Hon members, I have received a copy of the President's address delivered at the Joint Sitting on 14 February 2013. The speech has been printed in the Minutes of the Joint Sitting.
Honourable President, hon Deputy President, members of this august House, we meet today, heavy at heart at the horrific and brutal loss of life of innocent babies, children and women through domestic and sexual violence. The scourge of this disease has taken hold in our communities and as much as we develop interventions, programmes and campaigns to stem this tide, we can all agree that the roots of this violence and the notion that life is cheap can be traced all the way back to our dark and unjust past.
The evolution of our society has many lessons to teach. Institutional racism and discrimination involved the rationing of resources and power to ensure and achieve social exclusion through formally legitimised state policies. The dispossession of black people from their land took place over many years in our early history and largely through conquest. But the systematic land dispossession by the state came into effect after 1913, when 13% of the land area of South Africa were given as reserves for the Africans and excluded them from the rest of the country, which was made available to the white minority population.
The 1913 Land Act was instituted to ensure that more land was available to white farmers, to impoverish and enslave black people through dispossession, and make them dependent on their white employers for survival. This led not only to the creation of a pool of cheap labour for the white farms and the mines but also enforced racial segregation.
In order to deny the black people the right to till their own land and access natural resources, there was the creation of cheap, black labour in the form of farm workers, labourers, mine and domestic workers. The consequence of this political dispossession and economic exploitation of black people was, in a way, depriving them of their humanity, ubuntu or botho. Such a deliberate act of dehumanisation by one group against another was the most inhuman and the worst of its kind to be instituted against human beings.
The teachings of white superiority and black inferiority doctrines and the creation of race as a mechanism for violence led to the nurturing of violent and crime-hardened individuals who indulged in violence as an extreme sport or at the slightest provocation. Sociologists believe that this led to the development of retributive reactive attitudes among all population groups. And thus, the results of the dehumanisation process endangered everyone in South Africa.
I refer to this dehumanisation process because it pervaded and still pervades every facet of our lives. The denial of access to markets, infrastructure and education to those categorised as black was apartheid's worst contribution, but especially so, the denial of quality education. Under your leadership, honourable President, we have a government that has steadfastly resolved to address and redress the basic inequalities inherited from a past ridden with racially discriminatory laws and practices, decades of entrenched inequalities and separate development. The five priorities you identified are economic growth and job creation; fighting crime and corruption; education; health; and rural development and land reform. They are regarded by the ANC as key to transforming our socioeconomic inequities.
To restructure our society and focus on the future, you introduced the National Development Plan, a broad strategic framework that sets out a coherent and holistic approach to uniting South Africa around a common programme. As articulated in the Plan, and I quote:
To build a socially cohesive society, South Africa needs to reduce poverty and inequality by broadening opportunity and employment through economic inclusion, education and skills, and specific redress measures; promote mutual respect and inclusiveness by acting on the constitutional imperative that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, and that all are equal before the law; and deepen appreciation of citizens' responsibilities and obligations towards one another. In so doing, the National Development Plan will draw on the energies of all our people, grow an inclusive economy, build capabilities, enhance the capacity of the state, and promote leadership and partnerships throughout society. The dehumanisation of individuals through sub-standard education is a legacy issue. Living under institutionalised oppression, in the case of many of us, our humanity was taken away and we were dehumanised.
Honourable President, you prioritised education, believing that it is an instrument of liberation and is essential for our development as a nation. Through education and social change, we become rehumanised and can reclaim our dignity, our voices, and our humanity. Honourable President, your nation-building and development strategy finds support in renowned political thinkers. It was Ernesto Che Guevara who stated that, and I quote:
Education is the property of no one. It belongs to the people as a whole. And if education is not given to the people, they will have to take it.
Our icon, Nelson Mandela, equally believed that education was liberation. His famous words were, and I quote: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." This is a mantra worth repeating.
Under your leadership, honourable President, we can be proud of how far we have come and how much we have achieved. The ANC supports your resolve to use education to empower society as a whole, to change our mindsets and, most importantly, we support your resolve to make education the basis of every development - social, political, economic and industrial, to enhance social justice and to eliminate ignorance and all forms of religious, cultural and political intolerance. The ANC is fully conscious of obstacles to delivery that your administration faces, but we are satisfied with your ability to overcome these. We have not escaped unscathed by the global recession.
Unemployment, poverty and inequality threaten to derail our national democratic revolution. Your administration has identified targeted outputs of job creation; youth development and growing the economy and developed clear proposals on the potential of all sectors of the economy to generate substantial jobs, empower the youth and effectively monitor all the targets that have been set. Your infrastructure roll-out would also provide means to create jobs and build the economy.
In focusing on the future, re-emphasising that this is a government that looks forward, the country's National Development Plan, that aims to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030, must be embraced by all. In support of your nation-building and socioeconomic development plan, the ANC will ensure that we stop the oversight stampede by co-ordinating and integrating oversight programmes of all three spheres of government as well as between the NA and the NCOP.
Honourable President, we shall ensure that your programme of action is taken to and co-owned by our people. As public representatives we can unashamedly tell South Africa, Africa and the world that you have a vision, a plan, the willingness and ability to deliver on your plan. As public representatives, the ball is in our court to support you and your administration. We have full confidence in you. [Applause.]
In support of your administration, Parliament and its representatives will move beyond the norm of merely accepting reports of the executive, briefings by various departments and rubber-stamping the budgets of departments and entities. We shall move beyond merely accepting the legislative proposals by the executive and initiate critical legislation.
Our constituency offices offer a closer view of the trials and tribulations affecting our people. Engaging with the youth, listening to the aged, supporting the disabled and assisting the unemployed men and women in our communities allow us to open up lines of communication, and offer us an opportunity to know where the people are, what they aspire to, and to respond to them faster and with consistency.
When we visit poorly performing clinics, surprise a hospital official who is asleep instead of offering a key service; when we visit a school and find the teacher assaulting a learner or teachers who are absent for days instead of teaching; when we catch a corrupt government official accepting a bribe for services they should be rendering as part of their job; when we see young girls being sexually harassed by men on the street, we will not turn away and fold our arms. We will rise to these challenges and know that when we do so, we are building South Africa brick by brick.
More recently, Parliament has been media fodder for the manner in which we seem to have abdicated our responsibilities to the courts. The opportunistic use of the courts by the opposition to score political goals has tarnished the image of this great institution. [Applause.] To effectively represent citizens, Members of Parliament must carry out their legislative and oversight roles in a way that is demonstrably in the public interest and in a way that reflects the ethical standards of the community and their standing as leaders in such communities.
The ANC has a proud tradition of consultation, engagement, contestation and consensus-seeking. The Freedom Charter stands as a testimony to those methods. We utilised those same significant methods in our constitution- making process, our Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the recent National Social Cohesion and Nation-Building Summit held at Kliptown in July last year.
We believe in these methods, because we believe fundamentally in the principles of the Freedom Charter and our Constitution and that this country belongs to all who live in it. Therefore, we would like to urge opposition parties to utilise these methods of engagement rather than the expediency of the courts.
Honourable President, our people are responding to and supporting your nation-building and social cohesion project. The ANC received a delegation of eight members of the Afrikanerbond, led by Mr Pieter Vorster, who told us that they are fully behind your vision and development plan and wish to be partners with both Parliament and government in implementing it. [Applause.] The National Interfaith Council of South Africa, Nicsa, has signed a memorandum of understanding with government, through Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta, to support government's nation- building initiatives and fight against the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
We wish to thank Minister Richard Baloyi for spearheading this partnership. To ensure that the achievements of government and Nicsa reach the people, Nicsa and the South African Broadcasting Corporation have concluded a memorandum of understanding. We wish to thank Prof Ben Ngubane, Chairman of the SABC board, and Mr Hlaudi Motsoeneng, Chief Operating Officer, for putting the public broadcaster at the service of the people.
Parliament and all the legislatures will assume the responsibility for the promotion of democratic values and consolidate the peoples' power for social and economic development. This is not a party-political responsibility; it belongs to all political formations and civil society organisations.
Honourable President, this annual parliamentary debate is called upon to afford diverse constituencies that are represented in this august institution by various political formations a platform to contribute meaningfully to the important reflections you made on the state of our Republic on Thursday. This exercise is very critical as it is at the heart of our representative and participatory democracy, which makes this Parliament an institution of the people, not that of the few leaders who represent their jackets.
