Hon Deputy Speaker ... [Interjections.]
Ewe, mfana, ndiza kuthetha kakuhle; andinangxaki ngaloo nto. [Yes, young man, I will speak well; I do not have a problem with that.]
Hon Deputy Speaker, His Excellency the President of the Republic and his Deputy, hon Ministers and hon members, the UDM congratulates the newly appointed Cabinet members. In the same vein, we wish to congratulate the new parliamentary leader of the DA, the hon Mr Trollip, for the honour bestowed upon him by his party.
The reality is that President Zuma and his Cabinet, as well as the majority opposition party, will be carefully watched by the voters who gave them the mandate to improve the quality of their lives. However, judging by the recent public spat between the two parties, the advice one can give is that if you want to focus on the real issues you would need to respect one another.
It is therefore gratifying to hear the hon Trollip recognising that ...
... ukususela ngomhla we-9 kuMeyi 2009, kuyasholozwa kweli lizwe [... there is a Msholozi buzz that has crept into the country since 9 May 2009]. The golden rule is that, irrespective of our mandates in this House, the office of the President must be respected.
Mr President, South Africans have taken note of your statements of intent. From today onwards we will try to unpack and understand them. The people in the rural areas and outlying towns in particular will breathe a sigh of relief after you committed your government to improving their conditions. For the first time the people from areas such as Mokgalwana and Matlametlong of the North West, and towns such as Umtata and Butterworth, who are struggling for water and electricity, and are experiencing impassable roads in their areas, will possibly be heard. Indeed, the people of the OR Tambo region in the Eastern Cape will expect an answer from your government as to why the building of the stadium promised to them for the 2010 Fifa World Cup has not yet begun.
One other issue which I wish to raise during this debate on the state of the nation address is how we as a country have conducted the recent elections. Despite the reported intimidation, the maturity displayed by all political parties is commendable. However, the IEC, government and political parties must accelerate the improvement of the infrastructure so as to eliminate any chances of fraud in future.
The fact that it is becoming so easy for any Jack and Jill to have access to ballot papers and scanners, as we witnessed in Cape Town, serves as a reminder that a lot still has to be done. I therefore would like to remind all political parties present here that the multiparty forum to which we all belong has been engaging with the IEC on a number of issues. We should use this legislature to finalise the pending issues, such as the party- funding legislation; the IEC's level of independence; the decision-making level of the political liaison committees; the media, especially public broadcasting; and creating an enabling environment for participatory democracy.
The most critical challenge facing our country and this new government today, I agree with Msholozi, is to continue to fight poverty through job creation.
We believe that jobs are the ultimate weapons against poverty and that the country must be managed to ensure the achievement of this goal. Government has a responsibility to intervene and protect the South African economy and jobs when necessary. Whilst free-market capitalism is the best economic system developed by humanity, it is still fraught with weaknesses and failures that must be actively managed.
We should take a leaf from the book of the outside world, which, when they were faced with an economic meltdown, did not pussyfoot around, but instead took decisive steps to remedy their situations.
Iyahlekisa le nto ndiyithethayo, Mphathiswa? [Is what I am saying amusing, hon Minister?]
South Africans are suspicious and mistrust government because of perceptions that it is not equitably distributing the resources of the country. Indeed, since 1994 there has not been consensus on a macroeconomic policy that can transform the economy in a manner that could create jobs and spread the wealth wider, and improve the lot of the disadvantaged majority. There are, in particular, concerns about the inadequacies and contradictions of the fiscal and industrial policies. Consequently, the gains of the liberation in 1994 have not translated into real economic freedom for all, and that's a reality.
A classic example is the recent call by Cosatu to boycott Vodacom products and services. However, their call should be viewed in the context of a directive issued by the former secretary-general of Cosatu in his capacity as the then Minister of Communications, Mr Jay Naidoo, which culminated in the selling of 15,2% of Telkom shares to the Thintana group of the USA. Those shares, as we all know, made their way back to a South African consortium, which includes an entity that carries a beneficial interest of some individuals and institutions aligned to the ruling party.
Before any intended boycott therefore takes place, I would like to call upon you, Mr President, to investigate the structure and beneficiaries of an entity known as Clident 1 and Clident 445 Pty Ltd, which also has an interest in the sale of Vodacom shares by Telkom.
We contend that this economic policy uncertainty is unhealthy for the long- term growth of the country. Just as Codesa served as a forum where the nation could gather to find broad consensus on the political dispensation, so an economic indaba is required to find broad consensus on the economic dispensation.
For our part, the UDM will enter such an economic indaba with one goal, namely to argue that the basis of economic policy must be the expansion of the economic cake so that we can give a bigger slice to everybody. Right now the economic cake remains overwhelmingly in the hands of the minority, and that of a small black elite, whilst the majority do not have a seat at the table and must survive on the crumbs that happen to fall on the floor.
Our only option, if we are serious about uplifting the masses and sustaining the democratic project, is to adopt economic policies that are geared towards opening the doors to the fortress of the formal economy for the millions who are locked out of it.
The very few blacks who are recipients of the BEE crumbs have instead accumulated more liabilities than assets through overpriced shares of the white-owned companies. Yes, we need to deracialise our economy. Since 1994 black South Africans have made no real progress in ownership and control of the economy.
In conclusion, both Minister Manuel and hon Minister Patel ... [Interjections.] No, you are not honourable.
Awukho "honourable" wena tu, mfana. [Young man, you are not honourable at all.] [Laughter.]]
... need to keep contact with the public. They should give serious attention to the UDM policy proposal to establish a presidential council on sustainable development where all stakeholders in society would actively interact and participate in developing their communities instead of being excluded and waiting for handouts.
Such an approach would quickly determine why people have been living in the dark without electricity since 1994, or why many have been living in shacks since the eighties in places such as Cape Town, leading people to ask where this so-called freedom of 1994 is.
We must begin to give the people of the country an input.