Chairperson, the solution to job creation lies not in the ANC's Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, and its bloated, inefficient and frequently corrupt civil service and, certainly, does not lie in the R1,2 billion to be handed to the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA. The National Development Youth Agency is perceived by many as little more than the ANC Youth League in disguise. This organisation will no doubt stick to form and waste this huge amount of money on who knows what weird and debauched projects or perhaps parties they may dream up to amuse themselves.
What is required is real economic growth. Economic growth is only achievable when all South Africans are given the opportunity to achieve their full potential. And it is interesting to hear hon Chaane talking about the Western Cape. The Western Cape was run by the ANC, which failed to provide the service the DA is now providing and improvements have been made since the ANC was removed from governance. We need a society which ensures that every South African is given the opportunity to fulfil their potential and their dreams. We need an open opportunity society for all the people, not just some.
The most important and vital role of any government wishing to give every South African the opportunity to achieve their potential and to pull their families out of poverty must surely be to provide education that is globally competitive to all our children. This, more than anything else, means providing highly qualified and motivated teachers in all our schools, no matter whether they are situated in Cape Town or in the foothills of the Drakensberg of KwaZulu-Natal.
It is simply outrageous to give the NYDA R1,2 billion when our teachers remain so poorly paid. The amount of R8,2 billion appropriated for the school infrastructure backlog grant over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period is of little use if it is to be spent on building schools in deep rural areas that remain undesirable teaching posts for most of our poorly paid teachers. Why is it that 16 years after the end of apartheid and its evil policy of separate development, the ANC continues to perpetuate the Bantustan concept by providing poor education to rural children, dooming them to a life of rural poverty with no hope of achieving their full potential?
Hon Chairperson, where is the appropriation ...