Sihlalo, uMphathiswa uDe Lille amalungu eqela elilawulayo eNtshona Koloni iDA, kumaLungu eBhunga laMaphondo leSizwe, mandizibulisele ngale njikalanga.
English:
There has been much talk across our country in all spheres of government about infrastructure - from the claims that a commitment to infrastructure investment will turn the economy around to the acknowledgement of the reality that much existing infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that it is irreparable.
In general terms, it is now recognised that without appropriate functional infrastructure our ability to deliver meaningful services to the people of South Africa is seriously compromised. I think there must be a lesson that we are learning from this because every time we are faced with a budgetary constrain challenge, we always sacrifice maintenance funding and that is why we are seeing the collapsing of our SOEs and many other entities. Therefore, in this
regard, the Minister of Finance in the province in two days ago when he delivered his budget speech, he demonstrated our commitment to maintain spending on the new and existing infrastructure.
In the Western Cape, we will be spending R2,6 billion on new infrastructure assets and R16,7 billion on existing infrastructure assets over the medium term in our province. We will be spending R9,6 billion on maintenance of existing transport assets. We will be spending R3,1 billion on the maintenance of existing education assets and we will be spending R2,3 billion on the maintenance of existing health assets.
Chairperson, there can be no doubt about the commitment of the Western Cape government to maintaining existing infrastructure as well as delivering new infrastructure to improve service delivery and to create cohesive communities.
We have seen across our chequered history how infrastructure can extract raw materials for the benefit of the few divide communities and define the life trajectory of people across entire generations. I am sure that this House will agree with me as many members have said that the new role of infrastructure we foresee is one that build communities, connect people to opportunities and ultimately
restores dignity because indeed it is a fact that we are coming from a very divided past. But we must also be honest about our own short comings and the mistakes that we made because I think it is misleading to compare ourselves with the previous government because I think all of us agree that that government catered for the minority few. All of us agree with that. But we should be comparing ourselves with ourselves, what we have achieved and what we could have achieved if we didn't plunder the state recourses. That is a debate that we should be having.
I have over the last couple of months met with a number role players in the infrastructure space and specifically the construction sector and will continue to do so because it is through these engagements that we aim to foster a new partnership between the state and the private sector to collectively tackle the challenges that manifest in the everyday lives of citizens.
There can be no doubt that while building a capable state is of utmost importance, the state cannot deliver infrastructure without its key partners in the construction industry. We need to leverage off our respective technical capabilities to ensure that our contribution is maximised. What is at stake here is not only the R248 billion worth of provincial assets, but how these assets can be
utilised and maximised for service delivery to the citizens across the lifecycle of these assets.
I do agree with you hon Dangor that we need to start by partnering with ourselves before we can talk about attracting the private sector. But I do want to make it very clear, sir, that part of the reason the private sector is not keen on investing has nothing to do with the members of the opposition. The private sector and investors in particular are looking for three very important things from the centre. They are looking for policy certainty, decisive leadership and energy security. Those are the key things that the private sector is looking for and unfortunately those things do not exist under the current government.
I have accordingly started a process to establish a special unit housed within the office of the HOD to actively leverage our infrastructure portfolio to bring about spatial transformation, leverage economic and social opportunity and reframe the role that infrastructure can play in the restoration of the dignity of our citizens.
In this regard, my team has already identified a pipeline of projects that could be leveraged to achieve this goal and will, in
collaboration with the private sector, apply the most appropriate mechanisms and models to realise this in the shortest possible time. Through the various engagements with the infrastructure sector role players, we are actively putting in place the building blocks of a new compact between the state, the private sector and communities to restore trust, build partnerships and hold each other accountable. That is why I have been working very closely with the National Minister of Transport to make sure that we fix the central line that transport almost 600 000 people so that we can ensure that our economy which severely hampered because of the challenges that we are facing with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, is brought back on track.
A critical component of building that trust is for government to deliver on its promises. To this end, I have started to create platforms to engage on policy reforms, delivery capability, opportunities and delivery models in the infrastructure and infrastructure services domain, including the development and deployment of technology in this space.
