Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, I feel honoured once more and again want to thank all South Africans who voted in the last elections. In Mpumalanga in particular, 1,3 million people cast their vote, with 1,1 million voting for the ANC. These statistics prove beyond a doubt that the majority of the people in our province believe in the ANC as the only party that can make their dreams come true in terms of service delivery.
Malunga Ahloniphekile eSishayamthetho, kunempandana ebizwa ngokuthiwa ulamthuthu. Ulamnthuthu uphila ngokuphiwa ukudla adle asuthe ehlezi phansi, bese ezithumela khona lapho ehleli khona. Kwazise belu ukuthi unkabi akakwazi ngisho nokuzigolela intethe yodwa le.
Nathi-ke kule Ndlu yeSishayamthetho sakubona lokho ngesikhathi sizigayela amavoti. Thina abakwaKhongolose, ngisho belu u-ANC, sawaxwayisa amanye ameqembu ukuthi azozisola, azokhihla esikaNandi isililo emva kokhetho futhi azoyikhotha imbenge yomile ngoba azobuya elambatha. Ngoba thina bakwa ANC, ngokhetho, asisinisi mahleza - sibhaxabula ngesibhaxu kuphela.
Mangingakhohlwa futhi nokuhalalisela umholi we-DA uNkz Hellen Zille, ngokufaka igalelo lokwelekelela u-ANC ngokukhankasa ngokuthi axwayise abantu bakule ngabadi yakithi ngokuthi athi: Stop Zuma. Nangempela abantu bakithi base besusa uhlamvu u-'s' kwase kufundeka kanje: Top Zuma. [Uhleko.] Ngempela uGedleyihlekisa, uMsholozi, okaNxamalala, uMhlanganyelwa wakhushulwa waze waphuma phambili ngisho okwesixhumo senyamazane. Waphumelela ngamalengiso ukuthatha umshini wakhe, waqothula imbokodwe nesisekelo ngenxa yegunya alinikwe ngabavoti bakule ngabadi yakithi yaseNingizimu Afrika.
UMsholozi, ngokhetho wazigwazela ibhece nje kwazise phela ukuthi umhlaba wonke ubunqikaza ngenxa yengwadla nomshophi uKhongolose abebhekene nayo eyadalwa ngamambuka ayeqembuke ku-ANC. Ngolokho-ke ku-Cope sithi: Indlu yegagu iyanetha kanti nomthungo wezicathulo uveze obhozo obala kanti futhi thina sizohlala sinje siwu-ANC. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Hon Members of the Council, there is a type of chicken called the battery chicken. The battery chicken is fed until it is full without having to get up, and it relieves itself where it is sitting. It cannot even look for locusts to eat. We also saw this in this Council when we were campaigning for votes. The African National Congress warned the other parties that they were going to be sorry, that they would cry bitterly after the elections and that they would have a tough time because they would not get anything. That is because as the ANC, during the elections, we meant business; we beat everybody.
Let me not forget to thank the DA leader Ms Helen Zille for helping the ANC campaign by telling the people of this country to "Stop Zuma". Our people removed the letter "S" and then it read "Top Zuma". [Laughter.] Indeed Gedleyihlekisa, Msholozi, Nxamalala, Mhlanganyelwa rose to the top like a fawn. He excelled by taking his machine gun. He conquered all by the mandate that he was given by the people of our country, South Africa.
Msholozi had an easy win during the elections. The whole world was in limbo due to the problem which the ANC was facing that was caused by the party that broke away from the ANC. With those words we say to Cope: He who talks a great deal achieves nothing. Sweep before your own door; as the ANC we will remain like this.]
On 9 May this year, during the presidential inauguration, our hon President, Jacob Zuma, made a commitment to our people and to the world that "we shall not rest and we shall not falter in our drive to eradicate poverty."
Poverty manifests itself in different ways. It is understood to involve three critical dimensions, namely income, human capital - described as services and opportunities - and assets. Housing primarily contributes towards the alleviation of asset poverty. This contribution is to be strengthened in the new human settlement plan through supporting the development of sustainable human settlements and the development of housing assets.
