I will not be flummoxed by what you are saying. The broad principles that govern the SOEs are the following: Firstly, it is corporate governance. SOEs should be run properly, should have accountable boards, its executives should not receive obscene salaries, and members should not be paid when they do not attend board meetings and are doing "board hopping"; secondly, the state must own these enterprises; thirdly, there should be strategic intervention; fourthly, the state should seek meaningful partners in the SOEs; fifthly, there should be capitalisation and funding; sixthly, there should be a clear-cut policy concerning the running the SOEs; and finally ... [Interjections.] ... the Professional Regulation Commission's report is coming now after the President, in his wisdom, foresaw the need for a commission. The commission had to look into the mess of all these enterprises that are littered all over the country, the corporations and so on, which were formed during the apartheid era, some of which are hidden. You hid them and the PRC is unearthing them. Those are the parastatals that have made a lot of people very, very rich. [Interjections.]
Finally, you should not speak against affirmative action. Affirmative action was introduced not only by the ANC, but by the Nationalist Party in 1948 when they came to power. They understood that there had to be corrections for the embarrassment of the party they took over from, the United Party, and embarked on a very vigorous campaign of affirmative action and produced doctors, lawyers and engineers.
Now, we must not be shy, as the ANC, as we come from the downtrodden ... [Interjections.] ... to try and suppress them. We should not be shy. We are doing it not because we are reversing apartheid or we are hitting back, but we are carrying the burden of debt and deprivation of many, many years. [Interjections.]
In order to avoid a social revolution and an uprising, like the one you saw in Marikana, it is important that the state must intervene, and when it intervenes, it would obviously be presenting opportunities to those people who were disadvantaged. It is not affirmative action. Thank you very much. [Time expired.] [Applause.]