Under the ANC!
While acknowledging the concerns of the Auditor-General, we are also encouraged by the findings made by our former Auditor-General, who noted the emergence of a "pattern of positive outcomes" in government spending and accounting. He also advised that we needed to move quickly to sustain these improvements.
According to Mr Nombembe, not all negative findings were related to corrupt activities, as some members of the opposition want us to believe. Instead, he identified "the high vacancy rate and staff acting in senior management positions, including that of accounting officers" as part of the problem.
Since the enactment of the Public Finance Management Act, there has been a host of measures to try and improve financial management in the Public Service, led by National Treasury. Departments with negative audit findings are required to prepare audit improvement plans that set out clear actions to be taken to fix the problems identified by the Auditor-General.
Financial management experts are made available to departments, agencies and municipalities that need support in strengthening financial management systems and controls. Departments are also expected to employ the right personnel and to train those who need skilling in financial management. In addition, National Treasury has published the Municipal Financial Misconduct Regulations that will come into effect from 1 July 2014, for public comment.
We will continue to invest in improving the financial management capabilities of the Public Service, nationwide. It is for this reason that in 2011, we invoked section 100(1)(b) to take over the administration of certain departments in Limpopo province. I am pleased to report to the House that Limpopo has turned into a good story. [Applause.]
Limpopo had accumulated unauthorised expenditure of R2,7 billion, which dated back to 2001. A total of R2,2 billion has been cleared, cash management controls have improved and the province currently has a cash surplus of R4,2 billion. [Applause.] New leadership has been appointed within the Limpopo provincial Treasury, and systems to manage the tender and procurement processes are being put in place.
Wasteful practices have been eliminated and the Department of Education is delivering textbooks at a low cost. [Applause.] More than 2 000 qualified educators who were previously working as temporary teachers have been fully appointed and permanently deployed to the schools where their services are required. Progress is being registered in other departments, including health, roads and transport.
Many officials in the Limpopo province are being held accountable for their actions that led to the need to intervene. Prosecutions are under way by law-enforcement structures. Forensic investigations have produced 38 cases and 42 people have been arrested for corruption. The Limpopo turnaround is, remarkably, a good story. [Applause.] We congratulate the province.
We had also taken over some departments in the Free State in 2011 and they have also registered a good story. Major financial management improvements in the provincial Treasury and the Department of Police, Roads and Transport are clearly evident. Both departments are observing high levels of compliance with budgetary and other legislative prescripts, as well as achieving positive audit outcomes. The Free State Department of Police, Roads and Transport has, for the first time since 2007, received an unqualified audit opinion, while the provincial Treasury has achieved a clean audit outcome for two consecutive years. We congratulate the Free State, as well, for this successful turnaround. [Applause.] The success of the interventions demonstrates the seriousness of this government when it comes to improving governance and financial management.
Hon members, we made education an apex priority of our government. Personally, education is closest to my heart. I want to see every child, especially those from poor households, being able to follow their dreams and become engineers, doctors and whatever they want to be in this country. [Applause.] Poverty must not be a barrier to education.
The hon Pandor related the beautiful story of how we have met the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Access to Education and also that the number of girls attending primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions has improved significantly and is among the highest in the world. [Applause.] It is also important for us to ensure that children with disabilities are also accommodated in schools and provided with support.
Our performance in education, as outlined in detail by the hon Nzimande, indicates a country that has finally found the right formula on education. I trust that we will continue working together to improve education outcomes, so that our children do not ever experience the type of education that the hon Motsoaledi reminded us about yesterday.
The hon Moss spoke about the highly successful social security system, including pensions. The hon Matiwane welcomed grants but cautioned that social grants were unsustainable. The hon Mfundisi also questioned how social grants can be waved as an achievement and asked how we can build a nation on handouts. Grants are the most effective poverty-alleviation mechanism in our process of addressing the legacy of apartheid. [Applause.]
