THURSDAY, 24 MAY 2001 __

                PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
                                ____

The House met at 14:00.

The Speaker 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 T GONIWE: Madam Speaker, 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 Palestinians are calling for international intervention to stop the destruction of property and loss of life in the Middle East conflict;

(2) believes that the peaceful resolution of the problems in the Middle East is the only viable option which is in the interest of this and future generations; and

(3) calls on all parties and the Israeli security forces in particular, to desist from using excessive force, and to work towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

[Applause.]

Ms J A SEMPLE: Madam Speaker, 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)  Sibongile Manana, MEC for Health in Mpumalanga, has served an
       eviction order on the Greater Nelspruit Rape Intervention
       Project, Grip; and


   (b)  this group of anti-rape volunteers provides free trauma
       counselling and medicine to women and children at state
       hospitals;

(2) calls on the ANC Government to allow Mpumalanga and other ANC-led provinces to follow the example of the DA-led Western Cape in providing free anti-Aids drugs in state hospitals, and to rape victims; and

(3) demands that the MEC for health in Mpumalanga reinstates Grip and allows the group to continue their invaluable work with rape victims and the provision of free antiretroviral drugs to the poor.

[Applause.]

Mr V B NDLOVU: Madam Speaker … [Interjections.]

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr V B NDLOVU: Hheyi! La makhosikazi enzani manje? [Hey! What are these ladies doing now?]

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) compliments the joint police venture, Operation Rachel, between South Africa and Mozambique to combat illegal arms hoarded by crime syndicates and political activists;

(2) believes that such a venture will send a resounding signal to criminals attacking businesses and ordinary law-abiding citizens that crime does not pay; and

(3) further notes that the South African police involved in this operation are being approached by other African states to assist them in combating illegal arms caches.

Ms C C SEPTEMBER: Madam Speaker, 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 -

   (a)  the ever-deepening crisis of the DA has been dealt yet another
       blow by the recent revelation of a plot to oust DP Western Cape
       leader, Hennie Bester;


   (b)  DP members have accused Bester of only looking after his own
       ``future political career'' in the DA;


   (c)  the rationale of getting rid of Bester is that it would be ``for
       the good of the party''; and


   (d)  DP members are openly admitting that the opportunistic alliance
       with the New NP is unpopular within the DP, and will be re-
       examined at its provincial congress; and   (2) calls on the DA to admit that they betrayed the trust of those who
   voted for them.

[Interjections.] [Applause.]

Mrs S M CAMERER: Madam Speaker, 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 concern -

   (a)  that Rev Allan Boesak has signalled his intention to return to
       politics as an ANC hero by playing the starring role at recent
       rallies held at Goodwood and Athlone;


   (b)  that ANC members of this House were prominently in support of
       Rev Boesak at those rallies; and


   (c)  that Rev Boesak is a convicted criminal who is still on parole
       for a serious criminal offence involving dishonesty and stealing
       funds intended to assist the poor, and that his criminal
       conviction and sentence were confirmed and reconfirmed by the
       highest courts in our land; and

(2) appeals to members of this House to reconsider their actions in the light of the shocking example that they are setting to the youth of our country.

[Applause.]

The SPEAKER: Order! Hon members, you are behaving with extreme rowdiness at the beginning of the day, and I shudder to think what the rest of the day will be like. [Interjections.] Also, I want to remind you that you have only 15 minutes for Notices of Motion. The more noise you make the fewer motions you will be able to move, and all of you will suffer.

Prof L M MBADI: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the UDM:

That the House - (1) notes with alarm that a Xhosa school for the deaf in Umtata, in the Eastern Cape, faces closure;

(2) further notes that this school has not received money for the past five months and will be forced to close by the end of this month, in spite of promises from the Department of Education that the school would be subsidised;

(3) expresses its disgust and disappointment at the Government’s lack of delivery despite its promises on a disability policy; and

(4) calls upon the Minister of Education to urgently attend to this matter so as to create equal education opportunities for all children.

Mr J D ARENDSE: Madam Speaker, 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 DA plans to evict hundreds of informal traders from the central business district of Cape Town and to relocate them to the Grand Parade;

(2) further notes that the DA is imposing these plans and implementing them without proper consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including informal traders themselves; and

(3) condemns the unilateral relocation of informal traders and calls on DA councillor Kent Morkel to engage in meaningful consultation with all stakeholders.

[Applause.]

Adv Z L MADASA: Somlomo, ndiza kwenza isiphakamiso egameni le-ACDP:

Sokuba le Ndlu -

(1) iqwalasele ukuba namhlanje yimini enkulu kwikhalenda yamaKrestu kuba yimini yokukhumbula ukuNyuka kweNkosi yethu uYesu Krestu; nokuba (2) inqwenelele onke amaKrestu imini enoxolo njengoko isininzi sawo siza kuba sisezinkonzweni zesikhumbuzo.

[Kwaqhwatywa.] (Translation of isiXhosa notice of motion follows.)

[Adv Z L MADASA: Madam Speaker, 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) notes that today is an important in the Christian calendar, as it is Ascension Day; and

(2) wishes all Christians a peaceful day as many will be attending church services.

[Applause.]]

Mnr C AUCAMP: Mevrou die Speaker, ek gee hiermee kennis dat ek op die volgende sittingsdag namens die AEB sal voorstel:

Dat die Huis - (1) by gebrek aan bewyse van die teendeel, aanvaar dat reg en geregtigheid geskied het by sowel die vonnis as die vrylating van eerwaarde Allan Boesak;

(2) aanvaar dat Boesak nie weens een of ander politieke heldedaad nie, maar weens ‘n kriminele oortreding sy vonnis gekry het en sy straf uitgedien het;

(3) die heldeverering en oormatige mediadekking rondom die vrylating van Boesak veroordeel aangesien dit die boodskap uitstuur dat misdaad iemand tot heldestatus verhef;

(4) in ‘n land waar korrupsie, geweld en bedrog hoogty vier, as simbool van wet en orde hom duidelik van hierdie optrede distansieer en hom duidelik uitspreek teen enige vorm van die verheerliking van misdaad; en

(5) besef dat Boesak toegelaat moet word om in privaatheid die brokstukke van sy lewe bymekaar te maak, rustig oor sy toekoms te besluit en op normale wyse, soos enige ander oortreder wat sy vonnis uitgedien het, weer by die samelewing in te skakel. (Translation of Afrikaans notice of motion follows.) [Mr C AUCAMP: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day I shall move on behalf of the AEB:

That the House -

(1) in the absence of evidence to the contrary, accepts that justice has prevailed in both the sentencing and release of Rev Allan Boesak;

(2) accepts that it was not because of some or other heroic political deed but because of a criminal offence that Boesak was sentenced and served his term;

(3) condemns the adulation and excessive media coverage surrounding Boesak’s release as it sends out the message that crime raises one to the status of a hero;

(4) in a land where corruption, violence and fraud are rampant, as a symbol of law and order clearly distances itself from this action and clearly declares itself to be against any form of glorification of crime; and (5) realises that Boesak should be allowed in privacy to pick up the pieces of his life, unhurriedly to decide on his future and, like any other offender who has served his term, once more to integrate with society.]

Mr S K LOUW: Madam Speaker, 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 -

   (a)  two mine disasters occurred at Beatrix Mine within one year;


   (b)  the reason for the closure of shafts 1 and 2 was to find out
       what happened; and


   (c)  the investigation report recommends that accidents be
       controlled;

(2) believes that most factors contributing to accidents can be controlled;

(3) further believes that the mining industry is concerned with meeting production targets, which often overrides concerns over safety;

(4) calls on the industry to learn from this experience; and

(5) supports the action of the Mine Inspectorate aimed at installing measures to ensure safer operations from this point onwards, even if it includes temporary closure of mine shafts.

[Applause.]

Mrs S V KALYAN: Madam Speaker, 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 the ANC Government promised in January this year -

   (a)  to provide the antiretroviral drug nevirapine free of charge to
       HIV-positive pregnant women at state clinics and hospitals;


   (b)  to implement a massive programme to provide milk powder free of
       charge to the babies of these women to stem the transmission of
       the virus to babies; and


   (c)  that the 18 hospitals and numerous feeder clinics earmarked for
       the programme are ready;

(2) further notes that Cabinet has not yet approved the Government’s free nevirapine programme nor fulfilled any of its other promises on this issue; and

(3) calls on Government to fast-track the approval of the programme and show its commitment to curbing the HIV/Aids pandemic.

[Applause.] Prof L B G NDABANDABA: Madam Speaker, 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) notes that -

   (a)  an investigation has been launched into shocking allegations
       against the Pretoria Police Dog School; and


   (b)  these investigations concern charges of sexual harassment,
       brutality and cruelty to animals; and

(2) supports this investigation.

Ms S B NQODI: Madam Speaker, 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 Nicro has launched its ``I’m Cool Like That’’ crime- prevention programme;

(2) believes that this programme will go a long way in the rehabilitation of offenders;

(3) further believes that positive young role models are essential for our communities in the fight against crime;

(4) commends Nicro and the Department of Social Development on their partnership; and

(5) hopes that the programme is extended to all communities.

[Applause.]

Dr B L GELDENHUYS: Madam Speaker, 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 concern that the Auditor-General has issued a shocking report on the state of South Africa’s schools, highlighting a severe shortage of teaching facilities in certain provinces, revealing that -

   (a)  almost three quarters of the schools in the Eastern Cape were
       without electricity;


   (b)  93% of schools in the Eastern Cape did not have the use of a
       library;


   (c)  thousands of teachers were found to be without an appropriate
       qualification; and


   (d)  an estimated 612 809 hours of teaching time had been lost in the
       period January to March 1999 due to teacher absenteeism in seven
       provinces; and

(2) requests the national Minister of Education to immediately root out all mismanagement in the provinces and to hold whoever created the mess responsible.

[Interjections.]

Mr M N RAMODIKE: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the UDM:

That the House -

(1) notes with alarm the report by the Human Rights Watch that documents how girls are raped, sexually abused, sexually harassed and assaulted at schools by their male classmates and even by their teachers;

(2) further notes the documented fact that this pathetic state of affairs has led to an alarming number of girls dropping out of schools;

(3) calls on the Government to comply with its constitutional and international legal obligations to protect women and girls from sexual violence, and to further promote an environment conducive to obtaining good education; and

(4) calls on Government and the national Department of Education to develop a national plan of action to address the problem of school- based sexual violence.

            VIOLATION OF RIGHTS OF HINDUS IN AFGHANISTAN

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mr G Q M DOIDGE: Madam Speaker, I move without notice:

That the House, being committed to fundamental rights, including freedom of religion -

(1) notes that the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan have ordered Hindus to wear signs identifying them as practitioners of that religion;

(2) believes that forcing social groups to wear distinctive clothing or identifying marks stigmatises and isolates those groups and can never be justified;

(3) believes that such action is an assault on the human rights of Hindu people in Afghanistan; and

(4) calls on the Taliban to refrain from any action that may be construed as a violation of human rights.

Agreed to.

              GOLD MEDAL FOR SA AT CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mr G Q M DOIDGE: Madam Speaker, I move without notice:

That the House -

(1) notes that South Africa has won its 24th gold medal at the world- famous Chelsea Flower Show in London;

(2) believes that this will attract tourists to South Africa; and

(3) congratulates the winning designers, David Davidson and Ray Hudson, on a job well done.

Agreed to.

                         APPROPRIATION BILL

Debate on Vote No 14 - Education:

The MINISTER OF EDUCATION: Madam Speaker, hon members and comrades, the theme of my budget address this year is ``Turning our Mogomotsis into Rutasetjhabas’’.

Last week, as I was preparing this speech, I was, I must admit, influenced by the goings-on at two different schools. At the first of these schools, a gang of students went on the rampage, accusing their principal of fraud and embezzlement, blockading a national highway and stoning cars in the process. At the second of these schools, a determined group of teachers, students and parents managed to pull their school back from the brink and, with much sweat and tears, create a safe environment in which honesty, hard work and dialogue seemed finally to win the day.

The first of these schools was the Mogomotsi High School in Warrenton in the Northern Cape, where the students had rioted ``to get the attention of the Department of Education’’. The other school is Rutasetjhaba Secondary School in Evaton, the winner of one of our most improved schools awards which we announced earlier this year. At this school the matric pass rate improved to 70% in 2000 from 19% the previous year due to the intensive intervention programme driven by the principal, Mr Hatane, and the district provincial education officials. I greet Mr Hatane, his staff and his students. I also greet the Malatse Motsepe High School in Mmakau, which was the overall winner of the most improved school awards.

What brings a lump to my throat is the reminder of something that is all too often forgotten as we struggle with the beast of transforming our society and reforming our education system. It is something so simple that it is taken for granted by those of us who were fortunate enough to have attended functional, healthy schools, but something which is entirely foreign to so many South African students. It is the experience of schools as places that can and do play a redemptive role in the lives of young people. It is the experience of public education at its best as a vehicle that really does assist us in realising our dreams, that really does work, as our Constitution puts it so magnificently, to ``free the potential’’ of all of us, regardless of where we come from, or how badly stacked the odds are against us when we first enter those school gates.

I was, of course, extremely impressed with how quickly and effectively the Northern Cape provincial department handled things at Warrenton. But why, I asked myself, did the students feel they needed to embark on a rampage to be heard? Why, if there were accusations of fraud and embezzlement, did matters not follow set procedures, or did the students not wait for those procedures to take place?

The answer, of course, is all too obvious. In too many of our education institutions, the attainment of excellence, the practice of mutual respect, the experience of healthy and constructive dialogue, remain unattainable dreams. The less attainable they appear to be, the more frustrated and cynical we become. It is this cycle of hopelessness and ineffectiveness that we must counter, that the Government and I are determined to break in the education sector.

It is for this reason that I have begun my speech with the discussion of these two schools, Rutasetjhaba and Mogomotsi. I wish to remind us all that schools, colleges, universities and technikons are living organisms, real places, in which we all have a stake, for we are all their owners, and we are all their beneficiaries. Unless we fully internalise the notion that our educational institutions belong to all of us, that we are all responsible for them, we shall have more Mogomotsis and fewer Rutasetjhabas.

The famous Freedom Charter told us: ``The doors of culture and learning should be opened.’’ But who is to open them if not ourselves? That indeed was the spirit of the people’s revolution and education, the spirit with which we came into power in 1994. We find ourselves, seven years later, in a very different environment. Dr Geldenhuys will find out soon who is responsible for this.

At this juncture, at the end of my second year as Minister of Education, it seems to be an appropriate moment to take stock of how the process of education reform has developed in postapartheid South Africa, and where we must now take it if we are to turn all our Mogomotsis into Rutasetjhabas; so that all our students end up, not in jail or alcoholic dissolution, or alienated poverty, but in a college, in a technikon or in a university and then on to a life as productive, reponsible, empowered and fulfilled members of our society. Two years ago President Thabo Mbeki said in his state of the nation address that education and training must constitute the decisive driver in our efforts to build a winning nation''. He did not saya driver’’, he said ``the decisive driver’’. As a result, last year, together with my departmental officials, we developed a strategic plan, which we have available to the House, which clearly laid down indicators for implementing a national mobilisation programme for education under the slogan Tirisano or working together.

But before I lead hon members through an assessment of how this plan is unfolding, it is imperative, I feel, to place it within the context of educational reform since 1994 in this country. My Ministry is distributing today a document entitled ``Education in South Africa: Achievements since 1994’’. This document identifies three distinct phases in educational reform in this country, following the advent of democracy.

The first period of educational reform was from 1994 to 1997, and it involved creating the framework for transformation. It had as its central task replacing minority rule and its balkanised, racially resourced institutions with 18 or 19 Government departments with a democratic order marked by nonracialism and nonsexism. No other country faced that challenge in 1994 of a total recasting of an immoral decadent institutional order with 18 Government departments. Education was used as an instrument of mind control and destabilisation. We have succeeded in this challenge. We met that challenge.

