Hon Speaker, hon members, comrades and friends, may I start by expressing my heartfelt condolences to the Mbili family, to Mr Mbili's beloved children, friends, comrades in the province and the entire family of his organisation, the ANC. Comrade Mbili's sudden death came as a great shock to all of us, especially his colleagues in the Standing Committee on Appropriations.
He was involved in a serious accident before this one, which burnt his car beyond recognition, but he survived. He was then hospitalised for some time. The standing committee members kept in contact with him. I know that hon Singh and Snell visited him at his place while he was off sick. I contacted him a week before he was involved in this last accident. During our conversation, he informed me that he was ready and had recuperated enough to come back to work. He met his untimely death a day before he was supposed to be discharged by the doctor.
I met Comrade Mbili during the previous term of Parliament, when he served as a member of the Portfolio Committee on Finance, as it was known at that time. Those who worked with him would know how he enjoyed taking people on in committee discussions. He had this propensity for detail - something that does not always sit well with officials who appear before committees.
I also remember, when Parliament was supposed to pass the Financial Management of Parliament Bill, that the issue at the time was whether there should be oversight over Parliament itself. The Parliamentary Oversight Authority was not comfortable with the fact that they would have to account to somebody. However, Comrade Mbili and other members insisted that it be included in the Bill, which is an Act today, so that Parliament could account to some structure. That was finally adopted by everyone in the committee.
When the President, in his state of the nation address in 2009, said that Parliament should be an activist Parliament, Comrade Mbili was one of those members who grabbed the challenge with both hands, ensuring that departments accounted to Parliament. The ANC had deployed him as a Whip in the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Scopa, and he took on that responsibility with great enthusiasm. Comrade Mandla believed that the executive authority, as enjoined by the Constitution, was accountable to Parliament and therefore it also needed to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. Comrade Mandla Mbili's interpretation caused tension but once he had formulated a particular view in his mind, it was difficult to convince him otherwise.
Hon Mbili subsequently joined the Standing Committee on Appropriations with all the necessary energy. The Standing Committee on Appropriations got a lot of mileage out of his participation in the committee. He believed in oversight and accountability, like all members of the committee. He did not want officials to assume that they knew what the committee wanted to hear. His view, shared by all of us in the committee, was that the truth had to be told as it was.
I can remember some examples. For instance, officials of a certain department once received an adjustment of R700 million on the previous financial year's spend. The officials promised that that money would be spent by the end of the financial year - March this year. The officials told the committee that they had signed a memorandum of understanding with the construction industry, including contractors who were supposed to do that work and that not all who signed the memorandum of understanding were going to close over Christmas. That did not go down well with the committee, including Comrade Mandla Mbili. The rest is history, as the committee discovered that no such agreements existed. We give credit to Comrade Mandla for demonstrating that paying attention to the details was an important part of the committee's work and not just a principle.
Comrade Mbili stammered, but he was always ready to put his point across very strongly. He was a fearless debater - of course you needed to persuade him! He called a spade a spade, whether he was right or not. As long as he believed in a point, he would stand to defend his view.
As the chairperson, I did not escape being on the receiving end of his feelings in one of our study group meetings. I never shared this with members of the opposition and I hope they are not listening today! I thought a general feeling existed among committee members. The issue was related to an overseas study tour that the committee was supposed to undertake. Every arrangement had been made for the committee to undertake that trip. However, the trip had not yet been realised.
In that study group, Comrade Mandla told me to my face that this trip was failing because "the chairperson does not want the trip to happen". Everyone in the study group seemed to agree with him. I kept quiet because I thought it would not help me to argue with him over this; I would not be able to convince him. Hon members wanted the study tour to take place so that they could compare and contrast their experiences with those of other places. I am sure Comrade Mbili, wherever he is, will be pleased to see the study tour materialise. To him it was a matter of principle, not because he would be part of the delegation. He was always ready to raise hard questions.
This House will remember his last speech, which was misconstrued to a certain extent. He was referring to the degraded infrastructure at Mthatha. He thought the democratic government had not done enough to improve the road infrastructure there. We are happy today to report that that area has become a presidential project. Whether it was already in planning then or not, we give credit to Comrade Mandla Mbili because he raised the issue very strongly in this House.
He grew up in an Inkatha-dominated area, but we have learnt that he was always an ANC member, despite all the violence taking place around him. He was a dedicated member of the ANC, who believed that the ANC-led government could achieve a better life for the poor. This he did by ensuring that the budget was spent on what it was intended for. He was an activist, not only in politics, as we heard at the memorial service, but also of the church.
A spear of the nation has fallen and ANC members must pick up the spear and forge forward towards a better life. We will miss him greatly. Long live the spirit of Comrade Mandla. Thank you. [Applause.]