This is where we need technical capability and expertise. Our existing models of design, of maintaining our infrastructure and of delivery will not produce the desired results. Within a fiscally
constrained environment our room for manoeuvring is simply vanishing.
On maintenance, the backlog on the road infrastructure portfolio amounts to more than R25 billion, a backlog that will not be adequately addressed through current conventional funding modalities across the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF. The situation is of equal concern across our Public Works Portfolio. How we package this maintenance backlog and how we access funding and how we as collective build resilience into our infrastructure ecosystem will be addressed in greater details through the platforms that I have alluded to. Now, this is the government that is not only lamenting but looking forward to deal with the existing challenges in partnership with all spheres of government and the private sector.
I remain steadfast, Chairperson, in my commitment to provide effective and efficient public infrastructure goods and for this to be done in partnership with the private sector. We also welcome as the DA, the announcement that was made by both the President and the Minister of Finance that of allowing the independent power producers, the municipalities to procure power directly from independent power producers.
I can tell you now that 24 municipalities in the province of the Western Cape are ready to procure power directly from the Independent Power Producers, IPPs.
Lastly, to add further long term certainty, I have tasked my department to update the 2013 Western Cape Infrastructure Framework to provide a clear overall infrastructure strategy that ensures that we as a collective strive towards the same objectives and that we harness and synergise the scarce resources available to each of us and we work on this everyday and we must work on this everyday in partnership with all the partners that I have mentioned. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, transformation in a South African context requires an integration of the mass populace into economic activity. But, for there to be integration, the economic activity of South Africa needs to be expanded.
The word "expanded" means that our actions reflect a will to grow our economy. We can achieve this through the extension of our labour market, diversifying our industries, encouraging foreign direct investment and creating legislation that enables small, medium and micro enterprises to operate effectively and efficiently.
However, our baseline of service provision in light of Eskom loadshedding and poor water provision will not ensure effective transformation and growth. These are the basics that any economy needs to survive. In some of our allied Asian countries, the failure to provide such basics is not acceptable, as such failure is viewed as a fundamental indicator of their government's performance,
In South Africa, this is not the case. Government lacks the sheer will to even hold itself to a minimum standard - as can be seen through the irresponsible act of bailing SOEs out in order to save face rather than addressing the real needs of our beloved country.
Colleagues, when will we build the courage to recognise that the country is in dire need of addressing our fundamental problems before we embark on exercises of excess? That is precisely what SAA is to us today.
As Parliament we debate the issues frequently, but we make slow progress in this regard. To ensure true transformation, we must look at creating a wide basket of basic services.
What do I mean by this? We need to look to new and renewable sources of energy so that we can eventually phase out our current models of
energy production. There needs to be multiple sources that work together to ensure that energy supply is efficient and abundant. In doing this, government will be more responsive to individual communities and landscapes. Energy can be generated from areas in South Africa, but that ... but ... that are coastal for hydrogen or energy harnessed from the sea or sunlight ... inland areas through solar.
Finally, we need to address the water shortages as water is a basic human right and the source to all life. Government must maintain and fix their water losses caused by aging infrastructure and must tap into more sources of water generation. In some countries, attention to these issues has paid off and people only pay a nominal service fee for water purification and not for the amount of water used.
Once we get these basic models to work well, we will start to make the case for investment and assist our citizens to drive their economy. I thank you.
Chairperson, hon
members and leadership of the NCOP, good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to this very important debate. Just yesterday I was speaking to the Consulting Engineers of South Africa at their
Infrastructure Indaba and I really stressed the point that infrastructure- led growth is the only thing that can stimulate our economy and create the much-needed jobs for our people. Infrastructure is a key driver of economic growth in delivering the much- needed social infrastructure that so many members have made reference to. But we must do a lot more to speed up implementation.
During my engagement with the Consulting Engineers of South Africa, Cesa, I also expressed the importance of partnerships because government cannot do it alone. Therefore we need to do more around partnerships - partnerships first amongst the three spheres of government and partnership with the private sector. The President has been leading the drive to stimulate the economy, but it is incumbent on all patriotic South Africans to do our best to generate hope in our country and to restore the pride of the nation. So we all have a responsibility.
