Hon Speaker, I produced no person, as it is claimed, for Polokwane, not at all. So, I shouldn't be blamed for somebody who has certain characteristics of his own. It is not my fault. I never participated in the production of certain persons. [Laughter.]
I think you should not make the mistake of confusing ANC members who behave in a particular way at a particular time for very specific reasons and then say if they behave in that way they have been created by others. The ANC is a very democratic organisation where people differ in their views and they also have views about the leaders they prefer to lead them. Now, if somebody prefers a particular leader it doesn't mean that that leader created that person because they are exercising democracy and you should know this. Have you forgotten in just a few years? [Laughter.]
With regard to the conditions in the mines, I think it will be an unfair mistake to compare what government is doing and what the mines have been doing over the centuries. I think it will be an unfair comparison. Conditions in the mines had been terrible all the time, especially in that area which is owned by companies, not by government.
You also know that the question of housing for the majority of this country under previous governments was also horrible. We are addressing that legacy insofar as the country is concerned. It is being suggested that it is the ANC that is not giving people houses, as if it is the ANC that, once it came to government, dispossessed people, and therefore it is its problem now to give people houses, instead of appreciating that the ANC, ever since it came into power, has had programmes and built houses. But you cannot resolve that issue overnight because it is a huge issue spanning over centuries. So, to link that to the conditions in the mines, and you all know what those conditions are, I think is an unfair comparison. We cannot stop criticising companies that have money. We have made policies that they should change housing from being hostels, as you know them, into family houses. Some other mines are doing it, and that's why you are able to stand and criticise Lonmin mine, because the progress there is not like that of other mines. Those are the facts. Therefore we have a right to criticise Lonmin mine. Thank you. [Laughter.] [Applause.]