With these commitments in mind, and with a new framework now in place, we embarked upon our second period of educational reform, which took place between 1998 and 2000 and involved moving from framework to action. The cornerstone of this was, of course, Tirisano, and the point was to aim for stronger accountability for performance and delivery across the system.

We are now in a third phase of educational reform. It is a phase where we are now attempting to move to institutionalisation and consolidation; where, having met some of the key challenges of systemic reform, we are now focused on creating greater urgency, greater equity in learning conditions, greater professionalism and thus improved standards and learner outcomes.

In 1994, the predemocratic government of Dr Geldenhuys was spending five times as much per white learner as opposed to, for example, a black learner in the Transkei. It is true that we have made huge strides in redressing these inequalities. Since 1994 Government has succeeded in reducing the differential between provinces by more than 50%, a remarkable achievement.

Similarly, with teachers, we have been successful in bringing the number of learners per educator down to an average of 34 nationally. Our rationalisation process has been extremely successful. Over 30 000 teachers have been moved to new posts, in schools where they are most needed, without a single forced retrenchment. This has been a major accomplishment, and has made a dramatic difference in many poorer schools. We are now coming to the end of this process. I wish to congratulate teachers and their representative unions for their willingness to make these sacrifices in the interests of education.

Moreover, we are promulgating the school funding norms and standards policy which took effect in 1999. This mandates what I call a poverty-targeted approach to budgeting for nonpersonnel expenditure by the provinces. We have brought down nonpersonnel expenditure from about 92% to about 89%. We are aiming for 85% by 2005. This means that the poorest schools get, on average, seven times more funding than the richest ones.

Incidentally, I noticed that in Paris, nogal, the hon the Leader of the Opposition proudly announced this as a deliberate policy of the Western Cape government, emphasising not race, but need. There is nothing more gratifying than seeing Mr Leon so confidently appropriating national Government policy which all the provinces have been implementing. [Laughter.] [Interjections.] Maybe his policy is a pipe dream because he will not have an opportunity of implementing it. [Interjections.] We did that two years ago.

In 1996 the Department of Education undertook the first ever school infrastructure survey. Dr Geldenhuys should note that we do not have to learn from the Auditor-General. We did this uniquely. Nowhere else in Africa and the world has there been such a survey of infrastructure. I will shortly release the results of a much more systematic and thoroughgoing School Register of Needs 2000 Survey, which affords us the important opportunity to assess progress in the period from 1996 to 2000.

This will show that, first of all, there has been a decline in the average number of students to a classroom from 43 to 35; secondly, the percentage of students without access to proper toilet facilities declined dramatically from 55% in 1996 to 16% in 2000, which translates into a decline from 6,6 million students to 1,9 million students; thirdly, schools without telephones have decreased from 59% to 34%; fourthly, the percentage of schools without access to running water declined from 40% to 34%; fifthly, access to electricity has improved from 40% to 53% of all schools, with the Eastern Cape showing a useful increase of 25%; and finally, the number of schools with computers has increased from 2 241 to 6 481. In Gauteng, only 16% of schools are now without computers.

But the backlog is still large, and the differentiation between rich and poor schools within the public school system is unacceptable. Of major assistance in this regard will be the R1,5 billion in additional funds Education received, in terms of the MTEF, as a conditional grant for promises of physical infrastructure. I should also add that three years ago we barely spent R200 million on learner-support materials, whilst this year, for the first time, we will be spending just over R1 billion, due, in large part, to having put in place the correct machinery and having the correct commitment.

In the area of equitable distribution of education resources, I must mention the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, something in which we can all truly take pride. We are the only country in Africa doing this. This facilitates the entry of large numbers of students who would otherwise simply not have been able to go to university or technikon.

Since 1996 the Government’s contribution to the scheme has been over R2 billion to the benefit of over 200 000 students. In this budget alone, R450 million has been earmarked for the NSFAS, with at least an additional R150 million recouped from loan repayments from past students. That is real Masakhane working there.

I am also delighted to announce that we have succeeded in increasing enrolment in the schools dramatically. Currently, South Africa has one of the highest enrolment rates for children of school-going age, compared to other developing countries. Over 12 million children are at school, representing more than 90% of all children between the ages of seven and 15 years. Most of our gains have been with regard to the poor, African and rural children, and our participation rate for girls is among the highest in the world.

In addition, of course, our pass rate for 2000 increased by 9% in the matriculation examination. We are expecting a minimum of a further 5% in 2001, with improvements particularly amongst the worst-performing schools, to which special attention is being paid by the provinces. This year we will also target mathematics, science, technology and history, and ensure that there are real trainers on the ground from next year for maths and science.

While most of our children do attend school, we are far away from providing them with education which is safe and productive. To this end, we have included a programme on school effectiveness and educator professionalism, among the lead programmes in the Tirisano implementation plan. Central to this programme is the improvement of communication and dialogue between teachers and officials, so that teachers feel valued and officials feel that their directives have been adhered to, rather than stonewalled. We will also be continuing with the implementation of our whole school evaluation programme, which will assist schools to ensure overall improved performance in the provision of education.

Schools cannot be effective, obviously, if they are not managed properly, neither can they be effective if they are not governed properly and if the communities in which they are located do not own them. To this end, we have committed ourselves to giving priority to the development of school governing bodies. I am grateful that all provincial departments have now completed the election of new governing bodies, which are a uniquely South African creation. Our emphasis has now shifted from advocacy to training.

Perhaps the most high profile and far-reaching of our programmes in improving school effectiveness has been the review and streamlining of Curriculum 2005. At the Values in Education Conference in February this year, our distinguished speaker Prof Edward Said made the point that education should be about the activation rather than the stuffing of minds. I cannot think of a better way to describe outcomes-based education.

Right now I have a team of working groups preparing the national curriculum statements, under the general supervision of Prof Chisholm, for the eight new learning areas for the general education and training band, which is Grade R to Grade 9. These statements will be completed by July. We are going to be frank and systematic with this examination and, of course, in its implementation. In the meantime work continues in the implementation of Grades 5 and 9 in 2002, as originally planned.

I am also encouraged by the work and ideas that have come out of the curriculum review process. There will be a core of trainers to provide professional support to teachers. There will be new learning-area statements for technology and economic and management sciences, and a renewed focus on history.

In addition, we need to embrace multilingualism as a key value in South African education. We have had a policy on language in education in place in the department since 1997, stating that, and I quote, ``being multilingual should be a defining characteristic of being South African’’.

We must now look at how it is working on the ground. One should remember our basic policy, ordered by the Constitution, is mother tongue instruction. We will, therefore, be looking at the foundation, at the first four years of school life, to see how, actually, the grand policies of 1997 are working.

There are two ways in which we can do that, apart from mother tongue instruction. We must realise our language in education policy. The first thing is to put into place dual medium education, and the second is to ensure that all South Africans, regardless of their mother tongue, learn at least one other South African language well enough to be able to communicate fluently and effectively.

The Curriculum 2005 review process deals only, at this stage, with the 10 years of compulsory education. But much is happening in the further education sector, which deals with the senior certificate, or matric, examination too. For the very first time this year, students across the country will write the same examinations in five subjects, that is Accounting, Science, Mathematics, Biology and English. This represents a significant victory towards the establishment of common standards countrywide and the benchmarking of our matriculation examination. As I announced in the House, the review of the matriculation examination, and its place in the world and society, is under way already.

A key and important sector of the education system is the forgotten area of technical colleges. These colleges are best positioned to deliver the intermediate skills within the Government’s recently announced human resources development strategy, worked out by the Departments of Education and Labour. However, while some of these colleges have displayed curriculum innovation and efficiency, the sector as a whole has too many institutions that are small and are offering programmes that are out of touch with the human resource needs of a new and democratic South Africa.

My provincial colleagues who are here, the MECs for education - I greet them - and I am finalising a report that will reduce the number of these colleges from 152 to a number of large multisite institutions that are dynamic and responsive to local community and private sector needs. These colleges will be positioned to promote wider access and social inclusion and to encourage lifelong learning.

At the other end of school life we have, also in the past year, made significant strides in the most neglected area of education, that of early childhood education. A new policy on admission to public schools and age- grade norms came into effect in 2000. We expect to see, very soon, the further benefits of reduced repetition and dropout rates. I am certain that our early childhood development programming will address outstanding concerns and lay the basis for better programming than has been provided in the past.

In April the Cabinet approved the outline for the implementation of Grade R, the reception year, for five-to-six-year-olds, that will become part of the band of compulsory general education and, therefore, the delivery of the 10-year compulsory period that we laid down in our national South African Schools Act.

I wish to note also that we have a White Paper on Special Education - regrettably an area of education that has been largely forgotten - to be considered by Cabinet next week. It outlines plans for the establishment of the first 30 district support services, the renewal of special schools, the mobilisation of some 280 000 out-of-school disabled students and the establishment of 500 full-service schools.

Another key area of educational reform is that of educator development. In the past year, norms and standards have been completed and promulgated, as has been the incorporation of teacher-training colleges into designated universities and technikons.

I would like to tell Dr Geldenhuys that a three-year programme for the professional upgrading of 30 000 teachers will begin in July 2001, with a further 10 000 teachers to be trained by selected distance and open- learning universities. Financial aid to the extent of R90 million will be made available to teachers from funds set aside for the upgrading of underqualified teachers by the Education Labour Relations Council. Our gravest concern in this area is the critical situation in maths, science and technology education, which will be dealt with by the Deputy Minister.

The Government has committed itself to investing in the development of information, communication and technology infrastructure. We have established an education technology forum - a real partnership with the private sector, various parastatals, nongovernmental organisations and the universities - to assist us with the task of achieving universal connectivity in our schools by 2010.

I cannot emphasise enough the importance of role-modelling in our educational system, because figures of authority are role models. The SA Council of Educators, a statutory body, is up and running, and next week I will be appointing the chairperson of SACE, as I am required to by the law. All teachers must register with it and adhere to its code of conduct.

Furthermore, legislation has already been passed this year which allows for the summary dismissal of teachers who are found guilty of sexual and physical abuse, the use of drugs and alcohol on campus or having any kind of sexual relations with students. But all the banning in the world will not work if teachers do not regain the respect they once had in our communities. As a Minister I am committed to supporting all such endeavours.

Linked to this is another area of intervention, that of school safety. No real learning can take place in an environment of fear and illegality. Neither can the values of the Constitution be seeded in young South Africans in an environment where they are being flouted daily with impunity. The rule of law must be enforced within schools. With all the members of the community adhering to the common code of conduct, the safety of schools must become a priority.

Unless a school sees itself as part of the community and engages in a broader fight against crime in the community, it will not be safe itself. Making schools safe also means cracking down on sexual abuse and physical violence in and around the school premises, including the barbarism of so- called initiation ceremonies and the violence by some principals and teachers who illegally continue to inflict corporal punishment.

Next month I will be releasing a document that emphasises key strategies across the educational sector for seeding the values of the Constitution in young South Africans. These will include nurturing a culture and ethos that is truly South African; bringing back the rule of law in schools; promoting commitment as well as competence amongst teachers; ensuring that every South African is able to read, write, count and think; promoting antiracism in schools; freeing the potential of girls as well as boys; creating a culture of sexual and social responsibility, and nurturing a new patriotism. This document is a precursor for the input to the very important World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance to be held in Durban in August.

I have spent the bulk of my time concentrating on schools. I will now turn to three other lead programmes that my Department has undertaken as part of the Tirisano programme. The first one is literacy. There are about 6 million functionally or totally illiterate adults in this country, which is an unacceptable situation. We must break the back of illiteracy. As a result, we have now identified all the special adult learning centres in South Africa, for the first time. We have carried out a proper audit of all the learning centres. There are only 271 000 students, mainly doing further education and training there. So we must take the plunge to make South Africa literate.

For this, I have set up the SA National Literacy Initiative, and members of Parliament who are members of this initiative are doing sterling work there. A strategic plan will begin in June 2001 in Gauteng and KwaZulu- Natal, and later during the year it will be extended to the 18 rural and urban development nodes throughout the country. We have also set up the Masifunde Sonke initiative, which includes this year a focus on reading. I hope that those panels in Gauteng actually read the books to help develop a culture of learning in our country before they prescribe them.

It is also imperative to mobilise our communities on HIV/Aids. We have a lead programme. Education is central to counteracting HIV/Aids. Most children enter the education system HIV-negative and an unacceptable number leave HIV-positive. If the education system were able to influence children’s ideas about sex and relationships even before they start, we would play a key role in changing the course of the epidemic. We have no other option.

To this end, we have put HIV/Aids right across the curriculum, the workplace policies and programmes for all our staff including educators. I must also compliment the universities and technikons for their work in HIV/Aids. We have responded to the need of an ever-increasing number of orphans and learners in distress or with special needs due to HIV/Aids.

I have committed myself to hosting a national conference on HIV/Aids in the education sector in the course of 2002. Moreover, in July of this year, we shall convene a national conference on sexuality in education with an emphasis on HIV/Aids.

The third and final programme is higher education. We are investing over R7 billion in this area in the current financial year and our expectations for returns on this investment are equally high. My sense is that we are moving away from an impatience with the difficulties of transforming higher education to an understanding of its very important role. This is especially so in the area of research into its role and international standing. We have also arrived at a political consensus, but the transformation agenda for higher education must be radical and comprehensive.

This is laid down in the National Plan for Higher Education which I presented to you last month. It lays down the targets, the size and shape of the higher education system and steps to be taken to ensure the requisite diversity of institutions and the roles they should play. It proposes a restructuring of the sector by reducing the number of institutions and recommending mergers where appropriate. However, no sites of learning will be closed.

I wish to assure the House that although this approach is more pronouncedly interventionist than in the past, it does not, despite claims to the contrary, infringe on institutional autonomy or academic freedom, unless ``autonomy’’ is read as a licence for individuals to treat public institutions as private fiefdoms. I want to pay special attention to historically black institutions and ensure that they will not be disadvantaged as they were in the past.

Let me make one point clear. This plan will be implemented in its entirety, because it has been carefully thought through, not just because the Government and large sections of the public support it. Public opinion may be elusive or sometimes fickle, but on this issue of higher education public opinion is very clear and committed.

A national working group under the leadership of Saki Macozoma has already worked hard and, of course, the setting up the national institutes of higher education in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape will add considerably to this. A great deal has been done in the past year. The record is there, but we are not satisfied.

I would therefore like to thank the Deputy Minister, who has brought his usual thoroughness and commitment to bear on education. I would also like to thank the portfolio committee for its support over the last year as well as my director-general, my advisers and the staff of my Department, and also all my provincial collegues, the MECs, who have worked, at times facing enormous odds, to achieve a better life for all in education. It is quite obvious that I have robust but warm relationships with unions. I thank also the vice chancellors and their associations and other education bodies.

I will end as I began. One of the most memorable extracts from a study on our schools is the focus group comment that was made by a Mamelodi teacher, who was quoted as saying:

Apartheid had one good thing. It kept us together. We had a common enemy to fight. We helped each other. When the common enemy went we were suddenly left alone and cannot find the same powerful thing to hold us together. Each one for himself. And this has ruined a sense of community.

This is what she said.

My bravest hope in the years to come and in my remaining time as a Minister is that we will all work together with that Mamelodi teacher to find something even more powerful to hold our community together. It should be so powerful that it will not only rebuild the sense of community she feels has evaporated, but bond her community of Mamelodi into a larger community of South Africa. My bravest hope is that this cement or glue will be ground not out of the battle against the common enemy, but out of the battle for a common destiny. This is the best definition I can find for the mission of education and its relationship to the project of nation-building and justice.

I commend this Vote on education to the House and I hope we will be able to see hon members later for the usual celebrations.

Siyabonga. [Thank you.] [Applause.]

Mr R S NTULI: Madam Speaker, hon Ministers, colleagues and hon visitors, in the national Budget the funding of Education is higher than the average percentage increase in the total Estimate of Expenditure and Revenue. These are, respectively, 9,9% and 9,4% for the current financial year. The amount transferred to provinces has been increased by only 8%, and this falls short of what is required.

