Hon Chairperson, the outcomes of the strategic plan, as set out by the department, require a pro-employment route that absorbs large numbers of people into the economy by focusing on labour-absorbing industries and reducing the carbon-emission footprint. Doing this will stimulate the green economy, which, in turn, will lead to more jobs.
As we speak, this debate, in essence, is about jobs. The unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2011 stands at 25% using the strict definition, and at close to 36% using the expanded definition.
During the past financial crisis, the South African economy shed more than one million jobs, real jobs. More than a third of our adult population is currently unemployed. These are the realities that we have to contend with.
After I listened to the hogwash that the hon Maine got off his chest, I thought, maybe I must for the moment leave my formal speech and speak about something more interesting, and this is once again to break down the word "jobs". [Interjections.] You don't need to be a scientific specialist to know that you start with the letter "j". There is only one "J" at the moment that is dictating the current debate in South Africa, and that is Julius. [Laughter.] [Interjections.] Now we heard some hon member very recently refer to this Malema phenomenon ... [Interjections.] ... that is creating all this uncertainty and investors that don't want to come and invest. I can continue with that, but the reality is: the Malema phenomenon is not good news for the South African economy. The second letter of jobs is the "o", for opportunities, Minister. We need to grab those opportunities. There is a window of opportunity for the green economy to get a footprint in Africa and the world, and to use our resources to the best of our people's ability.
Then we come to the letter "b" of jobs. It stands for best practices. Hon Minister, I'm not so sure that in terms of the exchange rate, we are exactly on the right track. Maybe, hon Minister, you could give us more guidance in terms of your feelings and analysis of the exchange rate and, specifically, to grow the economy. We also need to have a very, very serious debate about localisation and what we can do to improve the quality of our people's lives. But best practice must also include leadership, and the problem with the ANC is a lack of leadership. [Interjections.]
Coming then to the letter "s" of the word jobs, "s" stands for strategic thinking. If we don't change the situation around of what I call the golden triangle of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, we are not going to succeed in growing the economy of this country. We must have a serious debate about how we are going to achieve this. Unfortunately, I'm constrained by time, and that is a very long debate. To achieve that, we must build on the issue of what we can do with the infrastructure.
The last point on strategic thinking is our education system - on many levels. The reality is that only 7 000 matriculants passed maths ... [Time expired.]