The Western Cape. I would like to invite you, because I believe that freedom is the business and responsibility of every citizen. Freedom and truth must transcend collective loyalty and party affiliation.
The reason that I would like to invite you is that there is no better example of this than the Western Cape provincial legislature, where robust debate and ruthless oversight have made it one of the most free and democratic assemblies on earth. [Applause.]
The DA and the ANC fight each other savagely in the House, but, together, they fight corruption and maladministration even more savagely.
When the ANC government of Premier Lynne Brown came to power, they stopped a number of questionable and dubious projects, and they shone bright lights into dark places where the rats lived. The cause of South Africa was served in that legislature, because some brave people put freedom and truth above party.
Of course, I did not agree with everything that the ANC did; far from it. But I publicly salute those of its members who put freedom and truth first. They were true South Africans.
Finally, I want to come to those millions of South Africans ... and hon Mazosiwe referred specifically to this and I want to follow up on what he said. I want to come to those millions of South Africans who are not free: Those who are enslaved by hunger, want, unemployment, homelessness and despair, those that cannot be freed ... [Interjections.] ... and shouting at me won't make them free.
There are many reasons for this enslavement. Much lies in our oppressive and racist past; some in our current legislation. All those things are difficult to change and much has been done. This, every politician here, regardless of party, knows: Every rand stolen in corruption, every rand wasted in mismanagement; every rand lost in crooked contracts to tenderpreneurs; every rand lost - and they amount to billions - was stolen form the poorest of the poor. Those billions could have housed the homeless, educated the illiterate, transported the poor, created employment and provided better health care for the sick.
Let me conclude with this: There are two iron laws of freedom. The first one is: If some of us are not free, none of us is free. Nobody should know that better than South Africans. The second is: Where corruption flourishes, freedom cannot flourish. [Applause.]