Thank you, hon Deputy Speaker, hon Deputy President, hon members, comrades, distinguished guests - there are no guests; today's debate marks the culmination of a long journey that started on 23 February 2011, when the Minister of Finance, hon Pravin Gordhan, tabled the Appropriation Bill, B3 of 2011.
This Bill signals the ambitious intentions of our government to create jobs. President Zuma declared 2011 the year of job creation. In the February state of the nation address, President Zuma declared:
Our goal is clear, we want to have a country where more South Africans have decent employment opportunities, which has modern infrastructure, a vibrant economy and where the quality of life is high.
We South Africans have little chance for illusions about the enormity of the task we are engaged in to reverse centuries of subjugation and deprivation. On this, the 56th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, we must rejoice in the inexhaustible resolve of our people to be free. Our organisation, the ANC, has gone from strength to strength - no wonder its prestige at home and abroad has never been so high. The Appropriation Bill we are debating today is firmly responding to all the developmental issues raised in the Freedom Charter. There is no doubt that great progress has been made by the ANC-led government since the dawn of democracy in 1994.
Of course, hon Deputy Speaker, we are the first to admit that there are still challenges to overcome, especially in our rural areas. The ANC government will work side by side with our people to confront unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, the scourge of HIV/Aids and other ills facing our country. We are at the pinnacle of the Budget Vote process and the quality of our debate today must be informed by the political enrichment and valuable inputs in all 38 Budget Votes.
We have agreed and sometimes disagreed as political parties. Essentially, as public representatives, we are faced with the duty to ensure that the Appropriation Bill responds to the hopes and aspirations of our people because it is the lifeblood to projects and programmes that will benefit them. All too often we do not remind ourselves that it is the Appropriation Bill that we look to, together with the Division of Revenue, as the vehicle to deliver on the policies and priorities that our people endorsed when they voted the ANC back into power, confirming that it is the ANC and its policies and programmes that our people were endorsing.
While we have a constitutional and legal obligation before us today, what is fundamentally important is the economic and political considerations that inform the Bill. The Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act requirements are what we are bound to follow in order that money may be withdrawn from the National Revenue Fund. The Appropriation Bill reflects political and economic choices. Pro-poor macroeconomic planning requires going beyond the usual growth and stability focus. It requires a nexus between stability, growth, sustainable development and employment creation.
The 2009 ANC election manifesto outlined this when it stated that the following was necessary: the major scaling up of industrial policy with significant resources; state investment in the productive sector, especially in manufacturing and agricultural production; reviewing developmental financial institutions to support research and development and entrepreneurships; supporting the co-ops sector and small business development; ensuring high investment in education and training; implementing a larger national youth service; focusing on rural development, land and agrarian reform, improving access to health care and the introduction of the National Health Insurance, and so forth.
These ANC commitments have since become government programmes. In our debates there have been those who have questioned whether our macroeconomic framework can sustainably afford to absorb the funding requirements for these priorities. The Financial and Fiscal Commission, in their submission on the Appropriation Bill, raised a similar point but for a different reason. There is no doubt that some of these priorities can be absorbed by the fiscus, given the commitment to savings and cutting of unnecessary expenditure. The acceleration of these demands and priorities has meant more proactive and decisive deficit-financed expansionary macroeconomic planning.
Critics of deficit-finance expansionary macroeconomic planning argue that the borrowing always results in a heavy tax burden on future generations, while some argue that deficits have no long-run impact on outputs. What many of these perspectives fail to take into account is that the opposite effect results in growth in the short run. If a government uses a deficit to invest in productive infrastructure and, to some extent, income transfers to consumers, this will have both a supply and demand side effect on growth outputs - provided the economy has not converged. The expected growth in the economy then drives consumer spending instead of consumer savings.
Secondly, the expected growth from such spending usually leads to greater employment, an increase in economically active agents and thus widening the tax base to support future repayment of debts. The error in the thesis that future generations are burdened by higher taxes if expansionary deficit financing is used, is an assumption that economic growth remains relatively stagnant and the numbers of economic agents do not increase.
The Appropriation Bill is about enabling the State to meet the needs of the people as expressed in the Constitution and through the 2009 national and provincial elections and 2011 local government elections, both of which the African National Congress won with an overwhelming majority.
Eradicating poverty and ensuring job creation is the principal task of the Appropriation Bill. The electoral mandate, which we have been given, determines the priorities of the appropriation. The ANC as an elected majority party gives a mandate to government to implement its electoral mandate. This mandate is informed historically by the plans we laid down as the ANC. High unemployment rates and relatively low wage employment are contributory factors to inequality, low levels of human development, social polarisation, poverty, high levels of crime, illnesses and other forms of social stresses the country is currently experiencing.
In the short and medium term, unemployment and low wages lead to an increase in demand for social security for the majority of the people and a low tax base, which would in turn adversely affect economic growth. It is for these reasons that the ANC government has prioritised job creation and decent work as one of the most important programmes for this financial year and in the medium-term budget plans. We must build a more inclusive society, and putting more people to work will contribute to human development, income redistribution and social cohesion.
Broadening economic participation assists in curbing dependency, countering crime and reducing poverty, illness, alienation, mental stress and social exclusion. Government has adopted the New Growth Path and this is the first Appropriation Bill since then. There is obviously an expectation that we shall be able to see the beginnings of an influence on this macroeconomic framework. The New Growth Path identifies areas where employment creation is possible on a large scale. It develops a policy package to facilitate employment creation through a comprehensive drive to enhance social equity, mobilise domestic investment around activities that can create sustainable employment and strengthens the principle of 'together, we can do more' through strong social dialogue, focusing on all stakeholders to work for growth through employment-creating activities.
The Appropriation Bill is about how we implement these priorities within the framework of government programmes. It is about ensuring a financial framework for the executive which can be monitored and ensure accountability for the correct usage of funds appropriated and value for money. Since the second term of 2011, we have engaged with the government on their Budget Votes. These have been debated and subjected to scrutiny in order to assess whether the money asked for and appropriated by Parliament will indeed meet the needs of the people and the State in the 2011-12 financial year.
In this process, in fact, we are carrying out a number of interlocking and important functions of oversight. When the departments come and account for how they have used the funds appropriated for the past financial year and articulate their Budget Votes for the next financial year, we are exercising an important oversight tool of accountability, assessing the extent to which the State has the capacity to effectively and efficiently spend the money it is requesting. That assessment gives Parliament the real power of dealing with public funds and, as public representatives, of acting in the best interest of the people and the nation.
This raises the critical need for monitoring and evaluation capacity here in Parliament, in order that committees can effectively carry out oversight and make a significant contribution to good governance. The realisation of this potential is dependent on the way in which the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are designed and implemented. For the future, this will become one of the critical criteria when we apply our minds to the Votes of funds as part of the Appropriation Bill.
Appropriately, in the middle of the Budget Vote process, the Minister in the Presidency responsible for the National Planning Commission released in this House the "diagnostic overview" report. Critically, the diagnostic overview examines the vexing question of the underlying causes to the main and contradictory challenges facing the nation. Its approach is typically and correctly a research methodological approach, scientifically extrapolating the base of the contradictions and not the superstructure. It emphasises cause and effect in its approach. It deals with the essence of the contradiction and not the form. Its approach, therefore, is dialectical. Its relevance for all political parties, National Treasury and other departments is that it forces us to rethink and re-evaluate the rationale for why we are doing what we are doing when we appropriate funds.