Hon members, as you all know that the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is a newly reconfigured department in the sixth administration, the President gazetted the mandate of the new department on 25 August last year. Now it also includes the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, unit and the Instructure Delivery Management System, IDMS, which has been
transferred from the National Treasury. It is all work in progress and we are working as fast as we can. But while we are setting up this new department we started going out to look at stalled projects across because that is where we need to pick up the pace. So far in the past two months we have visited 156 schools, 22 clinics, two hospitals and one dam. Next week I will be going to the Eastern Cape to look at four schools so that we can unblock all these blocked projects and complete them. [Applause.] I will be accompanied by Dr Ramokgopa who is the head of the Infrastructure Investment in the Office of the President.
We also all know and many members spoke about the R100 billion fund established by government. This will be a blended fund because we also expected the private sector to add some money.
In terms of the legislation, section 4(a) and 4(b) of the Infrastructure Development Act, clearly states that the Presidential Infrastructure Council, which is chaired by our President, is required to co-ordinate, do development, maintenance, implementation and monitoring of the National Infrastructure Plan as well as to co- ordinate the determination of priorities for the infrastructure. The backlog is too big. If we could really think that as government we could finance the entire backlog, it's going to take us years to
achieve this. That's why in terms of infrastructure investment we have identified a number of bankable projects that we can ask the private sector to fund. We can ask the private sector to build, operate and transfer so that we can quickly and faster catch up with the backlog.
But talking the Infrastructure Development Act that is guiding this department, I have also found that we have not developed regulations since 2014. I have immediately started the process of developing regulations because they are critical to enable the legislation. The regulations will look at to provide for the facilitation and co- ordination of public infrastructure development which is of significant economic and social importance for our country. The regulations must also ensure that infrastructure development in the in our country is given priority in planning, approval and implementation amongst others.
Furthermore, if you look at section 21 of the Infrastructure Development Act you will see that the Minister is required, in consultation with the PICC council to establish and do the regulations. I will be completing the regulations before the end of May so that I can take it to the PICC for consideration.
Chairperson, one of the key problems hampering our implementation is poor project preparation. All of these stalled projects around the country were not properly prepared before we put the shovel into the ground. That is going to be a key focus. We are going to establish a multidisciplinary team inside the department to make sure that we check every single project that is ready for implementation. If you do proper project proportion you de- risk that project and therefore you can also avoid the stop and go of the projects.
We all talked about money and said we need billions of rands to build these infrastructures. Money is not the only issue and we must stop exaggerating that its money that we need and therefore we can't do anything. We must begin to say that our future budgets must be built on separating the budget like MEC Madikizela spoke about maintenance. Maintenance is just as important as building a new infrastructure and we have a backlog of maintenance across the country. One of the members made a reference to the bridges. We started the project. It's an indictment that all of that our children are drowning on their way to school. So we have launched the number 17 daily bridgein the Eastern Cape and in the week's time I will be going to Durban to launch another bridge there. That is going to be one of the key priority programmes for all of us to make sure that we build bridges. [Applause.] The three worse provinces
where children have to cross rivers to go to school is the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State. So we have prioritised those three projects.
The other on is that when you go to the rural areas you can hardly drive. The access roads in the rural areas will also be a priority projects and so we are working with the Stellenbosch University and the University of Pretoria so that we can design a programme around that.
With regard to economic transformation and job creation, we have also commitment that we have made in terms of the Job Summit, Operation Phakisa and all the public sector programmes. For the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure our key driver for job creation will be the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, where we are looking at creating at least five million jobs until 2024. But in transforming our economy that we all speak about, we must make sure that our economy is representative, it is inclusive and we must prioritise women, youth and people with disabilities, then we are talking about transformation. We must bring in those sectors that have been excluded out of the economy for many years.
