I speak without shame, because I paid the price to create the situation in which today all of us exercise political power, but let's exercise it in the interests of the majority. Let's not exercise it in the interest of the "Johnnies-come-lately" who can shout but do not know what they are talking about. [Applause.]
Mr President, something should have been said and perhaps must be addressed as we move into the future. How do we make sure that our country catches up with the technological advance that has been made around the world? There are lessons to be learned from the experience of other nations.
A look at the end of the Second World War indicates that countries like Japan and Germany after the war were forced to ride the new wave of technology because their industries had been smashed to smithereens. Though they had lost the war, they achieved economic triumph by technologically leapfrogging other nations.
This country, this South Africa, has a chance. If we tame the youth of our country, we can catch up instead of going the long route Europe went. We can bypass them and leapfrog them by linking up with the technological advances that are being made today. But, of course, with the state of our education being what it is, the lack of training and all of that, we are unable to slot in with regard to this.
We are not making sufficient effort to train large numbers of young people in this country so that they can access these opportunities. We, who missed those opportunities, must make them available for the younger ones, and that is something that should have been said.
Will South Africa, for instance, follow Nissan's lead and put the Joule into full-scale production to compete with the Nissan Leaf, which won the Car of the Year award in Europe? Will South Africa, for the foreseeable future, be merely technological emulators or technological innovators? [Time expired.] [Applause.]