Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon members, South Africa is suffering a crisis of leadership. The stark evidence of this is everywhere to be seen. The education and health departments of the Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces are collapsing due to failure of leadership. The national government is teetering under the weight of mismanagement and poor decision-making. Earlier this month, the Auditor-General, Terence Nombembe, eloquently spelled out the reasons for this collapse of governance. They are: the lack of skills at local level; the impunity of those who fail to deliver; the demoralisation of those who try their very best; and the failure of those in charge to account for their mistakes. Simply put, the collapse of governance in South Africa is due to a failure of leadership.
This was echoed by the chairperson of Nedbank, Reuel Khoza, who said that South Africa's leadership needed to adhere to institutions that underpinned democracy. He added that the political climate was not a picture of an accountable democracy.
This failure of leadership is causing havoc in the frontline of our democracy where real people live. I have heard some of their stories. Over the past few months, my colleagues and I have been undertaking walks of solidarity with our fellow citizens who have been left behind by this government. I have pushed a wheelbarrow for 7 km through Brandfort in the Free State to collect water at the municipal waterworks because of the local government's failure to deliver this basic service. The women of Brandfort must walk this distance several times a day in order to provide for their most basic needs. I felt the grinding exhaustion of the children from Zweledinga High School outside Queenstown municipality who have to walk between 10 km and 25 km every single day to get to school because the Eastern Cape government has failed to provide them with the necessary learner transport.
The children, in particular, were an inspiration. One aspires to be an engineer while another hopes to be a schoolteacher one day. While they and their parents have shown an unflinching commitment to securing their future, this government has simply left them behind. Every encounter touched me deeply, and it made me determined to make their voices heard.
Citizens look to the President to propose bold solutions to big problems. But today their faith has been shaken. The President must restore it by showing leadership. Look at what is happening elsewhere. Despite turmoil in the global economy and the capital markets, other developing countries are surging ahead. From Brazil to Vietnam, to the fastest growing region in the world - our continent of Africa - developing states are forging a bright path towards prosperity and a better life. Yet South Africa is left behind crying out for leadership and direction.
In these difficult days, we look to the President to give the nation hope to overcome despair. Yet he has failed to match the power of his office with a sense of purpose. The President's attention has been diverted from his duties. Energy spent on organising a march to an art gallery and a legal challenge to a work of satire has distracted him from the serious work of government. [Applause.] Freedom of expression is an essential ingredient in any healthy democracy. Let us rise above this distraction and have the wisdom to disagree without being disagreeable. Let us also remember that those who question power make as indispensable a contribution to our democracy as those who exercise it.
In this spirit, if the President were to act boldly from today by exercising power in pursuit of noble goals, he would have the encouragement and the good wishes of the official opposition. This is because the office of the President is much greater than the head upon which it rests.
We can see how the failure of leadership is holding back our progress on jobs. Everyone in this House will know that the biggest tragedy of our time is unemployment. The nation is crying out for action, and action now. Last year, the President promised us "the year of the job". Yet the only job we seem to hear about is his - will he keep it; will he lose it; and who will challenge him for it? [Applause.] And the entire nation is left unsure as to whether he uses power or whether power uses him. When public debate centres on the person who wears the crown, we know that it is because this presidency was purchased by a coalition of the discontented at Polokwane. Where leaders should embody hope, we know that this presidency was born in discord and dispute. The outcome is that the President's term of office has been directed by a remote control. The operators range from Cosatu to the SACP, to a shadowy state within a state in the security services. This has led to the many policy contradictions which are at the heart of government. The only place in which jobs seem to have been created is in the Presidency itself. There the President had to create two additional Ministries, and he must constantly expand his office in order to pay down his political debts.
The South African taxpayers' support for the President more than doubled from R43 million in 2009-10 to nearly R90 million in 2010-11. The President's own instincts with respect to the use of taxpayers' money were further borne out when he replied to a question that I put to him in this House last week about politicians applying for government tenders. We already know that a Cosatu investment firm benefited from e-tolling in Gauteng, despite their alleged opposition to the project. Yet the President insisted that, and I quote:
We are discriminating against politicians by not allowing them to do business regarding infrastructure investments.
Here we see the dividing line that is tearing this government apart. The President's reply contradicted his own Deputy, the hon Motlanthe, who earlier told Parliament, and I quote:
Chancellor House should not do business with government at all. It should not do business in a way which gives it an advantage because it is an investment wing of the ANC. That should not happen. That is our position.
I agree with the Deputy President on this matter even if the President does not. And given the overwhelming public outcry against corruption in the Public Service, this is further evidence that ours is a President who is out of touch and has left the people behind.
The President has failed to demonstrate economic leadership in the midst of a global recession. This further hinders job creation. His government proposes two economic plans: the hon Manuel's National Development Plan and the hon Patel's New Growth Path. The National Development Plan promotes market-led growth characterised by inclusiveness and private enterprise while the New Growth Path is geared towards greater state intervention and participation in a mixed economy. This has also led to widespread confusion. Is the government pro-growth or pro-intervention? Is it for attracting investment or entrenching protectionism? Is the government in favour of state-led capitalism, the mixed economy, the social market economy, communism, a bit of each, or all of the above?
Hon members, the President's greatest responsibility is to help get young South Africans into work. [Interjections.] Last year he set the bold target of putting 500 000 people to work by the end of the year. This deadline came and went.
Another deadline also came and went - the introduction of the Youth Wage Subsidy. No one in government or in the DA who supports the Youth Wage Subsidy has ever claimed that it would make unemployment disappear. It will, however, give many young people dignity and a foothold on the ladder of opportunity. [Applause.]
Two weeks ago, over 3 000 young people marched under the DA's banner to Cosatu House because the union federation is blocking job creation. [Interjections.] [Applause.] The President caves in to Cosatu even though this Parliament has earmarked the funds for the Youth Wage Subsidy. And so, for the first time ever, the President announced a policy - it was budgeted for and a date was set for implementation, only to be halted because Cosatu opposes it. [Interjections.].