Madam Speaker, Al Gore made a documentary about global warming called An Inconvenient Truth. The arms deal in South Africa is its inconvenient truth. This has cost the country billions of rand needed to fight poverty. It has destroyed the political career of one president, and threatens the political career of an aspirant president.
The real problem lies in the cover-up. We now have explosive and compelling evidence that the reports of the Joint Investigating Team, JIT, into the arms deal were fundamentally flawed. Yet I have been denied an opportunity to present this evidence to Parliament through Scopa. This evidence, if presented, could quite conceivably have altered the course of the investigations from the beginning and saved billions of rand.
The various draft JIT reports obtained via court orders began ominously, as the editor of the report scribbles notes under the headings that include the names of former President Mbeki and the former Minister of Defence, Mr Lekota. Following this, handwritten alterations were made to almost every substantial finding in the draft report.
For example, the draft report pointed out fundamental flaws in the tendering contracts, while the final report says "no impropriety". Where the drafts pointed out the interference from Ministers, the final report said no senior members of government could be blamed.
One heading even said that the decisions of the Minister of Defence could have influenced the process. It was altered to read - listen to this - " ... the visionary approach of the Minister of Defence". Remember, the drafters of the report and the members of the Cabinet have consistently denied that any substantive changes were made. The matter cannot be laid to rest!
The former Chief Whip of this House was sent to jail for lying to Parliament and the President of the ANC faces that charge now. Yet Scopa received false testimony from the former Public Protector, from the former Auditor-General, and the former Head of Acquisitions, yet nothing has been done about this.
This Parliament owes it to South Africans to recommend to the next Parliament that this matter be pursued. As the embers of my political career fade, one thing is absolutely certain: If I were to live my life over, the choices I made would be the same. Like hon Kraai, I arrived in Cape Town in 1981 - not here but in the old Cape Provincial Council. Since then I have made many friends and have seen many people who were our opponents become colleagues.
For example, the hon Judy Chalmers' sister, Molly Blackburn, was my benchmate in that council and next door sat Mr Van Eck - you know who they are. To illustrate my point, when I came here, my erstwhile opponent, hon Ryno King, became my benchmate. That is the sign of a mature democracy; when we can choose and do what we believe is correct.
To conclude, when I spoke from this podium for the last time before the tricameral Parliament closed its doors, I told the former President De Klerk that he should acknowledge that the miracle of South Africa came about by divine intervention. I do believe that; I still believe that.
My wish and prayer today is that during the coming months and years, our faith in the miracle of South Africa's democracy will be renewed and restored with the strength and the help of our Heavenly Father.
Now, we choose different roads, but ultimately all those roads and routes lead to one highway and that highway leads to one destination; and that destination, surely, can only be a better life for every South African. I don't believe that there is a single member in this House who can dispute that.
The only difference is, as I said, it's the road that leads to the highway on which we differ. I know that we are mature enough to understand these things and I would like to say to the hon Minister, because this is his budget - and I don't say this with my tongue in my cheek - I've sat through a lot of Ministers of Finance and he is good. I'm not going to say he is the best, but he is good.
I have no problem with this word "comrades" - I really don't. The reason why I don't is because when somebody calls me a comrade, I get a vision of these thousands of people lining up either in Pietermaritzburg or Durban for this long race, the Comrades Marathon. And as they go, some fall by the wayside and others pick them up; but everybody else has a mission to get somewhere and to help everybody to get to the same place. I thank you. [Applause.]