Hon Speaker, Your Excellencies President and Deputy President, hon members, esteemed guests, we agree with you, Your Excellency, that South Africa is better than it was before 1994 and to suggest otherwise is an insult to the memory of those who died and fought for freedom. [Applause.] Some strides have been made. We also share your concerns on how power relations in our economy have not changed.
It is a disgrace that 19 years after the attainment of freedom black ownership of the stock exchange is still 5%. Somehow we seem to have attained political freedom that excluded land and the economy. We have attained the freedom of the flag and anthem with the government that is guarding the property and wealth of the rich.
Hon President, BEE will not reverse the anomaly. BEE and affirmative action are flawed policies based on the foreign model where the majority affirms the minority. South Africa is peculiar in that it is expected that the minority should affirm the majority. What our country needs, is state ownership of the means of production, land, sea and air space distributed among individuals according to the needs and capacity to use.
On South Africa's role in peacekeeping on the continent, Azapo is happy that we have emphatically, honourable President, said that under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union, Azapo is opposed to South Africa's solo efforts at attempting to promote peace, the example being the Central African Republic. We will support the deployment of our armed forces in the Eastern DRC as part of a multilateral force. The continent must not allow itself to be threatened and intimidated by M23 and other rebels; rebels without a cause. [Applause.]
We need lasting peace in Africa and we will not achieve that with groups that forcefully conscript its citizens including children and raped women with impunity. No child in Africa deserves to grow up under conditions of war. We also say that peace is priceless and nothing should be spared to achieve lasting peace on the continent. Yes, we want labour peace in South Africa. We are in full support of collective bargaining. We also call for equal treatment of trade unions and federations.
Your Excellency, you have told this House that the government does not side with any union. We appreciate the appointment of the Deputy President to intervene and we are going to see how this is done because the perception out there, hon President, is that unions are treated differently. We will support the Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]