Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Deputy President, premiers, hon MPs, MPLs, members of the public, let me first congratulate the Deputy President on an excellent speech. I wish our government had more leaders like him.
I cannot say the same about the leaders of this province, Deputy Chairperson. Sixteen years ago, the people of Limpopo elected the ANC to run this province. That party took over from the Nats and four unco- ordinated homeland administrations, so no one can dispute that they inherited their fair share of problems. But over the past 16 years, the ANC leadership in this province have created more problems than they have solved. This week we have seen and heard how they have taken Limpopo backwards.
The problems in Limpopo come from three types of leadership failure: The first is mismanagement by the ANC leadership. On Wednesday, we visited Mr Cyril Ramatola, a dental therapist working at the H C Boshoff health centre about 30 km away. The health centre has five beautiful new buildings that were built by a contractor for a tender of R54 million and completed four months ago. Today almost all of the buildings are empty: the emergency ward, maternity ward and four general wards are all empty. The facility was meant to serve 15 000 people, but right now it handles 100 people a day. It was meant to employ 20 professional nurses but only two nurses currently work there. The nurse at the facility estimates that less than R2 million worth of equipment would be enough to make the entire centre usable. This government has spent R54 million on a health centre that is stalled by R2 million worth of missing equipment.
The second failure is corruption by the ANC leadership. The premier of this province stood before us three days ago and complained about contractors using tenders to enrich themselves. He told us on that day that he would clamp down on dodgy "tenderpreneurs". "It doesn't matter who you are," he said, "we will terminate doing business with you." The next day President Zuma, in his reply to questions in Cape Town, assured MPs that if there was a problem with tenders in Limpopo he was sure that the Limpopo government would deal with it. Well, Deputy Chairperson, everyone in this country knows that there is a problem with tenders in Limpopo. The problem is Julius Malema - the person who got R140 million worth of government tenders to build bridges and roads that are now falling apart. [Interjections.] If the premier were here today, instead of being overseas, I would ask him: "Are you dealing with the problem as President Zuma said you would?"
The third failure is arrogance from the leaders of the ANC. The ANC regime is showing signs of becoming a shell state, a type of failed state with the arrogant trappings of government like titles, blue lights and lavish dinners but without service delivery.
On Tuesday we visited Mr Makwetla, the principal of Taung High School, about 35 km from where we are sitting now. The road to that school is in a terrible condition, and so is the school. The 452 learners at the school share 250 desks. Despite these conditions the teachers have managed to improve the matric pass rate from 11% in 2006 to 49% last year.
Unfortunately, the government have not fulfilled their side of the bargain. Eight years ago, the school applied to the provincial department of education for renovations, and eight years later they are still waiting. In January 2007, the mayor of Tubatse visited the school and promised to provide desks for them. He never kept his promise. [Applause.] Chairperson, allow me to emphasise that a lack of funds is not one of the major problems facing Limpopo. This province receives a generous share of the division of revenue, but local governments here don't spend all of the money they are given. The Sowetan newspaper yesterday reported that municipalities in Limpopo had to give R130 million of municipal infrastructure grants back to the Treasury because they did not spend it. The Sekhukhune municipality had to give R10 million back. They should have spent this on infrastructure.
The one good thing about the failure of leadership is that in a democracy, the people can fix the problem relatively easily - by voting out failing leaders. Limpopo is not working because its leaders are making decisions that are bad for the province. They are putting their allies into key positions. They are giving tenders to their cronies and they are not running their administrations well.
During this oversight visit we have heard dissatisfied voters in their overwhelming numbers complain about the way the ANC is running this province. They have complained like this for 16 years in the hope that the ANC will solve their problems. Let me tell you, Deputy Chairperson: The ANC's time has run out. [Interjections.] After 16 years of failure, it is clear that the ANC does not have the solution to the people's problems. The ANC is the problem.
So, to these people who have come to share their concerns with us in this tent, I have a simple message: Take your problems to the ballot box next year and vote the ANC out of power. Unlike voters in Limpopo who have stuck with the ANC for 16 years, in the Western Cape - the province I come from - voters have a history of voting out the governments they don't like. If the government does not deliver, they vote for somebody else.
The results of this are clear. Earlier this year, the Minister for Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs published the figures for service delivery around the country. In the Western Cape 9 out of 10 people have access to sanitation; in Limpopo, 3 out of 10 people do. In the Western Cape 9 out of 10 people get their rubbish collected; in Limpopo 2 out of 10 people do. [Interjections.]