Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister and hon Members, in the past 15 years we have failed to significantly change the apartheid economic framework which locked the majority of black South Africans out of the economy. The UDM supports Budget Vote 27. However, we need to guard against repeating past mistakes.
Since 1994 we've seen various ministers introducing different economic policies. First it was the Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, then Growth Employment and Redistribution, Gear, then the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa, Asgisa. Now we are getting invitations to attend a dialogue on the next economy.
This continuous changing of economic policies whenever a new minister is appointed is not helpful, nor should it be a symptom of ideological battles between the ruling party and its alliance partners. Often the only beneficiaries of this process are the consultants who develop these so- called new policies, which only end up gathering dust in government offices while poverty persists.
First things must be first. What we need is an economic indaba where a genuinely representative council of South Africans can plot our economic path. The objective of such an indaba, first and foremost, must be to create a meaningful and genuine role for all black South Africans in the economy. To achieve this, it would be necessary to review the progress made since 1994 and identify any inherent defects in the overall economic approach. Such a review must particularly investigate whether some of the sunset clauses agreed to between the National Party and the ANC - especially surrounding questions of property and land - have played a role in slow economic reform. Such an indaba could consider whether we need to rearrange our priorities, for instance to prioritise the integration and upgrading of townships and former homeland infrastructure with the rest of the country.
At such a national indaba, South Africans would have the opportunity to deliberate on questions such as the nationalisation of mines and whether these calls are merely the last desperate bid of black economic empowerment, BEE, mining magnates for a bail-out by the state. Indeed, we need a proper audit of our resources and who manages them for future generations, not the current situation where there seems to be a free-for- all in the looting of state resources.
Already we see the signs of widespread frustration in many communities. A radical economic transformation has to occur within acceptable timeframes to avert the type of social explosion that the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, Codesa, negotiations succeeded in avoiding. I thank you.