Chairperson, hon President, Deputy President and colleagues, the ACDP welcomes President Zuma's state of the nation address, which we believe was positive and daring, and instilled hope in many of our people. We further welcome his acknowledgment that our country has entered a recession and his intention to have government act speedily to minimise the impact of this economic downturn on those most vulnerable - particularly by protecting jobs.
When highlighting some of the steps that will be taken by government in response to the economic crisis, the President left us with questions that need answers and statements that should be clarified.
As an example, the President said, and I quote:
Workers who would ordinarily be facing retrenchment due to economic difficulty would be kept in employment for a period of time and be reskilled.
While acknowledging that the President did say that discussion on the practical detail is continuing, the ACDP wants to know whether all workers in all sectors, including mining, will benefit from such an arrangement and whether the reskilling the President spoke about will also benefit those doing low-paying jobs, such as cleaners and domestic workers.
We also want to know whether there are sufficient funds to help all companies that are in distress. What will the criteria be for funding a company in distress, and will small businesses also benefit from such a programme?
The ACDP also welcomes plans to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses, which will reduce the cost of doing business in South Africa. This, we believe, will help to attract new investment opportunities that are urgently needed during the recession.
The President also said, and I quote again:
We are mindful of the need to link social grants to jobs or economic activity in order to encourage self-reliance among the able-bodied. The ACDP believes this link is important as it will prevent our country from turning into a welfare state that robs people of initiative, dignity and independence. What we want to know is when this need to link social grants to jobs or economic activity will become government policy; by when will it be implemented and will government have the capacity to make it a success?
We commend the President for admitting that the quality of health care is deteriorating very fast. We were unfortunately not told what this administration is going to do about that. We trust that government will move from the position of just being concerned, to actively reversing the deterioration. Our people who have been promised a better life deserve quality and professional health care and they deserve to be treated with compassion and respect.
Mr President, the treatment given to some patients, particularly the elderly, is appalling and is nothing but abuse. This practice has to stop and the elderly must be given back their dignity and the respect they deserve. There was a shocking story on the front page of the Pretoria News which told of a helpless patient who described the ordeal he allegedly suffered at the hands of Steve Biko Academic Hospital nursing staff as "hell on earth". How can nursing staff be allowed to get away with letting a patient lie in his own faeces for almost three days? If the President has not heard about this shocking abuse, he must please get a copy of the relevant article and read first-hand about the dire extent of the deterioration of service in some public hospitals. The ACDP believes that the culture of proper caring, compassion, respect for the rights of patients and love for those who are suffering must be restored in all our hospitals.
While we understand that our health workers are underpaid, overworked and under a lot of pressure, we find it totally unacceptable that a patient who is crying in pain and in need of help and painkillers should be told by health workers that they are on their tea break or having lunch. Where is ubuntu in all this? Urgent attention must be given to the bad attitude and work ethic of some of our health workers.
Having said the above, the ACDP believes doctors and nurses should be paid well, to minimise the poaching that is taking place and to ensure that we do not lose any more doctors. We believe the salary demands made by doctors are not unreasonable and that the occupation-specific dispensation should be finalised as soon as possible.
Mr President, we believe doctors must be paid well because we need them and we do not want to lose them to the private sector or to countries that will show them more appreciation.
As far as crime is concerned, the ACDP believes that police powers must be revisited and more teeth must be given to law enforcement officers. We have been assured many times before that particular attention will be given to combating the theft of police case dockets, but this is still happening. Is there anything new that this administration intends to do to ensure that the theft of case dockets comes to an end?
Mr President, the Forensic Procedures Amendment Bill was not finalised by the Third Parliament, notwithstanding it being referred to an ad hoc parliamentary committee for urgent attention earlier this year. It is disgraceful, we believe, that the SA Police do not have access to the fingerprints contained in the databases of the Department of Home Affairs, which contains about 31 million prints, and that of the Department of Transport, which has a further six million prints. It is no wonder that so many offenders are not apprehended.
The Bill also sought to enhance DNA profiling. It is irrefutable that the effective use of fingerprints and DNA evidence helps to track down criminals and, once apprehended, ensures that the prosecution's case succeeds in court. We heard the hon Minister of Police saying that this Bill would be finalised within a year. We trust that it will be done as a matter of urgency, sooner rather than later.
It is not enough, Speaker, to merely say that the most serious attention will be given to combating organised crime as well as crimes against women and children. Has this not been said before? Reported stories about sexual abuse of boys are worrying. According to reports, children's clinics around the country are struggling to cope with the huge increase in the sexual abuse of boys, some as young as three years old.
Mr President, government is failing our children. Not a single day passes without one hearing about a child who has been raped, and many of these incidents are not reported to the police.
The ACDP has been saying for years now that pornography is harmful and should be removed from street corners and shops. Those who defend pornography still claim that there is no scientific proof linking pornography to rape. I am sure, Mr President, you will agree with me when I say that pornography is the theory and rape is the act. What other conclusion could there be to explain why a baby of a few months old is raped by an adult, or why a 65-year-old grandmother was raped by a 16-year- old boy, as happened in Mthata this past weekend? I urge the President to bite the bullet and declare that pornography is dangerous, harmful and addictive, and that its easy availability has contributed immensely to the unacceptably high incidence of rape in this country.
Could you please tell us how this government is going to protect our children and babies from the scourge of rape? Let us not only talk about loving our children, but let us go, if necessary, even to what some might call extreme measures in order to protect our children. [Time expired.]