Importantly, it states that "if South Africa is able to reach broad consensus on its principal national challenges, it would stand a better chance of coming up with achievable solutions". We would do well to understand this statement, for it is equally applicable to the Appropriation Bill debates. As we go forward with the medium term expenditure framework, MTEF, the diagnostic overview report becomes a tool to unlock our thinking on the economy and policy and what informs each appropriation in the context of human conditions, material conditions, nation building and institutions of governance. Going forward, this is a tool that we need to apply in determining future Appropriation Bills. Our achievements so far are driven by a commitment to do better, to fix what is wrong and to deliver a better life for all.
The ANC has identified, in the short term, priorities that need urgent allocation of financial resources over the MTEF. Employment creation is our major area of focus and this has meant aligning priorities for the 2011-12 financial year through this Appropriation Bill. As we said in our January 8th statement: "To implement this goal, the ANC and its government will rally the country behind achieving meaningful economic transformation and job creation."
The Bill had to be assessed against the priorities of the ANC in government and its funding priorities. We need to ensure that this budget is used effectively and efficiently to achieve the mandate given to us by the people to pursue economic and social transformation. In adopting this Bill, we are going to intensify our oversight role in Parliament. We will vigorously ensure consistent monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the programmes funded through the adoption of this Bill.
In conclusion, let me thank all the members of the Standing Committee on Appropriation and the staff for their contribution in the process leading up to this debate. However, I need to caution them that what lies ahead will require considerably more effort, time and resources if we are to do justice to meeting the obligations of the money Bills legislation. May I also express appreciation for the working relationship we continue to have with the Minister of Finance and the National Treasury, who continuously help us to manage the respective distinctive roles and responsibilities we have. The ANC supports the Appropriation Bill, B3 of 2011. I thank you.
Madam Deputy Speaker, hon Deputy President, the 2011-12 Budget provides for total expenditure of R889 billion, which is 9,8% more than the revised estimate for the 2010-11 financial year. The funds for distribution among the various spheres of government will increase from R808 billion to R926 billion by the end of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period.
Budgets will increase every year and the Minister of Finance is obliged to raise the necessary revenue to cover the proposed expenditure. This is normally done by way of increased taxation or borrowings attracting interest. It is therefore sad to see that many government entities fail to spend the amounts allocated to them. This underexpenditure against budget runs into billions of rand each year and in effect means that the revenues raised by the Minister is overinflated and unnecessary, and that lower taxation rates could have sufficed to cover expenditure or, better still, money could have been spent in more productive areas.
The underexpenditure by government entities is normally due to bad planning, poor management, poor productivity and control efficiencies resulting from cadre deployment, where who you know is much more important than what you know. Although there are departments that perform admirably, the majority of departments unfortunately perform badly, as borne out by the Auditor-General's reports. The question then arises whether the Appropriation Bill should be supported, thereby perpetuating the bad management, bad planning and corruption found in many government institutions. The answer is obviously, no.
Allow me to just give you a few reasons why we say no. Should we support the budget of the Department of Public Works, which spent only 59% of the R1,2 billion allocated to them during the last financial year on the Expanded Public Works Programme? This is an underexpenditure of R709 million on a programme designed to tackle the crucial priority of job creation.
Can you believe it!
Should we support the budget of the Department of Health, which underspent by an amount of R742 million against Budget during the 2010-11 financial year? Just on transfers the department underspent by R509 million. Among others, they failed to transfer R38 million to the loveLife programme and R452 million to the crucial Hospital Revitalisation Grant. This is also the department which had to pay - listen to this - R254 million just in interest to suppliers for late payment of accounts on a single project, the Zola Hospital in Soweto. Measured against set criteria, the department calculated the cost per bed for a hospital built in Limpopo at R1,5 million per bed, whereas the same bed costs R3 million in North West province. Where did the money go in North West?
Should we support the budget of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, which cannot provide the Appropriations Committee with the monetary value of the 346 court cases pending against the department, and which cases they are likely to lose? This department also does not know the extent of likely future monetary commitments on land restitution and land reform. We estimate that the court cases will be more than the entire budget of the department. Due to bad management, the department's liabilities in terms of contracts signed to purchase land far exceeds the value of its total budget. The department does not know by how much or won't say. Do we support the Budget of this department, which has purchased farms for beneficiaries but failed to provide the necessary means for sustainability, thereby leading to a situation where 90% of the farms purchased are nonproductive, which in turn seriously endangers food security?
Should we support the budget of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, which underspent their budget by R115,2 million during the past financial year on, among others, crucial projects such as the Special Purpose Vehicle, aimed at supporting weak municipalities, and the Community Work Programme, designed to assist with job creation? In the debate on the Presidency last week, we heard that this department introduced a turnaround strategy in 2009. With all due respect, the only thing we have seen turning around thus far is the aeroplane of the Minister when he returned home after visiting his girlfriend at state expense in Switzerland. [Interjections.]
Should we support the budget of the Department of Police, where R36 million of their budget is spent on a once-off social party for the police, and where the Commissioner of Police enters into highly inflated lease agreements in Pretoria and Durban for new premises of which the lease agreements were found to be irregular by the Public Protector? Yet nothing has been done about it to date. At the same time, the Minister of Public Works has no problem in confirming the agreements.
Should we support the budgets of any department when we know that 5,7 direct jobs and 5,3 indirect jobs are created for every R1 million spent on the provision of infrastructure? Yet, virtually all departments underspent on their capital budgets during the last financial year and therefore on the creation of infrastructure and jobs. Do we reward provinces with additional budget when National Treasury was obliged to withdraw infrastructure grants so crucial for job creation from eight out of nine provinces recently? Do we provide further budget to poorly performing municipalities which fail to spend the Municipal Infrastructure Grants made available to them? Do we provide municipalities with money when they fail to render even the most basic services such as road maintenance, forcing farmers in the North West, for instance, to take matters into their own hands to maintain roads with their own equipment and means?
Should we support the Budget of the Department of Women, Youth Children and People with Disabilities, which has proved to be very effective in incurring travelling expenses, but very ineffective on matters such as control over the expenditure of the National Youth Development Agency? Why the National Youth Development Agency resides under this department, nobody knows, but one can only surmise that this is one of the departments left to their own devices with neither supervision nor control.
Should we support the budget of Parliament, which more than two years after the adoption of the Money Bills Amendment Procedures and Related Matters Act has failed to establish a budget office as prescribed by the Act? The Speaker tells us that the political task team is dealing with the matter, yet the task team consists of ANC members only.
Should we support the budget in which the overall salary Bill of government has increased from R156 billion to R314 billion during the last five years without a corresponding increase in productivity and/or improved service delivery flowing therefrom? No wonder the Minister of Finance has expressed concern in this regard.
After the Polokwane happening, Mr Jacob Zuma became President and had many backers to reward. This resulted in the creation of eight new government departments, costing an additional R550 million per annum and the appointment of a whole host of Deputy Ministers. An overinflated bureaucracy was created, especially in the Presidency, with no parliamentary oversight committee. The Minister of Performance, Evaluation and Monitoring tells us that if he finds something wrong, he has no teeth to take any action.
The ANC often says, "The people shall govern." Indeed, the people are governing and professional management has flown out of the window. The DA will not support the Appropriation Bill as tabled. [Applause.]
Deputy Speaker, Deputy President, Minister and hon members, following my colleagues and hon members in this debate I rise on yet another sad day. It is a sad day because we have lost another leader, one of the calibre of Kader Asmal. Receiving this terrible news last night left us with a sense of hopelessness that South Africa has suffered a loss and yet another blow.
In tabling the report earlier on, the Chairperson of the Standing Committee indicated that as a committee we have deliberated on this budget and Appropriation Bill. Our collective concern, collective findings and collective recommendations contained in this report speak volumes. In tabling the Budget in February 2011, the Minister of Finance highlighted many positives and, of course, some negatives that require skilful and level-headed management in terms of oversight moving forward. These are the negatives of underexpenditure, corruption and, of course, the bill for the public service, which continues to rise.
