To run such an economy we need a department with strong institutional memory, with highly skilled, dedicated, patriotic personnel, regardless of colour or gender, and with at least some staff with language skills linked to our biggest trading partners. Board meetings at the Standard Bank now have simultaneous interpretation of Mandarin and English. How many DTI staff can speak Chinese, or indeed any other languages?
Generally the department is well run and, if there are weaknesses, the director-general and his senior staff are doing their best to correct them.
As the hon Fubbs reminded us, private investment is the handmaiden of this department - capital! We need money - foreign direct investment and local investment. That is how we will grow our industries and our industrialisation.
However, did hon members notice that the hon Minister did not speak about the National Development Plan? He spoke about the New Growth Path. [Interjections.] Nothing about that!
We notice, too, that the Minister should act strongly against people like Patrick Craven. What business has Patrick Craven to comment on Ipap and to use that political swearword "neoliberal"? The Minister should firmly repudiate those communists who are trying to cripple the NDP. If he did that, his pipeline of investment would grow exponentially, because people who are investing with capital want to see that. However, the Minister said there was an "echo" on African investment at the World Economic Forum this past week.
Let me quote to you what the richest man in Africa had to say at that forum and in an interview with Business Day. Listen to this:
In Nigeria, we had these laws demanding that any (foreign) investor had to have a Nigerian partner. But that just dried up the capital flows.
Are you listening, Mr Minister? [Laughter.] What did Mr Dangote go on to say? He said:
Now anyone can do business with anyone in Nigeria.
[Interjections.] He has about R6 billion in investments in South Africa. He went on to say - and this is not an umlungu [white person] speaking; this is a black Nigerian:
... South Africa's BEE laws and policies would have to be reviewed in order to attract more investment from Africa to South Africa ...
He went on to say:
... (South Africa's) BEE rules and regulations benefited only 5%-10% of the population.
The Minister is pushing through a BEE Bill, and I have written about it on www.politicsweb.co.za. This Bill comes 20 years after freedom and is highly problematical. It complicates and holds back investment. It denies the vision of Nelson Mandela, the hon Trevor Manuel and Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, and reaffirms the stream of race victimology and greed that Malema and Manyi embody.
South Africa is actually doing very well. There are a lot of people in this country who are always thinking, "Siyahlupheka! Siyahlupheka!" [We are poor! We are poor!] I want to tell you, South Africa is doing very well. The black middle class has more than doubled in the past eight years. It has grown to 4,2 million people. Motor car ownership by the black middle class has increased from 750 000 to 1,9 million. That is a huge achievement.
Minister Patel and our President point out that the South African economy has grown by 83% in the past 20 years, but we are only going to grow it if we attract private capital. The Nigerians understand that.
But what does the hon Fubbs say? Listen to her comments. She says, well, we have to bring in private investment, but we must control these blighters because they creep through the cracks in the wall! [Laughter.] Not only that, but when Walmart comes, what does one get? A genuine attitude by the government of being anti. They are not welcomed with open arms. No, no, no! They support the Competition Tribunal.
This is the same attitude our Minister of International Relations and Co- operation has. Her department is called Dirco - which sounds like an engineering company! [Laughter.] The Minister of International Relations and Co-operation speaks of when the British cut our aid. That is actually a source of pride to me as a South African, because it is telling me what the British are saying, that they have made an assessment that the South Africans are doing so well they do not need aid! But what does our Minister do? She throws a fit! I would be proud of the aforementioned fact. It also shows you that the rest of the world sees that we are doing well.
Our problem is the left. It is the communist trade unions and wildcat strikes that are damaging our country, and the Minister must understand that. He must not pussyfoot around them; he must make a strong statement objecting to that attitude! Then we will have capital pouring into South Africa, as it is into Nigeria. [Interjections.] [Applause.]