Another target for the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure as we set up this department is to improve the quality and rate of infrastructure in this country. Yes, we do need extra money but we also have to make sure that there is infrastructure fund that we have established, that is now is counted by the Development Bank of Southern Africa DBSA, that is operational and works. That is one of the functions of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure because we will have oversight over that infrastructure fund. We will together decide on priorities and what must be built first. But we also need to partner with government. In the ocean economy we are working in partnership with Minister Creecy and on the rural economy we are working with Minister Thoko Didiza. It is all working together that we can certainly do more. We are also working together with the Minister of Education. Every time when you build a school you must design it and appoint a consult and it takes a long time. The Public Works and Infrastructure is now working with the Department of Basic Education so that it has a modular design of a school or a clinic of what we need so that we don't have to do design all over again.
Let me get into what is in the annual performance plan and the medium strategic framework for the next five years. One of the things that is going to be the responsibility is to make sure that
we have to identify existing towns and cities for refurbishment and transformation of those cities. The target for the next five years will be three of these cities that we will identify and we will develop plans for the redesign and the transformation of those cities.
Public Works is also responsible for developing government precincts where we can bring all government offices together, easy access to the public. We have launched the first one at Salvokop in Pretoria. We will do the so turning in April. It's going to be R18 billion into that prescient. The one that really makes me very excited is that Public Works has also been asked to lead the process of building a new city. I heard hon Dangor speaking about the smart cities in Gauteng that the President spoke about in the state of the nation address. It separate from leading the process to build the complete new city and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure will be leading that too. I agree with all of you that we cannot transform our economy without releasing land and government-owned buildings. Let us start with what we have.
Last year in October, Cabinet approved 14 000 hectors of land for human settlement purposes. Some of it was released to some of the provinces. Our target for the 2010-21 financial year is to relapse
900 000 hectors of land for redistribution and for land tenure reform. [Applause.] That's all in progress.
Also, in terms of the spatial development framework there is a new spatial development framework that is out for public participation right now as we speak. That's a very important document and it will help us to deal with the apartheid spatial planning of all of these years.
The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure must now ensure that we release government-owned land and buildings for restitution, redistribution, land tenure and for human settlements. We are very, very serious about this and we will make sure that over and above the 14 000 that has been released already to provinces - Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, North West and the Western Cape - we release another 20 parcels of land to the various provinces by the end of March 2020.
An hon member: What about Limpopo?
We are coming to
Limpopo. We have identified 147 parcels of land for Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. We are in the
process of assessing them now before we release them to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. We are busy with the physical verification of our 102 pieces of land for land restitution. It's an indictment that people who have applied in 1998 are still waiting for land restitution. I want to challenge all spheres of government that we all work together. Provinces own land and municipalities own land, let us put that together and then we can really speed up land reform.
I want to speak about the contribution of the Department of Public Works to fight gender-based violence - the scourge in our country. We have already released 12 unused government houses to safely house the victims of gender- based violence. [Applause.] Our sisters and our mothers stay in the abusive relationships because they have no where to go. Again, we are busy assessing all the provinces. The idea is to give it to the provincial Social Development Ministers because we will maintain and repair that building, but they must take charge of the programmes inside the building, like we did in the Western Cape last week.
The big, big leakages in out government must be stopped. Irregular expenditure, wasteful expenditure and unauthorised expenditure is running into billions because of corruption. Corruption steals from
the poor. I am very happy with the new Public Audit Amendment Act. I am happy because the Auditor-General now will issue debt certificates to all who are responsible for irregular expenditure and they will be responsible to recover our money. Thank God! Thank you. [Applause.]
Good afternoon, hon House Chairperson, hon members, fellow South Africans, member of the executive council, MEC, Madikizela and Minister De Lille. The last time we debated the same topic in the same room you were still wearing blue. Therefore, I want to start off with you, hon Minister.
(Mr A J Nyambi): Order, members!
