Madam Deputy Speaker, Mr President, Mr Deputy President, hon Ministers, hon members, I believe that hon Holomisa has already informed you in person of his travels abroad to Korea for an international conference of the peace federation, and of his intention to, thereafter, join other members of the interim Defence Force Commission to the United Kingdom. He regrets that these commitments were confirmed before this debate.
We thank you further, Mr President, for heeding our call for more time to participate in Parliament. We hope and trust that a further fairer dispensation will be agreed to, for all other debates in Parliament.
At the outset, we wish to pay tribute to that great South African, Nelson Mandela. We join you, Mr President, along with the rest of South Africa, in celebrating the 20th anniversary of his release from prison. This event, followed by millions of South Africans and people from all over the world, ushered in an era of hope and regeneration. Our task is always to measure ourselves against that sense of hope and promise.
Therefore, a state of the nation address should be about telling it like it is, and saying how government will address the challenges facing us. With all due respect, Mr President, we feel that your address did not meet these criteria.
An honest assessment of the state of the nation shows that backlogs and imbalances of the past remain with us. Economic policy at the moment is failing to expand the economy and to increase the share of every South African in that economy.
There seems to be no consensus on the type of economic policy required or the instruments that are needed to grow the economy. Currently we have various policy positions being announced and contradicted by different individuals in the ruling party and tripartite alliance. There is no agreement; some people talk of the developmental state, others of nationalisation and others of the free market. It is just a disjointed approach with no direction.
The UDM has argued repeatedly that we need to come together as a nation and find a common agreement on broad economic policies. Our proposal for an economic indaba should not be dismissed lest we face the perils of widespread dissatisfaction boiling over into a genuine nationwide uprising - I underline "genuine".
We would suggest that there is a need in your reply, hon President, to clarify your position in the spat between your Ministers who speak against nationalisation, and leaders at Luthuli House who disagree with them and threaten them with disciplinary and political repercussions within the party.
Infrastructure is falling apart. Maintenance has been sorely neglected. Much of the country's infrastructure is managed by parastatals. We are disappointed that no reference was made to the poor state of these parastatals. The leadership and financial crises faced by most of these parastatals need to be acknowledged and urgently addressed.
Working infrastructure enables economic growth, whereas dilapidated infrastructure impedes economic growth. Take for instance the financial and medical costs of using the roads, which are escalating because of the poor state of the roads. Major highways, including the N1 in Johannesburg and the N2 in the Eastern Cape, are riddled with dangerous potholes, not to speak of the preposterous situation in smaller towns and rural areas. The infrastructure maintenance units that had been phased out need to be brought back.
Aba bantu kuthiwa ngooNolongo, mhlekazi, bamisa iintente ecaleni kwendlela belungisa iindlela. [Hon member, these people are called Nolongo, they pitch their tents alongside the road while Ffreeborn repairing it.]
This would create permanent jobs and reduce government expenses. Infrastructure maintenance is cheaper than infrastructure replacement.
Service delivery protests expose the rift within the ruling party and its alliance partners, as well as the rift between the elite and the poor. Whilst it is fine and well to speak about the police enforcing order in these communities, it would be better, hon President, to speak to the leaders of the tripartite alliance. Nine times out of 10, it is they who are leading and instigating these protests to displace councillors and mayors they dislike, or to pursue other political agendas.
Hon President, you can help the people and communities by disciplining members of your political alliance, who are using the poor as cannon fodder for their political schemes.
Linked to the question of service delivery is the issue of people grandstanding and seeking cheap publicity. We regularly see the Minister of Human Settlements speaking of demolishing admittedly inferior government- built houses, but where are the new, better structures?
Could you, hon President, also take the country into your confidence and explain the proposed tariff increases for Eskom to build power stations, related to the Hitachi deal? The ruling party is heavily invested in that contract, which depends on Eskom imposing tariffs that would cripple the economy. Can we trust your Cabinet to make unbiased decisions in the best interests of the country, when the ruling party stands to benefit directly to the tune of billions from this Eskom deal?
Taking the above-mentioned into consideration, our assessment is that the state of the nation is not positive, nor are we convinced that this government is prepared and able to deal with the challenges that face us. Since this government was elected, we have not seen any significant delivery. The newspapers have been filled with reports of the types of cars the leaders are driving and in front of whose homes those cars are seen. Thank you.