Hon Chairperson and hon members, the executive summary of the report we are considering today notes that Parliament has always had a critically important oversight role to play in monitoring the MDGs. Parliament did not always focus on reviewing these monitoring processes. Monitoring did not specifically address MDG targets and indicators, nor did it verify information submitted to Parliament. Parliament did not have a sustained and regular engagement with the departments regarding the MDGs, and civil society participation was not properly factored into the monitoring process.
This House should therefore adopt the recommendation in the report that MDG goals and targets should be mainstreamed in Parliament. This is an essential first step and we in Cope strongly suggest that this should be done. The next step is to evaluate how our country is progressing with each of the eight goals we have to meet. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening and government seems paralysed in correcting this. We are the world's most unequal nation. State resources are not being utilised effectively to eradicate poverty.
As a country we are not even doing enough to create green micro-economies to enable poor people to source energy cheaply, derive income therefrom or grow their own food. We have no five-year plan to help the most marginalised to climb out of this pit of poverty.
With regard to primary education, here again there is no five-year plan substantially to improve literacy and numeracy to an acceptable standard. Vocabulary deficits still continue to be the single largest obstacle to personal growth and advancement. If these vocabulary deficits are not remedied, our education will lag behind that of most countries.
Gender-based violence is still a scar on our young democracy. The high incidence of rape and other forms of violence against women needs to be vigorously tackled, not only by the police but by society in general. Programmes to empower women economically must be escalated.
Child mortality is another area in which we as a country are doing very poorly. The problem needs to be tackled through the thorough education of young women regarding sexual health, pregnancy, HIV/Aids, breastfeeding, immunisation, nutrition and child care. State-sponsored community-based support should occur on a wider scale. Help for childhood diseases should be brought closer to communities. Hospitals and clinics should also be challenged to improve their record in respect of child mortality.
Regarding maternal health, once again our democratic government has not been able to bring down the maternal mortality ratio in any significant way. In a country where radio is easily accessible - to a large extent, television also - not enough is being done to help women acquire greater knowledge of pregnancy and childbearing, yet knowledge is the best means of improving maternal health.
With regard to HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases, if a million people in South Africa fully understood what retroviruses were and how they compromised the body's immune system, such knowledge would filter through to the ground.