Hence, the Department of Education will not be able to break the constraints of being underfunded. Consequently, the backlogs, which the hon the Minister has indicated, in Education will continue to exist. The Government should have been prepared to give greater prominence to the important role that education can, and must play, in laying the foundations for economic growth. The brief, one-sentence reference made by the Minister of Finance that, ``Investment in people remains the cornerstone of our long- term growth strategy,’’ does not do justice to the role education can play in this regard in terms of investment, financially.

Remarks by the Minister in this context are therefore received by us with some scepticism. In the final analysis, the vertical distribution of funds is determined by a Cabinet decision. Hence the Minister of Education cannot be held solely responsible for the budget allocation. His colleagues have let him down, as they have in other related matters of education, as I will soon indicate.

The performance audit card reflects some significantly good runs by the Minister, as he has so comprehensively indicated. The Minister’s candid, no- nonsense and hands-on approach, even openly criticising some member organisations of the grand alliance, especially Sadtu and Cosas, accompanied by his eagerness to engage in intellectual debates, endeared him to the public, and not without reason. This convinced many people that we finally had an Education Minister with intellectual credentials, a perceptive mind and an urgent commitment to turning Education around.

He wasted no time in making a serious attempt to apply necessary political surgery to overhaul what is called a genuinely dysfunctional system. These include launching his ambitious Tirisano project to which he has alluded, putting in place the necessary structures and programmes to eradicate illiteracy in South Africa by the year 2004 - a very ambitious vision - and the Values in Education conference. We had a debate on this, and I think the DP did indicate and compliment the Minister.

Probably the most significant input by the Minister was the establishment of the Curriculum 2005 review committee, which vindicated those who had cautioned against the undue haste in implementing Curriculum 2005, reflecting largely on poor preparation for this curricular transformation. Critics like the DP have been vindicated by this report, dispelling the myth and false accusations by some Government fanatics that the DP and its fellow travellers on this issue were reactionary forces and prophets of doom. Yet, despite the Minister’s energetic efforts, the achievements of the department where it matters most - in the classroom - especially in the previously disadvantaged areas, has been unimpressive.

Scholastic pass rates as indicated by Grade 12 learners reflect an improvement of 9%. At face value this looks very dramatic. Yet, qualitatively there is no significant improvement. Why? At best, only 15% of the successful candidates obtained a matriculation endorsement. Fewer than a thousand black learners pass matric and physical science on the higher grade well enough to engage in engineering and the medical sciences

• highly needed skills.

Most of those learners who survived with a school leaving certificate are either back at school, trying to improve the quality of their certificates, or have joined the ranks of the unemployed. In other words, our ailing education system is increasing the ranks of the unemployed and indirectly increasing crime.

The tertiary institutions are also in bad shape. Many of them, particularly previously disadvantaged institutions, are dysfunctional because of a litany of factors such as corruption, financial mismanagement, and the poor work ethic of students and tutors. The net effect is that the outputs are dismally hopeless. Billions in taxpayers’ money are wasted annually. The loss in terms of human and material resources on such a large scale cannot help us succeed as a developing nation.

Our educational system, especially at school level, needs redress, and a remedial shopping list may well include the following: prompt and timeous provisioning of teaching and learning materials, including textbooks; increasing management capacity and delivery at middle and junior levels - that is where it is needed most; bringing back the work ethic and dedication to the cause of education by parents, teachers and learners - Cosas, in this regard, should busy itself realising this objective rather than planning to disrupt independent schools; and strengthening the auxiliary supportive structures in schools, that is, subject advisers, school psychologists and therapists.

The stress, pain and suffering amongst both learners and teachers in schools has reached unparalleled high levels at the sites of learning because of criminal activities like rape, violence and drug trafficking. May I cite a few examples. On 20 May this year, The Star reported that a respected maths teacher had been arrested for allegedly being in possession of 1 000 ecstasy tablets which police believe he was selling to school children. Secondly, more than 150 pupils marched to Mpumalanga’s legislature, protesting against the use of sjamboks by monitors and teachers who beat them regularly at a certain academy near Nelspruit, as reported by The Star on 14 May this year. Finally, in this regard, on 20 March 2001 the Human Rights Watch reported that 50% of sexually abused children approaching the NGO’s childline in KwaZulu-Natal were under the age of seven, and 40% of the molesters were under 18 years of age. In many cases these young perpetrators, who go unpunished, grow up believing that they can commit violence against females without punishment in South Africa, further eroding the rights of girls to education and participation in the economic and political history of our country.

The above examples clearly indicate that the Minister of Safety and Security and his colleagues in the provinces have virtually handed over the country to criminals, and schools, being the mirror of a society, reflect that tendency. Violence, drug trafficking and lawlessness are endemic in our schools. As it is evident that the Minister of Safety and Security did not make provision for this service, can the Minister of Education confirm whether he has made any provision for this service in this budget? Another phenomenon that has occurred is the very high dropout rate of learners in several schools, for example, Azara Secondary School in Lenasia, Katlehong Secondary School, and Woodlands Secondary School in KwaZulu-Natal. Perhaps the Minister could explain how he intends to deal with this problem in terms of the narrow budget allocation that he has, and institute the required measures to manage this painful waste of human resources. If this problem is not managed and no budget is allocated for this purpose, it is evident that such dropouts are condemned to a doomed future, which will encourage future unemployment and crime.

Perhaps all the problems that I have briefly indicated above reflect a society in transition. However, we must accept that the system is intrinsically crisis-ridden.

Neither the efforts of individuals nor those of public authorities can prevent crises from breaking out. The solution does not lie in importing Cuban teachers or instructors but in accepting constructive criticism without trying to behead the messenger. Finally, if society and the education system are in transition, where is such transition heading? Only time will tell. [Applause.]

Prof S M MAYATULA: Madam Speaker, Deputy President, hon Ministers, hon members, against all odds, the ANC-led Government has made great strides in improving the lives of our people, who were once regarded as nonhumans in the country of their birth. They were regarded as not deserving of quality education, electricity, roads, decent houses and so on. This budget is geared to build on the foundation that has been laid by this Government over the past seven years. This is a time to celebrate some of its achievements.

It is rare for any government in any country to give its citizens personal income tax cuts to the tune of R8,3 billion and at the same time increase public spending. The Department of Education is one of the main beneficiaries of this increased spending, with its budget increasing from R7,6 billion in 2000-01 to R8,2 billion in 2001-02. The department has strategic plans to pass these benefits on to the people of this country. These, among other things, are contained in the implementation plan for Tirisano that the hon the Minister was showing us here. Those plans have clear timeframes.

One of these programmes is about HIV/Aids, on which I am not going to comment. Another programme is the school effectiveness and educator professionalism programme. One of the objectives that is spelt out in the document involves the establishment and strengthening of support structures for our school principals. We have been trying for a long time. We want to develop principals as leaders and managers of collaborative management teams supported by districts, the provinces, the school governing bodies and the learner structures. We also want to empower teachers to effectively implement Curriculum 2005. Furthermore, we want to empower teachers to effectively implement the Developmental Appraisal System, or DAS, which has been a thorn in the flesh of the unions.

Literacy is also one of the programmes covered. Among others, the objectives are: to establish an Abet board to implement regulations in line with the Act; to develop norms and standards for funding Abet; and to develop the capacity of Abet practitioners in the system.

Another programme is for further education and training. Here the plan is to improve mathematics and science, on which the Deputy Minister is going to address us. The development of the Further Education and Training Certificate is a new plan.

Another programme is about the organisational effectiveness of the national and provincial departments. Some of the objectives will be: to operationalise Operation Mazibuye, while working together with the student bodies; to eliminate corruption, and regularly to monitor the procurement, distribution and retrieval of our learner supply materials.

The sixth programme deals with values in education. This involves the celebration of national symbols such as our national flag, the national anthem, the coat of arms and the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

A glance at the budget allocation for 2001-02 shows the following trends, among others. Firstly, for the first time a sum of R48 million has been set aside for rural school building projects. The Department of Education was successful in its application for a special allocation for these projects. The Thuba Makote project entails the building of multi-purpose education and community centres in the areas of greatest need in all nine provinces. The amount set aside for the next three years is R146 million.

Over and above this, the Japanese grant aid funding for school infrastructure development has been allocated to the Northern Province, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The assistance amounts to infrastructure development of approximately R50 million in each of the four provinces, totalling R200 million.

Secondly, for the first time, a sum of R25 million has been set aside for the national Ikhwelo project. This project is an expansion of the Department of Education’s agriculture and SMME pilot project for 5 000 adult learners across the nine provinces. For the first time, a sum of R30 million has been set aside for early childhood development, and I will come to that programme later.

Thirdly, the allocation for HIV/Aids has increased by 119,52% from R31,3 million to R68,7 million. Fourthly, R7,531 billion, which is 91%, is to be transferred for national higher education. The National Plan for Higher Education deals comprehensively with Government’s strategy for this sector. On 8 and 9 May I was privileged to attend the launch of the Higher Education Quality Committee, whose central objective is, and I quote:

… to ensure that providers effectively and efficiently deliver education, training, research and community service which are of high quality and which produce socially useful and enriching knowledge as well as a relevant range of graduate skills and competencies necessary for social and economic progress.

The enthusiasm with which the stakeholders - universities, students and everybody else - embraced this launch, and the contribution and involvement of seven international speakers, reassured me that we are on the right track.

In his reply to the debate on his state of the nation address in February this year, President Thabo Mbeki had this to say, and I quote (Hansard 2001, col 411):

… we cannot speak of the new South Africa if we fail to deal with the urgent challenge of poverty.

This poverty has translated itself into the exclusion of many of our children in the rural and squatter areas from the early childhood development programmes. Through the Education White Paper on early childhood education, which will be launched next week, the department is responding to the President’s challenge. For far too long preschool education has been the preserve of the rich. Many preschool teachers in the rural areas have been volunteering their services without getting any assistance or recognition from the Government.

The ANC-led Government is committed to making every effort to create, find and allocate resources that are necessary adequately to fund early childhood development covering the age group from zero to nine years as the first essential step in ensuring the rights of the child. In taking further our policy goals we shall assign responsibility and accountability for ensuring that every child has the best possible start in life as a fundamental prerequisite for healthy growth and development during school age and adolescence.

URhulumente okhokelwa yi-ANC usivile isikhalo nesimbonono sabantu bakuthi, ezilalini nasematyotyombeni, abanabantwana abaminyaka mihlanu nangaphantsi. Abantwana babo abakwazi ukuya kwizikolo zesiqhelo kuba besebancinane. Abakwazi ukuya ezikolweni zabantwana abaselula kuba abazali babo ngamahlwempu, abanamali. Abantwana babo abakwazi ukuya kwizikolo zesiqhelo kuba basebancinane. Abakwazi ukuya ezikolweni zabantwana abaselula kuba abazali babo ngamahlwempu, abanamali.

URhulumente we-ANC uzimisele ukuyiguqula le meko. Njengoko uMgaqo-siseko welizwe usitsho, iminyaka elishumi yokuqala yesikolo ayihlawulelwa, yaye inyanzelekile. NoMqulu weNkululeko uthi, `Iingcango zemfundo ziyakuvuleka’.

URhulumente uzimisele ukuzivula ezi ngcango ukususela kwiintsana ezibomvu ukuya kubantwana abaminyaka ilithoba ngolu hlobo: Okokuqala, uya kuzama ngako konke okusemandleni akhe ukuba kwiminyaka elishumi ezayo wonke umntwana weli lizwe ominyaka mihlanu abe sesikolweni esenza u-A omncinci abathi nguGrade R. Eli phulo liyaqala ngoku. Lijolise kwiindawo zabo bahlelelekileyo, ezilalini nase matyotyombeni.

Okwesibini, ngexesha elinye ezi nkqubo ziya kube zinabela kubantwana abaminyaka emine. Isebe leZemfundo liza kusebenzisana namanye amasebe ukuqinisekisa impatheko entle, ukondleka, imfundo nempilo yabantwana abaminyaka mine nangaphantsi. Njengesiqalo sale nkqubo, imali engange zigidi ezingamashumi amathathu eerandi sele ibekwe ecaleni kolu hlalo lwabiwo-mali lwalo nyaka.

Ilizwi lombulelo liya kuloo magorhakazi, amavolontiya eetitshala ezijongene neentsana kwizikolo zabantwana abaselula ezininzi eziwenza lo msebenzi zingajonganga ntlawulo. (Translation of Xhosa paragraphs follows.)

[The ANC-led Government has heard the complaints of our people, in rural areas and in informal settlements, who have children who are five years old and younger. Their children cannot attend normal schools because they are still young. They cannot go to pre-schools because their parents are poor; they have no money.

The ANC-led Government is committed to changing this situation. As the Constitution says, the first ten years of schooling are free and compulsory. The Freedom Charter also says, ``The doors of education shall be opened’’.

The Government is committed to opening these doors to kids up to children who are nine years old in the following way: Firstly, the Government will try by all means that in the next ten years every five year old child does Grade R. This campaign has only just begun. It is aimed at places where the poor live, in rural areas and in informal settlements.

Secondly, these programmes will extend and include four year olds. The Department of Education will work with other departments to ensure fair treatment, nutrition, education and health of the four year olds and below. As a beginning, R30 million has been set aside in this year’s budget.

A word of gratitude to those brave women, volunteer teachers that look after kids in many pre-schools that actually do this work without expecting payment.]

To them I say that it is better to do something for nothing, than to do nothing for nothing.

Bagulunga iingqondo neengqiqo zeenkokeli zethu zangomso. Nangona bona bengafumani mivuzo, ilizwe labo liyavuzwa ngemisebenzi yabo. Sekumbomvu nabo bayifumane eyabo imivuzo. Umzingisi akanashwa. (Translation of Xhosa paragraph follows.)

[They prepare the minds of our future leaders. Although they do not get paid, their country will gain from their efforts. Soon they also will be receiving their earnings. Perseverance pays.]

It was a wonderful and a pleasant sight to see a number of 4X4 vehicles going to Centane schools last weekend, distributing books under the leadership of Mr Van der Sonn, chairperson of the Rural Education Trust, sponsored by the private sector.

At the same time, this beautiful scenario makes one wonder: Why is it that in the year 2001, there are still inaccessible areas in our country? Why is it that these backlogs are concentrated in the rural provinces of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Province? How do teachers and communities without 4X4s access this areas? The answers to these questions are not hard to find. In the eyes of the previous government, no human being lived in those areas; only slaves who did not deserve roads, electricity, water, let alone quality education. Thanks to the efforts and the commitment of the ANC-led Government, the road between Butterworth and Centane is now tarred. [Applause.] A number of access roads are being constructed as we speak.

I sometimes wonder: Why is it that our people cannot understand? Why is it that the Northern Province, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are what they are? I am surprised that they are surprised, because it is due to their policies that all these areas were not developed, because we were nonpersons.

The struggle for a better life continues. With a budget like this one, and the plans that we have, victory is certain, provided we all work together in the name of Tirisano. [Applause.] We will reach a time when we will appreciate it and put on the same spectacles.

One wonders when a department produces a 9% pass rate and we say ``No, that is not good enough’’, if we do not have an exemption. [Interjections.] It is sometimes surprising how some of our schools with no windows, no books, no nothing, produce exemptions. But when they do that, we do not know it, we do not appreciate it, we do not understand it. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

Mr A M MPONTSHANE: Madam Speaker, hon Minister, Deputy President …

… umfowethu osanda kukhuluma lapha ubesengenwe umoya. [Uhleko.] Angazi-ke nami noma ngabe ngizongenwa yini yilowo moya omuhle kangaka. [… the previous speaker was speaking with the spirit. [Applause.] I do not know if I too will inherit this good spirit.]

The Education budget which is being presented to the House this afternoon must respond, or at least must attempt to respond, to the many challenges which we face. Most of these challenges are rooted in our past. South Africa is rated as the third most unequal society in the world. This is our legacy. Our Education budget must therefore be directed towards the achievement of the redress of inequality, amongst other things.

