Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, we congratulate you, Mr President, that your government has rapidly started working with many of your Ministers getting their heads around their various departments.
While the most pressing issues facing our people are unemployment and poverty in the face of a recession, we believe that amongst the most crucial tasks facing your particular office are nation- building, turning the many promises made into practical reality for our people and the building of a value system that will guide our national life to realise the South African dream.
Mr President, we note the honourable goals behind the restructuring of your government, but we would wish to caution that the increased size of government is a source of great concern, especially given the recession. We would need an indication of how much more state resources will be deployed to make the new Ministries and departments that you have established function.
In the face of calls by government to citizens to tighten their belts to deal with the recession, we believe that in spite of the increased size, the government should lead by example.
On more programmatic matters, your presidency is substantially different and the current budget will need very tight management. Cope supports the Budget Vote with a firm understanding that this will be adjusted to meet the changes envisaged by the new structure of the current Presidency.
Cope notes the President's emphasis that the socioeconomic assistance of each district or metro will seek to assist those areas to exploit their potential. This is noble, yet as our Constitution reflects, South Africa is an incredibly diverse society. Integrated planning has the potential to facilitate and encourage the resourcefulness of a country's citizens. On the other hand, it can respond to its own logic, centralise itself to command and regiment without regard to any active, unfolding realities.
South Africans need to be constantly assured that government's new planning approach will not amount to that. Cope will thus assist to observe that central planning does not stifle innovation and does not slow down service delivery; as it is, the wheels of government are already known for turning notoriously slowly. What the country needs is something that will change this reality.
In the same vein, care should be taken that integrated planning does not negatively affect the economy. One already feels that different players wish to exert undue pressure on certain prices, interest rates and exchange rates. We have noted the intention to ensure that the relationship between the planning commission, the Ministries of Finance, Economic Development and Trade and Industry is carefully co-ordinated. We support this to avert a situation where dangerous duplications may be engendered and considerable confusion caused in the minds of the investors.
Cope envisages a distributed planning instrument in which facilitation and co-ordination channel energies towards desired ends, and in which initiative is vested in individual Ministries with internalised monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Such an arrangement would be more sensitive to the needs of different regions, provincially and locally. The planning Ministry would then concern itself with high-level co-ordination and reporting. This is what is desired in the spirit of our Constitution, and we will await the tabling of the Green Paper so as to assist in shaping the content of your plans.
Regarding nation-building, we welcome the commitment of the President to strengthen partnership with society and political parties represented in Parliament. In this regard, we are concerned at the continuing blurring of lines between the state and party, as we sadly witnessed on June 16. We believe this has to stop. South African people want to acknowledge the important historical days of their nationhood without feeling bulldozed into partisan events.
The President is a President for all South Africans, and not the President of some and not others. Our Constitution is very clear about the duties and responsibilities of the national executive. We need assurance that we will not have a situation of the blurring of the lines between party and state. We wish to be assured that you will be committed in this task and we, as Cope, will support you in seeking to achieve this goal. We will support the Presidency in seeking to ensure that the hard- won civil liberties and the country's well-developed human rights culture will not be eroded in the name of national security.
We need the President's assurance that state resources are not used for party political purposes such as the surveillance of opposition parties and private individuals. [Applause.] We will be taking up the harassment of our members by state organs through the police and we hope that these will be investigated and brought to a halt. The nation needs to be assured that institutions such as the judiciary and the media are safe under your watch and will stay independent.
Finally, we have noted your commitment to fighting corruption in the Public Service and we wish to encourage you. We strongly affirm your determination in this regard, especially as it affects ordinary citizens, as you have indicated.
We would like to believe that the action of the Premier of Gauteng, who has let an MEC resign over of the misuse of public resources, is the first sign of the fulfilment of this commitment by the Presidency. This is necessary for the introduction of a new culture of accountability in our politics.
On the other hand, the ongoing saga of the arms deal continues to eat at the heart of our body politic. Hasn't the time come for the President to bite the bullet and appoint an independent judicial commission of inquiry to deal with this matter decisively and transparently? It does not help the morale of the nation to keep hearing allegations of new evidence and denials if this whole process is not reopened and dealt with openly. We believe that this will put the saga to bed, once and for all.
Cope will indeed continue to call for a value-centred society across all facets of our national life and we will support you in doing this. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.