Mr Speaker and hon members, Alexis de Tocqueville, that masterful observer of the developing American democracy, once said the following of the great moments in a nation's existence:
But epochs sometimes occur in the life of a nation when the old customs of a people are changed, public morality is destroyed, religious belief shaken, and the spell of tradition broken, while the diffusion of knowledge is yet imperfect and the civil rights of the community are ill secured or confined within narrow limits. The country then assumes a dim and dubious shape in the eyes of the citizens ...
I think the ANC and its new-found ally, the IFP, have just squandered such an opportunity to correct the mistakes made by the same ANC by appointing a weak council and repeating the same mistakes again.
Moving from history to modern science, Albert Einstein also remarked that if we continue the patterns of thought that got us into trouble, to search for solutions, we are guaranteeing bigger trouble.
And on this point, I think what we have witnessed with the decision on the SABC board can best be described as the better we get at doing the wrong thing, the more wrong we become.
It also reminds me of an interview Max du Preez had with Breyten Breytenbach in the early nineties when he had the following to say about a comparison between the ANC and the National Party, the NP:
... eintlik is die NP en die ANC, met hulle houtgeweers ten spyt, baie nader aan mekaar, want hulle is magshandelaars. [... the NP and the ANC are actually closer to each other because they are both power brokers, notwithstanding their wooden guns.]
Yes, Mr Speaker, the ANC and their new, withering ally, the IFP, have just demonstrated to the rest of South Africa that they do not recognise the big moments in a nation's life when they can fundamentally alter course and change the direction in which our national broadcaster is moving. They are also still using the same thinking that brought the previous board into so much trouble to reappoint this interim board.
By applying the same methods, they are guaranteeing us a failed outcome and despite all the rhetoric by President Zuma on international podiums and forums, the ANC only understands political power that is to their advantage. The fact that the winning party in an election received a mandate to serve the nation, to rule in the general interest, is lost to the ANC. Again they have applied their electoral mandate in the narrowest of applications, that is to be true to a power broker. Breyten Breytenbach had the insight to see this more than 15 years ago.
Vryheid van spraak is van die fundamentele beginsels in ons Grondwet. Die ANC het ongelukkig een van die grootste oomblikke sedert ons demokrasie se wording opgemors. Van die hand na die mond val die pap op die grond. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Freedom of speech is one of the fundamental principles of our Constitution. Unfortunately, the ANC has messed up one of the greatest moments since the advent of our democracy. There's many a slip between the cup and the lip.]
The ANC is brilliant in their approach to solving problems. They, the ANC, don't have the ability to solve problems. All the ANC is doing, is to create more problems.
Mr Speaker and hon members, the ANC showed last week in the Portfolio Committee on Communications how stubborn and irrelevant they are. They are power hungry! The ANC does not know the meaning of the word "democracy"! The ANC, together with their new bedmate, the IFP, bulldozed the five people they decided on onto the interim board of the SABC.
It is astonishing that after 15 years in government the ANC cannot learn. They do not have the ability to recognise mistakes. The ANC, under the influence of power-drunkenness, must remember one thing: The people of South Africa are not stupid. [Interjections.]