Mr Speaker, Comrade President, Deputy President, comrades and hon members, I rise on behalf of the APC to congratulate you, hon President, on your state of the nation address. You spoke to some of the issues critical to taking us forward as a country with clarity, focus and detail.
Our Constitution enjoins us to honour those who suffered for justice in our country. In this year of the centenary of the liberation movement, the APC wants to reiterate that yes, we have a future as much as we have a past. Yes, we had a brutal colonial system of white minority rule that oppressed and exploited the African majority politically, economically and culturally, and that as we live and enjoy this freedom, let's not forget where we come from.
Rural development, land reform and agriculture must be elevated to a higher pedestal as areas of possible and easy competitive advantage. Africans must consume what they produce. Productive land should not be allowed to lie fallow.
The APC agrees fully with you, Comrade President, that land reform has to be done differently. Land reform must be seen not only as a matter of historical redress, but also as a matter of social justice. It cannot be that white South Africans should own land out of proportion to their population figures. It is not sustainable.
We equally make a call for the development of the rural areas. People in rural areas bear the brunt of underdevelopment and grinding poverty. In many instances they lack basic amenities like water, proper roads, etc.
We also make the call that the role of traditional leaders in socioeconomic development needs to be clearly articulated and properly implemented. The APC, Comrade President, remains concerned that the issue of the remuneration of headmen and headwomen remains a dream deferred.
Despite the half-hearted recommendations of the Seriti commission in August 2011, there has been no implementation. So, headmen and headwomen in Limpopo continue to earn R13 000 per annum, whilst those in the Eastern Cape earn about R86 000 per annum.
Comrade President, the APC calls upon you to hear the pleas and heed the plight of headmen and headwomen, who are both the motive force and underclass of the Institution of Traditional Leadership. The APC submits that the way in which issues of traditional leaders are handled still leaves much to be desired.
The APC has always articulated and striven for a society that is democratic in form, nonracial in character and socialistic in content. The APC therefore welcomes and supports an enhanced role of the state in the economy. The difference in economic development between India and China, as observed by Robert Sobukwe in 1959 and which still holds true today, is the difference between a state playing a key role in the economy and the opposite.
The APC wants to congratulate SADC on taking a firm stand against French neocolonialism. We must continue our challenge for the chairpersonship of the AU Commission. The APC has full confidence in Dr Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma. [Applause.] We also wish to applaud Comrade Baleka Mbete on her appointment to the African Peer Review Mechanism. We want to see South Africa playing a more prominent role in the continent's affairs.
The unfolding events in the Syrian Arab Republic are a matter of concern for the APC. However, the APC believes that South Africa must only support the Arab League if it has norms and standards to which it subjects all member states, and not just some because they happen to be ruled by non- Sunnis.
How do oligarchs who do not allow women to watch a soccer game in a stadium or drive vehicles lead a charge to demand human rights and democracy in Syria? South Africa should not allow itself to be used. [Applause.]
Finally, as the APC, we say to the ANC: Happy birthday! The APC loves you. [Applause.]