First, the point I have been trying to clarify is this. We have taken a decision to implement what we have been saying, namely that government must do things differently.
One of the difficulties has been the fact that, historically, infrastructure in this country was created wrongly. It was done to cater for a minority, and not for the majority of the population. As a result, when freedom came and there were no restrictions to control the influx of people, they came to the cities in great numbers. Infrastructure that was meant for fewer people could not carry the load of the number of people who now had the freedom to be in the cities. That is what is causing the overflow of sewage and so on. It is not as if somebody was careless. This is part of the legacy of our bad history and this is what we are addressing.
Perhaps we have not paid attention to infrastructure for a number of years because it is not just a social matter, it has been economic, precisely because the economic infrastructure was made for a few. When the economy had more people participating, they suffocated it. It could not carry the load and it began to undermine economic growth. We have now taken a very conscious decision, saying we should expand the infrastructure nationally. We will not look only at one municipality or one province but we will look at it broadly. That is a big change.
Therefore we are saying that in addressing infrastructure of all types - bulk infrastructure or whatever - we are actually addressing the issue you mentioned.
Uthe kuseMtshezi lapho kuvuza khona ipayipi. [You said it was in eMtshezi where they had a burst pipe.]
It is going to be addressed. No doubt about it. It is part of what we are doing to create infrastructure able to carry the entire population of this country.
We are also going to deal with the roads. I have mentioned roads and rail many times here. It includes the road which you say is the road to death. We are going to make it the road not to death but to life. [Laughter.]
We are also saying that we are going to increase the skills level and the level of professionalism with regard to the maintenance of our infrastructure. So, that issue is going to be resolved too.
You know, there are many things in this country that were undermined by our history and which we are now correcting. I have been saying that this is a window of opportunity for us to correct the wrongs forever. Therefore, the maintenance of infrastructure is going to be brought up to date. So, don't worry! It's a matter of time until there will be no overflowing sewage because there will be people doing the job there.
In fact, we have a very specific, effective plan to train our people. We will change the nature of education in this country to produce more engineers for the work that is out there. In the recent past, even if you produced engineers, they had nothing to do, so they left the country. The opening up of this opportunity means that we are actually going to need more engineers to maintain the infrastructure. So, all that is in the plan. Rest assured, the worries are gone! [Laughter.] Gone and forgotten. [Laughter.] Absolutely! [Laughter.] I take it this was the last question?
HON MEMBERS: Yes!