Chairperson, good leaders listen when their people speak. The construction industry was and still is undeniably in tatters; the industry is terribly fragmented. We are witnessing a shockingly massive mushrooming of contractors, especially noticeable when there are projects to be embarked upon by departments. As a government we either use that old law about an eye for an eye, which unfortunately leaves everybody blind ... [Laughter.] ... or put measures in place to correct this anomaly.
Someone has to come up with those corrective measures, someone who is prepared to confront this situation head-on. This person happens to be the hon the Minister of Public Works. I want to thank the hon the Minister for the efforts that she has made to ensure that our lives get better by the day. I want to thank her for having a great mind and a feeling for our people. As she is aware, minds are like parachutes; they only function when opened. [Laughter.] Once again, thanks, Mama Africa.
Again it is a fact that unless one enters the tiger's den, one cannot take the cubs. Good leaders listen when their people speak. We are now going to have this independent board appointed by the Minister. What kind of people are we looking at here? How is the Minister going to identify them? We are so glad to have a Minister who is not selfish. The Minister will not randomly pick and choose people. The public is given a chance to nominate individuals who, in their opinion, can serve as board members. I can hear some people saying the Minister is too generous. Yes, this is the kind of leadership we have in the ANC, leaders who will not do anything without consulting the very people whom we are supposed to serve.
The board will consist of people with vast experience in their own right, people who are prepared to move and not be moved, because the Minister is aware that a ship that stays in the same harbour never encounters danger, but also never gets anywhere. Yes, it is true that good leaders listen when their people speak. The main tasks of this board will be to provide strategic leadership, to promote and implement policies and programmes aimed at supporting emerging entrepreneur sectors, to improve labour relations and human resource development and to promote best practices to again guard against those greedy professional looters. The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today. The board will be expected to make sure that this legislation assists the people who are meant to benefit from it. As hon members know, what one thinks and does shapes one's future.
One other good thing about this Bill is the fact that all contractors will, from now on, have to be registered. This is being done to deal with some of the selfish, unsympathetic, greedy and corrupt contractors who are looting our government coffers, people who want to succeed while doing nothing. All I can do is remind them that the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.
I am saying all this because it was possible for one person, using different names, to be given five tenders. This is why, when I hear some people sigh, ``life is hard,'' I am always tempted to ask ```compared to what?'' Contractors should register for us to know the owners thereof and their entire board of directors. It is not the hours one puts in that count, but what one puts into those hours. It will now be an offence for unregistered contractors to embark on any project without obtaining a formal authorisation. Yes, it used to happen, and they were even paid for it.
After the passage of this Bill some of these unholy practices will be a thing of the past. Yes, if it comes to the push, we are ready to milk the bull. [Laughter.] We cannot allow this situation to continue unchecked. We cannot fail. Failure does not mean one is a failure; it just means one has not succeeded yet.
All stakeholders will monitor whatever happens in the construction industry. There will be a forum of stakeholders, who are also expected to advise the Minister.
These are the people who are affected directly. This is a clear indication that the Minister has taken everybody on board. As to who must be accommodating, it is not the hon the Minister. It is now up to these stakeholders to effectively make use of this opportunity. Hence, the saying that opportunity follows those who walk the extra mile. At the same time, I would like to request the Minister to guard against some of those members of the board who might, instead of empowering our people, indirectly push them out of the system. They may even make it difficult for our emerging contractors to get tenders, only giving tenders to their blue-eyed boys and blue-eyed girls. Troubles are a lot like people, they grow bigger if one nurses them.
The people who will serve on this board should be people who will not easily forget or deliberately forget where we come from. I know that when we utter such statements some people say things are going to be bad, and that it means that such a person stands a better chance of being a prophet. [Time expired.]