... unlike your alliance, with whom you have just "gwinyad", which is Cope, the UDM and everybody else, in these corridors of power, that have no principles, and do not act in the interests of our people, but merely seek to assert the dominance of the DA with the hope that one day we will only have a two-party parliament and so forth. [Applause.]
Cosatu and the ANC will remain allies forever and will outlive all paper alliances, especially of those who bumped each other here in Parliament. It is interesting to note that your orchestrated, mischievous, cunning plot behind the motion of no confidence, that was raised last year was intended to ensure that the President is not re-elected in Mangaung. Your confession was quite revealing and we are happy to learn that hiding behind Constitutional Court proceedings, and the fact that the motion has expired, does not hold water at all.
The fact is that structures of the ANC have spoken. The people will speak in 2014 and vote the ANC into government again and you will remain here. [Applause.] Hopefully, the Madam honourable Premier of the Western Cape would have found somebody else to repeat what she once said here in Parliament.
In fact, if I were you, hon Mazibuko, I would be busy doing a background check on hon Lekota, because everything that he touches - although it seems goldish - actually turns into something else. [Laughter.] I can favour you with the numbers of Mr Mbhazima Shilowa and many other people who had fallen on in his road along a vicious trail to political power. [Laughter.]
Instead of cutting a dress to celebrate your short-lived governance of Tlokwe, I would be watching Cassius Lekota, for he has a lean and hungry look. Look at it. [Laughter.] Such men are dangerous. One of the most forgiving leaders of the ANC and of the country, Comrade Nelson Mandela, had to relieve hon Lekota as Premier of the Free State and redeploy him to the National Council of Provinces here. [Laughter.]
His energy in refusing to be silenced was not there when he was a leader of the ANC and of the Free State government. If this energy was there and was positive, revolutionary energy, we would not have had Harrismith as the first ever service delivery protest in this country on your watch and leadership. If this honesty, integrity and holier-than-thou attitude had been there, the ANC and Parliament would not have penalised you for having been silent about some wine cellar here and a bit of property in Bloemfontein and Durban, and probably a couple of shares in a petroleum distribution company. Now, because you are in the comfort of the opposition benches, the responsibility of governing is no longer on your shoulders, that's why you can easily, without fear, yell out all of those allegations and shout all of those things that you have been shouting every year when there is a debate on the state of the nation address.
In our view, as the ANC, the youth employment accord, which you referred to, honourable President, represents an integrated strategy to resolve youth unemployment in both the immediate term and the long term. It is an accord based on long days of engagement and discussion, but, more importantly, it is a sign of collective commitment by all sectors of our society. If the DA and all its hangers-on are unwilling to accept this consensus, the train will move with those who are prepared to move.
This accord identifies problems on both the supply and demand side of the labour market; it also facilitates commitments by both the private, Nedlac and public sector. As you don't have any experience in governing except in Tlokwe for six days, you wouldn't know what it means to establish consensus amongst different parties. [Laughter.] Part of this consensus includes a youth employment incentive; support for youth small, medium and micro-sized enterprises and youth co-operatives; the expansion of the community works programme through a youth brigade; the public sector investments in fast- growing industries; skills and training by both the private and public sector; and making education fashionable by the government and society in general.
To all of these, close to six areas, that have been agreed to by all sectors in Nedlac, the DA says it just wants one solution, which is the youth wage subsidy. Now that exposes the opportunism that lies behind the campaign by the DA for a youth wage subsidy. I think some other day, on a different day, I will have to sit with my comrade at Cosatu House and see how we finally deal with this energy on the youth wage subsidy.
Honourable President, as part of "the year of the artisan", which is driven by the Department of Higher Education and Training, this government needs to urgently train thousands of bricklayers, roofers, electricians, plumbers, welders, motor mechanics, painters, tillers, fitters and turners and panel beaters in order to take advantage of the public sector infrastructure plans or to support them as SMMEs and co-operatives. [Applause.]
The vocational component of FET colleges is an important platform to ensure that we produce these skills in their thousands. Listen who is talking about selling out and where she is sitting. [Laughter.] We call on young people who qualify to take advantage of the free education already being provided in further education and training colleges.
According to the Minister of Higher Education and Training, no young person is required to pay when registering at an FET college. We hope that young people will take advantage of this opportunity. It also means, honourable President, that the government and the private sector have to join hands in revitalising the manufacturing sector and ensuring that young people are employees of choice. Creating jobs for youth and supporting the youth SMME and co-operatives initiative means taking advantage of the demand for cheaper, but importbased goods, such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, decoders and millions of other goods that would create youth employment.
There are more cars, for instance, in South Africa than people in Swaziland, but all of the cars on our roads are either imported or locally assembled. Honourable President, is this not the time that we ask the question: Where is the South African car?
The fact that since January more than 315 000 solar geysers have been installed in poverty-stricken households means that there is potential to support SMMEs and co-operatives, but also to support a huge manufacturing capacity and yield thousands of jobs.
In fact, with the more than 50 incentives that are already in place in the Department of Trade and Industry and in many other government initiatives, we hope that those initiatives will be directed towards new initiatives such as this one involving solar geyser heaters and so forth.
Mr President, over time, you have been called upon - and that call was repeated here today - to build the confidence of the private sector in business. We believe, as the ANC, that the people who need reassurance are the marginalised, excluded, impoverished and the exploited youth who never doubted the commitment of this government or ever lost confidence in it.
As you serve the last year of your first term as President, let it be for the teenagers who have just completed their Grade 12 and hope to enter the university world, or for the young person who has just completed their FET studies and hopes to be an artisan, or for a collective of young men and women who need seed capital to start a small business or cooperative, or for a school drop-out who wants to re-enter the education system. Young people out there are not expecting a hand-out from this government; they are expecting a hand-up; and look to us to facilitate opportunities. I promise you, Comrade honourable President, that if that can be achieved, no amount of vulgarity from my peer, hon Mazibuko, will ever shake you or the ANC. Let it be done for the youth and let it be done before it is too late. Thank you. [Applause.]