Chairperson, the report before us is comprehensive, and at the outset we would like to congratulate the committee and those members of government and civil society that participated in the entire process leading up to this report. There is a Swahili saying that says, "You can't kill a louse with one finger." Working together really means a lot to all of us. We appreciate the effort that has gone into this process, but I want to express the sincere hope that this is merely the beginning of a nationwide survey, since this report only covers a small number of areas.
The country has witnessed many years of increasingly violent and widespread service delivery protests by impoverished communities. Any effort by Parliament to investigate and attempt to understand the underlying reasons for these protests must be welcomed.
Indeed, this report is a huge step in the right direction if we can get away from the inflammatory and unsubstantiated claims of a third force behind the protests, which is put forward as a dubious justification for unleashing the intelligence forces on our citizens.
That there is a political element to these protests cannot be denied. Regrettably, the report does not dwell on the fact that angry local communities' legitimate expectations usually relate to ruling party councillors and politicians making unfulfilled promises and failing to provide basic services.
An honest assessment of service delivery protests must also acknowledge that protests are often, if not always, instigated by the ruling party's own alliance partners, or propagated by competing factions within the ANC. Every party is entitled to managing its internal discipline as it sees fit, but the ruling party should not allow its internal conflicts to affect service delivery.
Notwithstanding the above, the UDM concurs with the broad areas of concern identified by the report with regards to governance, corruption, service delivery, local economic development and communication.
At the heart of these service delivery protests lies the issue of legitimacy. It is our duty as public representatives to ensure that democracy remains healthy in this country. We cannot ignore the threat to the legitimacy of democracy that is posed by masses of South Africans not receiving the most basic of services.
Hope can be a powerful commodity, as the birth of democracy here has demonstrated. But shattered hope can be an equally powerful and negative force. We face a rapidly closing window for delivering on the hope that the advent of democracy gave to the impoverished masses of our country. I thank you.