Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, hon premiers, hon members, ladies and gentlemen. On 17 February 2010 the Minister of Finance, hon Pravin Gordhan, tabled the Division of Revenue Bill together with the Budget. This was in accordance with the relevant sections of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act of 2009, the Constitution and the Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Act of 1997.
Following the tabling of the Division of Revenue and the engagements with the national Department of Treasury, the Select Committee on Appropriations, in accordance with section 4 of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act of 2009, held public hearings on 5 March 2010.
The committee received written and oral submissions from the Department of Higher Education, Department of Basic Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health, Department of Rural Development, SA Local Government Association, Salga, Financial and Fiscal Commission, FFC, Aids Law Project, Eskom, SA Institute of Chartered Accountants, the City of Cape Town and inputs from all nine provinces.
Therefore, it follows that today marks an end to the final leg of the very involved budget process of consultation on the Division of Revenue Bill as presented by the Minister of Finance. Today's debate will therefore further clear the way for the release and transfer of the equitable share of revenue to all three spheres of government from the beginning of April this year.
Government resolved many years ago to create a better life for all and to roll back the frontiers of poverty. Through experience and rich history of consulting the people, the ANC-led government resolved further that much more can be done to serve the needs and interests of the people with the limited and scarce resources available.
The strategy of maintaining focus on key priorities by involving every citizen was employed and popularised through the coming into being of the ANC's slogan of "Together we can do more." Indeed, if we all work together, irrespective of our party-political affiliations, doing things faster, better and differently, we can achieve more, as the President said during his state of the nation address.
The President declared this year a year of action. This is a call that we should all embrace if we are serious about improving the lives of our people. One is happy that the Minister of Finance has taken such bold action by tabling a Division of Revenue Bill that presents the outlook for a fragile economic recovery and discusses government's medium-term spending priorities.
Therefore, it is upon the recipients of the allocations to take further action in implementing policy priorities and deliver quality services to our people. We expect to see less talk and more action.
It is my view, as said by the members of the Select Committee on Appropriations, supported further by the views of different organisations, departments, persons who made submissions and political parties, that indeed the Division of Revenue Bill has achieved its objectives amidst trying economic turbulence brought about by the dark cloud of recession hanging over the entire world.
This Bill takes into account the national interests of the ruling party to allocate government resources in a manner that will benefit the nation as a whole. It fairly covers the priorities of the ANC as set out in its 2009 election manifesto and reflected in the 2010 state of the nation address.
The Bill takes explicit account of the cost pressures relating to the occupation-specific dispensation agreement in the health and education sectors, policies on HIV/Aids treatment, provision of housing, roads, electricity, water and municipal infrastructure.
The commitment to provide free basic services to the poor is further reinforced by this Bill through a substantial increase in the local government equitable share as well as the introduction of new and different types of grants. This increase will help municipalities to deal with the increased cost pressures of providing free basic services due to increased electricity charges as well as to expand such services to the poor people.
Over and above the increase in the local equitable share it will, over the next three years, benefit substantially from the new rural infrastructure grant that has been introduced to roll out on-site water and sanitation services to poor households, an increase in indirect and direct transfers for the municipal infrastructure grant as well as an increase in the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant to ensure that bulk water projects are accelerated to provide bulk water to households in a more sustainable manner as well as drought relief.
Throughout these schemes job opportunities will be created and more of our youth will be employed. It is encouraging to note that all these issues and programmes benefiting from the Division of Revenue are underpinned by the policies of the ANC.
To compensate for low revenue income at rural municipalities, provinces received a fair share of the nationally raised revenue as well as direct and indirect grants to ensure better service conditions for the teachers, doctors and therapists so as to retain skilled and experienced practitioners in these sectors. This includes new grants aimed at subsidising nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, dealing with home-based care programmes, technical secondary school recapitalisation grants to modernise technical schools and the Dinaledi Schools Grant to provide support to these schools so as to enhance the quality of mathematics and science in Grade 12.
As I have already mentioned, the Bill meets the requirements of the law and, under the current economic conditions, this much, with little and limited resources, can be done. We expect much more improvement in the coming years and surely the establishment of the Parliamentary Budget Office will go a long way to strengthen our future work as parliamentary committees.
I am satisfied that with the ongoing engagements between National Treasury, the FFC and all relevant stakeholders issues identified during the consultation processes will be seriously considered and addressed to the satisfaction of all involved. The department should seriously consider recommendations as contained in our report. As we move towards the release of the funds to different spheres of government and, therefore, departments and Parliament, important questions need to be raised. Such questions are: Are all institutions eligible to receive these funds and ready to use them for the purpose intended for? Do they have plans and systems in place to achieve this? The answer could be a quick yes, yet, at a closer look, one might find a different story.
Allow me to remind this House of some of the scandalous things that are in sharp contrast with the above answer. Last week, just three days before Human Rights Day - a day on which we also commemorate the unprovoked brutal killings of our struggle martyrs in Sharpeville in 1960 by the then apartheid police force - in the National Assembly, the head of this country, President Jacob Zuma, was attacked in Parliament by those who became so obsessed with hatred, driven by anger, bruised egos and crazy ambitions.
This small group, under the banner of a party called Cope, was on an attacking spree supported by minority parties whose commitment to the cause of a transformational agenda becomes more and more questionable. If you listen to the speeches of some of these leaders you would clearly hear people crying for the pre-1994 status quo.
Even more strange, laughable and ludicrous is their nerve to launch such an attack on the head of the country in Parliament on the pretext of exercising their constitutional rights. [Interjections.] [Time expired.]