Deputy Speaker, Deputy President, Ministers, the chairpersons of the two committees, Mr Mufamadi and Mr Sogoni, hon members and our guests in the gallery, let me first reiterate what the hon Mufamadi, and indeed the Deputy Minister, said earlier on - that the MTBPS and the various reports that we have had on the progress that we as South Africa have made over the past 19 years is about a remarkable success story. It's about the progress we have made against formidable odds as a country that came from the kind of past that some of us tend to forget quite easily.
The MTBPS - setting aside the success factors - is about the following. It's about saying that we continue to support the economic recovery, that the total consolidated expenditure will grow from R1,1 trillion to R1,4 trillion in 2016-17, and that we are maintaining, notwithstanding our efforts of consolidation, real growth in expenditure of 2,2%. Let us also remind ourselves, despite all the doomsayers that we have heard here today, that in real terms the capital spending grows at 4,1%, so you add inflation to it and it's the fastest growing noninterest expenditure item over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. Job creation programmes and social security programmes receive 8% per year in real terms as well. The MTBPS is also about the National Development Plan, about government working to reduce growth bottlenecks in our country, which over the next two to three years will make a formidable impact on the growth patterns in this country.
How hon members that have spoken here - some of them - can say that they can't see any announcements which reflect the fact that we are addressing the constraints and the opportunities that we have as a country amazes me.
So, they can't see the fact that a giant power plant called Medupi is being built, as is Kusile. They can't seem to see that there is progressive implementation of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Powerment Programmes, which have attracted over R50 billion in investments, 60% of which come from outside of this country. They can't see the fact that we have passed draft regulations for shale gas exploration, which, once it gets going, will begin to turn the energy situation in this country around.
They can't see the fact that we have taken measures to centralise all steps to acquire mining licences and the water licences that accompany mining licences, that we are strengthening the capacity of competition authorities, and that a draft Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill will reinforce investment rights, both for ourselves in South Africa and for those who come from abroad, to invest and give them greater certainty. In a similar vein, we have taken a number of other steps which continue to promote growth and development in South Africa.
We will also meet our fiscal target of 4,2% this year and we will work within the expenditure ceiling that we have indicated. We will continue with the fiscal consolidation programme that we have committed to, and we acknowledge that there needs to be better quality of spending.
There also needs to be better oversight from Parliament. So, that is not about the quotation of numbers. It's about consistent work by parliamentary committees, with departments, to ensure that they deliver better.
At the same time, I want to talk about the two hon members Swart. Both claim that they are the handsome guy, so it's hard to work out which exactly that is. Outputs and the way they are articulated are one thing, but we must acknowledge that no one can precisely articulate outputs, and so, some of the variances are about drafting. They are about the quality or precision, if you like, and we have started a process which over the next five years will give us far greater insight into what is actually happening. No one can argue that we need more efficient spending in government, and we need greater capacity in government as well, but we are a 19-year-old state. We are building a new state machinery in South Africa ... [Applause.] ... something which has hardly been done in the world in the past century. We will get there, but we have to take important incremental steps as we do so.
So we need to remind either the more or the less handsome hon Swart that we are not Reagan's baby. We are, if you like, a constipated baby: there is no pass through. A large part of the money that we collect from taxpayers in South Africa is spent well. On the margin, there is corruption, and on the margin there can be more efficient spending - no doubt about that - but pointing fingers does not give you the more efficient spending. We all have to do our piece of work in order to ensure that we get the better spend that we actually require.
Let me go to the other two hon members whom I want to twin as well - the hon Koornhof, who I thought was an optimist, and the hon Mulder, who I can understand is a bit of a pessimist. We in the ANC, I must confess, have a half-full approach, not a half-empty approach. We have an optimistic and a can-do approach, not a pessimistic approach to life. We know that we have a historical mission to rebuild this country in the spirit of the Constitution ... [Applause.] ... and that we will actually prosecute. To briefly address their points, let me say we are not as fragile as some people want to make us out to be in South Africa, that economists such as Mr Laubscher are certainly entitled to their view, but they need to understand what a great recession, a once in 70 years recession, actually means. Yes, there is no doubt that recessions will actually begin to expose weaknesses in any country in the world, particularly as the recession has done in Europe.
So, we will recover from those weaknesses. We will ensure that we build a South Africa that grows faster and creates more jobs for people who are sitting in the gallery. We will continue with our commitment to the social wage, support health, support education, support housing, create better sanitation environments, and create a better living environment for all South Africans - a commitment that very few parties in Parliament can actually make - but, above all, we will ensure that our children have a much better future. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Bill read a first time.