Chairperson, I want to compliment the hon Maluleke, chairperson of the committee, on his ability to run a meeting and for the fact that he has stabilised the portfolio committee. We now have updated agendas and presentations in advance. I see him as a fair person and I want to thank him for that. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
I also want to tell the hon Minister Gigaba, through you, Chair, that we as a party have given him six months to settle in. The honeymoon is over. I want to warn him that he must fasten his seatbelt as the ride is going to be rough.
From the start, the procurement policy was not followed, with the Minister allowing the reappointment of Mr Siyabonga Gama as the chief executive officer, CEO, of Transnet freight and rail after he had been found guilty of not adhering to the instructions of his board and had given a tender for 50 locomotives to a different company than the one that the board had approved. As if this was not enough grounds, he gave his friend and cadre, Mr Siphiwe Nyanda, a security contract of over R25 million. He was only authorised to award contracts of less than R10 million.
We as a department ... [Interjections.] ... through the entity reporting to us, have embarked on a build programme that is of monumental importance and which addresses the huge backlog in infrastructure that we have built up over the past 17 years. For this, I commend the department. What is worrying to me, however, is the huge escalations in the cost, compared to the original price. We are not talking about building your normal house, and I can understand escalations as there must be unforeseen costs. However, the trend is that some costs are double the original cost, and everything is either R5 billion or R10 billion or R100 billion. There are no half measures, like R1,25 billion.
Why is this? I come to the same conclusion as Anthony Butler in the Business Day of 18 March, that it is "parastatals, budgets for dummies". This is why entities like Chancellor House and Makotulo Investments are in on the act. What is R5 billion extra anyway? Who would notice it? I will tell you; it is R5 000 million and if you gave the money to 5 000 people tomorrow, they will all be millionaires, or you could build 100 000 reconstruction and development programme, RDP, houses for the poor with it. That is how much money Chancellor House is estimated to be getting out of its once-off deal with Eskom and Hitachi, according to Paul Hoffman in the Business Day of 26 May.
What other deals does it have with other parastatals, where the ruling party has deployed its cadres for this purpose? I have been informed that Chancellor House, and therefore the ANC, has a net value of about R60 billion. Now, if the ruling party was so set on eradicating poverty, I can tell you - and if you ask the hon Sexwale, this would almost be enough to eradicate the housing backlog in the whole of South Africa. [Interjections.] Chancellor House is like a cockroach in the soup and will spoil it for everybody.
I also want to ask you, Minister, to speak to your counterpart in the government as to why the Second-hand Goods Act that was signed by the President and gazetted in 2009 has not come into effect yet. There seems to be no political will to do this. The Act will go a long way in curbing cable theft and it will give the law enforcement agencies the teeth they are lacking. Imposing an export duty on the export of scrap copper, copper alloy and aluminium would most certainly immediately stop this scourge. The money that is raised in this way could be pooled in a separate account, where the entities and municipalities could claim back their losses. It would not help to lobby to have copper proclaimed a precious metal, as this would only drive up the price.
The issue of baggage theft and pilferage should also be deserving of some of our attention as this scourge is also not only an embarrassment to this country, but a sure indication that the management of state-owned enterprises is failing us. Everybody is passing the buck on whose responsibility it is to do something. I want to submit that we should give the political guidance and make it the responsibility of the Airports Companies of South Africa, Acsa. We should put it in their shareholder compact and refuse to pay any bonuses until this out-of-control criminality at our airports is rooted out. Workers and contractors should be vetted and undergo lie-detector tests. Criminals should be apprehended and charges of sabotage should be laid against transgressors, as this is a national key point and there is legislation governing it. In the interim, Acsa should wrap all luggage.
In conclusion, we must relook at the viability of the parastatals and decide if their strategic intent of pre-1994 and the apartheid regime is still in effect. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]