By the way, there is a mistake that many people make when they look at South Africa: thinking that South Africa, over time, was developing like all other countries. They forget that South Africa was a very funny country - a very funny country with the majority being deprived of their rights for centuries. With self-government and independent government within South Africa and with South Africa, it was a very funny arrangement. Some South Africans were even deprived of their South African passports and given some other passports.
If you take the 20 years and compare South Africa with any country that never experienced racial discrimination, you are missing the point. If you begin to comment on the basis that this country is failing to move, when the country has moved so fast within such a short space of time - something that no country on the continent has ever done ... [Applause.] - that is part of the mistake that people make when they make comparisons.
Therefore, when we deal with the issue of social grants, it is not because we are saying this country is going to live on these. We are dealing with a problem and we have no other way of dealing with it - of helping those who have absolutely nothing to have something to put on the table. In the meantime, whilst we are developing the country, the economy must, indeed, change the quality of lives.
If you talk about unemployment, for example, a very big percentage of those people who are unemployable have no skills because they were deprived of an education. We have got to deal with that. That is why we have even introduced adult education - so that the citizens of this country are turned around and can become something else.
Now, when people make criticisms, they don't take this into account. They almost talk as if democracy came to a country which was like any other country - normal. South Africa was totally abnormal. [Applause.] Therefore, if you comment on the 16 million people who benefit, you must appreciate that we are tackling a very serious problem that touches the ordinary people of this country, the poor; and if you don't know poverty, you were one of those who were advantaged during apartheid. You will never understand this. It always surprises if you see those who know this situation pretending to come from some other planet. It is absolutely surprising! [Applause.]
You know, those people still suffer today. If you want to see that, come to Cape Town. [Interjections.] There are two cities in one, in Cape Town ... [Interjections.] ... and there is no improvement ...
Order! Order!
... no improvement made to other people, to those who were disadvantaged. In fact, it is as if they have not started. [Interjections.] If anything, they are called refugees in their own country! [Interjections.] [Applause.]
That is a continuation of that system that still remains in some people's minds - that, in South Africa, if you move from one place to another, you have got to be called a refugee because you have come to somebody else's place. That is a problem. If you don't understand where the black majority comes from, then you are going to dream the whole day, probably for two days, in Parliament. [Laughter.] [Applause.] [Interjections.]
It must also be noted that the majority of beneficiaries of social grants, 11 million specifically, are vulnerable children. The rest of the beneficiaries are older persons receiving the old age pension, persons with disability, military veterans, and other vulnerable persons. Social grants therefore assist vulnerable members of our society. [Applause.]
The hon Van Wyk reminded us of the good story and the progress being made in the fight against crime, including the expansion of the police station network around the country. This is in addition to an extensive expansion of access to justice through the building of more courts. A total of 43 new courts have been built since 1994, and nine of these courts were built in the 2009 to 2013 period. This is but one effective way of promoting access to justice.
Hon members, one of the good stories of our freedom is the transformation of the SA National Defence Force, SANDF, into a force for peace which is highly regarded on the African continent and worldwide, due to the role we play in peacekeeping. Tomorrow, we will celebrate Armed Forces Day in Bloemfontein. We will pay tribute to the men and women who serve this country with pride and dedication. [Applause.] We will also pay tribute to the first Commander-in-Chief of the SANDF, President Nelson Mandela. [Applause.]
This year, all nations the world over mark the centenary of the beginning of the First World War in 1914. More than 16 million people died in the war, including 616 black soldiers, who died when the South African ship, the SS Mendi, sank in English waters on the morning of 21 February 1917. In memory of the many South Africans who died in the War, and in every other conflict, our country will continue to work even harder for the realisation of world peace and a better life, globally, and on our continent, in particular.
In this context, we shall selflessly work harder for the immediate establishment of the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises, and the long overdue critical reform of the United Nations to consolidate world peace. The First World War commemoration will also accord us the opportunity to honour our war veterans and military veterans.