I want to thank you for the safe Houses, that is a commendable step, and I also agree that money is not the only factor that is hindering, it is also the political will to use that money where it will make them maximum impact and not enhance and enrich a few connected individuals. Just before I get to the craft of the speech, to my current provincial leader and a former provincial leader, I think that you would find it interesting that the recall clause, the DA just won a case against the Mark Willemse matter. To all of those that contributed to getting that clause in, thank you
very much. [Applause.] My colleague, Timothy Brauteseth, just pointed out that we are looking forward to further engagements with the hon Minister in the select committee meeting since we haven't seen her in the select committee in the Sixth Parliament.
However, we are standing in the year 2020. We are not standing in 1652, 1700, 1800, 1900, 1994 or even in 2019. We are in the third month of 2020. South Africa in 2020 is an economically unjust society. There is no way to deny that fact. There is also no way to deny the fact that this is due to the history of apartheid. It is also due to the governance failures and corruption in the democratic era. Millions of South Africans are currently sitting without work opportunities. The majority of the youth in our country do not have access to the jobs and the opportunities that are available are shrinking by the day because we are not getting the necessary investors and we are not getting our economy to grow.
Hon Dangor, I do agree that investors are needed for the country. However, investors are not chased away by people speaking the truth of what is going on in the country. Investors are being chased away by the corrupt activities of the current national government of policy uncertainty. That is what is chasing investors away and not people that are speaking the truth. One thing that I love what you
mentioned is that you want a high speed train here in the Western Cape. However, let us just take a step back, a small step back. Why don't we just start with the national government allowing the Western Cape government to run Metrorail here and that will solve a lot of problems? Then you don't need a high speed train. You will just get the Western Cape Province to run that. [Applause.]
Hon Smit, I often wonder what your party saw on you. Was it the riveting speeches you give, or the energy you bring to the podium? [Laughter.] However, today we found out why your party brought you here. You are brilliant, absolutely brilliant in defending the indefensible. Defending Vrede Dairy and defending the legacy of the Free State government. That is how you got your ticket and now it makes a lot of sense.
We are supposed to strive for an economically just society, one in which economic opportunities are available to all, and people have the capabilities to make use of those opportunities. However, with the current government nationally and the current approach, we will not turn it around. The absolute definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, and you expect a difference result. South Africa desperately needs a radically different approach to redress an inclusion, not like the red
approach where you burn down buildings and institutions of learning. The EFF speaker want the state-led bank, a state-led this, and a state-led cemetery factory, but you have never led anything. You haven't even led a local government. You are brilliant in breaking down governments, but until you actually lead a government and lead it properly, you can come here and speak with conviction. I do not think that a single ... [Interjections.]
Hon members, hon members, order! Hon members, order!
Hon House Chair, thank you for that protection. On a positive note, I do agree that private investors need to do a lot in building us. I will use one example, in Mossel Bay there are private investors that built the longer zipline in the world. Therefore, I will put a challenge to you, hon House Chairperson, that come to Mossel Bay, you can be my host and I will take you on that zipline so you can help show that the NCOP leadership have no fear. It is just a 1 km zipline going over the ocean; sometimes you see the sharks and the seals - that is tourism investment.
We need to beat the past, and we need to build the future. However, we cannot build the future if we continue to do the wrong things
from the past. Therefore, what I'm asking is that let's take hands and let's build the future and learn from one another. I thank you. [Applause.]
IsiXhosa:
USihlalo we-NCOP, uSekela Sihlalo we-NCOP, uMbhexeshi oyiNtloko we-NCOP, uMphathiswa weSebe leMisebenzi yoLuntu nelezoPhuhliso lweziSeko ezinguNdoqo, abathunywa abakhethekileyo abasuka kumaphomndo, abathunywa abazizigxina neendwendwe ezisityeleleyo ukuba zikhona. Mandilibulele eli thuba lokuba nam ndihlomle phantsi kwesi sihloko sithetha ngonabiso loqoqosho nenxaxheba yeziseko ezingundoqo kutyalo mali lokukhulisa uqoqosho loMzantsi Afrika.
