Chair and hon members, the prevalence of poverty in our society continues to cast a shadow across the achievements made under democracy. It is not poverty alone that threatens societies, but rather the extreme inequalities and disparities between the poorest of the poor and the super rich. Deep mutual resentment and contempt are bred in societies by these extremes living within viewing distance of each other
Sadly, the growth of a new middle class and elite, even though it has given some black individuals wealth, has only exacerbated the vast gulf between the haves and the have-nots. It is unfortunately so that a certain culture of conspicuous consumption has become fashionable among the new elite.
The fact that an MEC can spend R100 000 on a government credit card for a single dinner with a small group of guests is just one example of that extravagant flaunting of new-found wealth and power. Is it any wonder that this culture of get rich quick and spend recklessly has created the conditions in society in which violent robbery is endemic, in which people are killed for as little as a cellphone, in which a schoolchild can stab to death a peer over borrowed money? Poverty presents less of a challenge than the arrogant disregard of the rich for the concerns and aspirations of the poor. I thank you. [Applause.]