Madam Deputy Speaker, there are two issues I would like to deal with. The hon Singh asks for an assurance that we will be ready to support, come what may. To arrive at the figure of R60 billion, we had to interact very, very closely. But I think what we must understand about this kind of support is that you have to take it from somewhere to put it into companies. Eskom's wonderful achievement over a century - with one exception - is that they have been self-financed. So, it is not a record that we seek to change. When people talk of hundreds of billions of pounds or dollars to bail out banks and so on, this has to come from somewhere. You have to take it from the fiscus. This means that you must then take it away from public services. These are the trade-offs, and I think it is very important that we do not delude ourselves about that reality.
Secondly, the hon Rajbally raises issues about the costs of electricity. I think there is a mistaken impression here. Hon Rajbally, I am saying that we mustn't delude ourselves into believing that this country will be able to return to a time when electricity was plentiful and exceedingly cheap. Apart from living through these issues, there are environmental concerns. There will have to be price changes. If you look at the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, you will see that the ideas we propose, and these ideas need to be worked through in Parliament, are that the services must have attached a utility cost. These services don't come from the air. It is very important that in our communication with people we don't kind of fall into this trap that says that it's only because somebody forgot to buy a week's supply of coal at Eskom in January that we are living through all of this.
There is a very significant and important change in economic development, and I think we have a collective responsibility to communicate this to all South Africans. Thank you very much for you support. Thank you, Deputy Speaker. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Bill read a first time.