Chairperson, I want to congratulate the Deputy Minister on his lecture rather than his first speech. I want to congratulate him not because he is a communist but because he is from the Northern Cape ... [Laughter.] ... and he will support the initiatives of our province.
The hon Minister has been involved in this department since 1996, and I think she must be the longest-serving Minister in various capacities. I think and believe that she has seen many things. However, hon Minister, the things that I am seeing in South Africa now I have not seen in all my political life, and it is called the "Malema phenomenon". [Laughter.] [Applause.]
The Malema phenomenon has a serious and dire impact, specifically with regard to this very important department. Now, if I can just break the surname "Malema" down, I will start with the letter M: The letter M is for mining and nationalisation.
Now Minister, you have weathered many storms in the interests of this country, but I have to put it on record today that the viewpoint of Mr Malema, the youth leader of the ANC, is destroying confidence in this country and is not an investment booster.
The second letter in "Malema" is the letter A and I want to put the word "acquisition" next to that, because your department is instrumental in many issues, in terms of mining rights and so on. We know the debacle with Imperial Crown Trading and what happened there. We recently had the case where your department in Kimberley was very instrumental in doing, apparently, the wrong things. The letter L is for localisation. Now, Deputy Minister specifically, I am very disappointed to say that apparently - well, not "apparently", as you have announced it - the State Diamond Trader is not going back to Kimberley where it is supposed to be. It is a disaster for the province and if we are really serious about localisation then that State Diamond Trader must be in Kimberley and not in Johannesburg.
The letter E in "Malema" is for "earth water" - and the Minister referred to shale gas. I am very happy about the task team, Minister. I was born and bred in the Karoo, and ask you to please look after the interests of one of the most pristine environments in the world. Linked to that is the debacle about acid water and we need political leadership on that, Minister.
Then the next letter M in "Malema" is the "madam". [Interjections.].