Hon Speaker, it is a great pleasure for me to speak in the House. [Laughter.] In fact, it is a great honour to be given the opportunity to pay tribute to you, hon Manuel, whom I normally call Trevor or Trev, because one is not often given this opportunity. I want to thank the leadership of the ANC for giving me this opportunity.
When we look at the hon Manuel, we seem to forget where he comes from. I hope people will want to listen to this. Yes, he comes from what is now known as the Western Cape. He joined the Labour Party in 1969, as did so many disciplined and loving children of their fathers, at the bequest and with the encouragement of his father. Then, like any young man, he looked at South Africa and he said: "Right, this is the Labour Party". And then there was the United Democratic Front - a few young people were talking together about the UDF. He actually got off his motorbike and said: "Guess what? I think this United Democratic Front is the way to go. It is the way to go because it is what we are all trying to do now," and he did it with conviction. You know what students are like - absolute conviction and passion - and then he got back on his motorbike, saying the churches, civic associations, trade unions, student organisations and sports bodies are all important. One may have asked him: "What other sports do you play, other than riding the motorbike?" These were all of the organisations that the hon Manuel was involved in. Then, in 1983 it was decided - this is it. It was really unplanned.
And this is the thing about the hon Manuel, he digs deep. I am a farmer's daughter and, you know, the knowledge of digging deep is so powerful. You dig deep, you nurture, you feed the soil and you actually surprise yourself at what comes out of it - yes, the United Democratic Front. [Applause.] Even today, as we sit here - yes, at a crossroads - we need to remember people like the hon Manuel, whom I know as Trevor.
As a clinical psychologist, when I had come out of a bomb blast, I found that they had decided to put me in Finance - Finance! What did I know about Finance? [Interjections.] But we had Trevor Manuel there in the background in Trade and Industry, the committee of which I now find myself chairing. And thank heavens I have learned one or two things since then - like how to use a calculator.
Then we found you, Trevor, telling us when you became Minister of Finance - out of your khakhi shorts, off your motorbike - to pull in our belts. What? We had to create jobs. I hope you understand that, Minister Manuel? We asked what you meant by, "pull in your belts". You said, "I am cutting the budget." And, yes, it was quite a draconian sweep of the sword. [Laughter.] You said you were cutting it, and that was it. You know, I thought what a far cry it was - from this jovial lad to what he had now become. And then he tried to explain that he had been brought to Gauteng, which was now becoming the province, you see. We wanted to discuss that with him. Jabu Moleketi was the then MEC for finance and also wanted to discuss his new approach.
We learned that we had to start thinking of serving our people. That meant we had to keep funds, and that meant we could not service debt only, and that meant we must not incur any more debt unless it was for constructive issues like something you could hold, not this consumable expenditure.
Half of us did not know what he was talking about but ... [Laughter.] ... we said yes. In fact I remember the DA was also saying yes. Everyone in there was just saying yes, yes, yes - the "three bags full" sort of thing. [Laughter.] Then I said, right, what is this? We found ourselves with the Public Finance Management Act and we marched ahead with the general's orders.
As chair of Gauteng Finance, I did not realise the implications of us as a province and that Parliament was higher than us, so I invited Parliament to join us on a study trip to Australia and New Zealand. Fortunately, I had a very understanding Chair of the Standing Committee on Finance of the National Assembly at that time who understood. You know how these people in the provinces are - let us just agree.
We went there - to Australia and New Zealand - and they were shocked to learn how far we had advanced in two years. They said, "But you know, we are not there yet and we have been going on this road for seven years." We said, "But we were following you." However, at that point we were ahead of them.
And Trevor was there. That was you, but you had disappeared and I could not see beyond where you were sitting. All I can say ... [Laughter.] ... is that you taught us sound fundamentals, and not only of good governance. You also said that if a country wanted to know your policy, they should read your budget and they would be able to deduce from it what you really cared about. He added to this by saying, "Since they would not even listen to me, Fubbs, check your budget. "Since then I have been checking it very regularly.
May I just say one thing, quoted from Okri - he said: "The new era is ... here." Thank you, hon Manuel, for bringing in the new era of sound financial fundamentals. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]