National Assembly - 10 May 2001
THURSDAY, 10 MAY 2001 __
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
The House met at 14:01.
The Chairperson of Committees took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS - see col 000.
NOTICES OF MOTION
Mr M U KALAKO: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC:
That the House -
(1) recalls the unfortunate revelations of DA strategy proposals to sideline the hon Marthinus van Schalkwyk and to ensure that the hon Tony Leon is always the prima ballerina in the DA road-show;
(2) notes that the partners in the sham marriage between the DP and the New NP are now so at odds that the DP caucus in the Cape Town Unicity is now holding separate meetings; and
(3) calls on the DP and the New NP to abandon their theatrical posturing and to join the ANC Government in a united campaign to fight the scourges of poverty, disease and hunger.
Mr D H M GIBSON: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the DP:
That the House -
(1) notes that -
(a) despite promises about ruling the country in a transparent and
thoroughly democratic way, the ANC has demonstrated that it does
not care about democratic accountability; and
(b) depending upon the prominence of the ANC person concerned he or
she may treat Parliament itself or committees of Parliament with
contempt and not be called to account; and
(2) nevertheless records its belief in the good sense of the voters who will in time punish those who protect their elite and who fail to deliver on their promises of good, honest government.
Prince N E ZULU: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the IFP:
That the House -
(1) is appalled at reports that a Johannesburg chef raped 24 young girls aged between seven and fourteen years;
(2) appeals to parents to warn their children against charming people roaming the streets to woo children; (3) applauds the police for apprehending the suspect; and
(4) hopes that the law will take its course and see the rapist in jail for many years.
Dr J BENJAMIN: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC:
That the House -
(1) notes that the Western Cape Premier, Gerald Morkel, has unilaterally decided to invoke an apartheid era by-law making selling items on street corners illegal;
(2) also notes that The Big Issue magazine, for whom homeless and unemployed people work, has challenged Morkel to join sellers on the street for one day;
(3) believes that Mr Morkel’s inability to conduct a survey, have a proper consultation process and then make a decision, exposes his allegiance to his apartheid past; (4) echoes the call by the The Big Issue, so that the Premier can gain insight into the plight of poor people; and
(5) also calls on the Premier not to make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.
Dr B L GELDENHUYS: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the New NP:
That the House -
(1) notes with great concern that violence, intimidation and thuggery are hampering effective teaching and learning at many KwaZulu-Natal schools, according to the provincial education department;
(2) further notes with dismay that alcohol and drug abuse by both teachers and learners aggravates the situation;
(3) also notes that the aforesaid appalling situation contradicts the South African Schools Act, which guarantees the right of learners to a clean and safe environment that is conducive to education; and
(4) therefore urgently calls on the provincial authority to formulate and implement a safety and security management plan and to restore discipline at all schools without delay.
Mr C T FROLICK: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC:
That the House -
(1) expresses its condolences and sympathy to the bereaved families and the nation of Ghana after yesterday’s soccer tragedy;
(2) notes that this unnecessary loss of life occurred when police closed the gates to a soccer stadium and fired tear-gas into a large crowd of soccer fans, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries;
(3) notes that this is the fourth such tragedy in Africa in recent months;
(4) calls upon the Confederation of African Football to urgently investigate the precautionary measures in place to prevent further tragedies of this kind from taking place; and
(5) notes that such tragic events raise concern as to the suitability of African countries to host international soccer events.
Ms M A MOLEBATSI: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC:
That the House -
(1) notes that the man accused of raping 24 teenage girls in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, has been apprehended by police;
(2) believes that those who continue to abuse children are a menace to society; and (3) commends men and women in the Police Service for carrying out their responsibilities diligently and bringing this culprit to book.
[Applause.]
Ms C DUDLEY: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ACDP:
That the House -
(1) acknowledges that every woman in South Africa should have the right to legal protection against medical malpractices;
(2) notes that the drug manufacturer Searle issued a warning letter urging doctors nationwide not to use their drug Cytotec as the second part of the two-part RU 486 abortion process as it is medically dangerous to women;
(3) condemns the wide use of this drug in SA by family planners to procure abortions in spite of the manufacturer’s cautioning against it, thereby wilfully risking the lives and health of women;
(4) calls on Government to ban the use of this drug for any purpose other than ulcer treatment, for which it is endorsed by the manufacturers; and
(5) further calls on Government to issue urgent warnings with regard to the dangerous implications of the misuse of misoprostil and criminally charge those who are guilty of such misuse.
Mr J P I BLANCHÉ: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:
That the House -
(1) notes newspaper reports of alleged serious fraud and financial mismanagement at Athletics South Africa (ASA);
(2) further notes reports that there might not be sufficient funds available to send a full-strength team to represent South Africa at the World Championships in Canada later this year;
(3) states that no athlete may be prevented from representing his or her country due to the dishonest and fraudulent actions of officials;
(4) calls for a proper and thorough audit of ASA’s financial affairs; and
(5) also calls on anyone with information or evidence to come forward.
Mrs F MAHOMED: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC:
That the House -
(1) notes that the honourable President Chissano of Mozambique has announced that he will not be standing for a presidential term for the third time; (2) believes that the recent announcement enhances democracy in the Southern African region and the African continent as a whole;
(3) commends President Chissano for his sterling contribution to strengthening democracy, development and African renewal; and
(4) calls on him to contribute in his personal capacity to the ideals he has fought for and worked for during his presidential term.
Mr M WATERS: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:
That the House -
(1) notes with disgust the wasteful spending by the ANC-led Ekurhuleni Metro Council by -
(a) approving a new R60 million council chamber;
(b) increasing the staffing budget of the mayor from R960 000 per
annum to R3 million per annum, including a political adviser
costing R25 000 per month; and
(c) approving the purchase of a new mayoral car to the value of R580
000 when the mayoral fleet already consists of 22 cars; and
(2) calls on the ANC Government to immediately halt the wasteful expenditure on luxuries for bloated egos and empire building and rather spend the money on delivering services, such as housing, water, clinics and electricity.
[Applause.]
Prof L B G NDABANDABA: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the IFP:
That the House notes and acknowledges that -
(1) the SA Law Commission is in the process of establishing a Crime Victims Fund to compensate victims of rape and other violent crimes; (2) such compensation will in part come from an extra tax on guns and alcohol, because of the connection between firearms and alcohol abuse and crime;
(3) the Crime Victims Fund will in particular benefit three categories of victims, namely rape survivors, victims disabled by violent crime and dependants of poor murder victims;
(4) such compensation in pilot programmes which will be phased in over the next three financial years will also enable survivors to obtain services like emotional support, counselling and medication not available through the state; and
(5) to this end …
[Time expired.]
Mr W M SKHOSANA: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC:
That the House - (1) notes -
(a) the recent announcement by the Minister of Housing, the hon
Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele, about awarding housing subsidies to 22
mentally disabled people in Mphatlalatsane; and
(b) that this feat is unprecedented in South Africa;
(2) believes that -
(a) this is a sign that the ANC-led Government is serious about
creating a better life for all;
(b) the action by the Minister of Housing is a giant step towards
ensuring the integration of disabled people into the broader
society; and
(c) this will restore the dignity of disabled people in general; and
(3) commends the Minister of Housing for ensuring that disabled people are regarded as human beings and calls on all South Africans to work towards a fully integrated society.
[Applause.]
Mr A BLAAS: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the New NP and others:
That the House -
(1) notes that -
(a) the accident at the Beatrix mine on Tuesday morning, in which 12
people were killed, was the second accident caused by methane
gas to take place within a year at that mine; and
(b) the accident could have been prevented if a high-sensitive
methane monitor had been installed;
(2) finds it unacceptable that the required precautions were not taken, placing the life and safety of the workers at risk; and (3) calls on -
(a) the Department of Minerals and Energy to ensure that all mines
comply with the regulations and that mine safety is continuously
monitored to prevent any accidents of this type; and
(b) all workers not to compromise their safety and to help create an
environment in which safety awareness becomes a way of life.
Mr M T GONIWE: Chairperson, on a point of order: The member gave notice of his motion on behalf of the New NP and others. Who are ``others’’? Is there such a party in the House? [Laughter.] [Interjections.]
The CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Hon members, please remember that we have ruled in the past that when you move a motion, you move it on behalf of your party.
Mr S ABRAM: Chairperson, I give notice that I shall move:
That the House -
(1) notes that -
(a) Pope John Paul has apologised to the Greek Christian Orthodox
Church for the past trespasses of the Roman Catholic Church; and
(b) the Pope also prayed in a mosque in Damascus, as part of a
mission to reconcile Christianity, Islam and Judaism;
(2) expresses its support for the efforts of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church towards promoting religious and cultural tolerance; and
(3) calls on South Africans of all religious faiths and denominations to unite and encourage tolerance as a vital element of any democratic society.
[Applause.]
ACCRA SOCCER STAMPEDE
(Draft Resolution)
Mr G Q M DOIDGE: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the House -
(1) notes the horrific soccer stampede in Accra, Ghana, which left 120 people dead;
(2) wishes the injured a speedy recovery; and
(3) expresses its condolences to the families and friends of the deceased.
Agreed to.
VISIT OF POPE JOHN II TO SYRIA
(Draft Resolution)
Mr G Q M DOIDGE: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the House -
(1) notes the first ever visit by a pontiff, Pope John Paul II, to Syria on 7 May 2001; (2) further notes the call by the Pope to make peace and to “break down the walls of hostility and division and to build together a world of justice and solidarity”;
(3) expresses its concurrence with the sentiments articulated by the Pope;
(4) recognises that this is the civic and moral duty of all the people of that troubled region and the world; and
(5) expresses its sincere appreciation to Pope John Paul II for showing that cultural and religious differences need not be a source of conflict, but can be a source of inspiration, tolerance and reconciliation.
Agreed to.
CONGRATULATIONS TO SA CRICKET TEAM ON CARRIBEAN TOUR
(Draft Resolution)
Mr C H F GREYLING: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the House -
(1) notes the excellent performance by the South African cricket team in the Caribbean;
(2) notes that South Africa has become the first team to win a test series and a one-day series on one tour of the Caribbean; and
(3) congratulates the team on its brilliant performance.
Agreed to.
APPROPRIATION BILL
Debate on Vote No 30 - Public Works:
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Chairperson, hon members of this House, it is my intention this afternoon to unfold what have been the highlights of the past year, some of the obstacles and challenges we have had to deal with, and how we see a public works department of the future. As one of the limbs of what forms a broader South Africa, Public Works has to acknowledge that it, too, is a player in a global village and, as such, has learned to harness the positive forces of the winds of change to create a better life for all of us.
The national Department of Public Works has been working on far-reaching programmes to transform the way it operates and to turn itself into a model of effective and accountable delivery. In short, we are talking about a Public Works that works smarter. The department has engaged some of the best change management experts in South Africa and the world to support this transformation programme.
The Work-Smart transformation programme focuses on improving the performance of the department as a whole, a programme that will ensure that we not only spend the budget allocated to us, but also do so in a manner that makes the best use of scarce resources and that meets the needs of both Government departments and the people of South Africa in general. As we develop the Work-Smart transformation programme, we shall be seeking input from hon members of this House, from client departments such as Justice, Safety and Security, Defence and Correctional Services, as well as expertise from the private sector.
In order to show this is a programme and not a talk shop, I would like to share with hon members our vision for the future of the department and to highlight the main initiatives we are taking to ensure delivery excellence in the 2001-02 financial year.
We are aiming to create, by early 2002, a state property agency that will be run according to commercial principles. This structure will allow us to create the focus and flexibility needed to provide Government with its core requirements.
We believe that the agency’s more focused portfolio, together with private- sector involvement in the management of our properties, will bring innovation, flexibility, cost-effectiveness and continual improvement, resulting in client satisfaction. Working smart will turn our department into an area of excellence by having a more robust community-based public works programme focusing on expanding the poverty relief programme, a construction industry development programme under the leadership of the Construction Industry Development Board, the recognition of the construction industry as a national asset, and a highly effective state- owned property agency.
Coming to the budget, in total, Public Works is presenting a budget of R3,52 billion for the 2001-02 financial year. For the first time, new capital projects for Government departments are actually included in their respective budgets, one more stepping stone towards implementing the user- pays principle and bringing accountability to the point of service.
Allow me to highlight our key financial and action commitments for the 2001- 02 financial year on my department’s three core functions, namely ownership and management of Government property and facilities, the Community-Based Public Works Programme, and the development of the construction industry. The provision and maintenance of appropriate physical accommodation for Government - everything from police stations to courts and museums - remains the cornerstone of my department’s work.
For capital project delivery, the department will be working on Government contracts worth around R1,6 billion during 2001-02.
Some of the most significant of these projects are: magistrates’ offices to be built at Khayelitsha in the Western Cape at a cost of R26,9 million, confirming Government’s commitment to bringing justice to the areas formerly sidelined; the completion of the R127,9 million Constitutional Court on the site of the notorious Old Johannesburg Prison; and a community safety centre in Galeshewe near Kimberley at a cost of R23,7 million, following the completion of similar centres over the past year in communities in the Western Cape, Northern Province and KwaZulu-Natal. In these and other projects, our client departments and the public will already notice us making real strides in improving our delivery. Contributing to improvement are measures such as client liaison fora and multiyear financial planning.
As early steps in our Work-Smart transformation programme we have put in place several other measures to accelerate my department towards operational efficiency. Chief among these is the introduction of service level agreements between Public Works and all its clients. These agreements will capture the fundamental responsibility of each party to the agreements, and will become operational in the 2001-2002 financial year. They will make Public Works accountable for timeous, cost-effective, quality delivery of projects and are an initial step in creating a formalised business relationship between Public Works and the client departments. These service level agreements will play an important role in eliminating the long lead times that, too often, have delayed delivery on capital projects.
My department has also added high-level project and budget management capacity to ensure full utilisation of its capital expenditure and improve on its operational efficiencies. We are strengthening our partnership with the private sector, with the result that some of the big players in the construction industry have seconded their high-ranking officials to the department to help improve operational efficiencies. We have also engaged the private sector to help us re-engineer and greatly speed up our project planning cycles. All these measures will lead to client departments interacting on their priorities timeously and continuously, expediting delivery on projects which will contribute to full capital expenditure on each year’s budget.
With regard to asset management, since August last year we have engaged some very talented people from the private sector to support us in dramatically improving our asset management. These individuals - listen to this - symbolise the new citizen of South Africa. They have made their time and intellectual capital available free of charge. [Applause.] Madam Speaker, allow me to acknowledge Mr Brian Jackson, the CEO of RMB Properties, Mr Gary Fromentin from Lyons and Mr Saul Gumede of Dijalo Properties for their contribution. They are up there in the gallery. I would also like to thank Mr Banus van der Walt of Gensec Properties for seconding their professionals to my department and both Gensec and Lyons for training some of our property managers - good citizens indeed.
As a further important step in our Work-Smart transformation programme my department will shortly be issuing a tender to attract the most knowledgeable and experienced asset management company from the local and international market to act as our strategic partner. The purpose of entering into this partnership will be to extract the maximum value out of Government property, to minimise risk and to respond speedily to our clients’ needs. The company we select will help us during the transition towards outsourcing property management.
With regard to the disposal of redundant properties, the department remains committed to the disposal of state land in a manner that is fair, equitable and transparent, and which promotes social and economic empowerment of previously disadvantaged persons, balanced against the importance of maximising the commercial potential of state fixed property. To demonstrate our commitment to the swift disposal of redundant state-owned properties, on 29 March 2001 the department presented a successful conference on Government property disposals, in which property valuators, developers and financiers took part.
This follows the earlier announcement of a disposal programme that identified large properties and no fewer than 12 redundant military bases, a process which, it is believed, will generate more than R1 billion for the coffers of the state. The large properties are at various stages of adjudication. A property in Brooke’s Hill, Port Elizabeth, was the first to be made available to the private sector on the basis of development proposal calls. The tender was awarded to Sisanda Development Properties in February 2001, for R630 000.
Development proposals for the disposal of a 15 ha site in Midrand, south of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, closed on 13 February this year, and valuation is being done. Four proposals-quite interesting too - were received. Invitations for development proposals for the disposal of a site in Silvermine, Cape Town, and the old Supreme Court in Pietermaritzburg, have been finalised, and advertisements appeared in the media in January
- The closing dates for development proposals were 8 May 2001 and 10 April 2001 respectively.
In the past financial year, the department released a total of 108 properties. Of these, 70 properties, with a total extent of 14 818 ha, were disposed of at no charge, in order to satisfy key economic objectives, mostly for land reform, housing development and the construction of new educational facilities.
Regarding the leasing portfolio, as part of the Work-Smart transformation programme, my department has begun working to introduce effective business processes and management systems to it. The inertia created by the lack of business imperatives led to gross weaknesses in the past, most notably costly problems associated with vacant and underutilised properties and overpayment of rentals.
In an effort to flush out overpayments, the department initiated a project in August 2000 to physically inspect leased properties on a national basis. Problems were discovered in 13% of the leases totalling about 700. We have identified overpayments and losses due to properties being vacated without prior notice. We are in the process of negotiating with the landlords, on the early termination of leases. A further corrective measure is contained in the memoranda of understanding that we are signing with our client departments. Our regional offices have succeeded in saving R5 million through the renegotiation of lapsed leases to date.
Let me now turn to the second major function of my department, the Community-Based Public Works Programme. It is my privilege and pleasure to announce that for the first time in the recent history of the poverty relief programme, my department has spent its entire budget for two consecutive financial years. [Applause.] In line with the Work-Smart transformation programme, we have also sharpened our organisation to be even more effective in delivering public works programmes to the people.
I know that many hon members have found the name ``Community-Based Public Works Programme’’ to be a bit of a mouthful, particularly after lunch. Therefore hon members will be pleased to know that we are giving the programme a brand name, i.e Letsima, or as it is known in some parts of our country, Ilima, denoting the African work ethic of doing things together. In 2000-2001, the Community-Based Public Works Programme built 981 community projects and created job opportunities for 22 619 people from a budget of R374 million. We employed 43 women and 42 young people.
As victims of apartheid injustices, African rural women directly endured the inequalities of the migrant labour system, forced removals and a lack of welfare systems, earning them an unenviable mantle as bearers of triple exploitation: experiencing oppression as women, along with their sin for being rural people and black people. Allow me to quote two women who participated in the projects. Olga Hlongwa from Umbumbulu said: This area has experienced poverty, but with the coming of these projects, the lives of the people have changed. We are now able to buy food, take our kids to school or even take them to a nearby crèche or clinic.
Mrs Goodness Mhlongo, who is the breadwinner in her family and is employed for the first time in her life, confessed that she now experiences some self-worth. She said:
My life was changed through the projects in our area. The community is very excited about the projects. The area where these projects are used to be a bush and we used to be afraid to go past the area at night. Now it has been transformed into a mini-town.
With a budget of R374 million, Letsima will sustain the delivery momentum into 2001-02, continuing to build the economic and social fountains of hope for the poorest of the poor. One of the main priorities of this programme will be to narrow the dividing line between rural and urban communities. This is a key to improved integrated sustainable development initiatives and local economic development, including black economic empowerment.
