their rules are unfair and hence contribute to social discontent and unrest.
Motsamaisi ya kgabane wa Dipuisano, re bua jwang ka mmuso o shebaneng le ntshetsopele ya setjhaba empa maemo a thuto ya rona a ntse a fokola, batho ba rona ba ntse ba le ditlamong tsa bofuma, ba tshepetse dithusong tsa thekolohelo, ba sa sebetse mme ba hloka le boitsebelo hore ba ka hirwa mesebetsing e meng e itseng? President John Kennedy o kile a bua mantswe a latelang, mme ke a mo qotsa: ... (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)
[Hon Speaker, how can we talk about the government that is responsible for the development of the nation, when our country's education system is getting poorer, when our people are still chained by poverty, relying on social services, being unemployed and not having experiences so that they can be employed for other jobs? President John Kennedy once said the following words, and I quote:]
Our problems are man-made. Therefore they can be solved by a man, and no problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
Re le mokgatlo wa DA re dumela ka hohle hore bokamoso ba naha ya rona bo itshetlehile hodima ... [Nako e fedile.] [Mahofi.] [We, as the DA, agree that our country's future relies on ... [Time expired.][Applause.]]
Speaker, in 2009 the hon President made a commitment to expend R787 billion on infrastructure development. In 2010, he indicated that over the next three years government will spend R846 billion on public infrastructure.
This year, he did not report on how much of the allocated budget was spent, or on what. It is therefore difficult to assess the performance of government regarding infrastructure development over the past two years.
Furthermore, the promise to the South African public to improve their quality of life by bringing them a better quality of municipal services, remains largely unfulfilled. Last year, in your speech, hon President, you insisted that -
Municipalities had improved the provision of housing, water, sanitation, electricity, waste management and roads.
Sadly, Mr President, if some of the provincial and municipal roads in our country, bulk infrastructure and the levels of water pollution at municipal level are anything to go by, your promises remain empty. The municipal roads are deteriorating and rivers within the urban sector have become stagnant sewers, placing lives in danger by exposing them to health hazards.
In the state of the nations address, you also invited the private sector to play a meaningful role in job creation, and this is indeed a progressive gesture and a prerequisite for investment. However, the private sector can only create jobs by investing in a politically stable, economically sound and well-maintained infrastructure environment.
The unstable political environment in the Buffalo City and the Nelson Mandela Metros, under the leadership of the ruling party, is not something any self-respecting South African can be proud of. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are no major investment projects taking place in these areas. Even those projects that were started with enthusiasm, such as the Coega industrial hub, have not lived up to their full potential.
At the beginning of last year, government launched the four-phased turnaround strategy as part of the integrated development planning process. The key sectors that were meant to be involved were water affairs, environment, human settlements, transport, energy and education.
Each sector had to make at least three commitments in respect of each municipality. All of the 283 municipalities, including the targeted municipalities, were supposed to have had a full roll-out by the end of April last year. Phases 2 and 3 were meant to run concurrently.
It is regrettable that the state of the nation address fails to inform the public whether these promises of a turnaround had materialised, and whether the dedicated portfolio teams responsible for the nine functional areas were successful in their respective areas.
It is equally important for the public to know whether the then targeted municipalities still remain dysfunctional after the turnaround intervention.
Although 75% of R2,1 billion allocated to basic infrastructure development in municipalities was spent, it remains unacceptable that over R500 million could not be spent in that same year. This inability by municipalities to spend could be attributed to poor planning, lack of capacity, mismanagement and political interference.
Such lack of capacity is further exhibited by the fact that seven of the 287 municipalities failed to take up their share of the allocation from the R11 billion municipal infrastructure grant, MIG. Thirty-seven other municipalities only utilised half of their MIG allocation in infrastructure development. Surely, Mr President, you cannot be proud of this performance record where 8,9% of the total municipal budgets were unspent in 2009-10 financial year.
To put it into context, R18,9 billion was not spent by municipalities in the same period that our country was witnessing service delivery protests on a scale never seen before. The hon President last year promised government intervention in order to improve the situation in informal settlements.
However, the squalor and the deprivation in our townships, particularly in the informal settlement areas, remain unaddressed. This is an indictment on the government.
This is not surprising given that many municipalities do not have the appropriate skills to even compile credible budgets, or to manage and implement infrastructure development programmes. Thus, major projects such as Cornubia in KwaZulu-Natal and Thornhill in the Eastern Cape were hamstrung.
The same is true in terms of lack of skills and poor performance at the provincial level. The shocking report recently tabled by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Scopa, tells the story. Since 2006, according to the Provincial Treasury report, R1,9 billion has been spent on unauthorised expenditure. The interesting thing is that R25 million of this was spent on food parcels.
The departments that were affected have R1 billion unauthorised expenditure; social development, R5,1 million; education, R741 million; local government and traditional affairs, R26 million; agriculture R82,3 million, housing R59,7 million; sport, arts and culture, R2,8 million; safety and liaison R714 000.
All of this demonstrates a lack of capacity, as well as political interference in the running of the affairs of provincial government and local government. If you can address these issues, Mr President, you might find your government running efficiently. Thank you. [Applause.]
Speaker, one of the issues that His Excellency, President Zuma, raised during the state of the nation address, was that steady progress has been made, in that more than 400 000 additional people were provided with a basic water supply last year.
While we applaud this as a step in the right direction, and while we agree that the legacy of colonial and apartheid underdevelopment cannot be completely eradicated over just 17 years of our freedom, we hope that the R2,6 billion, which has been set aside to supply the provinces of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, where there are still high numbers of people without drinking water, will also extend to the people of uMkhanyakude District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
Last year, I raised the plight of the people of this district as the most critical, in that while this district has one of the largest dams in the country, the people of this district, even now, cannot access water from the Jozini Dam, and yet the people of the Zululand District are able to access water from the same Jozini Dam.
Much has also been said about the agricultural potential of the Makhathini Flats area, which lies just below the Jozini Dam. Yet the emerging farmers of the area cannot utilise the water from the same dam for irrigation purposes because it is alleged that, among other reasons, one politically well-connected commercial farmer has been given sole rights to the raw water from this dam to irrigate his sugarcane plantations, which stretch from the vicinity of the dam right up to uPhongolo.
For the record, Umkhanyakude District Municipality has made application after application, year after year, to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and to the local Water Boards, without success. Recently, even the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal was confronted with the problem of nonavailability of water, which negatively affects even the town of Mtubatuba and Kwamsane Township.
I pointed out last year that it seems that the people of this area are punished for not voting for the ANC, and the reality of the President's recent warning during his rally in Mthatha that voting for the opposition parties is a ticket to hell, seems to have come to pass for the people of the Umkhanyakude District. [Interjections.]
Order, order, hon members! Let the speaker be heard.
The other issue, which I want to raise, is that of the urgent need to attend to the parlous state of our roads, particularly in the rural areas of our country. It appears, Mr President, that it is not so much the lack of resources that hampers our ability to repair these roads to a passable and all-weather level, as it is the failure of the system of government across all spheres to maintain them. We hope that one of the priority areas that has been identified, that of infrastructure development, will in particular, pay attention to the urgent need, of not only attending to the potholes in surfaced roads in urban areas, but also to the proper maintenance of rural roads, so that the democratic dividend can also be enjoyed by voters who live in the rural areas of our country, who also exercise the vote. I thank you, Mr Speaker. [Applause]
Hon President, in your state of the nation address you referred to the fact that South Africa has ... [Interjections.]
Order, hon members!
... the most valuable mineral resources of any country in the world. This is something we can take pride in. But it just makes it even more shocking that we are currently one of the greatest underperformers in attracting investment into our mining sector. The reasons for this are well-known, but you have chosen to remain silent on all the controversial issues that require strong political leadership.
Instead of putting a destructive nationalisation debate to bed and giving assurances that political patronage will have no bearing on the allocation of mining licences, you instead came up with a state-owned mining company as a panacea for this sector.
Mr President, this will merely exacerbate the problems in this sector and divert government investment away from our badly needed infrastructure building programme.
