Hon Chair, vocabulary is not neutral. It is gender and class-biased. The EFF believes that this Bill, with the proposed amendments, will not lead to the radical transformation of the African economy or positively impact on the socioeconomic conditions of our people.
This government assumes that things and power relations exist in perfect harmony with one another and thus they indulge in a process of gradualism.
The thrust of the new mandate for the Development Bank of Southern Africa, DBSA, should include, amongst other things: massive investment in the development of the African economy; leading state-owned enterprises, SOEs, and foreign direct investments, FDIs, to heavily invest in the infrastructure industrialisation of the African continent, including nationalisation of the Reserve Bank.
South Africa's participation on the continent should be markedly distinct from the manner in which the Western powers, particularly the USA, European Union, EU, and China do business in Africa.
The development of the African continent is inextricably linked with the development of South Africa. In this context, South Africa's role in the economic development of the African continent should not be one of merely being a gateway to Africa's natural resources and raw materials, but should be one of promoting massive and rapid development of the African economies.
Through the DBSA the South African government should establish a sovereign wealth fund which will prudently invest in the development of the African economy. It is our firm view that we need a moment in which there is massive investment in the African economy.
For there to be an integrated, massive capital and financial investment and infrastructure roll-out, we need to break away from the orthodox development growth path of the last century.
This Parliament should consider, amongst other things, revising the mandate of the DBSA so that the focus would be on promoting a culture of entrepreneurship, trade opportunities, human resource development, training and reskilling of the African youth.
Unfortunately for the new liberal, orthodox economists in this House, this will require massive state intervention. I doubt if there is political willingness on the part of the ruling party to consider that.
The economic viability and financial sustainability in the global market, which is a hostile one, requires bold transcendency beyond regional borders, which is a direction in which this Bill makes no attempt, whatsoever, to go.
As the EFF, we are unable to endorse a Bill such as this, as it represents nothing other than recycled, old medicine with the same orthodox models of the Bretton Woods Institutions, which will never take the African continent forward.
Any change which assumes neutrality in language, vocabulary, class and national interests is bound to fail. The EFF says to the ruling party: Stop your delusional disorder of the neutrality of things. Now is the time for radical economic transformations and the EFF will provide and give the direction towards the realisation of economic freedom in our lifetime. Thank you. [Applause.]