I wish briefly to highlight a small number of the Community-Based Public Works Programme’s achievements in 2000-01. I believe the House will find these inspiring examples of how targeted programmes can make fast and tangible progress in eradicating poverty.
We have started what we call community production centres. Two pilot projects were launched at Ncora and Lambasi in the Eastern Cape to rehabilitate productive infrastructure such as irrigation schemes that had become dysfunctional. We must really say thank you for the partnership and the valuable co-operation that we get from the Ministry of Agriculture, which will ensure that more than 50 000 people will become beneficiaries of each of these projects. I thank the Department of Agriculture.
Hon members should remember that Ncora used to be one of the biggest irrigation schemes in South Africa, and it is now up and running. At Ndaya in KwaZulu-Natal, 75 farmers will directly benefit, while a population of 30 000 will be indirect beneficiaries. More than 100 people will be employed with at least 37 sustainable jobs being created. Progress is on schedule and the planting of trees has commenced. Though a slow start was experienced in the Northern Province, work is under way in upper Arabie and Elandskraal. I will have to use the new names in future. At Makhatini Flats, Public Works has allocated R7,5 million for the processing of a packaging unit, the installation of flow meters and the upgrading of small-scale irrigation farming and the upgrading of an access road.
With regard to the Youth and Development Programme, in addition to targeting youth through general employment created by the Community-Based Public Works Programme, working together with the youth commission, the Department of Public Works launched a youth-specific project called ``Youth for Environmental Accessibility’’. This project employs 420 young people nationally to remodify 267 identified public buildings, and make them accessible to people with disabilities.
We also have a Clean and Green Programme. This programme is implemented in partnership with SA Breweries. We get small and medium enterprises contracted to provide clean-up in rural areas where no formal refuse removals exist. The Clean and Green Programme is a labour-intensive waste management and environmental awareness programme aimed at creating jobs and building local capacity. A total of 454 people were employed during the past financial year.
Finally, let me turn to my department’s third major function, the development of the construction industry. The announcement of the board members and the official launch of the Construction Industry Development Board on 11 and 24 April respectively constitute a milestone in our efforts to transform Public Works and drive construction industry development. I am sure that under the able leadership of Brian Bruce, who is chairperson, and Pepi Silinga, the deputy, the construction industry will move a step further. The board is a statutory body that will provide strategic leadership in the growth, development and transformation of the construction industry, so critical to the competitiveness of the industry.
Once characterised by ruthless barriers to the entry of black emerging contractors, the construction industry has, since 1994, evolved into a meaningful contributor to reconstruction, development, growth and redistribution. With the launch of the board, the industry is claiming its rightful place as a national asset, valuable to economic growth, social prosperity and entrepreneurial development. In addition, this industry is now well placed to play its role in the national transformation agenda.
Towards the end of April, we hosted a SADC regional conference on Southern African construction industries. This was a very successful conference which recommended, amongst other things, that South Africa should host a similar conference at ministerial level. There is a feeling in the region that we need to pay more attention to the construction industry than we are doing at present. I am also of the view that our construction industry has a lot to offer to our country, and we must elevate value. The Deputy Minister of Public Works, Rev Musa Zondi, will elaborate on prestige accommodation and our empowerment and governance initiatives.
In conclusion, allow me to thank the various Government departments for their contribution towards a more efficient Department of Public Works. At times we were spurred on, even by areas in which they became exasperated. I also want to thank the portfolio committee for its constructive contribution to our work. I would also like to thank our partners, the district municipalities and the provincial MECs, some of whom are seated up there, for their continued support and contribution.
I am also grateful to the traditional leaders, who, in their communities, have played a role. Our main partner in programme implementation was the Independent Development Trust, and in particular I thank the chairman of the board, Mr Eddie Funde, and the CEO, Ms Lulu Gwagwa. I would also like to thank my team in the department under the able leadership of Mr Tami Sokutu, the director-general. We have moved from Hollywood, where there were people in acting positions, to a fully viable and running department. [Applause.]
Inkosi M W HLENGWA: Mr Chairperson and hon members of the House, at the outset I must commend the hon the Minister of Public Works for the way she has outlined the budget. This is consistent with the unwavering commitment she has always displayed to the day-to-day responsibilities of her department. I rise to support the budget allocated to the Department of Public Works, but at the same time I do not wish to pretend that all is well in the state of Denmark.
On 21 February 2001, the hon the Minister of Finance came to this very podium to set the stage for the debate on the Vote of the Department of Public Works, and other departments’ Votes. The national Budget, which the Minister of Finance presents to Parliament on Budget day, sets out Government’s revenue and expenditure plans for the year. Each year, Government must try to balance its income from taxes and its spending on schools, clinics, police services and other needs of the population. If there is a shortfall, Government has to borrow and pay interest on the loan.
How the economic cake was cut for the allocation of different departments and the Department of Public Works received its slice has been reported. The question is whether that slice was big enough or even adequate to meet the responsibilities and challenges of the department. No doubt it was not. Considering the aspirations and dire needs of the South African public, the Budget allocation is merely a drop in the ocean.
We appreciate the efforts of the department which, in fact, remind us of the five loaves which were served by the Son of God to thousands of people. I say this because there are commendable projects coming from these meagre funds. Moreover, the Department of Public Works utilises a number of programmes in its quest to address the question of poverty, which is why it implements Community-Based Public Works Programmes in support of job creation and infrastructure development in the rural areas.
No doubt I must pause at this point to say that up to now the relationship between the Department of Public Works and traditional authorities has been satisfactory, and that is how it should be. But how long is this going to be sustained when the seemingly inevitable turbulence emerges? All these programmes will crumble and, unfortunately, my Minister is not responsible for that eventuality. Nobody wants this to happen, but what can traditional authorities do when they are kicked in the teeth and treated like a bunch of idiots? It is hard to believe what one is seeing happening to this institution, which is the cornerstone of our Africanness.
Just last month, members of the portfolio committee visited the United Kingdom with the mission objective of sharing experiences with our counterparts in terms of the maintenance of state property, the leasing and disposal of state land and project management. We visited both the chamber of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The traditional institution is free in the UK and yet it colonised South Africa and reduced the powers of traditional leaders of our land. The big question is whether the President of South Africa is going to free the institution. The second question is whether the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development is going to propose the constitutional amendment as promised by the President. The third question is whether the Minister for Provincial Affairs and Local Government will address the concerns of traditional authorities.
These questions are relevant to all of us as the South African public. Should the relationship between the Department of Public Works and traditional leaders collapse, it is terrifying to think what will happen to these programmes we have budgeted for. The success of this department in honouring its mandate demands that Government stop reneging on the question of who governs at the marketplace of this department.
In a commendable move, the portfolio committee has decided to visit the provinces so as to get a feel of how projects and implementing agents are working. For the current year the identified provinces are the North West, the Northern Province, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. But should there be matters which require urgent attention in the remaining provinces, that is Gauteng, the Northern Cape and the Free State, these will also be visited.
Let me now address the question of roll-overs in this department, and I want to place on record that this problem is going to stay with us for a long time. It is normal procedure that the client department transfer funds for the projects to this department. When client departments, for any justifiable reason, change their plans and intentions before the actual finalisation or completion of projects, the money not spent is reflected as this department’s nonexpenditure, resulting in roll-overs.
A suggestion could be that the Treasury devise some means for client departments to claim their moneys back at the time when they change their plans to complete the projects. This will save the department’s image and encourage departments whose performance is declining to be focused all the time. Furthermore, we must develop clear plans for poverty alleviation whereby, for instance, all departments budget for the unemployed. If a department is allocated 3% of the national budget, it must provide casual employment for 3% of the unemployed for a year. This will bring back a culture of work and the dignity of those who have turned to begging because of the shortage of work.
Maintenance of state property needs to be outsourced to people who have the expertise and are highly skilled. We commend the department for having dealt with the question of emerging constructors. But, having said that, I believe that it is equally important to unpack the burdens which frustrate those dedicated scholars who have completed their diplomas in such fields as jewellery design and manufacture. If these professionals were helped, they in turn could help others by providing jobs for their fellow citizens who have lost hope of ever applying their skills and receiving an income in their lifetime.
Finally, I wish to thank the members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works for their positive attitude in handling their business. I think it is also justifiable to thank the officials of the department, especially Mr T Sokutu in his capacity as director-general, for their unwavering preparedness to preserve their good working relationship with the portfolio committee. We were privileged to meet our new Deputy Minister, the hon Rev Musa Zondi, on the occasion of his introduction by the hon Inkosazana S N Sigcau, the Minister of Public Works.
Mphathisihlalo, lolu daba engikhulume ngalo lwamakhosi luwudaba oluwundabizekwayo. Lungikhumbuza amadoda amabili ayehlezi exoxa ngokuthi kufanele ngalolo suku ntambama ayoshaya amakhosikazi. Avumelana la madoda. Nangempela uma esefikile emizini yawo, kwezwakala umsindo omkhulu sengathi inkosikazi isiyashaywa, kanti leyo ndoda yayishaya isikhumba senkomo esasomisiwe. Kwase kuthi nalena enye indoda nayo yaqala yamshaya unkosikazi wayo.
Laba base-UK abakholonayiza leli zwe lakithi benza sengathi kuyinto enhle ukuthi baphazamise ubukhosi kuleli zwe nokuthi babuqede, bebe bebugcinile bona obabo ubukhosi e-UK. Buyaqhubeka nanamhlanje. Masingaqhubeki-ke kulokhu abakwenzayo. Masibone ukuthi sasikhohliswe njengaleya ndoda okwathiwa ayishaye unkosikazi kanti lena enye yona izoshaya isikhumba. [Uhleko.] (Translation of Zulu paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, the issue of amakhosi that I am talking about, is on the lips of many people. This issue reminds me of two men who were chatting about how they would go about beating their wives. They came to an agreement that they would beat their wives once they got home. As they got home, people heard a noise. It was like a wife was being beaten. Actually it was the noise of a beast’s skin, one which had been dried. One of these men was beating the beast’s skin. The other man, on hearing the noise, started beating his wife.
The British not only colonised our country, they also disturbed the functioning of the structures of our traditional leadership. They wanted to destroy our traditional leadership while they maintained theirs. Theirs is still functioning today. We should not continue with what they did to our traditional leadership. We should realise that we were deceived like the man who was told to beat his wife, while the other was beating a skin. [Laughter.]]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Chairperson and hon members, Public Works is a diverse portfolio, and as the hon Minister has indicated, I am going to report on the following: corporate governance, prestige accommodation and black economic empowerment.
Firstly, I will report on corporate governance. This forms an integral part of our Work-Smart transformation programme. One of the pillars of this programme is our drive to curb financial mismanagement and corruption. In October last year a successful anticorruption conference was held with the nine provincial public works departments. This resulted in the adoption of a comprehensive antifraud policy and a prevention strategy. A steering committee was set up in January to drive the implementation of this strategy.
The department successfully identified, uncovered and dealt with cases of fraud and corruption. In the 2000-01 financial year, about 24 cases involving more that R2 million were uncovered. Consequently, eight officials were either suspended or dismissed from the organisation of the department and more than half a million rand was recovered.
Secondly, I will report on prestige accommodation. The task of the prestige accommodation division is to provide, furnish, decorate and maintain accommodation, supply essential equipment and maintain and supervise gardens and land which are officially utilised by entitled official occupants, as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. State assets that fall under prestige accommodation are located in three provinces, namely Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
In Gauteng, the following projects which fall under this division are being attended to: extensive upgrading and refurbishing at the Union Buildings; security and facility upgrading at Mahlambandlovu, the presidential residence; refurbishment of the presidential guest house and Craig Lear, the old milk board building; and planned maintenance services at the ministerial residential complex in Pretoria. In KwaZulu-Natal at King’s House, which is the presidential guest house in Durban, we are refurbishing the interior of the residence and attending to the maintenance, restoration and security measures, so that this prestigious historical asset is kept in good condition for our first citizen.
In the Western Cape the following projects are under way: water reticulation at Acacia Park - I am sure hon members will derive some form of comfort from this; fire protection at 120 Plein Street; upgrading of air- conditioning at 120 Plein Street; upgrading of the lifts at 120 Plein Street, so that hon Ministers and other users of the lifts of that building will no longer be trapped there unintentionally; upgrading of the NCOP Chamber; access control system of the Parliamentary complex; security measures at Groote Schuur Estate; intruder alarms at parliamentary villages and ministerial residences at Groote Schuur Estate, so that we do not have uninvited guests … [Interjections]; installation of burglar bars at ministerial residences on and outside the Groote Schuur Estate; the upgrading of the library of Parliament, which is ongoing; the upgrading of Groote Schuur House, the old Cecil John Rhodes House; the conversion of the PSA restaurant at 120 Plein Street into offices in order to expand the office base; upgrading of facilities in the parliamentary complex for people with disabilities … [Interjections] … which that hon member will soon see; Mouille Grange Apartments, which are mostly occupied by DGs, where we are doing internal upgrading; and ministerial residences where conditions surveyed for plant maintenance has taken place.
The other important area to report on is, of course, black economic empowerment, which the Minister also touched on. Emphasising the key focus on black economic empowerment, a dedicated unit to monitor achievement throughout the department will be established in the office of the director- general as from the end of this month.
A few prominent performance areas within the department include the following aspects. The first one is the Repair and Maintenance Programme, which we call Ramp. The total estimated value of Ramp over the next three years is R1,1 billion. Nearly R449 million was awarded to affirmable business enterprises. About R616 million has been contracted under this programme between the 2000-01 financial year and the 2003-04 financial year for the maintenance of correctional services facilities, viz 33 prisons. Ramp is also expected to create about 8 000 job opportunities for the duration of the programme.
The second one is the Asset Procurement and Operating Partnership System, or Apops. Two concession contracts for the construction of the maximum security prisons in Bloemfontein and Louis Trichardt respectively have been signed. Both deals required a large percentage of black control and ownership as prerequisites. The contractual opening date for the Bloemfontein prison is October 2001 and January 2002 for the Louis Trichardt prison;
The third is the Facilities Management Initiative. A business case to initiate public-private partnerships in the management of public estates over a period of five years has been submitted to the National Treasury for consideration. We are currently awaiting approval before we can issue pre- qualification documents to the private sector. Pilot projects on this initiative are the Union Buildings and the Centurion Estate, the Pretoria magistrate’s court, the parliamentary complex and residences in Cape Town,and the Sunrise police station, also in Cape Town.
Fourthly, the consultants roster system distributes work to consultants in what is considered to be a fair and transparent manner, targeting historically disadvantaged firms and individuals. About 18% of active firms on the roster are affirmative professional service providers. Between October 1999, that is the inception of this programme, and May this year a total of R89 million out of R238 million has been awarded to these affirmative professional service providers. Fifthly, the Strategic Projects Initiative fast-tracks the graduation of black contractors from the level of subcontractors to becoming prime contractors on projects of more than R5 million. We believe that the time has come for black contractors to be leapfrogged into these desired roles. The first projects successfully delivered and handed over under this programme are as follows: the Botshabelo magistrates’ offices, worth R11 million, the St Albans prison production workshop, worth R24 million, and the Richards Bay police complex, worth R32 million.
Sixthly, various initiatives within the Construction Industry Development Programme contribute to black economic empowerment, such as the Emerging Contractor Development Programme. Last year alone registered emerging contractors on the Emerging Contractor Development Programme database increased from 1 500 to 2 500. The number of active women contractors also increased from 118 to 247. Noticeably more contracts were awarded to contractors on the database.
An extensive training campaign in all nine provinces addressed general business skills, tendering and procurement and specialist training, for example electricity and plumbing. This programme, with a specific focus on women, will reach 1 000 contractors. We will train more than 200 contractors in management and contracting skills, using the Contractor Entrepreneurial Training Programme developed with the International Labour Organisation. Thus far 120 contractors have been trained.
Support from Khula and the Industrial Development Corporation ensures access to bridging finance for working capital and performance guarantees. This year the IDC has agreed to make R20 million available for this purpose. The IDC partnership can be largely attributed to the introduction of mentorship support for emerging contractors. The mentorship programme was finalised during 2000 and will be introduced on strategic projects worth a total of R99 million to ensure that competent black contractors emerge into the mainstream construction economy.
I now turn to SA Women in Construction, SAWIC. The continuous efforts of the department to ensure women’s participation and development within the construction industry is further strengthened by our close working relationship with SAWIC. They have contributed to policy formulation and training and are represented on the Construction Industry Development Board.
Seventhly, apart from creating employment for almost 40 000 from rural poor communities in the previous two financial years, the Community-Based Public Works Programme also trained 1 037 participants in technical labour aspects, 904 in institutional capacity-building and 983 in operating, maintenance and management. Deals concluded with the European Union and the Independent Development Trust ensured the availability of resources needed to manage the Community-Based Public Works Programme effectively.
In conclusion, I wish to thank Minister Sigcau, iNkosazana yenkosi, for her inspiring guidance and support in the short period that I have been in this portfolio, and for affording me various opportunities to handle diverse aspects of work in the department. I thank the management team, officials of Public Works, partners and stakeholders with whom we regularly interact for their contribution and for making the Public Works programme a very exciting programme. [Applause.]
Mr S E OPPERMAN: Mr Chairperson, the management of state property remains a very important responsibility of the Department of Public Works, but whether we are succeeding in our management in realising best value for the state, as the custodians of state fixed property, will only become clear if we have a proper system to scientifically analyse the value of the programmes that we have for the acquisition, disposal and maintenance of these properties. Any department with a responsibility to manage more than 120 000 properties, to the value of more than R120 billion, can only do so effectively if it has enough people, if all the people involved are professionally qualified and if they have the will and the financial means to do so.
At a media conference in Rosebank on 20 January 2000, the hon the Minister said that we need R10 billion over the next 10 years in order to address the maintenance backlog only. It was clear that we could not afford this kind of money for maintenance, and therefore it was also a suggestion of the hon the Minister that the private sector should become involved in innovative financing and delivery mechanisms, and, to a certain extent, they have become involved. However, in the light of the ever-increasing dilapidation, and therefore the depreciation, of many of our buildings, we need to speed up this process. We must do this in close co-operation with other departments, such as the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, so that we can protect buildings of architectural, historical and cultural value.
Dit is deel van die siel van ‘n volk wat vir die nageslag behoue móét bly. [This is part of the soul of a nation that should be preserved for posterity.]
In the United Kingdom, apart from the innovative involvement of the private sector, the management of state property was also transferred from one department, the department of works, to all the different departments. This was necessary because the Ministry of works became a big bureaucracy, incapable of effective management.
The costs of ineffective management are staggering, and we need to look at different options on how to deal with this problem. From our discussions with the department of trade and industry in the United Kingdom, it became clear that they had succeeded in changing an almost impossible task into opportunities through partnerships between the state and the private sector. Partners, who share benefits and risks for specific periods, truly can create a win-win situation. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
Ons kan uit die ondervindinge van andere leer en ons eie programme daarvolgens aanpas, sodat maksimum voordeel daaruit geput kan word vir ál die mense wat hierdie grootse taak aan ons departement toevertrou het. [Applous.] [We can learn from the experiences of others and adjust our own programmes accordingly in order to derive maximum benefit for all the people who entrusted this great task to our department. [Applause.]]
