Thank you, Chairperson. Hon members, ladies and gentlemen, when one has to come and oppose or support the report he must certainly look for other issues that are not there at that particular time. We must make a follow-up and that is our duty. You must not add salt unnecessarily, lest your food become so distasteful. You should be extra careful, Mr Watson.
We are gathered today, two days after one of the outstanding daughters of Africa and a compatriot of our people, Comrade Albertina Nontsikelelo Thethiwe Sisulu, celebrated her 90th birthday. Allow me to pay tribute and pass our birthday wishes on to this courageous hero of our people and a living symbol of our struggle for liberation. uMaSisulu has been at the forefront of the struggle for the liberation of the people of South Africa. I want to say: Her story calls on all of us, particularly the cadres of our movement, never to waiver in our commitment to the struggle for freedom and the total liberation of our people. Her story calls on all of us to guard against those with malicious intentions and to serve the cause of a principled and value-based movement for a free South Africa, and to free ourselves from those who only want to plunder and destroy what our forbearers have built with their blood and their lives.
The idea of a people's government was also enriched when we went to North West for the visiting of sites. This reminds me of how we worked in the 1980s; how women's organisations and civic structures, youth and students and shop steward councils made sure that we really got our freedom. Chair, as we emerge from our national conference in Polokwane - I hope Mr Watson watched that part - we boldly proclaimed the principles of the Freedom Charter, which continue to burn in the soul of our movement. Over the 95 years of the existence of the ANC the movement evolved into a force for mass mobilisation; a glue that held our people together and a trusted leader of the broadest range of social forces that shared the vision of a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
Indeed, our debate today also reflects the firm commitment of our movement to work tirelessly to put our people first. I hope you are listening. Our report today of Taking Parliament to the People in North West clearly attests to the ANC government's commitment to this historic vision of popular participation in self-government by our people. I want to say to our members: Let us not be distracted by a few who have selfish interests and selfish people who were not there in Kliptown and who do not have the interests of our people at heart. [Interjections.] Ours has always been that ideal of a better life for all. The report attests to the very noble principles and ideals that commit our movement to the legacy of popular power and a government by the people. It proves without any shred of doubt our historic resolve to engage with the people of South Africa in the very communities where they live. It proves that the ANC remains to be a bold beacon of hope and the only instrument for the continued liberation of our people from the trappings of the social challenges facing our people in their daily lives.
The report of our visit provokes another round of earnest assessment of our commitment to ensure a better life for all our people. We are not denying anything, Mr Watson. There is not a shred of doubt that in the past 13 years the lives of millions of our people have changed for the better and that many of our people are better off today than they were yesterday. This report attests to the historic commitment of expanding the dialogue with our people on the challenges that they face as we continue to dismantle the legacy of apartheid and its settlements.
As we visited the people of Tlokwe, which is an area that was historically reserved for a small minority that enjoyed the protection of the apartheid regime as the capital of the former Transvaal Republic, many of us were stunned by the stark reality of the legacy of apartheid settlements that still prevailed in many of our communities. I wish you could have said something around that, Mr Watson.
I must reiterate that the Premier of North West assured us during our visit in March that we will not tolerate any racial attitudes in any of our government institutions. The functioning of the machinery of government is particularly important because the overall direction and success of the democratic journey of our nation rests on its functionality and its ability to deliver effective services. Therefore, we will not allow any structures of our government to be blatantly misused to degrade the dignity imposed upon our people by the Constitution.
The people of Tlokwe also spoke about their daily struggles to access water, sanitation, employment. That is what you were saying. That is what we have discovered and that is exactly why we have a provincial government that has to do its work. [Interjections.] We were indeed humbled by the commitment of the North West government to address some of these challenges. I hope you are listening now, Watson. Some of the people of Tlokwe were not hesitant to share their stories and the hope that has been reignited by our government. Some told us how some of our government's programmes such as the social grant, the Expanded Public Works Programme, feeding schemes and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme continued to change their lives. It can't be that there is no difference.
I remember a woman who spoke passionately about a house that she had received a few months before our visit - not that it was because we were going to visit that area. It is these stories that continue to rekindle our hope and commitment for a better South Africa. We will continue to engage with the various structures of our government to ensure that the challenges that our people face are really addressed. As the ANC we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the lives of our people continue to change for the better.
Chair, because of time, I want to say that we will continue to strengthen our interaction with them in order to afford them the opportunity to contribute positively to local development and to increase their democratic involvement in matters affecting their daily lives. On behalf of the ANC I move that the Council adopts the report. Thank you, Chair. [Applause.]