Compatriots, we have noted the appeal of the hon Oriani-Ambrosini about the decriminalisation of marijuana for medical use. I was touched to see the man I have known and worked with for more than 20 years in this condition. I have asked the Minister of Health to look into this matter. [Applause.]
The hon Mfundisi raised the lack of progress in the building of the road between Koster and Lichtenburg. The Presidential Infrastructure Co- ordinating Commission technical team has informed me that a contract was awarded by the North West province at the beginning of last year, to refurbish 50 kilometres of road between Koster and Lichtenburg.
Work did commence on the road. However, one of the unsuccessful bidders took legal action against the provincial department responsible. By the time the matter went to court in November 2013, the department had already mutually terminated the contract, which had achieved 87% completion of the work. One stretch of road was left incomplete, and it is this that poses a hazard for road users. The provincial government is working on the procurement process to ensure that the road is maintained and is also completed in the first quarter of this year.
The state of the nation address gave us a short overview of the good South African story. The full story will be found in the 20-year review document that will be launched next month. [Applause.] There have also been reports from Goldman Sachs, as well as Ernst & Young, which give an account of what this country has achieved and the work that still needs to be done. It is a proud story of the success of a people determined to change their country for the better.
In other words, the good story is not told by the ANC-led government only. It is told by independent researchers. [Interjections.] Only those who may be living in other countries will tell a different story - or those, perhaps, influenced by certain things, including oppositional kinds of positions, etc, to satisfy their wishes, because if you are in opposition, you must always try to disagree, even if you don't need to. We appreciate that. [Laughter.] We appreciate that. This is a democracy. [Applause.]
The story of a good South Africa is told by those who look at it with no agenda. They tell a good story. [Applause.] I can tell you, as predicted by my hon friend, people know who make the good stories, and on 7 May they will tell a story of who made these. [Applause.] There are no doubts! Those who were the prophets, taking people to some green pastures of a wonderful organisation ... [Interjections.] The prophets, the real prophets will realise that their prophecy is not working and can't work. [Laughter.] [Applause.] The fact of the matter is that the population of this country has an organisation they know belongs to them. It works for them. It liberated them. It is going to change South Africa for them!
HON MEMBERS: Yes! [Applause.]
They are not mistaken, therefore about what they will do about voting. You can prophesy. You can go to the mountain. [Laughter.] No problem! [Applause.] [Interjections.]
Abanye sabaxelela xa bephuma kwi-ANC ukuba kuyabanda phaya phandle. [Kwahlekwa.] Akukho shushu, kuyabanda. Kumnandi apha ngaphakathi, kushushu. Kushushu kumnandi, nawe nje uyabona. [Kwahlekwa.] Bahle nabantu, bahle. [Kwahlekwa.] (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[When some members left the ANC, we told them it's cold out there. [Laughter.] It's not warm, it's cold. Inside the ANC it's nice and warm, as you can see for yourselves. [Laughter.] Members of the ANC are beautiful and handsome. [Laughter.]]
The hon Godi stated correctly that in celebrating our freedom and achievements, we do so also honouring those who served, sacrificed and suffered for the freedom we enjoy today. Certainly, on 7 May, we will take the good story forward when millions cast their votes in celebration of the right to vote that millions of our people gained for the first time in 1994.
We congratulate the youth, in particular, for preparing themselves to perform this critical national task of choosing a government of their choice ... [Applause.] ... by coming out in their numbers, contrary to those who say the youth is not active. They came out in big numbers, in fact, more so than at any other time of registration. We would like to thank and congratulate them. [Applause.] We must all, regardless of political beliefs, gender, race or class, join this journey of moving South Africa forward towards prosperity for all. It is a wonderful journey that we must all get into.
Hon Speaker, hon members, esteemed guests, compatriots, we have a good story to tell. I thank you. [Applause.]
Order! I thank the hon the President.