According to the Department of Public Enterprise's own figures, the state has built up a R1,5 trillion backlog in infrastructure investment over the past 10 years, and this is manifesting itself across all areas of our economy.
Arguably, the most urgent infrastructural needs are in the water sector where over R100 billion is required to fix our failing water and sewage treatment plans. The R2,6 billion you earmarked for this sector in your address is welcome, but it represents a drop in a leaking bucket. It will also be wasted unless we deal with the serious governance problems in this sector.
I witnessed this first-hand when I visited the Madibeng Municipality last year. In this municipality corruption and maladministration has led to the unthinkable scenario where the sewerage plant isn't even able to treat the sewage. Essentially, raw effluent is simply pumped straight into a river from which drinking water is then drawn.
The response from national government has been equally deplorable. It forced the municipality to take on politically-connected consultants at exorbitant prices as opposed to truly dealing with the unfolding water crisis. This is in keeping with the ruling party's stock response to most issues, namely: "Crisis? What crisis?" In fact we have heard this phrase so often lately that the public would be forgiven for thinking that this is the ANC's new election slogan. [Applause.]
It certainly encapsulates the government's response to the crisis of acid mine drainage, with the planning Minister summarily dismissing any concerns despite the fact that 40 million litres of acid mine water are decanting from the West Rand daily.
The infamous Aurora Mine has also been pumping out over 50 million litres of untreated mine water daily - and I have the Wellington boots for you, hon Minister - daily into the surrounding wetland. It is now even prepared to allow the pump station to flood with potentially disastrous effects for the surrounding towns. Despite these actions being criminal, no charges have been brought against these politically-connected directors, who have created an environmental and human rights catastrophe.
Mr President, we might have a hundred years of exploitable mineral wealth, but if we continue to allow mining in this free-for-all fashion without proper environmental controls, we will have no natural wealth left in this country.
This is why the government must urgently implement the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, three years after it was passed by Parliament, so that environmental authorisations can finally rest with the Department of Environmental Affairs.
Finally, Mr President, the ID was extremely disappointed not to hear you refer to South Africa's hosting of Climate Change Conference 2011, at the end of this year. It is in our interest to ensure that a global deal is finally reached on this pressing issue. This is because without it, the natural devastation that was wrought on our country this year, will intensify and nullify any efforts we might take at relieving our impending water crisis.
The ID therefore hopes that you will take all of these issues into account when contemplating the real state of the nation. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr Speaker, hon President, hon Members of Parliament, the UDM extends its good wishes to President Nelson Mandela and his family. It is 21 years since his historic release from prison. It is remarkable and quite appropriate that he has experienced nearly as many years of freedom as he did imprisonment.
The President devoted much attention to the question of job creation. We are in agreement with placing job creation at the centre of government's strategies.
One of the single biggest underlying factors contributing to high unemployment is the state of the education system. The South African population is sorely lacking in the relevant levels of education and skills associated with a flourishing economy. The truth is that even our basic literary and numeracy levels are far below that of most nations. The result of this situation is that even as we talk about creating jobs, we are failing to produce the relevant skills to adequately fill these positions. To make an analogy, we are building cars, but we are not training drivers.
In the broadest sense of the word, education is about providing every citizen with the skills to become a fully fledged and productive member of the society. In our case, we cannot claim that South Africa is succeeding in this.
Another long-neglected economic matter is small business. Sadly, the President's address was vague on this subject. The amalgamation of a number of government agencies, dealing with small business finance, will not of itself change anything. Neither have we seen any real injection of government spending to promote small enterprise development.
It is crucial that the billions set aside to encourage large industrial projects should be boosted by similar amounts to promote and advance upcoming entrepreneurs. The industrial and corporate giants of tomorrow are the small businesses that we nurture today. Small business is also an example of where our education system is failing. Entrepreneurship is a critical element in any long-term solution to unemployment crisis. But our education system and the overall institutional framework of government does very little to promote and reward entrepreneurship amongst schoolchildren and the youth. Instead, we are seeing the rise of the instant millionaires. With increasing regularity, we witness the bling culture of fast cars and eating sushi off half-naked women, which celebrates extravagance and impulsiveness.
What we need is an education system and media that celebrate industriousness, initiative and self-discipline; to establish a culture that celebrates hard work and dedication - and more than just decent work, but also decency in work.
The nation is suffocating in the many unfulfilled promises made by the ruling party. The nation has had more than enough of promises on job creation and the provision of quality education.
Ngwana ge a nyanya monwana sebaka se se telele, o tsenwa ke bolwet?i bja hlogwana. Re lapile go nyanya monwana wa ANC. Ke a leboga. [Legoswi.] [We can't keep on waiting for endless unfulfilled promises. We have had enough. I thank you. [Applause.]]
Speaker, His Excellency the President and Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, and guests; let me borrow these words from Mary Macleod when she said:
For society to attempt to solve its desperate problems without the full participation of young people is imbecile. We have a powerful potential in our youth and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.
Hon Speaker, consistent with this year's rallying call of job creation by the President of the Republic, my message to the House today and to the country at large is: Let us give priority to our youth for skills development and job creation. The future prosperity of our country is dependent on the amount and quality of the development investment we make towards our youth today, for they are the custodians of the future.
We all know as South Africans that the history of the youth in this country is the history of struggle as well as triumph against adversity, success against all odds and victory over oppression. Every generation of the youth has had to go through these historical moments as evidenced by the youth struggles in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and, now, in 2011.
Each of these decades emphasised different issues reflective of the specific challenges of the time. These struggles have impacted on the achievement of the democracy and development that we enjoy today in our country.
The biggest challenge facing the youth of today and in this decade is that of unemployment. Notwithstanding the fact that unemployment is the number one challenge facing the nation as a whole, it is the youth who are to a large extent affected by it.
The National Youth Development Agency has estimated in their latest report of 2009-10 that about 73% of all the people who are unemployed in the country are young people. The magnitude of youth unemployment has, in turn, exacerbated the associated problems such as high levels of poverty, an increasing rate of underage and youth pregnancies, alcohol and drug abuse, crime and, in recent times, increasing numbers of child-headed households.
Given our national aspiration to establish an inclusive, sustainable development which in the long term will be a knowledge-based economy, it is imperative that we focus on the youth and their skills development. In addition, according to the Human Sciences Research Council reports, international studies and benchmarks identify the following reasons why we need to focus on the youth.
Firstly, the youth make up a significant proportion of the global population. Secondly, their increasing interconnectedness means that they comprise significant local, regional and national constituencies.
Thirdly, creating livelihood opportunities for young people helps break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Fourthly, with human capital as the trading currency, there are long-term socioeconomic benefits for improving health, education, and social capacities of young people.
Fifthly, five of the eight Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, speak directly to improving the situation of young people. Lastly, failure to invest in young people can lead to their involvement in crime, violence and other social ills.
On the positive side, studies by the Human Sciences Research Council, HSRC, again have shown that the current cohort of South African youth is the best- educated ever, they are the healthiest sector of the population, they are technology savvy, have high hopes and aspirations for the future and they can influence national and civic life.
Let me take advantage of this platform and plead with the youth of my hometown in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, for a ceasefire. [Applause.] The challenges are immense, but they will not go unresolved. The frustration of unemployment is dire, but it will not go unresolved. We cannot afford to go back to the violence that embroiled our town in the early 90s between the ANC and what used to be known as the Black Cats.
Fellow young people of Ermelo, agree to a ceasefire, allow pupils to go to school; refrain from burning public infrastructure and the properties of councillors. Stop looting from shops because, whilst we are faced with these huge challenges as young people we cannot resort to unfashionable methods of resolving issues. [Applause.]
Your agitation and impatience is absolutely justified, but the President has declared 2011 a year of job creation. You have rightfully sent us here - call it a generational mix - to represent you, and I therefore want to assure you that we will, in our oversight role, monitor very closely all government departments to see whether indeed they align their programmes with the job creation imperatives as outlined by the President.
