House Chairperson, the DA is committed to resolving the many issues that exist in South Africa today and that prevent us from moving forward as a prosperous nation, and that offers an opportunity to everyone to become everything that they are capable of being.
At the start of the process, when the National Planning Commission was established, we were sceptical about the real impact this would have on the lives of real people in our country, who suffer the burden of poverty and unemployment and the real prospect of life without hope and without the economic liberation that our people are hungry to achieve.
In his briefing the Minister provided a diagnostic report - it's not a pretty picture. The Minister identified the need for a vision statement, which needs to be developed over time, and the need to address poverty and inequality. We agree. The 10 elements form the pillars on which our society is built, and we need to consider them closely. The DA welcomes the candid outcome of this phase of the commission's work. There is no doubt that a great deal of hard work and effort was required to sift through the information that the commission was required to digest. The outcome is not particularly surprising, but the process does force the key problem areas into the spotlight.
On the nine challenges that the Minister mentioned, we know that too few people are employed in our economy. Inherited structural defects and subsequent barriers to economic activity erected by the government restrain our capacity to grow and our ability to absorb more people into employment.
We know that the quality of our education is well below par, and that schools in affluent areas far outperform those in disadvantaged areas. The skills of educators, who must deliver the quality education we seek, are widely disparate and this is reflected in the school performance and subsequent success in the lives of our learners.
We know that our aging infrastructure is crumbling and slows down the pace of our economic activity.
We know that the apartheid era spatial divide has not been breached and that people who can least afford it must travel long distances to work, which is expensive.
We know that our resource-intensive economy subjects us to a wide fluctuation in our economic fortunes and that we must diversify it and develop a modern, greener economy that will take us into the future.
We know that our health care system is ailing and that it does not deliver value for money or deliver the basic foundations on which to build a healthy population.
We know that our Public Service is uneven and that the delivery is worse outside the urban area and worst in places that need it most.
We know that corruption undermines state legitimacy and that we already face the real consequences of declining confidence in our systems and institutions.
We know that South Africa remains a divided society, particularly by race, with the gap between the rich and the poor threatening to destabilise our nation.
We do not agree with the commission's division of our people into the categories, African and non-African. We are all Africans and that cannot be overemphasised in a climate where the President of the ANC Youth League can drive racial divisions and not be called to order. The Minister mentioned nation-building - perhaps this is where we should start. We should start by telling Mr Malema that we are all Africans and belong in Africa, irrespective of what our race happens to be.
The Minister has suggested that our attention should be focused on the human conditions, material conditions, institutions, our economy and nation- building. These cut across the silos of government departments and won't be easily breached.
The fundamental question that comes to mind is how the work of the commission on the economy will interface with the New Growth Path, and how the work of the commission will be implemented. The burning question must be whether the New Growth Path has not eclipsed the National Planning Commission.
We agree that the idea of stimulating debate is good and that this will prominently focus our attention on the key issues, so that the possibility exists for creative solutions to emerge.
The DA will respond to the challenge. We already have policies that we believe can make a substantial impact on eliminating poverty and reducing inequality. We also recognise the need for redress and reconciliation, and will take this opportunity to put forward our proposals that will build a road out of poverty through the barriers to economic growth and development, which constrain the lives and dreams of our people.
The Minister put forth possible future scenarios. If we continue our economic growth without social equality and equity, we are heading for disaster. The DA agrees. If we focus only on social equity and adopt the unworkable populist economics of nationalisation and expropriation without compensation, as spat out by Mr Malema, we are heading for disaster. We need to grow our economy and broaden social equity at the same time, and therefore our policy instruments must be designed to achieve this objective.
The DA believes that this is possible, and we look forward to the next phase of the commission's work. It will not be easy for the envisaged public engagement process to find a coherent message. Therefore, we encourage full participation by everyone who is interested in making South Africa a better place for all of our people. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]