Hon Chair, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister and hon members, we want to first start by acknowledging that in South Africa in general we have had policy implementation challenges. We even noted that it is because of the growing appetite and tendency to agonise and fight over detail rather than focusing on taking the necessary pragmatic steps required to realise the essence of our laws and policies. At all times we need to guard against degenerating in our debates to levels where we differ for the sake of differing.
In actual fact, we should find common ground that will assist us all to move our country forward. But of course, there are parties such as the DA and the Freedom Front Plus which we can
never ideologically be aligned with because these parties are only concerned with maintaining the status quo, that is, the accumulation of the lion's share of income and assets by one group. That is what they represent. To them it does not matter that such trajectory perpetuates the exclusion of the majority of South Africans, most of whom are black and Africans.
Instead, the DA does a very good job in hoodwinking many South Africans. A browse through the DA policy on mining is such an agonising exercise. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Most astonishing I was stumbling upon a paragraph in a paper the DA published in 2017 titled, DA's Approach to Mining Empowerment will focus on Jobs, Growth, Mineworkers and Mining Communities. But it reads as follows:
The DA believes the greatest contribution the mines can make to the country is employing the greatest number of South Africans possibly. The DA rejects outright the idea of a state mining company. As for what they call a foolish notion of nationalising the mining industry, the lunacy would quickly sink South Africa to a failed state.
How the DA was able to go a non-coalition with the EFF when they reject everything the EFF stands for, is truly inexplicable. In its 2019 General Elections manifesto the EFF promised that it would nationalise all mines by 2023 if elected in the polls. We all know by now that wishes can never be horses. When one considers EFF policy statements against monopoly capital and against white people in general, it is indeed dumbfounding how these self-proclaimed Sankarists arrived at the decision to vote for the DA. How does a left-leaning organisation assist proud neo-liberalists to control a number of municipalities, including three big metros?
Whenever there is a mismatch between professed ideology and actions, it is evident ...