As the ANC, we have historically recognised the important role of the youth in society and development. The ANC has always served as a school and training ground for the youth to become future leaders in society. It has equally taken the lead in championing issues of youth development in terms of policy and practice, both as a movement and through its youth league and allied youth formations.
It was through our movement's various resolutions and advocacy over the years that the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, was established and the National Youth Policy was developed and adopted as government policy, as well as the National Youth Service Programme.
There has been wide speculation of corruption levelled against the National Youth Development Agency in relation to the World Festival of Youth and Students. Indeed, every cent must be accounted for and those found wanting, in so far as how monies from the public purse were spent, must face the full brunt of the law. This will be in line with the five key priorities of the ANC to curb crime and corruption.
Let me just briefly educate the youth of the DA on the history of the festival itself and what it sought to achieve. The festival movement grew out of the ashes of the Second World War when thousands of youth and students assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1948 - the year when apartheid was actually born - to proclaim that the youth would never again allow the horrors of fascism to terrorise the world. Since then, the festival has blossomed into an ongoing forum for progressive youth from all over the world.
The festival is today a space to exchange ideas and share experiences of the struggle against war, imperialism - which the DA will never understand - racism, sexism, corporate globalisation, attacks on workers right to organise and the destruction of our environment.
During this festival we assert our rights to education and employment, racial gender and economic equality, land reform and the independence in self-determination of nations. As a space for dialogue and understanding, the festival reflects the diversity and richness of the international youth and student movement and its demands. I wish, therefore, to inform the youth of South Africa that despite the criticism and many other challenges, the festival did accomplish the objectives it sought to achieve. [Applause.]
It is important to note also that most of the recommendations which emanated from the festival are now being streamlined within various government programmes for implementation. The ANC government has now prioritised skills development and job opportunities for the youth in its job creation drive.
Some of these important programmes include the expansion, capacity improvement of the Further Education and Training, FET, colleges with investment of over R12 billion that was announced in the 2010 budget speech, last year. This is aimed at increasing the number of young people who are studying vocational subjects in order to skill them in preparation for the demands in the labour market.
For the benefit of the youth, we welcomed a number of policies and programmatic announcements that have been made, among them that from this year, students in Further Education and Training Colleges who qualify for financial aid will be exempted completely from paying fees. [Applause.] I'm sure that does not bode well for the DA.
Those students who are registered at a public university in their final year of study and who qualify for funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, will receive a loan equivalent to the full cost of study, which is the full fee and necessary living expense.
Most importantly we are delighted by the provision that if these students graduate at the end of the year, the loan for the final year will be converted to a full bursary and they will not have to repay the amount. [Applause.]
In addition, there has been a strong focus by the Ministry of Higher Education and Training to streamline and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Services Sector Education and Training Authorities, Setas, as well as increasing investment in the National Skills Development Strategy in a manner that targets youth development.
We must support the development and implementation of the government-led campaign to reduce the impact of alcohol and drug abuse as announced; and all the programmes to establish sport and recreational facilities in poor and rural communities must be achieved.
We recognise the magnitude of the problem relating to skills development and youth unemployment faced by the country, but we applaud all efforts being taken by government through these interventions. It bears testimony to the premium and priority we as a country place on the development of our youth and in particular to prepare them adequately through skills development for the world of work.
We salute the efforts of government to intensify its campaign of paying Small and Medium Enterprises, SMMEs, on time within 30 days. We call upon other government departments to follow suite in the Re Ya Patala initiative of the Department of Public Works in order to ensure that small businesses, especially those that are led by young people, do not collapse, thereby defeating the objectives of integrating young people in the mainstream of the economy.
We call upon government and the private sector as well to intensify the internship programmes to avert a situation where the number of unemployed graduates escalates.
Speaker and hon members, in the end though, we have to accept that skills development for the youth and addressing youth unemployment is not the responsibility of government alone. We have to mobilise all sectors of society to contribute and participate meaningfully in these efforts as this is a national issue. Working together in developing our youth and creating jobs for them, indeed, we can do more.
To conclude, I call upon the youth of South Africa to once again exercise their democratic right to vote in the forthcoming local government elections. Vote because Oliver Tambo would expect you to. Vote because Mama Bertha Gxowa would expect you to. Vote because Walter Sisulu would expect you to. Vote because Ruth First would expect you to. Vote because Beyers Naude would expect you to. Vote to preserve the legacy of President Mandela. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr Speaker, last year, at this podium, President Zuma said:
We have repeatedly stated our commitment to fight corruption in the Public Service; we will intensify the fight against crime and corruption.
Last week he repeated his promise and said:
The fight against corruption continues.
But the question is: Do the voters still believe these promises? Let's look at how many have been fulfilled.
The first promise is declaring financial interests. A key element of clean government is that Ministers and senior officials must disclose what they own in terms of businesses and properties. But do they comply with this requirement? No! Mr Zuma, at the provincial level, a staggering 58% of senior officials did not comply; at national level a shameful 63% of directors-general did not comply.
However, in the DA government of the Western Cape, the compliance is 100%. [Applause.] However, if the President himself does not submit his financial interests by due date, how can he expect senior managers to submit theirs?
The second promise is accountability. Signing performance agreements by heads of departments and directors-general is crucial to holding senior officials accountable; and is indeed required by the senior management service handbook. But in the four years up to 2009, 20% of heads of departments did not comply with this requirement, while in 2010, 35% did not comply.
Unsurprisingly, the actual evaluation of performance is even worse. By March 2010, only half of all heads of departments had been evaluated. As the Public Service Commission Chair, Dr Ralph Mgijima pointed out: This means that roughly half of the national budget was controlled by accounting officers who were not subjected to a proper evaluation.
And President Zuma admitted:
The simple truth is that we face a crisis of accountability.
But Mr President, when will you start enforcing compliance with the rules? It can be done - once again, the Western Cape provides an excellent example.
Derdens is daar die belofte oor oop en eerlike tenders. In Junie 2010 belowe President Zuma, en ek haal aan: [Thirdly, there is the promise of open and honest tenders. In June 2010 President Zuma promised, and I quote:]
We continue our efforts to eradicate corruption in procurement and tender procedures.
As departementshoofde nie prestasie-ooreenkomste teken nie, as hulle uitsette nie gevalueer word nie en as hulle nie hul sakebelange verklaar nie, wat verwag 'n mens anders as dat bedrog sal voorkom?
Was die President regtig verbaas toe die Ouditeur-generaal bevind dat meer as 2 000 staatsamptenare kontrakte van meer as R610 miljoen aan besighede toeken waarby hulle 'n direkte belange het?
Weereens stel die DA regering in die Wes-Kaap die voorbeeld met die "Business Interests of Employees Act" wat dit verbied om sake te doen met maatskappye waarin werknemers meer as 5% belang het. Wanneer wys die ANC dat skoon regering ook hul erns is?
Vierdens is die optrede teen korruptes. President Zuma kondig trots aan dat hy die Spesiale Ondersoekeenheid gevra het om korrupsie in staatsdepartemente te ondersoek. Wat beteken ondersoek sonder straf?
Staatsamptenare betrokke in finansile wangedrag bedank eenvoudig voordat die dissiplinre ondersoek afgehandel is, sodat die ANC-ministers hulle kort voor lank weer in ander departemente kan aanstel - "redeployment" [herontplooiing]!
President Zuma, wanneer begin die ANC-regering amptenare verantwoordelik hou vir diefstal? Wanneer word korruptes krimineel aangekla en afgedank? Eers as die staatskas heeltemal geplunder is? (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Should the heads of department not sign performance agreements, their outputs not be evaluated and their business interests not be declared, what does one expect other than that corruption would take place?
Was the President really surprised when the Auditor-General revealed that more than 2 000 public servants award contracts totalling more than R610 million to businesses in which they have a direct interest?
Once again, the DA government in the Western Cape leads by example with the "Business Interests of Employees Act", which prohibits doing business with companies in which employees have more than a 5% share. When will the ANC demonstrate that they are also serious about clean government?
