Chairperson, Minister and Deputy Minister, chairperson of the committee, members of the committee under the leadership of the Whip, members of this House, I greet you all this afternoon.
The Freedom Charter, which states that the people shall govern, as adopted in 1955 by the real Congress of the People, was never taken seriously by the masters of oppression, suppression and segregation of the masses of South Africa, especially the poor.
The shedding of the blood of the fallen heroes and heroines of the struggle culminated in the bloodlessly attained democracy for all the people of South Africa, under the banner of the ANC and the ANC alone. This was in 1994 under the leadership of the struggle icon, Dr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, and many more tried and tested men and women, and leaders of the struggle.
The current President of both the ANC and the Republic of South Africa ... ... umhlanganyelwa uNxamalala, nditsho yena yedwa uMongameli uJacob Zuma ... [...I am talking about the one and only President Jacob Zuma ...]
... was part of that diligent leadership core. Yes, the only tried and tested leader in both the apartheid and the democratic eras, respectively. As a result of that ANC victory in 1994, the world-renowned Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was adopted in 1996 and other critical pieces of legislation established thereafter, in concurrence with the Constitution.
The global standing of South Africa has proved to be of a high calibre. The Public Finance Management Act, as established in 1999, in concurrence with the Constitution of the Republic of South, section 16, put the responsibility uncategorically and clearly upon the shoulders of the Treasurer, the hon Minister of Finance, Comrade Gordhan. If I may quote the struggle veteran, Comrade Oom Ray Mhlaba, "The ANC culture is built on collectivity with specialisation", meaning that, yes, the usage of public funds is the collective responsibility of the Cabinet as led by President Zuma, but the sole responsibility of the Treasurer, in terms of accountability.
It is so humbling for one to articulate an ANC position on a particular matter. It is because the ANC, as a movement, not a party, remains too sophisticated even to the extent of mesmerising the so-called intellectuals of this world, who are in any case self-acclaimed. That is why even with the issue relating to the manner in which state assets and liabilities should be managed, one has to refer to what the latest conference of the ANC has resolved, being the Polokwane conference in this case.
The Polokwane Conference, the President's 8th January statement; his state of the nation address; the inauguration speech; and of course the Treasury; the hon Minister's Budget Speech all have the Freedom Charter as a basis as well as the ANC manifesto of the 2009 general elections that took place on 22 April that says, "Together we can do more."
The ANC will justify the reasoning behind its support in this House for the passing of the Treasury Budget of 2009-10, focusing on asset management and liabilities with definitions, explanations and applications with legal and intellectual panache.
An asset is a broad term that can refer to anything that is used by an organisation in order for it to achieve its function. It will include a number of different types of assets, some being more obvious than others: financial assets such as investments and cash on hand, for example, a community that has saved about R30 000 from water payments which has been invested with the local bank for suspended accounts; movable assets, such as vehicles and office furniture; fixed assets, such as land, buildings, pipes and pumps; software and information stored in the organisation's computers; and knowledge and expertise developed by the organisation.
If people attend formal training for six months, the knowledge they acquire, both from the training and on-the-job experience, is an asset to the government as an institution as well as the customers whose needs are being met by the organisation. All these things can help government to work better, if they are well managed. Good management of assets enhances community life and increases the usefulness of available resources. If, then, this does not happen, there will be chaos. The Treasury has transversal functions as outlined in the Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Act in the spirit of co-operative governance.
The ANC is seeking to achieve effective and efficient service delivery with the establishment of the National Planning Ministry. It is therefore, emphasising uniformity with regard to how the resources at government's disposal are managed. Asset management can be broken down into two main components: firstly, a register or inventory of assets; and secondly, a plan setting out what the asset management should achieve and how it will work.
The ANC is convinced that this department will definitely rise to the occasion, if its plans and explanations, as presented by the Minister, are anything to go by - but only time will tell. We all need to assist, hon members, and not just be merely spectators only carrying red pens, especially the so-called opposition. Let us all be responsible. As the poet Rudyard Kipling said in his poem If, and I quote:
If you can keep your head while all around you are losing theirs, you'll be a man, my son.
[Laughter.] Liabilities refer to redundant or unusable assets. The department needs to have a clear mechanism to address that in all forms of assets, people included.
Nabo abantu aba bakwazizo izixhobo zikarhulumente, ngoko ke bengawenzi umsebenzi wabo, mabaqhutywe nje ngezinye izixhobo ezingasafanelanga kusetyenziswa. [People are also government assets; if they are not doing their work, they must be treated like other assets which are no longer valuable.]
To avoid such a risk, the Minister must have a clear policy that will guide the process of dealing with laxity among such officials and other assets by assessing, treating, avoiding, reducing, retraining, retaining, transferring or disposing of them. The training of public officials on official management is welcomed by the ANC, instead of too much spending on computers. Congratulations, hon Minister. That practice, however, must cut across all spheres of government. Because of the IT equipment depreciating on a yearly basis, really, hats off to the Treasury as that is an investment at its best. The decrease in the asset management and liability allocation by 53,4% is a manifestation of how progressive the department is in terms of its measurable objectives for its financial year.
In conclusion, allow me, on behalf of the ANC, to call upon the hon Minister to ensure that provinces and municipalities adhere to the conditions attached to conditional grant allocations like the MIG, where local authorities tend to construct roads and sports facilities or simply return the allocations unspent.
U-AG ke ukhona apha angayingqina into yokokuba uba nayo ingxaki yokuba abantu bangazisebenzisi iimali. [The Auditor-General is present here and he will agree with me that he usually experiences the problem of people who are not utilising their allocated budgets.]
The hon Minister must now consider ring-fencing those funds, or completely redirecting the MIG fund to sport and recreation for facility development, as stated at the ANC's 52nd national conference in Polokwane, hon Singh. Liabilities that are neglected need special attention. The hon Minister has an obligation to convince all of us that in the light of the current economic recession, new debts emanating from guarantees to the public entities such as Eskom, the SABC and others, who, at the end of the day, require bailouts from government, will be managed.
Their independence tends to guard against interference and they seek government intervention as and when it suits them. No government can just service debts without establishing how such debts emerged in the first place. Asset registers need to be updated periodically and a clear policy must determine such periods.
There is a need for this department to draft a policy that will guide a procurement strategy with an element of cost effectiveness. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders, including the community, to report the misuse of state property. The department must take action on reported cases. The 2010 legacy projects must be managed intensively, now and beyond 2010, as government has invested hugely in stadia and other facilities. Government is not and will never ever be a profit-making organisation, but the modernised management mechanisms seek to produce cost-beneficial outcomes where it is possible ...