Mrs T P SHILUBANA: Madam Speaker, in support of this Vote for Public Works, I first of all wish to congratulate the hon the Minister and her team on catching up on the expenditure pertaining to poverty alleviation and rural infrastructure creation for the past three financial years.
They have managed to expend almost R1 billion on the Community-Based Public Works Programme in the 2000-01 financial year, turning around the history of underexpenditure of poverty relief funds in the department. I say well done to the Minister, because I believe in speeding up change, fighting poverty and creating a better life for all together. The question will be how one then approaches policy implementation in the Ministry to contribute to black economic empowerment.
I am confident that the systems and structures put in place to deal effectively with expenditure on the Community-Based Public Works Programme will continue to bear fruit, together with the cyclical allocations determined by the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. Now, at least, timely planning can be effected for each financial year, as the available funds will be indicated beforehand.
Community production centres or CPCs, to which the Minister has already alluded, and the multipurpose community centres, MPCCs, are some of the most recent developments in the continual refinement of the programme of the national Department of Public Works on job creation and poverty alleviation. They both give full expression to the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme.
The national Department of Public Works took a decision to start community production centres in areas where there were existing agricultural schemes with dilapidated infrastructure that could be rehabilitated. The basis for success of the CPCs’ approach lies in the effective co-ordination, partnership and blending of the respective policies and strategies by the relevant government body, private role-players and community role-players.
Agriculture has been fully supportive of the programme and has committed substantial human resources towards ensuring the sustainability of these projects. In addition to that, CPCs depend on the accurate identification of lucrative marketing opportunities and the planning of production in accordance with such opportunities.
Public Works has joined forces with the Departments of Agriculture, Land Affairs, and Water Affairs, and with district municipalities and other stakeholders to implement six CPCs in Lambasi and Coega in the Eastern Cape, Makhathini Flats and Ndaya in KwaZulu-Natal, and Elandskraal and Upper Arabie in the Northern Province. The Independent Development Trust is the programme-implementing agent for the CPCs.
To ensure project sustainability, a policy and strategy document for the CPCs has been developed and is being workshopped on an on-going basis, particularly with the Department of Agriculture. Efforts to involve other stakeholders such as Eskom, donors and the private sector are starting to bear fruit. For example, Eskom has contributed funds for training and capacity building. The private sector is also showing interest in investing money in the projects and in providing markets for the produce.
The main objective of the CPCs is to create a vibrant rural economy that is driven by agriculture. This will provide direct employment, food and income to the farming communities, thereby alleviating poverty and opening up wealth creation opportunities. Such centres are established with a view to promoting production activities for the market. It is expected that communities will run the CPCs, generating income for reinvestment in community development programmes.
This concept is an attempt by the Department of Public Works to increase the short to long-term impact of the antipoverty intervention in the rural areas. Critical to the success of this concept are the business operations that would take place in these centres that are purely commercial and market-related.
Despite budgetary constraints at all the CPCs, the national Department of Public Works has thus far met the budget shortfall. In the current financial year I would imagine that all CPCs could be considered for additional funding. When in full operation, the six community production centres should directly and indirectly impact on the lives of more than 500 000 rural people.
I agree with the hon the Minister that this project will benefit the rural poor in terms of job creation and food security for the direct beneficiaries such as farmers. Their capacity to produce for both local and external markets will be enhanced. In addition, secondary SMME beneficiaries could also emerge. The invaluable agricultural support at project level in terms of aspects such as expertise, policy direction and extension support bodes well for the ultimate sustainability of the projects.
Muchaviseki Xipikara, eka leswi hi nga swi vulavula sweswi, eka tindhawu leti ta tsevu, leti ta Kapa-Vuxa, ngopfu-ngopfu eLambasi, leyi a yi ri projekte yo sungula, hi tona ti nga hluvuka swinene. Vanhu va le Lambasi va sungurile ku rima, hambileswi ka ha faneleke ku tiyisiwa tindlela ta matirhelo. Hambileswi pfhumba ro simeka tiprojekte ta le Elandskraal na Arabie wa le henhla eXifundhankulu xa N’walungu ri sunguleke endzhaku, magoza lama tekiweke ku seketela pfhumba leri, yo fana ni ku nghenelela ka swa Vurimi, swi endlile leswaku ku vekiwa masungulo yo tiya ya ku vona leswaku pfhumba leri ri ya emahlweni. Tindlela ta matirhelo ni lomu ku nga ta tirheriwa kona swi fikeleriwile. Varimi va le kusuhi no sungula ku rima emasin’wini.
eElandskraal ku ta pfuneka varimi vo ringana 95, kasi vanhu vo ringana 18 000 lava humaka eka mindyangu yo ringana 2 500, hi thlelo rin’wana na vona va ta pfuneka hikokwalaho ka ndhawu leyi yo hluvukisa muganga [community production centre]. Eka projekte leyi, se ku thoriwile vanhu vo ringana 38, laha 55% ku nga vaxisati, 45% vaxinuna, na 45% ya vantshwa kasi 3% i vatsoniwa. Tani hileswi se ndzi hlamuseleke, swi tikomba onge mpimanyeto wa projekte wu nga kayivela ku yisa pfhumba leri emahlweni, kutani a wu fanele ku engeteriwa.
eArabie wa le henhla ku na varimi va 421, kasi van’wamabindzu lavantsongo ni va le xikarhi va ringana 40, xikan’we ni mindyangu ya vona, va nga pfuneka eka xikimi lexi. Eka projekte leyi ku thoriwile vanhu vo ringana 35, laha 51% ku nga vaxisati. Vanhu hinkwavo lava nga ta pfuneka hikokwalaho ka projekte leyi i 6 300, va huma eka mindyangu ya 1 050. Nakambe projekte leyi, yi nga kota ku humelela loko ku andzisiwa mpimanyeto.
Tindhawu ta swikongomelo swo hambana-hambana [multipurpose community centres], i tindhawu leti endlaka leswaku Mfumo wu kota ku pfuneta eka mintirho ya kona, no va yi ri ndlela leyi kotaka ku pfuna eka vuhlayiseki bya mintirho hi ndlela ya nkoka eka vaaki hinkwavo. [Swandla.] (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Madam Speaker, in everything that we have discussed so far, in these six areas, such as in the Eastern Cape, especially at Lambasi, which was a pilot project, there are projects which have developed tremendously. People in Lambasi have started farming, although support on working methods is still going to be facilitated.
Although the sector responsible for the establishment of projects started late at Elandskraal and Upper Arabie in the Northern Province, steps taken in supporting this sector, such as steps taken in assisting farming, resulted in the laying of a very solid foundation, in order to enable this venture to continue with its efforts. Methods of working and places where work is going to take place have all been achieved. Farmers are about to start working in their fields.
At Elandskraal 95 farmers are going to benefit, and 18 000 people from 2 500 families will also benefit from this community production centre. In this project, 38 people have already been employed, 55% of whom are females and 45% males, 45% are youth and 3% are disabled. As I have pointed out, it would seem as if this budget will not be enough to enable this project to develop, so the budget should be increased.
At Upper Arabie there are 421 farmers, and there are 40 people with small businesses and medium businesses, together with their families, and they can benefit from this scheme. In this project 35 people have been employed, 51% of whom are women. Altogether 6 300 people are going to benefit from this project and they come from 1 050 families. Again this project may succeed if the budget could be increased.
The multipurpose community centres are projects which can be assisted by Government in so far as work is concerned, and are a valuable way in which to help to ensure job security for all citizens. [Applause.]]
Mr K MOONSAMY: Madam Speaker, hon Ministers and hon members, our budget debate is taking place on the eve of the 46th anniversary of the adoption of the historic Freedom Charter. In 1955 the Freedom Charter was adopted and it was a 10-point programme, but let us not confuse this 10-point programme of ours with the 10-point programme of the Unity Movement.
The 10-point programme was as follows:
The people shall govern; all national groups shall have equal rights; the people shall share in the country’s wealth; the land shall be shared among those who work it; all shall be equal before the law; all shall enjoy equal human rights; there shall be work and security; the doors of learning and culture shall be opened; there shall be houses, security and comfort; and, finally, there shall be peace and friendship.
We can proudly say that since we took over, six of these 10 points have been accomplished. In respect of the other four, we are still working vigorously to implement them. Until and unless we implement these four major areas, we cannot talk about the complete transformation of our country.
Now to the statement at hand. Since 1994 the Department of Public Works has championed a range of initiatives and co-ordinated a comprehensive construction industry development policy as part of its contribution to the national project of reconstruction, growth and development. This led to the launch of the White Paper on Creating an Enabling Environment for Reconstruction, Growth and Development in the Construction Industry in 1999.
Last year saw yet more milestones in the transformation of the construction industry when first the Construction Industry Development Board Bill was approved by Parliament in October, and a month later, the legislation to reform the built environment professions. The Construction Industry Development Board Act, Act 38 of 2000, paved the way for the recent establishment of the Construction Industry Development Board, or CIDB, a statutory national authority that will provide leadership and support to national, provincial and local organs of state and to the private sector.
I want to assure this House that the process leading up to the appointment of the CIDB has been a path-finding one, led by the interministerial task team. The construction industry development process has engaged the creativity and support of all stakeholders, including the people’s representatives in Parliament, in defining the industry’s growth and development. The hon the Minister and her team deserve to be congratulated on carrying this process through.
I would like to present some objectives of the CIDB to illustrate the serious effort being made to transform the construction industry. These are: to provide a focal point for leadership and construction industry development; to promote industry stability and sustainable growth; to work towards unlocking bottlenecks, promoting best practice and enhancing capacity to deliver quality infrastructure to our people; and to promote transformation and inclusive participation of all role-players in the mainstream construction economy. This includes suppliers and subconstructors, the workforce and women.
As a statutory body the CIDB will achieve its objectives through a combination of development and regulatory activities and instruments. The key instruments envisaged are a register of contractors, a register of projects and a code of conduct. The Construction Industry Development Board Act also empowers the board to enlist the broader expertise of industry throughout the establishment of a stakeholder forum.
The CIDB will be funded by the Department of Public Works and will have a first-year budget allocation of R11,5 million. Projections anticipate that this may rise to approximately R20 million by its third year of operation, when its capacity and business operations should begin to peak. To ensure that the public is receiving value for this financing, the Act entrenches Government’s right to carry out independent evaluations of the CIDB’s impact on construction industry development.
I firmly believe that the construction industry will benefit a great deal from the establishment of the CIDB. Some of the anticipated benefits include: a core national competence and resource for construction industry development; a national authority recognised by the public and the private sector for its leadership; reduced duplication of efforts by national, provincial and local authority agencies in the development of delivery models, contract documentation and strategies for emerging sector development, job creation and practice; improved risk management and reduced cost to industry and Government through the register of contractors; accelerated transformation and development through the register of projects; the establishment of best-practice benchmarks and standards in the areas of emerging sector development, productivity, quality, health, safety, environmental management, labour relations and design; sector status reports regarding budgeted, actual and projected expenditure by all sectors, with an analysis of trends, constraints and requirements for sustainable development; improved planning parameters for industry planning requirements; standardised and simplified contract documentation; enhanced development of the emerging sector; and enhanced public-sector capacity to manage the delivery process.
Together with the establishment of the CIDB, transformation regarding the built environment professions has also begun in earnest with the legislation to establish a Council for the Built Environment and an enabling regulatory framework for the built environment professions. The laws regulating professions such as engineering, architecture, quantity surveying and property valuing are administered by Public Works. This legislation seeks to address negative tendencies common to all these built environment professions and to open up these professions to greater transparency and public accountability.
The legislation opens up the professions to the public and promotes partnership through representation by the professions, the state and the public. It ensures enhanced representation in terms of previously disadvantaged people, race, gender, disability and regional distribution. We should experience a marked contribution to black economic empowerment through this legislation.
To ensure co-ordination, the Council for the Built Environment Act, Act 43 of 2000, enables the establishment of an overarching Council for the built environment professions that will promote the equal application of policy on matters of national priority. The CBE will advise Government on matters impacting on the built environment and, furthermore, it will enable the recognition of new professions, promote the recognition of different categories in the professions and act as an appeal body for affected professions and aggrieved members of the public.
The new legislation re-enacts the laws on the existing professional councils for engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and property valuers. It also establishes new councils for two professions, project and construction management and landscape architecture. he six councils for the professions will register professionals in a manner that promotes technical and ethical standards, competence and performance and continuous professional development, upholds professional conduct, identifies the functions of each profession, recommends professional fees and promotes regional and international recognition of the professions.
An important outcome of the legislation is that it will enable greater public access to professional services, by recognising different categories of the professions and creating new possibilities for career path development within each profession. The transformation of the construction industry and the reformation of the built environment professions are building blocks that will help to mobilise the significant resources embodied within the industry to meet the challenges still faced by our young democracy. I therefore support this Vote. [Applause.]
Mr J SCHIPPERS: Madam Speaker and hon members, last year when this Vote was before this House, the hon Sydney Opperman quoted from the Auditor- General’s report that the department had not complied with the basic principles of financial management, inter alia control procedures. He further stated that policies were not adhered to and that overpayments of contracts and noncompliance with Treasury instructions were evident. As a result, the hon Borman posed a serious question asking if we needed a Public Works department at all.
This year, the Auditor-General’s report is not yet available and we must rely on our own research and calculations to determine whether the department stuck to its aim, and I quote:
… to provide and manage, in accordance with prescribed standards and directives, the accommodation, housing and land and infrastructure needs of the national departments …
The department’s key objectives and programmes are explicitly set out in Vote 30. We are four years into the five-year plan of the department, starting with the budget of 1997-98. Looking at the strategic overview and key policy developments since then, it is clear that the department has encountered limited success in the challenges it faced.
According to the Director-General, Tami Sokutu, in Business Day of 5 April this year, the department underspent R500 million on its 2000-01 sate asset maintenance budget. It was also reported that the situation within the department could be described as embarrassing and regrettable. There are a few worrying factors mentioned in the report that raise serious questions about the competency of the department. Private company services were sloppy simply because they were dealing with the Government. This is a sorry state of affairs. Is this the perception that companies have of our Government?
Recently, the department discovered that it had been paying for contracts that had lapsed. However, the department terminated these contracts and saved more than R20 million. This happened after how many millions of rands were lost? Some national departments vacated buildings without informing the Department of Public Works. This resulted in the payment of rentals for empty buildings. The hon the Minister and her department must re-examine their responsibility to the taxpayer because South Africa and the taxpayers cannot afford to pay for ill-considered decision-making practices in our Government departments.
We are not going to win the war against poverty by allocating less to community-based programmes. We must invest in these programmes to ensure that all communities are served in this regard. In a media release by the department on 22 April this year, the hon the Minister unveiled 24 projects in the North West province for the first time, which is commendable. The New NP and the Democratic Alliance express the hope that mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that no mismanagement of these funds occurs. There are, however, also comments about the department and, for example, the way in which the development of the Fernwood Estate was handled. We must make an earnest and calculated effort to keep our citizens happy.
I want to conclude with the words of the hon Chikane when he ended his speech last year. I quote (Hansard 2000, col 13818):
The drum of success continues to call us ...'' I want to add to these
words and direct them to the hon the Minister and her department: Mintirho
ya vulavula, which means,Actions speak louder than words’’. [Applause.]
Mr E M SIGWELA: Madam Speaker, hon Minister and colleagues, addressing this Chamber on 1 March 2001, the hon Comrade Salie Manie said (Hansard 2001, col 788):
… poverty and inequality are not things that arose after 1994. These issues are the direct results of the previous policies of the old apartheid government.
The question that arises is whether the commitment to fight poverty and inequality is only an ANC task.
In that statement I found an echo of what I had said in the NCOP in May 1998 in the debate on the Public Works Vote, which was presented by the previous Minister of Public Works. I pointed to the inequality created by apartheid development in infrastructure provision. I then raised the point that the upgrading of development in the undeveloped areas of South Africa, which happen to be where the black people are settled, should be the task of all us. ``All of us’’ means all of us here and all of us in South Africa. If we, as South Africans, were able to agree on creating a new sociopolitical dispensation in our country - away from apartheid - we should have also taken concrete decisions, all of us together, on how to upgrade those territories of our country that were relegated to poorly serviced reservoirs of cheap labour, poverty, disease and ignorance.
I also said that we needed to agree on a Marshall Plan, not only to alleviate poverty but to eradicate it. There is a difference between alleviating and eradicating. When one alleviates something, some vestiges of what one was trying to improve remain. We need to eradicate poverty through a Marshall Plan. We need the marshalling of all possible finance to face that challenge, even if that means that we must try and create a special legislation to attend to the situation over a specified period. As I speak today, I am happy that our President wants to do exactly that. I am happy that the Integrated Rural Development and Urban Renewal Strategy aims to do exactly that.
It is with that motivation that I repeat what I said when I was speaking to the Appropriation Bill, which was tabled by the hon the Minister of Finance, when I said that I saw the National Public Works Programme of the Department of Public Works as an instrument through which we can address the inequalities of the past through the redistribution of assets required by our poor communities. The achievement of that would also give concrete tangible meaning to one of the five objectives of the department, which is to contribute towards infrastructure delivery to meet the physical and social needs of the poorest communities.
The size of the challenge demands that we not only look at elevating the National Public Works Programme, in terms of funding through the budget, but also look at programmes in other departments, such as water resources development in the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, that could collaborate with the public works programme in the creation of permanent community assets that are critical for enhancing rural development and the creation of permanent jobs in rural areas. I will talk more about this next week, when we continue with the budget debates.
We also need to look at interconnections between our national, provincial and local institutions to ensure that there is functional communication between them. The co-ordinating role that must be played by local government in the realisation of the Integrated Rural Development and Urban Renewal Strategy was raised in this Chamber only yesterday. The importance of this emerges very clearly in the introduction to Volume 1 of the Local Economic Development Manual, which states, and I quote:
Local economic development, LED is an outcome based on local initiative and driven by local stakeholders. It involves identifying and using primarily local resources, ideas and skills to stimulate economic growth and development. The aim of LED is to create employment for local residents, alleviate poverty and redistribute resources and opportunities to the benefit of all local residents.
This raises the centrality of their local-level institutions for the sustainability of their projects. Xa ndithetha ngolu hlobo, ndithetha kanye ngale nto ifunwa ngabantu. La maxwebhu ndicaphule kuwo apha angale nto ithethwa ngabantu phandle phaya. Abantu abafuni nto intle; unodoli omhle aya kuthi uMphathiswa aze naye ePitoli amthi gximfi phambi kwabo athi: ``Jongani nantsi into entle. Yithatheni.’’ Bafuna ukuba abancedise kule nto bayicingayo iza kuba luncedo kubo, bayakhe bencediswa nguMphathiswa apho basilela khona, ukuze ibe yeyabo. Ngaloo ndlela baya kuqonda ukuba ayingomamlambo ongathi mhlawumbi abatye ngenye imini, njengoko kwakudla ngokuba njalo ngexesha localu- calulo.