However, honourable President, the large section of the views that are going to be expressed in this important national debate will not be a reflection of the aspirations of the diverse constituencies that voted some of the political parties on my left into this institution. Instead, what we will hear during this debate today and tomorrow will mostly be the views of the DA. Except for the few opposition political parties, who should be commended for staying true to their principles and visions, the rest have surrendered their independence to their new political master in the form of the DA. [Applause.]
Following the state of the nation address on Thursday, these parties were summoned by the Leader of the Official Opposition to a hastily convened meeting, to what was euphemistically called "co-ordinated strategy for Sona debate", while in fact, what they were called for was to obtain the marching orders and later escort hon Mazibuko to a media briefing. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
We are aware of the increasing difficulties confronting these parties, particularly the principal challenge of their dwindling appeal to the electorate. However, selling their soul and surrendering their autonomy to the DA means they can no longer claim to represent the views and aspirations of the constituencies they represent in this institution. They can no longer claim to enjoy freedom of thought and freedom of opinion, as their political views on parliamentary matters must now be sanctioned first by the DA. [Laughter.] [Applause.] They can no longer claim to advance their respective political policies or resolutions, as their mandate now is to advocate the policy decisions of the DA's federal council.
It is an antithesis of a multiparty democracy system, which provides for a diverse and multiplicity of political views and interests, to have the throng of political leaders from diverse ideological persuasions dancing to the tune of the neoliberal and conservative agenda of their political master. Surely the constituencies of these parties did not elect these leaders to Parliament to serve the DA, to seek its permission before making statements on matters of national interest, and to advance the political fortunes of the DA.
I am raising this curious development precisely because it signifies the dearth of the democratic traditions of multiparty engagements, which this Parliament represents. [Applause.] This also means that, with the exception of the few parties that have elected to guard their political independence, what we will be hearing in this debate are the views of the DA, dressed in different party colours. [Laughter.] [Applause.] These views would be dressed in different suits and faces on this podium, but we know that they were cooked in a blue pot. [Laughter.]
Therefore, honourable President, when you hear constant similarity of views and thoughts amongst these political parties during this debate, it is not because there is a convergence of thought on your reflections on the state of our nation, it is because they will also be singing from the same hymn sheet of their political master, hon Lindiwe Mazibuko. [Laughter.] [Applause.] Be that as it may, honourable President, I envisage your job of responding to these views being much easier than before, given that there will now be fewer parties to respond to.
Last but not least, we wish to salute the founders of the Organisation of African Unity and join the people and nations of Africa in commemorating its 50th anniversary and acknowledge the great contribution it made to our liberation. We shall also not rest until the people of Palestine and Saudi Arabia achieve their right to self-determination and independence.
Thank you for the opportunity to address this august House. [Applause.]
Hon Speaker, hon President, hon members, the South African people have lost confidence in President Jacob Zuma ... [Interjections.] ... and his state of the nation address showed us why. With the pressure of re-election lifted, this was an opportunity for the honourable President to show leadership after he received a new mandate from his party at Mangaung. But this address not only failed to inspire South Africa, it was devoid of new ideas and vision.
The nation had waited expectantly for the President to speak directly about how his government would implement the National Development Plan, NDP. The anger at his failure to do so is felt across South Africa. We all support the NDP, and the address should have been a turning point for a country which feels a lack of confidence in the national government. But instead this was the offering of a Presidency founded on compromise, one built entirely upon mediating the bitter factions that threaten to tear the governing alliance apart.
The President should have plainly set out how the National Development Plan would be put into action and its proposals implemented to fix the economy, education, crime and corruption. Instead, he offered a reheated version of last year's broken promises based on spin and lip service, stitched together with announcements about task teams, processes and accords. Ours is a president who says one thing to appease South Africa, and then does another to please himself and his inner circle.
Most importantly, hon Speaker, the President's speech failed to provide solutions to the unemployment crisis. Hon members, the President says he is committed to job creation, but let's look at what he actually does about job creation. He promised five million new jobs by 2020, but unemployment rose again during his third year in office. The economy has lost half a million jobs since he assumed the Presidency.
Has the President ever reflected on what it must feel like to be a young person without a job in South Africa today? Does he feel for the five million young South Africans under the age of 34 who are unable to find work? The speech he gave on Thursday did not show this.
Does the President empathise with a young unemployed woman who opens her eyes every morning, and sees another wretched and empty day stretching out before her? She knows she needs a job. She needs the means for her daily survival but she also needs to feel the pride and dignity that come from work.
The few job opportunities she does find require applicants who have work experience but this woman has no experience. She needs that first break in order to gain experience. How this appalling paradox must frustrate and anger her! How powerless this young woman must feel to change the direction of her life! Does the honourable President know the country that this young woman lives in? I believe he does not.
How can he, when his response to her circumstances was to announce that the National Rural Youth Corps had enrolled 12 000 young people in various training programmes? How can he, when his response to this crisis was a so- called plan to create nine rural youth hubs with no definition as to what this will achieve in terms of job creation?
How can the honourable President empathise with the dire circumstances of jobless young South Africans when all he could offer them were vague utterances about learnerships and apprenticeships in state-owned enterprises and the Expanded Public Works Programme? He knows that none of these target young people.
Hon speaker, the worst betrayal of all was the President's abandonment of the Youth Wage Subsidy policy. This would benefit hundreds of thousands of young people by absorbing them into the formal economy and providing them with real work opportunities. By contrast, the so-called youth accord seems nothing more than a conjurer's trick, which this government is using to divert attention from the fact that it has allowed Cosatu to water down the Youth Wage Subsidy policy. South Africa has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment in the world, and the ideas in this youth accord are a weak response to a huge and growing problem. Hon Speaker, the President also claimed to have brought policy certainty to the mining industry. But then he proceeded to raise uncertainty with the threat to increase mining taxes. Following the Marikana tragedy, a wave of unprotected strike action in the sector, and a series of irresponsible statements made by members of his government and the ANC, confidence in the industry is at a low ebb.
The President seems to believe that investors will be forced to come here because we have such vast mineral wealth. But if conditions are not right they will simply find alternative investment destinations. If he continues down this path, the President will be remembered for standing by as our mining industry was decimated in a country which enjoys the greatest mineral endowment in the world.
Hon Speaker, the President's failure to provide economic leadership is mirrored by his failure to fix education. The President says he is committed to education but look at what he actually does. Last year, he claimed that, and I quote: "Intensive focus is paying off". But our numeracy and literacy rates are second from last in 144 internationally ranked countries. How are our children supposed to learn to read and write without textbooks? It is impossible to understand how the President did not express outrage that children in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo did not receive textbooks on time. Why did he not undertake that this would never happen again on his watch?
Hon Speaker, this is a President who is out of touch. The National Development Plan provides clear solutions to fix the crisis in education, but he ignores them. On the one hand, the President rightly said that we need to review teachers' remuneration, but on the other, he completely ignored the proposal of the NDP to link better remuneration with improved performance.
Above all, the honourable President failed to commit to making education an essential service, as is the case with the health professions and the police service. Completely ignoring the definition of an essential service in the Labour Relations Act, he claimed that education is an essential service because it is something we all care very deeply about!
Then, as a repayment for the re-election debt he owes Cosatu, the President endorsed teachers' unconditional right to strike. We know that there can be no meaningful expression of freedom unless a child can reach her full potential, and education is what defines her life chances. Until the President pursues this goal with the same energy and enthusiasm with which he pursues his own re-election, his words will be as meaningless in practice as they are on paper.
Hon Speaker, while our sense of national pride is strong, our society is broken. I commend the honourable President for his statement condemning rape and sexual assault following the horrific murder of Anene Booysen two weeks ago. This was a wake-up call in a society where crimes like these have become normalised. How many women do we know who have been victims of sexual assault, violence and abuse? How many of our mothers, daughters and sisters, our friends, work colleagues and leaders?
Hon members, in our society, women are told not to wear mini-skirts in case they provoke men to rape them. Battered wives are asked what they did to anger their husbands. And political leaders who refer to their female counterparts as "little girls", the "madam", "wild whore" and "my dear", are tolerated.
In this context, is it a surprise that one in three women in our country can expect to be sexually assaulted in her lifetime? It is in this context that every eight hours a South African woman is murdered by her intimate partner. And it is in this context that Anene Booysen, a 17-year-old young woman from Bredasdorp was subjected to the horror of gang rape, mutilation and murder at the hands of a group of men not much older than she was.