Fourthly, we have the matter of the action taken against the corrupt. President Zuma announced with pride that he had requested the Special Investigative Unit to investigate corruption within government departments. What good would investigation be without punitive action?
Public servants who are involved in financial misconduct, simply resign before the disciplinary investigation is complete, in order for the ANC Ministers to appoint them again, shortly thereafter, in other departments - "redeployment"!
President Zuma, when will the ANC government start holding officials to account for theft? When will the corrupt be criminally charged and dismissed? I guess, only when the state coffers have been totally pillaged?]
The latest promise is effective anticorruption units. Last week President Zuma again announced a new, special anticorruption unit. What happened to all the other units?
Since 2001, let me tell you, we have had the National Anti-corruption Forum; various national anticorruption summits; the National Anti- corruption Programme; an anticorruption co-ordinating committee; the National Integrity System; the National Anti-corruption hotline and the Anti-corruption Inter-Ministerial Committee. But what are the results?
Calls to the hotline are referred to the respective departments for action, and every year the report-back rate on action gets worse. Last year, it reached an all-time low of 10%! This means for nine out of 10 complaints of corruption, there is no action! In sharp contrast to this, the feedback figure in the Western Cape is 72%!
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, while the President's speech writers write books full of promises, on the list of actions there is nothing - it is empty! So, do you think the voters still believe you, Mr Zuma? [Applause.] The DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Deputy Speaker, hon President, I am not going to tear up my speech at this stage - perhaps at the end.
While the President gave his address on Thursday evening, I was thinking of Dubai and Nigeria, as well as the similarities and the differences between ANC and National Party, the old National Party, of which I was a member. The similarities are astounding.
Let me give you one example. In 1978, Prof Gerrit Viljoen, as an Afrikaner intellectual, wrote a book titled Ideal and Reality. In the book he argues that the economic and other realities of South Africa are moving further away from the ideals and dreams of the National Party.
In the President's speech on Thursday evening, the same tension was experienced between the ANC's ideals and ideology, on the one hand, and the realities of South Africa, on the other. Let me give you some examples. In his speech, the President emphasised how important it is to create more job opportunities in South Africa. We totally agree with this, but in the same breath, he announces that new labour legislation will be introduced which, without a doubt, will stifle job creation.
Another example: In his speech he emphasises how important mining is and that it produces more than 30% of the country's income. In the same breath, he confuses foreign investors - who don't understand the nuances in South Africa - when he uses Malema's language about mineral wealth, which belongs to all South Africans with the state as custodian.
In his speech, he emphasised that corruption and misapplication of taxes will not be tolerated. The FF Plus applauds this, and the fact that the Special Investigative Unit, SIU, which is investigating maladministration, has already recovered R44 million from public servants who had illegally received housing subsidies. This is good, but then we have to read in the newspapers that R100 million - and 42c! - had been wasted on the youth festival.
These comments and actions send out conflicting messages to voters, to the private sector, to the agricultural community and to investors.
Why do I see some similarities between ANC and National Party? Since the establishment of ANC in 1912, the ANC has, through conferences, formed its policies and schooled its members. In 1994, ANC took over the government, and those policies then had to be applied in practice. The hard realities of South Africa make many of the ANC policies unenforceable in practice.
The National Party had, since 1914, formed its policies through conferences and debates. Another interesting example is that the nationalisation of mines and the reigning in of the Oppenheimers had been popular NP policies before the party governed. The hard realities of South Africa resulted in many of these policy views having to be adapted from 1948, when the National Party started governing.
Today the ANC is faced with the same dilemma. At Polokwane and other ANC conferences, various populist decisions were made by ANC members, decisions based on the propaganda on which ANC members had been schooled over many years. Because many of these decisions did not take the South African realities into account, they cannot be applied in practice.
What makes it even more difficult is that the ANC is made up of many factions. The ANC leadership has to try and keep its wide ideological church together. How does one keep together the nationalists, the traditionalists, the populists, the capitalists, the communists and the social democrats in the ANC? Which strategies are there?
To do nothing is paralysing, but to try to satisfy everyone is as paralysing. It leads to every faction pretending in public that its policy is not only the official ANC policy, but that it also enjoys the support of the President, therefore, we get these conflicting messages.
The only comfort that I have for President Zuma is that the ANC is not the only party with these problems. The old National Party struggled with it, the DA is struggling with it, and I must admit that the FF Plus is struggling with it. There is only one solution to this problem. Do not put ordinary party members on a political hunger diet with populist propaganda.
If I listen to the comments of the ANC Youth League, the "young lions" are in need of a political education in the realities of South Africa. They are clearly on a reality hunger diet.
The only solution is that members of the party are confronted with the realities of South Africa through honest discussion. Remember, every person is entitled to his or her own opinion, but not to his or her own facts. Therefore, leaders have to be prepared to take the right decisions regardless of the consequences after they have been informed.
The ANC leadership will shortly be confronted with important policy decisions. In the interest of South Africa, we are hoping that the right policy decisions will be taken, regardless of the consequences and reactions that might come from outside or from the ANC factions.
Agb President, ek het ook ges dat ek aan Dubai en Nigeri gedink het. Waarom? Dit is omdat ek glo dat hulle simbolies is van die keuses wat Suid- Afrika sal moet maak. Dubai is 'n moderne stad in die middel van die woestyn wat met miljoene dollar oliegeld gebou is. Hulle benut die huidige olie-inkomste om 'n infrastruktuur te vestig vir die dag as die olie opdroog.
Die President het in sy toespraak verwys na Suid-Afrika se mynboubates wat op US$2,5 triljoen bereken word en dit gaan vir dekades lank nog 'n inkomste verseker. Ons voer miljoene ton se steenkool uit, ons voer yster uit; dit is Suid-Afrika se olie.
Wat gaan ons vorentoe met daardie inkomstes maak? Gaan ons nog welsynstoelae uitgee, soos tans, tot daar geen inkomste meer uit minerale kom nie; of gaan ons die inkomste gebruik om Suid-Afrika te bou tot 'n supermoondheid en 'n moderne infrastruktuur te vestig?
Nigeri het die afgelope 40 jaar meer as US$400 miljard uit sy olie verdien. Dis R3 000 miljard. Wat het Nigeri daarmee gemaak? Die gewone Nigerir het geen voordeel uit die olie-inkomste getrek nie. Die getal Nigerirs wat van minder as US$1 per dag moet leef, het van 19 miljoen in 1970 gestyg tot 75% of 90 miljoen van die bevolking vandag.
Die belangrikste rede vir die verswakkende toestand in Nigeri is dat swak besluite deur die Nigeri se leiers oor jare geneem is. Die besluite wat geneem is, was nie in die beste belang van die bre bevolking nie, maar wel in die beste belang van die individuele leiers se finansile posisie. Chris Hani het kort voor sy dood in 'n onderhoud ges:
Wat ek vrees is dat die bevryders as elitiste sal ontpop en in Mercedes- Benze sal ry en hierdie land se hulpbronne sal gebruik om in paleise te lewe en rykdom te vergader.
Ons sien van tyd tot tyd berigte wat vertel dat dit presies is wat in Suid- Afrika aangaan.
My derde kleinkind is drie maande gelede gebore. Sy gaan vyftig jaar oud wees in 2060. Wat is haar toekoms in Suid-Afrika en hoe gaan dit dan lyk? Gaan ons uiteindelik 'n Nigeri of 'n Dubai wees waar die leiers vorentoe besluite neem en ons almal moet maar daarmee help?
Gaan ons soos Dubai die modernste geboue, die nuutste tegnologie, die beste infrastruktuur en 'n ho kwaliteit lewe vir almal h? Dit is moontlik en dit kan gedoen word. Of gaan ons uiteindelik 'n volbloed roofdierstaat met 'n korrupte politieke elite wees wat, soos mnr Kunene, soesji van vroue af eet?
