Ngiyabonga Sihlalo weNdlu, ngibingelele kuMongameli ohloniphekile, ukudlondlobala kwalezi zikweleti zika-Eskom ikhona okuyingqinamba enkulu evimba ukuthi kube nozinzo ekusebenzeni. Mongameli ohloniphekile, ngabe uHulumeni unalo yini iqhinga angasiza ngalo ekuqoqeni izikweleti komasipala nakubahlali abahlomulo ngqo ku-Eskom? Nokuthi, kungenzeka yini ukuthi kube namathuba omsebenzi ukuze kuliwe nale ngwadla yokuntuleka kwemisebenzi? Ngiyabonga, Sihlalo.
UMONGAMELI WEZWE: Sihlalo ohloniphekile, ngibonge kakhulu kulowo mbuzo owubuzayo ngoba eyona nkinga enkulu esinayo wukuthi umphakathi, abantu bakithi abasebenzisa ugesi banoku ngakhokhi imali uma bewusebenzisile lowo gesi. Bayawusebenzisa ugesi kodwa uma sekufanele ukhokhelwe bavele bamele kude bathi, hhayi, imali asinayo. Lokho kwenza ukuthi u-Eskom - lo owenza ukuthi sibenawo ugesi - ungabe usaba nayo imali yokwenza lo gesi futhi kungakhoke isikweleti sika-Eskom silokhu sikhuphuka siya phezulu. Uma izinto zingashintshi siziyeka zibe nje kuzofika isikhathi lapho i-Eskom ngempela isikweleti sakhona sizoba sikhulu kakhulu nayo futhi i-
Eskom izoba senkingeni yokungakwazi ukwenza ugesi, kube mnyama la eNingizimu Afrika. Manje akufanele ukuthi kuze kufike kuleso sigaba.
English:
All of us need to know that when we use electricity there is a cost to it. We cannot just say Eskom itself and the government will carry the cost. We've embraced and accepted the principle of user-pay where the user of any service does pay. When we use our cellphones and talk for however long we all know, even a small child knows, that it costs money and you must pay. I always use this example. The same applies when it comes to electricity, the same applies when it comes to water and the same applies when it comes to a whole range of things. This culture has developed, wrongly so amongst our people that when it comes to electricity the government will carry the ken we can continue using as much as electricity as we can. That is a wrong culture. We want to change that culture. The boycott culture is over. We are no longer in the boycott period. Boycotts were used as an effective weapon during the days of the struggle and it paid dividends. It got us where we are. Part of the instruments we used were boycotts and now we must using paying to take our country forward. If all of us as South Africans want this county to move forward we have to pay our electricity bills just as much as we pay for our cellphone bills.
I don't just understand why you would pay to talk on a cellphone like what that cellphone was doing now. [Laughter.] Maybe there is no airtime in. But I don't understand why we would pay for cellphones. I site cellphones because they are a new technology. We are all new payers to cellphones. Many years ago we didn't have cellphones and now we have them and we know that there is a cost. We pay every month for our cellphones. Similarly we must pay for our electricity and for our water.
As a government we are going to launch massive campaign to encourage our people to pay. We are going to spread it throughout the length and the breadth of the country and call all South Africans to pay their charges. But because we are a caring government we have even gone to say there would be those indigent families who would have some kilowatts that they will be exempted from. But in the end all of us as South Africans must pay. It is our civic duty and our responsibility to pay.
When it comes to creating jobs we are working day in and day out to find ways of creating jobs. Part of the paper that was referred to earlier is aimed at doing precisely that - how we can remove constraints in our economy and how we can unlock the energy in our economy and to get our iconology going and make sure that we create
more and more jobs. This is precisely what we are seeking to do. Thank you very much. [ Applause.]