Her attackers slit open her stomach. They reached into her body, pulled out her intestines and left them lying in the dust next to her. They broke all of her fingers and both of her legs. They slit her throat and left her for dead. Anene Booysen's last words before she succumbed to her unimaginable injuries were, and I quote: "I am tired and I am sore".
Hon Speaker, by the time I have finished speaking, over 300 women will have been raped in South Africa today. Our country is tired, and our country is sore. If we truly cherish Anene's memory, then we cannot be powerless bystanders.
We encourage the honourable President to participate in a national dialogue to end this evil with the same clarity of conviction that marked the fight against apartheid. Will the honourable President provide a detailed government plan to deal with sexual offences in his reply to this debate?
I hope he will not simply convene another task team, because the President's fallback position is always to establish task teams. The clearest example of this is corruption. The President says he is committed to fighting corruption. But let's look at what he actually does about corruption.
We had expected the President to appoint a head of the Special Investigating Unit, a post that has been vacant for over a year, but he did not. Perhaps this is because he knows that the SIU will look into his actions in the same way that it must look into those of any public figure regardless of their office.
Most presidents' characters are revealed over time. But our President was compromised from the beginning because there were simply too many unanswered questions about his actions before he assumed office.
The Supreme Court of Appeal ordered the National Prosecuting Authority and President Zuma's lawyers to hand over the so-called spy tapes to the DA almost one year ago. These tapes, we believe, form part of the "reduced record of decision" documents, memoranda and transcripts that led to the NPA's decision to drop more than 700 charges of fraud and money laundering against him. The honourable President has been unable to exercise leadership because these documents were the founding documents of his Presidency.
Hon Speaker, the Nkandlagate scandal towers above all in the public mind. The President's private compound is being paid for by the hard-pressed public to the tune of over R200 million. Yet, he failed to mention Nkandla even once in his state of the nation address.
To the President's lasting shame, his Ministers deployed one of apartheid's most sinister laws, the National Key Points Act, to cover up how the upgrade of his private home is being paid for. The government then self- appointed yet another task team only to declare that its findings would not be made public.
Today, I ask the honourable President: How could he have allowed the upgrade to proceed, knowing how overstretched the country's resources are? Will he commit in his reply to putting this wrong right? Will he support the extension of this probe into a parliamentary investigation? And will he commit to making the findings of the Department of Public Works investigation public? If he fails to meet these basic requirements of accountability, Nkandla will forever stand as a symbol of corruption in our country.
Hon Speaker, we are, however, not without hope. There will be a day, a day when every person will be able to turn the despair of others into hope. We all know that the potential for greatness lies within South Africa. Consider just one endeavour in 2013. A radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array, will soon rise in the Karoo. This instrument will search the furthest reaches of the heavens. We will find answers to some of the deepest questions about our universe.
This leads us to the biggest South African paradox of all. South Africa has discovered the means to uncover how the first stars and galaxies began. Yet, our poorest schoolchildren learn in mud schools and under trees.
We see clearly that South Africa has reached a fork in the road. In less than 18 months we shall all pass our verdict on this President and this government. South Africa cannot afford six more wasted years.
Last May, I urged President Zuma not to seek re-election in December, and to put the needs of the country before his own interests. He did not, and South Africa's crisis of leadership has deepened.
In November, I tabled a motion of no confidence in the President with the mandate of eight opposition parties in this House. The governing party ran scared because it was frightened that its own members would show the honourable President the exit door. And the ANC's party managers twisted the democratic process with stonewalling tactics.
If the honourable President knew that he had Parliament's confidence to lead, he would have asked that the ANC holds the debate immediately. But he did not. As soon as the Constitutional Court hands down its ruling, I intend to retable this motion. This time the ANC will not be able to abuse its majority to delay the debate.
Hon Speaker, there will be a day, a day when this President and government will be removed from office at the ballot box. [Applause.]
We have already seen the future and it is indeed blue. An ANC administration in the North West province was recently removed through a motion of no confidence by the DA in Tlokwe Municipality. In a few short weeks, the DA has laid the foundation of a capable administration. I was not surprised when the President himself panicked and rushed to Tlokwe last week to visit the municipality.
He knows that when the DA is given a mandate to govern, it spells the end of the ANC's electoral dominance, because where the DA governs, we deliver to all. This is why, despite all of the grave problems that South Africa faces, the DA has never been so optimistic and confident that our nation will triumph.
There will be a day, a day when the DA will serve the entire nation, as we have been given the privilege to serve in the Western Cape.
Our message is clear: South Africa is a great country being let down by a weak administration. Our President is the wrong man for these times. The President and his party may have had young people's voices silenced on FNB's website, but they cannot stop these young voices from being heard in the most powerful place of all, the ballot box.
There will be a day, a day when the voices of young South Africans everywhere will finally be heard, a day when our country's confidence in its own greatness will be restored, when we have a president who puts South Africa first, and a government that cares for young people who are without hope and for the elderly who walk in fear.
There will be a day, a day when South Africa soars under the leadership of a new president and a government led by the DA. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Speaker, honourable President, Deputy President, hon members of the House, allow me to dedicate my contribution to this debate to one of the youngest souls in South Africa, a person who, alongside her peers, devoted the majority of her life to solidarity with the workers, peasants and the oppressed of our motherland, and continues to do so even today. Mrs Epainette Mamofokeng Mbeki, who celebrated her ninety-seventh birthday on Saturday, is arguably the great iconic figure of her generation! She is also one of the oldest members of the Congress of the People! [Interjections.] I ask fellow members of the House to join us in wishing her well in the years that lay ahead!
I also wish to place on record our sincere and very deep sadness at the loss of Comrade Phyllis Naidoo, who served the cause of freedom and justice at home and around the world. I plead with God that her soul may rest in peace!
Today I would like to invite members of the House and the people of our country to join me on a short journey. As early as 2010, the Minister of Finance drew attention to the expenditure on compensation in the government's wage bill, which he pointed out, in 2010, claimed 40% of taxpayers' revenue. In 2011 he warned that personnel spending and debt service costs had grown rapidly. In the 2012-13 estimates he pointed out that the wage bill budgeted for was 35%, which in itself was a staggering amount looked at against the backdrop of the national revenue of R967,5 billion.
Consequently, the Minister pointed out that the wage agreement of 2012, which added R37,5 billion over the medium term, would also absorb a large share of additional allocations. This means that the money that had already been budgeted for, services to our people, would now be absorbed by additional salaries to those who walk up and down the passages of government offices, leaving the people with nothing at all. The Minister then went further and promised that, and I quote:
Government will take a more deliberate approach to managing overall employment and wage trends across the public sector. Government will curtail unwarranted growth in personnel numbers.
When we came to the state of the nation address here, I expected to hear that government had a plan to act on this urgent and devastating setback. I expected to hear that government, given the advice of the Minister of Finance, would take steps to review the Public Service, identify those who are redundant, eliminate such positions in staffing and save the nation huge costs. The President said nothing about it.
I expected to hear that those who had been employed corruptly, were not qualified and were appointed only because they were being rewarded for being members of the ruling party or relatives and so on, would be identified and eliminated from the Public Service so that the nation can possess a sleek and trim Public Service effective and efficient. The savings from such an exercise would then be diverted to providing the necessary services to masses of our people in squatter camps, in the rural countryside and so on. The President said nothing about it.
We believe that anyone who is committed to fighting corruption must start by eliminating the corrupt act of paying, month after month, individuals who are not qualified, but were appointed without any regard for their qualifications and who only consume but are not delivering anything on the agenda of the nation. I have listened to all of these speeches here, good speeches, about what needs to be done. The secret is not in what colourful promises you make. It is in what practical, hard steps you take to convert them into a hard reality that people can benefit from. It is not helpful to make all these colourful promises.
It is quite alarming that the Deputy Auditor-General recently said that government - both national and provincial - had spent more than R102 billion on consultants between the 2008-09 and 2010-11 financial years.
A staggering R102 billion was spent on consultants because relatives, friends and concubines who are employed have no qualifications to do their work. [Applause.] It is not my Deputy Auditor-General who said this, it is the government's appointed Deputy Auditor-General who says this is what has been done by your government. So, the Auditor-General also revealed ...
Mr Speaker, I have a question. [Interjections.]
Hon Lekota, will you take a question?