As Members of Parliament our task of oversight is clear cut. We have to walk the talk. We have to insist that value for money is realised by all the departments and that Ministers are held accountable in this regard. We have the task to monitor and evaluate whether government delivery programmes produce noticeable output.
Cope is worried that after 16 years the departments are not yet level 4 auditable. We are seriously concerned that level 5 and 6 audits for many departments remain a distant dream. We are very perturbed to see that performance and real measurable output remain a moving target. Without a measurable objective we cannot have an effective oversight role over the department and the executive. If we cannot increase performance from compliance to value for money, protest against poor service delivery will remain the order of the day.
We urge government to speed up their adherence to the output and audit performance and meet the outcome objectives of the budget programme across the five key priorities. The norms and standards, as the measuring stick for all departments, must be realised, finalised and implemented.
It is unacceptable that our education still fails our future generation. Whether it is about the quality of infrastructure, mud schools or putting teachers to task, the committee's finding is telling a worrying story. The absence of teachers, with or without permission, from the classroom, leave learners with only a negative result at the end of the year. Deputy Speaker, we need to insist that the national Department of Education delivers infrastructure, electricity, water, transport and teachers for quality output now. We are gravely worried that the Department of Education's classrooms for effective learning and teaching leave much to be desired.
We must now demand that the Department of Public Works produces and tables the asset register detailing our public assets. Billions have gone into this work, with little to show.
We now need to see the government putting the developmental state into action. It is our view that a developmental or activist state, which capacitates the people, remains a solution. The practical training of people who will essentially do the job is required as a pillar for a developmental state. Cope wants to see a clean audit from all the departments. However, a clean audit does not mean a quality service and effective service delivery. We are very concerned about the lack of sanitation in some of the schools.
Deputy Speaker, if we do not enforce the value-for-money oversight, we will continue to see the wastage of money that has been spoken about, such as the more than R250 million that was paid just towards penalties. How much could the delivery have been improved as a result of the lack of officials in terms of delivering services?
Deputy Speaker, one wonders whether the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA, provision should not be re-invoked in order to recover this money from the officials in charge who are failing our people. As we move forward we will make sure that we intensify the oversight over the Executive to make sure that this budget that has been presented here delivers the results to our poor communities across the country. I thank you.
Hon Deputy Speaker, hon Deputy President, Ministers and colleagues, may I at the outset express my personal condolences to the family of Professor Kader Asmal. I remember first meeting him in 1990, some 20 years ago, when he shared with a few of us his political vision for South Africa. I worked quite closely with him when I was Member of Executive Council, MEC, for Agriculture and later MEC for Education. I found him to be a very forthright gentleman who always taught us younger people what to do and the way we should do it. I am sending my heartfelt condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace.
I rise on behalf of the IFP to support the Appropriation Bill that has been tabled, albeit that we have some concerns about some of the Votes and the manner in which some of the departments are spending, or underspending, their funds.
Colleagues who have spoken before me have highlighted some of the areas of underexpenditure and certainly it is cause for concern when 16 years into democracy and having an established public service we still find that public servants, who are entrusted with the task of ensuring that they carry out the mandate of the ruling party and the responsible Minister, do not spend the money as they should.
Areas of concern include - and I want to emphasise these - the mud schools that we still have. I think the hon Minister in the Presidency and the President himself saw many mud schools in the Eastern Cape. This is something we should not be having in 2011, if only officials applied themselves correctly and used resources where they were intended to be used.
I remember very clearly when the former Minister, Barbara Hogan, when she was chairperson of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, talked about the unspent money for the Hospital Revitalisation Grant. This was probably six or seven years ago and it is occurring even today. We know that many members of our community are exposed to very harsh conditions when they go to hospitals. I think it is a sin that money that has been assigned and appropriated, paid by the taxpayer and diligently collected by South African Revenue Services, Sars, is not spent in this crucial area.
Hon Minister of Finance, another area of concern in the appropriations will be what the hon Ramatlakane and hon Swart referred to, namely the outstanding land claim cases. Let alone the 365 outstanding land claim cases and no appropriation for what may happen or may not happen, there are a number of claims that still have not been gazetted. I think this is going to be a time bomb as we move into the future and when we see more and more claims and contestations coming up and less money being appropriated to this particular arena.
Having said that, I think we need to remind ourselves as Members of Parliament that we always talk about the role of Parliament vis--vis the role of the executive but sometimes we forget that the Money Bills Amendment Act, which was signed into law in 2009, allows us as Members of Parliament to propose amendments to Votes. This is contained quite clearly in subsections (4) and (5) of section 10 of the Money Bill Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act. But to date none of the portfolio committees have used this mechanism to come to the Appropriations Committee and inform the committee that they have concerns about the Votes in particular, departments, and that they would like to propose amendments and propose conditionalties.
I suppose one of the reasons for that is what we heard few days ago by the hon Speaker. He said that we still don't have an established parliamentary budget office. When we have this independent office, that will empower us as Members of Parliament to be able to interrogate the Votes of departments more clearly.
The other thing that we don't have is standing rules. We need to develop standing rules in terms of sections 57 or 70 of the Constitution that will lay out a plan for portfolio committees to interact with Committees on Appropriations, so that when we come to this House we can speak in this debate on consideration of the Appropriation Bill about amendments that have been proposed.
Unfortunately, the Standing Committee on Appropriations, of which I am part, only dealt with six departments and asked them about the way they are spending or not spending. I think we need to be more vigilant, we need to accelerate our role, we need to have more oversight over the executive and then we could say to the country that we have been sent here as Members of Parliament and we are carrying out our duty in terms of the prescribed laws of this land. Once again, we will support this Appropriation Bill. Thank you.
Hon Deputy Speaker, Deputy President, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, the ANC and its government have incontrovertibly responded to our forebears call to swing wide open the doors of learning and lay a firm foundation for people's education, for people's power, by escalating education to the zenith of its priorities.
The ANC has always taken the view that the education question must be responded to holistically in an integrated posture to expedite socioeconomic transformation. We stand conscious of the fact that our people, in general, and the youth, in particular, require knowledge and skills for meaningful and gainful participation in the formal economy.
Our view, therefore, is that education should not only be emancipative but outcomes-based in the sense that it resonates with and responds to the demands of the New Growth Path, whose key traits is economic growth through job creation. We will, therefore, continue to endeavour for a seamless transition from one level of education to another, as well as for articulation between higher education institutions to build horizontal and vertical entry points and avert institutional red tape. We will continue to expose and combat all forms of constructive academic exclusions on the basis of class or race. In the same vein, we will continue to broaden the skills and knowledge sources through involving all education stakeholders in the empowerment of our people. In this regard, due to the recognition of skills acquired in the course of employment and the restructuring of skills training centres and Setas, we shall not escape our scrutiny and oversight. Hon Deputy Speaker, facing us is the mammoth task of achieving universal access to uniform quality education. We keenly look at the Bill to examine how, through the current allocation, we will take further steps towards ensuring that the culture of learning and teaching service is galvanised through ensuring developmental conditions of learning and teaching.
The questions that come to mind, among others, are: Will this Bill make conditions better for the economically marginalised? Through this Bill, will those who lack economic muscle access quality education? Through this Bill will those, but for unfavourable conditions, be high quality performers? Will we be able to unleash the potential without let or hindrance?