Ndinikwe ithuba lokuba nditshayele, siyayazi ke ukuba yintoni into etshayelwayo. Nenkunkuma ke iyatshayelwa. Umntu ondenzela lula le nto yokutshayela yimbongi yesizwe enagsekhoyo kweli lizwe ubawo uS E K Mqhayi. Uyibeka ngolu hlobo:
Abakrokrayo bona abazange baphela Abakhalazayo bazakwa nanamhla oku Bathe ngqo ngesisu, bathi ga ngomsimelelo Abazenzisi, badaliwe kuloo nto
Silungisa nje phofu nabo bayanama-nama Sikhe sabanikela, kungafa isizwe siphela Nditsho lula kuba yaziwa ngabo loo ndawo Izaphuselane sezide zaphunakena
Esi sisishwankathelo esiphendula izigxeko ezivela apha. Akasekho yena kodwa wayesazi ukuba kusezakubakho izinto ezinjalo. [Kwa qhwatywa.]
English:
I just want to respond to some of the issues before I got to the speech, starting with the DA, both the party and the province. There is a tendency on the part of the DA for thinking that that is represents business when it speaks here. Yet, it is the ANC-led government that represents everybody.
For example, there is a platform that brings together all the stakeholders in the country, which is called Nedlac - where all these issues that they are talking about are discussed. That is showing leadership. I see he is not here now, because he was saying that government is not showing leadership. Every month, the
President meets with stakeholders to discuss issues that are affecting South Africa. That is leadership. [Applause.]
Based on some of the issues that are raised by members here, I would like to invite them to go to the government website, especially the state of the nation address: Read; and reread it! [Laughter.] Also, there is a list of speeches of Minister who participated in the debate on the state of the nation address. Read those speeches.
I would also like to request the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure to leave her speech to the hon members of the opposition so that they read - because they are not read. All these issues that they are raising are addressed in all Ministers' speeches. Hence, we are requesting that they read.
Now, the ANC is accused of controlling, and this is what the hon Boshoff is saying. It is accused of controlling the economy and regulating. The EFF on the other side is saying: How do you control the economy that you don't control. [Interjections.] The challenge or problem or the difference with the EFF is that, as the ANC, we base everything on analysis, ... [Interjections.] ... the strategy and tactics. WE are not sloganeering; we analyse. [Interjections.] We develop policies. We develop resolutions.
They came here in June 2014. They were saying they are the government in waiting, and saying that in 2019, they will be the government. [Interjections.] Now, it is 2020 and they are not in government. If I remember, they don't even have one single ward. [Interjections.] Hon Londt, not only municipality, but a ward!
COMMITTEES (Mr A J Nyambi): Sorry, hon Rayi! Hon members, even though heckling is allowed, you can't drown him, and you can't debate with him while he is at the podium. Continue, hon Rayi!
They don't even have a ward, let alone a municipality. There are by-elections everywhere in the country. They are not even wining one by- election, yet they are saying they are government in waiting. [Applause.]
COMMITTEES (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon Rayi, can you take a seat. Let me take a point of order. What is your point of order, hon Mokause.
House Chairperson, we want to state it categorically clear on record that we are the only party here in this House with
increased numbers. So, you must not come and grandstand here. We are going to be government and that is a fact. Live with it!
Hon Mokause, it is a final warning: You must refrain from what you are doing. You can't be debating with him. That is not a point of order. [Interjections.] You know very well that this is not a point of order. Can you continue, hon Rayi?
Do you see the danger if they were to be in power, especially their leader? [Interjections.] The danger that we will face! When he became the President of the ANC Youth League, the first thing is that he amassed wealth for himself. He destroyed a R16 million house to build a new one! [Applause.] He had farms. So, he was looking for himself. Imagine what will happen if they were to be in government. [Interjections.]
Hon Boshoff, this issue of rigidity of labour market is a tired debate. It has been resolved in the 90s. The International Labour Organisation, when it conducted assessment of the labour market in South Africa, it resolved that instead of the South African labour market being rigid, instead, it was flexible. That is why you even have casual workers. It is because of that flexibility.
You are complaining here about the minimum wage. The minimum wage is R20. Would you live on R20 if you were to be in the situation of these workers. Actually, domestic workers are earning R15 in terms of the minimum wage. If you were a domestic worker yourself, would you live on a R15. So, when you are here and also the issues that you are referring to with regard to wages, are issues that are discussed at a collective bargaining level. Unions and employers come together to negotiate and reach agreements on these issues.