Yiyo ke loo nto ndisithi kuyafuneka ukuba xa sicinga ngezi nkqubo zethu zokuphuhlisa abantu ukuze babe semgangathweni, siziqhube nabo. Umzekelo, apha kolu xwebhu kanye lungohlahlo lwabiwo-mali loMphathiswa, umgaqo-nkqubo uthi: Inkqubo mayihambe ngokweemfuno zabantu, khona ukuze kuqinisekiswe ukuba abona basingathi bayo ngabahlali ngokwabo. Lubhekisa kwinkqubo yemisebenzi yoluntu esingathwe luluntu, ekwaphantsi kwale nkqubo yesizwe yemisebenzi yoluntu.
Xa ndithetha ngolu hlobo ndibona laa nto yenziwa kuManzimdaka, eCala, nguKhuthuka. Unesibindi laa mfana. Wathi akubona ukuba akade azi ukuba angalufumana njani na uncedo, waqokelela abanye abalimi abahluphekileyo, baya kuvala umfula. Namhlanje bankcenkcesha umhlaba ongaphezu kweehekthare ezilishumi elinambini.
Andazi ke nokuba uRonnie Kasrils akazi kubabamba na ooQabane uKhumalo ngokuvala amanzi. Kambe ke ndithi kuqabane umphathiswa, ndiya kuma nabo emkhumbini, kuba kaloku asizi kuhlala singatyi ngenxa yokuba unxibelelwano lungahambi kakuhle. Kufuneka siqinise unxibelelwano khon’ ukuze zonke ezi zinto sithetha ngazo ziye kufikelela ebantwini, bangade bazenzele kuba beyazi into abayifunayo nabayenzayo.
Umzekelo, mna nditya umbona, iimbotyi nesophu. Kukutya kwam oko. Ngoku ukuba ndiyalima phaya, iinkomo zabanye abaThembu zitya kule ntsimi yam ngoba asiwabiyanga amasimi. Kuya kufuneka ukuba uMphathiswa ancokole noqabane uDidiza ngaloo mba. Kufuneka uMphathiswa abonisane noqabane uDidiza ngokuba kukho le ngxowa yakhe Khumalo, nekaqabane uDidiza, singancedisana njani na ukuze aba bantu balime, kufumaneke ukutya, singathwal’ imigodlo sisiza apha. Ugxa wam okwi-DP uthe ngenye imini sikwintlanganiso yekomiti: ``Hayi, sinoxinzelelo olubangwa ngaba bantu basuka ezilalini ngokubhekisele kusetyenziso lwamanzi apha eKapa.’’ Siya kuyiphelisa loo nto xa sinokulandela le nto ndiyithethayo, nto leyo ke phofu ibhaliweyo ezincwadini ezi zethu. (Translation of Xhosa paragraphs follows.)
[When I talk like this, I talk exactly about that which the people want. The documents from which I quoted are about what people talk about out there. People do not want something nice; a nice doll that the hon the Minister would bring from Pretoria and put in front of them and say, ``Look, here is something nice for you. Take it.’’ They want him to assist them in what they would be planning and which would be of assistance to them so that they can build it up with the Minister helping only where they fall short, so that they could be proud of themselves and rightfully claim ownership of it. In that way they would understand that the hon the Minister is not a `river monster’ that would eat them up one day, as used to happen during the apartheid days.
That is why I say that, when we think about these community development programmes that are aimed at improving their quality of life, it is necessary that we work together with them. For instance, in the hon the Minister’s Vote, the policy says: The programme follows a demand-driven approach that ensures that the communities drive the process. This refers to the public works programme that is community-driven, which falls under the National Public Works Programme.
When I talk like this I have in mind what was done by Khuthuka at Manzimdaka, at Cala. That young man is very brave. When he realised that he did not know how to get help, he gathered other struggling farmers and they dammed up a stream. Today they have an irrigation scheme that services more than 12 hectares of land.
I do not know whether the hon Mr Ronnie ``Khumalo’’ Kasrils, will not arrest the comrades for having dammed up a water resource. However, I would like to say to the comrade Minister that I will stand in the dock (in court) with them, because we are not going to starve because there is a breakdown in communication. We should strengthen lines of communication so that all these things we talk about can reach the people, before they are driven to do things because they know what they want and do. For instance, I eat mealies, beans and soup. That is my kind of food. Now if I plough my fields, cattle from other Thembus come and destroy the crops, because our fields are not fenced. The hon the Minister would have to talk to Comrade Didiza about that issue. The hon the Minister would have to consult with Comrade Didiza about which funds to use between his Khumalo andCcomrade Didiza’s, in order to assist people to plough their land, so that food can be produced, and we do not have to flock to the urban areas.
While we were attending a committee meeting one day, a colleague of mine from the DP said: ``You know, the pressure with regard to the use of water in Cape Town comes from people from the rural areas.’’ We would bring an end to that problem if we were to do what I am talking about, and that is something that is written in our books.]
Miss P S SEKGOBELA: Madam Speaker and hon Minister, true to its slogan, ``Actions speak louder than words,’’ the national Department of Public Works has embarked on many initiatives which form part of the department’s turnaround strategy. One of these is called the Repair and Maintenance Programme, or Ramp, which aims at creating numerous jobs and drastically improving service delivery to Government departments by addressing, mainly, the maintenance backlog over the next five years.
I support the Vote and I want to take this opportunity to broadly reflect on this Ramp initiative as well as on the leasing project and the disposal of redundant state property. With regard to Ramp, as hon members know the department inherited a very large maintenance backlog on state property assets. In response the department has put in place proactive measures to ensure that the backlog is addressed. This is being done in collaboration with the client department and the private sector in a win-win situation.
In line with its vision of being a client-driven organisation, the
department is contributing to the economy and delivery to the country’s
public through the repair and maintenance of state-owned assets. The
department is now steadfastly trying to reduce the existing backlog and,
according to my understanding, the implementation of Ramp is planned, well
co-ordinated and cost-effective. This initiative forms part of the
department’s five-year service delivery programme that was launched in
January 2000 under the banner Mintirho Ya vulavula,'' which means,
Actions speak louder than words.’’ This is a clear example of the client-
focused approach that has been adopted by Public Works in its efforts to
improve service delivery and ensure that Government departments are housed
in well-maintained facilities that provide suitable working surroundings.
Additional benefits of Ramp will be that budget costs are fixed for three years and three-year contracts will ensure continuity of acceptable maintenance standards; that proper professional control of contracts is applied; that affirmable professional service providers, APSP consultants in short, are trained by established firms in engineering fields such as mechanical, electrical and water sewerage purification; that opportunities are provided for affirmable business enterprises; that a system is created in which corruption is almost eliminated; and that compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act is ensured.
Current operating projects include 33 prisons for the Department of Correctional Services, 25 military bases for the Department of Defence and 720 lifts and elevators in various state-owned buildings. Facilities for the SA Police Service, the Department of Justice on Robben Island and the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, as well as border posts for the National Interdepartmental Structure for Border Control, Nids, are also under way.
More than 65% of appointments for these projects were awarded to affirmable business enterprises. It is estimated that more than 8 000 new job opportunities will have been created in the private sector with the awarding of contracts valued at R950 million for contract periods ranging from three to five years. The accompanying professional services are valued at an estimated R50 million. Of the consultants appointed 50% are affirmable professional service providers.
In addition, the department is about to invite tenders from appropriate companies to bid to become its strategic partners as it embarks on public- private partnerships in property and asset management. We applaud the Minister and her department for this robust turnaround strategy. Under the apartheid regime, there was no respect for property, hence state property was never maintained.
Regarding the question of leasing, as the hon the Minister has pointed out, the maintenance backlog resulted in the steady growth of the national leasing portfolio over the years. Today the entire national leasing portfolio consists of some 5 544 leases. While Ramp was introduced to reduce the maintenance backlog, a leasing project was initiated to ensure proper management and, where possible, a reduction of the number and cost of leases. This is in line with our Minister’s proposal for clean and responsible governance.
I am happy to see that the hon the Minister has embarked on an accelerated programme of updating of records, timeous renewal of expired leases, physical inspection of leased premises, and implementation of proper management and control systems. At least R5 million has been saved through the renegotiation of lapsed leases at regional level, and I believe that more measures are being pursued to possibly recover overpayments. These moneys will be available for the Treasury to deal with poverty-related issues. The successes she has referred to give a clear indication that improvement is not only possible, but should also be effected urgently in order to ensure proper accountability. The training and capacity-building of staff, the completion of correct data-capturing on management systems and management and cost control need to be effectively streamlined. As far as the disposal of redundant state properties is concerned, the Department of Public Works has, indeed, started to deliver on the disposal of strategic, unutilised and underutilised fixed property in an open and transparent manner. I would like to congratulate the hon the Minister on this progress and, in particular, the way in which stakeholders are consulted and informed throughout the process. The recent conference held with property developers, financiers and investors was a highly successful example of the interactive way in which Public Works is dealing with the disposals.
Records from the department indicate that from April 1995 to date, 333 properties have been disposed of, of which 108 were disposed of during the previous financial year. In total, the disposed properties comprised 69 514 hectares of land, of which 147 properties went for land reform purposes, 69 for the provision of low-cost housing and related infrastructure development, and 15 for education and religious purposes. The other 102 properties were disposed of for commercial use. The total income derived from these disposals was R31 million.
As Minister Sigcau mentioned, a further 12 redundant military bases have been targeted for disposal in this financial year. We have been assured that the disposal of these properties will be done in such a manner that the involvement of previously disadvantaged individuals and black professionals, and the empowerment of women and skills development initiatives through training, will be automatically included.
I fully support the department on these initiatives taken to deal in an accountable manner with the taxpayer’s money in order to professionally manage valuable fixed assets and, while doing so, achieve the set socioeconomic objectives of Government.
Mnr J P I BLANCHÉ: Speaker, ek wil my vanmiddag wend tot die bespreking van onbenutte eiendomme in die besit van die Departement van Openbare Werke, en die invloed wat dit het op gemeenskaps- en dorpsontwikkeling. Oor baie jare heen was ‘n beleid van verskillende departemente in werking, wat daarop ingestel was om eiendom aan te koop wat later gebruik kon word deur die staat. Soos nuwe dorpsgebiede ontwikkel het, is erwe aangekoop vir skole, polisiestasies en ander staatsgebruike. Dit het tot gevolg gehad dat die Departement van Openbare Werke vandag sit met staatseiendomme, regoor Suid- Afrika, waarmee hulle nie weet wat om te maak nie.
Sommige van hierdie eiendomme is reeds negentig jaar in die staat se besit, en nog nooit was daar twee bakstene op mekaar geplaas nie. Die plaaslike owerheid moet sorg dat sulke eiendomme in stand gehou word, en daarvoor kry hulle, vanaf die staat se kant, ‘n skandelike vergoeding wat nie eers die arbeidskoste dek nie. In sommige gevalle kry hulle geen vergoeding nie.
As ‘n mens kyk na die totale waarde van so ‘n belegging deur die staat in die betrokke stad of dorp, kom jy tot die slotsom dat dit die swakste inkomste is wat in daardie dorp deur enige eiendom gemaak is. As ‘n amptenaar eerder die geld in ‘n spaarrekening geplaas het, sou dit tien maal meer waarde gelewer het op die huidige dag. Dit herinner ‘n mens aan die slaaf wat een talent gehad het wat aan hom toevertrou is, en dit toe gaan begrawe het sonder om daarmee te woeker.
My versoek aan die Minister is om ondersoek in een stad of dorp te gaan instel, en van sulke eiendomme ontslae te raak ten gunste van die plaaslike owerheid. Noudat ons regering afgewentel het tot op die laagste vlak, moet daardie vlak hierdie eiendomme teen nominale waarde van die staat kan bekom, sodat hulle daarmee kan woeker.
Ek wil voorstel dat die Minister ‘n stad soos Boksburg neem om hierdie voorstel te ondersoek. Boksburg besit 130 sulke onontwikkelde staatserwe ter waarde van R6,2 miljoen. Die meeste van hierdie erwe is geleë in Boksburg-Sentraal en Boksburg-Noord, twee dorpsgebiede wat 90 jaar oud is, en besig is om te degenereer, omdat die sakekern in onbruik verval. Sakeondernemings het daardie gebied verlaat.
As daardie gebied vernuwe gaan word, sal alle staatsinstellings beter benut word, soos byvoorbeeld die metrospoordiens, die hospitale, die etlike skole, die polisiestasies en twee leë tronke. Dit sal beteken dat die Regering die uitbreiding van dienste in sulke dorpe en stede vir etlike jare kan uitstel omdat die bestaande dienste, geboue en infrastrukture in die sentrale deel van die stad meer produktief aangewend word.
Ek glo dat alle metrorade hartlik sal meewerk met sulke stadsvernuwingsprojekte, veral as hulle die eiendomme goedkoop kan bekom, en sodoende hulle stadsvernuwingsprojekte goedkoper kan uitvoer. Die ou Sentralegevangenis, asook die Boksburgtronk, is twee sulke eiendomme wat baie beter deur die plaaslike owerheid aangewend kan word as waar dit tans in die staat se bateregister lê en stof vergader. Inteendeel, aangesien hierdie twee eiendomme onbenut daar lê, het dit tot bykans murasiestatus verval, en dra die departement by tot die verval van daardie sentrale sakekern.
Die eiendom is bekom vir die voordeel van daardie plaaslike gemeenskap, en daarom pleit ek by die Minister om dit aan die plaaslike owerheid te oorhandig, soos wat ons wonings aan swartmense oorgedra het toe hulle dit nodig gehad het. As ons dit sou doen, sal die plaaslike owerheid, die gemeenskap en die Minister se departement wen. (Translation of Afrikaans speech follows.)
[Mr J P I BLANCHÉ: Speaker, this afternoon I want to focus on the discussion of unutilised properties in the possession of the Department of Public Works, and the effect that this has on community and town development. For many years a policy of different departments was in operation, which focused on purchasing property which could later be used by the state. As new town areas developed, plots were purchased for schools, police stations and other state purposes. This has led to the Department of Public Works today owning public property, throughout South Africa, which they do not know what to do with.
Some of these properties have already been in the state’s possession for 90 years, and one brick has yet to be placed on another. The local authority must see to it that such properties are maintained, and for that they receive, from the state, a disgraceful amount which does not even cover labour costs. In some cases they receive no remuneration.
If one looks at the total value of such an investment by the state in the relevant city or town, one comes to the conclusion that it is the poorest income made from any property in that town. If an official had rather placed the money in a savings account, it would to date have delivered ten times more value. This reminds one of the slave who had one talent which was entrusted to him, and then buried it without using it to full advantage.
My request to the Minister is to investigate one city or town, and to get rid of such properties to the benefit of the local authority. Now that our government has been devolved down to the lowest level, that level should be able to acquire these properties at a nominal value from the state, so that they can use them to full advantage.
I want to propose that the Minister take a city like Boksburg to investigate this suggestion. Boksburg owns 130 such undeveloped state plots to the value of R6,2 million. Most of these plots are situated in Central Boksburg and in Boksburg North, two areas which are 90 years old and are degenerating, because the business centre has fallen into disuse. Businesses have left that area.
If that area is to be rejuvenated, all state institutions will be better utilised, such as the metro rail service, the hospitals, the numerous schools, the police stations and two empty prisons. This will mean that the Government will be able to delay the extension of services in such towns and cities for several years, because the existing services, buildings and infrastructure will be more productively utilised in the central area of the city.
I believe that all metro councils will co-operate enthusiastically in such urban renewal projects, particularly if they can acquire the properties cheaply, and in so doing carry out their urban renewal projects more cheaply. The old Central Prison, and the Boksburg prison, are two such properties which can be far more effectively utilised by the local authority than is currently the case where they are lying in the state’s asset register and gathering dust. On the contrary, considering that these two properties are lying there unutilised, they have virtually degenerated into ruins, and the department is contributing to the degeneration of that central business district.
The property was acquired to benefit that local community, and for that reason I appeal to the Minister to hand it over to the local authority, in the same way that we transferred homes to black people when they needed them. If we were to do that, the local authority, the community and the Minister’s department would win.]
Nkul C J MALULEKE-HLANEKI: Muchaviseki Xipikara na Yindlu ya wena leyo hlonipheka, tani hi vahlayisi va vutihlamuleri va nhundzu ya Mfumo, lebyi katsaka malawulelo ya timbala na miako, ku vona leswaku a ku kumeki ntsena ndhawu ya miako ya tindzawulo ta Mfumo, kambe ni mali leyi tirhisiweke yi tirhe hi mfanelo eka leswi lavekaka. Tani hilaha hi hlamuseriweke hakona eka Komiti ya Mintirho ya Mfumo, ni hilaha Muchaviseki Holobye a kombiseke hakona, ku vile na ku cinca ku kulukumba eka malembe mangari ma ngani lama hundzeke. Rhejistara ya nhundzu ya Rixaka se yi tumbuluxiwile. Yi siva tirhekodo hinkwato ta khale leti a ti hlanganile-hlanganile. Sweswi nhundzu hinkwayo ya Rixaka hi ku angarha, ni ya tiprovhinsi, yi lawuriwa hi ndlela ya xielektroniki. Leswi swi pfuna ku kuma vuxokoxoko bya nhundzu hi ku olova, ni ku tirhisa timali hi mfanelo.
Vuxokoxoko bya tipulani ta tisayiti, byi pfuna ku kambisisa matirhelo ya tisayiti leti. Vukambisisi bya tinhundzu leti nga yelaniki ni makunguhatelo ya Mfumo, byi endla leswaku endzhaku ka vulavusisi, swi nga endleka ku tekiwa magoza yo herisa nhundzu leyi. Vuxokoxoko lebyi nga eka Rhejistara bya antswisisiwa hi nkarhi na nkarhi, hi xikongomelo xo va ku ri vuxokoxoko lebyi nga fanela hi minkarhi hinkwayo naswona ku ri vuxokoxoko lebyi faneleke ku tirhisiwa eka malawulele ya nhundzu. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Mr C J MALULEKE-HLANEKI: Madam Speaker and honourable House, as a responsible custodian of the state’s fixed property portfolio, Public Works’ mandate encompasses the professional management of land and buildings to ensure not only suitable accommodation for national government departments, but also value for money and the proper utilisation of funds to meet the needs.
As we have been briefed in the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and as has been indicated by the hon the Minister, major transformation has already taken place over the past few years. The National Assets Register has been established. It replaces all old scattered records. Now all state assets are kept in a comprehensive way controlled by a single electronic database. It enables access to the information in an easy way and proper utilisation of funds.
Detailed information in regard to sketch plans of sites assists in the assessment of the utilisation of these sites. Steps may be taken to dispose of properties that are not strategic to the Government after this assessment. Detailed information in the register is updated from time to time, with a view to always having proper information and such detailed information should always be used in regard to the utilisation of property.]