Wat kan ons doen - almal wat hier sit - om hierdie negatiewe toekoms te voorkom? Ek kan in 'n toespraak soos hierdie vir die ANC wys op waar ek van hulle verskil en s dat ek glo hulle botsende boodskappe na die privaatsektor en die kommersile boere oor werksgeleenthede uitstuur.
Ek kan die ANC kritiseer so goed ek kan as VF Plus en as opposisieparty. Ek gaan egter ook as Adjunkminister in kabinetkomitees my standpunte in sulke debatte stel oor hoe Suid-Afrika oor 20 jaar daar moet uitsien. Dan is my kleinkind net mondig.
Ek kan my standpunt oor Afrikaans en die ander tale stel. Ek kan my standpunt oor die beste resep stel om harmonie tussen die verskillende groepe in Suid-Afrika te kry en oor wat ons kan leer van hoe moderne selfbeskikking in Europa, in Soedan en in Ethiopi toegepas word.
As Adjunkminister kan ek deel wees van besluite oor watter hawens ons moet vergroot en waar daar nuwe damme en besproeiingskemas gebou moet word, of dit sinvol is om 'n sneltreinspoor van Johannesburg na Durban te bou of nie, hoe ons van steenkool na kernkrag moet oorskakel, hoe ons Noord-Kaap se sonkrag ekonomies kan benut, ens. Dit is opwindende gesprekke. Dit is positief, toekomsgerig en gee ook hoop aan my kinders.
Ek glo elke geslag kan net sy deel doen. Meer kan ons nie doen nie, maar ons moet ons deel doen sodat die fondament stewig is. As ek dan die regering gekritiseer het en geprys het waar nodig, en my standpunt oor die bogenoemde vrae gestel het en gehelp het om besluite te neem wat ek glo reg is, dan is al wat oorbly om vanaand te bid: Die Here sal vir my alles goed laat afloop - Psalm 138. Werp al julle bekommernisse op Hom, want Hy sorg vir julle. Ek dank u. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Hon President, I also mentioned that I thought of Dubai and Nigeria. Why? This is because I believe that they are symbolic of the choices that South Africa would have to make. Dubai is a modern city in the middle of the desert which was constructed with millions of dollars of oil money. They are making use of the current oil revenues to establish an infrastructure for the day when the oil dries up.
In his speech the President referred to South Africa's mining profits which is estimated to be up to US$2,5 trillion and which is still going to ensure an income for decades to come. We export millions of tons of coal, we export iron; this is South Africa's oil.
Going forward, what are we going to do with these revenues? Are we going to hand out more social grants, as we are currently doing, until there is no more revenue to be gained from minerals anymore; or are we going to use the revenues to develop South Africa into a superpower and to establish a modern infrastructure?
In the past 40 years Nigeria earned more than US$400 billion from its oil. This is R3 000 billion. What did Nigeria do with this? The average Nigerian didn't benefit from these oil revenues. The number of Nigerians who have to live off less than US$1 per day has increased from 19 million in 1970 to 75% of the population today.
The most important reason for the deteriorating state of affairs in Nigeria is the poor decisions that were made by Nigeria's leaders over the years. The decisions taken were not in the best interest of the broader population, but were really in the best interest of the individual leaders' financial position.
In an interview shortly before his demise Chris Hani said:
What I fear is that liberators will emerge as elitists who drive around in Mercedes Benzes and use the resources of this country to live in palaces and to gather riches.
From time to time we see articles that tell us that this is exactly what is happening in South Africa.
My third grandchild was born three months ago. She's going to be fifty years old in 2060. What will her future be in South Africa and what will it look like? Are we eventually going to be a Nigeria or a Dubai where the leaders go ahead and make decisions and all of us simply have to support this?
Are we going to be like Dubai and have the most modern buildings, the latest technology, the best infrastructure and a high quality of life? It is possible and it can be done. Or are we eventually going to be an out and out predatory state with a corrupt political elite who eat sushi off women's bodies like Mr Kunene?
What can we do - everyone who is sitting here - to obviate this negative future? In a speech like this I can point out to the ANC where I differ from them and state that I believe that they are sending out contradictory messages to the private sector and commercial farmers regarding job opportunities.
As the FF Plus and as an opposition party I can criticise the ANC. As Deputy Minister in such debates in cabinet committees I will also be stating my position with regard to what South Africa should look like in 20 years. By then my grandchild will be of age.
I can state my point of view regarding Afrikaans and the other languages. I can state my point of view regarding the best recipe to attain harmony among the different groups in South Africa and about what we can learn from how modern self-determination is applied in Europe, in Sudan and in Ethiopia.
As Deputy Minister I can be part of the decision-making processes as to which harbours we should be extending and where new dams and irrigation schemes are to be built, whether or not it makes sense to build a rapid transit railway system from Johannesburg to Durban, how we are going to transition from coal energy to nuclear energy, how we can economically make use of the Northern Cape's solar energy, etc. These are exciting discussions. This is positive, future-directed, and also gives hope to my children.
I believe that every generation simply has to do its bit. We can't do more than that, but we have to do our bit in order for the foundation to be solid. If I have criticised the government and praised it where it deserved, and I have stated my point of view regarding the above-mentioned issues and have assisted with taking decisions, which I believe to be correct, then the only thing that is left to do is to go and pray tonight: The Lord will accomplish what concerns me - Psalm 138. Cast all your cares on Him, because He takes care of you. Thank you.]
Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President and hon members, the ACDP welcomes the President's focus on job creation and the establishment of a jobs fund of nine billion rand over the next three years to finance new job creation initiatives.
The ACDP supports the President's call to teachers to be at school, in class, on time and teaching for the maximum hours required per day.
Surprisingly, the President did not say a word about the need for discipline in our schools. Recent reports about pupils at Mavalani Secondary School in Limpopo, who went on the rampage, destroyed property and threatened to kill the principal after the media revealed that 57 of their schoolmates were pregnant, are a clear indication that there is lack of discipline in many of our schools. The President's Triple T will have little effect on our schools if it does not include discipline.
As our country is moving closer to the local government elections, I want to appeal to the President to stop misleading voters by telling them that a vote for the ANC and an ANC membership card will guarantee them a place in heaven. This is a deception that must stop. If we have to talk about going to heaven, Mr President, then I have to remind you that Jesus Christ in John 14:6 said, and I quote:
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So, Mr President, it is Christ who is the Way, and not the ANC.
As you are aware, Mr President, many in the Christian community did not appreciate your irreverent statements and have therefore asked you to withdraw them and apologise. It was indeed blasphemy on your part, Mr President, to suggest that the angels in heaven are clothed in the colours of the ANC.
On behalf of the ACDP, I hereby ask you to do the honourable thing and apologise because you went too far and crossed the line. [Applause.]
If you were joking, Mr President, when you told voters that if they don't vote for the ANC, then they are, and I quote:
... choosing that man who carries a fork ... who cooks people.
Then, I submit, Mr President, that it was a bad joke as it frightened and manipulated uneducated and superstitious voters. That so-called "man who carries the fork" that the President referred to, will only have people who don't repent of their sins, and not people who did not vote for the ANC. That is why they say in Afrikaans, "draai of braai, which means "turn or burn".
Speaker, I believe that South Africa must act in a principled and decisive manner to help build the better Africa that the President spoke about. As our country has been chosen to help find solutions to the Cote d'Ivoire crisis, it is important for this Parliament to know the truth of what really happened in that country. The problem is not as simplistic as some people want to make it out to be.
The former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Aziz Pahad, wrote an article from which I want to quote. It is entitled, What is the truth in Cote d'Ivoire? The article was printed in the New Age newspaper. It confirmed the report that I wrote after visiting that country and the report by the former President, Thabo Mbeki.
For the benefit of hon members who have not read the article by the former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, I'm now going to quote extensively from it. He wrote, and I quote:
Some major powers have driven this agenda and the UN Secretary General, the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union Peace and Security Committee have been put under tremendous pressure to follow their dictates. What is the truth?
