Thank you very much indeed, Mr Chairperson. Mr Chairperson, the hon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela referred to the hon Trollip as her white son. And it gives me great pleasure this afternoon to announce to the House on behalf of the hon Trollip that he is indeed proud to be the white son of the mother of the nation. [Applause.]
Mr President, this really has been quite the most extraordinary debate. I would say on a scale of one to 10, in terms of interest and excitement, it probably will get a pretty low score. One has to wonder what happened to the good, old-fashioned, robust political debate that used to take place in this House.
I think the only interesting moments in this debate so far, apart from the DA members who spoke, of course ... [Laughter.] ... were when the hon leader of Cope lost his place in his speech, the hon Buthelezi did a jig at the podium, and the hon Madikizela-Mandela spoke. A callback from the past! And then, of course, just to liven things up a little bit, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs really did make some very silly remarks about DA policy and the media.
The reason why I mention this at all is because my job in this debate is to take on the ANC, the governing party, who may have said some pretty ugly remarks about the DA during the course of this debate. But nothing has happened. It is really terribly, terribly disappointing indeed. [Laughter.]
I have to admit that I stand here with very little to say, but I want to say to the hon Manuel and the hon Nzimande that they could have been given the pleasure of speaking before me because I would no doubt have had lots to say. But that's life.
Mr President, you have been on a charm offensive, as you know, not only you, personally, but also through your Ministers. The change of tone in the debates generally in this Parliament and in the Budget Vote debates has really been very noticeable indeed.
It is clear, sir, that your slogan, "Working together, we can do more", is on the surface, at least, meant also to include the opposition parties, and it is indeed interesting to note that every Minister now talks positively about the opposition and encourages us. This is quite amazing. They encourage us to point out government errors and to put questions to them and their Ministries. Mr President, I promise you, we will not let you down, we will put many questions to the Ministers in the months and years to come.
But quite frankly, the change is noticeable and most welcome. Because we are an opposition, that does not mean that we are unpatriotic, as some members of the ANC have tried to claim over the years. We are all proud South Africans. We have only the interest of this country at heart.
The fact that we may approach the problems from a different point of view and offer different solutions to the many and varying problems of this country, should never lead to our patriotism being questioned, and we appreciate the change very much indeed. But obviously it does not mean that the opposition parties, and the DA in particular, are up for sale or for co- option.
The DA has a proud history of providing an honest, hardworking opposition to the government and holding the executive to account at all times. We are now equally proud of our achievement in winning the Western Cape and being in government in this province. We are confident that we will show the ANC how to govern over the next five years. [Applause.] It will indeed be a fascinating time as JZ and HZ govern the respective governments with their different styles. In five years' time the voters will have a fascinating choice to make between two very different styles indeed. In conclusion, Mr President, I do want to say that we do welcome the changes that you have brought to government. We appreciate very much the attitudes to the opposition parties, and we do look forward to working very closely with you. Thank you very much indeed. [Applause.]