Chair, hon Chief Whip and Chairperson, in absentia, allow me to say to you that it has been a wonderful journey this past seven months. It is a pleasure to have worked with the people here. I appreciate it, and I have learned a lot in these past few months.
Let me say this one thing: I believe what John C Maxwell said - that people who are leaders can only lead when they can lead themselves. If you are not able to understand a difficult person, you will never be able to lead that person. You must learn to lead yourself and understand difficult people, knowing that we can do our best.
I would like thank the hon Chief Whip for teaching me a lot in a short span of time. To the Chairperson, M J Mahlangu, it is not the first time that I have met him. Since being in the legislature in the Northern Cape, since I met the Chairperson, he has been an absolutely unique leader. You see, you must give credit where credit is due and don't be jealous, because all of us are unique. All of us can learn from one another.
I would like to say today that it is a privilege for me to meet people like Gamede and Nzimande, the people who always say that they are from the province with the name and the surname. So, people, I would like to wish you a merry Christmas, a prosperous and a blessed New Year, and I hope that when we come back ...
... gaan ons so 'n bietjie Afrikaans praat en dan gaan ons 'n bietjie bua [praat] en dan gaan ons weer thetha [praat] en khuluma [praat] en avuxeni [groete]. Dit gaan lekker wees in die nuwe jaar, maar daar gaan baie harde werk wees vir ons almal. Ek wil graag sien of die Parlement, hierdie NRVP en die Parlement as geheel, nie weer 'n slag daardie netjiese baadjies kan kry met die wapens, as die Lede van die Parlement, om net 'n verskil te maak en te wys ... (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[... we are going to speak a little bit of Afrikaans and bua [talk] a little bit and then we are going to thetha [talk] and khuluma [talk] and avuxeni [greetings] again. The new year is going to be enjoyable, but there will be lots of hard work for all of us. I would like to see if Parliament, the NCOP and Parliament as a whole, can obtain those neat blazers with the Members of Parliament badges again, just to make a difference and to show that ...]
... these are Members of Parliament.
Nog iets wat ek vandag vir u wil s is dat in die nuwe jaar ... [Something else that I want to mention today is that in the new year ...]
... we must do more oversight to see that service is being delivered to the people.
There must be a better budget for the committees to go and do the work. They have been elected to do oversight. They have been elected to see to it that service reaches the electorate. We have been elected to be their ears, to be their eyes, to be their mouthpieces, so next year, all chairpersons of select committees, you must speak your mind to get us into an oversight role, so that there must be money for us to go and see that the people have to be serviced.
I thank you, Chairperson. Enjoy your holidays and enjoy your kids. Those who are married men, enjoy your wives. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]