Hon House Chairperson, hon members, comrades and distinguished guests, in debating the 2011 fiscal framework and revenue proposals, it is important to understand how the content of these proposals was arrived at and the source of the mandate that guides any fiscal and monetary debate in this House.
The 52nd national conference of the ANC reasserted that economic transformation should be located within the context of an effective redistribution strategy. The conference resolved that this redistribution strategy must be the foundation of a new and equitable growth path. Therefore, the conference put the question of redistribution in the broader sense, not in a narrow sense of income inequality, at the centre of economic transformation.
In his 2010 political report to the ANC national general council, President Jacob Zuma said, and I quote:
The New Growth Path must start with the recognition that on the one hand, we have had economic growth for a sustained period since the advent of democracy, with particularly high growth since the early 2000s and net job creation. On the other hand, poverty remains high, inequalities have remained the same or even grown worse, while some of the jobs created often brought low wages and poor conditions.
It is with this in mind that the ANC, over a long process of consultation and discussion, put together a New Growth Path Policy Framework. The New Growth Path Policy Framework articulates that, and I quote:
There is growing consensus that creating decent work, reducing inequality and defeating poverty can only happen through a new growth path founded on a restructuring of the South African economy to improve its performance in terms of labour absorption as well as the composition and rate of growth.
It is precisely this restructuring of South Africa's economy that the 2011 fiscal framework and revenue proposals seek to address. The New Growth Path correctly identifies the core challenges that the South African economy must address: mass joblessness, poverty and inequality. The 10 job drivers identified in the New Growth Path, NGP, are sectors with the highest potential to absorb the unemployed in numbers. We have the understanding that every department in government must contribute to employment creation in concrete numbers. The relevant departments are equally expected to engage the sectors in their respective areas of responsibility to commit themselves to this national programme.
The announcement of this programme triggered a new debate on whether those jobs would be decent or not. The debate has since taken centre stage, elevating decent work to almost a condition, rather than a description of the quality of work. We need to ensure that the R9 billion for the job fund to co-finance the employment projects by public and private sectors over the next three years is indeed spent successfully.
The R5 billion that has been allocated for the youth employment subsidy, which the Minister announced in his Budget Speech, needs to be taken forward. This is not a youth wage subsidy, which the DA is opportunistically trying to claim as theirs. Rather, it is an incentive for employers to develop the skills and employability of young people.
In the 2011 Budget, R809 billion has been put aside as investment in infrastructure over the next three years. In addition, investment incentives for manufacturing, with a special focus on job creation, have been introduced. The New Growth Path correctly places infrastructure as the prime job driver. Public investment can create 250 000 jobs per year in energy, transport, water, communications infrastructure and housing through to 2015.
The jobs that have been identified are in four activities: construction of new infrastructure, operation of the new facilities, expanded maintenance, and the manufacture of components for the infrastructure programme. In addition to these four activities, the impact of the massive infrastructure programme on job creation across the economy will be substantial. Further jobs worth R73 billion shall be created in the Expanded Public Works Programme over the next three years, including community-based projects, environmental and social programmes, and maintenance of roads and infrastructure.
The second integrated resource plan for electricity foresees a near doubling of electricity capacity by 2030, with 33% of the new generation coming from renewable sources and 25% from nuclear power.
Greater emphasis will also be placed on the expansion of rail transport with more railway tracks and rolling stock, given the cost and logistics advantages for both commuters and freight transport.
In a water-constrained country, the investment in water infrastructure is an essential step in the strategy to expand agriculture and agro- processing.
This budget framework has to address the objective reality that South Africa is a developmental state. At its 2010 national general council, the ANC endorsed its strategy and tactics perspective that a developmental state is one that is able to deliver effective basic services and has the capacity to direct national development. Thus it should have the following attributes: a commitment to people-centred and people-driven change; the capacity to lead in defining a common national agenda; and the organisational and technical capacity to translate broad objectives into programmes and projects. While determining a clear and consistent path forward, a developmental state must also seek to build consensus on a democratic basis that builds national unity. While acting effectively to promote growth, efficiency and productivity, it must be equally effective in addressing the social conditions of the masses of our people and realising economic progress for the poor.
The developmental state should maintain its strategic role in shaping the key sectors of our economy, including the mineral and energy complex and the national transport and logistics system. While the forms of state interventions would differ, the overriding objective would be to intervene strategically in these sectors to drive the growth, development and transformation of the structure of our economy.
The development finance institutions and the state-owned enterprises, SOEs, must be positioned in such a way that they contribute to employment creation and the revitalisation of training facilities. Our New Growth Path requires the integration, harmonisation and alignment of planning and implementation across all three spheres of government with the development finance institutions and state-owned enterprises, including through the development of coherent inter sectoral plans at a national level and the alignment of local implementation, in terms of the integrated development plans, IDPs, of metros, districts and local municipalities. To this end, the strengthening of the role of state-owned enterprises, and ensuring that SOEs' agencies and utilities respond to a clearly defined public mandate and act in terms of our overarching industrial policy and economic transformation objections, is important. The creation of decent work opportunities must be a primary focus. This central objective should be reflected in the terms of reference of development finance institutions, the terms of public procurement and public incentives, the sequencing of industrial and trade policy reforms and our sustainable macroeconomic policy.
In conclusion, the ANC welcomes the 2011 Budget, which proposes a range of measures to address current socioeconomic challenges facing the country, especially job creation. This Budget seeks to ensure sufficient funding for effective government delivery in key priority areas identified in the ANC 2009 election manifesto and in this year's state of the nation address. The ANC supports the fiscal framework and revenue proposals. I thank you. [Applause.]