Now I would like to request Mr Blanché to listen carefully. The type of information now available in the register includes the following. Mind you, this is what has become available in the mere seven years since this Government came into being, which the apartheid and colonial governments failed to do in more than 87 years.
The information includes data on location, with the physical address of each building and particulars of the site; the measurements of rentable and usable areas of each floor; the square metres occupied by each user and the type of accommodation being used; the number of parking facilities available; the basic town planning principles and restrictions that apply to land in towns and cities; photographs from the different elevations of functional accommodation; a footprint sketch showing erven within a complex, approximate position, numbering and building within a site; a grading of the quality of office accommodation; and the geographic position of sites.
The department is now engaged in the process of compiling a register of assets abroad. We urge the department, to move quickly with this initiative, which ought to set the record straight in respect of the properties utilised by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Various models and principles of improved modern and professional property management techniques, methods and systems have been, and are still being, investigated by the department. We acknowledge that a high level of specific skills, not necessarily available from within Government, is required for the effective analysis and validation of these models and principles in terms of applicability in the particular South African circumstances, hence the assistance obtained from consultant expertise in this regard.
In principle, I support the in-depth investigation that is now being done to determine the possible future establishment and implementation of a state property agency. I believe that such an agency could indeed be a vehicle to group together and accelerate the service delivery components of the current department in terms of property management. It most probably will create an execution mechanism apart from policy and legislation formulation, which should continue to reside in the Department of Public Works, together with the monitoring responsibility.
This would allow for bringing in new professional skills and a compensation structure for service delivery with fewer restrictions than apply to those entrenched in Government. It could also ensure development of cutting-edge technology and information systems. Improvements have already been implemented, as referred to by the hon the Minister, in terms of service level agreements, facilities management contracts under the repair and maintenance programme, and affirmative and targeted procurement within the built and property environment, as well as to ensure greater black economic participation and empowerment in all property-related activities, including disposals.
One successful innovation designed and implemented by the Department of Public Works in terms of the acquisition of specialised accommodation for Government use is the Asset Procurement and Operating Partnership System, or Apops. This is a subprogramme of the broader public-private partnership initiative being championed by the Government of the Republic of South Africa, of course, under the leadership of the ANC. Apops aims at a procurement model which engages the private sector more productively and enables private sector participation in the finance, design, construction, management and maintenance of public sector facilities for a period of up to 25 years prior to transferring the assets back to the state.
The first concession agreement to operate the new maximum security prison for 2 928 prisoners in Bloemfontein was concluded and signed with Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (Pty) Ltd on 24 March 2000. The second concession agreement with SA Custodial Services (Louis Trichardt) (Pty) Ltd to operate the new maximum security prison for 3 024 prisoners at Louis Trichardt was signed on 11 August 2000. Both of these concessions have a value of R2,6 billion over 25 years.
The bidding process, which started in May 1997 with the request for qualification, was finalised after almost two and a half years. Within the contractual agreements about 1 500 and 600 job opportunities will be created per project during construction and operation phases respectively. A minimum of 25% of the value of each contract was reserved for previously disadvantaged enterprises during both construction and operation services, besides holding a minimum of 40% shareholding in the construction entities. Construction of both facilities is in progress, with the actual opening date of 1 October 2001 for the Bloemfontein prison and 10 January 2002 for the Louis Trichardt prison.
After the appointment of a space planner to investigate the accommodation needs and requirements of the Department of Education, a report was completed in September 2000, leading to the compilation of a business case, with the assistance of financial advisers, for submission to the National Treasury for approval in November 2000. The business was finally approved in December 2000 as per Treasury regulations for PPP, as issued in terms of the Public Finance Management Act. A request for qualification was issued on 19 January 2001 and closed on 20 February 2001. State Tender Board approval of the shortlisted bidders is being awaited.
Financial advisers and space planners were appointed in March 2000 to execute a feasibility study on a new head office project for … [Time expired.]
Mnr A S VAN DER MERWE: Mevrou die Speaker, agb Minister, agb Adjunkminister, kollegas, dit is goed om te hoor dat die Minister te alle tye positief bly. Ek wil ook vir haar dankie sê vir die goeie aankondigings wat sy gemaak het en ons sien met gretigheid uit na hoe dit oor ‘n jaar sal gaan met hierdie aankondigings.
Dit is jammer dat daar in hierdie debat vanmiddag feitlik elke spreker weer na apartheid en al dié swak goed verwys het. Ek het verlede jaar na die sogenaamde swak erfenis verwys, wat die huidige Regering van die vorige regering ontvang het. Na sewe jaar dink ek die tyd is verby om te skuil agter dit wat ontvang is. Die tyd is nou daar om in eie reg te lewe.
Die Regering het goeie mensemateriaal ontvang en van hulle ontslae geraak om sodoende hul politieke doelwitte te bereik. Ons kon die Regering se doelwitte bereik het, indien die Regering meer kundigheid aan die dag gelê het. Die huidige Regering het die beste infrastruktuur in Afrika ontvang. Ek het verlede jaar aangehaal wat die opposisieleier in Kenia hieroor te sê gehad het. Hy het gepleit dat die ANC-regering hierdie infrastruktuur in stand moet hou. As ons dit vandag moet evalueer, hoe lyk dit vir die Regering? Hoe lyk ons paaie? Hoe lyk ons spoornetwerk? Hoe lyk ons hospitale? Ek was bevoorreg om met die afvaardiging van Openbare Werke Londen te besoek. Ons bates daar is van uitstekende gehalte en aangekoop deur die vorige regering tot Suid-Afrika se goeie gebruik daarvan en wat ons mense tot voordeel strek. Hoekom hoor ons nooit daarvan nie? Ons uitkyk moet gebalanseerd wees. Hoekom bring dit ek onder die Huis se aandag? Die tyd in Suid-Afrika is darem nou verby om net sleg uit die verlede tevoorskyn te bring as verskoning vir swak prestasie. Die tyd het nou aangebreek dat ons ons probleme, foute en swak punte op die tafel sit. Dan kan alle partye hulle kundigheid aanbied om by te dra tot die oplossing van ons probleme.
Wat is hierdie probleme onder andere? Die agb Minister het ‘n swak erfenis van haar voorganger ontvang. Meer as ‘n jaar voor sy oorgeneem het, was die departement sonder ‘n direkteur-generaal. Nadat sy oorgeneem het, het haar voorganger die departement se adjunk-direkteur-generaal ook saamgeneem. Hy het egter ook van die senior personeel met hom saamgeneem. Dit is voorwaar ‘n onaangename posisie om oor te neem en in my oordeel selfsugtig en nie in die belang van ons land nie.
Ek ag ons Minister dat sy onder sulke omstandighede haar taak positief aanpak. Deur regstellende aksie is bekwame mense ontslaan en vervang deur swakgeskoolde mense. Die departement beskik dus nie oor genoeg geskoolde mense nie. Indien die uitgangspunt gaan wees om die probleem op te los en nie allerhande politieke voorkeure te laat geld nie, dan sal ons vordering maak.
Daar is te veel regulasies en dit is en was nog altyd ‘n meulsteen om die nek van enige regering. Die tyd het nou aangebreek dat ons die bestuur van ten minste die Departement van Openbare Werke moet moderniseer. Die kultuur van swak diens en lae produktiwiteit moet dringend omgekeer word. Indien ons ons land wil regkry, om byvoorbeeld armoede te verminder, moet ons mense ‘n werkskultuur aankweek met absolute ywer in ‘n gees van Suid-Afrika eerste.
Die feit dat R700 miljoen nie bestee is nie, is onaanvaarbaar. Suid-Afrika kan nie bekostig om nie sulke bedrae geld in die ekonomie in te pomp nie. Die oorsaak hiervan is swakgeskoolde personeel. Daar moet egter gewaak word sodat elke rand wat bestee word, die maksimum voordeel vir ons as land verdien. Ek is bewus daarvan dat ‘n verslag en aanbevelings van die konsultante al twee jaar beskikbaar is, maar dit word nie geïmplementeer nie. Dan is geld wat die departement kon bestee het, baie swak bestee. Ek weet dit gebeur omdat ons ‘n mensprobleem het. Ons het genoeg kundige mense in ons land. Ons moet hulle betrek sodat geld vir Suid-Afrika bestee maksimum voordeel sal bring.
Ek weet dat die agb Minister bewus is daarvan dat verskonings geen oplossing bring nie. Sy moet dus ons tekortkominge met spoed regstel. Ek glo, ná wat sy aangekondig het, dat die agb Minister dit in gedagte het. Ek het moed dat sy dit kan regkry. Dit is die eerste keer dat die portefeuljekomitee so ‘n openlike en eerlike voorlegging van haar departement ontvang het. Indien die huidige Regering op hierdie wyse hul taak opneem, sal ons op ‘n pad kom waar Suid-Afrika net kan wen.
Die adjunk-direkteur-generaal van Finansies het ‘n uitstekende voorbeeld gestel. it was aangenaam om te luister na ‘n objektiewe voorlegging en nie na verwyte en toesmeerdery nie.
‘n Baie belangrike probleem is die bestuur en onderhoud van ons geboue. Ten spyte van die agb Minister se voorneme om in die volgende drie jaar die agterstand met 25% te verminder, lyk dit nie vir my of dit uit die huidige begroting moontlik is nie. Ek het nie die geloof dat dit gaan gebeur nie. Ek dink nie die Regering het die inkomstevermoë om dit reg te kry nie. Die agb Minister kan slegs haar doelwit bereik indien die departement met nuwe planne na vore kom. [Tyd verstreke.] (Translation of Afrikaans speech follows.)
[Mr A S VAN DER MERWE: Madam Speaker, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, colleagues, it is good to hear that the Minister is always positive. I also want to say thank you to her for the fine announcements that she made and we are eagerly looking forward to seeing how matters will stand in a year’s time in respect of these announcements.
It is regrettable that in the debate this afternoon almost every speaker made reference to apartheid and all those bad things. I made reference last year to the so-called bad legacy that the present Government received from the previous government. After seven years I think the time for hiding behind what was received is over. The time has come for them to come into their own.
The Government received good human material and got rid of them in order to achieve their political objectives. We could have achieved the Government’s objectives, if the Government used a greater degree of expertise. The present Government received the best infrastructure in Africa. I quoted last year what the leader of the opposition in Kenya had to say about this. He appealed to the ANC Government to maintain that infrastructure. If we were to evaluate this today, what does it look like to the Government? What do our roads look like? What does our railway network look like? What do our hospitals look like?
I was privileged to visit London with the delegation from Public Works. Our assets there are of excellent quality and were purchased by the previous government for good use by South Africa to the advantage of our people. Why do we never hear about this? We should have a balanced outlook. Why am I bringing this to the attention of the House? Surely in South Africa the time for only focusing on the worst from the past in order to serve as an excuse for poor achievements is over. The time has now come for us to place our problems, faults and weak points on the table. Then all parties could offer to contribute their expertise to resolve our problems. What, inter alia, are these problems? The hon the Minister received a poor legacy from her predecessor. More than a year before she took over, the department had no director-general. After she took over, her predecessor took along the department’s deputy director-general too. However, he also took some of the senior members of staff with him. That was certainly an unpleasant situation to take over and in my view it was selfish and not in the interests of our country.
I respect our Minister for tackling her work positively under such circumstances. Through affirmative action competent people were dismissed and replaced with poorly trained people. The department therefore does not have enough skilled people. If the point of departure is going to be to resolve the problem and not allow all manner of political preferences to apply, we will make progress.
There are too many regulations and this is and always has been a millstone around any government’s neck. The time has now come to modernise the management of at least the Department of Public Works. The culture of poor service and low productivity should be reversed as a matter of urgency. If we wish to put matters right in our country, for example by reducing poverty, our people should cultivate a culture of working, and doing so with absolute enthusiasm, in a spirit of putting South Africa first.
The fact that R700 million was not spent is unacceptable. South Africa cannot afford to pump that kind of money into the economy. The reason for this is poorly trained staff. However, one should take care that each rand that is spent earns the maximum benefit for us as a country. I know that a report and the recommendations of the consultants have been available for two years now, but they are not being implemented. And then the money that the department could have spent was spent very unwisely. I know this is happening because we have a problem with people. We have enough knowledgeable people in our country. We must involve them so that money spent would mean maximum benefits for South Africa.
I know that the hon the Minister knows that excuses will not result in solutions. She must therefore rectify our shortcomings expeditiously. I believe, after her announcement, that the hon the Minister has this in mind. I trust that she will succeed in this. This is the first time that the portfolio committee has received such an open and honest submission from her department. If the present Government performs its task in this manner, we shall adopt a course through which South Africa cannot but win.
The Deputy Director-General of Finance set an excellent example. It was a pleasure to listen to an objective presentation and not to recriminations and a cover-up.
A very important problem is the management and maintenance of our buildings. Despite the hon the Minister’s resolve to reduce the backlog by 25% within the next three years, it does not seem to me as if it is possible to achieve that with the present budget. I do not believe that this is going to happen. I do not think that the Government has the financial ability to achieve this. The hon the Minister can only achieve her objective if the department presents her with new plans. [Time expired.]]
Mr M M CHIKANE: Madam Speaker, years ago there was a great trek by the
Afrikaner people from the Cape to the interior. Amongst them there was a
Van der Merwe. Van der Merwe had three sons. One could read English,
another could read Afrikaans, and the third one was illiterate. When they
reached the Free State, there was a sign written in English, and it said
To Natal''. The one who could read English followed that sign. They went
further and they saw another sign written in Afrikaans, and it saidNa
Transvaal’’. The one who could read Afrikaans went to the Transvaal. The
one who could not read is still in the Free State today. [Laughter.]
The road that we as the ANC have travelled with the people of this country has taken us about 85 years, and the blood and tears of destruction. Many of our best perished on this long road. Streams were created by the long and tedious process. Individuals and groups withered away because of their emphasis on various ambitions.
Seven years on, democracy was achieved. All the people of our country are represented in this august House. Streams and rivulets are the tapestry of this process, as we know. The formation of various characters is the colour- coating, and this is how our democracy is perceived from many angles and dimensions.
Some of the traits will survive the test of the time, whilst others will disappear with the passing of time. The ANC will win some friends and lose some. During the arduous protracted process of negotiation, we won some and lost others. Amongst those we lost was the PAC. [Interjections.] As hon members can see, we are discussing an issue that relates to what is supposed to be critical to their constituency, that is the impoverished African people, but they are not here. The only one present is the poor Reverend, who is half asleep in his seat. [Laughter.]
I am saying that the PAC is among those whom we lost, because of their fascination with short-term popularity. They were the peacetime radicals who were going to deliver Azania to our people. [Interjections.] When former President Mandela tried to tell them the obvious, that the struggle is not an event, but a process, they had no ears to hear. Their eyes were glued to their myopic short-term goals. ``South Africa is not a prostitute, it cannot belong to all men’’, so they sang and danced to the tune that was outside the beat of time.
Today, like orphans, they have found a new leader in the tried and tested journalist of the apartheid era. The hero of the apartheid military journals has created a flicker in their minds, which proclaims:
Tell all in our defence: if it does not benefit the white supremacists of the past, even if it weakens our defence systems, call it corruption and create mistrust in the ruling party; isolate and attack people’s characters without substantiation; claim a list of spies amongst women and men of honour; become an Agatha Christie of our making, a mystery woman who has seen it all without having been there.
The character of our President should be no exception. Lies, deception and division should form part of your agenda. Our international policies and successes that have earned us respect and honour amongst our fellow men and women of the world must be put in jeopardy.’’
The ANC and the people of South Africa must resist this provocative attempt from those who failed to get a resounding mandate from the majority of South African people.
I now address corruption. Corruption can be defeated with the help of the structures that have been put in place by this Government, those that were not there in the past. No amount of journalism and peacetime heroism would be able to put our country in a sound economic position.
I come to capital programmes. The Ministry and the department have been faced with and dogged by problems in this area. As the portfolio is entrusted with the responsibility of enabling itself and other departments to implement programmes, some departments have implemented their programmes, as was mentioned. Others do not implement them on time, and the department ends up with unspent funds.
The process of drawing up the asset register has been tedious and protracted owing to the nonavailability of information, some of which has been brought at this late hour by the likes of Mr Blanché of the FA. Today we know what we have in Boksburg. Where was he when we were asking for information from all people who had information? That information was never made available. He is telling us about 101 prisons that we must sell at a nominal fee because he has an interest there. We should resist that. We must get all the relevant information, compile the asset register and, on the basis of all the information collected, decide which properties we are going to dispose of and which we are going to keep, and why. We have reasons for doing so.
I now come to the improvement of the staff complement. This was one of the areas that made it almost impossible to deliver quality service and professional management systems in the department and Ministry, including the maintenance and management of property, as has been been highlighted by Miss Segobela. The budget and the staff complement are in place. We are looking forward to a more consolidated service.
Coming to the land question, both the Ministry and related components in the Government have managed this process very well. Fears have been drummed up by the sinister prophets of doom, who attempted to exacerbate things rather than bring stability and peace to our neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Angola and the rest of the SADC community. These are the people who are propelled by journalism and anthropology rather than what South Africa and the rest of the world are looking forward to. The ANC and its leaders have earned a special place in the hearts of those who had been tormented by war and threatened by the cold war emanating from the last vestiges of colonialism.
There are those who are trapped in the hope of the grand master plan, creating instability, and a lack of confidence, especially in the new leaders of the continent, those who stood up to be counted in the war against colonialism. The ANC and the people of South Africa should not be deterred from addressing the pressing needs of our people. The Department of Public Works should not waver in its resolve to consolidate the effort and the programme started to ensure clinics for the sick and schools for the disadvantaged.
We should strengthen the programme that brought government to the people and continue to build on the new dimension of the 1999 programme of action, which means: one, community production centres; two, multipurpose centres; three, land rehabilitation programmes; four, youth working towards environmental accessibility; and, five, the HIV infrastructure support programme under the Community-Based Public Works Programme. This is - for those who have forgotten - yet another component of what we called the Reconstruction and Development Programme. Regarding management and monitoring systems, there has been a long and complicated process to simplify them. The dead wood from the apartheid administration needs to be dislodged. Should there be any complications, Nedlac should be called in. We have inherited a lot of these people. Every time we speak about them, it is as though this is something that we as the Government of the day are not able to deal with. I think if there is a problem the Ministry must be able to refer this question to Nedlac so that we can resolve it once and for all.
The process of job creation has given pride and dignity to 70 266 people from 1996 until today. Some of these people, who have been exposed to the skills development programme, have added value to their communities and put bread on the table for their loved ones.
The built environment programme, facilitated by actions undertaken by this august House, such as the Construction Industry Development Board Act, Act 38 of 2000, the Council for the Built Environment established in April 2001 and the six councils for the built environment professions established in 2001, has become an enabling instrument, a step in the right direction, a brick in a monument of success to be achieved in the future, and a symbol of a better life for all our people. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Madam Speaker, this is one of those debates which has left me without wings here and there. I am so used to fighting it out when I reply that when the debate goes smoothly I wonder what there is to fight about.
