Mr Speaker, Deputy President, Ministers, and colleagues, I first sat in this Parliament in 1994. In the past 19 years during which I have had the privilege of serving at the heart of our democratic order, I have seen three distinct phases.
The first I would call the phase of hope and fear. For the first five years of South Africa's new democracy our actions were defined by those two impulses. We saw the great potential freedom brought and, with it, the possibility that we might create, out of horror and prejudice, a new order, a testament to everything that is wonderful about South Africa. Mr Manuel, I want to thank you on behalf of the DA and all South Africans for your contribution in creating that new order. Your involvement in the United Democratic Front was a defining contribution, something that could never and should never be ignored and forgotten. [Applause.] With the new order came much fear, as the possibility of failure always generates doubt and insecurity. It was an age of great aspiration and great trepidation. We have done well, I think, generally to keep that hope alive and those fears fairly constrained. May I again say to Minister Manuel that his efforts, as our previous Minister of Finance, played a major role in achieving that. What we should always remember is the jittery reaction by the markets when you, Mr Manuel, temporarily resigned as Minister of Finance at the end of the Mbeki regime. That reaction was indicative of the high esteem in which you were held by those in charge of the economy of this country.
The second phase is best described as a phase of self-awareness. Over the next 10 years we came to understand that our hopes could not be instantaneously realised, that their realisation required hard work, and that our fears would be made very real if ever we neglected or failed to be vigilant in our duty. Often, we were. During this time, the true nature of those obstacles we had to overcome was quantified - a terrible legacy of poverty and injustice that is as daunting as it is disheartening.
To this end, Mr Manuel, we owe you a great debt of gratitude for, firstly, introducing a budget system that is regularly rated as one of the most transparent in the world and, secondly, for convincing your colleagues in Cabinet to accept your long-term plans for South Africa, of which the National Development Plan is the last. This is a plan that has the support of the majority of South Africans. It is a plan that can help us out of this cycle of poverty.
All this I have watched from a sporting perspective. Sport is my passion and my great love, and I know it is yours too, Trevor. We have differed about that on a few occasions. I think sport is a wonderful metaphor for our democratic journey. Few things better capture South Africa's potential for excellence and the realisation of our hopes and dreams than sport. At the same time, few things better capture our collective despair when those high ideals are crushed.
My colleague the hon Wilmot James wrote:
The best antidote to our fears and insecurity is excellence, so that when we take the risk to act, and succeed, it is then we confirm to ourselves and others that we are worthy.
That, I think, is a profound insight. Excellence is the answer to the question that we are grappling with in South Africa. If we want to overcome our low sense of self-worth and the decades of degrading treatment imposed on the majority of South Africans, we need to embrace excellence. We need to believe that we can be the best and then do it, set the standard and then exceed it. Can there be any better answer to self-doubt? Is there any greater source of confidence?
My party and I have always advocated for this. Our party policy, "The pursuit of excellence", is a testimony to this ideal. We do so because we believe every South African is first and foremost an agent, not a victim, and that, given the right opportunity, all South Africans can succeed.
So, I would like to leave this House with the following suggestion: Let us use sport to give South Africa the self-confidence it needs. Let us embrace excellence, not shun it. Let us make it the light that guides the decisions we make. Let us outlaw mediocrity and victimhood, and let us emphatically answer the question and show that we are a great nation, capable of great things. This is how we are going to dispel our doubts and realise our dreams. Excellence, indeed, is the antidote to our fears. Let us start to distribute the cure and stop comforting the disease.
Speaker, I was told that I had seven minutes. Now I see that I have 10 minutes. Let me use those three minutes to say ...