Chairperson, hon MEC, officials from the department and comrades, let me take the opportunity to thank, of course, the presiding officers for allowing us an opportunity to engage in this all-important debate. This must be viewed, once more, as a process in which we as the NCOP reaffirm our position as a strategic House where issues at the provincial and local level of government can get national profiling and expression.
This must also be viewed as a unique opportunity for provinces to bring matters of strategic importance to the public domain so that we do not rely only on the media or papers, which not many South Africans have an opportunity to buy or read.
The subject matter before us today is long overdue. It has made media headlines for a long time and in the process a lot of misconceptions, misleading statements and assertions, leading to absolute confusion among the beneficiaries, have been made. For the record, let me state that, as the ANC, we reaffirm our commitment to the principle of creating a South Africa that is nonracial, nonsexist and democratic. At the heart of it is a country with a caring society.
Consistent with that principle we have said in our world-renowned document, the Freedom Charter, that, "There shall be housing, security and comfort." It was therefore no mistake that, having learnt from the challenges that presented themselves through the housing approach of our government since 1994, government, under the leadership of the ANC, developed a strategy to house our people much better and faster. We did this precisely because, as a caring organisation, we had to do away with apartheid planning and racial segregation.
It was therefore by no mistake that in 2004 the Cabinet then approved a comprehensive plan for the development of sustainable human settlement, commonly known as "Breaking New Ground". It is through this plan that this caring government seeks to arrest the mushrooming of informal settlements, and to upgrade some, where possible, in order to realise the sustainable settlement development.
By so doing, government will then be addressing a very important pillar of shelter needs, restoration of dignity of people, reducing the vulnerability and ameliorating poverty and enhancing safety and security for our people. It is with this understanding that government will be reversing the trend of apartheid spatial planning and further spatial marginalisation of the workers and the poor, and achieve new modes of intergovernmental co- operation.
For this reason, all provinces developed pilot projects from which the department would have learned some lessons on the new approach for housing our people. It must be noted therefore that with this being a new experience, the Minmec - which is a forum of all our MECs - then took a decision that because of the challenges that are facing the country, it would be better to "test-case" this strategy in one province as opposed to having many pilot projects in all nine provinces. And because of that and the unique position of the Western Cape, the Western Cape was then chosen as a test-case province.
It must be further noted that because of the caring nature of our government and the unselfish nature of the ANC MECs, they even went as far as compromising their own provincial housing budgets in order to subsidise the project in the Western Cape.
It is for this reason that some, if not all of us, including the rest of Africa and the world, were quite shocked by the Mayor of Cape Town, Helen Zille, when she said that the N2 Gateway project was an election tool of the ANC. It is for this reason that, as the ANC, we supported the decision of the Minmec of 12 June 2006 to remove the City of Cape Town from the project's responsibilities with immediate effect. [Applause.]
We did so because we found it very irresponsible for the leader of the city and the DA, as a party that purports to be acting in the best interests of our people, to go out in public and politicise the project along political lines instead of appreciating what is being done for the poor. [Interjections.] The ANC government has stood firm in reconstructing the lives of our people through its social transformation programme and, in this instance, housing.
While the ANC is working hard to build our society by developing nonracial policies, programmes and projects, Helen Zille, instead, appeared on the recent Special Assignment TV programme to propagate racial divides by saying that this project is for the people of Joe Slovo. She therefore meant that this project is for blacks, as opposed to other racial groups. [Interjections.]
It is for this reason one can once more conclude that, as we said previously, the DA has no interest in the reconstruction and development of our country. They have no interest in rebuilding our society. They have no intention of taking our people out of the squalid conditions under which they live. They have no intention of fighting poverty and underdevelopment. Lastly, they have no intention of building an integrated society.
Through her remarks on the programme, it is very clear that Helen Zille is very comfortable with being a movie star with a leading role as a stirrer. Perhaps being a movie star is not enough. She may as well apply to be registered as a freelance journalist. I say this because the Mayor of Cape Town enjoys being on television, giving media briefings and writing articles to the media about nothing other than the N2 Gateway. Perhaps the name of that movie should be "N2 Gate-Zille". [Applause.]
It is important for the nation to know that when she had the opportunity to raise the issues, as the MEC explained, at a forum established by the Minister, she did not do so. She preferred to write to the press about things that were discussed where she was absent. She prefers to instil fear, uncertainty and racial hatred amongst our people.
Before I say the DA, and in particular Helen Zille, are lying to our people, I would like to pose a few questions; and society, of course, will decide as to whether they are lying or not regarding what she consistently does in her movie. [Interjections.] The questions are: Why, when Breaking New Ground was agreed to by Cabinet in 2004, when the N2 Gateway started in May 2005 and the elections were held in March 2006, does she say that the project was used as an election tool? Is it not true that because of the challenges that the Minister picked up, she went as far as informing Parliament that she had requested the Auditor-General to do an audit of the project? If the Auditor-General has started this work, what forensic audit is it that makes Helen Zille make such a lot of noise about investigations? Is it not true that the N2 Gateway will go a long way in deracialising our settlement patterns in this country?
Once more, is it not true that the nine waiting lists inherited from the City of Cape Town, previously governed by the DA, have been consolidated into one nonracial list by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Nkonki, following a request by the ANC Minister? Is it not true that PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Nkonki have validated these lists, through a public participation process, where our people played a central role? Is it not also true that in Boys Town 500 transitional housing areas have been completed and 500 families have been housed?
Why is Helen Zille therefore lying to our people and misleading our people? [Interjections.] Only the DA can give an answer to all the questions that I am putting, an answer that says: No. More importantly, it is important to note that our people in the Western Cape, our people in Langa and all other areas where they have been misled, will definitely stand up unashamedly ...