We have noted the observations of the National Planning Commission's diagnostic overview in relation to education. Without gainsaying the progress made in expanding access to education, ensuring a equitable schools funding and equitable supply of learning and teaching support material, the report is candid about systematic gaps along the path to high- quality education. The report concludes that the quality of education for poor black South Africans is substandard.
The conclusion of the report is based on the premise that the gross enrolment ration for the secondary phase shows that many learners drop out before completing Grade 12; that the quality of physical assets and infrastructure at school level remains highly unequal; that efforts to raise the quality of education for poor children have largely failed; and that the quality of early childhood education and care for poor black communities is inadequate and generally very poor.
The report asserts that low literacy levels among parents, poor nutrition, violence and social fragmentation are factors that explain why the performance of school children from poor communities remain low relative to their wealthier peers, of whom the majority attend the former model C schools.
In his state of the nation address, his Excellency, the President, said: "The focus in basic education this year is Triple T - teachers, textbooks and time. We will continue investing in teacher training, especially in mathematics and science." The R2 billion allocations for Funza Lushaka bursaries must ensure skills upscaling to equip teachers to be more effective and efficient. This amount is meant to increase the number of prospective teachers receiving bursaries in subjects such as mathematics and science and the foundation phase from 10 150 in 2010 to 15 217 by 2013.
The textbook leg must be strengthened by the roll-out of nearly developed learner workbooks and teacher lesson plans that have already been provided for Grade R to Grade 6. In total, it is envisaged that more than 6,6 million learners and 125 000 teachers are to receive high-quality teaching and learning materials for the 2011 academic year.
Evidence attests to the success of the Funza Lushaka Bursary scheme and its demonstrated ability to attract high-quality applicants to teaching. The textbook leg has also shown a fair amount of success. However, there have been challenges in the actual usage of the textbooks in the classrooms - a matter we commend to the capable hands of the Department of Basic Education. It is our view, therefore, that the Triple T tactic, as pronounced by the President, has to form the basis of basic education expenses for the current financial year.
We welcome the further continuation of the National Schools Nutrition Programme, the HIV/Aids Life Skills Programme and the Technical Secondary Schools Recapitalisation Grant. It is with genuine appreciation that we note the introduction in the current financial year of the new Dinaledi schools grant, Education Infrastructure Grant and the School Infrastructure Backlog Grant.
Barring the occurrence of the unexpected, the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative, Asidi, will be instrumental in ensuring that schools operate with the basic requirements of safety that include provision of water, sanitation and electricity. However, we must express our concern regarding the efficiency of the schools infrastructure programme, and wish to urge the Department of Basic Education to expedite the replacement of the 395 mud schools.
Evidence gives credence to the fact that in terms of Grade R, the access question is easier to deal with. What is elusive is quality. The department should therefore include quality inputs in Grade R and the early years of formal schooling. It is a truth that cannot be gainsaid that performance in early grades predicts later performance. If we do not get it right in the early phase, especially in numeracy, it is very difficult to play catch up at the later phases.
Let me take the House through the Department of Higher Education in the context of the Appropriation Bill. Between 2007-08 and 2009-10, additional funding for higher education was appropriated towards higher education subsidies to cater for increases in higher education costs and enrolments. In 2010-11 and 2011-12 spending is prioritised for FET colleges and skills development. An amount of R5 million is prioritised for teacher bursaries and R22 billion is added for the FET grant and skills development.
The FET grant caters for additional funding for the FET function, which is currently being shifted from the provincial to the national department. We should mention that challenges remain with regards to student equity, graduation rates and enrolment rates in scarce skills such as science, engineering and technology. One of the challenges remaining is improving the number of students who complete their studies, graduate and get employment.
The January 8th Statement of the ANC MECs states that in line with the vision of the Freedom Charter and the resolution of our 52nd national conference, we are committed to progressively introduce free education up to undergraduate level. With effect from this year, 2011, students who are registered at a public university in their final year of study and who qualify for funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme will receive a loan equivalent to the full cost of study, which is a full fee and necessary living expenses. If these students graduate at the end of the year, the loan for the final year will be converted to a full bursary.
It is therefore our view that the addition of R3,6 billion to NSFAS to enhance poor students' access to universities will enable the scheme to improve on its quality and the quantity of students it assists. Academically capable students are denied access solely on the basis of financial need. While welcoming additional funds for NSFAS, we do so with the full realisation that there are students who do not qualify for NSFAS but cannot afford to pay university fees. We need to ensure improved access to quality learning programmes, increased relevance of skills development interventions and building strong partnerships between stakeholders and social partners.
Our investment in education, training and skills development should be focused on achieving a skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive economic growth path and social development. We need to interrogate workplace training with theoretical learning and improve the skills levels and address poor work readiness of many young people leaving formal education institutions and entering the labour market for the first time. There should be ardent promotion of the growth of the public FETC system that is responsive to sector, local, regional and national skills needs and priorities.
We should also support small enterprises, cooperatives and worker-initiated training initiatives. We need to intensify in a more concerted manner the fight against corruption and fly-by-night institutions and training initiatives and eliminate unnecessary middlemen in the provision of services in order to maximise the impact of the allocated resources.
We are the proud host of the 6th World Congress of Education International to be held on 24 July 2011, here in Cape Town, where the congress provides an opportunity for the representatives of all Education International affiliates to meet and strengthen the bonds of solidarity between teachers and education workers throughout the world. In conclusion, as we progress towards the centenary of the ANC, we want to, once more, commit ourselves to ensuring that universal access to quality education is realised by all. We are determined to reverse the ignominious legacy created by the apartheid when its apparatchiks attacked black children and forced them to paralysing mediocrity through feeding them inferior education. The ANC supports the Bill. I thank you.
Chairperson, Deputy President, today we are coming to the end of a lengthy budgetary process that was started with the Budget Speech in February when the Minister of Finance announced the budget projections for the financial year. In exercising our oversight functions, Members of Parliament, MPs, in the portfolio committees have checked whether the departments kept their promises of the previous year and spent taxpayers' money wisely. We have highlighted shortcomings in departmental expenditure arising from Treasury, departmental and Auditor-General reports during these hearings, and many shortcomings have been highlighted. We will shortly be voting on each of these department's allocations.
The ACDP believes that we have been more than gracious to many national departments. We have not yet used our powers in terms of the Money Bills Amendment Act to amend these allocations. I think it is a poor excuse to say that it is because there is not yet a budget office that we have not yet used our powers. We could still have exercised our powers. I believe that the time is fast approaching when we will make use of these powers to penalise departments that are underspending or underperforming. They need to have their budgets trimmed because the country is facing budget deficits over the short to medium term, with an increase in state net loan debt levels to reach R1,4 trillion by 2013-14.
Now, do we understand what a trillion rand is? It's a 1 plus 12 noughts. It is a million million rand. It's a thousand billion rand. To quantify this, let me ask you how long it would take to spend a trillion rand if you spent R1 per second. The answer is about 31 000 years. If you spend a million rand per day, it would take you more than 2 000 years to spend that amount. This is a vast sum of money! Surely, under such circumstances, departments that perform inadequately and underperform need to be penalised.
The budget deficit would also be more palatable if government was spending more on the productive side of the economy, as opposed to the consumption side. However, more and more funds are being allocated to current costs such as the public sector's salary bill, which has doubled over the past 12 years from R156 billion to R314 billion. This constitutes 40% of noninterest expenditure, which is, surely, a cause for concern.
