Chairperson, I'm sure my friends from the EFF have realised we just having a bit of fun, anyway.
So, the fact is there's a lot of doom and gloom in South Africa. The point is, "How do we go forward?"
I would like to take the opportunity to come up with a couple of practical steps that we can take to get out of the muck, the rubbish, the poo that we are in:
The public sector, let's start there, does not need to reform, does need to reform. But the problem with the public sector is not just that it's bloated, it's that we don't get value for money from the public sector. The country needs a productivity-enhancing pact with the public sector. We need to ensure that there are moderate wage increases but improved management and a set of agreed output measures that will improve the levels of productivity and service delivery.
Land reform should seek not only to address a political legacy but should be part of a strategy to unlock the economic potential of land and assets in the rural economy. In addition, to redress in the commercial farming sector; the potential of land and rural assets under traditional authorities must be unlocked. Land reform must be accompanied by support measures for agricultural development and food security to ensure the potential of freed-up land is realised.
Energy is a key driver of economic growth, and the problem is that the narrow interests of Eskom are a barrier to unlocking the potential of energy to foster economic growth. Eskom's business model is just hopelessly out of touch with the needs of the economy. The government should act decisively to unbundle Eskom and allow new entrants into the energy sector to promote competition.
State-owned enterprises, SOEs, should be reformed on the basis of strategic purposes rather than ideological. Some, such as SA Airways, SAA, are failed businesses models and are based on outdated notions of what the public sector should be. There is no need for South Africa to continue to pour billions of rand into a state-owned airline. SAA and others like it should be sold off or closed. Other SOEs, on the other hand such as Transnet, are of huge strategic importance for solving critical constraints in the economic
infrastructure, such as transport. These should be strengthened, given a clear mandate and be effectively managed.
The manufacturing sector should also find new markets. Two initiatives - and I' m glad to see Minister Patel touched on this - is we urgently implement a free trade area for Africa and manufactured export growth to China.
SA must tackle inequality urgently. Policies such as sectoral minimum wages need to be speedily implemented to increase the income of the poor, while earnings of the top executives should be checked. Most importantly, however, are policies that will create a larger middle-class, and here we very clear, precise education policies.
SA should address the fact that also half the economy is dominated by men. Half of the population must compete in a patriarchal and hostile economy. Policies that address women's economic empowerment, to promote women's participation in both the formal and informal economy, will contribute significant new resources to the economy and boost growth.
There is also great potential for the green economy to boost economic growth. A key part of this is renewable energy, and South
Africa should promote policies that recognise the full environmental costs of investments and that promote investments in environmentally sustainable production in mining, industry and agriculture.
Just this week we learnt that Kenya are about to open the largest wind farm in Africa with 365 turbines, years ahead of where we are. It's absolutely insane that us as the giant of Africa are behind Kenya on this.
Finally, everybody is talking about the digital economy and all the jobs that could be lost. But we've got to realise that the Fourth Industrial Revolution, coming with the digital economy, could be the game breaker, it could be the opening up for so many small enterprises to allow them to make a massive, massive difference in our economy and we must welcome it and embrace it. We should probably also understand what it means.
Hon Chairperson and specifically the Ministers, we all know that talk is cheap. And I issue a warning, unless South Africa implements measures such the ones above, and quickly implements them, we are on a one-way road to a punitive date with the International Monetary Fund, IMF.
There are three types of politicians in the world:
Those that make things happen; Those that watch things happen; And those who wonder what happened. I know which category I belong to, which one are you?
Siyabangena!! [We are on top of things.] [Laughter.] [Applause.] [Interjections.]