Chairperson and hon Minister, I must say I'm acting as a carbon copy of my colleague who serves on this committee.
Let me say, though, that the IFP is not a novice when it comes to government. My leader served in both the Mandela and Mbeki administrations and made valuable contributions that have never been communicated to the public. How sad.
While talking about government communication, I must acknowledge the words of the leader of the Chinese Revolution, Mao Tse-tung, who said that those who do not go to the people must not have any right to speak. So, yes, the IFP acknowledges the right of our government to interact with its citizenry.
NeBhayibheli liyasho ukuthi isizwe sami siyawubhubha ngenxa yokuswela ulwazi. [Even the Bible says that "my people perish because of lack of knowledge".]
We, as the opposition, must remain ever vigilant because, as the saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Now, let me just tease out a few of these elements of communication against which we must be vigilant. One of them is the content of communication - the content of what government communicates must be accurate and nonpropagandistic. Now, when I say what we communicate must be accurate, it is very important, because if there is no synergy between what government communicates and what the people on the ground experience, then it is a recipe for disaster.
Those who are of my age will remember that publication by the Nationalist government called Intuthuko. It was a Zulu version of a magazine that was published by the Nationalist government. It was so propagandistic and so glossy that it destroyed itself. In fact, I remember, as a high-school student, burning that magazine, because it did not speak to what we were experiencing on the ground. You must be careful of that.
Let us take another element of this. [Interjections.] It is unparliamentary to say "shut up". [Laughter.]