On the issue that is raised by FF-Plus, about pensions: You never complain when the pensions of workers were used to buy equipments to shoot at our black people in the townships. Those pension monies were used. [Applause.] Now, monies are used this time to rescue Eskom. Eskom employs more than 44 000 employees. The economy of South Africa depends on Eskom. If Eskom were to collapse, the whole economy would collapse. So, that is why Cosatu is then coming up with these proposals to deal with the issue of the debt.
In entering the debate, we need to appreciate that this debate is not an abstract theoretical debate about infrastructure, but rather a debate about how we improve the lives of the people through the provision of much needed infrastructure. In order to do this, we need to debate whether we are executing the best models of the
planning, management, execution and governance of both projects and investment initiatives.
This is critical, so that the funds that are appropriated into infrastructure projects can be demonstrated as funds that were a reflection of the quality of spending from the National Revenue Fund and that we are able, through such a process, to effectively determine the impact of such expenditure and how it has changed and improved the lives of the people.
It was the late and politically assassinated Prime Minister of Congo, Patrice Lumumba, who told the All African Conference in 1960 that, "Political independence has no meaning if it is not accompanied by rapid economic and social development." We concur fully with his assessment. The new model at local government level that presents itself and should be utilised is the District Development Model. Here managing and coordinating the work of infrastructure projects in a given area are essential to extracting the maximum impact from available resources.
Significant progress has been made with the establishment of structures of local government and the delivery and extension of access to services for the millions of South Africans. Despite the
significant gains over the last two decades, local government has sadly regressed in the latter years due to a variety of factors manifesting in structural and systemic challenges, as well as poor performance in key areas of responsibility, resulting in the polarisation of communities.
The lessons to be learnt, therefore, are that infrastructure investment and development must not be disrupted by these challenges. The total Municipal Infrastructure Grant allocation to the nine provinces for 2019-20 was R14,8 billion. This is significant, and one of our tasks in the NCOP for 2020, surely, must be to assess the impact of the initial spending of the grant to ensure that its intention has been met.
A total of 219 municipalities are receiving the Municipal Infrastructure Grant for the 2019-20 financial year. Of these, 86 - which is approximately 39% - have not met the 40% threshold expenditure of allocation by 31 December 2019. So, these inform us of what we need to do in our oversight responsibilities to ensure
that what is allocated is utilised for maximum benefit of the people.
Let me just rush to what is to be done.
What is to be done. We need to: Ensure and increase access to basic sustainable service, assuring supply; complete all infrastructure projects, especially reticulation and rectification, in the areas of Water and Human Settlements; and government, through a district, should conduct a comprehensive asset and infrastructure assessment including risk classification.
With regards remedial action, the National Treasury must allow the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta, the Dept Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation to ring fence operations and maintenance budget. This should make grants utilisation to be flexible for operational and maintenance intervention. When replacing old infrastructure, we should use appropriate technologies that are climate smart.
We need to address water and electricity losses through water conservation and demand. We must ensure district-based infrastructure and maintenance plans with ring fenced resources. We need to build capacity in all districts for infrastructure planning, development and management, including creating jobs and training
opportunities. This must include basic professionals to be shared across the district. [Time expired.] I thank you, Chair. [Applause.]
Thank you, hon House Chairperson. Let me take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the hon members that took part in today's debate. Indeed, it was an important debate within the context against a number of factors that were outlined by hon members. In order to complement what the hon members contributed to this debate, I think it is important to buttress that hon Chairperson with a quote from Amilcar Cabral as follows: "one form of struggle which we consider to be fundamental is the struggle against our own weaknesses"
Indeed, as an individual NCOP permanent delegates and special delegates, today's debate was a clarion call to all of us to put what Amilcar Cabral said into practice. Therefore, that invited us to infuse in our approach both the ability and capacity to serve our people better because of what is expected from us as the members of this House. Indeed Chairperson we have to strengthen our oversight lawmaking and public participation to ensure that the kind of the National Council of Provinces we have must be a potent force for transformation and the strategic centre of power with adequate
foresight to anticipate long term trends and adapt to systematic shifts that are likely to emerge over the next four years.
