Hon Deputy Speaker, hon Deputy President, hon Speaker, forgive me if I have mixed up the salutation - I don't know who to greet first, the Deputy President of the Republic or the Speaker in this debate. Members of Parliament, comrades, staff of Parliament, fellow South Africans, I don't think Mr van der Merwe really prepared himself today. He should have donated a few of his minutes to me.
However, I think we should not gloat and wish that the black stain on Parliament should not go away. I think we should find ways and means of putting that chapter behind us. We cannot wish to carry forward a black stain and further darken it, and wish it to linger on and on. [Interjections.]
I have been requested to speak about rooting Parliament in the aspirations and ideals of our people through a social, economic and national agenda. I will focus mainly on the national agenda.
I first want to ask four questions. What is our national agenda? Who sets it? Who drives it? And what should be the strategic entry points into our national agenda?
I wish to submit that the Constitution sets our national agenda. Amongst other things, this agenda should seek to ensure that our people's human dignity is supported and attained. This agenda should advance the human rights and freedoms of our people, and should pursue nonracialism and nonsexism and the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law.
Furthermore, the national anthem that we sometimes sing so carelessly says, somewhere in its entry section, "Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo", meaning: "May the horn of Africa be raised high." I sometimes wonder whether we listen to ourselves. I think that is part of our agenda: to raise high the horn of the African continent, and, by so doing, also raise high our own national aspirations.
Who should drive the national agenda? I think Parliament should be central to driving the national agenda, but before we even look at Parliament, let us look at the Members of Parliament who comprise Parliament. I want to start with the highest office. Both the President and the Deputy President take an oath. Forgive me, Deputy President, for reminding you of your oath, and the President's oath. I will not quote this oath in its totality, but only certain sections. It says, and I quote: "I promise to be faithful to the Republic of South Africa, and I will obey, respect and uphold the Constitution."
I want to ask whether every day, in what we do as this Parliament, when we hold the head of the executive accountable, we hold them accountable against the oath that they have taken.
But they are not the only ones who take an oath. We ourselves take an oath. Just to remind you of the oath we take: in it we promise to "promote and advance the Republic."
The executive, the Deputy President and the President also promise to do the same. We promise in our oath to discharge our duties with all our strengths and all our talents. If we are to be at the centre our of the national agenda, I think we must ask ourselves every day whether we are discharging our duties in the manner that is described by the oath that we take.
We have also committed ourselves, through the oath or the solemn affirmation that we take, to ensuring the wellbeing of the Republic. If we are really at the centre of driving the national agenda, as stipulated in the Constitution, I think we should live true to the oath that we have taken.
Going back to the national anthem, another aspect that touches me daily when we sing it, is the line: "O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho", meaning that all wars and tribulations must be stopped. Our people are faced with tribulations every day that, I think, this Parliament sometimes fails to recognise. There are wars in the making in our country today, based on poor service delivery.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I received an e-mail two days ago that shook me very much. I belong to the World Democracy Forum. There is an e-mail that their members are circulating, entitled "Brewing a national revolution". When I went into the checklist of things they say you need to brew a national revolution, some of them - I counted 80% of them - are embedded in what is happening in our country today, namely dissatisfaction around basic issues that our people expect from our government and from this Parliament of ensuring that government delivers.
Our people are faced with tribulations, and I want to submit that, unless we act fast as this Parliament, the seed for another national revolution has been planted. The realisation that is sought in our national anthem, that our God should stop wars and tribulations, will not be realised. I think this Parliament should affirm itself and be very assertive in ensuring that this formula for a revolution is not being spread. Mind you, this same e-mail was also sent around Kenya before the eruption after the last election there. I want to submit that we might not be aware of it, but the patience of our people is wearing thin. And I don't know if this Parliament is rising to the occasion - to hold government accountable timeously and qualitatively to make sure that the people's tribulations are addressed.
If you listen carefully to various means of communication - the public discourse - you will note that our people are crying out loud every day. We hear every day how they call upon those that they have elected, which is ourselves and which is this Parliament, to hear their cry about poor - quality service delivery.
I want to cite the example of the Frances Baard municipality of Kimberley, the city I come from. For nine consecutive years that municipality has received disclaimers from the National Treasury. Water is no longer available every day. Every month, for two, three days on end, there is no water. I don't even want to talk about the quality of health care given at the provincial hospital in Kimberley. But the question I want to ask, is to ask myself first, as a person coming from that constituency, whether Parliament, in its mechanisms, is facilitating my ability to do the work that I should do, to ensure that it cannot be correct for any municipality to have nine disclaimers in nine consecutive years. If I am failing in my duty to bring such issues before this Parliament, I think this Parliament must demand from me to do better, assist me to do better.
On many days there is no electricity in that municipality. Last week people did not get their salaries. That was not the first time. And yet we are sitting in this Parliament. I hope that we will do better. I hope that we will listen carefully to the aspirations of our people. They are not only written and contained in the Constitution; they are not only written and contained in the national anthem; we hear them being cried out loud.
The things that they expect us to do are to communicate with them, and to be rooted amongst them, to be present amongst them every day, and to communicate with them when things go right and when things go wrong. Finally, they expect us to be a Parliament second to none in the world, a Parliament that will lift the whole of Africa, that will be involved in lifting our nation and lifting the whole of Africa, and that will lead in terms of shaping the new world order that we have promised them, especially as the ruling party, in many, many policy documents.
Lastly, to the Chief Whip of the DA: The political committee of the ANC in Parliament will and must continue to champion the policies of the ANC. When they fail to do so, I promise you we will remove them and they will be replaced with ones that are even more effective in championing the policies of the ANC. I thank you. [Applause.]