Hon Deputy Speaker, Ministers and hon Members of Parliament, a government that cares about and serves its people should characterise itself by the persistent practice of not only assessing the needs of the people, but also seeking to divide its revenue in a manner that best suits such needs.
At the apex of the ANC-led government's priorities is education, along with, inter alia, health and human settlements. This prioritisation has led us to gather here today to divide the revenue, and let us do so with the full consciousness that South Africa is not a federal state but a united Republic.
We find that section 41 of the Constitution clearly states that all spheres of government and all organs of state within each sphere must preserve the peace, national unity and indivisibility of the Republic, and must secure the wellbeing of the Republic. We are one nation, hon members, despite the fact that we have nine provinces.
South Africa is a developmental state and this sets the national agenda that informs how revenue is divided among its three spheres of government. This ensures that provinces and municipalities are in collaboration so that the priorities which we have set for ourselves are met and so that our people are equitably served in a manner that reinforces their fundamental right to human dignity.
As I have already mentioned, education is our apex priority and the division of revenue should reflect that as South Africans we have resolved to build an appropriately skilled people that fits like a cog into the wheels of our economy. It pleases us that, when considering Millennium Development Goal 2, universal primary education, South Africa is likely to achieve a 95% literacy rate for the 15 to 24-year-old age group in 2015. This is a good achievement.
However, we realise that this is a quantitative figure, and having achieved that quantitative figure, we ought also to be motivated to turn the quantity into requisite quality. We at all times need to have a gendered approach to our community and our development, this notwithstanding the fact that our country has been patriarchally directed.
Millennium Development Goal 3 promotes gender equality and women empowerment. By adopting a gendered approach to education we find that our education system is intertwined with the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs. Thus, from the ANC's point of view, social transformation and the MDGs are addressed through this division of revenue.
We go further by saying that we welcome the allocation of R4,2 billion to Basic Education with the keen realisation that the bulk of it will go towards the National School Nutrition Programme. We appreciate that, because we know that no child can be taught on an empty stomach.
Through this allocation, this division of revenue also addresses MDG 1, which is concerned with the eradication of poverty. However, we wish to state that we hope that more is being allocated towards the upskilling and training of teachers so that they can improve the quality of education. This is the core business of education. We want to see it in the thorough training of children, starting from their entrance into the schooling system. This will show that admission standards are high, but will require the involvement of teachers with better qualifications.
Still, we feel that this only concentrates on two components, namely the learner component and the teacher component. We have left out the parent component of the school governing bodies, SGBs, especially those in the underdeveloped communities. This means that they have lagged behind.
We hope that, when dealing with this, the Ministries dealing with education will make sure that the parent component is empowered and educated to perform the governance part of their involvement. This will enable us to see better qualifications all round and allow us to say that we have achieved the overall intention of the MDGs.
We welcome the R3,8 billion grant allocated to FET colleges. It will act as a stimulus that will serve to increase the capacity of FET colleges and thus render them centres of first choice for school leavers as they would offer market-related skills. This will address the skills deficit.
Our other commitments, hon members, are MDG 4, which is concerned with child mortality; MDG 5, which is concerned with maternal health; and MDG 6, which is concerned with the combating of HIV and Aids, tuberculosis and other diseases. As a result, we welcome the R9,1 billion that has been set aside for Health. We remain convinced that a country that cares about the health of its people is a country bound for greater heights. Section 27 of our Constitution outlines how important health promotion is. We also believe that health is a fundamental human right and that the two cannot be separated.
Our Constitution tells us about the dignity of the people. Our people were dehumanised, denied citizenship rights and denied ownership of property in South Africa. In this regard, we welcome the R15 billion set aside to fund the creation of sustainable human settlements. We, however, want to add that we need to learn from past mistakes at the contractor and subcontractor level that tended to hobble the process of the creation of human settlements.
We applaud the Minister of Human Settlements for the action he has taken against people who really undermined the dignity of our people by building them dehumanising types of houses.
I further wish to call upon all of us to protect the poor beneficiaries who lose their houses to unscrupulous forces who take advantage of their dire economic straits and buy their properties from them for a song.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the ANC remains the only legitimate hope, leader, and liberator of our people from the legacy of inequality, deprivation, poverty, disease, and indignity. Therefore the ANC shall never fail to build and sustain a skilled, healthy society with dignified, united, nonsexist, nonracial, and prosperous people. We should all vote for the ANC.
I would like to thank the Speaker, the hon Max Sisulu, for publishing the report on the money Bills. He especially calls on the four committees to look into that report and move forward on how we address the money Bills. What is lacking? We know our powers are there. As the four committees of Finance, supported by other committees, let's work towards getting the budget office. It will really help us and it will help us to get the IFP to come and join us in our meetings so that they will know what they are doing. The ANC supports the Bill. Thank you very much. [Time expired.] [Applause.]