Hon Chairperson, Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, hon Lindiwe Sisulu; Deputy Ministers, hon Mahlobo and hon Tshwete); heads of all entities reporting to the Ministry; permanent and special delegates, 64 years ago on 26 June 1955 in Kliptown, Soweto, men and women of vision congregated under the banner of the Congress of the People to adopt the Freedom Charter, which has become a historic testament and a living document which embodies the hopes and aspirations of the people of South Africa.
As they proclaimed, they wanted the whole world to know that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. With undiminished vitality, in unison they proclaimed that no government shall justly claim authority unless it was based on the will of the people.
With the magnitude of their vision as contained in the Freedom Charter, they were paying a deposit in our moral banking account so that many generations thereafter must emulate their virtues and follow their exemplary leadership.
One of the perspectives encapsulated in the Freedom Charter is clause 9, entitled: "There shall be Houses, Security and Comfort", and for the purpose of this debate this afternoon, this shall be my focus area.
These men and women under the stewardship of Prof Z K Matthews and Dr Yusuf Dadoo wanted "All the people (to) have the right to live where they choose, to be decently housed and to bring up their families in comfort and security". They wanted "Slums (to) be demolished, and new suburbs built where all (people) have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, crches and social centres".
During the last 25 years since the advent of our constitutional dispensation, the ANC has implemented housing policies which have undergone serious metamorphosis. The ANC government developed important policy, regulatory and institutional instruments essentially to reduce the housing deficit, to make the finance system effective and to establish compact and sustainable communities.
The pillars of the housing policy remain to provide subsidies to low income families; to mobilise housing credit and savings; to protect housing consumers and to co-ordinate investment in development. But
this policy also seeks to stabilise the environment by restoring order; to maximize benefits of state expenditure and private investment; to establish the capacity to create secondary markets and to identify and facilitate the land delivery processes.
These policy interventions were necessary in order to address the exclusion of the significant proportion of the population from economic opportunities and social services which has to do with the apartheid form of our settlement patterns: low-density, high income, well serviced white suburbs close to work areas; and on the other hand large, impoverished, sprawling, poorly serviced black townships and informal settlements on the urban periphery and in the rural landscape of South Africa.
This is indeed a good story to tell. However, despite these important milestones made by the ANC government, much still needs to be done. There are serious weaknesses especially in the water and sanitation sector which need urgent attention.
I am convinced that given what transpired in the last few years, the Department of Water and Sanitation is not up to the challenge to meet these imperatives. With slow expenditure on infrastructure of about R2 billion; unauthorised expenditure of about R640 million on
an unbudgeted War on Leaks programme; the accruals and payables of about R3 billion; the contingency liabilities and the forensic investigations on allegations of fraud and corruption as well as the vacant positions at the echelons of this department, signify that not all is well in that department.
As we speak today, more than 60 000 households still use bucket toilet system - 12 years after the initial deadline of 2007 as set by our government. Some communities, particularly in the rural areas still have no access to water; about 4 000 schools are without proper sanitary facilities and they mostly use pit latrines. This shameful picture is unacceptable 25 years in our democracy. The dignity of our people shall never be restored until these matters are urgently given the necessary attention.
While we are sitting here in these chambers today, sometimes pontificating and sometimes bickering over petty squabbles, millions of our people still live in informal settlements, in backyards and ghettos. While we pour venom and direct vitriolic attacks at one another, the poor continue to live in places of lowest environmental quality and suffer severely from problems such as inadequate shelter, no proper infrastructure and services, as well as poor sanitation and polluted water.
If there is anything that must unite us as South Africans is to ensure that our people have access to water and better sanitary facilities. Water is life and sanitation is dignity and this must not be an empty slogan but something that we must make a reality that must propel us to succeed in terms of dealing with these particular issues. Water is at the heart and backbone of our livelihoods and there is no sanitation for the rich and the poor, but when nature calls, we are the same people. That's why there is no sanitation for the poor or for the rich.
In order to extricate the department from a quagmire of ignominy and shame it is entrapped in, we need a paradigm shift to propel the Department of Water and Sanitation to the majestic heights of success and joy and turn it around in a way that it will be a leader in terms of fulfilling its own objectives. But in the context of the strategic objectives of our struggle, we need at the same time revolutionary changes to sweep across this department to attend the objectives that it is set for. When changes are happening, they must spark hope and ignite passion to the millions of our people who still yearn for all these possibilities.
As the ANC, we unreservedly support the Budget of the Human Settlements. But on the other hand, we support the Budget of the
Department of Water and Sanitation, subject to the following conditions: That a turnaround plan is developed on how all these above problems will be solved; that a financial recovery plan is developed on how to solve the problems of accruals and unauthorised expenditure as well as irregular and fruitless expenditure as obtained in the department; that by December 2020, all the bucket toilets must be eradicated in our communities and that the department must work with the Department of Basic Education to eradicate the pit latrines in all of our schools.
In addition, the department must ensure consequence management for all those responsible for poor performance and that all allegations of fraud and corruption must be attended to. The department must also develop and invest in infrastructure to ensure universal access to drinking water and sanitation, to protect the ecosystem and improve the water quality.
For our part as a Select Committee, we shall strengthen our oversight role by closely monitoring the performance of the department. We have no shred of doubt that the political head of the department, hon Lindiwe Sisulu, will add value to turnaround this particular department, especially of Water Affairs and Sanitation like she did with Human Settlements, like she did in all stations of
life where she was deployed. We have confidence that these particular matters, she will give them priority and attend them for the benefit of our own people.
As I indicated, in addition, as a Select Committee, we shall be proactive by conducting research, including visits to other countries in response to the call by our President, President Cyril Ramaphosa, to build a new city in the new democratic South Africa. As I pointed out, at this current conjecture, we need revolutionary leadership to propel us to the majestic heights and to take our country forward in terms of providing proper human habitation, quality water and decent sanitary facilities for our people.
We must reaffirm what the American couple and activists, James and Grace Lee Boggs said in 1974 in their book Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century, they said and I quote:
Revolutionary leadership, if made clear, involved far more than sympathy for the oppressed or hatred for the oppressor. Revolutionary leadership is not for the fainthearted, the flamboyant, or the fly-by-night, the easily flattered, the easily satisfied, or the easily intimidated, the seekers after excitement
or popularity or martyrdom ... would die for the revolution are those who would give thre rest of their lives to it.
Whatever we must do in our time - we must make sure that we help this particular department to achieve its own objectives. As I pointed out, we are quiet confident that we shall ameliorate the situation that is confronting our people. Together working with the department, we will make sure that we achieve those particular objectives as envisaged in the Freedom Charter. If we do so as I pointed out, our forebears have paid a deposit in our moral banking account, ours is to take their struggles forward and make sure that we succeed in terms of achieving the objectives. On that score as I indicated, we unreservedly support the department and the Budget of Human Settlements and we say to the Minister, we sincerely employ her to go and turn to the issues of the Department of Water and Sanitation. Thank you very much, hon Chair. [Applause.]