Hon Chairperson, indeed it is important to remind and also appreciate the input that members made in terms of reminding us of where we come from. I think what is important is to re-emphasise the point on the type of country that we have inherited. It was in a devastating form particularly around the theme of the topic that was the centre of the debate. Just to highlight on that point the liberation struggle veteran, Comrade Mack Maharaj, often tells a story of how when it became clear that the criminal enterprise of apartheid would crash. We began to prepare ourselves. How did we prepare ourselves? We prepared ourselves by beginning to put together our programme that we correctly characterise as the Reconstruction and Development Programme.
Indeed, [Inaudible.] the new government of the day, the day after April 27, was the fact that those that we were negotiating with, had plundered every little cent when they saw that the writing was on the wall. The only thing that the ANC-led government found at Treasury was billions worth of debt which had been racked up by the apartheid regime. I therefore think that it is important to appreciate the intervention that the ANC-led government made in the
first six years to the extent that under the former Minister Trevor Manuel, we ran a surplus budget. How did we do this?
We did this through a number of interventions that we have made; it could be stabilising the macro economic policy. Also that we did through a growth and redistribution strategy. Therefore, it is important that when we have a discussion, we must be mindful of the fact that this debt ... how it was accumulated - correctly so members have pointed out - making a reflection in terms of our posture in the reconstruction and development programme, but also in the Twenty-Year Review that we made. What is important is for hon members to appreciate that in that Twenty-Year Review there is a reflection on what was the situation prior 1994.
While there was an increase in public expenditure, that increase was skewed towards a particular minority and to maintain and retain the security apparatus. Therefore, it is important that we appreciate the fact that it is not correct to make an insinuation that a black ANC-led government cannot stabilise the economy of the country.
Hon Chair, it is also important to remind them that one of our revolutionary socialist cautioned us as follows and I quote: "the danger begins when they make a virtue of necessity and want to
freeze into a complete theoretical system or the tactics forced upon them by these fatal circumstances" Indeed, the danger has begun while the tactics continues even in this day and age of democratic dispensation. The tendency by the right-wing opportunism and the left-wing opportunism to attempt to defocus an ANC-led government into issues that are structural in nature is a matter that themselves must confront precisely because it mirrors to types of reflections that time and again rears its head in this House.
It is important for us to even educate our children about the impact of apartheid colonialism. It is important to inform them that while the minority areas had the entire infrastructure in place, and the public expenditure was ramped up and in our villages we had no electricity. In my village the only time when we had electricity it was in 1997 while they had everything in place around 1976. Therefore, the programme ... state-owned entities around ... but also it is important to appreciate ... [Interjections.]
I would love to know if the current speaker would take a question on that very ... [Interjections.] ...
Hon members! hon members, the rules of the NCOP allows that. So, hon Mmoiemang, are you ready to take a question?
I need to wrap up, hon Chairperson.
He is not ready to take a question, take your seat. Conclude, hon Mmoiemang.
Thank you, hon Chairperson. I want to wrap up by reminding members that in an economy where the rate of returns on capital outstrips the rate of growth inherited wealth will always grow faster than the end wealth. The fact that rich kids - who were the beneficiaries of the past - can swell aimlessly from gap year to internship to a job at the father's bank while the poor kids sweat into barista uniform is not an accident, it is the system working normally.
Therefore it is important that members appreciate what Thomas Picardy said in reminding us that we must not be afraid to confront and talk about the legacy of apartheid colonialism. Thank you, hon Chairperson.
Let me take this opportunity to thank the Minister and our special delegates. Members, you are reminded to stay for the briefing on our programme of next week report back session on Taking Parliament to the People in Gauteng. That concludes the debate and the business of the day. Hon members, you are requested to remain standing until the procession has left the Chamber. The House is adjourned.
Debate concluded.
The Council adjourned at 18:09 -----------------------