Chairperson, there in the National Assembly we said to Mphephethwa Blade Nzimande, -Vala [close], Nzimande!| Thank you to this Nzimande for closing so well. I think you have said it all to hon Feldman. No, not the hon Feldman, it was the hon Groenewald. He had only four minutes to say all those terrible things. [Laughter.] Give him more time so that he can be more amorous towards South Africa. Our message to him is the following - the saying comes from the hon Nzimande: -None are so blind as those who have eyes yet refuse to see.|
The next four minutes will make you realise that this country, which you people messed up, is changing under us. Secondly, I want to say that I don't know where he gets the figure that this department underspent by R4 billion. That is urban legend, spread by one of their journalists. We know where they get it from. Our department has spent its budget to the tune of a 3% underspend. The law allows us to underspend by 5%, but we did less than that. It is permissible, even if we had underspent by 5%. I would like to spend the entire budget, given the needs. I do not know where he gets this R4 billion from. Please, sir, desist from that or you will become an agent of propaganda! Face the music: You created this situation. Be kind enough to recognise that times have moved on and we have changed.
Talking about piped water in the Western Cape, who sends that water here? It is us. There is no provincial Ministry or MEC here who is in charge of water. So, when you say you achieved 99%, that's Minister Edna Molewa, sir! You have beautiful houses built here - Minister Tokyo Sexwale is responsible for that, sir! Go and tell your members. That is what is happening here.
As for the shacks, they are your product. They are the result of 100 years of landlessness for our people - since 1913. You are responsible but you can't face the shame, coming here today without showing remorse. We have to take so much. I stayed in jail for 15 years. For people to come and tell us this today is unacceptable. These are the product of 100 years of having taken away people's dignity. Just recognise that we have been kind enough to be forgiving. Do not provoke us any further. Recognise that land was taken and that that is why you have more than 2 400 informal settlements scattered around here. We did not build shacks and informal settlements. I have told you that, so listen very carefully. They are the result of dispossession. Those who created them keep quiet when we deal with the subject. But if you come here and pontificate, pretending that this government has done nothing, then we know that you are not prepared to listen and not prepared to learn.
Hon Gunda, you called for decent housing, and we accept that. You spoke like a South African, even though you are from the opposition. You said you wanted decent houses and that is what we are doing. Let me tell you, colleagues, that we will never chase quantity at the expense of quality for our people. That we will not do. The President said: -Better fewer, but better.| He was quoting Lenin. It is not that we want to have fewer houses, but better few with high quality; better for our people. That is what they deserve.
Hon Manzini, I want to say that you were spot on. You are fighting corruption, and so are we. In my department, 5 000 people have been brought to book by me. Lawyers have been taken away. We blacklist and we name - Minister Radebe has requested that we name them. We blacklist these people. These are companies that were established here in the past. We accept that there is a lot of corruption in this country, and it should concern us all. We agree with you, but do recognise the efforts we are making. I don't want to be a cop; I want to build houses. I don't want to repair houses either. Accept that corruption is being fought here. Corruption is headline news because we are talking about it and doing something. When countries are truly corrupt, they don't speak about corruption. We are looking for good and honest people.
Let me say that by providing houses, somebody is ... [Interjections.]