Deputy Speaker, Mr President, one of the few statements that President Ramaphosa made during the state of the nation address that the ACDP warmly welcomes is his reassurance that government will not interfere with the constitutional mandate of the SA Reserve Bank, which is to protect the value of our currency in the interest of balanced and sustainable growth. He stated that:
Today we re-affirm this constitutional mandate which the Reserve Bank must pursue independently without fear, favour or prejudice.
The ACDP encourages the President to be resolute in his defence of the independence of the SA Reserve Bank and ignore those who are calling for its nationalisation. This being said, the ACDP did not appreciate the President's dreams. To many South Africans, these are old dreams that belong to the pre-1994 era. Even before the democratic dispensation of 1994, most South Africans living in informal settlements, dreamt of living in modern brick houses that would give them a sense of dignity. Students dreamt of studying in universities of their choice, graduating and finding competitive employment. The reality is that, after 25 years of democracy, these dreams have not materialised. To hear the President talking about these dreams as if they were something new was a huge disappointment.
Another major let down was to hear the President saying:
If we are to ensure that within the next decade, every 10 year-old will be able to read for learning, we will need to mobilise the entire nation behind a massive reading campaign.
The President knows full well that when we were 10 years old we could read with comprehension, yet the President dreams that it will take another decade before all 10 year-olds can read with understanding. One of the many reasons why most 10 year-olds cannot read with comprehension or write legibly is because the Department of Basic Education has not prioritised basic reading and writing skills.
The ACDP calls on government to abandon their wicked plans to introduce new textbooks on comprehensive sexuality education that will teach nine and 10 year-old learners about masturbation and oral sex. Comprehensive sexuality education does not have the best interest of African children at heart. Government should instead focus on ensuring that our children are equipped with mathematics, science, robotics and basic computer skills in addition to reading and writing skills. The ACDP applauds the
proposal to introduce subjects like coding and data analytics at primary school level.
Deputy Speaker, the President also said he is committed to building an ethical state in which there is no place for corruption and plundering of public money. If he is committed to this, the ACDP wants to know as to why certain Cabinet Ministers that are having allegations of corruption hanging over their heads appointed. We believe that the President's goal of building special cities [Time expired].
IsiXhosa: