Deputy Speaker, hon Ministers, Members of Parliament and listeners at home, today is a big day for South Africans who are waiting out there to listen how the money is appropriated and distributed from national, provincial and local spheres of government. Our people out there are happy to get something that will keep them going. They are happy to see that the projects that are there and that are being promised by the ANC-led government will be attended to.
In the Preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa it is stated that:
We, therefore, through our freely elected representatives, adopt this Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic so as to improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person.
In the January 8th Statement, President Jacob Zuma mentioned that:
We know that we have not succeeded in the economic liberation and advancement of the majority of South Africans. That is why the ANC is adamant; we will pursue this aspect of the national democratic revolution with more vigour and dedicated attention in this phase.
As we all know, the state of the nation address speaks about jobs, jobs and jobs, and that is what we will be discussing in this Division of Revenue, because we need decent employment opportunities, which have the modern infrastructure, a vibrant economy and high quality of life. I mean that we don't start today talking about the Division of Revenue; we started long ago, before 2009 when we planned for the manifesto. Our manifesto comes out very clearly that decent work embraces both the need for more jobs and a better quality of life for all. The creation of decent work and a sustainable livelihood will be central to the ANC's agenda. As it is today, it will always be.
I am focusing my speech on the recommendations of the Financial and Fiscal Commission, FFC, which we all know is mandated by Chapter 13 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. It is an independent institution that has to be consulted by Parliament with regard to Division of Revenue.
The recommendations, as I continue, are interrelated and evidence-based as the result of consultations with various stakeholders and research. With regard to the Fiscal Framework and coping with vulnerabilities, it deals with consolidation and limiting spending on successful programmes; expanding social grants; and reprioritising expenditure towards maintenance and repairs. Government has prioritised very important departments, such as Health and Education, because there should be access to these services as a matter of policy.
The new infrastructure grant backlogs will address eradication of mud schools and inappropriate school infrastructure and provide water, sanitation and electricity because we need accessibility to health therefore, children will be willing to go school. The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, has allocated R8,2 billion to eradicate all the backlogs and will lapse at the end of this period.
We also spoke about the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, whereby poor students at the end of their third year will be able to convert their student scheme into a bursary. That is a very good effort based on the fact that poor students who were unable to access funds and stressed about the fact that they have to start refunding this money, will start building their own lives.
With regard to school learner transport, the Bill of Rights on Basic Education, hon members, states that measures should be taken to progressively make education available and accessible. When a child misses a school bus in the morning and doesn't go to school, the child, parent and the community as a whole will expect answers from the Department of Basic Education on why it did not provide transport. This is a burning issue, hon members.
In 2009, the Financial and Fiscal Commission recommended that national norms and standards for the provision of learner transport should be established. This will be possible once the location of this function has been clearly demarcated between the national Departments of Education and Transport.
In this regard, the commission recommends that the location of the responsibility for the provision of learner transport should be clarified as a matter of urgency. As Parliament, we really request that this be clarified as a matter of urgency because the people who are suffering are our children - the future leaders of tomorrow.
With regard to access to health, hon members, the overused and underresourced health facilities are found in the public sector, and the private sector only caters for 20% of the population. The introduction of the National Health Insurance that is under way will address these imbalances in health care. It will address this in the way that you will share the facilities with all of us wherever we are.
Spending on programmes should be cost-effective and outcomes-based. We should refocus on reprioritisation of spending, but not compromise the importance of social infrastructure. With regard to the social assistance reform, we know that people are poor, and 15 million of them depend on social grants in the form of pension, disability and children living in poor households. In the state of the nation address, it was stated that this intervention is a necessity and not a creation of welfare; it is a means towards a developmental state. We have to start somewhere by intervening in the form of social grants. As time goes on, we will reach where we all want to be at the developmental state.
Regarding the efficiency and transparency of the intergovernmental fiscal system, we know that much as they recommended it, we have the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA and the Municipal Finance Management Act, MFMA, to address the issues of efficiency, effectiveness and transparency.
With regard to the urban public transport, hon members, we know that people moved to urban areas for economic reasons; they ended up living as squatters and creating informal settlements. This problem is not of our making. We are addressing apartheid spatial planning which created dormitory type townships and underdeveloped rural areas. As a result, the ANC-led government is addressing that issue of informal settlements where an urban settlement grant of R21,8 billion will be allocated for the next three years to address the targeted upgrade of 400 000 homes in informal settlements.
Regarding the transport grant, the involvement of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, is to bring integration of transport between the cities where there will be transfer of funds from Prasa to address the local issues like local government issues. This integration will be much appreciated, and the amount will be moved from R66 billion to R80 billion at the end of the MTEF.
Another issue of concern, hon members, is the recommendation from FFC which states that the government should make a concerted effort to estimate the fiscal capacity and fiscal effort of the municipality to dispel the perception that certain municipalities will never be financially viable. The reply from government is that the notion that certain municipalities will never be financially viable is a misrepresentation of both the design of the local government fiscal framework and the practical reality of local economies.
There are obviously divergent issues here. Respecting all the legislation governing municipalities, we cannot only rely on systems, but we also need scientific and empirical evidence to inform this discussion. Municipalities can be self-sufficient, but they also need capacity, on the other hand, to expand their local economies.
In conclusion, to succeed in transforming local government, the ANC must continue to be part of the lives and experiences of our people. The fundamental principle is that we must remain faithful to our people at all times, as we are, hon Swarts, even when we have not met their expectations. We must tell them the difficulties we come across, including the reality that resources are not limitless.
This is not a campaign, hon members; it is what people expect from us at local government. They know that the ANC is there to listen to them and give them feedback and listen and listen and attend to their problems. The local government elections are coming and people are relying on the ANC to address their local issues. Thank you. [Time expired.]