Earlier this week the Speaker launched the Oversight and Accountability Model which asserts our role, our oversight role, in enhancing democracy. As part of that role we need to monitor expenditure trends in an ongoing manner. Clearly, this function will be made easier when the parliamentary budget office is up and running, but nothing prevents us from already exercising our powers in terms of the Money Bills Amendment Bill. That having been said, the ACDP will support the Appropriation Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]
Madam Chairperson, this debate remains a very important aspect in a country that seeks to maintain a working democracy that still listens to the people and takes cognisance of their word. Obviously, service delivery is through state departments and therefore it is of the utmost importance that we pay attention to how the National Revenue Fund is distributed.
We have made various inputs as we debated Budget Votes for the departments. Hopefully, the issues raised will be taken seriously by the executive decision-makers because I would like to believe that this whole process is not a tick-off exercise just so that we are seen as democratic and having good governance. I would like to believe that it is a genuine process wherein the interest of the decision-makers is to listen, take responsibility and correct errors and mishaps pointed out so that at the end of the day we are all proud of the end product and receive a value-for- money service. Economic and social development depends so much on this process and a fair, reasonable distribution of funds is central.
I must point out that it is still a concern that many state departments continue to receive qualified audit reports. This is inexcusable, especially when you consider that many of such qualified reports are due to noncompliance to existing legislation that this Parliament works very hard in ensuring that it is properly consulted upon. Legislation is meant to shield individuals from making or taking personally influenced decisions, but that they align their decisions to existing procedure in legislation. Hence, I submit that nonadherence is inexcusable and it is time that we seriously look at punitive measures against such practices. We must display loyalty to principles rather than alliance to individuals.
We are concerned that the mismanagement of funds and the abuse of procurement processes more often implicate senior officials and therefore this suggests that we must look seriously at how positions are being filled. Clearly, cadre deployment is costing citizens so much in real and tangible terms. We must all know that we are having finite supply of resources and cannot continue to make such gross mistakes.
Whenever the Auditor-General reports on mismanagement of funds and irregular and wasteful expenditure, we are told that such matters are being investigated but are hardly ever told of the outcomes of such investigations. More often than not political heads are cushioned or appear to be immune from responsibility.
State-owned enterprises have been the worst performers and the individuals assigned to running them have been released with pats on the back and hefty packages, only to be redeployed somewhere else. This is a disappointing state of affairs and if we continue with this trend, the prophecies of doomsayers shall come to pass.
After many years of oppressive rule, here is a chance to prove that those who fought against it, a noble act indeed, did not only want a replacement of the skin colour of the rulers but emancipation of all people. Let such emancipation mean economic freedom for all of us. Let the decision-makers therefore not disappoint our people. With this, the UCDP supports the Appropriation Bill. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy President, hon members, I believe that the DA, in saying that they do not support the Appropriation Bill for the 2011-12 financial year, has just made Minister Gordhan's job of allocating budgets in the years going forward much easier when they claimed that they do not need any more than 40% of the money that they utilised in the 2010-11 budget to run the Western Cape province.
The President of the Republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, addressing the National Assembly in 1999 said, and I quote:
Because the people of South Africa finally chose a profoundly legal path to their revolution, those who frame and enact the Constitution and law are in the vanguard of the fight for change. It is in the legislatures that the instruments have been fashioned to create a better life for all. It is here that oversight of government has been exercised. It is here that our society with all its formations has an opportunity to influence policy and its implementation.
According to Jeremy Heimans of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, the Budget is the most important economic policy tool of government and provides a comprehensive statement of the nation's priorities. He adds that, as the representatives of the people, Parliament is the appropriate place to ensure that the Budget best matches the nation's development priorities within available resources. An active role by legislatures in budget making and budget review provides a check on the exercise of fiscal authority by the executive within the confines of the doctrine of the separation of powers. Therefore, influence and pressure from Parliament is likely to increase budget accountability and transparency from which civil society groups will also benefit.
Heeding the call by former President Nelson Mandela and taking cognisance of its role in relation to the Budget, the Standing Committee on Appropriations undertook hearings to gain stakeholder insight and perspectives on whether the Appropriation Bill was consciously aligned to government's key priority areas. Three stakeholders made submissions. These are the Financial and Fiscal Commission, the Public Service Commission and the Human Sciences Research Council. This process culminated in the committee giving its support to the Appropriation Bill, with its findings and recommendations tabled in ATC of 20 June.
The manner in which the Budget is developed and crafted is a complex one. It is a helix of assumptions intertwined in a manner that aims to achieve a multiple number of interrelated goals. It is the considered opinion of the ANC that the 2011-12 Appropriation Bill achieves our objective of providing finance for a wide-ranging programme that has been translated into detailed, deliverable agreements and targets for national and provincial departments, agencies and municipalities. The single encompassing objective of public policy for the period ahead is employment and creation of decent work.
Economies have five main economic objectives at a macro level, namely economic growth, full employment, price stability, equitable distribution of income and wealth and the balance of payment stability. Economic policy is aimed at achieving these objectives, with one of them usually selected as the main priority. The pursuit of economic growth requires an expansion of national production and income. This is a prerequisite for job creation, improved living standards and economic development. Likewise, the incremental pursuit of full employment or the eradication of unemployment is an obvious objective of economic policy, particularly in South Africa, where unemployment remains a major socioeconomic problem.
President Zuma, in his 2011 state of the nation address, emphasised the creation of decent work and called on all sectors of government to redouble their efforts to achieve this objective. This call comes after the Cabinet approved the New Growth Path in 2010 as the overarching policy framework to deliver on the outcome of creating decent employment through inclusive growth.
The policy's principle target is to create 5 million jobs over the next 10 years. This framework reflects government's commitment to prioritising employment creation in all economic policies. It identifies strategies that will enable South Africa to grow in a more equitable and inclusive manner while attaining South Africa's developmental agenda.
The New Growth Path identifies five other priority areas as part of the programme to create jobs through a series of partnerships between the state and the private sector. These include the green economy, agriculture, mining, manufacture and tourism. The New Growth Path proposes major improvements in government, with a call for slashing unnecessary red tape, improving competition in the economy and stepping up skills development.
The framework identifies the developmental package, which is a co-ordinated set of actions across a broad front. These consist of macroeconomic strategies, microeconomic measures and stakeholder commitments to drive employment and economic growth. Against this background, it is in the interest of all political parties to ensure that government succeeds in meeting its policy objectives and implementation targets.
In general, when a party wins in an election, they have a mandate from the people to address the national development interests in accordance with the manifesto put forward by the party.
So why didn't they?
Parliamentarians are representatives of the people and need to constantly ensure that the economic objectives as well as the national development objectives are largely in keeping with the direction promised. Accordingly, the role Parliament plays in relation to the approval of the Budget is instrumental in holding the executive to account to the people.
The 2011-12 Budget is a tool of transformation designed to realise the ANC's objectives and policies and, by extension, the will of the people. With this in mind, the Financial and Fiscal Commission's, FFC, submission on the Appropriation Bill will need to be seriously considered in the context of priorities over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF.
The FFC has expressed the view that the amount spent on personnel does not yield the required outcomes. This therefore requires the Minister for the Public Service and Administration to engage with the issue and provide a solution in consultation with the relevant stakeholders. This is a very serious statement, more especially since service delivery is critical in building a developmental state.
This takes us back to performance management and the absolute necessity to have an agreement on what outcomes must be achieved when there is pressure on expenditure. The sustained funding of priorities over the MTEF period is critical to ensure the incremental realisation of the ANC's policy position over the period. Clearly there will be new emphasis over the MTEF given that the ANC is going to its policy and national conference next year.
The strategic outlook of the ANC - strategy and tactics - is its application applied in the "continuity of change" process. This applies to policy as well as to funding of policy priorities and programmes.
