Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members, distinguished guests, departmental officials, comrades, friends and all people present: Dumelang! Awusheni! Molweni! Sawubona! I greet you all and I wish you all the best of health!
It is a singular honour for me to stand here today - I'm a little nervous, a little anxious, since it is my maiden speech, but I am strengthened by the proud history of the organisation I represent, the ANC, which has for decades been the vanguard organisation in the fight against apartheid and the fight for freedom, democracy, equity, dignity and a better life for all! [Applause.] I am also proud to stand here as a doctor, because on 9 March 1947 it was three doctors - I repeat, three doctors - Dr Alfred Xuma, Dr Monty Naicker and Dr Yusuf Dadoo, who signed the joint declaration of co- operation, which is now called the "Doctors' Pact". This was the forerunner to the 1955 Freedom Charter, and was the first tripartite alliance - it had a communist, a unionist and the president of the ANC. The actual words, "South Africa shall belong to all who live in it, both black and white", were taken from this "Doctors' Pact". You see, Chairperson, these three doctors, like Che Guevara, knew that to treat a disease or an illness, you need to treat the aetiology, you need to treat the cause; you can't treat symptoms. And therefore they embarked on that particular direction, and that is what informs us today when we make a proposal on the national health insurance.
We have more than 150 years of mismanagement in health. The previous minority governments were just catering for the minority of the plus-minus four million white population and have left a legacy of mismanagement. They started in 1833 with the Public Health Act. They went on to the Tomlinson Report in 1954, which proposed Bantu health services, and then to the 1983 tricameral system, with 17 distinct political entities with no political legitimacy. [Interjections.]