I would like to say to the hon Mpontshane that we appreciate his support of this Budget Vote. However, with regard to the issue of "an ideological third force", why don't we ask for a debate in Parliament on this topic. Let's not use this Budget Vote because I would really like to debate what I mean by elements that are positioning themselves like an ideological third force. Let us not use this occasion.
We also heard what Professor Mayatula said. We agree with him: yes, it is a right to protest and demonstrate, but we say no to the destruction of property. In fact, to use our language, destroying property is counterrevolutionary because it means that we have to take money that could have been used for something else to repair something that we had already built. That is why we want to say that the transformation of education must be accompanied by the ongoing mass mobilisation and political education of South Africans. [Applause.] It should not just be seen as manna of some sort from government.
Hon Radebe, we agree with you: a part of the R2,5 billion from the National Skills Fund and the sector education and training authorities will be for modern machinery and equipment. In the Skills Accord, we agreed that employers should expose college lecturers to modern technology so that what they teach is relevant and they will produce students who are employable or, at least, able to start their own initiatives.
Regarding the councils of colleges, we also agree. It is our target that by the end of September we will have fully functional, re-elected councils at FET colleges. Therefore, I call upon all hon members to give us names of good people whom they know are passionate about education and colleges. We will consider them, even if they actually come from the DA and, maybe, Cope. [Laughter.]
My hon colleague, Deputy Minister Mulder, we agree with you on the issue of language. You know my view. The two of us have debated this many times before, outside of the House. The attitude you articulated today towards African languages and Afrikaans is the correct one. My concern is that those who defend Afrikaans tend to want to defend Afrikaans in isolation from the underdeveloped African languages. If you do that, you drive yourself into the laager and then no one will listen. As a matter of fact, we do want to learn from what Afrikaans has achieved and how it did so. That is why in the African languages panel we have a professor from Stellenbosch who is actually sharing with us how Afrikaans was developed. That is something we really appreciate and can take forward.
Hon Gina, we agree with you. That is why we have said to the administrators at these universities that if we are actually going to deal with this, they must also focus on turning around their academic programme, not just their management and finances.
In conclusion, hon Dikobo from Azapo, the issue of chief financial officers is very clear at the FET colleges. The structure of the FET colleges is that one of the deputy principals is responsible for finance, which is the CFO position. So, when chartered accountants come in, no one can say that it is not clear what is going to happen.
Ngale kwalokho ngiyabonga kakhulu kinina malungu ahloniphekile ngokuthi niseseke. Labo abangasesekanga angisazi ukuthi ngingathini kubona; yizinkinga zabo lezo, abaziphuzele lobo tshwala abazigayele bona. Siyabonga. [Uhleko.] [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[A big thank you to the hon members for supporting us. I do not know what to say to those who did not support us. That is their problem; let them dance to their own music. Thank you. [Laughter.] [Applause.]]