We note the FFC's concern around the impact of competing interests and the constitutionally mandated services that the ANC government must deliver on. Experience, especially in the provinces, has taught us that there must be strict application of conditional funding when it comes to addressing this. We do believe that while there has been a lapse in spending of conditional grants at a provincial level, provincial Treasury guidelines and interventions have, to a large extent, addressed this.
We do agree, however, that technical efficiency in relation to how funds are spent needs further attention. Often, there is a delay in financing projects and this has a negative impact on our ability to deliver.
In exercising its oversight role in so far as passage of the Appropriation Bill is concerned, committees and this House have a continuous responsibility to ensure that there is a link between the Budget and the policy outcomes in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework and the implementation of the delivery agreements around the 12 outcomes, as outlined by the executive.
During the hearings, the Human Sciences Research Council, HSRC, raised concerns around specific appropriations in the health and food security areas. The phased introduction of the National Health Insurance needs to be understood in the context that it is a multifaceted approach over a period of 14 years. Therefore, there will be the necessarily different perspectives on what should be allocated in a given year and, in particular, the MTEF period. The concern is that there is not enough funding allocated in the start-up years. We are, however, confident that this matter shall receive further attention.
While the Appropriation Bill is enacted annually, the realisation of outcomes takes place over a longer period and it is for this reason that we plan strategically for five years. What remains critical is the role that the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation has to ensure that there is a tool available to measure outcomes over the MTEF period which will also assist us to undertake our oversight.
In the words of the late ANC President, Oliver Tambo, "Political revolutions are about the capture of state power and its use to advance the objectives of fundamental social transformation." In strengthening partnerships in the delivery of services, we will continue to evolve and, in so doing, strengthen the state's ability to deliver quality services within a framework informed by the needs of the people. In doing this, we introduce the theory of direct participatory democracy, while breathing life into the noble principle of "the people shall govern". The ANC supports the Appropriation Bill. [Applause.]
Madam Chair, hon Deputy President, members, the National Planning Commission, NPC, chaired by the hon Minister of Planning, released a very honest assessment of what major issues we face. The most serious challenge that we face is unemployment in the private and public sector. More than 1 million South Africans became unemployed during the last financial year. The NPC says that 60% of the unemployed have never worked and many lack the skills needed to participate in our economy. Thousands of South Africans have given up hope of attaining a sustainable job.
What is needed is for all sectors of the economy to create low-skilled employment because South Africa experienced jobless economic growth the past decade. In fact, we shed jobs at an alarming rate.
The DA agrees with the NPC that high starting-level wages inhibit labour absorption. We will have to liberate our labour regime. It is estimated that 51% of the age group 18 to 35 is at present unemployed and depend on welfare grants, while almost 13 million to 14 million South Africans depend upon grants.
Education is another challenge. Despite massive expenditure, the quality of education available to millions of South Africans is not up to accepted international standards. The National Planning Commission found that teacher performance and the quality of school leadership in 80% of our schools are poor. In a study among maths teachers of Grades 4 to 6 who wrote maths tests on the curriculum for Grades 4 to 7, only 33% of the teachers passed.
Allow me to congratulate the hon Minister of Planning who, despite the influence of trade unions, had the courage to accentuate this issue, because teacher and principal competence has been a no-go area in the past decade. This is partially why only 15% of students who wrote exams in 2010 achieved an average mark of 40%.
Other variables, such as spatial challenges, marginalise millions of South Africans. Our present public health system confronts a large burden of disease due to HIV/Aids. The National Planning Commission also accentuates corruption, which is costing this country billions of rand.
The DA conducted research regarding the total value of government corruption in South Africa and the following figures must be taken into account: the municipal audits of 2008 and 2009 show fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R128 million, which in 2009 to 2010 went up to R189 million; unauthorised expenditure of R3,3 billion in 2009, which went up to R5 billion in 2010; irregular expenditure, which went up from R2,4 billion to R4,14 billion in 2010.
The DA's wasteful expenditure monitor investigated and found that the Zuma administration has allowed R4,91 billion to be spent on wasteful expenditure, since taking office in 2009, which is a vast amount of money. The Department of Justice is currently investigating 62 unfinished investigations into allegedly corrupt tender allocations, worth billions of rands. According to Sars, the figure of taxes owed by tender winners is R1 billion. Perceptions about corruption, according to the Global Corruption Monitor, are very significant. It shows that 68,1% of South Africans perceived corruption to affect the business environment very significantly and 65,4% of South Africans expected corruption to increase a lot over the next three years. The results of the Country Corruption Assessment Report showed that 80% of South Africans perceive corruption to be prevalent, with 41% considering it one of the most important problems to be addressed. Sixty-two percent of respondents from the private sector perceived corruption to be a serious problem and Public Service clients believed that between 15% and 30% of public officials were corrupt. Some Public Service managers held the view that up to 75% of their own staff was corrupt.
The core function of the Appropriation Committee is to monitor state expenditure. The National Planning Commission, however, noted that an estimated 20% to 25% of state procurement, amounting to almost R30 billion a year, is wasted.
The lack of accountability of government and state-owned enterprises has contributed to a culture of poor performance and nondelivery. Our economy is basically a commodity-driven economy. Infrastructure, or the lack of modern infrastructure, remains a constraint to economic growth and jobs. Brazil and Australia, commodity-driven economies, have significantly increased the volume of their commodity exports the past decade. South Africa, however, has fared dismally due to rail and electrical constraints.
I will be doing a disfavour to 50 million South Africans if I say that our government entities are performing as expected of them. My fellow DA member gave specific examples of bad planning, mediocre management and control deficiencies in government entities. The DA is a proud pro-South African opposition. We believe in an open, equal society where merit, not race, is taken as the norm. We believe that sustained economic growth of more than 5% can only be attained if we protect the independence of the judiciary, where we separate the state and political parties. South Africa's top priority is to create more jobs. The question is whether the ANC is doing enough to encourage investors from abroad to invest in labour-absorbing industries. Allow me to identify a number of economic constraints.
The many questions regarding bribery with regard to the arms deal is of concern and it is dissuading foreign investors to invest. The fact that the ANC Youth League threatens that the nationalisation of the mining industry is a viable foreseeable occurrence and that no compensation will be paid to shareholders demands urgent attention and condemnation from the ANC government.
The New Growth Path, announced by the hon Minister of Economic Development, stipulates 500 000 jobs per annum for the next five years. What is actually happening? Only two mega projects have been announced this year.
The China Motor Corporation announced that a project in Harrismith will create 2 500 permanent jobs. This is laudable. The Coega Development Zone, constructed by Kalagadi Manganese, will provide 400 permanent jobs. The cost in this case will be R4,2 billion. We simply do not have the means to spend more on mega projects.
My question to the House is whether we are spending and allocating money derived by means of taxation to create a small business-friendly environment with a functional public service that provide services to the public in an effective and productive manner. Our present public service is simply not doing enough. The DA therefore cannot support this Bill. [Applause.]
Madam Chairperson, hon Deputy President, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, and members, we in the Standing Committee on Appropriations all sit as members from different parties and look at how we can improve service delivery through the monitoring of expenditure. We discuss all the issues in our committee - except that after we have held our meeting, it has become clear today, the DA holds its own meeting. [Interjections.]
They have their own hearings after our hearings because they talk about research institutions which they should have recommended to the committee. We are a democratic committee, but they talk about researchers. Recommend your research institutions so that they join the Human Sciences Research Council and others that we invite, so that we all deliberate on their findings as a committee. We knew that you were going to reject the Budget, and we knew that you were going to have your own recommendations from your own separate meetings. [Interjections.]