Speaker, if you will give me additional time because this is a trick to disrupt my speech.
Yes or no, sir?
I won't be disrupted.
It isn't.
Thank you very much Mr Speaker. As the Minister responsible for public service, I wonder who the concubines are that are employed.
Continue, sir.
Speaker, I hope you will replace the minutes I have just lost. [Laughter.] The Auditor-General also revealed monumental losses as a result of fruitless and futile expenditure. In the 2009-10 to 2010-11 financial years an amount of R45 billion was wasted. The amounts of R20 billion in 2009-10 and R25 billion in the 2010-11 were squandered by this government. I sit here and think to myself, had this amount been used for bursaries, some 125 university students could have been funded for over three years. If you gave them half a bursary, 150 000 university students could have been supported and over that time South Africa could have produced civil engineers, mechanical engineers, doctors and so on. But instead what happened to that money? It ended up in the pockets of friends, family and the favoured ones. [Interjections.]
All these corrupt people who are there do not know anything about the work that they are supposed to be doing, let alone to look after the resources of our nation. Billions of rands! This is money! It doesn't fall from the sky. That is what Shabir Shaik asked. Does he think that this money falls from the trees? [Laughter.] So this money is being lost in this way. I am talking about billions of rands. In the meantime there are people who go to bed without food; children are born in shacks in Khayelitsha, in the middle of water in winter. [Interjections.] In the meantime there are old and young, because the money has been squandered by you. [Interjections.]
Order hon members! Order!
Therefore we have to say, sadly, hundreds of thousands of deserving students were left without the support they could have got. Likewise, the R200 million that was spent at Inkandla could have been used to give bursaries to 10 000 to 20 000 matriculants. Today those children are walking the countryside of Inkandla, Mthunzini and other areas, without education or any support because one house had to be built for one individual or one family. I still have a question in my mind that I have not been able to answer: Why was former President Nelson Mandela not also given some R200 million? [Applause.][Interjections.] Why was former President Thabo Mbeki not also given R200 million? If Public Works did that, we want an account. Tell us. Let Public Works tell us that it spent similar amounts on former Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.
The time has come for the ruling party to account for its actions. There cannot be this lack of equality before the law. This situation, where certain individuals lord it over the entire nation, cannot be accepted. Otherwise the years we spent in exile, in jail and all of that are worth nothing. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
I say again that I will not be silenced. I will not be silenced whilst those who are now privileged forget that they come from the townships of Soweto, Umlazi and Mdantsane; that they come from nowhere. Now that they have climbed to seats of power, they forget the people they left behind; they forget the homes from which they came. They forget their own people. Indeed, they forget that once we sat together in prison, eating mealies promising ourselves that when the day came, we would be loyal to the wishes of our people; we would prioritise the people and make sure that there is a better life for all, as former President Mandela first told us on Robben Island and then told us from this podium - better life for all. Where is that better life for all? Look at our people in Olievenhoutbosch, Diepsloot and Mdantsane; where is the better life for all? Aren't we ashamed of what we have done? What has become of us?
In any event, most significantly, now we are being told that we are going to be taxed some more. But we have not been told what is government doing to recover the R45 billion lost? They are not telling us about that. They tell us about how much tax we must pay. What are you doing to recover the R45 billion that disappeared. What are you doing now, today, to recover our R200 million that went to Inkandla? What are you doing now to ensure that each and every one of these people who are being arrested for corruption pay for that? Instead, they are elected to the leadership of the ruling party. They go into the national executive committee and all of that.
The NEC is full of people who have stolen this and that, who are involved in the Travelgate scandal and so on. [Applause.] But they are all in the national executive. [Applause.] Instead of punishing people who commit crime, the ruling party rewards them with higher positions, not only in the party, but also in the government. We must tell these truths. If we do not tell these truths, we will be betraying the young people of our country. Generations to come will condemn us. So, I refuse to be silent. [Interjections.]
The Minister will come and set up a commission. Well, government said he would have to set up a commission to revise our tax and so on. We will have to pay more, but we are not told of what is being done to recover the money that has been lost under the watch of this government. The President has no answers to those issues, because he said nothing about them. He went dead quiet about it and spoke about other things that are irrelevant when it comes to the question of the survival of the people.
On the issue of the Right2Know Campaign, other things are happening, and I must say these things come quickly, before the dark days come. The Right2Know campaign has drawn our attention to the fact that the ruling party is pushing for even more secrecy than before. The Right2Know campaign reported on a 2012 survey by the SA History Archive, which facilitates and tracks the Promotion of Access to Information Act. Of the 159 requests made, the archive noted that 102 were refused outright or received no reply. The more we ask questions, the more silence we get. That is the government's track record on accountability and transparency.
Hon member, your time has expired. [Interjections.]
Speaker, aren't you going to add a few more minutes? [Laughter.]
Order hon member! Your time has expired. [Applause.] [Laughter.] You did not lose any time; the clock was paused. [Applause.]
Mr Speaker, Your Excellency the President, Msholozi, Your Excellency the Deputy President - Mkhuluwa, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, I rise to speak with a sense of utter distress. As hard as I tried to hear something in the President's state of the nation address that would restore my confidence in the current leadership of our nation, I found nothing on which to pin my hopes. What I heard in the state of the nation address were aspirations and dreams. What I did not hear are timeframes, strategies or anything for which we could hold the President's administration accountable in this last year of the fourth democratic Parliament.
Indeed, Your Excellency, I doubt whether anything you spoke of last Thursday will come to fruition in the lifetime of your Presidency or perhaps even in your lifetime - let alone in the lifetime of my brother Mr Mlangeni and me. I say this with respect, but with utter distress.
Ziphathe kahle ngane, ziphathe kahle; musa ukwedelela. [Uhleko.] [Behave yourself child, you must behave; don't be disrespectful.]
I looked for something last Thursday on which to pin my hopes, because I remember how hope actually sustained our liberation struggle. Even in the darkest nights, we retained hope of eventual freedom, and that hope kept our cause alive. Without hope, the future can no longer be imagined or pursued. For the first time in my life, I worry that our nation's future is darkening as, inch by inch, we drift further away from hope.
Last November the IFP stood in solidarity with the opposition parties in this Parliament as we tabled a motion of no confidence in our President. That motion was driven by the shared understanding that the divide between the ruling party and the opposition in South Africa is no longer purely a difference in ideology, perspective or opinion. It is a fundamental difference in values; the values which we believe in as the opposition, the very values which are held dear in our society, have been abandoned by the ANC - the ruling party.
These abandoned values are the values of Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme, Dr John Dube, Mr Makgatho, Rev Mahabane, Dr Moroka, Inkosi Albert Luthuli and other prominent past leaders of the ANC.
Nithi kle kle! Anibazi nokubazi! Nithi kle kle! Anibazi! [Uhleko.] [You are whining! You don't even know them! You are whining! You don't know them! [Laughter.]]
Now, however, the ANC believes the state is there to be pillaged, abused and disrespected for the self-enrichment of the ruling class. The rest of us believe the state is an instrument to serve the people of South Africa to meet the needs, wants and aspirations of our people. There is a fundamental divide between the ruling party and the people of South Africa, and that divide is growing.
The President referred to the vast number of comments he had seen from South Africans on Facebook and Twitter. He is right that South Africans have a great deal to say. We have much to contribute. But how many of those comments expressed concern, frustration and anger?
The IFP invited South Africans to comment on Facebook during the state of the nation address and to express their opinion on whether our President is telling it like it is or not. And they spoke. Not just on Facebook, but across the broad spectrum of social media. Sam Nujoma said: "Zoooma lives in his own world, and expects us to believe him." Unathi Fiti said, "Yet another empty promise from our President." Anton Pillay said, "All the promises you made before you got elected; they aren't come true."
These few comments reflect an overwhelming public opinion that the President's address does not describe the state of our nation. The real state of our nation is expressed in the cry of more than a million young people who sit without work, while the President asks the private sector to absorb only 11 000 FET graduates. The real state of our nation is expressed in the children who sat without textbooks for more than half a year, while the President asks the private sector to fund maths and science academies and Saturday schools. The real state of our nation is very different to what the President describes.