I must thank all the hon members who contributed constructively to the debate. However, I do believe I have one or two members to educate and one or two to remind of the heritage we did not even refer to, those who nevertheless felt it necessary to mention that heritage once more. [Interjections.]
UMnu Van der Merwe undikhumbuze ntetho ethi, impuku iluma ivuthela'',
ngale nto ebeyithetha. [Mr Van der Merwe just reminded me of an expression
that says,A mouse bites and soothes’’, by what he said.]
Let me just enlighten one of the speakers, Mr Opperman. He spoke very well on what we can do to have a win-win situation. But when he made reference to what happened in the UK, he forgot to inform this House that the people in the UK are actually rethinking why their state departments must have their own public works and they want their work to be centralised. That is the chapter the hon member did not add to his debate.
There was also talk of our having allowed people who were experts to leave, with the people who are unschooled remaining. If I were some members on my left, I would not even refer to the type of education some of our people received in this country.I am sure the Minister of Finance wonders why we are asking for a budget for human resource development from time to time. This is exactly because of the type of schooling that was the lot of the black people in this country.
If they now say that we are allowing people who are unschooled - can hon members imagine? - to lead our departments, then I just say it is a pity that that hon member chooses to live in a world which does not face reality. I must be kind at the same time though, because he was also kind at the end of his speech and said that some of the programmes we are putting in place are going to be very helpful. I want to further enlighten some of the people who put everything down to schooling. The reason we are resorting to experts is that we are sorry that the sunset clause was ever there, because some of the property managers, the so-called property managers that we have, who are making it difficult for us to be progressive, are actually people with std 6 and 8 certification. We are told that with all the graduates from our black communities, we get men and women of less schooling. Then I do not know what is meant by schooling.
I further want to ask: What would one expect if the culture of the past was one which dictated that it was the norm that money spent on capital projects could never be spent in Public Works? I want to believe that members should actually praise us for coming up with ways and means of making sure that we turn that situation into one that is going to be practical and helpful to our people.
I thought that some of our newspapers did not publish gossip columns alone. I thought that they had information, which members read about what is happening in Government. A decision was taken by Cabinet, and that came out in the media, that Government must lead by example and that wherever it is possible to do so, we must not abandon the inner cities of our country. We must have our offices within the inner cities so that other people who want to invest can follow the Government’s example. That is what is happening, and I think that in Boksburg the situation will be the same, because that is what even the government of Gauteng has decided to accept.
We have been at this podium informing hon members as to the type of land which, from time to time, we give to local communities, whether for education or for low-cost housing. It is happening. But some people talk here as if they are coming with fresh proposals. I beg them to follow the events in Government and not to waste time quoting things that are already in the pipeline.
Some people talk of plans which are not being effected. My goodness! I think that when this Government took over it had to change a number of policy directions, and it is those policies that are guiding what it is that we do today. We had to make those changes, because otherwise our people could never ever have been accommodated in whatever it is that we are doing. Sometimes I am surprised when people talk of the backlog in maintenance. Some people ask: What have you been doing in the last seven years? Even if we were to become the eighth wonder of the world, we would never be able to cover all the years of neglect.
Umntu abe neofisi kodwa angayazi nokuba iyapeyintwa, angayazi nokuba isilingi iyalungiswa, angayazi nokuba iilifti ziyalungiswa. Kuyaihlalwa kuba kusaziwa okokuba ngenye imini umzi ontsundu uza kuliphatha eli lizwe. Ke kuthiwe masibe neentloni xa sukuba sisithi safumana namanyala okunganaki ekwenzeni izinto. Okokugqibela, ndibulela ukuba … (Translation of Xhosa paragraph follows.)
[A person would just have an office but would not know when it needed painting, when the ceiling and the lifts needed to be fixed. People just utilised things with the aim of destroying them, because a black person was going to rule this country. Today we are told to feel guilty about the bad conditions under which we work.
Lastly, I would like to thank the 80% of people that debated in a manner that was really constructive.
This is simply to say that the poverty that is in our country is not an issue only for the Government to deal with. The eradication of poverty must be a process that engages all right-thinking South Africans, whether they are in the private or the public sector. We must stop asking what this present Government is doing, as if we were not part of the National Assembly or part of the planning machinery. We are all duty-bound to advise on what must be done to make the poorest of the poor really empowered.
We do have a proposal, and I can assure Inkosi Hlengwa that the next time we stand at this podium, after consultation with my colleagues, we are going to come up with a proposal which may possibly begin to address what my colleague the Minister of Finance might think is a broad public works programme. We are beginning the workings of such a programme, but it is still too early in the day to talk about it and to announce it.
In the absence of the Minister of Finance I heard many a person saying: Give more to poverty relief! I told them that I sit on these committees and I will just pass on the message. I am sorry that Inkosi Hlengwa is not here. I will simply have to pass on his message to Comrade Sydney, but I will plead with …
… abantwana bamakhosi. [… traditional leaders.]
Inkosi is supposed to be the father of the nation.
Inkosi ayikwazi ukuba ingatoyi-toya. Inkosi ayikwazi ukuba ingaphazamisa iinkqubo zophuhliso ngenxa yokuba inganelisekanga okanye inesikrokro. Umntwana wenkosi uthumela amaphakathi athethe, yena ahlale esihlalweni sakhe, andiliseke. Ukuba umntwana wenkosi unodade wabo nomfo wabo oliqhaji uthuma bona kuthethe bona, ahlale yena, andiliseke.
Njengenkosazana yamaMpondo, njengoThahla kaNdayeni, umaNyawuza, bangacingi ngokuphazamisana neSebe leZemisebenzi yoluntu nanini na benganeliseki yinto ethile okanye zizinto ezithile. Kuyakucaca ukuba umdla wabantu abangootata babo iphulukene nabo. Ngoko ke, ndiyanicela bantwana bomthonyama, ndiyanicela boochul’ ukunyathela okokuba ninyamezele. Ukhona uqabane uJacob Zuma uwuphethe lo mcimbi, uza kuba nesiphumo. (Translation of Xhosa paragraphs follows.) [A traditional leader is not supposed to protest. A traditional leader does not disrupt development programmes just because he is dissatisfied about something. A traditional leader sends his subjects to talk while he remains in his seat, maintaining his dignity. If a traditional leader has a sister and a brave brother, he sends them to represent him and he will remain silent, maintaining his dignity.
As a princess of the Mpondo tribe, as Thahla of Ndayeni, a woman from the Nyawuza clan, I would like to ask the traditional leaders to rethink their idea of discouraging projects initiated by the Department of Public Works whenever they are not satisfied about something. It is becoming more apparent that they have lost the interest their fathers used to have. Therefore, I am pleading with you, children of the soil, you that walk diligently, to be patient. Comrade Jacob Zuma is dealing with this issue, he is going to come up with a solution.]
Debate concluded.
THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY AND HIV/AIDS IS AN URGENT NATIONAL PRIORITY
(Subject for Discussion)
Mr E SALOOJEE: Chairperson, the extent of impoverishment in the world today is truly staggering. According to an internationally adjusted standard of absolute poverty, sub-Saharan Africa has four times as many poor people as nonpoor. Nearly 1,2 billion persons are forced to live on less than R7 a day. At the same time this region also accounts for 67% of global HIV infections. Surely this cannot be a mere coincidence. In South Africa, where more than 50% of our people live on less than R12 per day, 4,7 million people are living with HIV/Aids. Between 1 500 and 1 800 new infections occur each day.
It is in the poorest households that the incidence of HIV/Aids is the highest. This is our reality and the reality of our continent. Poverty is deepening, and the further devastating effects of Aids take their toll, as poor people become ill and die, and create further conditions of poverty for those children who are orphaned by the disease. Absolute poverty contributes significantly to diminished health and immunity.
The disproportionately high correlation between HIV and TB is indicative of the fact that living conditions of poverty diminish one’s ability to fight off other opportunistic diseases. Furthermore, research has shown that the period of wellness between HIV infection and the onset of Aids symptoms is critically affected by conditions of good nutrition, exercise, access to clean water, sanitation and a healthy environment, and the absence of stress. Therefore it becomes clear that the problem of HIV/Aids in an African context is one of development.
I want to suggest that the overall experience of people living with HIV/Aids and in deep poverty is isolation, an inability to satisfy basic needs, such as food and shelter, rejection by communities and formal services, and a fear for their children for the time when they as adults are no longer there to provide for them. When the breadwinner in a household becomes ill, it has a direct impact in terms of the loss of income, however meagre this income may be. Household income further declines as family members become less productive, lose jobs and have to stay at home to care for sick family members. Children are removed from school and required to support families where breadwinning adults have lost jobs, are too ill to work or have died. In order to secure the basics of life for themselves and their children, poor women often stay in sexual relationships that are not exclusive and in which the ability to negotiate for safer sex practices is severely limited. Migrant labour, which we inherited from those evil days, remains a feature of the poorly paid workers in South Africa. The men are separated from their families for a long time, which directly impacts on the risk factor of unprotected sex with various partners.
However indirectly, the risk derives from poverty and the need to secure work, no matter what the sacrifices in family life. This is the human and social cost of HIV for poor people. The cost of the pandemic to our economy is also enormous, given the fact that the infection rate is picking up among young adults of between 25 and 40 years of age, those members of our society who should economically be most active. It is estimated that as the disease depletes the labour force, especially the skilled labour force, the potential for economic growth could be reduced by as much as 2,5% every year.
Our fight against HIV must be a concomitant fight against poverty. Therefore we must ensure that those Government programmes that address poverty are explicitly linked to those that address HIV/Aids. We urgently need research to understand the ways in which poverty interacts with sexual roles to produce the ever-increasing incidence of HIV infection, particularly among poor women and other socially vulnerable groups.
The Government has put in place legislation that will ensure greater access to affordable medication to poor people. The recent court victory will play an important role in securing for our people medication to fight off the symptoms of the pandemic and the further transmission of the virus. Still, the very significant progress the Government has made with regard to efforts to improve TB care, the effective treatment of STDs and the fight against meningitis are severely hampered by conditions of poverty. Government has also chosen to support programmes that offer care and support to people with HIV/Aids in their own communities.
It is imperative that we evaluate community-based care programmes and strengthen them to the level where an appropriate model for care in South Africa has been developed. Experience in implementing community-based health programmes has shown that meaningful community involvement in health services is not easy to develop and sustain. We must build and strengthen partnerships with CBOs and maximise the transfer of capacity to grass-roots organisations. We must also find creative ways of funding the critical work these organisations are doing.
However, importantly, we must get communities to take ownership of the process of giving care. We must break the silence around HIV status, because the longer we remain silent, the longer our neighbours will be too afraid to care for us. The longer prejudice against people living with HIV/Aids is allowed to go unchallenged, the longer we will have families headed by orphaned children, left with no support from the community, and with very bleak chances of developing to their full potential.
The recognition of the clear and unambiguous interdependence between HIV/Aids and poverty demands that strategies aimed at poverty alleviation take cognisance of the fact that continued Aids morbidity and mortality will systematically undermine broader development initiatives, if this relationship is not taken into account. HIV/Aids and poverty pose a profound threat to humanity, and allowing escalating levels of infection and deepening poverty to go unchecked will ultimately not only compromise the integrity of the people infected with the virus, but the entire community and our society. [Applause.]
Mrs S V KALYAN: Chairperson and hon members, the South African Government’s inability to deal effectively with the HIV/Aids crisis has been extremely disappointing, and is a severe constraint to the realisation of health rights, as enshrined in our Constitution.
The ever-increasing statistics on HIV/Aids are indicative of this ineffective preventative strategy. Dr Jan du Plessis, a well-known political analyst, said that the Aids epidemic has assumed proportions to destroy South Africa. Approximately 24 million people are said to be infected in Africa, with a daily infection rate of 1 700 per day in South Africa, which accounts for 10% of the world’s daily infection rate.
In July 2000, it was reported that as many as one in four adults in the Johannesburg inner city were HIV positive. By 2025, the average life expectancy in South Africa will be slashed from 70 years to 35 years, as a direct result of Aids. It is already estimated that there are around 150 000 orphaned children, owing to Aids, and by 2005 some 1 million children under 15 years of age will have lost at least one parent to the disease.
While there are many determinants of the disease, President Mbeki has created the perception that poverty causes Aids. I beg to differ with him. Aids causes poverty. Persons infected with HIV develop Aids. They are susceptible to many opportunistic infections and become ill. Time off, away from work in the informal sector, means no income. No income means no food. That is income poverty. Parents die from Aids, leaving children and child- headed households with no income. No income means no food, no schooling and no clothes for these children. That is human poverty. Furthermore, the confusion surrounding the President and the Ministry’s position on the link between HIV and Aids has greatly undermined the educative and preventative strategies in the fight against the virus.
An Aids panel appointed by Mbeki met twice last year, and communicated through the Internet. It was tasked, among other things, to find out whether HIV causes Aids. It is accepted, internationally, that HIV caused Aids, but we had to have a debate at a cost of R2,5 million just to confirm this. As was inevitable, the panel reached no conclusion.
Even the Department of Health’s press release was unable to find any common ground between the two sites. Instead of this useless expenditure, the R2,5 million could have been used, for example, to give 25 000 children child care grants, to build 156 low-cost houses and to give doses of nevirapine to 1,3 million HIV-positive pregnant mothers.
But, more importantly, besides the money wasted, was the time wasted. Because the hon the President chose to ignore all empirical evidence and take on board the views of a few discredited scientists, South Africa’s Aids treatment programmes have been delayed for a year. During this time, 70 babies a day were infected with Aids through their mothers. So, altogether, 23 000 babies were needlessly given death sentences.
More than 250 000 South Africans died of Aids during this period. Because of the President’s irresponsible statement on the causes of Aids, South Africa’s Aids prevention efforts have been put back by several years.
We have all heard the hon the Minister of Health gloat about the so-called victory in the court case between the Government and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association. The reality is that this was a hollow victory. The PMA may have dropped its case as a result of social pressure from Kofi Annan and President Mbeki. The Minister chose to celebrate this victory by breaking open bottles of bubbly. Shame on the hon the Minister! The hon the Minister should have done her bit for poverty alleviation and perhaps given a street child a hot meal rather than feeding her ego with expensive champagne. [Interjections.]
Now that the court case is over, what has the Government done to make antiretroviral drugs available to persons who are HIV-positive or living with Aids? Nothing! [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs Z A KOTA: Madam Speaker, is the hon member prepared to take a question?
Mrs S V KAYLAN: No ways! [Interjections.]
As usual the hon the Minister is gadding about overseas. Yesterday I asked the hon the Deputy President whether the Government had changed its official policy on not supplying antiretroviral medication, especially in view of the outcome of the court case. His reply was that the Government policy still stands. So, in reality, the decision not to supply antiretroviral medication is purely a political one. It is not based on cost or toxicity as we have all been led to believe.
Since 1994, South Africa has promised poor children that it will reduce poverty. Idasa’s latest finding is that, to date, Government has failed to put children first. In fact, child poverty is increasing according to all indicators except those relating to health and nutrition status. According to the relative definition of poverty, 60% of our children are poor in the sense that they lack an income. Two main reasons which could be seen as major contributing factors are the Government’s hedging on the provision of antiretrovirals and the uncertainty about financing the Grade R phase of junior primary education.
The child support grant for children aged 0 to 7 years was recently raised by R10 from 1998 to this year. Translated into real terms, all this means is one extra loaf of bread per month for that child. This is outrageous. Added to all of this misery is the fact that we now have a parentless generation of child-headed households becoming the order of the day. I reiterate, poverty does not cause Aids. Rather, Aids thrives in poverty. The present social security system caters for poor families with children under seven years of age and adults over the age of 60 for females and 65 for males.
In conclusion, there are many things that can be done to step up the fight against poverty and HIV/Aids. We should roll out the poverty alleviation programmes with real interest and speed. We should relook at the issue of child support grants, foster grants and pensions. We should disband Sanac and set up an independent Aids commission chaired by civil society and let them get on with the job of tackling the epidemic. The President and the Ministry should state in unequivocal terms that HIV causes Aids.
The present strategy in South Africa is heavily focused on awareness and prevention. It should expand to include the burden of dealing with the consequences of Aids and those children left orphaned by this disease. Dr Peter Piot has suggested that a full-scale war has to be waged against Aids and that the necessary resources have to be mobilised. We should take his advice. It is free.
Finally, we should work together collectively. The Government has politicised the whole issue of HIV/Aids. It is time that they put an end to that. [Applause.]
The SPEAKER: Order! Hon members should be aware that Dr Baloyi was sworn in a few days ago. This is his maiden speech.
Dr O BALOYI: Madam Speaker and hon members, it is only reasonable for policies generated in this House to look and feel the way they are. They are designed with the flavour of the environment from which the majority of the population, and we all, come from.
This being a sport-loving country, allow me to use a sporting analogy to drive my point home. There is a natural tendency for one to see, describe and interpret things from where one has a view. In watching the same sporting event, say soccer or rugby, the scoring of a goal, which is an event that is taking place at the same point in time, can be described differently depending on which part of the stadium the describer is sitting in. If one changes where one sits next time around, things will be different. Surely it is not in rejecting other views and descriptions and calling them wrong that we can be enriched in our understanding of events, but it is in attempting to change our mindsets that we will make progress.
Again, allow me to explore the analogy of sport a little further. The tendency exists for sport lovers to go and sit at the same place in their usual place to watch, support and cheer their teams. For such persons, their descriptions of events will always be the same. If those fans could rotate, change seats and sit at different places each time they go to watch their matches, they would sooner learn to appreciate how the same event, at the same pitch, looks different to different people.
Strategies have been adopted by the Minister of Health and her department to deal with the problem of HIV/Aids. Some of those have been supported by the IFP. In others, we all know that there is room for improvement. For example, the improvement of access to health services for all; recognising and exploiting the respective competencies of the public and private sectors working together; clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of the national, provincial and local levels of service delivery in health; identifying lead national health programmes such as those for HIV/Aids; enhancing Aids prevention and counselling services; consolidating programmes designed to deal with preventative measures, Aids orphans and home-based care for HIV sufferers; deploying the services of community health workers as communities’ own resources; and ensuring improved quality of services within available resources.
Despite all those initiatives, however, the Minister of Health and her department continue to face insurmountable challenges in curbing HIV/Aids, especially among the poor communities. Let it be acknowledged that it is harder to bear HIV/Aids when one is poor. Access to services remains difficult. It remains difficult to afford medication even if it is available. People living with Aids have a more difficult time with HIV/Aids because their access to health care is limited. Their access to better nutrition is limited. When parents die, orphans rely on goodwill. About that, there is still much fear and denial.
In handling the challenges of HIV/Aids and poverty, a shift of context nationally will require the well population - and I emphasise, the well population - to agree to be part of that context. The features of this new context could be the following: that everyone is offered legitimate hope; that there is acknowledgement of the key role of all groups in their own survival and in the survival of the economy of this country; that no group be referred to as a shameful, dying group; and that all groups are seen as related, as people with pure potential and creativity, people who can make anything possible, given the appropriate context.
