Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Chairperson, hon Deputy President, hon members of the National Council of Provinces and hon MPLs, may I take this opportunity to greet you all.
Ndibulisa ngakumbi abantu bendawo, uluntu lwaseLimpopo xa lulonke. [I convey special greetings to the residents, the community of Limpopo at large.]
Deputy Chairperson, allow me first to refer to what hon Harris said when he was standing here. He said that people must take Limpopo to the ballot box. I just want to remind the people of Limpopo that today in fact all South Africans can talk about the ballot box. Those who fought and died, those whom we were remembering a few days ago on 21 March, those who died decades ago, those who were mutilated in the cruellest ways, died fighting for freedom. They died for us as South Africans, so that we can have our dignity as human beings and make our choices in life. Those people were led by the ANC. [Applause.]
Those who want to claim easy victories must watch out. There is a perception that the Western Cape is not part of South Africa. I just want to remind you that the Western Cape never had a homeland in the past. I also want to remind you that the Western Cape can afford to use Corollas on their roads because their roads have been managed for hundreds of years, while the areas of Limpopo and the Eastern Cape had homelands, and were left as labour reserves.
Abantu bakhona babexelelwa ukuba bahambe baye kufuna imisebenzi kwezinye iindawo. Babesenziwa izicaka phaya eKapa ukuze ooMadam noobhasi babo baphile kamnandi. Uqoqosho lweli lizwe belusebenza laa mhlaba. Ngoko ke, andifuni ukuchitha ixesha apha kodwa ndiyafuna nje ukuba khumbuza ... (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[People from these areas were told to go and seek employment elsewhere. They were regarded as slaves in Cape Town so that their masters and madams could live luxuriously. The economy of this country was spent to maintain that part of the country. Therefore, I just want to remind them but I do not want to waste valuable time ...]
I just want to remind the people of Limpopo: Never forget where you come from. [Applause.] The Eastern Cape government, as well as the Limpopo government, inherited very corrupt systems.
Sekela-Mongameli [Deputy President], when I joined the legislature in the Eastern Cape, the books could never be reconciled and closed, because the previous regimes were never audited in the first place. When we deal with the challenges arising out of that, people come and say, "You are not capacitated, you are this and that." Yet, hundreds and hundreds of years have created the conditions which cause us to suffer today. I want to tell you: Don't ever forget where you come from.
The Eastern Cape government is hard at work, Deputy President ...