Hon Chair, hon Minister and hon Deputy Minister ... [Interjections.]
Ngingakaqali ukukhuluma ngihlale phansi? [Do you want me to sit down before I even start talking?]
The finance family, led by hon Fuzile, and the SA Revenue Service, Sars, led by hon Oupa and the deputy commissioner, good morning. The ANC prides itself on deploying the two comrades, the hon Minister and the hon Deputy Minister, here. The reason for my saying this is the performance and the turnaround strategy that we have seen in this department. A few minutes ago, we heard what the Deputy Minister said about the entities that are being monitored and evaluated by this department. Therefore, we in the ANC say that, indeed, the two comrades are equal to the job. [Applause.] When the world was crying about the inflows and the outflows, you came and told us that we should relax because everything was being managed. Indeed, it was being managed. That is why we are where we are today.
This is in contrast to what we saw from the 1970s until the mighty ANC took over, when there were no regulations. However, the ANC put in the regulations that were intimately connected to the project of transforming the deep inequalities that were affecting our country.
We in the ANC want to ensure that our well-regulated Treasury contributes, not just to the financial market, but to the development objectives enshrined in our Freedom Charter, where our people will be endowed with economic freedom, and be freed from the shackles of poverty, inequality, lack of shelter, and various other development challenges that we witness.
It is the ANC's plan to strengthen economic transformation in South Africa so as to reverse the policies of separate development and their deplorable consequences. Today we must be proud that through our National Treasury we have been able to successfully institutionalise an efficient and sustainable public financial system and overall fiscal reform.
As part of the continued fight for fiscal reform and economic development, National Treasury accounts for every cent spent by providing regulations that enforce fiscal discipline in the budget expenditure of national, provincial, and local government. For example, if those on my left do not understand, departments are required to have monitoring and evaluation systems in place for each and every activity so as to align it with the budget.
It is so unfortunate that people don't sit in finance forums and don't even want to be educated about financial issues. The ANC appreciates the fact that it will be difficult to fund our infrastructure projects from the fiscus only. It is for this reason that we always hear the National Treasury calling for effective and efficient participation by the private sector so as to overcome the triple challenges that we are all aware of. Even though there are those in denial, poverty, inequality and unemployment are there. Believe it or not, they are there.
The financial commitment of R300 billion towards infrastructure by the ANC- led government will require stringent oversight from all of us, whether you are on the left or on the right, so as to ensure that the National Treasury achieves its own objectives. The massive infrastructure development drive will be overseen by the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, and will be heavily controlled with the guidance of the Treasury.
In terms of the principle of transparency, His Excellency President Jacob Zuma outlined clearly the geographic and financial breakdown of this infrastructure project. It is a manifestation of the vision of the ANC that every cent counts. In its estimate of national expenditure, Treasury outlined exactly how funding of projects will be broken down for health, basic education infrastructure, information and communication technologies, and regional integration.
As parliamentarians we have been delegated the duty to ensure that any allocated funds are spent as planned. Overseeing the performance of our departments includes monitoring the procurement procedures. In this, we need to applaud our National Treasury for putting the Chief Procurement Officer in place. Hon Minister, we really thank you. We as the committee, when looking at the strategic plan given to us by your department, were pleased to hear that something was being done to ensure that fiscal discipline is being achieved.
Fiscal discipline should not be limited to departments, but should also be extended to the role of parliamentarians in monitoring government's activities. In the National Treasury division, during our strategic plan presentations, we heard that there were programmes that were in place, assisting in training the staff in the departments. As committee members, we are also requesting to be involved in or to be given an opportunity to attend meetings on those programmes. We strongly believe that the knowledge and skill in the committee will assist in maintaining effective and efficient oversight. All of this has been done by the department led through its policies by the ANC.
Therefore, I see no problem or why other people should cry when the department provides the strategic plan. You find people crying for the SA National Roads Agency, Sanral, when it is not the topic of the strategic planning. Strategic planning is strategic planning. When you are talking about the strategic planning, you have to talk about strategic planning. When you are talking about Sanral, you have to talk about Sanral. So, you can't push the department to talk about Sanral. Therefore, the director- general was right in giving us the strategic plans so that we would be able to monitor whether they are aligned to the activities. Let me take this opportunity to highlight a few concerns that we in the ANC have noted. We have noted that there are independent tax practitioners who operate within our communities or financial environment. We are proposing to the Minister of Finance that he should introduce measures to regulate the independent tax practitioners. Tax practitioners, like other financial intermediaries, are playing a crucial role in the transformation of our economy. They enable us to retrieve tax monies, which will go towards growing our economy and changing the livelihoods of our people.
The regulation is not a form of constraint on tax practitioners, but of liberating them from using gaps in our policies to engage in malpractice. Such regulations will enable Treasury to uphold its values of financial integrity and transparency. In addition, entities such as Sars, who share clients with practitioners, will have a framework through which to mediate any concerns against internal stakeholders such as tax practitioners. Through regulation, the perception of tax practitioners as an unscrupulous category of service will diminish trust and interest in the services of tax practitioners among the existing client base.
In conclusion, in light of the objectives and principles underpinning the work of National Treasury in this country, particularly those that seek to maintain integrity, accountability and transparency in our policies and budgets, we in the ANC support this Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]