Chairperson, the APC wishes to reflect on the speech by the Minister of Finance, the hon Trevor Manuel, delivered on 30 October 2007, on the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement tabled before us today. We concur with the Minister on many aspects in his statement and beg to differ or see things differently on many others.
Indeed, projected annual economic growth of 6% in our country has been reported regularly. To the struggling and poverty-stricken masses of our people, economic growth is a far-fetched idea. To the masses, economic growth would mean that the days of sleeping on an empty stomach would be over; no person would be roofless; the education of our children would be free and not sold at a high price; the wealth of the country would be created; and there would be equitable distribution of wealth and land.
To the elite, economic growth has a different meaning altogether. It means, amongst other things, sound relations with the stock exchange; a healthy bank statement and living a luxurious life - holiday-making, playing golf on a super green golf estate; making the conditions of a poor person a tourist attraction, that is, see under what extreme social conditions they live but they are still surviving.
We welcome all the endeavours made by the government to better the lives of the people through public service delivery, water, electricity, housing, education, safety, and business, etc and wish to commend the good efforts done. We are fully conscious of the fact that we are still very far from where we want to be, a total freedom where all shall live a harmonious life; get a fair share of the land and its wealth; where education of our children shall be free from preschool to a first degree at tertiary institutions; where life expectancy shall be guaranteed to be more than 70 years; and where economic growth shall directly translate into good living conditions for our people.
The APC wishes to reiterate that we commend the government on its continued commitment to public spending and we encourage it to add more political will to reach the desired destination without any form of fear or hesitation. We think roll-overs may be averted as they are a clear sign of lack of capacity or elements of failure to deliver. The surplus of R5 billion becomes insignificant when the people we fought for all these years are homeless, living in abject poverty. Thank you very much. [Time expired.]