Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon members, hon Minister, good afternoon. In his state of the nation address in February 2019, the President of the Republic of South Africa, metaphorically
compared infrastructure development to the fly wheel of the engine of our economy.
Let us for a moment; examine this metaphor by explaining the role of a fly wheel in an engine. A fly wheel is a rotating mechanical device that provides continuous energy when the primary energy source is not moving. We should all recall that in 2009, the South African economy went into recession and recorded two quarters of negative growth for the first time since our democratic breakthrough in 1994. Our economy suffered the impact of the great recession which began in the real estate and banking industries in the United States.
Fortunately, the ANC-led government had the foresight to invest public funds in infrastructure development, particularly the massive build project in all our provinces for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The government pumped almost R100 billion into the construction industry. And these investments contributed to the branding of South Africa and created a favourable climate for foreign direct investment and tourism growth.
The lessons learned include that if it done well, investment in infrastructure has the possibility to unlock the human potential for
all our people; reverse the historical and structural impediments that include the majority of our people from economic development opportunities; it can promote balanced economic development; address socio economic needs of our people; help to integrate our communities through integrated human settlement and importantly, promote job creation.
In the past decade alone, more than R1,3 trillion has been invested in the building of hundreds of schools and two new universities - Mpumalanga being one of the beneficiaries. I can attest to the fact that we appreciate, welcome it and it has changed our lives.
Government in partnership with the private sector has built hundreds of thousands of new houses. While much has been achieved in the first 26 year of our freedom, we all agree that more still needs to be done, just like the hon member Keleku have said, we all agree.
According to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, South Africa has a backlog of about R20 to R400 billion, in water, sanitation and electricity sectors in municipalities.
Current investment in capital renewals is around R600 to
R800 million per year. This is not even 10% of what is required. In order to deal with this challenge of infrastructure backlog, government has committed to contribute R100 billion into the infrastructure fund over a 10 year period and use these to leverage financing from the private sector and development finance institutions. The fund will be managed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa with the oversight of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.
As Parliament, we would like to have more oversights on these funds in order to ensure greater accountability and transparency. The ANC has learned in the 25 years of government that delivery is not efficient when infrastructure provision is fragmented between the different spheres of government. For instance, the national government, provinces and municipalities have not succeeded to integrate most of the new housing developments with economic opportunities and with the building of dams, water pipelines, schools and other amenities.
This fragmentation also turns to entrench apartheid spatial development patterns and it is extremely costly to maintain. We must ensure that government's new infrastructure implementation model
will address these challenges. When we think of the perils of infrastructure backlog in the rural areas, we cannot forget Michael Komape, a five year old Grade R pupil who drowned in a pit toilet at Mahlodumela Primary School in Limpopo in 2014; and Lumka Mkhethwa, another Grade R girl from Luna Junior Primary School in the Eastern Cape who lost her life in a similar accident in March 2018.
However, we commend the national government for acting with the necessary urgency by launching the SAFE Initiative in August 2018. This initiative has mobilised resources from government and the building industry to replace all unsafe toilets in public schools. An audit conducted in 2018 found out that about 4000 schools have inappropriate sanitation facilities. In the first year of the SAFE Initiative launch, nearly 2000 schools were either provided with safe and appropriate sanitation facilities or were in planning, design or construction stages.
His Excellency, President Ramaphosa, has consistently sought to reinvigorate the spirit of social partnerships in addressing all pertinent issues facing our people. Social partnerships are important vehicles as they enable the sharing of resources, knowledge and skills, and enjoin us behind one common goal, build
national consensus and harnesses our collective wisdom inside and appreciation of each other.
As a society, we lose many children in our predominantly rural provinces, who drown while trying to cross rivers seeking education in school of neighbouring villages. According to the annual report of the National Injury Mortality Surveillance Systems, on average, 43,2% of drowning in South Africa occur in children less than 15 years. What is frightening is that a number of drowning has been increasing from the period of 1995 to 2016.
The reality that we must face as a nation is that we need public sector structure to work differently in order to address the backlog in infrastructure development. In the current economic conditions, the only way to address the backlog is for government to build partnerships with social partners, business, labour and communities.
As a nation, we must build the spirit of fraternity, commitment, solidarity and a sense of national pride and duty amongst all social partners.
Our communities have a particularly important role in using locally available materials such as stones, sands and cements to build and
maintain their own infrastructure roads, water pumps and irrigation systems to help particularly farmers and food security gardens. Government also has internal capacity as envisaged by the Vaal River clean- up project where the South African National Defence Force intervened to address a sewage crisis.
In my conclusion, I started with the analogy of infrastructure development being the fly wheel in the engine of the economy. As we know, the global economy is currently in turmoil due to the threat of Covid-19, coronavirus. In such circumstances whilst government invest in building the national capital stock while maintaining consumption level, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15:
"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously"
We call on government and all our social partners in business, organised labour and communities to work together to sow the good seed of infrastructure so that we may reap generously in future. Thank you very much. [Applause.]