Speaker, the ACDP would like to join other speakers in paying tribute to the hon Manuel, Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Commission. It was indeed an honour to serve in the Finance committee when Minister Manuel was the Minister of Finance. He was the longest serving finance Minister worldwide and guided state finance in an exemplary fashion, a great steward.
Indeed, it was only when I studied economics through Parliament that I realised what a remarkable job had been done by the then Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel. Historically, when liberation movements came into power such as in South America, government expenditure would shoot up to fulfil macroeconomic populist expectations. This often resulted in debt to GDP ratios that shot up and increased debt service costs. Some countries even had a sovereign debt crisis and social upheaval.
In contrast, Minister, as you are aware, together with President Nelson Mandela and, subsequently, President Thabo Mbeki, you embarked on a process of cutting government expenditure and debt to GDP ratios from a high of 50% down to almost 24%. This in turn released billions of rands which would have been spent on debt service costs for service delivery. It also cushioned us for the 2009 crisis.
It was always a pleasure to comment on the hon Manuel's Budgets, which even reached a small surplus at one stage. You will remember that, Minister Manuel. This indeed also happened for the first time in history.
I remember one occasion when I was preparing to address the television media after a particularly good Budget. Minister, I don't know if you remember this. You walked past with your entourage and you asked me whether I was going to criticise your Budget and I responded by saying, "How can I criticise you when you have just quoted Scriptures?"
I don't know if you recall, on that particular Budget Tips for Trevor, someone asked if their tithes to their church were tax deductible. You then said that, regrettably, this was not possible and paraphrased Jesus' words: "Render unto Caesar what is due unto Caesar and unto God what is due unto God." [Laughter.]
You have received a lot of criticism from certain quarters, even within your own party, and quite unjustifiably in my opinion. You bounced back in the Presidency, which I am sure was a huge surprise to many of your detractors and you led the formulation of the National Development Plan, a vision for the future of South Africa. The fact that all political parties in Parliament adopted this plan speaks volumes. It is indeed a momentous achievement and a rich legacy, ranking as high, or even higher, than the financial stability that you brought to our finances.
We honour you and wish you well in your retirement. We will miss you. If I were to quote a Scripture, it would be: "Well done, good and faithful servant!" (Matt 25:23.) You have indeed used your talents. We wish you well, but don't forget to quote Scripture. Thank you very much. [Applause.]