In terms of all the agreements between the Ivorian parties after the civil war in 2002, which were endorsed by the UN Security Council and the AU, it was agreed that no elections should take place before the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of all the armed forces was completed and the unification of the country achieved. Despite the fact that little progress was made on the demobilisation, disarmament, and reintegration process, the US and French governments mobilised intense government and non-government pressures to force Gbagbo to hold elections, and in the process, flouted legally binding agreements.
The IEC failed to complete its work within the stipulated 72 hours and the Constitutional Council requested it to hand over information to the Constitutional Council to enable it to complete the process. Rather than handing over the documents or continuing with the work of the IEC, the chairman went on his own to Outtara's Head Quarters and announced that Outtara had won the elections. The rest of the IEC only became aware of this announcement when they saw it live on French television.
An orchestrated smear campaign was launched locally and internationally against Paul Yao Ndre, the president of the Constitutional Council, who is highly respected in the region. It was conveniently ignored that he was acting within the mandate of the constitution when he declared that the announcement of the IEC chairman was invalid.
There are serious discrepancies in the results announced by the chairman of the IEC. Notwithstanding this, the gross violations of the Ivorian constitution and laws and UN procedures, major powers such as France and the US, as well as the UN representative, Mr Choi, hastily supported Outtara's victory.
The UN representative, who had no mandate from the UN or the AU, acted in violation of all the agreements reached by both parties to the conflict. These agreements, which were duly endorsed by the AU and the UN, clearly outline that the role of the UN representative was to ensure that the elections were free and fair and not to pronounce on the results.
Ecowas then supported this position which was later endorsed by the AU Political and Security Committee. Later, it became very apparent that they had not considered the implications of the conflicting results that had been announced. The IEC and the UN had unconstitutionally pronounced Outtara the winner. It is noteworthy that the major powers such as France, the US, EU, AU Political and Security Committee and Ecowas, as well as the media houses, including those in South Africa, ignored the findings of credible observers from the African continent.
As the crisis deepened, Gbagbo proposed that a panel of inquiry consisting of the AU, Ecowas, the EU, the Arab League and the permanent members of the Security Council, should fully investigate the results and give a ruling. This should be binding on both presidential candidates. Outtara rejected this suggestion. The AU chairperson then requested former President Thabo Mbeki to interrupt his work in Sudan and go to Cote d'Ivoire to assess the situation and propose a way forward to resolve the crisis. Mbeki met all the role players and submitted a detailed report to the AU.
Instead of responding to Mbeki's report or the report of the AU and other observer missions, intense pressure was mounted to influence African governments to take a hard line against Gbagbo. Emissaries were dispatched to many African capitals to convince them to take the correct position. The message was clear that Gbagbo had to go. Unfortunately, once again, sections of the South African media were co-opted to join this campaign.
Despite pressures by the major powers and the UN secretary General, the AU summit refused to be co-opted into a regime change agenda imposed from outside Africa.
The independence and sovereignty of all African states is being threatened. In the interest of Africa and our efforts to consolidate the democratic processes in Africa, it is vital that we do not succumb to undemocratic agendas from outside our continent.
Speaker, let this House heed the warning of Mr Pahad, who correctly warned that the independence and sovereignty of all African states are being threatened. Greedy African leaders should be warned against selling out to foreign powers who want to recolonise Africa. The dream of a better Africa that the President spoke about will be realised if we all commit ourselves to the rule of law, and to upholding and defending the constitutions and sovereignty of all democratic states. Thank you. [Applause.]
Comrade President, I completely missed your state of Cote d'Ivoire address. I will have to reformulate my speech because that is what we have just heard now. I am afraid I have to clear the air here first. I would like to start with the Deputy Minister: Now, I am not accusing you of poor intellectual rigour. When you compare, you must proceed and contrast; you did not talk about the differences between us and the National Party and how rooted we are in reality.
You also failed to recognise it as normal that there is always tension between vision and the reality of implementation at any point and therefore this stretching does not mean the invalidity of the vision. I do not understand what you were trying to tell us.
Hon Dreyer, it is very fascinating that you talk about clean books without any reference to delivery on the ground where it matters most. [Interjections.] I do not think that it is an accident; it is because it is absolutely difficult. Veteran Turok was correct, the performance is absolutely bad.
Speaker, President and Deputy President, I thought I should start on a sombre note. I am going to quote the words of someone I do not know, frankly, but I like the words they used because I think they express collectively what we should use:
In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.
The reason I cite this is because, as we wrap up the 10 years of a truly democratic dispensation in our country, as we wrap up the second five-year term of local government, there are people I would like to mention because they were part of this process.
They were pioneer councillors in building a truly democratic dispensation in our country: John Ndlovu, who died this January in Mpumalanga, Jimmy Mohlala also from the same region and Ridah Mofokeng from the Free State. I cite these three particularly because they died violently. The work of the police and the Justice cluster must be commended for doing its work and must continue to do so, so that those who are guilty ...
... Mongameli, sibatshele ukuthi balibambe lingashoni. [Ihlombe.]Asikwazi ukuvuma ukuthi kube khona abantu abathi bona bazosebenzisa udlame lapho sithi thina sifuna ukusimamisa inkambiso yaleli lizwe lakithi ngentando yeningi. Asizukuyivuma leyo-ke Mongameli. Siyabacela nje ukuthi mabaziveze ngoba vele bazotholakala. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[... President, we told them that their days are numbered. [Applause]. We cannot allow people to say they will use violence when we say we want to strengthen the democratic dispensation of our country. We will not allow that, President. We request that they come forward because we will find them.]
I want to add two very talented officials also; one of them is Thabo Nosi, the municipal manager of Frances Baard District Municipality, who died in his sleep at the ANC Local Government Summit in December.
The reason he is particularly significant is that in the campaign for clean audits in the past two years, that district was performing particularly well. This could be seen, not only in its clean books without matters, but also in its support to local municipalities and in service delivery on infrastructure. [Applause.]
Musa Soni also died several years ago; he was a key leader in Salga and later in Tshwane. The reason we ought to say this is because of the advice of the German revolutionary poet, Brecht, that "Lest we forget", because they played a crucial role in the sort of work we are trying to do.
We take our hats off to them for their contribution as pioneer councillors and officials and for their commitment to dedicated leadership with integrity. This must inspire all of us to pursue a truly people's government at the local level. In the work we do we must build a monument in their memory.
Ek wil asseblief ook oor Kobus Pienaar praat. Kobus Pienaar ... [Please, I also want to talk about Kobus Pienaar. Kobus Pienaar ...]
... the director of the Legal Resources Centre in Cape Town ...
Hy was 'n groot landhervormingsaktivis. Die onregverdigheid wat hom ontstel het, is wat hom ons kameraad gemaak het. [Applous.] Minister Nkwinti en Voorsitter Sizani, laat die man nie sterf nie. Hy was ons man. Laat ons werk in landhervorming asseblief vir hom 'n monument wees. Die mense van Lawaaikamp ken hom baie goed. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[He was a leading activist for land reform. The injustice, which dismayed him, made him our comrade. [Applause.] Minister Nkwinti and Chairperson Sizani, don't let this man die. He was our man. Let our work in land reform be a monument to him. The people of Lawaaikamp know him very well.]
We must congratulate councillors who have done sterling work. The people will say you did it well and they will repeat that in the truly democratic processes that are currently underway inside the ANC; and we hope they will repeat it later on. Those who have not succeeded in the process and who will not succeed in the process, we hope they will continue to serve the community in different ways to lift our people out of the poverty and inequality that continue to bedevil our country.
Comrade President, the ANC which you lead is a people's movement; it learns from its constituency and uses its resources and the state's resources to better people's lives. In the past two terms important progress has been recorded, some of which you spoke about. An independent survey confirms that millions of people are receiving services and that their needs are being met.
Even as we recognise this, they also record that many more still need these services. You were spot-on, Mr President, in your observation during that interview after the state of the nation address, that poverty is also at the heart of poor performance of some of the municipalities and that something must be done about it.
We must reflect on their appropriate demarcation and/or other forms of support that they deserve because on their own they will not cope. We, therefore, draw lessons from last year's World Cup. It was a giant success in terms of intergovernmental relations work.
