Chairperson, hon members of the august House, the Deputy Minister, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen, may I, at the outset, convey our condolences to the families of the students of Horskool Driehoek in Gauteng that were involved in a tragic incident. It is not something that you can actually use to garner for votes. It is something that has touched the hearts of all of us
as South Africans and I do want to quote from the good book, Psalm 34:18 where it says, "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed spirit of His children."
I do want to also continue and convey our deepest appreciation of the performance in education by the Gauteng province. They are the top province in the Republic of South Africa and that Province is run by the ANC. [Applause.] So, whoever thinks that good things can only happen in the Western Cape, is a liar. We are in charge of that province and we are producing results. They have actually increased even the Bachelor's passes from 36% to 43,6%. The overall performance in matric in this country has risen from 75,1% to 78,2%. It is the ANC that is in charge. Throughout the course of the last century as a time-tested and dynamic leader of society, the ANC has defined the content, the tempo, not only of discourse but of social agency and human action, so said one of the brilliant scholars of the ANC. The ANC has moved with speed to change the history of this country and has stirred generations of South Africans and has inspired many across the world. It is my pleasure to participate in this very important debate of the report of our oversight visit to Gauteng and it would be important to give a balanced view of the issues. One would actually accept the fact that there are a lot of challenges that we are still experiencing. There are a lot of issues
that we as the government of this country, led by the ANC, need to address in the Department of Basic Education. But, it would not be fair to say that, all is not well. There is a lot of good that Gauteng, as a province, is doing in the Department of Basic Education.
Some of the issues that the Chairperson of the Council alluded to as she opened the debate were challenges that we are still faced with in Gauteng. There is overcrowding in the classrooms. But, the Gauteng government did not sit ...
IsiZulu: 15:31:13
... wahlala wathula walindela uHulumeni, singeyena ukhamisa ngithele.
English:
The Gauteng government actually went out to the private sector, and they lobbied for assistance from the private sector to ensure that they address this issue of overcrowded classrooms. They did not wait for manna to fall from heaven. They showed that, if the government does not have enough of a budget to address these issues, they can lobby for other partnerships through the Partners for Possibility Programme, PPP, to ensure that these issues are addressed. Gauteng
receives 85 000 new learners every year, and they need to build about 85 new schools every year and no government can be able to meet that kind of demand. But, as time progresses, as the economy of the country improves, we are more than absolutely sure that we are going to be able to gradually address these issues but thanks to the private sector that have been willing to partner with us to ensure that our children are not stranded.
The Chairperson also alluded to the issue of that there were complaints from the citizens regarding the impact of migration in the province. People felt as though preference is given to migrants whereas our own people that vote for us as a government are given second preference. I do want to say that, whilst we recognise the fact that the ANC-led government, cannot be an enclave of the rich surrounded by the sea of poverty and underdevelopment. Any government, the world over, will prioritise their own citizens that put them in power. We are not against assistance being given to foreign nationals; I do not want to be misunderstood but we are saying that our priority is our own and if there are further resources we can then be able to extend those to those that are coming from outside of this country.