Hon Speaker, honourable President, Deputy President and hon members, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Mr President, on his re-election as the president of the ANC at the party's 2012 conference in Mangaung. [Applause.] It was gratifying to see that, contrary to popular belief and media speculation, the conference was peaceful.
Kuwe ke mkhuluwa, ndivile ukuba wonyulwe njengenqununu, ngoko ke, siza kuthumela abantwana esikolweni ukuze ubafundise ipolitiki. Ndiyabulela. [To you Sir, I've heard that you've been elected as the principal, we will therefore send children to school so that you can teach them politics. Thank you.]
Coming back to the business of the day, South Africans from all walks of life have, over the past few days, shared their views on your 2013 state of the nation address, sir. In this regard, the UDM would like to add its voice by proposing solutions to some of the critical issues affecting South Africa today.
The overreliance of state departments on consultants and independent contractors requires urgent attention. According to the Auditor-General's report, national government departments spent R33,5 billion on consultants between 2009 and 2011, while provincial departments spent another R68,5 billion. In other words, government departments spent a staggering R102 billion on consultants during that period. This is a damning indictment of a modern-day public administration.
It is also clear that there are serious structural and organisational deficiencies that cause departments to procure the services of consultants to do what the taxpayers pay them to do. The Public Service Commission should be requested to investigate and write a report on the causes of this overreliance of state departments on consultants and independent contractors. The truth of the matter is that the goals of the National Development Plan will not be realised if government continues to appoint incompetent people. The billions of rand wasted on consultants could have been used to create jobs.
While on the subject of job creation, we believe that it is possible to reduce unemployment. This can be done by government refurbishing, for instance, all the abandoned factories in areas such as Dimbaza, Butterworth, Queenstown, Mthatha; KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga; Ekurhuleni in Gauteng; Thohoyandou in Limpopo; and Mmabatho in North West, with a view to creating jobs for the youth.
We should partner with leading international and local companies in the textile and steel manufacturing industries in a mentorship programme for the youth. Upon completion of this mentorship programme, graduates should be put in charge of these factories. The much talked-about youth wage subsidy should be structured in a way that accommodates a programme of this nature.
In the past, a lot of raw materials were processed domestically, but today, these factories are closing down in droves. The common denominator is their inability to compete with imports from countries whose governments subsidise their products.
We are concerned about the business community's perceived preference for employing foreign nationals over South Africans. This trend has been observed in industries like security and hospitality, in particular. We need to address this, as it has serious implications for social cohesion. We have to consider whether businesses should not be compelled to ensure that 60% to 70% of their staff complement comprises of South Africans.
We must also deal with the tensions caused by the takeover of businesses in townships, small towns and rural areas by foreign nationals. These tensions are created by, amongst other factors, the fact that these businesses do not create jobs for local people - they are run by the foreign owners and their families.
There has been much talk about greening programmes for South Africa. Packaged properly, these programmes have the potential to create job opportunities for semi-skilled workers. Such job opportunities could range from projects on combating soil erosion to creating community forests, and so on.
You mentioned infrastructure development as one of the government's Apex Priorities. It would help public debate as well as progress monitoring if government publishes the infrastructure development map, including projects that are run by state-owned enterprises. For example, last year I wrote you a letter requesting your infrastructure committee to consider building a railway link between Mthatha, Kokstad, Queenstown and East London. The purpose of the railway line would be to improve public transport in these areas and reduce traffic, thus reducing the high rate of accidents on the