Hon members, since its birth in 1912, the ANC has recognised our common identity and citizenship and refused to set one group against another. South Africa has entered its second decade of freedom with the strengthening of democracy and acceleration of the programme to improve the quality of life of all the people. The Appropriation Bill, in its allocations, pronounced Health, Rural Development and Land Reform as key priorities of the ANC-led government.
We are from different constituencies faced by poverty, unemployment and inequality. We are expected by our constituencies to direct the resources to strategic tasks according to the national government priorities. If the progress we have made since 1994 constitute only the beginning of the protracted process of change, what is our aim? What kind of a society do we want to create?
The Minister of Finance stated in his 2011 speech that all South Africans aspire to the following freedoms: freedom from poverty; freedom from need; freedom to exercise our talents and thrive as individuals; freedom to work together as communities, as organised social formations, as business enterprises, and as a proud and forward-looking nation. Freedom goes with rights as enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Constitution of South Africa. The role of Parliament in this debate is to ensure that all South Africans achieve these freedoms. Parliament should ensure that real opportunities do exist towards these achievements, and that the government departments are fully functioning, well resourced and skilful.
Amartya Sen, who is a Nobel Laureate, explains freedom as the enhancement of human capabilities which involves processes of decision-making, as well as opportunities to achieve valued outcomes. He states: "The main purpose of development is to spread freedom and its 'thousand charms' to the unfree citizens."
As hon members all know, health is one of the main priorities of government and should be accessible to all South Africans. It is Outcome No 2, which says: "A long and healthy life for all South Africans". Income inequalities have an effect on the health of a nation. Markets do not reach the poor, who have little income to afford health insurance or proper nutrition. The Freedom Charter states that "a preventive health scheme shall be run by the State". It further states that free medical care and hospitalisation shall be provided for all, with special care for mothers and children.
The approach to health issues adopted by the Minister is a true response of activism and within a short period of his leadership in this Ministry, he has turned the Department of Health around. We were all in the same hearing as the hon Swart, when we all appreciated all the efforts that were made in this department, and that there are already norms and standards in place.
We also noted that transferred funds needed to be spent for those purposes and be monitored by the department to avoid underexpenditure in this economic classification.
Conditional grants are for a specific purpose. As a result, there is no need for underexpenditure. Monitoring of spending of these receiving entities and NGOs should be intensified as the lives of the people depend on the performance of these institutions.
We are not going to stand here and criticise what was happening. We are looking forward with this department, which is revolutionising health for the benefit of all South Africans.
Rural development and land reform is considered by the ANC as a central pillar in the struggle against unemployment, poverty and inequality. People living in rural areas face the harshest conditions of poverty, food insecurity and a lack of access to services almost on a daily basis, like the rural people who live here in the Western Cape. Outcome No 7 states: "Vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities with food security for all". During his speech, Minister Gordhan stated:
Government's land and agricultural development programmes are focused on rural job creation and poverty reduction, while expanding agricultural production and improving food security.
The difference between rural and urban development is vast and we all know that the problem is historical. The ANC-led government has taken note and started redressing the problem through several programmes. It should, however, be noted that proper development needs proper physical and social infrastructure. Infrastructure needs to be designed, built, maintained and operated properly. People need to be trained to do the job.
As Parliament we appreciate that a lot of money has already been wasted on poor infrastructure. Rural areas must attract people and investments through good-quality infrastructure. Rural development has the Comprehensive Rural Development Programmes that support rural communities and land-reform beneficiaries. Despite all these efforts and programmes, there is still visible poverty, unemployment and inequality in rural areas. As a result, in most cases people are forced to leave their homes and arid land, to go and look for work in urban areas. The question is whether they would have left the rural areas if there was economic development. The same is applying in the rural areas around Western Cape, where poor people are ignored and forgotten when the Metro City is the one that is receiving awards. [Interjections.]
Hon Mashigo, will you just take a seat for a moment, please? Thank you. I would appreciate it if you would stop heckling. When your member was speaking, this side didn't shout him down. So, I would expect a little bit of ... [Interjections.] You are showing your true colours. Will you kindly keep your voices down, so I can hear the speaker? Thank you. Please carry on.
The use of technology is unlimited and can be used by anybody, even in rural areas. If the poor in these areas can be empowered with technologies, there would be a rise in productivity, based on their local resources, enterprise and innovation.
The aim of the Budget is also to break generational poverty in rural areas. Attending to youth empowerment will break this circle, like funding to enable 5 000 recruits into the National Rural Youth Service Corps. The intention is that graduates of the Youth Corps will work in their communities to provide services in local socio-economic development.
The R19 billion that will be spent on rural development and agriculture in the provinces will also include youth programmes. According to the South African Institute of Race Relations, unemployment among the young people of 15 to 24 years old is 51%, which is more than the national unemployment rate of South Africa.
The current problem facing rural development is land restitution and reform. During the hearings with the department it was mentioned that for this financial year the Budget for restitution claims will only cover backlogs of 360 out of 800. It was mentioned by other speakers that there are still outstanding court cases. As we can see, the land is going to get expensive and the budget is still not going to cover everything.
As long as we are stuck in the notion of "willing buyer, willing seller", we are going to stand here, spend our budget and beg the National Treasury to increase the budget on land claims. That is because the values are purposely overexaggerated and inflated by the people who own the land, when they actually know that it is not their land. [Applause.] You should be giving that land away. We want service delivery. [Interjections.] We want to eliminate poverty here in South Africa. Stop selling land to foreigners because we want to eliminate poverty. [Interjections.]
The Freedom Charter states that the land shall belong to those who work it, and that "the state shall help the peasants with implements, seeds, tractors and dams to save the soil and to assist the tillers". The Land Reform Programme has good objectives, but a clear plan on how the budget will be spent will be needed. People in these areas want self-respect and independence, support of infant industries and small businesses which, surveys have shown, fail within five or less years. The sector, including the agrarian one, adds value to the domestic market through job creation and skills development.
Major improvements have been registered at the turn of the second decade of freedom in terms of the economy's rate of labour absorption and generation of self-employment, but we have not matched the needs of society. At the same time, while the achievement of macroeconomic balances has released huge resources for social and economic expenditure by government, this has not translated into rates and quality of investment needed to deal with the legacy of apartheid, which we know better.
South Africa commands huge health-care resources as compared with many middle-income countries yet the bulk of these resources are in the private sector which serves a minority of the population, thereby undermining the country's ability to produce quality care and improve health care outcomes. [Interjections.] The ANC is determined to end the huge inequalities that exist in the public and private sectors by making sure that these sectors work together. [Interjections.]
In conclusion, South Africans are aware that the majority of the people still depend on government for social assistance and social economic development. It is therefore important for all citizens of South Africa to identify with beneficiaries of government programmes so that they know what their taxes are paying for.
It is also very important for those who own a lot of land and tractors that are just standing there, to open their hearts to those poor people who are working on their land and give them instruments to till their land, so that there should be a better life for all in South Africa. [Interjections.] Please open your hearts! Open your hearts! Deep down in your hearts you know that what you are doing is wrong. Deep down in your hearts you know that this Appropriation is right. This Appropriation is for equity, but because you are hurt, you don't want any change. [Interjections.] You will keep on saying that you don't support the Appropriation. The ANC supports this Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]
Order! I would like to address this side of the House. I think your screaming is getting louder and louder, and ... [Interjections.] ... No! No, Mrs Kalyan, I'm not talking to you. I would appreciate a little bit of decorum in the House. [Interjections.] I know that it is late and everyone is tired, but let's have some decorum in the House. Thank you.
Hon Chairperson, the DA has promised to keep quiet now. Hon members, let me first thank the hon Sogoni and the Appropriations Committee for, once again, a job well done, very careful analysis and sound leadership provided in terms of analysing the budget, which is a massive piece of work, and for collecting their thoughts in the way he actually presented them.