I have said before that I cannot walk in harmony with a President who is perceived, by some people, to be speaking from both sides of his mouth. Mr President, you seem to speak from both sides of your mouth. What daring to speak about the Bill of Rights, as you did, when you yourself are compromised on this issue, when you sing "Umshini wami, mshini wami". You allow the slogan "Kill the Boer, kill the farmer". You have stood in this House, sir, and declared, quite without qualms, that the minority has fewer rights than the majority. [Interjections.] Where is your Constitution, Mr President? Please, show me where that hallowed document grants some citizens more rights than others.
I have said, many times, even before Polokwane, that I do not see the President as merely the President of the ANC. He is our head of state. He is my President too - I have no other head of state. I thus afford him the respect he deserves. I wonder though why the President seems not to respect me, even as a citizen. I have written to him many times and received nothing more than an acknowledgement of receipt from his staff. [Interjections.] How should I interpret the fact that my latest letter was not even acknowledged?
That letter informed the President of my reasons for joining the motion of no confidence. I felt that my President should know why I no longer have confidence in his leadership. I am not standing in this House merely to attack him, or even to criticise for the sake of criticising what his government has done. I am standing here as a citizen who has lost hope and lost confidence, and who sees no way for us to continue on this path.
The time has come to close the first Republic under the ANC, which is characterised by corruption, lack of vision and lack of leadership. The time has come to usher in a second and better Republic dedicated to the people and the values of our liberation.
Our President has used the expression that "one must cut the coat according to the cloth" in his speech. As someone with many years of experience in governance, I know what he means. You can only work with what you have. That is what the President meant. And no one expects the President to do more for the country than what can realistically be done with the resources at government's disposal. But we all know that the resources at government's disposal are enormous and the budget allocations are generous to address key issues like education, poverty, inequality and health care. It is not for lack of throwing money at our problems that we flounder.
Our President also made it clear that what is happening globally is bound to affect us. But even within these two confines of limited cloth and the global economic meltdown, one cannot escape the truth that this government has wasted money. It has wasted the resources available to it. What has been promised has not been delivered. And corruption has darkened the soul of our government. To my mind, the President has lost his credibility to speak of external challenges.
For three years I have said in this debate that the IFP will support this government where this government does the right thing, and I will support the President when the President does the right thing. Thus I will not stand here and say that government has done nothing for our people; that would be dishonest. I was in government for ten years and I know what we did for this country. Even from the opposition benches the IFP has seen government do some things for the people. But not enough things; not quickly enough; not with the kind of commitment that reality demands.
Instead, resources have been frittered away at every level of government. In national government, provincial administrations and municipalities, performance is so poor and delivery so slow that I have lost hope of us ever coming close to addressing South Africa's problems successfully. I no longer believe that the vast sums of money set aside to address specific problems will actually reach those problems. So, even the amounts the President quoted for infrastructure development are meaningless if there is no guarantee that they will serve the purpose for which they are set aside.
In spite of all the countermeasures, the President mentioned that corruption is endemic. There is no visible improvement in corruption. Why should we be impressed that government has now decided that accounting officers should face consequences for noncompliance with accountability measures? Why have there been no consequences before?
Euphemisms and hyperbolic catchphrases will do nothing to solve genuine problems. The President told us that in 2008 government declared education as an Apex Priority. While education was an Apex Priority teachers were allowed to strike, textbooks were dumped in Limpopo, learners entered high school functionally illiterate, pass rates were dismal and thousands of learners simply dropped out.
So now, we are changing the name apex priority, as though the name had anything to do with the problem. Now we are calling education an essential service. But, just to clarify, that doesn't mean teachers cannot strike. It simply means - well, actually, Mr President, what does it mean? [Laughter.] [Applause.] Giving the problem a new title will not solve the problem. It is insulting for the President to say, "We want society to take education more seriously" and "We want everyone in the country to realise that education is an essential service." Sir, with due respect, we do take education seriously. We know it is an essential service. The people of this country have been begging for solutions to our failing education system. The only one that has not been taking education seriously is government.
It is also insulting to the people of this country to say that the Annual National Assessments have become a powerful tool of assessing our education system, without having the honesty to say that the assessments have left us in a shock over how dismally our schools are performing. Study after study, report after report, South Africa's education system is proven to be worsening. Let us have the honesty to say so.
Let us also have the honesty to say that the R102 billion that has been spent on consultants in the past three years points to a public service that has no idea how to do its job. Apparently over the past 19 years no progress has been made in building a public service that knows how to govern effectively, efficiently or at all.
Yet, when governance at all levels fails dismally, when money is rolled over and not spent, when corruption takes out service delivery, national government steps in. The interventions in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape indicate the extent of the problem. But such intervention is no panacea at all, as the President would have us believe. It is also blatantly untrue that when the state intervenes in private industry, it turns things around and creates success.
In fact, the opposite is true. How many state-owned enterprises are prospering? SAA? I remember how many times, as a member of Cabinet, we bailed out SAA and I know that that was a Cabinet secret, but in this House you can say anything, Mr President. Denel, for example.
There is no evidence to suggest that government would do a better job running our mines than private companies. Even if, after years of playing footie with the idea of nationalisation, the ruling party has abandoned this notion, the crisis in mining has not gone away. The President would have us believe that because an interministerial committee supposedly restored social stability in Marikana, and because a commission of inquiry was set up, all is now done and dusted and squared away and there is nothing left to worry about.
It is again an insulting euphemism to refer to Marikana and the violent strikes that followed as difficulties in the mining sector in the past few months. Has any calculation been made of all that has been lost in the many protests and strikes that have swept our country? Has anyone calculated the cost of the looting of shops, the destruction of properties and the lost productivity? Has anyone calculated the cost to our national psyche, our social cohesion and our trust in the rule of law? When I was in high school, our principal explained that one man's right ends where another man's right begins. When property is destroyed during violent protests, the Bill of Rights is trampled. And when teachers are allowed to strike, leaving learners without access to education, the Bill of Rights is trampled. Why then, Mr President, are you bowing down to Sadtu, except for the obvious reason that you need their political support?
I wonder how far we will get with the National Development Plan, when Cosatu has already compared it with Gear. I had butterflies in my stomach when I heard that. How long before we hear the resounding call, "Asiyifuni NDP! Asiyifuni!" [We don't want the NDP! We don't want it!] Mr President, you cannot implement the NDP to please your alliance partners.
One cannot help but wonder if the analysts are right; that very few in either the ANC or its alliance partners have read the 450-odd pages of the NDP. How many departments offered comments to the National Planning Commission on specific details of the NDP? The IFP submitted some 20 000 words of advice. We thus have no illusions about the NDP changing anything in our country in the next year, or the next five years. This is a twenty- year vision, populated with aspirations and goals. We fully support the NDP, but we realise that it is not the Band Aid the President would have us believe.
There is no Band Aid for the crises in education, health care, unemployment and poverty. When R126 million is set aside in the Human Settlements budget for gap housing, and only R70 million is spent, the Band Aid clearly didn't work.
Let me offer the President some words of advice. Your Excellency, don't expect the Expanded Public Works Programme and the Community Work Programme to absorb all our unemployed youth. Do not insult those millions of young South Africans with the platitude, "Working together, we will find a solution to youth unemployment." Don't expect South Africans to be silent as inflation robs them of food on their table and a roof over their heads. Don't think that the passing mention of the rape and murder of women and girls in recent times is enough to solve a scourge that has been plaguing our nation for decades. And, don't drive wedges between our people by making it increasingly impossible for some segments of our society to do business, find jobs and provide for their families, all in the name of broad-based black economic empowerment.
Finally, let me speak about the sanctity of human life. South Africa comes from a past of the people's war, of a black-on-black bloodshed and political violence. How much has the 19 past years really changed? Even now we have intraparty and interparty violence; particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, we have rape, looting and rampant crime. With all the assurances that our police are gaining control, the situation appears to be out of hand. Perhaps we should look to the number of prisoners filling our prisons to capacity. Perhaps that would be a proper indication of whether we are winning this war, or losing it.
Marikana should remind us of how easily things can get out of hand. Throughout the history of man, homo sapiens, there have been conflicts which resulted in war. Coming as we do from a past of war, we should be more concerned about political violence. Disdain for the sanctity of human life clearly still hangs over our heads. It seems some people have no qualms of conscience, no scruples, either conscientious or religious, about killing people for political reasons. I was hoping to hear our President pronounce on this matter.