In this regard we wish to acknowledge the mechanisms which the department has adopted to seek redress in education. The first mechanism was to increase spending to promote interprovincial equity in education with the introduction of an equitable share formula. The second mechanism was to distribute the Education budget to achieve redress as articulated in the norms and standards for school funding. In terms of the funding formula, 60% of the norms and standards budget is allocated to 40% of the poorer schools.

Another key driver of redress has been to equalise educator-learner ratios. We also note the allocation, under the planning and monitoring programme, of R64 million to the rural schools building project, in which 18 schools will be built in all the nine provinces. This is the project adopted by the department according to which excellent schools will be built to promote subjects like maths and science. This is commendable.

The establishment of a physical planning directorate through which school building projects will be managed during the 2001 budget is welcomed. In spite of the above policy initiatives and interventions, the redress of past imbalances still remains a source of concern to us.

Provincial inequalities still persist. The per-learner allocation of R2 643 for the KwaZulu-Natal department of education, for instance, is the lowest in the country. This is despite the assertions that the formulae devised by the Financial and Fiscal Commission will lead to the equitable funding of provinces. We are yet to notice this in provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal.

The equalisation of educator-learner ratios, however important this may be, has contributed to an increase in salary expenditure in many provinces, crowding out nonpersonnel expenditure such as stationery and textbooks. Over 90% of the budget for education in KwaZulu-Natal is spent on salaries and related expenses. In addition, the province has the highest learner- educator ratio in the country, which is 38:1. This cannot be reduced without a destructive influence on teaching and learning.

Infrastructural backlogs at schools continue to abound. To give an example, the KwaZulu-Natal department has estimated that it would cost in excess of R1,5 billion to bring schools up to an adequate standard, and a further R500 million per annum thereafter to maintain these schools. I hope my figures are correct.

It is quite clear to us that the redressing of past injustices and inequalities cannot be achieved by the department alone. To build a high- quality education sector, creative partnerships between the public sector and civil society are a sine qua non.

Umfowethu uProf Mayatula ukhulume ngokuthi ubone ama-4x4 ehamba ediliva izincwadi ezivela ezinkampanini ezizimele. Ngithi kumfowethu ngiyethemba ukuthi mhlawumbe nami uma ngihamba hamba ngapha ngakithi ngiyohlangana nawo lama-4x4 ediliva lezo zincwadi. (Translation of Zulu paragraph follows.)

[My brother, Prof Mayatula said he saw a 4x4 vehicle delivering books from independent companies. I also hope that one day when I go around my local area I will come across those 4x4 vehicles that are delivering books.]

This is what we would like to see happening.

In view of these enormous backlogs and other limiting factors, we regard the call by Cosas to disrupt teaching and learning at independent schools as highly irresponsible. Siyabonga kuNgqongqoshe ukuthi washeshe wawukhuza lo mhlolo ngenkathi izingane lezi zithi zifuna ukuyobhidliza ukufunda laphaya kuleziya zikole. [We thank the hon the Minister for quickly stopping this chaos when children said that they would go and disrupt learning in those schools.]

The student body may have a point as far as access to these schools is concerned. Learners from poorer communities cannot gain access to these schools. They have no choice but to remain in their dilapidated schools with little or no education taking place. The solution does not, however, lie in the disruption of these schools. One does not tear down the rich to enrich the poor, or so the idiom goes.

We need to empower the poorer communities through various projects, thereby enabling these communities to send their children to schools of their choice. Through the Rural Integrated Development Strategy and the Urban Renewal Strategy, we could, for instance, enhance the capacity of some of these schools which are located in the poorer communities. But, I repeat, this is not the task of the Department of Education alone. In a true African sense, when a house is on fire, everybody runs for a bucket of water to douse the fire. In my view, the stakes are too high for this issue to be left to the Department of Education alone.

I want to argue further that while many of our most important challenges have their roots in our history, we remain our own worst enemies. The time has come - in fact, it is long overdue - for us to shed the status of being victims. A victim, in fact, is never creative. Our world, the democratic world, is an open world. In an open world, unlike the closed world from which we come, competition is very fierce. Our learners, particularly the previously disadvantaged, need to be reminded that most of the time, it is the survival of the fittest out there. They must go out and compete as free individuals, and not as victims.

Our teachers, with all the limitations that we know, must teach our children as never before. We do acknowledge the fact that there are some pockets of excellent schools even in the worst surroundings. In this regard we must commend the department for its efforts in recognising those schools that perform well in the various fields. I remember that we did attend the function in Somerset West early this year. Our teachers have to acknowledge that there is no system of education which is better than its teachers. The Tirisano programme has as its priority the turning of schools into centres of community life. This is indeed a noble effort on the part of the department. However, we still witness violence against educators, the displacement of school managers, maladministration, educator-learner love affairs, educators selling drugs to learners, rapes and all sorts of indiscipline.

On top of all this, the Minister is alleged to have threatened the de- establishment of dysfunctional school governing bodies. We believe that training and more training is what these governing bodies need. They are trainable. I am pleased that this afternoon I heard the Minister recommit the department to the training of the governing bodies. I am tempted to withdraw what I have just said now about the hon the Minister threatening the closing down of the governing bodies which are not functioning. But this is what the Minister said: training and training and training of these governing bodies is a sine qua non.

The question of control and management is another issue which might be looked into. One of the weakest links in our education system is at district level.

Mangikusho lokho ngoba ngake ngaba umhloli. [I must say this because I was once Wan inspector.]

We know that at some point the role of inspectors of education was discredited. This led to the perception that the department had placed a moratorium on school visits by inspectors. We believe that the restoration and affirmation of the inspector’s role in the management and control of education can improve service delivery. I am aware of the argument which says that true professionalism requires no outside supervision. Our teachers used to argue like this when I was an inspector of schools. They said that they did not need our supervision, because as true professionals they were responsible for their own supervision. [Interjections.] This may well apply to normal situations, but ours is not a normal one. [Interjections.]

The IFP supports the budget. [Applause.]

Nk P N MNANDI: Somlomo …

AMALUNGU AHLONIPHEKILE: Malibongwe!

Nk T N MNANDI: Igama lamakhosikazi! Somlomo, Phini likaMongameli, boNgqongqoshe abahloniphekile, malungu ahloniphekile, maqabane nezihlobo, uhulumeni wobandlululo wawuphatha lo Mnyango wezeMfundo iminyaka engamashumi amane, ngolukaJoji: forty years. Akuzange kube khona umahluko. Kunalokho kwaya ngokuya luqina ubandlululo. UHulumeni oholwa nguKhongolose usuphathe lo Mnyango iminyakana eyisikhombisa nje kuphela kodwa umahluko uyamangalisa.

Kuthe ngisekhaya nomntanami oneminyaka eyisishiyagalolunye, wangibuza umbuzo oyimpicabadala. Wathi kimi: Mama ngicela ungikhombise umuntu omhlophe ngoba mina angikaze ngimbone umuntu omhlophe.'' Umntanami lowo ufunda e-Arcacia Park, ufundiswa umlungu. Ngamangala ngathi:Hhayi bo! Ngabe ingane yami iphile kahle ekhanda?’’ [Uhleko.] Ngathi kuye umntanami ngicela awuphinde lowo mbuzo futhi awuphinde ngesiNgisi. Wathi ngesiNgisi: Mama, can you please show me a white person? I have never seen a white person.'' Ngathula ngambuka, ngase ngithi kuye,Mntanami, uKhongolose uyilethile inkululeko eMzansi Afrika. Namhlanje ngiyibona lapha endlini kwami.’’ [Ihlombe.]

Ngonyaka odlule, ngenkathi sidingida uhlelo lweSabiwomali ngathi lube uphaphe esigqokweni sakhe uNgqongqoshe uTrevor Manuel. Kulo nyaka ngithi uKhongolose, oholwa uMongameli uThabo Mbheki, udodile.

Namhlanje ngizokhuluma ngemfundo ephakeme. Emfundweni ephakeme, okokuqala, ngizokhuluma ngesikhwama sokusiza abafundi ngezimali. Lezi zimali zikhishwa uHulumeni ukusiza abafundi abantulayo. Lesi sikhwama sibaluleke kakhulu ngoba siyenye yemizamo kaHulumeni yokulwa nobuphofu. Ngaso, abafundi abantulayo sebeyakwazi ukufinyelela emfundweni ephakeme kakhulu kunakuqala. Kulo nyaka lesi sikhwama sigidlabezwe ngezigidi ezingama-R450. Kule mali, kuthathwe izigidi ezingama-R20 zabekwa eceleni zabekelwa ukuqeqesha othisha.

Ngabe senza iphutha uma singabongi kubafundi asebeqedile abekade besizwa yilesi sikhwama. Benze ukuthembeka okumangalisayo. Njengoba sebesebenza, bakwazile ukubuyisa imali engangezigidi ezingama-R156, ezokwazi ukuphinde isize abanye abafundi abantulayo. [Ihlombe]. Ngithi phambili bafundi baseMzansi Afrika. Siyabonga kubafundi ngoba lokhu kuyafakaza ukuthi uKhongolose akafaki nje imali emlonyeni wakhe kodwa ufaka imali lapho ikusasa lezwe likhona. Siphinde sinxuse futhi ukuthi ukwabiwa kwalesi sikhwama makubuyekezwe. Kunabafundi abasizwa yilesi sikhwama kodwa abangakwazi ukuqeda emanyuvesi ngoba imali abayitholayo ayiziqedi zonke izindleko. Kumele umfundi aphinde futhi akhwathaze ngokwakhe ukuze agcwalise leyo mali. Lowo-ke oshiye ikati lilele eziko ekhaya uzokhwathazaphi? Ngithi kuNgqongqoshe sizocela alubheke lolu daba, alubheke ngeso lokhozi.

Ngenyanga kaMbasa kulo nyaka, kule Ndlu, uNgqongqoshe uthule uhlelo lukazwelonke. Inhloso yalolu hlelo lukazwelonke ukuba kulethwe ngesikhulu isivinini uguquko emfundweni ephakeme ukuze ikwazi ukuvuleleka kubo bonke abantu ngokufanayo. Ngithi kuNgqongqoshe uKader Asmal simethulela isigqoko. Cha, uyibekile induku ebandla.

Yebo, sesithe ukukhula isibalo sabantu besifazane kumanyuvesi. Kodwa uma umuntu ebheka ezinhlelweni zezifundo, bayingcosana kakhulu ezifundweni zobuchwepheshe nezobunzululwazi. Hawu! Angikhulumi-ke ngendaba yalaphaya ezingeni leziphathimandla, ababonwa futhi nobuso nje obumnyama buyivela kancane. Ngikhuluma nje, iNingizimu Afrika ingaka, sinabafundi abayinkulungwane eyodwa kuphela abakhubazekile abasemfundweni ephakeme. Lokhu kuyadumaza kakhulu. Kwabasebenzayo-ke kulezi zikhungo, ngesaba nokubuza ngoba ngakithi awuyibuzi ibhasi ibhaliwe. [Uhleko.]

UNgqongqoshe ushilo ukuthi khona ngempela angeke sisho ukuthi zonke izikhungo azibe nazo izimfuno zabakhubazekile. Kodwa uthe wonke amanyuvesi kufanele enze imizamo ukuze abafundi abakhubazekile bakwazi ukufinyelela, hhayi bona bodwa nje kodwa namalungu omphakathi akhubazekile nabazali babafundi abakhubazekile bakwazi ukufinyelela kulezi zikhungo.

Okunye okubaluleke kakhulu ukuthi kufanele sazi ukuthi iNingizimu Afrika ayisona isiqhingi. Iyingxenye ye-Afrika yonkana. Ngakho-ke, kufanele nakanjani sibavumele abafundi base-Afrika bezofunda la kwelengabadi. Okokuqala, amazwe e-SADC anezikhungo ezimbalwa kakhulu kunalezi esinazo thina. Okwesibili, kufanele silibambe iqhaza ekuthuthukiseni i-Afrika njengoba ehlala esho uMongameli. Okwesithathu, abafundi baseNingizimu Afrika kufanele bazi kabanzi nge-Afrika le eyahleshulwa ondlebezikhanyilanga. Sekuphethe thina manje, masiyihlanganise. [Ihlombe.]

Phezu kwakho konke, akufanele sikhohlwe iqhaza elabanjwa odadewethu nabafowethu base-Afrika kule nkululeko esinayo namhlanje. Ngakho-ke, nabo kumele bancele kulo mbele. Lokhu phela kuzobe kufeza iphupho likaMongameli lokwakha i-Afrika kabusha.

Enye-ke inkinga ekhona yile eke yaba semaphepheni, yabafundi abaphuma bengaqedile emanyuvesi. NgolukaJoji babizwa ngama-drop outs. Abekile-ke amaphepha ukuthi lokhu kungukucekela phansi izimali zabakhokhi bentela. Alibele kodwa ukusho ukuthi nabazali balabo bafundi bayayikhokha intela. Alibele nokusho ukuthi umsuka wakho konke lokhu imfundo le eyayikhona yonke le minyaka yobandlululo. Phezu kwalokho, uMnyango wezeMfundo umatasatasa wakha uhlelo lokusiza abafundi ukuthi bathuthukiswe ezifundweni zabo ukuze ingabi bikho leyo nkinga. Ngolimi lukaJoji, bathi lolo hlelo i-academic development programme.

Luze lwakhiwe lolu hlelo yingoba phela uHulumeni unakho ukuqonda ukuthi ubandlululo lwayikhinyabeza kanjani intsha yethu. Ukungaqedi kwabo nakho kuyabahlukumeza kakhulu emqondweni bagcine sebezibona sebeyizehluleki. UHulumeni wakha isizwe, akasilahli. [Kwaphela isikhathi. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of Zulu speech follows.) [Mrs P N MNANDI: Madam Speaker …

HON MEMBERS: Praise it!

Mrs P N MNANDI: The name of women! Madam Speaker, Deputy President, hon Ministers, hon members, comrades and relatives, the apartheid government ran the Department of Education for forty years. There was not any change. Instead things got worse. The ANC Government has run this department for 7 years only but the results are very surprising.

One day when I was at home, my child asked me a tricky question. He said: Mother, can you show me a white person, because I have never seen a white person.'' My child attends the school in Acacia Park. A white person teaches him. I was surprised and I said: Hey! Is my child insane?’’ [Laughter.] I asked him to repeat the question, but in English now. He said: Mother, can you please show me a white person? I have never seen a person who is literally white.'' I then paused and said to him:My child, the ANC has brought freedom to South Africa. Today I see it in my house.’’ [Applause.]

Last year, when we were discussing the national budget, I applauded hon Minister Trevor Manuel. This year I say the ANC led by President Thabo Mbeki has done well.

Today I will speak about tertiary education. I will talk about loans that are given to students. These loans are given by the Government to help poor students. This fund is very important, because it is another attempt by the Government to fight poverty. Through this fund poor students are able to access tertiary education more than ever before. This year this fund was given R450 million. An amount of R20 million has been reserved for training teachers.

It would be a mistake not to thank the students who have completed their studies and who made use of this fund. They have shown an extremely high level of trust. As they are working, they have managed to pay back R156 million, which will also be used to help other students. [Applause.] I say: Forward South African students! We thank these students, because this is proof that the ANC Government does not just enrich itself, but invests where there is a future.

We would like to ask for the budget review of this fund. There are students who cannot finish their studies, because the money that they get from this fund is not enough to cover all their expenses. A student has to pay the deficit. Now where will a poor student get money from? We would like the hon the Minister to look seriously at this issue.

In March 2001 in this House, the hon the Minister presented a national programme. The aim of the programme was to quickly transform tertiary institutions so that they would be accessible to everyone. We said to Mr Kader Asmal, congratulations. He had done an outstanding job.

The number of female students at universities has increased. When we look at all areas of education, they are still few in the area of scientific technology, not to mention top management. In the whole of South Africa we have only 1 000 disabled students at tertiary institutions. This is a saddening siuation indeed. One need not even ask about disabled people in these institutions. I am afraid even to ask, because where I come from, one cannot ask the direction in which the bus is travelling while it is written in the front window. [Applause.]