Social exclusion is not an option. Management of this disease is dependent on all persons, individuals, families, communities; and the Government must work across cultures for the greater good of all. The well population needs to become the new context so that there is an opening for the infected group to have a context in which to operate and act. If the well population do not make this shift, the barrier will adversely affect potential progress that can be made and both populations will lose.
The obsession with trying to distinguish the right strategies from the wrong ones is getting us nowhere. Our challenge is to find strategies that will work. What works is more important than what is right. There is a need to call upon the wisdom of everyone if we are to win this battle. The wisdom of the poor is poorly understood, and the wisdom of HIV-positive persons and Aids sufferers is also poorly understood. The challenge we face is to take this wisdom and enrich our HIV strategy.
The HIV virus affects all groups alike, rich and poor, working class, intellectuals and the youth, whether urban or rural. It makes no distinction. It affects leadership, whether at political, religious or community level; it affects the business sector, the social sector; it affects them all. Each one must identify his or her role and responsibilities.
Indeed, it will soon be academic to look at the diad of poverty and Aids in terms of the one causing the other. In assessing the rate at which the disease is devastating the nation, one feels that managing Aids unwisely will be highly costly to the state and this will indeed impoverish the state. The failure to manage Aids will lead us into poverty, and I do not think we look forward to that.
In closing, the urgency with which this matter needs to be addressed means that the House must enable respective departments to fast-track all the strategies in support of poverty alleviation, along with revamping the country’s HIV strategy within the current financial year. [Applause.]
Ms N R BHENGU: Madam Speaker, my speech is dedicated to my daughter Nozipho Bhengu, who is HIV-positive and who is up there in the gallery today. [Applause.]
I want to tell hon members about the feelings and the heavy load that a family with an HIV-positive person carries every day. In February 1998 my second daughter came to my office. I could see that there was something wrong, but I never anticipated the news I was about to hear. I closed the door and asked her to sit down. She took a piece of paper from her bag and said to me: ``Ma, I am from our family doctor and he has informed me that I am HIV-positive.’’
She then gave me the paper on which the results were written. I felt like the whole world had turned dark. She was in tears. I stood up and asked her to come to me. I put her on my lap and held her close to me. I then told her that she was still my child and that I loved her very much. [Applause.] The fact that she had been diagnosed HIV-positive was not going to take away my love for her and all that she deserved as my child.
I felt helpless because there was very little I knew about HIV/Aids. My heart was torn. My dreams of being buried by my children, as was the case with our parents, were shattered. I saw her dying. My dreams of nurturing my children under normal conditions were dealt a devastating blow.
Though fearful, I resolved to be strong and deal with the situation. I saw my family as being different from other families. My daughter had a stigma. I had a stigma. My other children were in one way or the other going to carry this stigma. Life became difficult. I could not sleep. My performance level at work dropped. I withdrew from other people and spent most of my time with Nozipho in my bedroom, neglecting my other children.
Devastated as I was, I had to stand up and meet the challenge. I arranged counselling services for my daughter on the same day. I received counselling to be able to give her support. That came with a heavy financial burden. I bought literature with information on HIV/Aids. I visited doctors to ask them about available medication. All I could get was: There is no cure.
My daughter had to be on a special diet and medication to boost her immune system. She had to see a priest for spiritual support, join a gym. She had to be comfortable all the time. My other children had to undergo counselling. It was painful. Khanyisile, Nozipho’s eight-year-old daughter, will need counselling when she can understand what HIV/Aids is all about and that her mother is HIV-positive. All this is a heavy load.
My emotional experiences and those of my daughter are shared by countless others who are directly infected and affected by HIV/Aids. My daughter’s situation is far better than that of most other people. A person in the informal settlement without a plate of food to eat, no warm blanket to cover her body, no psychological counselling, no soap to wash her body or clothes, who is ignorant about HIV/Aids, who cannot access information, is far worse off than Nozipho. That is where the link is between poverty and HIV/Aids. Even if Government were to provide free drugs to HIV-positive people, those drugs would not take away the pain and care for all the above poverty-related needs. No person can take a pill on an empty stomach.
My appeal to Parliament is that members should stop politicising the problem of HIV/Aids and begin to see it for what it is, a national issue. [Applause.] All South Africans, irrespective of their ideological, religious and political beliefs, should unite, hold hands and fight against Aids. The Government needs to speedily establish a holistic programme that will take care of poverty-related problems of people living with HIV. Members of Parliament should, as part of their constituency work, be part of caregivers’ support groups to families infected and affected by HIV/Aids.
The emotional toll of HIV/Aids is huge, but Parliament does not have counselling services to help members and staff infected and affected by HIV/Aids. I thank Comrade Tata Mlangeni, who noticed that I was about to break on my arrival here in 1999 and quickly arranged counselling services for me. Madam Speaker, my appeal to you is that Parliament should establish counselling services here in Parliament, because HIV/Aids is not only out there, it is also here with us. [Applause.]
The SPEAKER: Order! I want to assure members that we will act on that proposal immediately.
Dr S J GOUS: Madam Speaker, the debate today centres around HIV/Aids, which is a well-defined scientific disease, and poverty, which is less well defined as a phenomenon, but at the same time a reality. There can be no question that poverty and HIV/Aids are related, but what exactly this relationship is, is what we must try and define.
Aids'' is an acronym foracquired immunodeficiency syndrome’’, which
simply means that the immune system or resistance of the body is not
effective. It has many causes. It can be caused by measles,
immunosuppression during organ transplants, cancers, chemotherapy and a lot
of other reasons. In all these cases, the immunity can be restored when the
cause is taken away. But currently, when Aids is caused by HIV, the human
immunodeficiency virus, the disease cannot be turned around.
A person infected with the HI virus will test HIV-positive, and it will take roughly eight years from infection up to the date that he starts showing Aids symptoms, and another two years, normally, before he dies from those infections. We therefore refer to this condition as HIV/Aids, meaning that the cause of this, in this instance, is the HI virus. Under these conditions, we could also refer to this, probably, as the human immunosuppressive disease. It would be the same thing, because we know that the cause is the HI virus.
It is a well-known fact that poverty has an effect on many diseases, such as TB, Aids and malnutrition. All these diseases are associated with poverty. In medical terms we refer to these as so-called socioeconomic diseases. But one must clearly distinguish between a cause of a disease and a contributing factor in the disease.
Let us put it in another way. If a person who is very poor and suffers from malnutrition, and consequently has a very poor bone structure, is involved in a motor vehicle accident and sustains a bone fracture, the question then is: What was the cause of the fracture? Was it the malnourishment or the motor vehicle accident? It is clear that the cause of the fracture was the accident, and that the malnourishment, which was caused by the poverty, was just a contributing factor. It works exactly the same way in terms of HIV/Aids and poverty. It is obvious that a person living in poverty would be more susceptible to HIV/Aids when exposed, but poverty will never ever cause a person to get HIV/Aids without an HIV infection.
To look at it in another way, a person could not get infected by poverty, and poverty is not contagious, whereas infection with HIV is definitely contagious. The dissidents claim that poverty can cause Aids. We must be careful. While this might be technically true, by far the majority of cases in the pandemic of Aids that we see are caused by HIV infection, and it must not be confused. It would therefore be fair to say that in the epidemic that we see unfolding in South Africa today the vast majority of cases by far are caused by HIV infection. In this context it would then be correct to say that HIV causes Aids.
In Africa and Asia, HIV is transmitted mainly through heterosexual intercourse. Factors such as the type of the virus and the stage of the infection do matter in terms of facilitating transmission, as does the presence of other sexually transmitted diseases. Behavioural factors are, of course, crucial in this respect. This is where culture, habits and tradition play a major role.
In Africa people often have several partners at once. I am not making any moral judgment, but we have to admit to these facts and start acting upon them. However, sexual behaviour cannot be seen in isolation. Migration, the status of women, access to economic resources, general health care and many more factors are all very important. Thus poverty in itself does not cause an Aids epidemic, but certainly contributes to it.
It is also true that rich people contract Aids. It follows that the relationship between poverty and HIV is far from simple and direct, and is about more than just the effects of poverty alone. It would also be true to say that whereas poverty has an effect on HIV/Aids, the opposite will also be true; in other words, HIV/Aids has a negative effect on poverty.
It is now clear that the major destruction that the pandemic has in store, will lead to further poverty, and therefore become a vicious circle. In this regard, one only has to think of the impact of the death rate on the economy and the already overburdened health system to see that this is the truth.
Now, when we examine the track record of our ANC Government, it is clear that they have failed in two respects so far: firstly in terms of poverty alleviation and, secondly, in terms of prevention and treatment of the Aids epidemic. The Government’s failures regarding the HIV/Aids epidemic are all very well known. We think of instances such as Sarafina 2, Virodene and the President’s flirtation with the dissidents, the Aids advisory council. These are all failures. In fact, their resistance to the use of antiretrovirals, especially in mother-to-child transmission prevention, has been likened to infanticide, and it has been called a crime against humanity in certain circles. In fact, Government’s efforts could be described as comical, if this were not such a serious issue.
Now, while not denying the effect of poverty on HIV/Aids, the DA believes that the ANC Government is using poverty as an excuse for its failures in this regard. As the editorial in The Citizen put it so eloquently, and I quote:
Ironically, South Africa’s health care system makes it one of the African nations best equipped to respond to the epidemic. But South African leaders continue to delay and blame poverty.
To sum up, in the Aids epidemic that we are experiencing: firstly, HIV causes Aids; secondly, HIV is heterosexually transmitted; and, thirdly, poverty does not cause it, but it is certainly a contributing and a complicating factor. [Applause.]
Mr J T MASEKA: Madam Speaker and hon members, from the UDM’s side, we would like to congratulate Ms Bhengu on her courageous stand in revealing this dreadful disease and not being ashamed of informing this House about what happened.
Undoubtedly, South Africa is no exception to the fact that HIV/Aids affects a country’s economic capacity and growth. HIV/Aids is exceptionally prevalent in the economically active population group, and is therefore one of the negative factors of production in the world.
Comparing provinces, Gauteng shows a steady increase in HIV/Aids cases. All provinces, except the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, show a very high percentage increase. The ANC-led Government is called upon to urgently address the issue of poverty and HIV/Aids.
It is now imperative that the Government supply clinics and hospitals with the necessary antiretroviral medications. It is also clear from the court case involving the pharmaceutical companies and the Government that the Government is ready or prepared to make generic drugs available to people who are living with HIV/Aids. The Government has to act urgently to supply the drugs before many people are killed by this dreadful disease. The Treatment Action Campaign, which put pressure on pharmaceutical companies to withdraw the court action against the Government, is also expecting the Government not to delay making these generic drugs available.
The ANC-led Government does not need to be reminded that people’s lives are more important than arms and priority should be given to the people’s health. HIV/Aids has a great potential to derail economic development because it lowers life expectancy and returns on investment in human capital, causes skills erosion, affects productivity rates and causes a redirection of financial resources away from productive activities.
The UDM calls on the Government to urgently take constructive action to decrease the effects of HIV/Aids on the economy.
Ms C DUDLEY: Madam Speaker, hon colleagues, overpopulation is often blamed for the poverty of Africa. This is, however, not the truth, but a lie. In fact, Africa is the least populated of all the continents and has the ability to feed the entire world twice over. Yet still Africa is impoverished.
A continent, blessed with abundant resources and capable of feeding the world, is starving. Blaming the people of Africa for their plight and culling the population will not solve the poverty problem. The causes of poverty are complex and, like the population excuse, discrimination is also not sufficient to cause poverty, as the Jews and the Chinese have proved. Socialist redistributive policies, labelled ``equitable redistribution of resources’’, will also not solve the poverty problem. Socialism has been tried and has failed with devastating consequences. The people of Africa are victims of inept governments who play God in the lives of the people and impose socialist ideals on countries that cannot afford these wealth-destroying policies. It is God who blesses nations and allows them to prosper, and when the state, in the name of socialism, liberalism, or any other humanism usurps God’s authority, the result is a nation cursed. The solution is simple: People should be freed to produce, allowed to keep what they produce and God should be allowed to be God.
The HIV/Aids epidemic devastating Africa and jeopardising the continent’s future has been likened to a war. The ACDP commends the many Christians, especially the Catholic Church, for their dedicated and largely unrecognised involvement through hospitals, treatment centres and local aid organisations. They have been at the forefront of the fight against HIV/Aids. They stand for family values and their position refuting the effectiveness of prophylactics in the prevention of HIV/Aids has been courageous. It is not only true, but glaringly obvious, that the war against HIV/Aids will only be won by a dramatic change in sexual behaviour, which must start with a dramatic change of heart and mind.
Promoting condoms as the answer to the HIV/Aids epidemic is a blatant misrepresentation which has obscured the facts. Statistics reveal that there are almost 15 failures per 100 sexual acts protected by a condom. And yet we are expected to believe that the HI virus, 450 times smaller than sperm, can be magically blocked by a condom.
Researchers confirm that the publicity given to the condom in the fight against HIV/Aids has an effect contrary to what is desired, in that it leads to riskier sexual behaviour because of a false sense of security. The only real prevention of Aids, and the most radical, is sexual abstinence before marriage and faithfulness in marriage. If the fight against poverty and HIV/Aids is an urgent national priority, the Government must have the courage to admit its errors, stop spending our money on smokescreens and put in place policies which promote life, and not death, in Africa.
I thank Ms Bhengu for sharing her story about her precious daughter. I am crying with her, as I pray that she will draw near to Jesus and allow Him to be her strength.
I wonder if she has heard that story about a young on a plane with a
businessman. They are going through a storm, the plane is being buffeted
all over the place and everybody is getting extremely anxious. It just
seems that they are going to hit some terrible disaster, and all through
this the little boy is colouring in. As it gets worse, the businessman
looks at the little boy as he continues colouring in and asks: What's
wrong with you? Can you not see that we are going to die, everyone is
anxious and you are just colouring in?'' And the boy says:Yes, but I
know something you do not know.’’ The businessman asks: What is that?''
The boy answers:My father is the pilot.’’ [Applause.]
Ms M C LOBE: Madam Speaker, although there is no universal definition, it is clear that poverty is characterised by no income, low income and a poor standard of living reflected in inadequate access to nutrition, health, water, sanitation, housing, education, clean environment, finance, information and technology.
Throughout the years different professions have been struggling to define poverty. For example, pseudoscientists tried to define poverty on the basis of arbitrary assumptions and therefore as referring to those who earn less than US$2 a day. This may not be sufficient in an African context, where the majority of the people have inadequate access to the basic needs of a human being, such as water.
In this country the majority of the poor remain African, women and rural. This is as a result of the enormous problems of poverty and inequality we have inherited. It is important to acknowledge the fact that apartheid colonialism has done fundamental damage to the spatial, social and economic environments in which our people live, work, raise families and seek to fulfil their aspirations. The mandate of local government is to reconstruct and develop these environments as a basis for a truly nonracial, nonsexist, integrated and prosperous society.
The introduction of a new framework of developmental local government presents substantial opportunities to address challenges associated with poverty reduction and gender equity. In terms of this new system of local government, municipalities must focus their efforts and resources on improving the quality of life of communities, especially those groups that have been historically excluded, such as women, people with disabilities and the rural poor.
It is in the light of this issue that some municipalities have begun a process of providing free basic services, particularly to the poor. We therefore call on all municipalities to emulate the example set by Tshwane, Mangaung and other municipalities which have started a process of providing free basic services for the poor communities.
Ke utlwa ho le bohloko ha re buisana ka taba tsena tsa bofutsana, ke hopola hore ho na le batho mona Afrika Borwa, bao e leng hore bosiung ba maobane ba letse ba sena dijo, ba bang ba bona ba robetse ba sena matlo, ba bang ba bona ba robetse ebile ba se ba sena tshepo ya hore na ebe re ntse re eya pele kapa morao.
Tsena di etswa ke mathata ao e leng hore a fumaneha dibakeng tse ngata Afrika Borwa mona. Ho etsa mohlala feela, ha re sheba mane profensing ya Freistata, dibakeng tse kang bo-Qwaqwa le bo-Botshabelo, jwalo, jwalo, baahi ba dibaka tsena ha ba sa na tshepo, lebitsong la mathata a shebaneng le dibaka tsena tseo ke buang ka tsona, a amanang le moruo dibakeng tseo.
Malapeng a mangata dibakeng tseo, o fumana hore bontate ba a tsamaya, ba ya moo ka Sesotho re bitsang hore ke makgoweng, moo e leng hore ba ilo sebetsa teng. Ha ba ile makgoweng mona, bothata boo re kopanang le bona ke ba hore nako eo ba kgutlelang malapeng, ba tla ka dimpho tse fapaneng, mme ka hara dimpho tsena ho na le mpho e sa bonahaleng, mme ke mpho e bohloko haholo. Ke mpho eo batho ba bangata ba e bitsang kwatsi ya bosollatlhapi, e nkileng maphelo a bomme ba bangata lebitsong la ho amohela mpho ena ntle le ho re ba a leboha, ho balekane ba bona. (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[I feel pain when we discuss these poverty issues, thinking of those people in South Africa who did not have any food to eat before they went to bed last night. Some of them slept without roofs over their heads, and some of them slept without any hope left that we are still going forward.
This is caused by the problems that we have in many parts of South Africa. Just to give an example, when we look at the Free State, people in places like Qwaqwa, Botshabelo and so on, do not have any hope left, as regards the economic problems that these areas are faced with.
In many homes in those areas, men leave their families, and go to places that, in Sesotho, we call makgoweng [urban areas], where they go to work. The problem we face, is that when they go to these urban areas, they bring back different presents when they come back, among which there is one hidden and very painful present. It is a present that many people call HIV, which has taken the lives of many women, because they accepted it without any question from their partners.]
This is an historic problem and contributes to family disintegration, but, apart from this, it further contributes to poverty in these communities. Most fathers give money to their families once in a while - ironically, only when they visit their families. We must intensify our HIV/Aids awareness by linking it with women’s rights or gender awareness, because most women in these areas do not fully understand their rights. Young people in these areas are equally vulnerable to this epidemic as a result of inadequate access to information and technology. The Presidential Jobs Summit held in 1998 established a social plan fund which is administered by the Department of Provincial and Local Government. This fund focuses on the regeneration studies for different municipalities and is linked to the Local Economic Development Fund, which is a poverty relief fund. The LEDF has yielded very positive results. For example, it has created over 2 000 full-time and part-time jobs, as well as the construction and commissioning of various types of economic infrastructure and assets.
During the next few years, the programme will focus on improving its linkages with other household, social and economic infrastructure programmes, alongside its current activities. Given its critical facilitation and delivery role, local government has to play a key role in improving the quality of life of the poor and, in doing so, ensuring that there is gender equity within their areas. [Applause.]
Mr P H K DITSHETELO: Madam Speaker, in South Africa we have fought many wars for years, and ultimately we emerged as victors. There is no doubt that today we are faced with a totally different type of enemy, one that knows no boundaries, and that is HIV/Aids and poverty. Yes, some of us might argue that the apartheid regime contributed to the current state of poverty. But poverty in our country seems to be perpetual, despite the fact that we have a new Government with the expressed will to eradicate it. Why is this the case? We need to distinguish between an expression of a desire to do something and an action that is concrete and visible in fighting poverty.