He and I come from different schools. Our President knows that when the ANC abandoned the values of its 1912 founding fathers, which I clung to, and embraced violence as a means to end apartheid, the IFP did not agree. In 1979 our two parties met in London to discuss an armed struggle, and the ANC urged Inkatha to avail its structures to bring bloodshed and violence into this country, and we refused. I upheld the sanctity of human life in every circumstance. [Interjections.]
Those who are shouting "Wow-wow-wow!" did I ask for amnesty? Mr Mbeki and some of the leaders, including the President, asked for amnesty. So, arrest me! [Applause.] I felt we should adopt a composite strategy towards ending apartheid, through negotiations, which was the dream of the 1912 founding fathers of the ANC. Still, I never condemned the decision of the ANC to take up arms and I understood the frustration that drove our liberation movements, the ANC, PAC and others to take up arms. In fact, addressing a thousands strong rally at Jabulani amphitheatre, in Soweto, I publicly said that they could go through that fence, for our border is very wide. Cabinet then sent Minister Piet Koornhof to complain about what they understood to be my support for the armed struggle.
However, I have always believed in the sanctity of human life. My respect for life never diminished, no matter what happened, throughout the people's war and afterwards. Thus, I never ordered, ratified, condoned or authorised a single human rights violation. I think it important that leaders pronounce where they stand on these matters, for even today political killings continue.
The political violence of last year demands that the President of the ANC, and the President of our country, pronounce on the sanctity of human life and declare where he stands with regard to political violence. Our President has spoken about people's right to life, but somehow this has no resonance, given our history. One would want all our country's leaders to be able to say, "My hands are clean, my conscience is clear". But our history speaks otherwise. [Interjections.] Yes, there were lists before Mangaung of ANC people that had to be killed because they belong to certain factions and some of our names were in that list. Yes, with all your crowing, that is the truth and those are the facts of the matter.
South Africans wanted to hear, last Thursday, what this government is going to do to turn things around. Instead, we heard nothing new. The state of the nation address was deeply disappointing. It has caused me, at last, to lose hope; not in my beloved country, but in my President, whom I love and respect. It has given me no cause for renewed confidence and I find myself leading my party to return to a motion of no confidence, mentioned by the Leader of the Opposition. And I am not worried about the juvenile political games of the Chief Whip.
The time is indeed here to close the door on this first Republic and to admit that through corruption, poor leadership and a lack of vision, South Africa was placed on a path to destruction. Let us open now, with the rising voice of a nation at odds with its government, the better second Republic that our people deserve. Let us set this country on the right course by doing what is needed, by unseating a leadership not fit to rule. Nxamalala, Msholozi. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr Speaker, His Excellency President Zuma, hon Deputy President, Cabinet colleagues and Deputy Ministers, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, coming after the three speakers who have spoken before me, there is a fundamental question, I think, that confronts us in this House: What binds us as a nation? What binds us as Members of Parliament? Taking account of our history, we must agree that the great social compact that is our Constitution binds us together regardless of political affiliation.
The promise articulated in the Preamble where it commits us to: "Improve the quality of life of all citizens and to free the potential of each person" is what we must all strive for. So we are bound together as members to strive for development and that, as the author Duncan Green so simply puts it:
Development is about transforming the lives and expectations of a nation's inhabitants, an ambition that goes far beyond simply increasing monetary income.
This is, in essence, what the National Development Plan is about. It is a commitment to present generations of people living in poverty that we will act to raise their living standards, and a pledge to all the future generations of South Africans that they will be better off than previous generations. I know that this sounds somewhat trite. But, I use these principles as a reminder nonetheless about what actually convenes us here.
As a government and as reaffirmed by the ruling party recently, we made a strong commitment to ensuring that we uphold the principles embodied in our Constitution. But, we understand that this cannot be done by government alone and recognise the importance of having united action by all South Africans to eradicate poverty, create employment and reduce inequality as outlined in Vision 2030 and the National Development Plan.
Our country is characterised by high levels of poverty and inequality. Governing in such an unequal country is difficult. The interests of a billionaire are obviously different from a manager earning R1 000 000 a year. The interest of that manager is different from the person earning R50 000 a year, and, yes, the interest of the worker earning R50 000 a year is very different from the unemployed women in rural Sekhukhuneland earning nothing. It is very difficult to govern in such an unequal country. It is very difficult to find common ground. But it is in our collective interest to find solutions to our problems through dialogue and change rather than violence.
Our historic task is to transcend the success of the democratic transition and build a society in which we can all have opportunity, in which the state is capable and effective, in which people are able to find work, in which the poorest children get quality education and in which business can thrive.
When President Zuma stated in the state of the nation address on Thursday that -
The National Development Plan is a road map to a South Africa where we will all have water, electricity, sanitation, jobs, housing, public transport, adequate nutrition, education, social protection, quality health care, recreation and a clean environment.
... it was the promise of the Constitution that he was referring to.
Now, we might want to pause and reflect on the imagery of a roadmap. We all have experience of a roadmap folded in the cubbyhole of a car, and when it appears that the driver is about to get lost, the map cannot easily be unfolded and there is usually a huge debate about which direction the vehicle is actually facing to start with. That cannot be the type of roadmap that President Zuma was referring me to. Trust me on this one!
He was referring to a dynamic interactive process, more like the global positioning system, GPS, in our vehicles that will shout at us when we veer off course. "I said turn left 200 metres back, why haven't you?" It's not just that the destination of the third and prosperous society that is in itself important. The route we take, the processes we follow, are equally important because uniting our country is an essential element of achieving the destination. What is important in our context is to look back at the journey that we have travelled since we adopted our Constitution here, in this House, 17 years ago and to calculate the distance to reach the kind of society described for our country. Then we can agree again with Duncan Green when he writes:
People living in poverty must take or create power over their own lives and destinies. To develop, countries need educated, informed and healthy citizens and a state both willing and able to provide these essential services on which their wellbeing depends. The state must also ensure that both the quality and quantity of economic growth meet developmental needs.
It is important that we be conscious of the need to focus both on the quality and the quantity of growth. Occasionally, one hears in the corridors a viewpoint that suggests that the country can raise the living standards of the poorest without economic growth. We should recognise that rapid growth of gross domestic product, GDP, is essential to attain the objectives of raising the living standards. No country has succeeded at raising living standards without rapid growth and we are unlikely to be the first to attain this feat.
It is for this reason that the National Development Plan, NDP, presents itself as a composite of a whole range of policies. It is not possible to look at the NDP as focusing on social policy or only on nation-building and pretend that the drivers of the economy exist somewhere else. All chapters of the plan must be addressed for implementation simultaneously.
So, as we begin to address the implementation of the plan, our early choices have to be about those, and I quote: "essential services on which their wellbeing depends", "their" being the poorest in society. However, we need a new urgency in this phase of democracy. This new phase of the implementation requires an urgency and focus that is different from anything we've had so far. This new phase requires different mindsets on how to work, greater commitment to democracy and accountability and, most importantly, a higher purpose to serve all the people of South Africa.
We need to choose what we can and must do first. For this reason, I want to ask that you support the urgent need to transform the state from what it is into one that is developmental in its orientation and capable of providing the services that will transform the lives of our people.
A capable and developmental state cannot operate in isolation. We must work in unison with strong leadership throughout society and an active citizenry supported by a supporting development and holding their government accountable. In setting out steps to shift the orientation of the state, I want to ask that we give urgent consideration to few important actions. Amongst these must be the need to change the incentive structure for those of us in public office to strengthen the accountability chain.
Firstly, we must raise the consequences for those who do not perform the functions required of them. If teachers are paid even when they haven't taught our children, it is wrong, and there should be consequences. [Applause.] When health workers make lots of money in the private sector while they are in the employ of the state, where they then report for duty only to rest, there should be consequences. [Applause.] When policemen and women avoid being involved in crime prevention, there should, of course, be consequences. And when public servants do business with their employer, there should be very serious consequences. [Applause.] If we want development, then we must recognise that we must lead the behavioural change through our own actions and through appropriate legislation.
Secondly, we have a responsibility to retrain and reorient the Public Service. It's interesting to speak after two former Cabinet colleagues who are now in intense discussion, but it's interesting to speak after them. I served along with them; I've looked at the legacy they have left behind in their respective two departments, and I ask who are you to throw stones? [Interjections.][Applause.] But - unfortunately, Minister Sisulu is not in the House at the moment - what we must do is commit together to retrain and reorient the Public Service. We need a very different set of skills, one that is focused on evidence-based decisions. If we want to use evidence, then we must train public servants to actually use available evidence, or ensure that the datasets are generated and used in decision-making. Minister Sisulu shared with me earlier that she would share detailed plans in this regard quite soon.