The hon the Minister has said that we should not say all tertiary institutions must have facilities for disabled students. However, he mentioned that all universities should make attempts to ensure that disabled students are able to access those institutions. Even members of the public who are disabled and parents of disabled students should be able to access these institutions.

Another important thing to know is that South Africa is not an island. It is part of Africa. Therefore, we should allow students from other African countries to come and study here. Firstly, countries in the SADC region have fewer universities than we have here. Secondly, we should play a role in improving Africa, as the President used to say. Thirdly, South African students should know more about the Africa that was entered by the settlers. We blacks are now in power, let us unite Africa. [Applause.]

Above all, we should not forget the role played by our brothers and sisters in Africa in bringing about the freedom that we have now. They, too, should benefit from it. This will fulfil the President’s dream of rebuilding Africa.

Another problem is the one that was mentioned in the newspapers about students who dropped out of universities. These students are called ``dropouts’’ in English. The newspapers said that this is abuse of taxpayers’ money. They forgot to add that the parents of these students are also taxpayers. They also forgot to mention that the cause of this is the apartheid education that has been in existence for a long time. To minimise this problem, the Department of Education is making plans to help students so that their courses could be improved. In English this programme is known as the academic development programme.

The reason for introducing this programme is that the Government understands that apartheid has crippled our youth. The mere fact that they cannot finish their studies affects them psychologically. They end up seeing themselves as failures. The ANC Government is building the nation, it is not dumping it. [Time expired.] [Applause.]]

Dr B L GELDENHUYS: Chairperson, the conversation the previous speaker had with her daughter, convinced me that she must be a very wise mother. Quality education in the classroom is not negotiable. A prerequisite for quality education is high-level parental and community involvement in the activities of the school.

The I H Harris School, a section 21 school, with 80% black learners is, indeed, an institution of excellence in a sea of poverty. Under the guidance of principal Mr Mike Pretorius and the chairperson of the governing body, Mrs Shirley Mpisi, this school has a recipe for parental and community involvement.

The leader of the DA, the hon Tony Leon, visited the school on Monday, and we were surprised but pleased to learn that its point of departure is not what the community can do for them, but what they can do for the community. Their list of services to the community is impressive: encouraging Grade 7 girls to assist and care for 50 Aids suffering babies, providing a venue for the headquarters of the soccer association for disabled persons, providing adult education for taxi drivers, and providing a small job training centre for panel beating, welding and carpentry, to name but a few.

Believe it or not, despite the fact that the school is located in a crime- infested area, Doornfontein, in Johannesburg, they have not had a burglary for the past 13 years. Ongoing community activities on the premises of the school are cited as the reason for the burglar-free environment. The message is clear: If a school serves the community, the community will serve the school, and quality education in the classroom will be the end result.

The hon the Minister of Education indicated that he is all for Shakespeare in schools. He will therefore undoubtedly be familiar with the quotation from Hamlet: ``Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.’’ I do not know about the state of Denmark, but there was definitely something rotten in the education department of Gauteng, and the Minister referred to it, in which evaluators declared Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People unsuitable as set works for Grade 12. Not even the Minister’s swift reaction from Ireland and his apology to Gordimer could undo the harm done to South Africa by this unfortunate, proverbially speaking, book-banning incident.

Literary censorship was once again knocking at the door. One thing should be made abundantly clear regarding the choosing of literature for learners: set works for learners are not so much a means to an end, as ends in themselves. The primary yardstick for selection should be the literary value of a book in order to encourage critical thinking, and not whether a specific book is politically correct or whether it promotes the values enshrined in the Constitution, however praiseworthy these may be.

A couple of years ago a publisher, reflecting on how provincial education departments selected textbooks for schools, said, ``We put an anthem and a flag in all our books - it helps’’. This is precisely what should not happen. Francis Bacon said:

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested …

The latter should be chosen as set works.

The Yizo/Yizo TV programme sponsored by the Education department triggered an emotional debate. The position of the New NP and the DP on this issue is briefly as follows: Despite certain shortcomings, we supported the methodology used to discourage a lifestyle of criminality and drug abuse amongst young people. We do not believe that young people will necessarily imitate alternative behaviour. The same methodology is used in the film Requiem for a Dream currently on circuit in South Africa. I am convinced that nobody in his or her right mind will ever again experiment with drugs after having seen this film. It is a must for every youngster.

Another controversial issue I would like to address is the intention of the hon the Minister to import Cubans with a view to training teachers in maths and science. Firstly, it is an injustice to the South African teachers. The Minister’s argument that South African teachers are qualified to teach pupils, but that they are not sufficiently qualified to train other teachers, does not hold water. Any course in education includes methodology relating to a specific subject. A good teacher is therefore by definition a good trainer.

There are many good qualified teachers out there who were declared redundant. [Interjections.] There are more than 20 000 of them, and all that needs to be done is for the department to utilise them.

Secondly, it is an injustice to Cuba. There is, in fact, a shortage of teachers in Cuba. More than 6 000 Cuban teachers have left the profession because, as waiters and taxi drivers, they earn more than R160 a day, which is the equivalent of a teacher’s monthly income in that socialist paradise. Let us not aggravate the problem by poaching Cuban teachers.

When independent schools and former Model C schools came under attack by the Congress of South African Students, the hon the Minister confirmed their right to exist under the Constitution, and he also said, ``You do not make township schools equal by taking away from other schools.’’ We compliment him for having said that. Yet now it seems as if the Minister himself is threatening an existing right of section 21 schools.

I am referring to the Education Laws Amendment Bill which was published in the Gazette for comment. Clauses 5 and 6 of the Bill seem to remove the existing right of governing bodies to enter into loan agreements or establish trust funds. We urge the hon the Minister to reconsider his position on this issue. Loans are an essential vehicle for the purchase of assets which cannot normally be funded from school fees in any one year. Donations from parents over and above school fees must be encouraged. Trusts are a vital vehicle in doing so because donations to trusts are tax deductible.

During a briefing to the portfolio committee on school needs, the importance of maintenance was emphasised. Section 21 schools do not receive subsidies from the Government for maintaining and improving property. It is their sole responsibility, and a trust fund is a sensible mechanism for the maintenance of school buildings. It would really be appreciated if the hon the Minister could deal with this issue in his reply.

Another area of concern relates to the influx of learners from the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape. The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that the education department of the Western Cape finds it extremely difficult to meet the extra burden within the restriction of their present budget allocation. The influx is partly attributable to the collapse of the education system in the Eastern Cape, where the matric pass rate was only 49,8% last year. [Interjections.] The obvious answer is to beef up the education system in the Eastern Cape. If that does not happen, more funds should be allocated to the Western Cape to empower them to accommodate the extra responsibility.

Gauteng, I believe, has a similar problem. Their budget does not cater for the influx from neighbouring countries. The I H Harris School, which I referred to earlier on, offers special English classes for Portuguese- speaking pupils. Our Government will have to come to an arrangement with the governments of our neighbouring countries because we cannot foot the bill alone.

Voorsitter, ek wil kortliks die kwessie aanspreek van godsdiensonderrig op skool. Ek wil graag die agb Minister vra of godsdiensonderrig weer in die kurrikulum opgeneem gaan word. Ons standpunt is onomwonde dat ‘n waardevrye godsdiensideologie nie aanvaarbaar is nie en dat godsdiensonderrig aangebied moet word binne die raamwerk van die skooletos.

Die Minister het ook kennis gegee van sy voorneme om die Wet op Hoër Onderwys sodanig te wysig dat alle privaatwetsontwerpe van universiteite teruggetrek gaan word. Kan die Minister inlig oor die bedoeling daarvan? Beteken die herroeping van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch se privaatwetgewing dat sy verbintenis tot Afrikaans as onderrigtaal nie nou meer statutêr erkenning gaan geniet nie en beteken die herroeping van Potchefstroom se privaatwetgewing dat sy definiëring van homself in terme van ‘n bepaalde godsdiensoortuiging nie meer statutêre erkenning gaan geniet nie? Die Nasionale Plan vir Hoër Onderwys bevestig die beginsel van institusionele identiteite. Hoe gaan dit beslag kry as universiteite se private wetgewing herroep word?

Die rektore van die historiese Afrikaanse universiteite het te kenne gegee dat hulle ‘n voorlegging oor Afrikaans as onderrigtaal aan die Gerwelkomitee gaan maak. Kan die agb Minister aandui of die Gerwelkomitee al vergader het, en wat hulle werkswyse is? Kan ander instansies ook voorleggings aan die Gerwelkomitee maak? Indien wel, hoe moet hulle te werk gaan om dit te doen?

Ons hoor graag van die agb Minister in die verband. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Chairperson, I want briefly to address the issue of religious instruction at schools. I would like to ask the hon the Minister whether religious instruction is going to be included in the curriculum again. Our position is unequivocally that a value-free religious ideology is not acceptable and that religious instruction must be offered within the framework of the school ethos.

The Minister has also given notice of his intention to amend the Higher Education Act in such a way that all private Bills regarding universities are going to be withdrawn. Can the Minister offer some information on the intention of this? Does the repeal of the University of Stellenbosch’s private legislation mean that its commitment to Afrikaans as a language of instruction will now no longer enjoy statutory recognition and does the repeal of Potchefstroom’s private legislation mean that its definition of itself in terms of a particular religious conviction will no longer enjoy statutory recognition? The National Plan for Higher Education confirms the principle of institutional identity. How is this going to be realised if universities’ private legislation is repealed?

The rectors of the historically Afrikaans universities have indicated that they are going to make a submission on Afrikaans as a language of instruction to the Gerwel committee. Could the hon the Minister indicate whether the Gerwel committee has met yet, and what their modus operandi is? Can other institutions also make submissions to the Gerwel committee? If so, how must they go about doing so?

We will be glad to hear from the hon the Minister in this regard.]

The hon the Minister referred to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. We in the New NP and the DP support this scheme fully. It has thus far made 490 000 awards to 232 000 students, disbursing a total of R2,3 billion to individuals who otherwise would never have studied at a university or technikon. The scheme should be strengthened.

Allow me a last general remark. With the third highest education spending in the world as a portion of gross domestic product, South Africa faces problems more of quality of delivery than low investment levels in the sector. This is borne out by the fact that the Auditor-General has issued a shock report on the state of South African schools, and I referred to this earlier. It seems that, unfortunately, the output as far as education is concerned currently does not meet the input. I think this merits the attention of the hon the Minister. [Applause.] Mr S J MOHAI: Madam Speaker, it is not surprising that the DA will go all out to criticise every effort aimed at accelerating transformation. The hon Dr Geldenhuys has once more spoken on behalf of the captains of the apartheid regime, who deny South Africans the truth about the mess the democratic Government inherited in education. [Interjections.]

He has spoken on behalf of those who were never victims of security terror in our schools and townships. Today we are told, by those who denied us access to education, that Cosas is a threat to the culture of teaching and learning. [Interjections.]

This Budget debate on education takes place at a very crucial period in the process of social transformation in our country. It takes place two weeks before the youth month of action, when millions of students around the country will be celebrating and commemorating the 25th anniversary of June 16.

Our Government has spent the last seven years developing and implementing policies that are aimed at putting in place a framework that has laid a foundation for an accelerated higher education transformation agenda. Among the ingredients of this foundation are the Higher Education Act, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, the National Qualifications Framework and the national education plan.

In the 1999 democratic elections, the masses of this country reaffirmed their mandate to and confidence in the ANC. One of the major things at the centre of this mandate is the need for the ANC-led Government to consolidate the transformation of higher education. This is non-negotiable to millions of South Africans. Apartheid colonialism deliberately denied our people entry into institutions of higher learning, in particular universities and technikons.

This was a well-orchestrated strategy to maintain white supremacy at the expense of the African majority. This was aimed at producing a highly skilled and sophisticated workforce as part of a strategy to develop an economic advantage for the white minority in this country. It is against this background that some in this House and elsewhere in the country will continue to resist any transformation plans of the Government that effectively deal with the legacy of apartheid. This counterattack on most of the Government’s decisive plans to deal with the legacy of apartheid is captured in words such as ``interference in institutional autonomy’’. These kinds of statements do not assist the process of transforming higher education, but are used to protect narrow political agendas such as maintaining the racial status quo of some institutions of higher learning.

We will support all efforts of the Ministry of Education where it makes strategic interventions aimed at resolving problems that have plagued some institutions in this country. This will ensure that the culture of learning and teaching in higher education is restored in the shortest possible time.

The mushrooming of private higher institutions of learning in our country continues to undermine confidence in the public education system. The ANC- led Government has put in place procedures and mechanisms that aim to ensure the proper registration, accreditation and quality assurance of private higher education.

It is the responsibility of the state to continue to monitor these institutions and, in particular, curriculum restructuring. At the centre of curriculum restructuring must be the responsiveness of these institutions to the human resource development strategy of South Africa.

Education is about the intellectual development of society. There is no way we can allow this intellectual development to happen outside the democratic, nonsexist and nonracial context of our society.

The key test for higher education systems in our country is the extent to which they serve as centres for the accumulation of knowledge, and their ability to relate to critical issues and challenges facing our society, principal amongst them being the uprooting of the demon of racism. Racism has manifested itself in different forms in higher education. It varies from the initiation of new students along racial lines to the distribution of facilities.

These forms of racism are not just by the coincidence of history. They are the legacy of the past, which, in most instances, is perpetuated by some elements in the management structures of these institutions. We still have some people within our society who continue to cling to the past by claiming exclusive monopoly and ownership of certain institutions along racial lines.

Our people and country cannot afford to be taken backwards. Many young men and women died in the pursuit of the noble ideas of nonracialism. They died for the vision of the Freedom Charter that the doors of learning and culture shall be open to all. We should therefore proceed from the premise that institutions belong to all the people across the racial, religious and ethnic divide.

In realising the above, a concerted and conscious effort should be made to mobilise all sections of our society - students, academic staff and workers, in particular, should be behind the programme of combating racism in all its manifestations. This should be coupled with exposure and isolation of those who cling to the past racist practices.

The Reconstruction and Development Programme identifies further education and training as central to the human resource development programme. The huge backlog facing young people of unemployment, poverty and a lack of skills should be aggressively tackled through further education and training. The apartheid design ensured that institutions of further education and training were located in historically white industrial areas. The intention was to serve the labour market with a white, skilled labour force.

For these institutions to meet our goals, there is a need for them to be redesigned in line with the new skills and vocational challenges facing our country. Critical in this redesigning is the need to address the skills and training backlog of the youth in historically disadvantaged communities. These institutions of further education and training should, among other things, be geared to serve as intermediate points of entry into higher education. Labour market information should be a compulsory introductory module in order to enable the youth to make appropriate training choices linked to labour market needs.

As part of the ongoing national task of addressing the rural and urban dynamic of our society, the redesigned curriculum of further education and training should be tailored to address the skills and training backlogs of the rural youth. This should entail enabling the rural youth to develop the skills and capacity for production in rural areas. To conclude, no time should be lost in accelerating the finalisation and implementation of the rationalisation process of further education and training. Millions of young men and women are waiting patiently for the arrival of that moment when their skills and training needs will be firmly on the agenda of the Government.

As we move with speed to accomplish the above task, we should ensure the participation of all stakeholders. An ongoing consultation should be fast- tracked to plug the gap likely to be used by those who prey on the misery of our people, as we have witnessed here today. The ANC has the people’s mandate. We have the responsibility to move forward with speed. The ANC believes that with this budget we will take yet another step in pursuing our goal of a better life for all. We support this Vote. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION: Madam Speaker, hon members, a very wise woman called Sue Grafton observed that if high-heeled shoes were a good thing, men would be wearing them. [Laughter.] Hon members will note that high-heeled shoes are not kind to one’s back. They distort one’s natural posture, weaken one’s foot grip on mother earth and restrict one’s movement and speed. [Laughter.] Although men tend to be the ones designing and making shoes, they would not wear high-heeled shoes. This is just as odd as preparing a meal that one is not prepared to eat oneself. One cooks food for others, but one eats out. There should be something uncomfortable about that scenario.