The former statement captures the current Government approach to the fight against poverty and HIV/Aids. It has been brought to our attention, through media reports, that the price to acquire arms for our defence system has been misrepresented to Parliament and taxpayers, and that it would cost less to meet defence force amendment requirements, whereas, in reality, the price is believed to be in the region of R50 billion.
Therefore members of the public, and the poor in particular, have the right to question Government’s commitment to addressing poverty, based on the Government’s spending pattern and priorities. We have recently seen positive signs from the Government and civil society in dealing head-on with the scourge of HIV/Aids.
The Government’s legal victory over the pharmaceutical companies is commendable, as it will make it possible for the Government to access reasonably priced and quality medication from other sources of supply and countries with minimal limitations to this effect. The next challenge for the Government is to go the whole hog and make the necessary arrangements to provide proper medication to HIV-positive pregnant women.
It should be clarified and emphasised that, for now, it has been proved scientifically that poverty does not cause Aids, but that it is the HI virus that causes Aids. However, there is a positive correlation between poverty and Aids. Therefore poverty in most cases breeds an environment which spreads HIV/Aids. The fight against poverty and HIV/Aids should be made a national priority and if ignored we are heading for a disaster as a nation. The Government should speedily implement poverty alleviation programmes, particularly in rural areas.
May I also reiterate my heartfelt appreciation for the address delivered on Aids by Ms Bhengu. I would like to say to Ms Bhengu that she is in our prayers, and I want her to know that somebody else is in control, and that is Jesus Himself.
Dr M S MOGOBA: Madam Speaker, I also want to join the chorus of those who are paying tribute to Ms Bhengu for her bravery and her testimony. I believe that we must break the silence and challenge this scourge. We must drop the ``them and us’’ syndrome. We are all in the same boat, both negative and positive.
No one, today, can deny that South Africa and the developing world are facing a pandemic which is worse than the mass decimation of a world war. For a country like ours to have more than four million people afflicted with a disease which is expected to end their lives in a matter of months or years is ominous.
To put it differently, if our High Courts were to sentence four million people to death, it would cause a major revolution. This is definitely not the time for small talk or recriminations. We need to fight this scourge with all the might and the resources that we can muster. We need to spend more money on Aids education. We also need to spend money on Aids research. My simplistic thinking is that if scientific gurus of the world can invent a spaceship and put a man on the moon, I do not think and believe that they cannot find a cure for the common cold or, more seriously, for HIV/Aids. If countries can afford R400 million to promote space tourism, surely they can find double or triple that amount to invest in HIV/Aids research? It is my honest opinion that we do not show enough appreciation of the threat and danger of HIV/Aids.
In the so-called black African areas, townships and villages, every weekend young people are being buried in large numbers. There is a sense of utter despair and gloom in our nation. To be indifferent to this national appeal is to be irresponsible in the extreme.
Poverty caused by years of apartheid oppression and also by unemployment is wreaking havoc in our nation, particularly in respect of those unfortunate enough not to belong to the ruling party. After years of apartheid, we now have apart-ANC. Of course, this will go down like apartheid before it, but many will have suffered and sacrificed to a level that is unbearable and unacceptable.
Education must be radically overhauled to prepare school-leavers for employment, not the Verwoerdian green pastures. We must also prioritise national spending. Spending on parties, on prestige symbols and on sophisticated arms is not only wrong, but obscene and immoral, and makes us the laughing stock of the world.
Miss S RAJBALLY: Madam Speaker, may I also join in saying to Ms Bhengu that her pain is our pain. We are with her, trusting God. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.
The MF believes that the problems with HIV/Aids and poverty need to be tackled simultaneously. Research has shown that those who are most affected by poverty are those most affected by HIV/Aids.
Poverty is also concentrated amongst all populations in our country. Statistics SA has found that in 1996, the Northern Province had the highest proportion of women and girls who were poverty-stricken, which could be largely explained by the disadvantaged position of women in the labour market.
It also reported that over 12,2 million women worldwide have been infected with HIV, accounting for 42% of the 30,6 million adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. There are already six women who are HIV-positive for every six men.
The MF compliments the Government’s initiative, at last, to provide free drugs to pregnant women to help prevent the transmission of the Aids virus to the newborn. The MF, along with the health officials, hopes that the programme will be expanded across South Africa and that inexpensive anti- Aids medication will soon become available for adults.
The MF also applauds the Government’s response to poverty in 1994. It has prioritised a lack of access to basic social services, particularly among the rural poor. Four and a half million people have now gained access to potable water. There is now compulsory education for 10 years and free medical care for pregnant women and for children under six years of age.
Programmes, including the war against poverty, the flagship programme implemented by the Department of Social Development, the Jobs Summit and the employment strategy framework are a clear indication of the pertinent steps taken by the Government to alleviate poverty. The MF promotes and supports the Government’s initiative in its fight against HIV/Aids and poverty. [Applause.]
Mr C AUCAMP: Madam Speaker, people are dying of Aids in their thousands. It affects everyone in South Africa. Our main interest must therefore be to stop the pandemic dimensions of this disease. I would therefore like to make an urgent plea to everyone in this House to join hands.
As the topic of the debate states, Aids is a matter of national priority and not of party-political priority. We have to set an example in this House, working, discussing and planning together nationally. If we want to make the fight against Aids a national priority, the debate must rise above party politics.
Yes, the hon the President, in my view, did take the wrong stance on this issue both by questioning the indisputable link between HIV and Aids and by being reluctant to provide antiretrovirals. It seems to me that this has since changed. The AEB agrees with the statement that the hon the President made in October 1998 at the Ethembeni Children’s Home of the Salvation Army. I understand that the Salvation Army is the military wing of the ACDP, but I do not know if this is correct! [Laughter.]
In his speech the hon President said:
HIV spreads mainly through sex. I appeal to the young people to abstain from sex for as long as possible. I appeal to both men and women to be faithful to each other.
The AEB fully agrees with this view. But in both instances he added:
If you decide otherwise, use a condom.
The AEB does not support what I want to call condomania.
Kondome is nie die antwoord nie, maar ‘n sober lewenswyse wel. Te dikwels word die gebruik van kondome gesien as ‘n lisensie vir promiskuïteit en losse sedes. Dalk moet ons meer Bybels uitdeel en minder kondome.
In die AEB se bydrae tot hierdie debat wil ek vra dat die Regering, die politieke partye, die kerke en skole, en die RGN in sy pas-aangekondigde projek saam hande vat om die morele peil in Suid-Afrika uit die moeras op te tel. Daar is geen ander manier waarop ons met vrymoedigheid kan bid dat die Here hierdie plaag ook van ons sal afwend nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Condoms are not the answer, but a sober lifestyle is. Too often the use of condoms is seen as a licence for promiscuity and loose morals. Perhaps we should hand out more Bibles and fewer condoms.
In the AEB’s contribution to this debate I want to ask the Government, the political parties, the churches and schools, and the HSRC in its newly announced project to join hands in lifting South Africa’s moral level out of the quagmire. There is no other way we can pray openly for the Lord to ward off this plague too.]
May I conclude by thanking the hon member Bhengu for her speech here today. Her speech gave us all a first-hand perspective.
Dr B G MBULAWA-HANS: Madam Speaker and hon members, the political and social struggle was based on the premise that democratic change would lead to an improvement in the overall quality of life of the poorest in South Africa. An essential element in the transition phase is the developed unity of purpose to address poverty and underdevelopment. At the same time it should also address one of the most serious threats to this process of change, which is the presence of HIV/Aids. If we do not go to war against HIV/Aids, the results will be catastrophic.
However, three sobering facts need to be remembered, and they are that there is still no cure for the virus, that there is still no vaccine available and that the treatment available to improve the quality of life is very expensive and unaffordable. However, the issue of the link between HIV and poverty has been put to rest. Those that resurrect it do so because they have nothing to do except walk around hospitals and police stations. If one adds those to the statistics that one hears every day, it is only too easy to give in to the feelings of powerlessness.
The gains of the recent decade with respect to life expectancy, infant mortality and educational achievements will be reversed. But, as devastating and overwhelming as the spread of this deadly virus is and despite the profound impact that it has on our lives, it is my firm belief that we will win in a united action against the virus. In this context of development, poverty needs to be defined in a broader sense, not simply as lack of income.
Poverty includes, amongst other things, a lack of access to basic needs like housing, land, health facilities, clean water and sanitation. Also, anything that affects the opportunity to participate in society and anything that stands between people and their ability to build decent lives for themselves is poverty. People in those circumstances are unable to cope with the virus because their immune systems are compromised by the virus. The rate at which the virus spreads is enormous. The food that they eat and their living conditions shorten their lives. Recovery and improving the quality of life become, therefore, the prerogative of the rich.
What can then assist us in the struggle against poverty and HIV/Aids? Firstly, we must depoliticise the issue, as has been said. Secondly, we must be united in action, and the victory in the court case also embraces the pharmaceutical companies, encouraging them to come on board. Court decisions in South Africa are not made under pressure, but based on legal facts. The third point is that the people and communities of Africa as a whole, with their strength, determination and ability to survive, are an important issue for fighting HIV/Aids and poverty.
We should not forget young people, civil society also, and, most of all, people living with HIV/Aids. The rate of young people becoming infected is increasing, as statistics show. They are the key to prevention. We do not recognise their strength. We continue to marginalise them. They are the ones to work with political, traditional and religious leaders and civil society. Youth-friendly clinics need to be established and funded.
The Department of Health is providing training at provincial level for voluntary counselling and testing. That has been budgeted for. If that programme is championed by the youth, the issue of stigma and silence can be addressed. The youth also need to be empowered with life skills. They will be able to challenge parents, especially, to talk openly about sex issues and other issues that make parents uncomfortable. All they need is information and support to empower them.
The old tradition that being a woman means one must be submissive will be challenged by the youth. Some of our communities continue to inculcate the perception that being a man includes having multiple partners. We must confront this head-on. Civic society cannot be left behind in the fight against HIV/Aids. They are a great strength. Faith-based organisations are also crucial. These are the leaders that can spread an understanding of the principles behind our traditions. They can assist us to develop our values. They have already shown their willingness by being key role-players in education.
People living with HIV/Aids must be involved in any programme. The disease has already affected them directly. They are able to share their experiences. United in action with those infected and affected, we can win the war. However, we have to break down the barriers of silence, as our colleague the hon Ruth Bhengu has done here today. We must talk to our children and our friends about safe sex. We have to be outspoken in advocating the use of condoms. We say in townships that one cannot taste a candy if it is covered by a wrapper. But this candy is killing us.
It is the men who must always lead in this respect and they must not leave it to women. As the Chief Whip of our party has said in this House: Real men use condoms. I think that it is important to note that men must be partners in the fight against poverty and HIV/Aids. We must not feminise poverty, we must not feminise HIV/Aids. In conclusion, before I appeal to all of us to get united in the war against poverty and HIV/Aids, we must act now so that historians, when they write the history of HIV/Aids and poverty, mention this generation of leaders.
I just need to say briefly that I think Mrs Sandy Kalyan is actually confused. The nation out there must be very careful about people like Sandy Kalyan, because they do not know what they are talking about. They are just here to be PROs for the DA, which does not exist in this Parliament. [Interjections.]
Lastly, I would like to appeal to all members of Parliament to take part in this important issue of addressing poverty and Aids. Those of us who come from rural areas know what it is to be poor, to live without bread, to be affected by people who are living with HIV/Aids. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF HOUSING: Madam Speaker, hon members, comrades and our visitors in the gallery, we are a new democracy, a country attempting to implement human rights policies aimed at redressing a past that divided its people into racial groups. It has not been easy unlocking the racial blocks that contributed largely to impoverishing sections of our population. Suddenly we are, and I would like to quote the President:
… confronted with the scourge of HIV/Aids against which we must leave no stone unturned to save ourselves from the catastrophe which this disease poses.
Many of us in this House must, at some stage, have talked about HIV/Aids and either expressed horror at this new confusing epidemic amongst us, or talked about HIV/Aids in a manner that seeks to dull our fears of this parasite that thrives on sapping weakened immune systems until life is sucked out of the victims’ bodies.
It is only at the point when the Aids epidemic matures that we begin to understand just how complex the relationship is between poverty and Aids, and how failure to secure the basic needs of families compounds the suffering of affected families, and undermines our ability to mobilise home- based and community-based care programmes in accordance with our national Aids strategy.
Obviously our strategies are hampered by the levels of poverty confronting us as a nation, where many of us are exposed to HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, malaria, polio, neonatal diseases, tetanus and measles, to name but a few diseases. But, according to the WHO, the world’s biggest killer, and the greatest cause of ill health and suffering across the globe, is listed almost at the end of the international classification of diseases. It is given the code Z59.5 - and this is extreme poverty.
Poverty is the main reason why babies are not vaccinated, why clean water and sanitation are not provided, why curative drugs and other treatments are unavailable and why mothers die in childbirth. It is the underlying cause of reduced life expectancy, of handicaps, of disability and of starvation. Poverty is a major contributor to mental illness, stress, suicide, family disintegration and substance abuse. Every year in the developing world 12,2 million children under the age of five die. Most of them die from causes that could be prevented with just a few US cents per child. They die largely because of world indifference, but most of all they die because they are poor.
The report goes on to say that a person in one of the least developed countries in the world has a life expectancy of 43 - and this is according to a 1993 calculation - while a person in one of the most developed countries has a life expectancy of 78, a difference of more than a third of a century. This means that a rich, healthy person can live twice as long as a poor, sick person. The Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen confirms the position of the WHO when he argues - I address this to the hon Dr Gous - that poverty is not ultimately a matter of incomes at all. It is one of failure to achieve certain minimum capabilities. The distinction is important, since the conversion of real incomes into actual capabilities varies with certain circumstances and personal features.
Someone might want to argue that if we achieve high levels of economic development then poverty will be gotten rid of. This depends on the nature and quality of the growth, which should be concerned with what people can and cannot do. For example, where they can live long they can escape avoidable morbidity, they are well nourished, they are able to read and write, they can take part in literary and cultural pursuits and so forth.
If people have no shelter or basic services they may not be able to protect themselves against simple ailments that are curable. It is a spiral that plunges people and poor communities in a state of desperation. Basic necessities such as land, housing, water and electricity and the productive value of these assets provide a healthy foundation to families. The impact of a solid, good schooling system provides an opportunity to the poor to move out of poverty conditions.
This Government is focused on providing levels of health care that will impact on productivity levels. We are conscious of the benefits of a skilled workforce in the wider economy and the involvement of the poor in decision-making. More of this is needed to build on the RDP principles encouraging a people-driven approach to development.
We can achieve all of these objectives if we, as South Africans, every one of us, work as part of a united front, a force, an army that is determined to defeat the scourge of poverty and HIV/Aids. We call upon all political parties, community-based organisations, NGOs, the private sector and the whole of society to constitute the driving force behind the struggle against Aids.
Silly and meaningless agendas will not get us anywhere. They will only perpetuate poverty in our midst and motivate opportunists to spend their time beating a drum at some corner whilst they wait for Godot. Aids affects everybody and is exacerbated by poverty and want.
Hospitals are overloaded and cannot cater for patients in the terminal stages of Aids. As a result patients are discharged to spend their last weeks or months at home. The ideal is that every individual should receive care through a family member supported by a community health worker, and he or she should be supplied with appropriate medication, not to treat, but to ease, the pain and the discomfort. Working towards that ideal has been extremely challenging. Very few people with Aids are currently receiving that kind of care. How do families in shacks without water and without sanitation and electricity manage a dying patient? How does one ensure that a sick person is kept clean and comfortable, that the care-givers are able to take the precautions that will keep them free of the risk of infection?
We have delivered over one million houses, but we still need two to three million units on the ground to make a dent in homelessness. Seven and a half million people are still in informal settlements. What we need as a nation is a consensus to deal effectively with these backlogs. Over three million electricity connections have been completed since 1993. We still, however, have 57,4% of rural communities and 37% of urban communities not yet electrified.
There is increasing anecdotal evidence of child-headed families surviving on their own. We have no idea of the numbers and we have no idea of the informal links which neighbours and friends maintain with these children in order to support them. But despite that lack of hard statistics, we recognise the phenomenon as being real.
If we cannot offer an alternative in the sense of formal adoption or institutional care, what can we do to render these children more secure in both a physical and a psychological sense? In a situation where bands of children have been left essentially to drift, what can we do to keep roofs over their heads, to keep them off the ruthless life in the streets, to keep them in a setting where familiar adults like neighbours and teachers still play a role in their lives, and to keep them away from the need to swap sex for the necessities of life?
Our existing housing and services policies are headed in the right direction. What remains is the further consolidation of these policies by a human contingent dedicated and committed to ensuring that all causes of poverty are dealt a massive blow by a nation that believes in itself. Unnecessary cheap criticism of those trying to eradicate conditions of poverty and stress will lead us to worse conditions than those we find ourselves in currently. We need every minute and second put into the energy of turning things around. Aids affects everyone, but it affects poor people to a greater degree. Aids creates more poverty in families that were managing to cope before illness set in. In some unfortunate families, more than one breadwinner is infected. How do we, as a responsible detachment sent out by the nation to work for progress and a better quality of life, proceed to ensure that homelessness and a lack of basic needs and services do not become a consequence of HIV/Aids?
Focusing on issues of national interest outside of narrow political posturing will make better persons of us. Support for the integrated objectives of economic growth and poverty eradication and equality is essential. We as a nation must address the nagging and embarrassing past that keeps on interfering with what we need most for ourselves: an environment free of racism, discrimination, bias and above all, an engineered poverty. [Applause.]
I think we should salute the courage of Comrade Ruth Bhengu. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
The House adjourned at 18:03. ____
ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:
- The Speaker and the Chairperson:
(1) The following Bill was introduced by the Minister of Finance in
the National Assembly on 10 May 2001 and referred to the Joint
Tagging Mechanism (JTM) for classification in terms of Joint Rule
160:
(i) Financial Institutions (Protection of Funds) Bill [B 23 -
2001] (National Assembly - sec 75) [Bill and prior notice of
its introduction published in Government Gazette No 22215 of
10 May 2001.]
The Bill has also been referred to the Portfolio Committee on
Finance of the National Assembly. TABLINGS:
National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:
Papers:
- The Speaker and the Chairperson:
Reports of the Auditor-General on the -
(a) Financial Statements of the National Zoological Gardens of South
Africa for 1999-2000 [RP 32-2001];
(b) Financial Statements of the Reinsurance Fund for Export Credit
and Foreign Investments for 1998-99 [RP 183-2000].
- The Minister of Public Works:
(1) Memorandum by the Minister of Public Works setting out
particulars of the Building Programme for 2001-2002 in respect of
Programme 2: Provision of Land and Accommodation of Vote 30 of the
State Account [RP 63-2001].
(2) Progress Report of the Department of Public Works for 2000-2001.