Sihlalo, hayi obekekileyo kuphela kodwa nothandekayo, maLungu ePalamente kunye nabaPhathiswa bobabini bezaMandla, nabo bonke abanye abaPhathiswa abakhoyo ... [Hon Chairperson, Members of Parliament and both the Deputy Minister and Minister of Energy, and all other Ministers present ...]
... directors-general, executive management of the department and state- owned entities as well ...
... nani nonke bemi boMzantsi Afrika, ndiquka ke oosomashishini, abasebenzi nabahlali. [... as all the citizens of South Africa, including the businesspeople, workers and residents ...]
... I greet you in support of Budget Vote No 29: Energy. I wish to stand as a witness and share with this gathering my views regarding this budget.
The key propellant and framework of my speech is the Freedom Charter, which was articulated about 56 years ago for a prosperous, democratic, nonracial and nonsexist South Africa to be realised. Amongst a host of issues, it states that everyone must have equal rights and share the wealth of this lovely country.
The ANC and logically the ANC-led government, draws inspiration from the Freedom Charter - a product of one of the most democratic processes in our country - in charting the road map of transforming this country, as well as articulating a developmental state as the key instrument for such.
However, with another 62% confirmation of the ANC legacy and mandate in the recent municipal elections, it stands to reason that the ANC is on a better footing to advance and improve on its leadership. It will guide the government to source and supply energy as a developmental state now more than ever.
Having inherited a society with a poor Gini coefficient - a wide gap between the rich and poor - the ANC took a conscious decision to ensure that the poor are cushioned from the effects of electricity price hikes. The introduction of tools such as free basic electricity and the free basic alternative energy is an indication of the ANC's resoluteness in cushioning the poor.
Whilst political bankruptcy and political expediency have guided many political parties, the ANC has been steadfast in formulating its positions regarding policies and views on energy issues and is constantly refining them as regularly as possible.
Energy as an enabler and facilitator of not only economic and social development growth, but also transformation, has, is and will be under the spotlight, not only in our transforming country, but globally as well.
It is therefore by neither spontaneity nor expediency that the current ANC- led government has developed tools including policies, laws and programmes that guide and direct the country towards a sustainable, efficient and ultimately clean supply of energy.
In order to corroborate this, the 52nd ANC conference resolved that we should -
... ensure a security of supply of energy resources, and pursue an energy mix that includes clean and renewable resources to meet the demands of our fast-growing economy without compromising our commitment to sustainable development.
Long-time planning by the government, in particular, on energy, and by the National Planning Commission, in general, is becoming more evident. Even the Cape Town City Council cannot deny that it is benefiting from the visionary planning by the erstwhile ANC-led metro council.
In ensuring universal access to energy, let us first trace the noble efforts of the ANC that, as far back as the 1990s, mobilised the country, especially civil society formations and ultimately the government to establish a programme, which we now know as the Integrated National Electricity Programme.
The ANC has, through the ANC-led government, ensured that a substantial 75% of households are connected to electricity. Without any doubt this confirms the movement's commitment to ensuring that electrification is one of the key elements of decent housing as espoused in the Freedom Charter. An RDP house without electricity is not decent enough.
Without ensuring the comfort for our people, especially the indigent and destitute as the Freedom Charter directs, we will have failed South Africans in their request for a better life for all. It is therefore on this basis that I express my unequivocal admiration for the Department of Energy's outstanding endeavours to champion the Integrated Resource Plan 2010, which was recently adopted by the government.
It has also been one of the tools that have been used to attract investments to the energy sector both in local and global financial markets.
Whilst it may be more appropriate to have started with Integrated Energy Plan, the broader plan on energy, given the caring nature of government, it was essential to address the looming threat of an unsustainable supply of energy.
However, I need to emphasise that we still need to see visible progress in the formulation of the energy plan, as well as enhanced public consultation, in particular. It is also worth commenting that through the good offices of the department, the government has of its own volition increased the percentage allocation on renewable in the energy mix within