The host cities played a critical role in making that project the success it became. It illustrated how the potential for mobilisation behind a common goal is key. This view was confirmed by the parliamentary ad hoc committee led by hon Donald Gumede. We want to suggest that pursuing the five priorities of government, especially with job creation as a priority, lends itself to unleashing a similar focus and creative input for their realisation.
Local government, as the centre of a developmental state in the making, is best placed to unleash community creativity to fast track socioeconomic development. Critical support has been given to municipalities in the past for local economic development. The turnaround strategies you spoke about have made a critical input into this process.
The challenge is that the robust monitoring and evaluation that Minister Collins Chabane correctly spoke about yesterday, is what is going to make a difference. In the year that we are talking about, the parliamentary ad hoc committee, which we led to assess service-delivery concerns and the state's readiness to implement these strategies, proved to be very useful.
This is because it showed us that people at those municipalities, including those which were under administration, were involved in the practical consultation that we saw to formulate those strategies so that it could be informed by their own concerns and the priority that they themselves were identifying.
We are excited that work is already underway to transform the political and administrative culture of the state machinery. We intend recommending strongly that there should be a deeper and much more intense induction of local councillors and officials in the coming period.
This month we will complete the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill, which aims to create local public administration stability by tightening the already existing professional requirements, reducing perverse political influence and empowering the Minister to regulate the system further.
Comrade President, it is often also easy for public perceptions to be swayed by the drama and sensation in the media about things which government itself does to expose and deal with, for example, corruption. This often masks the significant and important patterns of institutional collaboration that is emerging to deal with clean governance.
We, in Parliament, are increasingly working in collaboration with the Auditor-General and the Finance and Fiscal Commission so that we are able to look at the issues underlying maladministration, underspending and overspending, as well as underfunding, especially of local government.
We are initiating dialogue and discussions - not just dialogue, but practical action that should ensue from this by various key players, who can make a difference to this area in an environment which is defined by the Constitution as interdependent, interrelated, yet distinct.
In other words, we would be still respecting the fact that the different spheres should be able to use their own creativity to deal with their challenges, but working together effectively as much as possible to minimise the weaknesses that the system is showing. And this is a timely space and period to review that and deal with the emerging 12 outcomes that you have identified and are leading.
We were also convinced of this, sir, from our own experience in interacting with municipalities in the nine provinces. We visited two municipalities in each of these provinces in the last year on which you are reporting. We were excited by the enthusiasm with which communities met us - albeit with absolute militancy - because they showed confidence in government as a whole, even if they were angry.
They were confident that steps and actions are being taken, and they could cite some of these actions that were being taken. However, they were saying that they would like to see these being fast-tracked and our responses must be much swifter so that a big difference can be made.
The Constitution and the government it has created emerged from the mass struggles, such as we are seeing in North Africa, which culminated also in the release of our former president, Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela, this month 21 years ago. We make this observation to say that the ANC has always maintained that people are their own liberators.
The ANC rightly insists that the state must respond to community needs as an obligation to banish the impact of past discrimination and ongoing inequality. Hon Kopane, there is nothing to be ashamed of about there being over 15 million people who receive grants from government.
The multiplier impact of these grants has not only been reported, but has been seen in the outcomes of the schooling of grandchildren, of the nutrition that those people were not able to have at that time without grants, and that is critical to poverty.
The President makes a crucial point that this must be linked to economic activities, and so there should be no contradiction between the state carrying out its responsibility, its side of the bargain, and the people themselves doing what they should be doing. They are doing it anyway - they are not waiting for you to tell them that.
We have always propagated a collective helping of one another in a manner that builds on each other's strength. There is recognition that the people themselves, in spite of whatever government exists, are capable and have shown in practice that they can solve their own problems.
I want to say that the Constitution's language is simple but very profound when talking about the reason for the existence of local government or municipalities. Let me cite them merely as a reminder because we do not often go back to this material. It does, however, serve a useful purpose as we are moving on to receive a new batch of councillors. Some of them might be old and some will be new. This is what the Constitution states as the reasons for local government's existence:
(a) to provide democratic and accountable government for local communities;
(b) to ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner;
(c) to promote social and economic development;
(d) to promote a safe and healthy environment; and
(e) to encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in the affairs of local government.
This is not a statist approach as our accusers often say, but this is the expression of people themselves, having found their language in the supreme law of the land, the Constitution.
When we say, therefore, that mass struggles were responsible for this Constitution and the government it created, it is reflected in the language it uses. Those who go on to run and oversee these processes, including ourselves, must be cognisant of these issues.
We must not dream that because people are getting support from the state it is wrong, it is a shame. It is an obligation of the Constitution. You can't have your cake and eat it. You either like the Constitution and agree with it, or you don't. You can't be half pregnant! [Laughter.]
Speaker, local government has played a crucial role, for instance, in so far as mitigating the impact of poverty on our communities through its indigent policies. The benefits that people from throughout the country get from these indigent policies are massive. We cannot recognise fully the difference it makes to the quality of life of people. Without these indigent policies, we would be in big trouble; and the reason why people continue to trust in the ANC is because of its consistency in providing these services.
We must also talk about the manner in which local government works. It is also potentially very crucial in job creation, not only, as the President has said, in the filling of funded vacancies including those in municipalities. It is also crucial because in the past we recognised a decline in employment uptake inside municipalities. This is why we want this process reversed; so they will also have to fill these positions.
The national Department of Public Works is playing a crucial role in guiding these councils to also use labour-intensive methods to do what we are talking about. Comrade President and Deputy President, we are convinced that your overview and assessment of the state of the nation elaborated on by the leadership of the clusters the other day, is not only a signpost of actions already underway, but a crucial indicator of things yet to come. Ke lebohile, ntate. [Thank you, sir].
Business suspended at 15:52 and resumed at 16:09.
Thank you very much and good afternoon Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President and colleagues in this august House. In the build-up to the centenary celebrations of the founding of the African National Congress, the values of human dignity, equality and freedom, aimed at creating a better life for all our people, remain central pillars of our government.
I would like to echo the sentiments of the many colleagues who stood at this podium and participated in this debate when they congratulated our President on a wonderful speech. Indeed, that provides leadership for all of us in this country.
As the President has indicated in his state of the nation address, we are an important country, a very important host for major world events, including the Conference on Climate Change, popularly known as COP and this time COP 17, which will be hosted by South Africa.
As a country we look forward to welcoming 185 world nations to our shores, and also working with the entire world to facilitate the climate change negotiations to the best of our ability.
Arising from the lessons that we drew from the recent successful hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and also working with our counterparts at a continental level, the South African collective team effort undertakes even at this early stage, from a logistic point of view, to deliver yet another successful world event.
We will also work hard with all parties to COP 17 and contribute immensely to the success of that conference in terms of substance. We have already kick-started the process of informal consultations, which will allow us to consider very carefully the proposals and suggestions from all parties including business and civil society.
The effects of climate change are real and they are here with us. We therefore would like to make use of this opportunity to call upon the developed world to ensure that they heed the call from developing countries and small island states, who, in most cases and more often than not, bear the brunt of climate change effects.
This call is for the developed countries to increase their commitment towards reducing emissions, while at the same time helping the developing countries with the necessary resources to implement adaptation measures. We are all very grateful to those countries, institutions and companies who have already approached South Africa and offered support towards ensuring a successful COP 17 and COP/MOP 7.
It is important that developed countries of the world recognise that while they have built their economies and introduced technologies overtime to allow their productive capacity to grow, the developing world also needs to follow in their footsteps. This has to be done with adequate funding made available for mitigation, and more importantly, adaptation through the implementation of green economy technologies and also addressing reforestation and alternative energy sources, amongst many other things.
This is imperative given that some of the developing countries hardly have adequate budgets to carry even minimum national functions and therefore find it difficult and quite impossible to respond to climate change issues. Leadership of the developed countries must begin to be felt in a very positive manner.
