Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members and the House at large, good evening. Let me start by agreeing with the Minister that the people of South Africa adopted a living document, the Freedom Charter, in 1955. Secondly, I agree with the Deputy Minister about the approach to rural housing. Thirdly, hon Minister, your budget is a little bit skewed. More money goes to operational expenditure than to capital expenditure.
I don't want to comment on whether I am giving my support or not. There should be continuous support to provinces by the national department, particularly by the Eastern Cape. If you look at the Alfred Nzo and O R Tambo districts, we intend supporting you by feeding you reports, hon Minister.
The focus should be on the implementation of cohousing. The word "cohousing" may not be common in South Africa, but is taking off all over the world. By being ecologically sensitive, building a community before the houses are built, incorporating recycling, compensating for smaller houses by increasing common facilities, establishing gardens and orchards, sharing transport, using alternative energy, providing fully for the total supervision of young children, taking common responsibility for security, making room for adults and orphans and by generally ensuring that residents leave only a tiny carbon footprint, cohousing is going in the direction the world is going in. Cohousing accommodates people, creates viable communities, preserves the environment, creates job opportunities, optimises travel arrangements, and decreases the demand for health care.
For a government that is challenged daily to provide service delivery, cohousing will deal with sanitation through having package plants on site, recycling water, tapping the wind and sun for energy and becoming self- sustaining. The provision of bulk services could be slashed by 80% or more.
In conclusion, I suggest that the policy-makers should help in taking us forward rather than keeping us back. Many townships look more dismal than they did at the height of apartheid. That is a damning indictment against this department.
Now that the name of the department has been changed, let fundamental thinking around housing also change. We hope that with the changing of the name, a lot is going to change. We also hope that when we are talking about human settlements there will be security, there will be comfort and the people of South Africa will also enjoy the fruits of their labour as enshrined in their struggle, particularly, on 25 and 26 June 1955. I thank you. [Applause.]