Those of us involved in public education - hon members sitting in this House, others sitting in the other nine parliaments elsewhere in our country, managers at different levels in the Public Service and the teachers in over 27 000 ordinary public schools - collectively design, fund, administer and deliver public education for millions of children in our land. But most of us prefer to send our own children elsewhere. Are we perhaps peddling high-heeled shoes that we ourselves are not prepared to wear? [Applause.]

Not that education is alone in this. Nurses, doctors, administrators and, of course, members of Parliament collectively run public health in this country. But when we are sick, we go elsewhere. Our medical bills, paid for by a medical aid fund towards which the state makes a hefty contribution, also go elsewhere, which, of course, would make a big difference to the public health system if it were so favoured. Are we perhaps peddling another brand of high-heeled shoes that we ourselves are not prepared to wear?

Some would ask: What does one expect? They would say that if one is scientific, one would know that this is a class thing. Of course, we concede that. But we also know that most of us, whilst we are not working class or peasant by definition, are progressive patriots who have just emerged from a long struggle against oppression, injustice and discrimination. During that struggle we experienced solidarity across class affiliations and were conditioned by the same struggle to loathe unfairness and to embrace the values of public-spiritedness. We should therefore be capable of peddling flat-heeled shoes that we ourselves would be prepared to wear.

The political training and cultivation we received from the crucible of that same struggle should tell us that there is something discordant when teacher unions, which occasionally speak working-class language, have their members sending their own children elsewhere, and then short-change the children of workers and peasants in public schools through lack of application, secure in the knowledge that their offspring are receiving a good education.

We should candidly admit that education in our country faces many formidable challenges, among them a lack of enough money. But at 21% of the total, education already receives the largest slice of the national Budget, and whilst we should strive for more, it appears that in the context of other pressing and competing needs of our society, such as housing, running water, health and others, we are not likely to be afforded what we need.

However, we can achieve a lot more with the R55 billion at our disposal. For that to happen, we need the restoration of the ethos, spirit, commitment and passion that characterised our education in the not-so- distant past. And we can do it. There are a few among us who are showing us the way.

On 10 May 2001 I visited Mtwalume High School in the Port Shepstone district on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. One drives through one field of sugar cane after another to get there, and the rural community in the area is poor. But when one enters the schoolyard of Mtwalume High, one’s spirits are raised to the heavens. The fence is intact, the grass is cut and trimmed, there is not a single stray piece of paper in sight, the walls are painted and clean and every windowpane is in place. The principal’s office is neat with education-related calendars and other posters on the walls.

One enters the staffroom and one is greeted by a dignified, self-assured and professional group of teachers. Mr Bheki Mdluli, the principal of Mtwalume High School, and his staff lead one to the assembly in the open, where orderly rows and rows of our children in neat uniforms wait quietly. They eagerly react to whatever is said. Mr Mdluli and his staff tell one that they have achieved not less than a 95% pass rate in matric every year. One’s heart is filled with nothing but pride and joy and hope. One does not ask, but there is no doubt in one’s mind that the teaching staff at Mtwalume High School will wear their flat-heeled shoes with pride. [Applause.]

This is a big deal. A lot of our public schools are not like Mtwalume. The grass in their yards is overgrown. There is litter everywhere. A lot of windowpanes are broken. The walls and desks are full of foul graffiti and the children cannot be hushed. Mtwalume High School does not receive any more money than the other public schools. What is different about that school is that it has the right spirit, the right ethos, passion and commitment. Yes, money is very important, but it is definitely not everything.

In his state of the nation address at this podium earlier this year the President addressed the need for us as a nation to develop our human resources and to work towards bridging the gaping digital divide. To do this, we need good performance in maths and science by our learners. Also, the National Plan on Higher Education which was announced recently, envisaged, among other things, an increase in the participation rates of our young people from the present 15% to 20%, with a correct mix of the humanities, science and business studies at the ratio of 40:30:30 respectively. Again, for this to happen we need more of our learners to graduate from high school with good passes in maths and science at higher grade, so that they may proceed to tertiary level, ready and prepared to enter studies in various fields in the desired proportions.

At present, our learners, especially those from the African component of our population, are not doing well at all in these crucial gateway subjects. Of the approximately 400 000 students from this section of our population who wrote matric in 2000, only 18 000 took mathematics. Out of these, a paltry 3 500 passed mathematics on the higher grade. This is less than one per cent. This is a disaster. We know there is absolutely nothing wrong with our children, but there is a lot wrong with us as adults and with the learning environment and opportunities we create for them. When schools such as Mbilwi, Aha-Thuto, Leshata and Mtwalume give them opportunities by creating the right climate of discipline, love, teaching and learning, the children simply excel.

Two of the more important reasons for this appalling failure rate or nonparticipation in mathematics by our learners are the many dysfunctional schools in our townships and villages and the large number of unqualified and underqualified maths and science teachers in our public schools. In recent weeks the National Department of Education has been consulting extensively with provincial departments of education, private companies, teacher unions and NGOs on a strategy to improve the attainment of learners in maths and science. We have found that all our provinces are doing something to address this enormous challenge.

The strategy we are considering and discussing with the provinces contains the following elements. Firstly, there will be a programme to upgrade and enrich the many serving teachers who are unqualified or underqualified. Secondly, in order to address the chronic undersupply of maths and science teachers, the Education department intends to recruit learners with good passes in these subjects in matric and offer them scholarships to train as teachers.

Thirdly, we will explore the use of technology to maximise and expand the expertise of the maths and science teachers we have in the country, so that their lessons can reach more learners. Fourthly, we have already asked universities and technikons to play a role in advancing this cause.

Fifthly, we will seek short-term intervention by and co-operation with other governments in the area of teacher training. To this end we recently reached an agreement with Cuba to have some of their English-speaking teacher trainers - I stress the words ``teacher trainers’’ - work with clusters of teachers in our districts to improve the qualifications and skills of our teachers.

Sixthly, we will investigate whether there are qualified retired teachers who can still play a role in this programme. Seventhly, 100 schools dedicated to science, mathematics and technology are being selected throughout the country to sharpen our focus in this matter. As we implement this strategy, co-operate and consult with others, some elements of the strategy might become stronger than others.

The level of nonparticipation in and the rate of failure at maths and science by our learners are so serious that the Ministry of Education feels that we cannot afford to have business as usual. Drastic measures need to be taken to correct the situation. In this campaign, we need the co- operation and participation of all of us: parents, school governing bodies, teachers, learners, business, other Government departments and NGOs.

In June, we plan to formally launch this strategy. We hope that we will all show our support. The future of our young people and of our country, the health of our economy and the success of the national human resource development strategy and of the national plan on higher education all depend on our success in improving the attainment of our learners in maths and science.

Under our democratic dispensation our children ought to get better education than before. Yet in many cases it is not so. This is not because of a bad syllabus, discrimination or money, but because many of us have lost the right ethos that attended our education in the past. We have lost the spirit that enables us to get education even under difficult circumstances.

The Department of Education will continue to use the infrastructure and resources entrusted to it to create a proper environment and facilities for the younger members of our society. We would like to see our people having great confidence in, and ownership of, all educational institutions in their neighbourhood.

We will know that this is the case when learners wake up in the morning and walk to the public schools nearest to their homes for their education. We will know this when the communities protect, treasure and take part in the activities of schools in their neighbourhood. We will also know that we are succeeding when all of us involved in public education wear with pride the beautiful flat-heeled shoes we are peddling.

In conclusion. I appeal to all our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters to abandon high-heeled shoes without losing any of their beauty and elegance. [Applause.]

Ms E GANDHI: Chairperson, hon Minister and comrades, I just want to assure the Deputy Minister that I am not wearing high heels.

In supporting this budget, I am firstly going to refer to the report of the History and Archaeology Panel. In arguing for the promotion of these disciplines the report says, and I quote:

Unless one knows something of the past, then one has no informed criteria by which to assess and to judge the present. In other words, contemporary problems and complexities, like the workings of race, class and gender, have to be seen within the context of their development in time. It is therefore important to recall the past in order to contextualise the present and plan for the future. Amnesia about the past is, in fact, destructive.

In looking at our past, I would like to quote from a booklet published by the SRC of the University of Natal Medical School, which is called UNB News Vol 1, which was published in 1982. It says, and I quote:

It is clear from our history that the education system for blacks was and still is geared towards two objectives, one, to maximise profits using cheap black labour and, two, to maintain the subjugation of the oppressed via ideological oppression.

Effectively, African women, being the poorest and a large majority living in rural areas, remained the most marginalised. The demands of these students were, and I quote again:

… an education that will promote the development of industry for the benefit of the whole society. Education must propagate the fact that the community is more important than the individual. Students further demand that education should be free, compulsory and equal, that education should teach people to live in peace with fellow beings and that tertiary education should be financed by state scholarships.

Similarly, in 1955 the Freedom Charter said, and I quote:

The doors of learning and culture shall be opened!

The Government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life;

All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;

The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood …

And, may I add, sisterhood -

 ... liberty and peace;


 Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all
 children;


 Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means
 of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;


 Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan ...

Apartheid tried to achieve its aim of white rule through a total strategy aimed at the subjugation of the majority of the people of this country and the proliferation of racism, isolationism, discrimination and oppression. And may I remind hon members that many among us here seem still to be steeped in the same mental state of the past. Within this milieu, there were many brave educators, parents and students who fought against these policies and developed their own perspectives of history and a people- centred, egalitarian ideology which we called ``the people’s education’’.

Among these brave people were Chief Albert Luthuli, Prof Z K Matthews, George Singh, S S Singh, Prof Fatima Meer, Prof Rick Turner and our own Matthews Goniwe; students, parents and educators, especially those from Soweto, some of whom are among us here today; the National Education Crisis Committee formed in the 1980s; and thousands of others. Because of their bravery and sacrifices, we are here today. We salute them!

From recalling this past, we need to be conscious, as Comrade Blade Nzimande reminded us in his five theses on education transformation, that it is not about resources only, and that education is not a neutral phenomenon, but an ideology. Education is one of the most crucial vehicles for shaping broader societal values. It is therefore important for us to critically look at the values that underpin our education system.

The White Paper on Education spells this out, but we need to make a call and to help both the community and the educators to consciously make the shift from the apartheid Christian National Education, and this intends no offence to Christians, as many Christians themselves criticised the apartheid Christian National Education system.

To develop the new value base, educators need to ensure that our education practice in fact reflects these values. The work being done on values in education, religion education, a shift from corporal punishment to peaceful means of dealing with discipline and the encouragement of universality rather than fanaticism, xenophobia and racism and so on will go a long way towards transforming the old apartheid education system.

We are slowly but surely moving towards free and compulsory education for all. Democracy has been entrenched through the involvement of parents and the community in shaping education through school governing bodies.

At present education resources remain unequal, as seen in the Model C schools. In order to realise equity, a process of acceleration in the resourcing of state schools will have to be prioritised. The Tirisano programme indicates that this is being planned and some of the implementation has already begun.

Talent hunting is also going to be put in place. Culture and sports will be introduced into education, but values of community spirit, love of humanity, communal responsibility, etc, which have been spelled out in the Freedom Charter and form the basis of our own philosophy, will have to be phased in through training and retraining of educators as suggested in the history and archaeology report and in the work done by the Values in Education research projects.

Finally, and not because it is any less important, there is adult basic education and further education and training. According to Census 1996 there are 3 283 290 people who have had no access to schooling and 9 million who have not completed Grade 9. Thus 54% of the general adult population has not completed the general education level.

Literacy is therefore a firm priority, and while funds have been dedicated to literacy, it is important that we call on all those who have had the opportunity of education and are now retired to come to our aid and help to really break the back of illiteracy.

I finally want to thank the department and the DG and his team for doing a sterling job in creating the new education system for our country. [Applause.]

Prof L M MBADI: Chairperson, Deputy President - he is not here - Minister of Education and other Ministers and colleagues, the UDM supports the department’s appropriation Vote of R8 208 861 000, as it reflects a substantial increase from the previous amount of R7 billion. This is mainly due to the expansion to six programmes in the 2001 Budget, which has resulted from the splitting of the general and further education and training programme into the general education programme and the further education programme.

The UDM appreciates the fact that more money is spent on the higher education programme, a projection of 92,1% of the total over the medium term. This reflects the transfers to higher education institutions and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, which will enable needy students to have access to higher education.

We also welcome the establishment of a dedicated Directorate for Infrastructure Planning within the Chief Directorate: Education Planning. The directorate, manned by experts in physical planning, project management, geographic information systems management and project finance, recently made their presentations to the Portfolio Committee on Education. The members were highly impressed and felt that the department was moving in the right direction in addressing the imbalances in the physical needs of schools.

However, the presentation on the National Register of Needs Survey 2000 left some of us with mixed feelings. The team informed the committee that there were major improvements in the provision of facilities in the four years from 1996 to 2000, and that fewer schools were ``unfit for education.’’ These fewer schools were either schools in the deep rural areas or farm schools. Yes, whilst some schools were renovated, the tornado- damaged schools have needed rebuilding or repairing since 1997, and schools hit by subsequent tornados since then are still in that condition. Admittedly, additional classrooms had been put up to alleviate overcrowding in some schools.

When officials were asked why there were no visible signs of rebuilding the tornado-damaged schools, the committee was told that the Department of Public Works responsible for rebuilding schools used the R39 million allocated by the Department of Education for this purpose on the construction and repair of roads. To the Department of Education the building of schools is more important and to the Department of Public Works roads are more important. What we need here is an integration of priorities between Education and the Public Works department.

I must refer to the shock findings in the latest Auditor-General’s report on the state of schools in seven provinces during the period September 1998 to January last year. Shortages of classrooms continue, such as the 19 000 needed in the Northern Province, and the 15 000 in the Eastern Cape. As far as existing facilities go, huge numbers of schools do not even have electricity, water or toilets, never mind the luxuries of libraries and science laboratories.

In addition, the Auditor-General finds that thousands of teachers are not qualified and that an estimated 612 809 hours were lost in the period January to March 1999 due to teacher absenteeism in the seven provinces. This makes a mockery of the constitutional right to education.

On the subject of constitutional rights, the Vote before us does not indicate a specific strategy to protect the safety of our daughters in schools. The Human Rights Watch recently released a horrific report on the subject. The author of the report said the following:

Girls are learning that sexual violence and abuse are an inescapable part of going to school every day - so they do not go. South African officials say they are committed to educational equality. If they mean it, they must address the problem of sexual violence in schools, without delay.

The report finds that classmates and teachers of girls continue with these horrific crimes in a school environment that provides little protection to the victims. Specific data collection on these crimes does not even occur.

Not a day goes by without someone in this Chamber referring to human rights, gender equality or moral regeneration. These are the noble values we wish our children to be taught at school. We are failing miserably when our daughters, the mothers of our next generation, are sexually victimised. That this occurs on such a wide scale in our schools is an indictment on all of us. Here I am turning specifically to my male colleagues sitting here today: Brothers, it is a … [Time expired.] Mrs R M SOUTHGATE: Mr Chairman, the ACDP supports Government’s commitment to keeping education as its number one focus. The people of South Africa deserve a high standard of education, and it has been mentioned that when South Africans apply for citizenship overseas, some countries add extra points to these applications.

For the last number of years, education has consistently received the largest allocation of budgetary expenditure, close to 6% of the GDP, which is more than other developed countries spend on education. It is also expected that Government will spend close to 7,9% on education over the next three years.

Despite these huge increases to the Education budget, changes to improve the quality and delivery of educational output remain slow. Over the last year and a half education policies have experienced certain major shifts. What is needed from Government is for it to impact education at ground level by investing in the teachers as well as the pupils.