While we appreciate the commitments made towards the Green Fund establishment and setting up the Adaptation Fund Committee, we believe that a lot can and must still be done. This includes an increase, in particular, of the developed countries' commitment targets for emission reduction. And we are all aware that we need a total commitment collectively to attain temperatures that are below two degrees Celsius, which is what the whole world needs. We need the developing world to also respond positively just in as much as the developed world must respond.
The creation of a better life for all is potentially threatened by the impact of natural disasters and a loss of our biodiversity resulting from climate change. During the past seven weeks, our country has experienced severe rainfall and floods due to the La Nia phenomenon which is a wet cycle that leads to flooding.
According to scientific information that was released by the South African Weather Services, scientists indicated that this rainfall pattern will persist in some parts of our country for a number of weeks to come.
We need to accept that those who are still sceptical must be persuaded to change their minds and understand that climate change is here and its devastating effects are already beginning to be felt. Over the past 150 years, there has been a vast increase in the use of fossil fuel, oil, coal and the harvesting of wood from forests.
When we burn oil and coal, we release carbon that rises into the atmosphere, but unlike many other gases, it does not disintegrate, it remains in the upper atmosphere, in particular, for many generations. Carbon creates a kind of blanket in the upper atmosphere that traps the heat, and in turn it is directed back to the earth and results in what is called global warming.
The older generation will recall that there used to be a much clearer transition from summer to winter. We now get rainfalls that are unusual, and at very unusual times of the year. Where the veld and forest fires burn, this happens with greater ferocity and can cause more destruction that ever before.
We also have seen Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita - and I don't know why all these hurricanes are named after women; also floods in Pakistan, Chile, China, Australia and the Philippines and devastating forest fires in California and Australia. [Interjections.] There is never a Hurricane Piet!
Our own country has also been affected. The fires in the Western Cape over the past decade have been more prevalent and damaging than ever before. The rooibos farmers here in the Western Cape have had to change the way they cultivate tea because of changes in weather patterns. Also, the communities living along the Limpopo River Basin in Limpopo province have experienced a high degree of flooding and destruction on their farms.
Changes in the ocean temperatures and currents have also affected our marine resources and there has been a southward shift of some of the fish stocks as well as the rock lobster. Changes in climate patterns may over time cause major damage to the way we farm, the way that we fish and also our people in the urban and rural areas as well as infrastructure.
There is a risk also that malaria and other waterborne diseases could spread to new areas and put many more people at risk. The effects of climate change continue to impact negatively on our food security. The recent food prices are mainly a result of negative changes in farming and climate change.
As we celebrate the centenary of the African National Congress, we have a responsibility to ensure that our economy, our people and our environmental resources are resilient to the impact of climate change and our economy becomes resilient as we reduce carbon emissions and other gases that lead to increasing global temperatures.
It is, therefore, important to phase in transformation of our energy means, as per the plan that was provided by the department of energy and discussed country wide. As we forge ahead with the implementation of the New Growth Path; the Industrial Policy Action Plan; the new integrated energy renewal programme, with specific reference to innovation and cleaner technology; the Green Economy Plan, as well as the recently tabled National Climate Response Green Paper, the main objective of which is to determine a clear policy directive towards mitigating and adaptation to climate change. We remain confident that our country is on the right path under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma. Our government has a clear plan of action towards a green economy and that consists of seven areas which deal with issues of green buildings and the built environment; sustainable transport and infrastructure; clean energy and energy infrastructure; resource conservation and management; sustainable waste management services; agriculture food production and forestry; and water management.
In each one of these focus areas, we are aware - as was indicated by Colleague Patel earlier on - that clear plans exist and projects have been identified. These are projects that will be job-creating in nature.
We will also ensure that we implement the green economy projects as I said earlier on to ensure that working towards COP 17 we will be in a position to showcase some of the very important projects and some of the very important businesses that are actually emission-reduction-related. Amongst other things, there is wind energy and biomass energy, that is, waste generated energy. As a matter of fact, the Durban Metro is actually generating energy from waste as we speak.
The Solar Park in the Northern Cape and secondary industries flowing from solar heating will also form part of our job creation projects and entrepreneurial development. Locally manufactured solar heating systems require participation by our fellow countrymen and women. As they are beginning to be rolled out, let us all be there in our numbers.
Maitlhomo a rona, re le Lefapha la Metsi le Merero ya Tikologo, ke gore motho mongwe le mongwe a nne le metsi a a phepa jaaka Poresidente a buile. Peelo ya rona ke ngwaga wa 2014. Re tla araba ditshwaelo tse di dirilweng ke Poresidente go ya kwa KwaZulu-Natala, Limpopo le Kapa Botlhaba jaaka re laetswe ke Poresidente. Lenaneo la rona la go aga mafaratlhatlha le tla bo le sekametse bogolo setona mo diporofeseng tse ke di kaileng, mme go sa reye gore diporofense tse dingwe ga di kitla di lebelelwa. (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[Our goal as the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs is for every person to have clean water, as the President has already mentioned. Our target is the year 2014. We will address suggestions made by the President to visit KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Eastern Cape. Our programme of building infrastructure will be based mostly on the above mentioned provinces, and I am not saying other provinces will not be looked into.]
In Limpopo province, the emphasis will be on ensuring that water from the completed dams, such as the Nandoni and Flag Boshielo Dams, actually reaches the communities through the construction and installation of bulk supply pipelines. If I may just explain this, these two dams which I am talking about have been completed. The water is up to the brim, but cannot be taken to the people. Nobody uses that water because of shortcomings within the water services system. We agreed with the Premier of Limpopo when we were in Limpopo two weeks ago, that we are going to work jointly and integrate our work so that when dams are built, infrastructure that leads to the provision of water to the people is actually provided.
I think we have the support of the Minister of Finance in that regard. The EIA within the area of Nwamitwa Dam will also be completed in a month from now. Fortunately, wearing two hats I can say, "Wake up on this side, you EIA people!"
We have been assured that at least by next month this EIA will have been completed. What is going to happen is that we are going to continue with the design programme. I am told, by the way, that it takes about a year and a half to design a dam - I don't know why, but we still have to get into the nitty-gritty.
We still have to get the EIA and the funding for that dam so the Nwamitwa dam is also in the pipeline. The pipe is not long, it is short, and will contain water!
The other areas of focus will be those where there are huge backlogs, such as KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, as I have said. In KwaZulu-Natal there are projects that are already under construction.
If I may just respond to the issues to augment the President's input: Along the Mooi-Mgeni Supply Scheme the Spring Grove dam, which actually is intended to improve the water supply for the eThekwini and uMgungundlovu areas, is currently under construction. Then there is the Middledrift dam, which supplies water to one of the most water scarce areas in KwaZulu- Natal.
The IFP mayor, however, says no, a big no, to the development of this project. This is the opposite to what hon Zondi told us when he stood at this podium. We are going to see the mayor to massage his ego, because we want water for our people.
I am going to start here in the house with the leader, and ask him nicely so that this project may continue. So please, let's not stand at this podium and say the ANC is doing this and that when, in fact, it is those mayors who do not want to sign off the agreements; we will do that. In parallel with this process ... [Interjections.]
Is that a point of order, hon member?
Will the hon Minister take a question?
Hon Minister, do you want to take a question?
No, madam, but thank you for giving me the opportunity to drink some water.
The Minister does not want to take a question. Continue Minister.
She seems to be mentioning the wrong dam.
No, hon member, she does not want to take a question. Continue, Minister.
Thank you, Deputy Speaker. In parallel with this we will also accelerate the completion of the planning of the Umzimvubu and the Foxwood Dams. We will intensify our engagement with provinces, as I have already done with the Limpopo province, to ensure that we integrate and find funding for common projects so that our people are able to get water.
As I conclude, I would like to say, Mr President, rest assured that the people we have interacted with throughout this country are behind you - business and civil society - not only with regards to our process of the programme of hosting the COP 17, but also with regard to the provision of water. They do understand that gradually we are beginning to lift them out of poverty by providing services that they were never given before. This government is providing those services to them. Thank you very much. [Applause.]