Thank you very much, Chairperson. Had I known it would have been this easy and that the Special Adjustments Appropriation Bill would be supported so gallantly by the House, it would have been five times the size that it is. But, thank you very much for the support. [Laughter.]
The one thing I do acknowledge is that the process here was incredibly rushed, but I hope that in the spirit in which the hon Gibson spoke, when the adjustments are tabled at the end of October, committees will give all of these issues attention so that the understanding of each and every line item funded in here will be properly interrogated by Parliament as part of the oversight function.
Regarding the issue of Sentech that the hon Gibson said he was raising on behalf of the hon Smuts, the difficulty hasn't been on our side. I think that the least that taxpayers must expect of us is a rigourous analysis in due diligence. If there isn't a business plan that will pass muster, our approach is that we shouldn't fund it. So, it is not that there is a breakdown. There has to be a business plan. The hon Mbili may be disappointed because this money is about broadband rather than all of the signal distribution that South Africa needs. There are going to be a series of other things that Sentech needs to undertake, including the digitisation ahead of 2010. It is a very costly exercise, but we must ensure that we aren't just going to go out on a wing and a prayer; we need properly supported business plans that we can interrogate. And, I'm sure Parliament needs that as well.
In respect of Alexkor, the issue to deal with in Alexander Bay is, of course, the pigeons, but here we have a durable solution. The pigeons arise because the pigeons are taken into the mine and the diamonds leave by the route of pigeon post traditionally.
In respect of the Land Bank, we are dealing with two sets of issues. The one is that the Land Bank, over decades, has not foreclosed anywhere and the liabilities have actually just built up in the institution. Now they come to a crunch and there is a huge difficulty with the liquidity of the organisation. I gave the undertaking earlier - there is a forensic report that has just been completed - that we will act, as we must act, to ensure that this is a well-run financial institution. In all the development finance institutions we are looking for a different model that will ensure that it supports the developmental objectives more broadly.
On 2010: The Minister, Rev Dr Stofile, knows that we have spoken about this. From the side of the Treasury, we've been bold enough to put on the table for municipalities a ratio of 10% of maintenance a year. So the R4 billion in current terms would require R400 million of maintenance a year, failing which these stadiums look like a lot of those in the former Bantustans and so on. We have that responsibility and that is what we must ensure is delivered.
On the PBMR - the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor - the hon Singh spoke about R21 billion - no, it's the other number. I know that the Director-General of Public Enterprises raised a number like this. But the commitment that government has made is a R6 billion commitment, and we have to squeeze maximally to ensure that we can get a return, get the new technology and ensure that it's clean and safe at the same time. Thank you very much, and thanks to all parties for the support. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Bill read a first time.