Thirdly, the plan points out that the present interface between members of the executive and senior public servants often results in both instability and blurred accountability that leads to poor performance. It is in the best interests of all South Africans, and I hope that every member of this House will see themselves as part of the vanguard of this, regardless of our political persuasion to build a professional and capable public service in this country. [Applause.]
The National Development Plan asks Parliament to look at the compatibility of the Public Finance Management Act and the Public Service Act with the view to clarifying the accountability chain. The National Development Plan recommends the creation of an administrative head of the Public Service. While it's fairly easy for members on one side of the House to exclude themselves from responsibility, let me make the appeal and the call on Parliament to review the Public Service Act to address these concerns.
Fourthly, the National Planning Commission has recommended changes to improve the functioning of the intergovernmental system. This includes clarifying roles and responsibility for municipal planning, urban transport systems and the suite of activities relating to the built environment, namely housing, water and sanitation.
The National Planning Commission also recommended greater differentiation in the allocation of powers and functions, based on competency, a proposal that we believe is entirely consistent with the Constitution. Simplifying the delivery chain and enhancing our intergovernmental system will both strengthen accountability and improve service delivery. Again, we appeal to Parliament to address these matters in the course of this year.
Fifthly, the Commission recommends that the public interest mandates of state-owned enterprises be made explicit and public. Furthermore, there are several areas where clarity is required on the roles of regulators, policy ministries, shareholder ministries and boards. This is an area where Parliament can take the lead in reviewing legislation to achieve tighter accountability and better outcomes consistent with the National Development Plan.
The National Development Plan also makes several proposals to fight corruption in society. These proposals focus on enforcement, prevention and educating society. There are also detailed recommendations to improve value for money in our procurement system. We must recognise that supply chain management is the Achilles heel of our democracy. So much of what goes wrong, whether these wrongs masquerade as intra-party factions or whether it is just the reality that a segment of society that has wealth whose origins the individuals cannot explain, all of these wrongs are traceable back to the fissures in our supply chain management system. Parliament can no longer ignore the seriousness of this issue.
I want to reiterate the importance of the role and position of this august House in the context of ensuring that we have a state that is both developmental and capable. The first step in improving the state is to strengthen the accountability chain. That starts here in this House. A constitutional democracy has, at its apex, an elected Parliament that holds the executive accountable. I don't know how many people have read the full executive summary of the plan but it has some harsh words for this institution. Mr Speaker, please don't throw me out for quoting these words:
Accountability is essential to democracy. The accountability chain has to be strengthened from top to bottom. To begin with, parliamentary accountability is weak, with Parliament failing to fulfil its most basic oversight role.
It is crucial that society is able to look to the skills and competencies of Parliament; good technical skills of parliamentarians backed by solid research teams are critical to stronger parliamentary oversight. The second priority is to use the outcomes approach launched by the President three years ago to build tighter accountability chains for each area of government. A ruthless focus on implementation requires detailed implementation plans across government. So, for example, if the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has a policy to reintroduce sexual offences courts, then it is incumbent upon members to ask the following questions: What lessons were learnt from the last attempt to introduce such courts? How much will it cost? What special training will be given to court orderlies in these courts? How will it be rolled out? Where will these courts be located and why? Will these courts be integrated into welfare services? Will there be appropriate facilities for women or children to testify in private? How do we know that these courts will not cherry-pick the easy cases?
Let me remind us that no change occurs if we merely think about it, or even just agree on broad policy parameters. A huge behavioural change that must occur is a shift to detailed discussions about implementation. Who does what? By when? At what cost? And how will we know that a difference is being made? These should be the kinds of questions that are repeatedly heard within this Parliament, in both Houses and in the committee rooms but also in government departments.
Without attention to such basic issues that relate to the implementation metrics, we will never be able to determine who should be held accountable for delivery or implementation failures. As we said earlier, this new phase of implementation requires an urgency and focus that is different from anything we have had so far.
The other side of an active and dynamic democracy is how the state and public representatives engage with the people we serve, and in whose interests we take decisions, and write laws. The National Development Plan underlines the importance of community-based organisations, trade unions and other organised formations of civil society to become active in the development of their communities and their country. Many of our problems, from poor quality education to violent crime, can only be solved through organised communities acting in partnership with a capable and developmental state.
Schools are often a reflection of the community. Well-organised communities can help a school achieve its objectives. But well-organised communities can also hold their schools to account if results slip below the expected standard or if teachers do not teach at least six hours a day. There has been a worrying decline in sport in many black communities. The excuse cited often relates to facilities. This cannot be true and it was not true in our case when we were growing up. The availability of facilities may be poor but it is much better than in decades past, yet many of our communities can only reminisce about days gone by when young people played football, netball or participated in track and field athletics. The state cannot organise these activities; they require communities to become organised.
Too often we hear people only when they are truly frustrated by our lack of action. We can and must change this. We must do so because of a fundamental belief that people are their own liberators and, as we quoted earlier from Duncan Green: "must take or create power over their own lives and destinies". I recognise that it may not be appropriate for the state to organise the voice of the people, but we cannot have a democracy; or indeed, attach meaning to the idea of a developmental and capable state, unless there is an organised voice that supports or points out the failings of the system of development. I want to reiterate that united action by government and the people of our country is exceedingly important for the attainment of the society that our Constitution promises. Our goals are exactly the same.
None of what I have raised should come as a surprise to you, hon members. Perhaps, by emphasis, I have reached into the deep recesses of memory in order to remind every member who we are, where we come from and what our purpose is as representatives of the people. Part of what we need is a belief in what is possible, and to act to convene even when cracks present themselves in society.
Last week, Deputy President Motlanthe and a number of Ministers met with farmers and farm workers here in the Western Cape to ensure that all parties to the dispute that claimed lives and property were heard. If the measure of success is in the ability of these contending parties to now talk to each other and raise their respective difficulties, much would have been achieved.
In his address last Thursday, President Zuma took us into confidence on the meeting he held with Sir John Parker, the chairman of Anglo American plc on their decision to retrench 14 500 workers. That process will have to be taken forward with Amplats, the affected unions and the Department of Mineral Resources. But I know that the President left that meeting with Sir John Parker confident that that leadership intervention will save many of those 14 500 jobs. [Applause.] These are examples, but two examples, of leadership demonstrated by the Presidency. We should know that our people respond positively to leadership, and frequently see this as a signal for them to become directly involved in problem solving. We will all accept that such leadership must involve taking some unpopular decisions from time to time and given the scale of our challenges, it could not be any different.
Our commitment must be to build the change that matters in the lives of our people. That is what the implementation of the National Development Plan is about. It calls on us to be far more conscious of what we seek to achieve. It allows us to initiate change across a fairly broad front of activities. It recognises that governments, through their departments, will ultimately remain responsible and accountable for the transformation. It rekindles the role of Parliament in a dynamic democracy.
There are many areas that are not covered by the NDP and many more where detailed work is required. This work must be done in a collaborative manner across society. The solution to many of our challenges lies in being able to listen to each other's concerns and to plot a way forward while taking into account such concerns.
Social dialogue is not about negotiations. Negotiations are often characterised by agreeing to the barest minimum or stooping to the lowest common denominator. Social dialogue is about finding acceptable solutions to our country's complex challenges; be they in the mining or farming sector or in fact anywhere else.
Despite what was said from this podium earlier, I've just read a National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Nasa, report about something called asteroid 2012 DA 14, which poses no threat. [Laughter.] [Applause.] What we need to do is to lower the volume, put the rhetoric aside and be prepared to listen and be persuaded. Without such a spirit, we will not heal this fractured land. Yes, it is difficult to govern in such an unequal society, with strong vested interests, but it is our challenge to mobilise all of our people and social forces to work in partnership with their government for a society that is more fair and prosperous. The task of implementation has begun. I would like to end with the imploring words of the poet Nontsizi Mgqwetho, when she says,
'Masizakhe'! Le nto imbongi inochuku Kunokuyeka ukhozo lungadliwa ziinkuku Sizwe sini esi singehlisi buthongo Sigqibe izwe lonke ngamaxa obongo Nditsho ke mna, masizakhe!