Teachers feel insecure and demotivated when Government insists on importing Cuban teachers while South Africa has an abundance of skilled teachers. Although the 2000 matric results showed a marked improvement of up to 9%, university level matric passes must be encouraged. There are also too many university dropouts per year that cost this country in the region of R1,3 billion.

The values we promote within our schools will determine the end product. The ACDP wishes to strongly express its disapproval of and opposition to Yizo Yizo. This programme, essentially, is of no educational value. According to a report from Sapa, the Ministry of Education is quoted as having said that, like the producers of the show, they believe Yizo Yizo is a mirror of our society. The youth of South Africa do not need a show that glories in the horrors experienced by their peers. Violence flourishes because the state machinery fails to address criminality. Our youth need programmes that isolate criminals from society, condemn crime and injustice, and instil values of worth and dignity. Such programmes will inevitably promote a healthy and stable society. The ACDP requests that the Ministry re-evaluate its position on programmes like Yizo Yizo.

Education and good citizenship cannot be nurtured among our youth if the state fails to ensure a safe and proper schooling environment. A recent report by the Human Rights Watch reveals the shocking extent to which our schoolgirls are sexually harassed. We cannot allow schoolgirls to be subjected to sexual violence and abuse, and then have no option but to accept the situation as an inescapable part of going to school.

With the escalation of violence and drug use in our schools, teenagers are faced with horrific choices. They either overdose, commit suicide, or live in constant fear for their lives. Fear, hostility and depression are the hallmarks of the lives of our youth today. The ACDP agrees with the Minister that it would be a good idea to have hotlines installed between all schools and local police stations. This would help curb criminality in schools.

There are great concerns with reference to regulations pertaining to home schooling. There are many restrictions and regulations placed on the parent and the child. It should not be a prerequisite for parents to obtain permission to educate their child at home. They should not need the state’s permission to educate their own children as it is ultimately the parents’ responsibility to teach the child. In fact, Government’s undermining of the parents’ responsibility to educate their children is the very thing that is eroding our educational system.

The ACDP once again wants to reiterate that the simple banning of corporal punishment was wrong. Good discipline is not the same as abusive discipline. This Government has succeeded in throwing out both, and now our society suffers. The ACDP calls on the Government to look again at their policy and to reintroduce corporal punishment in schools. [Applause.]

Mr P H K DITSHETELO: Mr Chairperson, hon Minister, education is one of the basic rights of all people, young and old, but it cannot be accessed without the intervention of the state. The Government has surely learnt that when promised compulsory and free education in 1994, it was doing so to draw votes only. Some things are easier said than done.

The tenure of Minister Asmal in Education is a turning point in education. He does not pander to the whims of learners or teachers. As an educationist, he accepts that he has to be cruel in order to be kind. From the way he runs the department and his stance on matters educational, there is no doubt that in five years the notion of the lost generation will have been obliterated.

In a report entitled Second Economic and Social Rights of 2000, the SA Human Rights Commission brought to light the following: Firstly, 43% of young adults and 17% of youth are illiterate. Secondly, close to half of South Africa’s schools have a shortage of classrooms. Thirdly, close to 2,3 million learners attend schools without water within walking distance. Lastly, 6,6 million learners attend schools without toilets.

On taking over the department in 1999 the Minister promised to break the back of illiteracy by 2004. The above statistics indicate otherwise. The whole matter is made worse by the fact that most adult education centres are dysfunctional. We hope progress on ``breaking the back of illiteracy’’ will be reported on.

The backlog in classrooms and toilets at some schools should be reduced. It is unfortunate that while there are shortages elsewhere, some schools are almost in disuse. The department should not only concentrate on rationalising teachers without paying attention to schools. We saw on television that a college of education in the Eastern Cape was standing empty, yet next to it a high school had no classrooms. The provincial department was reluctant to let the high school use the building, until the learners took it upon themselves and occupied the school forcibly. The heavens have not fallen. Attention has to be given to hostels of high schools that are not being used. At Ratlhagane High School in Mpumalanga such buildings are used as a tavern. This will not enhance learning and teaching, and should not be allowed to persist.

Realigning higher education is not meant to enrich some people known to be sympathetic to the ANC. The Minister, with his endless powers, has appointed Prof Fitzgerald to administer the University of the North, after Biki Minyuku was found wanting in administration. Minyuku has been off campus but on pay, and this week the Minister is reported to have witnessed the brokering of a settlement between Minyuku and the university. The figure runs into millions, while the University of the North is one of the cash-strapped universities. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, is said to be firing four black lecturers. Could this be a question of robbing Peter to pay Paul - using the salaries of the four to pay Minyuku?

The ACDP will support the Vote. [Applause.]

Mr L M KGWELE: Chairperson, hon Minister and hon members, since the election of the ANC Government by popular mandate in a landslide victory in 1994, and the renewal of that mandate by our people in 1999, major achievements and progress have been registered towards the transformation of education and meeting the country’s goal in the provision of basic education for all.

Although we inherited an education system which the New NP and the DP supported and preserved for nearly a century - a fragmented, race-based, deeply discriminatory, immoral, corrupt and demoralised education system - the ANC-led Government established a uniform, single, nonracial and nonsexist education system, underpinned by democracy, equity, redress, transparency and participation. Together with the majority of our people, we changed the education system from exclusion and incompetence to inclusion, organisation and empowerment, from isolation and poor infrastructure to access and services. There has been a remarkable and significant increase in Education expenditure from R31,8 billion in 1994, to R58,4 billion in 2001. The total budget for Education this year constitutes 21% of our total national Budget, which is a high share compared to that of other countries in sub- Saharan Africa. We should, in fact, pride ourselves on the fact that our Government has one of the highest rates of government investment in education in the world. This is consistent with the ANC’s belief that education is one of the most significant long-term investments our country can make as it lays the foundation for a higher quality of life, greater employment opportunities and a better skilled workforce.

Policies that the ANC Government have put in place, and focused and concerted efforts and interventions by the national and provincial education departments to improve learner performance across the education system, are beginning to yield positive results. The overall improvement of nine percentage points in the pass rate of Grade 12 examinations gave hope to the majority of our people.

We also welcome the extension of intervention strategies to include Grades 10 and 11, and are convinced that the formation of a national forum for learner performance in Grades 10 and 12 will make realisable the department’s targeted increase of 5% for the year 2001 and cement further public confidence in public education.

I wish, on behalf of the ANC, to once more congratulate those schools and provinces that performed exceptionally well, and encourage those that performed poorly to pull up their socks and optimise the scarce public resources allocated to them. Our gratitude also goes to our educators, school managers, departmental officials, school governing bodies and to parents, in particular, for their tireless and consistent efforts in ensuring that meaningful learning and teaching take place in our schools. We are confident that a lot more can still be achieved if we unite in action to fight against the poor discipline, absenteeism, crime, vandalism, violence, and especially sexual violence against girls by learners and educators, that ravages some of our schools.

We support the Ministry’s identification of school safety as one of the 10 focal projects in the second phase of Tirisano, to create safe and secure environments at learning institutions where learners can be educated in peace, stability and safety. Recognising the role of schools in general education, we also support the location of safe schools within the core programme of improving school effectiveness and teacher professionalism. The participation of Tirisano in integrated programmes in the 18 nodal districts will provide experience that can be extended to the rest of the country.

I, however, wish to express our concern about the failure of the KwaZulu- Natal provincial education department to spend over R200 million allocated for provisioning of schools, school furniture and filling of vacant administrative posts. I think this is grossly irresponsible and unacceptable, given the scarcity of resources and budgetary constraints especially in a province with serious challenges, high levels of poverty and backlogs amongst historically disadvantaged and deprived communities.

I hope that the hon Mpontshane will be as loud and vocal about this matter as he was, together with Boy Geldenhuys, in this House and in the media, about the proposals and agreements regarding education between South Africa and Cuba. The ANC supports Government’s exploration of alternatives to combat illiteracy, as we believe that illiteracy is linked to poverty.

We support the Minister’s request for 60 experts in the area of mathematics, science and technology who will train our teachers based in rural areas in these critical subjects, in which we are currently experiencing a shortage of skills. Our qualified unemployed educators could most certainly also benefit from being retrained and skilled by the very same trainers, so that they are able to offer tuition in these critical subjects. Besides the mutual benefits of the envisaged agreement, teachers, academics, institutions of higher learning and our country as whole also stand to benefit from the proposal the Minister brought from Cuba.

We congratulate Sadtu on their support of the Minister’s proposal and for taking the lead in seeking solutions towards the challenges that the education and the public sector in our country are facing. We wish Sadtu and the Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysersunie well in their endeavour to unite professional workers in the education sector. The launch of the National Teachers’ Award and the Most Improved Schools Award will contribute meaningfully towards motivating and encouraging teachers and schools to improve their performance. The involvement and contribution of sponsors and donors from the business sector in these initiatives is an invaluable contribution towards inculcating a culture of performance and a professional work ethic among educators and school communities.

The implementation of evalution of whole schools from this year to assess the performance of all schools should not only assist to sustain and further improve on performance at the level of Grade 12 examinations, but also ensure that all schools, irrespective of their location, consistently strive towards improving themselves in pursuit of the national goal of quality education for all. To give top priority to the development and implementation of a long-range plan for teacher development, both pre- service and in-service, in support of outcomes based education and teaching, is to redeem the commitment that President Mbeki made on behalf of Government in his first speech as President in this august House.

The development and registration of the national professional diploma in education to upgrade underqualified educators and the training of 10 000 educators in the first year, and a further 85 000 educators from rural areas over time, should be commended. We in the ANC have always fought and stood for the creation of a nonracial, nonsexist and democratic society, in which all our people enjoy conditions of peace and dignity.

We regard racism as a violation of the rights to equality, human dignity and an affront to the values enshrined in our Constitution. Although our Government and Parliament have adopted the South African Millennium Statement on Racism, which declared the period 2001 to 2010 as the Decade for National Mobilisation against Racism, reports of the SA Human Rights Commission confirm the pervasiveness of racism in schools.

We support the view of the SA Human Rights Commission that natural forces cannot overcome the demon of racism, because we come from an engineered past, which means that we need re-engineering to solve the problem. The late Comrade O R Tambo said and I quote:

It is our responsibility to break down the barriers of division and create a country where there will be neither whites nor blacks, just South Africans, free and united in diversity.

Long live the spirit of O R Tambo, long live!

HON MEMBERS: Long live! [Interjections.]

Mr L M KGWELE: Chairperson, I believe that we need to adopt zero tolerance towards racism in our schools and encourage the department to deal decisively with those employees who undermine our Constitution. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Dr S E M PHEKO: Chairperson, the PAC supports the Vote for Education with the following comments.

The PAC supports rationalisation and restructuring in institutions of learning. However, there must be more consultation on this policy. Many institutions are facing death and many educators are fearing for their jobs.

Traditionally African universities such as Fort Hare, Unitra, Medunsa, Vista and the Universities of the North, Venda, Zululand and Durban Westville are threatened with changes which are not to their advantage. The PAC believes that these institutions suffered and sacrificed much under apartheid. They must not be made to continue to suffer and be treated as if they are inferior to traditionally white universities. There is no need for universities such as Fort Hare and Unitra to be linked to Rhodes. If rationalisation is really necessary, Rhodes should be put under Fort Hare.

Moreover, universities must be given equal and adequate funding. Management of funds must be handled by people qualified to do this and who have integrity. The PAC advocates scholarships for students from poor homes who have good grades. Education needs the best investment in order to capacitate our people to shoulder the tremendous demands and challenges of freedom from colonialism and neocolonialism.

For a young country like this, unemployment among people who have completed university degrees, is an unmitigated disaster. It is estimated that thousands of university and technikon students are without jobs. The PAC recommends that an extensive programme of retraining people whose qualifications do not match the labour market be undertaken and career guidance intensified in high schools. The retrenchment of teachers must stop. In many schools, teachers teach far more students than they should. The practice of importing teachers to teach mathematics and science subjects in African schools is not solving the problem. A number of local teachers should be given a one-year crash programme in mathematics and in at least three science subjects. They would master these subjects and save this country from, at great expense, importing foreign teachers, who become citizens after five years and are permanently employed at the expense of the citizens of our country.

Miss S RAJBALLY: Chairperson, the MF welcomes the Budget Vote for Education, as South Africa’s education system accommodates more than 12,5 million learners. The MF also compliments the Minister of Education on introducing the higher education plan, which provides a framework and process for the reconfiguration of the institutional landscape of the higher education system.

We in the MF welcome the increase of R695 153 million in the 2000-01 budget towards education. The MF is pleased to note that R48 million has been allocated to rural schools and the building of projects, since as our country is still battling to eradicate the problem of illiteracy in the rural areas, which are most vulnerable. The Adult Basic Education and Training Act also provides for the establishment of Government funding for public adult centres.

It is evident that the Tirisano plan, which means ``working together’’, is aimed at developing, maintaining and supporting a South African training system for the 21st century. Its key priorities include eliminating illiteracy among adults and the youth in five years, addressing the issue of HIV/Aids in the education and training systems and rehabilitating schools.

This is further emphasised in the six programmes that the department will use, namely: administration; planning and monitoring; general education; further education; higher education; and auxiliary and associated programmes. The MF is confident in praising the Government for successfully implementing the education policy Act of 1996, the Higher Education Act of 1997, the Further Education and Training Act of 1999, the South African Schools Act of 1996, Curriculum 2005 and the Adult Basic Education and Training Act of 2000. HIV/Aids is a rapidly increasing epidemic and we would be grateful to the Government for the implementation of a national policy for HIV/Aids for learners, students and educators who will provide relevant information and education pertaining to HIV/Aids. The MF recommends that parents should work together with teachers in order for learners to perform at their optimal potential. It is important for parents to know their children’s capabilities and not expect children to live with their unfulfilled dreams.

Parents should have realistic expectations of their children while at the same time providing the guidance and support that the children need. The MF believes that only we as parents today have the power to pass on to our children the best gift that we could ever give them, the gift of education, so that they automatically have a chance of a better tomorrow.

The MF believes that even where a child has special needs, it is important for the parent to seek out the necessary resources that cater for children’s special educational needs. Let us work together in eradicating the problem of illiteracy amongst our people at all levels of society and educate them.

The MF supports the Vote for education. [Applause.]

Mr C AUCAMP: Chairperson, we are glad to see that the hon the Minister is back and fighting fit after his recent illness. We wish him good health and a full recovery. Maybe the hon the Minister should take it a little easier in future. I want to inform the hon the Minister that he can relax because, between my good friend Mosibudi Mangena and me, education in South Africa is in safe hands. [Laughter.]

Let me state very clearly right at the beginning that we are aware of the fact that education in South Africa is a mammoth task. The AEB supports any step to improve the quality of education in each and every rank and community in South Africa. We also support the earmarking of a relatively large proportion of the Budget for education. Education money well spent is an investment in the future.

In this regard there are some shocking findings in the report of the Auditor-General, which was released yesterday. I would like to advise the hon the Minister to approach the recommendations of the report with wise discretion. Matters such as the high absentee rate of teachers, greater focus in teacher training on strategically important subjects and the unpreparedness for the implementation of Curriculum 2005 should be addressed urgently. But, on the other hand, getting rid overnight of over- age teachers or teachers who have been declared redundant could jeopardise the whole education process. Many of these teachers are actually the cream of the crop.

Dan is daar die kwessie van hoër onderwys. Die plan is onlangs breedvoerig in hierdie Huis bespreek. Ek wil dit nie herhaal nie. ‘n Saak wat in hierdie verband ernstige kommer wek, is die handhawing van die eie karakter van hoëronderwysinstellings, en by uitstek die taalkwessie, en in ons geval die staanplek van Afrikaans. [Tussenwerpsels.]

Die AEB steun die bevindings waartoe 26 Afrikaanse kultuurorganisasies eenparig onder leiding van die FAK gekom het. Dit beklemtoon drie punte: die primêre belang van moedertaalonderrig, ook tersiêr; die nie-afskaling van die plek en waarde van Afrikaans; en die uitbou van Afrikaans as akademiese taal en taal vir hoër funksies. Dieselfde geld vir die ander inheemse tale in Suid-Afrika. Maar beginselriglyne moet ook tot praktiese implementering kom. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Then there is the issue of higher education. The plan has recently been discussed at length in this House. I do not want to repeat it. A matter that gives serious cause for concern in this regard is maintaining the individual character of higher education institutions, and specifically the language issue, and in our case the position of Afrikaans. [Interjections.]