After the 1994 elections the new, democratically elected ANC government committed itself to developing more liveable, equitable and sustainable cities. Key elements of this framework included pursuing a more compact urban form, facilitating higher densities, mixed land use development, and integrating land use and public transport planning so as to ensure more diverse and responsive environments while reducing travelling distances. Despite all these well-intended measures, the inequalities and inefficiencies of the apartheid space economy have lingered on.
The National Spatial Development Perspective adopted by the Cabinet has noted that several development programmes, including the housing programme, are not addressing the distortions of that inherited apartheid space economy. The Department of Provincial and Local Government has therefore prepared the draft national urban strategy that proposes a vision of South African towns and cities which are spatially and socially inclusive, well designed and developed in an environmentally efficient way. The shift will be towards a reinvigorated contract with the people and partner organisations for the achievement of sustainable human settlements.
Sustainable human settlements refer to "well-managed entities in which economic growth and social development are in balance with the carrying capacity of the natural systems on which they depend for their existence and result in sustainable development, wealth creation, poverty alleviation and equity". It was then clearly appropriate that the designation of the old Department of Housing be changed to the new, modern and more descriptive Department of Human Settlements.
In line with the presidential commitments, we shall provide housing for all our people. It is therefore totally acceptable that our efforts in this regard are being - and I shall use harsh words - sabotaged by unscrupulous entities that would appear to manipulate the prices of building materials. Only a week ago, it was reported in the national press that the Competition Commission had raided the premises of several leading cement producers in an investigation into so-called cartel behaviour in the building material and construction industries, which have been accused of driving up the cost of the government's infrastructure spending programme.
The Competition Commission said that it believes that anticompetitive behaviour in this market could be substantially increasing the cost of South Africa's infrastructure programme with negative effects on the economy. I think we can safely say that it will, undoubtedly, increase the cost of house building with extremely negative effects on the housing programme, and I sincerely hope that this type of behaviour will be nipped in the bud before too much damage has been done.
Furthermore, monitoring and evaluation becomes a key tool in making sure that we are uprooting all the so-called vampires who are surviving on government resources at the expense of poor people. Those vampires include all constructors who have won tenders and vanish without finishing the structures, eg in Limpopo, in Mpumalanga at the Dipaleseng Municipality, in the North West, and in the Eastern Cape in the Amathole District Municipality in a place called Pedi.
Lapho Ngqongqoshe. Kunezinkinga ngisho nalezi zindlu ezakhiwe, izivalo zikhona kungathi ngamakhadibhodi. Ngicabanga ukuthi kufanele kwenziwe okuthile ngalokho ngoba akungabi sengathi kuhlala amagundane lapho - (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[There is a problem there, Minister. The houses that have been built have doors that are like cardboard. I think something must be done about it; it should not be as if there are mice living there.]
Other problems include constructors who are underpaying their workers, paying below the average rate in terms of the Labour Relations Act; constructors who are not paying their workers at all; the allocation of houses not to the rightful owners; the illegal selling of houses that are allocated by government; and service providers who are providing goods that are in a deteriorating condition.
It must be noted that government subsidies have been tripled in order to assist the poor people, but if government authorities do not take steps to deal with all the above-mentioned concerns, then all its efforts will be undermined.
Chairperson, allow me to use this opportunity to mention what happened in Gert Sibande District Municipality a few days ago. The decision by the department follows numerous cases of unrest in the municipality. The unrest has been as a result of protests organised by the community in which the community has made a number of allegations - underline "allegations" - against the municipality. Some of these allegations include the misappropriation of funds, a lack of service delivery, nepotism, poor implementation of the integrated development plan and a lack of proper consultation in terms of resource distribution and infrastructure.
Sihlalo, noma-ke lezi zinsolo ezivezwe umphakathi zibalulekile, thina bakwa- ANC asihambisani nezenzo zodlame ezithunaza isithunzi seqembu kanye nesezwe lethu laseNingizimu Afrika. Ngoba ... [Kwaphela isikhathi.] (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, these allegations are serious despite the fact that they were brought up by the community. We, as the ANC, are against acts of violence that are tarnishing the dignity of the party and our country, South Africa, because ... [Time expired.]]
Okay. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]