Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President and hon members, the ACDP welcomes the President's focus on job creation and the establishment of a jobs fund of nine billion rand over the next three years to finance new job creation initiatives.
The ACDP supports the President's call to teachers to be at school, in class, on time and teaching for the maximum hours required per day.
Surprisingly, the President did not say a word about the need for discipline in our schools. Recent reports about pupils at Mavalani Secondary School in Limpopo, who went on the rampage, destroyed property and threatened to kill the principal after the media revealed that 57 of their schoolmates were pregnant, are a clear indication that there is lack of discipline in many of our schools. The President's Triple T will have little effect on our schools if it does not include discipline.
As our country is moving closer to the local government elections, I want to appeal to the President to stop misleading voters by telling them that a vote for the ANC and an ANC membership card will guarantee them a place in heaven. This is a deception that must stop. If we have to talk about going to heaven, Mr President, then I have to remind you that Jesus Christ in John 14:6 said, and I quote:
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So, Mr President, it is Christ who is the Way, and not the ANC.
As you are aware, Mr President, many in the Christian community did not appreciate your irreverent statements and have therefore asked you to withdraw them and apologise. It was indeed blasphemy on your part, Mr President, to suggest that the angels in heaven are clothed in the colours of the ANC.
On behalf of the ACDP, I hereby ask you to do the honourable thing and apologise because you went too far and crossed the line. [Applause.]
If you were joking, Mr President, when you told voters that if they don't vote for the ANC, then they are, and I quote:
... choosing that man who carries a fork ... who cooks people.
Then, I submit, Mr President, that it was a bad joke as it frightened and manipulated uneducated and superstitious voters. That so-called "man who carries the fork" that the President referred to, will only have people who don't repent of their sins, and not people who did not vote for the ANC. That is why they say in Afrikaans, "draai of braai, which means "turn or burn".
Speaker, I believe that South Africa must act in a principled and decisive manner to help build the better Africa that the President spoke about. As our country has been chosen to help find solutions to the Cote d'Ivoire crisis, it is important for this Parliament to know the truth of what really happened in that country. The problem is not as simplistic as some people want to make it out to be.
The former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Aziz Pahad, wrote an article from which I want to quote. It is entitled, What is the truth in Cote d'Ivoire? The article was printed in the New Age newspaper. It confirmed the report that I wrote after visiting that country and the report by the former President, Thabo Mbeki.
For the benefit of hon members who have not read the article by the former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, I'm now going to quote extensively from it. He wrote, and I quote:
Some major powers have driven this agenda and the UN Secretary General, the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union Peace and Security Committee have been put under tremendous pressure to follow their dictates. What is the truth?
In terms of all the agreements between the Ivorian parties after the civil war in 2002, which were endorsed by the UN Security Council and the AU, it was agreed that no elections should take place before the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of all the armed forces was completed and the unification of the country achieved. Despite the fact that little progress was made on the demobilisation, disarmament, and reintegration process, the US and French governments mobilised intense government and non-government pressures to force Gbagbo to hold elections, and in the process, flouted legally binding agreements.
The IEC failed to complete its work within the stipulated 72 hours and the Constitutional Council requested it to hand over information to the Constitutional Council to enable it to complete the process. Rather than handing over the documents or continuing with the work of the IEC, the chairman went on his own to Outtara's Head Quarters and announced that Outtara had won the elections. The rest of the IEC only became aware of this announcement when they saw it live on French television.
An orchestrated smear campaign was launched locally and internationally against Paul Yao Ndre, the president of the Constitutional Council, who is highly respected in the region. It was conveniently ignored that he was acting within the mandate of the constitution when he declared that the announcement of the IEC chairman was invalid.
There are serious discrepancies in the results announced by the chairman of the IEC. Notwithstanding this, the gross violations of the Ivorian constitution and laws and UN procedures, major powers such as France and the US, as well as the UN representative, Mr Choi, hastily supported Outtara's victory.
The UN representative, who had no mandate from the UN or the AU, acted in violation of all the agreements reached by both parties to the conflict. These agreements, which were duly endorsed by the AU and the UN, clearly outline that the role of the UN representative was to ensure that the elections were free and fair and not to pronounce on the results.
Ecowas then supported this position which was later endorsed by the AU Political and Security Committee. Later, it became very apparent that they had not considered the implications of the conflicting results that had been announced. The IEC and the UN had unconstitutionally pronounced Outtara the winner. It is noteworthy that the major powers such as France, the US, EU, AU Political and Security Committee and Ecowas, as well as the media houses, including those in South Africa, ignored the findings of credible observers from the African continent.
As the crisis deepened, Gbagbo proposed that a panel of inquiry consisting of the AU, Ecowas, the EU, the Arab League and the permanent members of the Security Council, should fully investigate the results and give a ruling. This should be binding on both presidential candidates. Outtara rejected this suggestion. The AU chairperson then requested former President Thabo Mbeki to interrupt his work in Sudan and go to Cote d'Ivoire to assess the situation and propose a way forward to resolve the crisis. Mbeki met all the role players and submitted a detailed report to the AU.
Instead of responding to Mbeki's report or the report of the AU and other observer missions, intense pressure was mounted to influence African governments to take a hard line against Gbagbo. Emissaries were dispatched to many African capitals to convince them to take the correct position. The message was clear that Gbagbo had to go. Unfortunately, once again, sections of the South African media were co-opted to join this campaign.
Despite pressures by the major powers and the UN secretary General, the AU summit refused to be co-opted into a regime change agenda imposed from outside Africa.
The independence and sovereignty of all African states is being threatened. In the interest of Africa and our efforts to consolidate the democratic processes in Africa, it is vital that we do not succumb to undemocratic agendas from outside our continent.
Speaker, let this House heed the warning of Mr Pahad, who correctly warned that the independence and sovereignty of all African states are being threatened. Greedy African leaders should be warned against selling out to foreign powers who want to recolonise Africa. The dream of a better Africa that the President spoke about will be realised if we all commit ourselves to the rule of law, and to upholding and defending the constitutions and sovereignty of all democratic states. Thank you. [Applause.]