Chairperson, Ministers, hon members of the NCOP, thank you for the opportunity to speak. Some things emerged during the debate that I would like to bring especially to the attention of the Ministers; both Minister Patel and Minister Peters referred to rural families who are burdened by extreme poverty.
If there is one case of neglect by the ANC, it is the neglect of those people. Thirty per cent of the highest-potential soil in South Africa is situated in the former homelands. That ANC government - from Derek Hanekom - has been given the technology to develop that land. With that technology you could double South Africa's maize yield; those people who are suffering rural poverty can be helped very easily and cheaply with known technology.
However, that soil was created by the good Lord and needs to be developed. Countries across the globe continue to struggle to rebuild their economies following the worst crisis since after 1929. After the past 18 months many people have been thinking about the issue of development and we have seen some very good examples in the speeches today - they have been making their voices heard!
A powerful new ideal has taken root and you have heard much of the green economies. It is an ideal that says we will fight pollution; we will take climate change seriously; we will intensify our efforts to identify and produce cheaper forms of energy; and we will commit ourselves - all of us - to building a better life for all, especially the poor people of the world.
At this point I would like to touch on the question of energy in our country and the role played by Eskom in its production and distribution. In February, at a media briefing to set out government's view of the massive tariff increases, national Energy Minister Peters fell prey to a serious bout of what one could call gobbledygook.
After stating that the positives of the decisions far outweighed the negatives, the Minister added that the time had come to consider energy intensity in the relative context of the jobs that we can create, in comparison to other less energy-intensive industries.
Then she said that without energy security, the levels of economic activity necessary to create new jobs could not be achieved. Perhaps the Minister needs to revisit the old Eskom plans for the Congo River, the second largest river in the world after the Amazon. Its hydroelectrical potential, as is known, is sufficient to power all of sub- Saharan Africa and bring energy security to all Africans. This should have been a major focus of the Nepad policy, but it has never been addressed.
I want to be quite blunt about this: The increases granted to Eskom will prove to be calamitous for small, medium and micro enterprises. And, should anyone have forgotten, let me remind you that SMMEs have long been regarded as an essential element of the South African economy.
Indeed, recent studies have shown that small and medium enterprises, especially, have overtaken the corporates in the provision of employment opportunities for the people of this country.
My question is: Where to now for small businesses? Perhaps the national government should tell us what they intend doing to alleviate the plight that awaits those small businesses. What we are seeing here is small businesses with their backs to the wall and with their knees squeezed tight against a steel gate.
It would, therefore, simply not be good enough to advise them to use less electricity. And it would be as tactless to pull out the tattered notepad containing that overused, scribbled sentence that says: "Our electricity is still the cheapest in the world".
The question that the people of this province and South Africa want answered is: When will our standard of living start to improve again?
Chairperson, I would like to raise another question about Eskom. In its present form, in this day and age, should it be entrusted with the responsibility of running the South African grid?
This is why I am asking: There is an increasing belief among proponents of a green economy that Eskom is far too unwieldy to be an effective, modern distributor of electricity. It was great for the 1980s, but in this second decade of our third millennium, it has become like a sumo wrestler sprinting against a Jamaican athlete.
At a time when energy institutions around the world have become renowned for innovation and a commitment to finding green sources of energy, Eskom continues to soldier on regardless. Perhaps it is time for those who judge performance and who make these decisions to have another look at the model.
There is a good reason for being critical of Eskom, just as there is a good reason for my party's criticism of national government's slow progress in developing a green economy for South Africa - in spite of the encouraging words that we have heard here this afternoon.
The DA acknowledges that there is some wonderful talent in South Africa, and of course, especially in the Western Cape. We know that there are thousands of people who want to give something back to this country. All of us must encourage them to contribute by creating the conditions that will enable them to continue playing a positive role.
We believe that it is crucially important to promote a can-do spirit in South Africa and to unite to crush the will-take culture that seems to continue to raise its head. The DA takes its role in opposition at national level and as a governing party in the Western Cape very seriously. We do not believe in criticising for criticism's sake; wherever we can we will try to offer alternatives.
The DA believes that the Western Cape has the potential to become the green technology hub of Africa, especially with regard to alternative sources of energy. There are a number of things that we believe count in favour of our province.
If we look at how successfully wind has been used to generate electricity in several countries around the world, it's quite easy to understand why people become excited at the prospect of generating wind-powered electricity all along our West Coast. That is not all: High energy, coast wave-generated electricity is a big possibility; within 150 km of Cape Town we have the Karoo starting, with its possibility for utilising the sun to generate electricity; and then bio- energy as well.
The rise of a global green economy has sparked a number of international developments of which I would like to mention just two. The first is the traditionally poor and in some cases very poor countries, which have embraced and developed green opportunities. The second is the way information flashes across the globe.
Perhaps we can look at Bangladesh and the microcredit arena where Grameen Shakti has launched a programme to bring renewable energy technologies to rural households. Since its launch, Grameen Shakti has installed photovoltaic solar systems in 205 000 homes across Bangladesh. Every month an additional 8 000 homes are fitted out, and by 2014 they contemplate 7,5 million such homes.
Grameen Shakti has also installed 6 000 biogas plants which can utilise dung and organic litter, and can generate gas for cooking as well as for electricity and organic fertiliser.
The same thing has happened in Germany where 280 000 jobs have been generated through renewable energy and offshore wind parks. Here we are looking at another 30 000 jobs. The retrofitting of buildings has been mentioned. I hope that the government and national government will pursue that with great energy.
Recycling in the USA is a US$236 billion industry and certainly something that South Africa must emulate and the government must stimulate to the maximum of its capacity.
I would like to just quote Mark Swilling, a South African academic, when he referred to what Gordon Brown had written:
... governments across the world have made green investment a major part of their economic stimulus packages. They have recognised the vital role that spending on energy efficiency and infrastructure can have on demand and employment in the short term, while also laying the foundations for future growth. ... the economies that embrace the green revolution earliest will reap the greatest economic rewards.
I think, for the sake of our children, Chairperson, that this is something that the national government and all provincial governments should pursue with the greatest energy. I thank you. [Applause.]