Muchaviseki Xandla xa Xipikira, swirho swa Huvo, Holobye Davies, Swandla swa Vaholobye na Vaholobye hinkwavo lava va nga kona na mufambisikulu, DG, wa hina, ndzi sungula hi ku khensa lava ndzi nga tirha na vona ntirho lowu. Ndzi khensa swinene mutshamaxitulu wa hina, Manana Joan Fubbs. Ndzi khensa na Dokodela Nyatichi ... (Translation of Xitsonga paragraph follows.)
[Mr X MABASA: Hon Deputy Speaker, members of the House, Minister Davis, Deputy Ministers and all Ministers present, and our director-general, DG, I start off by thanking all those with whom I worked in this regard. I thank our chairperson, Mrs Joan Fubbs, very much. I also thank Dr Nyatichi ...]
... a very wonderful person from Kenya. We found it a struggle to come back because they wanted us to stay there forever. Deputy President, it was so wonderful in Kenya. It is so good when we see an African country doing well, working to the best of its abilities. [Applause.]
When it comes to co-operatives, you don't have to go far to see them - if you go to Kenya, you get the best. If you go to the UK, you will also get the best. [Interjections.] If you come to South Africa, we will do it together - provided you think more like the ANC! [Laughter.] [Applause.]
There are advocates that worked so hard on this Bill - Adv Van der Merwe, Adv Strydom, Adv Smalle and Adv Idensohn. There were also the officials who did so - Mr Rapoo, Mr Ndumo, Mr Zikode and Ms Koekemoer. Thank you for the hard work done. I also thank members of the task team, Mr Hill-Lewis and Mr Selau. Mr Huang, congratulations on your maiden speech!
Mphemphe e ya lapi?a. Motho o kgonwa ke sa gagwe. [One must always ensure that he is self-sufficient.]
What we should move away from is finding our people standing in queues for grants day in and day out. The systems that we have to devise are systems that will make our people walk tall, systems that will enable people to earn a living. Co-operatives, which are only one of the many enterprise formations, are one of those tools.
When we talk about co-operatives in South Africa, we note that South Africa has its own traditions in regard to co-operatives. Among the white community we had the development of massive, powerful, agricultural co- operatives in wine, dairy products, meat and poultry. This caused South Africa to have some of the most developed co-operatives, but we must critique whether those were real co-operatives. They were not real, even though we can pick out some success stories among them.
Why I say that they were not real is because they did not comply with the principles that Comrade Fubbs articulated: the seven principles of co- operatives. A very obvious one is that they were formed on a racial basis. For black workers, meaning Indians, Coloureds and Africans, their only role was to work hard and be "skopped", "skopped" and "skopped" [kicked, kicked and kicked]. They could never be part of the ownership. That was the anomaly of the co-operatives of the then apartheid regime.
In regard to the co-operatives that we seek to build today, I want to mention some countries where co-operatives have succeeded. Those beautiful cars that we see, those coming from Germany, for example Mercedes-Benz and BMW - their parts are made by co-operatives. In Cuba co-operatives are very strong. In Switzerland, Botswana, Kenya, Canada, Italy, Spain and China it is co-operatives all the way!
When the world experienced the downturn of its economies, when it was suffering, just as it is still suffering now, in the aftermath of the downturn of the economies, co-operatives stood their ground. They did not succumb like most of the other forms of enterprise, which collapsed. They stood their ground. They have their own banks. In Kenya they have their own bank. What characterises all these countries that have successful co-operatives is that they take training and education very seriously. They have academies, universities and technikons, and government goes all out to support co- operatives. That is why they are successful in those countries. [Applause.]
Government plays a role in market opportunities. Isn't it better to do that than to give out grants?
I heard hon member Hill-Lewis complaining about the apex. In South Africa an apex is necessary. It is necessary because we come from that horrible past of apartheid, where people were divided according to their colour. If we don't have one apex, we shall merely be perpetuating the division of co- operatives along racial lines. An apex will unify all the co-operatives under one umbrella. That apex is the one that interacts with government and the world, and it empowers co-operatives in South Africa. [Interjections.]
When the Minister says that co-operatives are the way to go, you mustn't think of co-operatives as being those little things at the corner.
Ningacabanga ngabomama abadayisa obhanana namapetshisi,kodwa ... [You can think of the women who sell bananas and peaches, but ...]
... kambe hi fanele hi ehleketa hi mabindzu ya nhlanganelo lawa ya rimaka masimu lamakulu, ya fuwa tihomu, ya va na mavhengele ya tlhela ya va na tisupamakete. [... we have to think about co-operatives which till big fields, keep and breed cattle, and have shops as well as supermarkets.]
What would be wrong with the people of Gugulethu's forming a co-operative that builds up a super chain of shops that has an upward and a downward stream, so that the funds circulate within that community? We must note that when we speak of the big shopping malls that go into the townships, we still speak of Truworths going into the townships. Who owns Truworths? We still talk of Edgars going into the townships. Who owns them? With co- operatives we can have Diepkloof and Orlando combining in Soweto to form a big shopping mall, with each member having to contribute only R1 000, and this being well run by somebody that we trust. Then I can tell you that co- operatives will liberate people economically! So money must circulate where we live.
Let's look at the taxi industry. The chairperson of the taxi industry was here. Can you imagine what it would be like if the taxi industry, in an upward and downward manner, owned filling stations, garages to repair their vehicles, and a manufacturing basis? You can imagine that the taxi owners would then not just end in being caught up in owing huge amounts to the banks. And when I speak about banks, remember that co-operatives would have their own banks so that when they borrowed money, they would borrow it from their own bank. [Interjections.]
When we came back from Kenya, Mr Radebe, I was carrying some yoghurt that was produced in Kenya. I say this because sometimes we get the impression that co-operatives cannot do wonderful things!
As we move on, Comrade Deputy Speaker, I want to say that co-operatives are not going to succeed if we do not support them with colleges, universities and academies; if we do not support them through markets and infrastructure; and if we do not support them through providing links with other co-operatives throughout the world. Co-operatives say: "Nothing about us without us!" They have learnt that ...
... ge o tsamaya o kgopela, o tlo sokola go ya go ile. Dikhoporeiti di re, rena batho bao re bego re gatelet?we ... [... if you go around begging, you will suffer for the rest of your life. According to the co-operatives, those people who were oppressed ...]
... are now going to free ourselves economically and socially. Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker. [Applause.]