Adjunkspeaker, ek dink in hierdie raad verskil ons oor baie sake en ek dink dis deel van die demokrasie. As dit egter oor infrastruktuur gaan, behoort daar baie min verskille te wees, omdat dit so 'n belangrike deel van ekonomiese groei is. Almal besef dat daar nie ekonomiese groei gaan wees sonder infrastruktuur nie.
Waaroor die VF Plus in die verlede krities was - en ook in die toekoms krities sal wees - is die planne wat hier gemaak is of Kabinetsbesluite wat pragtig deur ons almal gesteun is en dan langs die pad wegraak en eintlik nooit op die grond geindig het nie. Die redes was dikwels rompslomp. Baie keer was dit 'n gebrek aan kordinasie waar departemente in silo's [afsondering] werk of wanneer goedbedoelde projekte wat tot almal se voordeel sou wees, iewers langs die pad gekanselleer moes word.
Hierdie Wet probeer juis dit oplos. Dit probeer daardie probleme tot niet maak. In daardie opsig sal die VF Plus dit onvoorwaardelik steun.
Daar is detail wat nog uitgepraat moet word. Ons glo daar is geleentheid in die komitees en die debat om die detail uit te praat, maar dis vir Suid- Afrika so belangrik dat ons nie agter raak, wat infrastruktuur betref nie. Ek dink die beste voorbeeld bly die Wreldbeker waar ons gewys het, toe ons onder druk was, dat stadia en infrastruktuur gebou kon word. Die geheim daardie tyd was dat daar wel spesifieke spertye was en ons het sekere van die beperkende maatrels van die regering opgehef om seker te maak die infrastruktuur werk.
Ek glo hierdie is so belangrik dat ons dit selfs moet oorweeg om sekere maatrels op te hef om suksesvol te wees.
Suid-Afrika is tans nog die ekonomiese reus in Afrika. Ons het rede om trots daarop te wees. In sommige berekeninge is ons nog steeds twee keer sterker as Nigeri, drie keer sterker as Egipte en omtrent vyf keer sterker as 50% van Afrika-lande saam. Maar volgens projeksie gaan Nigeri ons binnekort verbysteek, met die huidige groei. Ek wil nie onnodig in 'n kompetisie wees nie, maar dit sal 'n refleksie wees op hierdie Parlement as die rede daarvoor is dat ons nie infrastruktuur voorsien het en nie die Wet deurgevoer het om dit moontlik te maak om billik te kan groei en die reus wat ons tans in Afrika is te kan bly nie. Ek dank u. (Translation of Afrikaans speech follows.)
[DR P W A MULDER: Deputy Speaker, I am of the opinion that in this council we disagree about many issues, and I think it is part of the democratic process. However, where infrastructure is concerned, there ought to be very few disagreements because it is such an important part of economic growth. Everyone realises that without infrastructure no economic growth will take place.
That which the FF Plus criticised in the past - and will also criticise in the future - are the plans which were drawn up here or decisions taken by Cabinet which were spectacularly supported by us all, only to then get lost along the way and actually never come to fruition. Red tape was often to blame. Often it was due to a lack of co-ordination because departments were operating in silos, or in isolation, or when projects with good intentions which would benefit all, had to be cancelled along the way.
This Act indeed tries to find a solution. It tries to get rid of those problems. In that regard the FF Plus will support it unconditionally.
There are details which still need to be dealt with. We believe the opportunity exists in the committees and the debate to deal with the details, but it is of such importance to South Africa that we do not fall behind where infrastructure is concerned.
I think the best example remains the World Cup when we showed, when we were under pressure, that stadia and infrastructure could be built. The secret at the time was that specific due dates existed and we abolished certain restrictive measures of government to ensure that the infrastructure was operational. I believe this is of such importance that we should even consider abolishing certain measures in order to achieve success.
At present South Africa is still the economic powerhouse in Africa. We have reason to be proud of this. According to some calculations we are still twice as powerful than Nigeria, three times more powerful than Egypt and about five times more powerful than 50% of African countries put together. But according to statistics Nigeria will soon overtake us, present growth considered. I do not want to seem unnecessarily competitive, but it will be a reflection on this Parliament if the underlying reason is that we did not provide infrastructure and did not promulgate the Act in order to enable us to have moderate growth and to remain the powerhouse which we are in Africa at present. I thank you.]