Mr Speaker, hon President and Deputy President, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members and honoured guests, as a young boy growing up, my father taught me the evils of gambling. Under threat of punishment, my older brothers and I were told not to gamble. In our area, gambling was largely in the form of cards and a dice. I obeyed my father's instructions, except that one day I found myself at a place where other boys were gambling. I did not gamble; I just stood there and watched.
Unfortunately that day we were ambushed by the then South African Police, and they apprehended us. I protested that I did not take part in the gambling, but I was told ... "Maar julle staan en kyk." [But you are standing there, looking on.] [Laughter.]
As a young boy then, I concluded that the system was unfair, for how could it lump gamblers and spectators together? Later in life, a lawyer friend of mine explained to me that to law-enforcement officers the fact that I stood there meant that I derived pleasure from what was happening, but if I had not, I should have gone to report that a crime was being committed. [Laughter.]
A moulana also taught me that according to the teachings of the prophet - peace be upon him - I should have received double punishment, because I had received enlightenment, and yet I did not share it with the gamblers. He told me that I was the worst offender. [Laughter.] We will come to this story later.
Mr President, your speech was by and large clear and coherent. The new infrastructure plan had clearly defined activities. The idea of major geographically focused areas is commendable. The plan has the potential to change the face of South Africa for the better and to create the much- needed jobs.
Let us talk about risk analysis, Mr President, and what can go wrong and therefore put this plan in jeopardy. Number one is corruption. Corruption, Mr President. We suspect that as you were addressing this House and making mention of the money allocated for the infrastructure, there were those who were already salivating, who took out their calculators to compute how much they could make for themselves. [Laughter.]
What is going to be the role of the Presidential Infrastructure Co- ordinating Commission, PICC, in ensuring that tenders are awarded to deserving bidders and that appointed contractors do not do shoddy work and leave us with poor infrastructure that will collapse at the mere mention of the words wind or floods? [Laughter.] What is the PICC going to do to ensure that there is no underspending, as there has been in the Eastern Cape, where the department of education only spent 28% of its allocated infrastructure grant between April and December 2011 - this, in a province that still has mud schools?
Hon President, you referred to the lesson learned from project management of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup build programme. Very well, sir. Azapo will be watching and we will speak out if we see things going wrong. Otherwise, history will judge us harshly and say to us ... "Maar julle staan en kyk." [Gelag.] [But you are standing there, looking on. [Laughter.]]
Azapo also welcomes the plan to refurbish hospitals and nurses' homes. Some of the infrastructure in our hospitals has deteriorated to unacceptable levels, mainly because of poor maintenance or no maintenance at all. We are disturbed by reports we get of nurses and other health professionals staying in dilapidated buildings. Azapo welcomes the plan to integrate road and rail. The plan, if successful, will reduce the damage that is done to our roads and remove dangerous substances being transported daily on our roads. It will also reduce the number of accidents on the roads of our land. And as you think of these plans, Mr President, Azapo urges you to seriously look at empowering the Department of Public Works to roll out some of these projects or to consider creating another state-owned enterprise to roll out the plan. It is called "Public Works", so let it work.
We thought, Mr President, that in your address you would say something about the situation of hospitals being unable to pay the National Health Laboratory Services, which resulted in the closure of some of the laboratories, temporary as it were, thus leading to the unavailability of services provided by those laboratories. How was the situation allowed to reach those levels?
Azapo has noted with appreciation that you have requested Eskom to seek options on how the electricity price requirements may be reduced. We agree that it is important that Eskom remain financially viable while electricity remains affordable. That is why we call upon the shareholders to increase their investment in Eskom. If this does not happen, many poor people will simply resort to firewood as fuel and, in the process, destroy the forests.
In the state of the nation address, Mr President, you declared 2011 as the year of job creation and promised the creation of 500 000 jobs; 350 000 people have been employed, so how do we calculate this? Is this the difference between the jobs that were created and the jobs that were lost? We need to understand. In the same breath, you also promised that fully- funded vacant posts in the Public Service would be filled. What is the outcome?
We support you and congratulate teachers, learners, parents and communities on the increase in the matric pass rate. In terms of the Eastern Cape, Mr President - yes, section 100(1)(b) to assist - we are disturbed by reports of a stand-off between the national team and provincial officials. Provincial officials are reported to be blocking and frustrating efforts by the national team to bring order. They've effectively shown them the wrong finger. The province is an integral part of South Africa and not some breakaway or secessionist republic. Do something to bring the Eastern Cape into line, for the sake of our children in that province. We have heard the tough talk, Mr President. Azapo now calls upon you to walk the talk.
We agree that the willing-seller, willing-buyer system has not been the best option. As we interact with the Green Paper, Azapo will call upon expropriation as a last resort where everything else has failed.
You want to eliminate all the harmful and abusive practices in labour broking. Well, you can't, Mr President, because the system itself is inherently abusive. It has no single benefit for the workers, because it was never designed to assist them. The solution, in Azapo's view, is a complete ban on labour brokers who are the modern form of slave owners.
We welcome the heritage project announcement, hon President, more especially the inclusion of other heroes from outside the ruling party. [Applause.] We have noted the inconclusive vote by the African Union to elect a Chairperson of the AU Commission. We have also noted that hon Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will still be a candidate at the next summit. Azapo wishes her well, but then, Mr President, you have not really taken us into confidence on why it is important for the AU, for the Southern African Development Community, for South Africa, and for the hon Minister to be at the helm of the commission. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]