Chairperson, dumelang. [good day.] I rise here on behalf of the ANC to support the budget of R230 million that has been appropriated by this Parliament in order to enable the Department of Public Enterprises to carry out its mission and vision during 2011 to 2012. This amount may be viewed by some as being rather jejune, especially considering the vast field that Public Enterprises has to cultivate in order to deliver a lucrative harvest, not only to this ANC-led government, but to the entire South African populace. However, we should all bear in mind that an efficient manner of managing state-owned enterprises, SOEs, is encouraged.
By the same token, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister, the hon Malusi Gigaba, the Deputy Minister, the hon Ben Martins, and the director-general, Mr Tshediso Matona, as the new top incumbents to steer the mighty ship of Public Enterprises and navigate it through turbulent seas. The portfolio committee will support you through thick and thin, because you are an accessible and accountable leadership that makes our parliamentary oversight role a pleasurable exercise. This complimentary recognition and challenge extend to other ministerial and departmental functionaries.
Modulasetulo, ngangisanong ena, ke tla tsepamisa maikutlo a ka le tjhadimo ho Eskom, empa ke tla re qa! qa! dibakeng tse ding tse amanang le tshebediso ya Lefapha la Dikgwebo tsa Mmuso. (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, in this debate, I will put my focus on Eskom, but I will also comment on a few other things related to the work of the Department of Public Enterprises.]
Since 1994, Eskom has distinguished itself as an outstanding and effective power utility by supplying electricity to approximately 75% of all houses. This is indeed an impressive track record by any standard, especially taking into account the numerous challenges that it has had to face, inter alia, capitalisation shortfalls and unfortunate power outages. Notwithstanding these setbacks, Eskom has done the country proud by not having blackouts during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, which we have hosted with distinction.
Eskom employs 38 000 people. However, our President, hon Jacob Zuma, has pronounced that the ANC-led government has set itself a target of creating 5 million jobs over the next 10 years. As a portfolio committee, we urge Eskom to work out concrete strategies that will demonstrate meaningfully how this job target will be realised. The portfolio committee yesterday received a briefing on the disturbing industrial unrest at Kusile and Medupe Power Stations. [Interjections.] While recognising the right of workers to strike, we do not countenance the violent and wanton destruction of property. We welcome the intervention measures that have been taken by the management of Eskom. We also know that Eskom has played a significant role in respect of skills development.
Empa rona jwalekaha re le ditho tsa komiti ya palamente e disang le ho alosa tsela eo dikgwebo tsa mmuso di kgannwang ka yona, re batla ho ba le lenane la batho bao Eskom e ileng ya ba kwetlisa, ya ba neha tsebo ya ho sebetsa ka motlakase; haholoholo borakgwebo ba kobo di mahetleng. Ha re batle palo eo feela, empa sepheo sa rona ke ho tseba hore ke batho ba bakae bao Eskom e ba kwetlisitseng ba ntseng ba sebetsa kajeno kapa hona ho itshebetsa. Hona ho tla re thusa hore re bone hore na re tlatsa nkgo e dutlang kapa tjhe. (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)
[We as the portfolio committee that monitors and oversees the way government businesses are run, want to have a list of people who were trained by Eskom, and were given skills in working with electricity, especially poor businesspeople. We not only want their number, but our intention is also to know how many of those people who were trained by Eskom are still working even today, and those who are self-employed. This will help us to see if there is any progress or not.]
The independent power producers are expected to play a significant role in energy supply. Hon Minister, we urge you and your colleague, the Minister of Energy, to firm up legislation on international power producers, IPPs, so that they can begin to operate and relieve Eskom of the burden of being the sole electricity supplier.
Hon Minister, the portfolio committee wishes to encourage government to be more aggressive in the area of renewable energy, as we all know that clean energy will rid us of the plague of climate change. We are looking forward to the Conference of the Parties, COP 17, which our country is hosting in Durban in October this year, adopting concrete measures that will reduce the global carbon footprint.
As responsible politicians, we are appealing to our people out there to desist from the iniquitous practice of illegal electrical connections, as well as its twin evil of copper cable theft. These inyoka, ugly snakes, must be exposed and decapitated. [Laughter.] Hon Minister, legislation to criminalise electricity theft must be drafted soon so that we can apprehend these ugly snakes.
I hope I am expressing the collective desire of the portfolio committee that the lifespan of the Presidential Review Committee on SOEs be extended from the current 18 months to a reasonable tenure. We realised this after receiving an extremely impressive progress report at our strategy workshop held at Shelley Point a few months ago, presented by its fabulous and well- informed chairperson, Madam Riah Phiyega. I would like to urge this House - all of us - to speak with one voice to our people out there and support and buttress the campaign by Eskom to save energy by saying: Ons moet krag spaar. [We must save energy.] We must save energy. Masilondoloze amandla. [We must save energy.]
A re baballeng motlakase. [Ditsheho.] A re di beheng mohatla kgwiti. Kgomo tseo le manamane a tsona! [Let us save electricity. [Laughter.] I will stop here. I thank you!] [Applause.]