Hon Deputy Speaker, hon Deputy President and hon members of this House, when one is reporting on any aspect of the spending of public funds, it should be of prime importance to tell the truth. Sir Winston Churchill said, "The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is." That erudite gentleman was also of the opinion that there are three kinds of lies - "lies, damned lies and statistics". I have heard many statistics in this Budget Vote debate.
The hon Minister Patel informed us that 78% of the voters rejected the DA. He is correct. Although it is flattering for the ANC to continually proclaim that they have received a mandate from an overwhelming majority of the people in this country, and represent 62% of South Africans, there is more than one way of interpreting the relevant statistics.
One enthusiastic hon member recently told us that the ANC had received 62 million votes. [Laughter.] While another hon member, unbelievably, was under the impression that because South Africa belonged to all who live in it and the majority had voted for the ANC, it meant that South Africa belongs to the ANC. [Laughter.] The truth is not nearly so flattering.
Of South Africa's approximately 51 770 000 residents, only 25 388 082 are registered voters. Of the registered voters, only 18 402 497 cast their votes. Of that number, 11 436 921 voted for the ANC. Therefore, in reality, the ANC actually represents only 22,87% of the population in South Africa. [Laughter.] It is hardly the overwhelming majority the ANC would have us believe.
Another incontrovertible truth is that in 2001, the Municipal Demarcation Board established the Midvaal Local Municipality. In the 2001 Midvaal local elections, the electorate voted the DA into power in the newly formed municipality. When the DA arrived to start the process of local government, they discovered that their predecessors in the Eastern Gauteng Services Council had effectively stripped the municipality of all of its assets. There were no furniture, no computers or information technology, IT, systems, no vehicles and very few members of staff.
In 2011, Ratings Africa assessed all the municipalities in Gauteng in terms of the Municipal Financial Sustainability Index. Midvaal was found to be the best performing and most financially viable municipality in Gauteng. [Applause.] The DA-led municipality succeeded in this, from starting with nothing, in only 10 years. Why has the ANC been unable to fulfill its basic mandate in 20 years? [Applause.] In my opinion, the answer is simple - failure to adequately oversee and failure to establish and enforce effective sanctions for nonperformance. For one to be able to do oversight, one actually has to have sight. [Laughter.] You cannot judge what you cannot see and have no knowledge of. Department heads, in their own interests, report to their Ministers what they want their Ministers to hear - good news. Unless the Ministers and the portfolio committees get out of their chairs and do hands-on overseeing, failures will continue unabated.
We were recently told by the director-general of the Public Service Commission that during the years 2010, 2011 and 2012, no more than 18% of department heads were evaluated for their performance and that in 2013 no evaluation at all took place. Is it any wonder that departments perform so dismally? There is no oversight.
Section 27(2) of the Constitution provides that the state must take reasonable, legislative and other measures within its available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of each of the fundamental human rights enshrined in the Constitution. However, the Constitution also provides in section 237 that the state's constitutional obligations must be performed diligently and without delay. It is in failing to comply with this constitutional imperative that the ANC-led government has failed South Africans.
It is the intention of the DA to closely monitor the appropriation of funds. The Appropriation Bill is the bridge that connects the National Revenue Fund to various government departments that are dependent on the fund for financing. Although this Appropriation Bill does not deal with the five new Ministries that have been created and an expanded Cabinet, it can hardly be expected that it is going to cost the taxpayer any less. The DA would reduce the number of Cabinet members and Ministries in order to become more efficient and more effective.
I noticed recently with concern that the Gauteng provincial legislature has to spend 96% of its budget on salaries. This begs the questions: Is the premier engaged in an empire-building exercise? Does he perhaps owe many favours or has the appropriation of funds for this province failed to provide it with sufficient funds to actually carry out its mandate?
On producing the estimated expenditure document, I noted another area of grave concern to me. Of the 38 Budget Votes dealt with, not one showed a greater expected percentage of revenue than of expenditure. Appropriating funds is all very well, but if one does not have funds to appropriate, the alarm bells should be deafening. If we continue in this vein, we are doomed. We are on a road to bankruptcy and the imposition of austerity measures.
Before Minister Davies and hon Fubbs accuse me of being another negative DA prophet of doom, let me assure them that I am not. I am, however, a realist who knows the incontrovertible truth that you cannot borrow your way out of debt.
I believe it is a common cause that the majority of people who voted in the last elections are those who suffer from poverty. Many live in shacks in informal settlements, walk 20 minutes to the nearest tap, stand in a queue for 20 minutes to fill their buckets and walk home again for 20 minutes, back to their shacks. They do not live like this by choice, but of necessity.
If I were one of them, I would not find much in the Appropriation Bill to get excited about. I would believe that my aspirations had again been sidelined. I would probably be left wondering what had happened to the better life for all that I have been promised for 20 years. Is it not time that our priority focus is on improving the lives of such people, not merely on promising to improve them?
A recently released report by the Human Sciences Research Council contains the results of a survey that indicates that in 2004 the ANC enjoyed a public satisfaction rate of 70%. That same rate today stands at 39% - not good news for the ANC! The same report also reflects that 60% of those surveyed believed that the government is currently headed in the wrong direction.
It is obviously no accident that most of those who participate in service- delivery protests are disillusioned ANC supporters.
The time to act is now. We can procrastinate no longer. We need urgent, far- reaching oversight throughout all government departments. We need the swift and effective imposition of sanctions for noncompliance. We need an urgent end to corruption and a rapid move into action. In my opinion, the ANC likes to think of itself as the Land Rover of political parties. Sadly, I suspect that the party is reminiscent of what I read recently, that of all Land Rovers ever built, 93% are still on the road and only the remaining 7% have reached their destinations. I thank you. [Applause.]