Madam Deputy Speaker, the President's speech and the contributions from the ANC members to this debate have let South Africa down ... [Interjections.] ... just when we needed real leadership. This debate was an opportunity to assure South Africa that this government has big ideas to tackle our significant problems, to show that this President was prepared to take tough, even unpopular decisions to introduce key reforms to enhance delivery, but it was an opportunity missed.
While we ended yesterday's session with hon Manamela's flattery, it was begun with the hon Chief Whip's paranoia about the fact that the opposition was now united. Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, the opposition is uniting, because it is so obvious to all of us what a disastrous government the ANC has been. [Applause.]
The hon Chief Whip went on to accuse us of being conservative. I say it is you who is conservative. It is conservative not to put every ounce of your efforts into breaking down divisions between the insiders and outsiders in this country. These divisions were created by apartheid, but the ANC has widened them. I will give you three examples: Firstly, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation has found that, since 1993, since the ANC government, inequality has increased in South Africa. Secondly, today, the dominant trade union leverages its political influence to block labour market reforms and keep 6,7 million outside in unemployment, whilst also blocking education reforms, destroying our children's chances of working their way out of poverty. Thirdly, the state-owned enterprises are the ultimate insiders, killing competition, undermining the ability of small businesses to compete, and many of them survive solely on bail-outs. They keep administered prices high, drive inflation up and undermine growth.
Madam Deputy Speaker, this government does not stand up for the little guy. It stands for the status quo. That is the difference between the DA and the ANC. We stand for social justice; you stand for more of the same. [Interjections.] The DA's new economic policy would cut red tape to free up business, fix government's education, rebuild state support for small business and help to give ordinary people a stake in the economy. That is why we are progressive, and you are the conservatives. [Interjections.]
Hon Deputy Speaker, the members may not realise this, but there's a party in this House that didn't win a single vote in the last election, the SA Communist Party. [Laughter.] [Applause.] Nevertheless, we had the unfortunate duty of listening to the Minister of Higher Education telling us how he thinks it was a stroke of genius to create his Ministry. I am sure he does, because he has this new Ministry. He got to spend R1,1 million on a new BMW. [Applause.]
He rattled off a series of apparent achievements in expanding access to higher education, but failed to elaborate on the fundamental problem, that further education and training, FET, graduates are not equipped for our job markets. He failed to answer the questions about how they plan to deliver the 8 500 Seta certificates or 22 000 FET certificates that are more than six months outstanding. We are training these graduates and not giving them the certificates to prove it. He also didn't say what he would do about the fact that residence fees at Fort Hare have been increased by 100% this year.
It was a speech totally short on solutions, unlike Minister Manuel and Minister Sisulu, who actually had some excellent suggestions of reforms for education and the Public Service. We warmly welcome those suggestions. We would, because for more than a decade they have been at the heart of our policy alternatives for South Africa. Forgive us some scepticism, because every time these ideas emerge from somewhere in the governing party, their union alliance partners stop them in their tracks and stomp them to death. Why will it be different this time? I hope it is.
Hon President, I would be interested in your view on Minister Sisulu's patriarchal, sexist and ageist advice to hon Buthelezi on how he should address the Leader of the Opposition. It is unacceptable that these views are repeated in this House by a national leader. Will you speak out against them, hon President?
Yesterday, Minister Gigaba gave us long lists of projects he says this government is spending money on, but it's difficult to take these lists seriously when we look at this government's real track record of spending on infrastructure. In the four years since 2009, the President has announced total infrastructure spending plans of more than R1 trillion, but this government has underspent on that promised infrastructure by more than R300 billion. The bottom line is that you can chop 30% off any infrastructure number you hear the President or his Ministers promise.
Minister Patel also rattled off a list of projects, but there are major question marks over his as well. We agree with him that Africa is the future, but is it really a credible claim for him to gloat about our trade performance with the rest of the continent? Africa does have a billion consumers, but we are currently, as South Africa, only the 10th largest exporter to Africa. Italy exports more than us. So do Spain, Holland and Korea. This is outrageous; it is shocking, given our place on the continent, and it's a failure of this government to engage properly with the continent.
Every now and then they do have a good idea. The youth wage subsidy would have created 178 000 jobs for young people. It was announced by the President in 2012 at this podium, and Cosatu has been allowed to block it for three years, while youth unemployment continues to grow. To show Minister Patel that it can work, and despite the fact that the vast majority of the economic budget sits at national level, we have piloted a youth wage subsidy here in the Western Cape. In three years, we've created 3 000 jobs with a 60% retention rate at R30 000 per job. This very small pilot project shows that the youth wage subsidy can work. [Applause.] Perhaps this is why the Western Cape has the lowest unemployment rate of any province in the country. We also have incredibly low levels of discouraged work seekers, almost no discouraged work seekers in the Western Cape. The DA has turned this province into the province of opportunity. [Interjections.]
Hon Deputy Speaker, why does the ANC seem to care so little about young people, when there are 4,7 million South Africans under the age of 34 in our country who can't find work? Could it be that the ANC doesn't represent them? Let me tell you what I mean. A total of 30% of South Africans are under the age of 34. Next year, 9 million of us will be eligible to vote.
There are 12 Members of Parliament in this House who are under the age of 34, but 9 of us are in the opposition. When young South Africans look to Parliament for their representatives, they look to the opposition benches. [Interjections.] If you want to know why the DA is so confident about our growth and the ANC's decline, it is because we are speaking for young South Africans, and you are not. [Applause.]
Hon Deputy Speaker, we congratulate the ANC on their 100-year anniversary, their centenary, but their age is showing. [Applause.]
Lastly, on the topic of things that are past their sell-by date, the next speaker is the Deputy Minister of Public Works. I personally am looking forward to hearing three things from him: Firstly, how he can believe, as he said last year, that this government is on track with creating 5 million jobs, when today there are 1,2 million more unemployed South Africans than there were when Jacob Zuma took office.
Secondly, I hope he mentions the New Growth Path at least once to make the Minister of Economic Development feel better about the fact that nobody mentioned it at all, except for him, one time. It seems that the market-led National Development Plan supported by all of the parties in this House has finally won out over the interventionist New Growth Path. [Applause.]
The new global consensus on economic development is a centrist one; it recognises that the incredible growth experience of countries like Brazil and China has been driven by their bold, market-led reforms. As they moved from total state intervention to free markets, growth was unleashed. This is at the heart of the DA's 8% growth policy, and is at the heart of what young people in this country want to see from their party. That party, in 2019, will be the Democratic Alliance. I thank you. [Applause.]