For the uninitiated, we need to build for each other. We can't look past the realities around us. Despite all that, there is no reason for us to let up in our country. We can't be a nation that sees its citizens sleepless because of their circumstances. We can't live as a nation when some rot in hovels. The call from our poet is "let us build".
Somlomo wePalamente namalungu ahloniphekileyo, enkosi kakhulu. [Hon Speaker of the Parliament and hon members, thank you very much.]
Mr Speaker, ons hoor daagliks op televisie en radio, en ons lees dikwels in die koerante en sien op Facebook hoe mense hul misnoe uitspreek oor die toestand van ons land. Suid-Afrikaners is besig om vertroue in ons te verloor. Hierdie land het soveel gedaanteverwisselinge - met so baie diagnostiese planne en uiteindelik die Nasionale Ontwikkelingsplan - ondergaan. Nieteenstaande hierdie planne is die gebrek aan implementering en korrupsie aan die orde van die dag. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Mr J J MCGLUWA: Mr Speaker, we hear daily on television and radio, and we often read in the newspapers and see on Facebook how people are expressing their dissatisfaction concerning the state of our country. South Africans are losing confidence in us. This country has undergone so many metamorphoses, including so many diagnostic plans and ultimately the National Development Plan. In spite of these plans, the lack of implementation and corruption are the order of the day.]
If the government fails to clamp down on corruption, how can we expect South Africans to have any confidence in President Jacob Zuma? The President's address supposedly provided a progress report on the R860 billion in government spending. This was the classical trick of double counting, because these funds had already been spent in 2009. He failed to inform us how much money was lost on these projects due to corruption. The President also missed a golden opportunity to clarify if he actually condoned the R206 million upgrade of his Nkandla compound.
The response of the Minister for the Public Service and Administration to my question, number 972, in April last year regarding the Ministerial Handbook was that it would be finalised in mid-2012. In 2009 the President established one of his famous task teams to review the Ministerial Handbook. Four years later this has not been done and some of our Ministers continue to spend taxpayers' money extravagantly on office upgrades and other perks.
Ho monate mona Palamenteng! [It is nice here in Parliament!]
Parliament also remains in the dark about the so-called presidential handbook. Mr Mac Maharaj, whose criminal case was withdrawn by the Scorpions in 2009, informed Radio 702 that there was no presidential handbook. What a contradiction! If this is true, my advice to the Deputy President is to be careful as somebody might just have set him up.
Mr Cyril Ramaphosa was recently asked about the implementation of the Integrity Commission. "Watch this space", was his laidback response, as if he were speaking about the next season of a soap opera. How can South Africans trust commissions like this when the government continues to shower rewards on those who are politically connected?
One of the most powerful examples of corruption is worth comparing to that of President Jacob Zuma's complacency in fighting corruption within his own government. The British parliamentary expenses scandal makes a powerful point of comparison, where 25 public representatives who were involved either resigned, retired or announced that they would not stand again. This included the Speaker of the House of Commons. Why is this significant? It is because public servants should be held to the highest standards of integrity and ethics.
The hon Speaker informed this House in 2011 that Parliament had failed to recoup R12 million owed by errant Travelgate MPs. It was decided to write the debt off. Some of these MPs remain here today. [Interjections.] The crisp point is that several MPs who were convicted for corrupt activities or fraud still have cushy jobs within the government and the ruling party. [Interjections.] Some of them head up important entities in government. This is a question of political leadership and the President's leadership. The buck stops with him.
A case in point was the opportunistic appointment of Adv Menzi Simelane, which clearly runs counter to the interests of the justice system. Section 218 of the Companies Act bars any person who has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to prison without a suspended sentence from being a director of a company. Yet, befitting this President's unique style of leadership, Tony Yengeni is heading up the ANCs political and misnamed school of thought. Mr Yengeni was found guilty of corruption and he only resigned his directorship after unprecedented public pressure. Those who admitted guilt were never censored by the ANC. On the contrary, Patrick Maloyi for example, was an ANC candidate in 2009 and Bruce Kannemeyer was rewarded with a municipal manager position. The President's government often seems content to stay just inside the law, but the President fails to understand that the absence of ethics is in itself a form of de facto corruption. Take the E350 Mercedes Benz that was meant to be delivered to the then Tlokwe/Potchefstroom ANC mayor, costing the taxpayer more than R700 000. The new DA mayor, who was appointed after a motion of no confidence was passed against the ANC administration, sent that car back. [Applause.]
In the Northern Cape, John Block had for years mined salt in the Kalahari with a fraudulent mining licence. In KwaZulu-Natal, the Manase report exposed unethical behaviour by ANC officials on a massive scale. Once again, this report was then suppressed from public viewing. In the North West, the member of executive council for social development used R170 000 worth of taxpayers' money to attend the ANC's elective conference in December to cast her vote to re-elect President Jacob Zuma as the President of the ANC. Yet some of them still remain in office. This list goes on and on and on.
The South African people do not have confidence in the President, who looks away while the tentacles of corruption spread through our public life. He fails to understand that the importance of politics to government lies in the ethics and moral compass which he, and only he, can provide. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Speaker, honourable President, Deputy President and hon members, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Mr President, on his re-election as the president of the ANC at the party's 2012 conference in Mangaung. [Applause.] It was gratifying to see that, contrary to popular belief and media speculation, the conference was peaceful.
Kuwe ke mkhuluwa, ndivile ukuba wonyulwe njengenqununu, ngoko ke, siza kuthumela abantwana esikolweni ukuze ubafundise ipolitiki. Ndiyabulela. [To you Sir, I've heard that you've been elected as the principal, we will therefore send children to school so that you can teach them politics. Thank you.]
Coming back to the business of the day, South Africans from all walks of life have, over the past few days, shared their views on your 2013 state of the nation address, sir. In this regard, the UDM would like to add its voice by proposing solutions to some of the critical issues affecting South Africa today.
The overreliance of state departments on consultants and independent contractors requires urgent attention. According to the Auditor-General's report, national government departments spent R33,5 billion on consultants between 2009 and 2011, while provincial departments spent another R68,5 billion. In other words, government departments spent a staggering R102 billion on consultants during that period. This is a damning indictment of a modern-day public administration.
It is also clear that there are serious structural and organisational deficiencies that cause departments to procure the services of consultants to do what the taxpayers pay them to do. The Public Service Commission should be requested to investigate and write a report on the causes of this overreliance of state departments on consultants and independent contractors. The truth of the matter is that the goals of the National Development Plan will not be realised if government continues to appoint incompetent people. The billions of rand wasted on consultants could have been used to create jobs.
While on the subject of job creation, we believe that it is possible to reduce unemployment. This can be done by government refurbishing, for instance, all the abandoned factories in areas such as Dimbaza, Butterworth, Queenstown, Mthatha; KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga; Ekurhuleni in Gauteng; Thohoyandou in Limpopo; and Mmabatho in North West, with a view to creating jobs for the youth.
We should partner with leading international and local companies in the textile and steel manufacturing industries in a mentorship programme for the youth. Upon completion of this mentorship programme, graduates should be put in charge of these factories. The much talked-about youth wage subsidy should be structured in a way that accommodates a programme of this nature.
In the past, a lot of raw materials were processed domestically, but today, these factories are closing down in droves. The common denominator is their inability to compete with imports from countries whose governments subsidise their products.
We are concerned about the business community's perceived preference for employing foreign nationals over South Africans. This trend has been observed in industries like security and hospitality, in particular. We need to address this, as it has serious implications for social cohesion. We have to consider whether businesses should not be compelled to ensure that 60% to 70% of their staff complement comprises of South Africans.
We must also deal with the tensions caused by the takeover of businesses in townships, small towns and rural areas by foreign nationals. These tensions are created by, amongst other factors, the fact that these businesses do not create jobs for local people - they are run by the foreign owners and their families.
There has been much talk about greening programmes for South Africa. Packaged properly, these programmes have the potential to create job opportunities for semi-skilled workers. Such job opportunities could range from projects on combating soil erosion to creating community forests, and so on.
You mentioned infrastructure development as one of the government's Apex Priorities. It would help public debate as well as progress monitoring if government publishes the infrastructure development map, including projects that are run by state-owned enterprises. For example, last year I wrote you a letter requesting your infrastructure committee to consider building a railway link between Mthatha, Kokstad, Queenstown and East London. The purpose of the railway line would be to improve public transport in these areas and reduce traffic, thus reducing the high rate of accidents on the