Hon Speaker, the layout of the state of the nation address was meant to take us from the known to the unknown. It started with the feel-good rhetoric and not giving details on pertinent issues. For instance, it is good that it stated that 81% of households now have electricity. Maybe what the UCDP could ask the hon President is: What do we do about the remaining 19%?
The President dwelled so much on the unemployment issue, but there seems to be very little that could be yielded by the promises. The UCDP appreciates that real money is attached to the creation of jobs, but it is a shock to note that only a meagre 7 000 jobs were saved by the R7 billion scheme, when almost one million jobs were lost.
When the President listed the five priorities, he also said that we had done well in these areas. I ask: On what do we base such a conclusion? Out of the 1,2 billion households living in informal settlements, we are told that only 400 000 will have security of tenure and basic services by 2014. I find this appalling. It is more appalling when you view it in the light of the unanswered question by Portia, as quoted by the hon President, when she asked: We give you the same vote, but why do you treat us differently? I would so much have liked to hear the hon President's answer to Portia's question.
Efforts to fight corruption are appreciated, but the focus cannot be on such easy-to-track cases such as the R44 million recovered from public servants. Important as it is, we need to get rid of corruption perpetuated by politicians and decision-makers, especially in tender processes.
Poverty has reached critical stages in our communities and we expected the President's acknowledgement of this and a concrete plan to curb it. Half the households in our population survives on a mere R525,00 per month and the President does not think this deserves his utmost attention. There is no mention of how poor households will be cushioned against the scheduled massive increases in water and electricity.
The President states that social grants will be linked to economic activity and community development, but no details are given as to how this will be done and by whom.
We do celebrate the increase in the 2010 matric results to 67% and we say that it is well done. In the same breath we say, "Let us look at the quality of the standard of education, the quality of the matric results as well as its quantity."
We have looked at the analysis thereof and realised that senior certificates are still more than the exemptions. We have also seen that our learners are still doing badly in Mathematics, which is one of the core subjects in the development of our future leaders.
We would like to call for more and more training for our teachers to address these issues. As the UCDP, we would like to say that plans that are not implemented will never do South Africans any good. I thank you.