Hon Chairperson, I hesitate to bound up the steps this time. But I am here now, thank you. I think what's important about this, hon Chair and members of this House, is that the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement - MTBPS - gives us the opportunity to check out and see where it is that the ANC government will be taking us next year in the delivery of its services - contrary to what may be said on my left, but probably on my right; and I would prefer it if you didn't keep on interrupting me because empty vessels make the most noise.
But let me just get back to this. The MTBPS is the ANC government's policy which reaffirms our commitment to cutting poverty and creating jobs. But it's more than that. It's more than just a policy statement that is empty.
It shows us how we use concepts and constitutional principles like "co- operative governance", which is unique to South Africa and is an essential element of our constitutional democracy. It provides our country with a political glue that binds all three spheres of government in a collective embrace that enables effective implementation of policy and consequent delivery of services.
The intergovernmental relations framework is precisely that. It is meant to actually bind the fabric of our society and our government and the optimum performance of delivery in all three arms.
The other aspect which we need to take account of when we look at the MTBPS is that this MTBPS, of which there are many internationally, is one which is developed in our developmental state. That is something - contrary to what one sometimes hears in this House - that is not a fanciful concept.
This is not something that cannot be concretised. We have seen this in one of the poorest provinces of India, Kerala. We have seen this in Vietnam, and we are going to see this right here in South Africa - as we have in the last 10 years and more.
The policy priorities stated in the medium term show that departments will shift from silo solutions to the active pursuit of synchronisation in implementation. The increased allocation of R48 billion to local government and of R32,7 billion to provinces underpins this. Indeed, this makes sound sense - to increase the allocations to these two spheres of government who are at the very coal face of delivery.
This also recalls the policy which our ANC government is committed to in respect of moving forward and growing the economy. It says that the optimum way of moving forward is to successfully negotiate the stormy global economic environment and not to be swayed by every economic fashion emanating from some quarters. To this end, it recalls our policy towards fuel - alternative forms of energy ranging from bio-fuels to the highly advanced conversion of coal into fuel by Sasol.
In the previous MTEF, financial resources have been allocated to SOEs and continue to be allocated, as we learn in the MTBPS, to Denel, Sentech, PBMR, Infraco and the like. We have raised our reservations on this expenditure. But we have raised no reservations on the policy and we have called for effective monitoring and tracking systems to ensure that this policy is fully implemented.
To ensure that parastatals are driving in the same direction as the developmental state, there is absolutely no doubt, as it came out during our engagement, that we need, as the ANC policy indicates and has directed earlier on, to restructure these parastatals and bring them all into line so that they too serve the developmental state itself.
The MTBPS also recognises the important role of Research and Development - R&D - in strengthening the economy through education, skills development and private sector encouragement. Although I must tell you that it beats me why the private sector demands and needs all this encouragement. I thought by now they'd be out of the incubation stage. But, no, they continue to need their bottles of encouragement - unlike overseas investors who have recognised what we have to offer here in South Africa.
But perhaps we are looking at structural fatigue in the economy, which we are addressing, as we can see, through the infrastructural commitment in the MTBPS itself, which engages the current challenges now and goes beyond 2010 to actually move towards 2020 and 2030. In line with this, the national departments' baselines have been reviewed and upward of R7 billion has been allocated in the first year of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework - MTEF. This has accelerated to R16,4 billion in the outer years and is expected to generate the infrastructural investments.
However, as we have learned from our co-chair of the Joint Budget Committee - JBC - we certainly cannot allow, and neither does the MTBPS want, the frills that are engaged in by some departments to continue. We need, in fact, to get rid of the frills and actually focus on quality service delivery. The budget will be adequate, as the policy indicates.
We may be asking ourselves: Are women the least catered for? As we all know, women are the largest group of the impoverished. This MTBPS directly addresses cutting poverty, and the youth forms the highest unemployed group. Again, when we look at the proposed allocations, this fully addresses it.
Hon Chairperson, the ANC fully supports the MTBPS before us, especially the move to support and underpin the labour-intensive projects which are certainly not marginalised but brought to the fore in the allocations at national, provincial and local government levels. People want work, and the ANC government will not be deterred by academic excuses.