Deputy Chairperson, thank you for affording me this opportunity, on behalf of the Northern Cape province, to participate in the debate about such an important Bill for South Africa at large. We understand that the Division of Revenue Bill gives effect to section 214(1) of the Constitution, which requires that an Act of Parliament must provide for an equitable share and allocation of revenue.
The Division of Revenue Bill that we debate today seeks to embody a philosophy that lies at the heart of the struggle for national liberation, a struggle that has ushered in the democracy and freedom that we all enjoy today. It is a philosophy of people motivated by the desire, as Amartya Sen said, to remove "the various types of unfreedoms that leave people with little choice and little opportunity of exercising their reasoned agency" and, in turn, affirm people's freedoms, such as freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom to explore our capabilities and abilities.
The desire to remove the various types of "unfreedoms" by our people was informed by the understanding that freedom is the primary aid of development and also the principal means of achieving it, meaning that in order to emancipate themselves from the conditions of abject poverty, the people of South Africa must firstly strive for the attainment of political freedom and, secondly, strive towards the attainment of economic freedom. We will continue to argue that the essence of our work is to create the conditions for the elimination of hunger and food insecurity, the reduction of crime, the creation of a healthy nation free of disease, and the creation of sustainable jobs, education and training for our people.
In our quest to create a better life for all, foremost on our agenda is the New Growth Path, which prioritises, inter alia, creating employment, reducing poverty and fostering economic growth in the country. It is in this context that there is a real need for government to challenge the underlying structure of growth. Over the next years, the state must do more to improve the support structures and systems for economic activities that seek to create decent work opportunities on a large scale, above all by identifying opportunities for growth and providing, where required, infrastructure, training, marketing support, adequate regulations and access to start-up capital. The call for expanding decent work opportunities includes an integrated rural development and agrarian reform strategy that addresses mass joblessness and poverty simultaneously, improving the conditions of farm workers.
However, the Northern Cape has the following concerns relating to the impact of the Division of Revenue Bill on the province. The concerns include the fact that the provincial equitable share formula does not address the challenges of distance and the rural environment. This stems from the fact that the changes to the components' weighting negatively affect the Northern Cape. The incorporation of the old Kgalagadi District Municipality and part of Pampierstad villages in the surrounding areas into the Northern Cape from the North West province did not make accommodation for transitional arrangements and, as a result, it continues to put pressure on the provincial budget allocations.
Furthermore, the adjustment of the equitable share baseline by 0,3% could compromise service delivery in this regard. In addition, decaying bulk infrastructure in municipalities in and around the Northern Cape is a continual financial constraint while we experience minimum revenue collections, as a result of poverty levels and unemployment. For example, the Sol Plaatje municipality in Kimberley recently experienced water cuts due to old infrastructure. We wish to highlight the fact that poor asset management is one factor of the decaying infrastructure, but the old bulk infrastructure is a reality and should be addressed. In his state of the nation address this year, President Zuma said:
... we are concerned that unemployment and poverty persist, despite the economic growth experienced in the past 10 years to address these concerns, we have declared 2011 a year of job creation through meaningful economic transformation and inclusive growth.
This simply translates to this: We have to mobilise all resources, especially the private sector, to contribute in terms of ensuring that retention in the current hostile economic environment becomes a reality. In fact, we strongly urge the private sector to consider retrenchment as the last, rather than the first, resort when responding to the current economic crisis. Other innovative options, such as the reduction of working hours and labour-intensive methods, should be explored with workers to save jobs.
It is important that we utilise our resources in the most efficient and effective way. Improved efficiency and effectiveness of our public spending will not only help to maintain the fiscal discipline needed during these trying times but also provide us with an opportunity to continuously review our programmes. Our focus should now not only be on how to cut unnecessary public expenditure but rather on increasing the value for money of public spending and how to make the most of limited public resources. The period ahead, therefore, calls on us to look carefully at the relationship between inputs, outputs and outcomes. Both as a province and local authorities, we must avoid unnecessary costs when executing our programmes. Let us tighten our fiscal controls and discipline, so that we not only achieve more unqualified reports from the Auditor-General, which is what we want, but simultaneously also deliver more to our people. The people of our country deserve no less.
Infrastructure development programmes can help to give access to community facilities, such as schools, hospitals, roads, water, housing and more. In this way, they will help meet the challenge of basic needs. They will also create employment, develop skills and provide small, medium and micro enterprise, SMME, development opportunities, as the policy and practice of the Expanded Public Works Programme is implemented. To emphasise, infrastructure delivery underpins the very strength of a country's competitive performance and contributes to the welfare and striving for a continuous improvement in the quality of life of our people through the provision of social support structures.
The Expanded Public Works Programme dovetails perfectly with the infrastructure spending, as it relies on lower skilled labour and, in turn, boosts growth in employment. We have no doubt that together with the private sector we will be in a position to deliver services effectively and efficiently, and we can only conquer this if we embrace the spirit of partnership. This partnership between the government, the private sector and our communities must extend to all facets of the development agenda in our province, ensuring that working together we can do more. Our primary goal remains the reconstruction and development of our economy and the progressive building of a shared future in which we can take pride in the quality of our public services, the creation of jobs for our people and security in our communities.
In conclusion, this Division of Revenue Bill deals with priorities that we determined for ourselves at national and provincial level. Our province is very rich in scarce minerals, and the type of mining activity being carried out and planned for the future makes us the richest province in the country. This cannot continue, and this process must address this anomaly. Significant progress has been made, and we are a long way from where we started, but we still have a long way to go in being able to say that our country has truly been economically transformed to benefit the poorest of the poor. Every step of this journey is driven by the absolute commitment to provide a better life for all. The Northern Cape supports the Division of Revenue Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]