Chairperson, hon Minister, hon MECs - my colleagues - and members of this House, I would like to say thank you very much, in the first instance, for just allowing me to take part in this Budget Review debate of hon Minister Skweyiya.
I think, by now, it is common knowledge that for the next 10 to 15 years the two most critical areas of concern that will dominate the global platform for debate will definitely be HIV-Aids and, of course, poverty. Until relatively recently, I must say, the issue of HIV-Aids has been dealt with within a very unco-ordinated tunnel vision and erroneous assumption that it is an issue that belongs only to the health department, and that therefore it is only a health matter. But, from the outset I want to say that that is not the prerogative of any department or institution to claim that it is not someone else's problem, but the problem of all of us collectively here. [Interjections.]
To fight this epidemic which, according to the last count - and these are the stats that I actually got hold of - is blighting the lives ... [Interjections] ... we actually call statistics stats in psychology. [Interjections.] It is actually blighting the lives of almost 3 million South Africans. All of us - Government organisations, the private sector, community organisations, etc - need to embark on an all-year-round campaign for at least the next 15 years.
I think that members will agree with me when I say that if HIV-Aids had followed the same course as the Ebola virus - can members remember what happened a few years back - which killed many people within three weeks. Maybe - just maybe - perceptions and ignorance, and therefore behaviour, regarding this silent invisible killing force could have changed much earlier in our communities, our provinces and our country. [Interjections.]
Any government - and members will agree with me on that - that is threatened by a visible destructive force at its borders will intervene and stop such a force immediately if it knows that such a force is out to kill almost half its women and children population. It would do everything in its power to stop it. What would it do? Such a government or country would mobilise all the citizen forces that it can lay its hands on. It would purchase new military tanks and jet fighters and, above all, it might just declare a national emergency. [Interjections.]
However, we know that our country is faced with the most lethal threat which is not as visible as a military threat. But it is, indeed, eight hundred trillion invisible, microscopic HIV viruses that are being produced daily and spread to other victims, and which will definitely kill hundreds of thousands of South African citizens. [Laughter.] Youth and children will not be victims immediately, but within ... [Interjections.]