Hon House Chairperson, I greet all members in this House. I want to remind members that - as the ANC government - we have inherited huge backlogs, especially in areas that were part of the Bantustans.
I must also remind this House that all the wrong things that happened, especially those that hurt the majority of the citizens of this country, have been happening for more than 400 years. This democratic government is only 17 years old, compared to the more than 400 years of oppression of the majority of the citizens of this country. We must always be mindful that we are only 17 and, therefore, a teenaged democratic government.
Somebody said that we must not make the mistake of beating ourselves up as teenagers because even established democracies still have problems that are the same as the ones we have in our country. You go to America or the UK and you still have the poor there. It is not only in South Africa where we have the poor.
We must also remember that the people who stay in lavish suburbs are the result of the sweat of the poor coming from the rural areas. [Applause.] Therefore, as the ANC government, we must focus on our mandate to make it possible for those who have been disadvantaged to be liberated economically.
Furthermore, it is important for us to compare ourselves with our peers, not the well-established democracies. We fully agree with and we are not even shy to acknowledge the fact that when it comes to conditional grants, we have not been performing well.
As a province, however, we have taken a conscious decision that the executive is going to take action to make sure that they do their oversight on the spending of conditional grants. We have taken a decision that we, as MECs, are not going to rely on officials' reports, but are going to do active oversight over conditional grants. That is executive activism because they have taken an interest in monitoring the budgets.
I must also indicate that we fully support and appreciate the school infrastructure backlogs grant because it's in those rural areas that schools have a backlog in infrastructure. We think that the three years - that is the time that has been allocated - will put pressure on us to make sure that we deliver as fast as possible to address those backlogs. Those children also need water, sanitation and electricity to study in better classrooms. That is also a sign that this government is concerned with the interests of the poor and not only those of the rich who have been advantaged for many decades.
I also support the committee's report to the effect that withholding funds should not be an administrative decision. It should be an executive decision so that the politicians can be the ones who take the decisions, knowing full well how they are going to make sure that the administrators do what is expected of them because we do oversight over them. This, hon Minister, through you, Chairperson, is critical. As politicians we must be part of the decision on whether or not to withhold funds.
Furthermore, remember that one of the executive decisions that must be taken, hon Minister, is the fact that we have a municipality in our province called NW397, which is a merger of Kagisano Local Municipality and Molopo Local Municipality. These two are poor municipalities and, unexpectedly, they have not received their allocation. This was an omission on the part of National Treasury in allocating the municipal systems improvement grant. They haven't allocated it. The biggest question is: If you merge two poor municipalities and don't provide a grant for their systems to be merged, how can that be possible, because they don't have income-generating capacity?
The water and sanitation survey of 2007 indicates that the population of that joint municipality is more than 82 000. Remember, we must ensure that we deliver to the people who are disadvantaged and poor. However, it will be difficult to merge the systems if you don't have a grant that will assist you. That will compromise service delivery in that area.
I must also remind this House that, in the same municipality, there are some people who were not happy that the two municipalities were merged. So, if we don't support them, then we provide fertile ground for those who want to take advantage of the good things and misuse them.
That is why I am appealing to this House and the hon Minister that an executive decision must be taken to ensure that we provide for that municipality in 2011. It can't be administrative, hon members. It can't at all. If this is not addressed, it is going to compromise us because, politically, people will feel that, since we have merged the two municipalities, there is no need to give them support.
Currently, they rely on Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality and the provincial departments of finance and local government and traditional affairs for services and technical assistance. So, if you take the little that they have, how do you expect them to deliver more effectively to the people of that municipality?
Who will be the most affected people in that area? Women! Women! Women are in the majority in the rural areas and, as a woman, I can't be happy if more women are disadvantaged. Grants - the equitable share, in particular - do not provide sufficient opportunity for provinces to manoeuvre around the allocations that we get because funds are already channelled through conditional grants. We have little space to manoeuvre, especially in the rural provinces.
I must make it clear to the members of this House that sometimes when people say that they will deliver to all, we must be clear on what they mean. In the province we have the municipality of Tswaing, of which Sannieshof is part. In that municipality there is a lady called Carin Visser, who was a chairperson of the ratepayers' association. She organised people not to pay for services and she utilised that to play with people's emotions. Currently, she is a DA candidate. And you ask yourself: Was it a stepping stone to mislead people not to pay for services when they say "services for all" so that they can use it as their ticket to go and ask for votes? Is that a service for all? I must also indicate that that is a sign of a person who acts like a chameleon, who changes colour based on the conditions they find themselves in. [Interjections.] It's simply the actions of a chameleon.
Hon members of the House should remember that before Botswana became independent - when it was still Bechuanaland - this area, our capital, Mafikeng, was part of Botswana. It was the capital of Botswana then, in the early 1960s. However, when the then government took over the areas that were part of Botswana to become part of Bophuthatswana, they never made allocations for those areas. This means that we have to deal with the backlogs of the former residents of Botswana, who are currently North West or South African residents. The people are of the same families. You just cross the border and it's the same family. You go to Botswana and you find the same people who are of the same family. The question is: Why didn't they allocate at that time?
When the Minister tabled the Budget, I appreciated it. When we went out of the NA Chamber, somebody said, "Wow! What a progressive Budget, aimed at assisting the poor." It is not everybody who can say that, especially not the DA. They can't appreciate the fact that this is a progressive Budget, intended to assist those who have been disadvantaged for many years.
As I conclude, I wish to indicate that, as a province, we want to send our greetings to the current Director-General of the National Treasury for good work done. Lesetja Kganyago has done a good job, and he is going to do a good job at the Reserve Bank. [Applause.] We fully support him. It was the correct decision by the President to deploy him where he will do his best because we require his skills. The country also requires his skills and we want to wish him well. The North West supports the Division of Revenue Bill. [Applause.]