Hon Chairperson, Deputy President of the Republic, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and members of this august House, it is surprising indeed that today the opposition party has come here to grandstand about this Bill, whereas in the committee level we were in agreement. They said they would only have one objection, and would not vote against the Bill. It is written here in the committee report. Here is the committee report. It is here. That is why they are doing this today.
I know why they are doing this today. One of the measuring standards the DA uses for its members to come back to Parliament is to appear in the newspapers. Since this Bill was put, they were not going to appear in the newspapers. That is why they are objecting here in this House. That is why they are grandstanding. [Applause.]
What is very important is that we and the DA will never be synchronised ideologically. The ANC is the disciplined force of the left. That is why, at my first entrance to this debate, I would like to warn all the citizens of South Africa that the Lotto ticket cannot be part of your wealth portfolio. I am saying this, because when you take chances, one lotto ticket has only one chance in 40 million tickets to win. Therefore, you cannot put at risk the money for your children's food by buying a Lotto ticket.
It is critical that you control yourself and not spend on the lottery in an undisciplined manner, because at the end of the day you are not going to get rich. It is only going to be a few people who will get rich. Only one person is going to win the jackpot. The people who are going to pocket all the money are the private operators and the capitalists who will be running the Lotto itself. You cannot expose yourself to that.
That is why the DA is objecting to this Bill. For the first time, this Bill is addressing the issues affecting the poorest of the poor, just like the issue of the proactive funding. When you go all over the country, in the rural areas, you will find that there are children who have to swim across the rivers in order to get to school. However, with these provisions, the lottery and its commission will proactively go and build a bridge there to help the people of this country, without getting the application from anyone. That is why they are objecting to that. [Applause.]
What is very important here is that this is the month of the stalwart of the ANC, Bab' uOliver Tambo, who was an internationalist par excellence. When he was trotting all over the whole globe, the whole world respected him. That is why, as this Parliament, we have to do something. We have to learn from the best practices of the world.
The issue of the lottery did not begin here in South Africa. It actually started in 1507 in France, where the mayor of Paris tried to raise funds for infrastructure development. People were then made to pay tax in order to raise money for the infrastructure. This is not new in this country. It started a long time ago.
What is the difference here? The difference is that in France they knew the value of the lottery, and they let the state run it. That is why the Franaise des Jeux, LDJ, is the one running the lottery in France. That is why 72% of the lottery games in France are run by that state-owned entity. Why is it a problem when it has to happen in South Africa? It is because they know that these proceeds will go and address the developmental needs of our country. That is why they are objecting to that. [Applause.]
As I have already indicated, the ANC has a proud history. In Polokwane we adopted a policy of creating a developmental state, which will be in charge of a mixed economy. In a mixed economy you will have the state, labour, capital and civil society - all working together to raise the economy of the country.
Why is it a problem now when the state intervenes in running the lottery? The answer is very simple. When running the lottery, there are billions of rands involved. How much money goes to good causes? It is only 34%. This means that if a state-owned entity is running the lottery, those gains will go back to the fiscus. When they go back to the fiscus, they will then be redirected to the poorest of the poor. That is why they don't want a state organ to run a lottery. [Applause.] Those are their reasons. That is why they don't want that.
They come here and pretend to be fighting corruption. I am telling you the truth. One of the best state organs in this country is the Reserve Bank of SA. When the ANC took over the Reserve Bank in 1994, it was bankrupt and had a deficit of more than R25 billion. As we are speaking now, it is one of the best Reserve Banks in the world. Whose work was that? It is the work of this ANC-led government. [Applause.]
We are proud that this state organ is going to play a positive role. What is critical is that there are four criteria which the private operators must fulfil in order to win a licence. Firstly, they must implement the national government policy and priorities; secondly, they must grow local industries and procure goods from local manufacturers. As we are speaking now, part of the industrial policy action plan is to grow manufacturing in this country. When you go and buy a Lotto ticket, you must know that the paper which you are going to get has been produced in Greece and not in South Africa, whereas we have an advanced paper industry in this country. However, the private operators procured those goods abroad, at the expense of our own people and the workers in this country.
When we say that the state organ must run this thing, they know that black economic empowerment will be enhanced. One of the critical aspects was that the operator must support the promotion of broad-based black economic empowerment and transformation. We know that the DA does not support that, although for party politics and the elections they always say that they support the idea. That is why the hon James said that he supported diversified economic empowerment. He said that. They do not support broad- based black economic empowerment, because when you do that, you are uplifting the majority of the poor. When uplifting the majority of the poor from beyond the poverty line, they will never get a chance of running this country ever again. Hence, they are going to oppose it.
What is also critical is that the skills of running a lottery are based outside the country. One of the conditions we are putting here is that there must be skills and technology transfer. All the other operators failed dismally in that regard. That is why we, as the ANC - the disciplined force of the left, and not the department - said that if a company or the operator did not comply with these four aspects, the Minister must terminate that contract. Immediately after the Minister terminates the contract, a state organ can come and run it.
There are lots of state organs that can run it. Do you know the Industrial Development Corporation, the IDC? The economy of this country is strong because of the projects run by the IDC. We can give it to the IDC. They can run it the way they are running other businesses. [Applause.]
What is worrying is that hon Van der Merwe and hon McIntosh are saying that it is a sinister idea for a state organ to run the National Lottery. At the same time, they acknowledge that the Department of Trade and Industry is good and has capacity. The Department of Trade and Industry is also a state organ. What is critical is that, as South Africa, we must not beat ourselves. We are doing good and transforming this country, ensuring that there is broad participation in the whole economy of the country.
That is why I am calling upon all the sane members and patriotic people of this country and on this Parliament to support this Bill, because it is going to bring real transformation for our people on the ground. Thank you. [Applause.]