House Chairperson ...
Mandiqale ndithethe isiXhosa. [Let me kick off by speaking isiXhosa.]
Firstly, providing statistics without context can be misleading ...
... kuba umngeni apho ukhoyo usekubeni abantu bavele bafune sikholelwe ukuba apha eKapa kwakungekho nendlu phambi kokuba baphathe, nto leyo engekhoyo, kungekho nendlu yangasese. Yintsomi kamlengana ke leyo. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[... because the challenge is when people want us to believe that in the Western Cape there was not a single house or a single toilet before they came to power, which is not true. That is a myth.]
House Chairperson and hon members, we are gathered here to once more undertake the important task of dividing revenue between the three spheres of government to enable them to provide basic services and discharge their constitutional mandate. This exercise is critical in bringing the means for service delivery close to the people.
We are, however, faced with the challenge of spheres of government that either lack or do not have the capacity to spend the allocated funds. Even those that do spend their budget allocations have a tendency to waste it.
Even more worrisome is the fact that, generally, the provincial governments and municipalities that either waste or fail to spend allocated funds are the ones responsible for providing basic services to the poorest regions of our country. For these reasons, we look upon this Division of Revenue Bill with some trepidation, but to disagree with it just for the sake of disagreeing would be irresponsible. Yet, we have serious reservations about the ability of this division of revenue to result in the same proportion of delivery. There is no point in a division of revenue that is wasted, appropriated for private use or is returned to the national government unspent.
We call on government to develop and implement strategies to ensure that the funding that is spent is for the benefit of the people. The UDM supports the Division of Revenue Bill. [Applause.]
Phambi kokuba ndihlale phantsi, ngemvume yakho, Sihlalo weNdlu, apha bekumana kuphazanywa kuba ooNqaba baninzi, kucingwa ukuba ndingulo uye kwi- DA. Ndiba ngathi hayi ndihleli, babe abantu besithi hay' khona ungulo uhambileyo. Hayi, andihambanga. Kodwa ke omnye umntu ucebise ukuba ndifanele ndiphuze ohloniphekileyo uMnqasela njengophawu olubonisa ukuba ndiya phaya ... (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[Before I take a seat, with your permission, House Chairperson, I want to point out that there was some heckling directed at me here because it was thought that I was the Nqaba who went to join the DA, out of the many Nqabas here. Despite my protestations to the contrary, some people still think that I am that person. Someone advised me to kiss hon Mnqasela as a gesture that I am going to join the DA ...]
... and then I said to him, well, if there was any person that I would kiss, as a symbolic gesture, it would be the hon Tim Harris, but the challenge is that, before I can do that, I would need a step ladder, because he is quite tall. Thank you very much and best wishes for the elections.