The Appropriation Bill and the processes of examining the budget, interacting with departments and Ministers, and explaining to the public where the taxpayer's money is going, is central to a working democracy. Parliament is a key instrument of democracy and the Money Bills Amendment Act and the provisions in there for Parliament's role are absolutely crucial. Each year over the past few years we've seen this role expand and the kind of analysis and contributions provided from Parliament improving. We look forward to the next few years, when you will continue to do that.
The Appropriation Bill and this process is about how we will spend taxpayers' money and the impact that spending is going to have. Let's remind ourselves that the R889 billion that Mr Swart referred to is money largely, apart from the borrowing, that comes from the taxpayers of South Africa. When we talk about allocating that money for whatever purpose, to whatever department and, indeed, to whatever province, we are talking about how do we spend the public's money, improve the public's life, and ensure that year by year, post-1994, we improve the conditions in which our people actually live.
There is no doubt, as several speakers have pointed out, that what the budget is doing is indeed living up to the expectation - and that is a key policy tool of the ruling party - that it is here to address its priorities of jobs, health, education and training, rural development and, indeed, crime as well.
Mr Sogoni has raised several questions about the affordability of this budget. As the National Treasury together with the Cabinet as a whole, we have made sure that what we are pursuing and will continue to pursue is a sound fiscal path that ensures that over the next few years we undertake responsible fiscal consolidation. We continue to do what we can to expand the economy and the revenue base, minimise our reliance on the deficit and borrowing, and ensure that even if we reach the point, as the other Mr Swart pointed out, of a R1,4 trillion of debt in the next few years, we can afford and pay that debt and our creditors can rely upon ... [Interjections.]
Madam Chairperson, I would like to know whether the Minister would be prepared to tell us if he supports the expropriation of land.
Madam Chairperson, that's a question not relevant to this debate and, really, I would expect the DA to come up with something a little more creative than that. [Interjections.] Let's come back to the fiscal soundness of what we do.
We can give the assurance to Mr Sogoni, as he has given to the public, that we run a reliable ship that ensures that we have stability and certainty within our environment. He's also absolutely correct that unemployment is a crucial issue in South Africa and that the balance we need to get right over the next five years or so years, if not more, is the balance between what we do for social security purposes and what we do to ensure that people have jobs in this country and the dignity that goes with jobs.
We thank Mr Sogoni and his committee's commitment to oversight, monitoring and evaluation, although there is a lot more room for us to do better, to examine a lot more carefully where exactly the public and taxpayers' money is being spent and whether our bureaucracy of about one million people are committed to ensuring value for money, which all sides of the House want and are committed to.
The hon Ramatlakane also emphasised the "value for money" issue. Again, it's the ANC that has provided leadership in this regard, particularly after the recession hit us. We must all ensure that committees in Parliament do not compromise on the issue of value for money; that Parliament in fact acquires the appropriate capability, skill, energy and perhaps even the sense of urgency that is required to ensure that money is in fact being spent on what we expect it to be spent on. More importantly, all departments must ensure that we do get reliable outputs and the value for money that we want. Mr Ramatlakane, the developmental state is built, it is developing itself and it is, I can assure you, in action.
There is no doubt that all of us around this room will agree that this state can do better. There is no doubt that we can improve performance in a number of areas. But to suggest, as hon Swart does, that we are on the precipice and about to face an apocalypse in this country is not quite in keeping with the character I know the hon Swart to be. I know him as a glass half-full guy and not as a glass half-empty guy, but I can understand that the party line is important and has to be taken and projected. So, he finds and gives us 15 reasons as to why, regrettably, the DA can't agree on a budget of R889 billion.
When we go through the numbers, what we have is a set of numbers that gives us at most R5 billion. Where is the other R884 billion that is, I think, reasonably well spent? Even if we say R20 billion is not well spent in the state, there is still over R800 billion that we are spending every day, paying public servants - some of whom must definitely do better than they are doing - delivering services to people - because our schools and hospitals work, although they don't work adequately. Yes, we want better quality but we've certainly over the last 10 to 12 years improved access to all of the public services that we offer the South African public.
So, Mr Swart, I trust that you'll be able to bring some influence to bear on your party. Get them to forget their party line by the end of this process and concur with us that the Appropriation Bill takes South Africa in the right direction. Our spending, broadly, is moving in the right way. Let's look for reasons to support rather than reject the Appropriation Bill. But what we have is the opposite process. We've tried to look for all the reasons why we can't support. Any fair reading of the arguments that have been put forward certainly doesn't bear out the conclusion that you've come to.
Hon Singh, thank you very much for your support of the Bill. We would agree with you that the establishment of the Budget Office is something that will certainly assist Parliament. We would think that that resource should be well equipped both in terms of personnel and other technical resources. We believe that that would enrich the process of interrogating the budget, getting better accountability to Parliament and getting parliamentarians more involved in this process as well.
We agree that there are areas of concern, which you share with the hon Swart as well, around mud schools, money not being spent and outstanding land claims. We agree with you on all of those issues as well, but the problem is not to just point a finger in that direction. We should rather ask ourselves how we can collectively work together to solve these problems, rather than merely pointing them out.
My colleague the hon Mkhulusi from the ANC has clearly done extensive work in the education area and the concern she raises is a valid one which all of us share. Having emphasised access over the last 10 years to both education and health and, in her case, education, can we now for the next five years focus on quality? Minister Motshekga, among other colleagues on the government side, is fully committed to ensuring that the focus on quality is what we will receive over the next few years.
Yes, we have all the diagnostics right about what doesn't work in education but repeating the diagnostics doesn't really help. Let's focus on what we are going to do, what each of us is going to deliver and how do we, in the shortest possible time and with the greatest sense of urgency, address the concerns that all of us have in rebuilding an education system that can do justice to the millions of learners that we need to serve, but more importantly, improve the skills of our teachers so that they can deliver education more effectively.
The hon Swart from the ACDP raises a valid question. Are we getting the balance right between productive investment and expenditure on consumption? This is something, an imbalance, that has entered our system not because of our doing. It's because of the recession that came in from the United States and government wants to ensure over the next few years that we get consumption or, if you like, the productive investment balance absolutely right and to move more in the direction of investing in productive infrastructure, issues and projects that will give us more jobs. We would fully agree with you in this regard as well.
The hon Matladi raises questions about the mismanagement of funds, procurement and qualified audit reports. Again, we agree with all of these issues. I'm not sure whether your diagnosis is entirely correct - that we can blame everything on officials. Procurement often goes wrong not because of what officials do but also because of what business does, wherever that business comes from. For a long time we've been saying that we want the right partnership between the business sector and the public sector so that we can cure the improper procurement practises that we face in this country.
The hon Mashigo has focused on education, health and rural development. One can only agree with her appeal to open your hearts, share your resources and focus on the real concerns that will make South Africa a much better country for all of us to live in. If we do so, then we can actually ensure that even in the next three years of this Parliament we can show more results to our people about how we've improved their lives.
Finally, the Appropriation Bill should receive the support of even the DA because this is about a Bill which says that we are supplying resources to all parts of the country, including the Western Cape. You can't have this situation where on the one hand you support the Division of Revenue Bill, which allocates the equitable share to the provinces, but we don't support the Appropriation Bill which has conditional grants that will go to the Western Cape as well. I hope that this schizophrenia ends at some stage and we cordially invite the DA to join us in supporting this Bill. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded
Question put.
I wonder if you did record the objection of DA, Madam Chair?
The objection of the DA is noted.
Bill read a first time (Democratic Alliance dissenting).