The AEB supports the findings reached unanimously by 26 Afrikaans cultural organisations, under the leadership of the FAK. This highlights three points: The primary importance of mother-tongue education, also at the tertiary level; not scaling down the position and value of Afrikaans; and developing Afrikaans as an academic language and a language for higher functions. The same goes for the other indigenous languages in South Africa. But guidelines of principle should also be implemented in practice.]

In this regard, I refer the hon the Minister to the promise by the Deputy President yesterday in this House that concrete and active steps will be taken to strengthen the position of these languages. I ask the Minister: Which active steps does he intend taking in the field of tertiary education? A laissez faire approach will not be enough. The law of the jungle, of the survival of the strongest, will not serve the cause of multilingualism as prescribed by the Constitution.

Ek wil verder stilstaan by ‘n saak wat van kritieke belang is. Die Minister het in sy toespraak verwys na die vorige onderwysbedeling as ‘n proses van ``mind control’’. Nou wil ek ernstig en dringend waarsku dat juis dít vandag die vrees is by talle Suid-Afrikaners, veral onder minderheidsgroepe.

In sy toespraak verlede jaar in hierdie debat het die Minister die moeder van die agb Pallo Jordan aangehaal, wat gesê het:

Soos die hoenderhen wat die valk trotseer om haar kuikens te beskerm, so sal ouers hul kinders beskerm.

Ons sien hierdie valk in die proses van mind control'' wat bots teen die beginsels van baie ouerhuise. Ons moet onthou die primêre taak van die ouer is opvoeding. Die staat het gedelegeerde bevoegdheid. Ons kinders behoort nie aan die staat nie, maar is deur God aan ons toevertrou. Ons as ouers moet eendag rekenskap gee oor die vraag wat oor Johannes die Doper gevra is:Wat sal tog van hierdie kindjie word?’’

Daar is wel sekere algemene beginsels wat almal moet onderskryf. Dit is vervat in die Grondwet, maar ons as Suid-Afrika erken ‘n land met ‘n verskeidenheid van volke, tale, kulture en godsdienste. Ons mag daarom nie toelaat dat ons kinders ongekwalifiseerd deur die worsmasjien van ‘n algemene New Age-georiënteerde ``mind control’’ gejaag word nie. Daarom is ons ook beswaard oor die invloed wat ingevoerde Kubaanse onderwysers op ons kinders kan hê.

Ek gee die agb Minister vandag die versekering, al moet ons ten duurste vir privaatonderwys betaal, daar is vandag talle Christenouers wat hulle kinders nie sal blootstel aan sekulêre ``mind control’’ nie. Daarom erken die Grondwet ook die reg van ouers om privaatinstellings daar te stel wat onderrig binne ‘n bepaalde etos bied.

In dié verband verwelkom die AEB die sterk standpunt wat die Minister ingeneem het teen Cosas, wat hierdie reg met geweld wou aantas. Die Minister het self gesê:

The state has an obligation to support these schools, because it is supplying an educational need.

Ek wil vandag die Minister se aandag, by herhaling, daarop vestig dat hierdie verpligting waarvan hy praat volgens huidige regeringsbeleid ontoereikend nagekom word. Die formule penaliseer hierdie skole. Matriekuitslae van privaatskole verlede jaar onderstreep hul belang, en dat hulle ‘n kosbare kleinood in Suid-Afrika is.

Die AEB onderstreep die reg van elke kind tot sy pro rata aandeel van die onderwysbegroting, ongeag of hy aan ‘n privaatskool of ‘n staatskool onderwys ontvang. Die enigste voorbehoud is onderwys op ‘n hoë standaard.

‘n Laaste, maar belangrike, punt. Die Minister het in die onlangse verlede met ‘n breë kwas kwistig met die begrip ongrondwetlik omgegaan. Die PUK se nie-toelating van Pieter-Dirk Uys op sy kampus, die geloofskarakter van die PUK, deur wetgewing vasgelê, selfs Christene op Nuweland se gebed vir homoseksueles, is deur die Minister, ook in sy verskoning, as ongrondwetlik beskryf. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[I furthermore want to dwell on a matter that is of critical importance. The Minister made reference in his speech to the previous education dispensation as a process of ``mind control’’. Now I want to warn seriously and urgently that this is precisely the fear among many South Africans today, especially among minority groups.

In his speech last year in this debate the Minister quoted the hon Pallo Jordan’s mother, who said:

Like the mother hen that faces the hawk to protect her chicks, parents will protect their children.

We see this hawk in the process of mind control'', which clashes with the principles espoused by many parents. We should remember that education is the primary task of the parent. The state has delegated powers. Our children do not belong to the state, but were entrusted to us by God. We as parents will one day have to answer the question that was asked about John the Baptist:What kind of child will this be?’’

There are in fact certain general principles that everyone must adhere to. These are contained in the Constitution, but we as South Africa acknowledge a country with a diversity of peoples, languages, cultures and religions. For that reason we may not allow our children to be put through the sausage machine of a general New Age-orientated ``mind control’’. That is why we are also concerned about the influence that imported Cuban teachers may have on our children.

I assure the hon the Minister today, even if we have to pay dearly for private education, that there are many Christian parents who would not expose their children to secular ``mind control’’. That is why the Constitution also recognises the right of parents to establish private institutions that present education within a certain ethos.

In this respect the AEB welcomes the strong stand taken by the Minister against Cosas, which wanted to assail this right. The Minister himself said:

The state has an obligation to support these schools, because it is supplying an educational need.

Today I wish, by reiterating my point, to focus the attention of the Minister on the fact that this obligation he was talking about is being adhered to inadequately in terms of current Government policy. The formula penalises these schools. Matric results at private schools last year emphasise their importance, and that they are a valuable treasure in South Africa.

The AEB wants to emphasise the right of each child to his or her pro rata share of the education budget, irrespective of whether he or she is being educated at a private or a state school. The only condition is education of a high standard.

A final, but important, point. The Minister in the recent past liberally used the term unconstitutional. The PUK’s refusal to allow Pieter-Dirk Uys on its campus, the religious character of the PUK, entrenched in legislation, even the prayer by Christians at Newlands for homosexuals, were called unconstitutional by the Minister, also in his apology.] In this regard, I want to refer the hon Minister to the differentiation clause in the equality Bill, stipulating that conduct according to objectively determinable criteria intrinsic to the activity concerned does not constitute unfair discrimination.

Billike differensiasie in ooreenstemming met die plurale samestelling van Suid-Afrika se diverse bevolking gee elke kind die reg op dit wat vir ons kosbaar is. As dit nie gebeur nie, sal ons ons kinders beskerm soos die hen haar kleintjies teen die valk beskerm. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

Reasonable differentiation in accordance with the plural composition of South Africa’s diverse population gives every child the right to what is precious to us. If this does not happen, we shall protect our children like the hen protects her chicks against the hawk.]

Mr R P Z VAN DEN HEEVER: Chairperson, the address by our Minister of Education contains a refreshing departure from standard Budget Vote debates. Instead of launching into an avalanche of figures and statistics on the Education budget, he chose to talk to us about the everyday experiences of students and teachers in schools on the ground. Indeed, his reference to the two schools Rutasetjhaba and Mogomotsi has starkly reminded us in this esteemed debating chamber that schools, colleges and universities are indeed living organisms, real places in which we all have a stake, as the Minister put it.

What a wonderful example of dedication and hard work we heard in the Minister’s reference to the improvement in the matric results of Rutasetjhaba from 19% in 1999 to 70% in 2000. This is a phenomenal achievement - triumph over adversity, overcoming the odds, transforming from victim-syndrome to master of one’s own destiny.

I would also like to add my voice in congratulating the students and teachers of Rutasetjhaba, if, indeed, they are still watching this debate at this point in time. I would also like to congratulate the Minister on the document which the department distributed today entitled ``Education in South Africa: Achievements since 1994’’, and the very attractive education package which the department has prepared for distribution on the occasion of this Budget Vote debate.

I believe that it is a ground-breaking document containing a magnificent outline of how we have progressed in education from our first tentative steps in 1994 to the present level of achievement in education. The three phases our education has moved through since 1994, which are outlined in detail in the document, should convince any sceptic that there have been significant improvements in education since 1994.

Then there is the wonderfully inspiring School Register of Needs 2000 Survey, in which the improvements in infrastructure development and the decreasing of historical inequalities are well researched and effectively documented. But, despite the undeniable advances the state has made in the more effective provision of quality, equitable, and life-long education, the Minister’s document on achievements since 1994 that was released today and the School Register of Needs 2000 Survey are also frank and upfront about outstanding challenges and remaining deficiencies. Therefore, the Minister quite honestly stated that, in spite of the huge strides made in redressing inequity since 1994, we still have a long way to go in achieving complete equity in our schooling system.

As far as the School Register of Needs Survey is concerned, the Minister was quite upfront in saying that in spite of massive improvements since 1996, the backlog is still huge, and the difference between rich and poor schools within the public system is still unacceptable. His acknowledgement of the remaining and outstanding challenges is totally understandable against the background of an education system devastated over decades by NP apartheid rule.

In fact, no NP apartheid government could, within the space of seven years, provide such an outstanding report of progress, innovation and quality assurance as the Minister was able to present to Parliament this afternoon. I do find that the Minister’s positive and constructive approach is paying dividends, because the inputs by Mr Ntuli and Boy Geldenhuys, and many other people, were also very constructive.

I have no fight with Mr Ntuli of the DA as a person. I also think that his address was generally positive and meaningful. I will therefore not try and behead the messenger, as he puts it. However, there were, here and there, negative traits of the DA that shone through his speech. He could, for example, not hide his obvious pleasure at the fact that the Minister is prepared to take on Sadtu and Cosas and repudiate them.

The Minister himself said that he has a dynamic and robust relationship with Sadtu, and Sadtu will equally say that they have a dynamic and robust relationship with the Minister. Sadtu is an ally of the ANC, but is not a sweetheart, and we do not pretend that it is. We can assure Mr Ntuli and the DA that the education alliance remains strong and very dynamic indeed. Mr Ntuli fell back into the ``we told you so’’ mentality when referring to the outcomes of the Curriculum Review Committee.

The DA did not want Curriculum 2005 reviewed. They wanted it scrapped. The Minister also did not refrain from doing the review because of the DA’s hysterics. He did it so because he is a good Minister from a good party. He is constantly reassessing policy as it manifests itself on the ground. I believe that there are some issues in this Parliament that should be beyond petty party-political bickering and on which all parties should have a common approach.

Such an issue is surely the area of education, where not only the future of our children is at stake, but indeed the future of our whole country. I am happy that in this debate today we seem to be moving away from such petty confrontation. However, one of the things that the DA uses with impunity is the campaign to discredit the ANC Government and to use the Western Cape as an example of a so-called model province in our country.

This very questionable tactic becomes very devious when one considers that many Western Cape MPs like me are from the ANC. Let me remind the DP and the New NP that in the general elections of 1999 the party that gained most of the votes of the people of the Western Cape was the ANC. In the 1999 general elections in the Western Cape the ANC enjoyed greater support from the electorate than the New NP and enjoyed vastly more support than the DP. The ANC as a party, as well as Western Cape MPs of the ANC, like me, is particularly pained when the DA provokes us to point to things which happen in the Western Cape that are not in line with the policies of equity and nonracialism and transformation, as we experience in the rest of the country.

Everyone knows that the Western Cape’s advantage lies in the fact of the particular racial composition of the province and that, in terms of the racist policies of the then NP and apartheid government, it was the province that benefited the most in terms of resources, finances and infrastructure. It is the beneficiary of this dubious advantage that the DA tries to hold up at every turn as a supposedly better-run province than other provinces.

The hon Boy Geldenhuys implies in his speech that there is an exodus from the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape because of the better quality of education that is available here. The hon Geldenhuys also implies that the Eastern Cape does not have the budget to cater for Eastern Cape students. Now let us examine the hon Geldenhuys’s assertion on the basis of a living example.

There is a nine-year-old visually impaired girl from the Eastern Cape. Her name is Nqaba Mthunzi Kwatsha. For the past four months she has attempted, with the assistance of one of our MPs, Maxwell Moss, fruitlessly, to gain entrance to the Pioneer School for the Blind in Worcester. The principal of the school insists that because Nqaba is from the Eastern Cape, she cannot be enrolled at the Worcester school for the blind without the permission of the MEC for education. Today, more than four months after the original application was made for her, administrative rambling and red tape in the Western Cape education department are still keeping her out of school.

Our MP, Comrade Maxwell Moss, who has been working with this case, again phoned a departmental official in the Western Cape department just before 4 o’clock today to find out whether they still do not have an answer in respect of Nqaba’s admission to a school. The answer which Comrade Maxwell Moss got an hour ago is that the Western Cape cannot educate Nqaba out of its budget because she has to go back to the Eastern Cape. What is this, comrades? Is this a new form of influx control? The Minister should note that this is totally unacceptable, and we will supply him with the relevant details in order to investigate this matter. This is the attitude of negligence of the needs and aspirations of the disadvantaged people which pervades this DA government in the Western Cape.

Education in the Western Cape has, in essence, not been transformed. The DA has merely desegregated Christian national education, but this province lags far behind other provinces in terms of a commitment to the pursuit of the values of equity and nonracialism in education.

As the education change and transformation document released today states:

A nation emerging from apartheid cannot think of values in education independently of the deep racism embedded in the apartheid curricula and school systems.

The DA-controlled education department in the Western Cape, for example, has moved the Tokai reform school from Constantia, where many DA constituents are situated, to the outskirts of Cape Town.

It also appears that the DA-controlled Western Cape education department assumes that they do not require the same emphasis on things like adult basic education and training and early childhood education, as in other provinces. Therefore, Abet institutions are closed, and early childhood development posts are abolished with impunity in the Western Cape education department. Abet is a social commitment to marginalised people, and in the Western Cape that commitment is clearly lacking. There has also been a steady erosion in the Western Cape of the gains made elsewhere in the country with regard to early childhood education. It is clear that the DA does not care a darn about improving the literacy levels of those people who have been disadvantaged by the ravages of apartheid.

The Western Cape is neither a republic nor a volkstaat, and what Ms Helen Zille should be pursuing in the province is not DA policy, but national education policy. It is clear that early childhood education is not a priority in this province. DA constituents sorted out their early childhood institutions during the heady days of apartheid, and therefore do not care two hoots about the fact that early childhood is an area requiring extensive government intervention and support in formerly disadvantaged communities. The education department’s policies are therefore based on the needs and aspirations of the haves, and not the have-nots. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF EDUCATION: Mr Chairperson, hon members, I know that members are waiting for the reception, but I have only been allocated 10 minutes to sum up, so in fact I will not impede our progress to the Marks Building. Can I begin by saying that I have been present here for seven years now at Vote debates. I must say that this Vote discussion was the most illuminating to me as Minister in seven years. I think that members have made valuable contributions to the debate on transformation.

I do not mean that as a form of flattery, because education, of course, is pre-eminently a political matter. By its very nature it must be political. It is a choice of policies that we are talking about. That is what politics is about. But it should not become a partisan issue, and I will tell the House why. One of the most illuminating things that Mr Mpontshane said was that we are not a normal society. What, therefore, are the benchmarks against which we compare seriously what we have done in the last seven years? What is the standard of judgment?

When other countries became decolonised they carried on with the colonial system of education. In fact, it had a particular emphasis and a particular approach, but they carried on with it. Other countries that gained their independence broke up, such as the Czech Republic, and Slovakia very recently, but established systems still continued. They changed their values and ethos to reflect the new arrangement.

In our case, as I tried to say, we had to set up a totally new unified system of education, and that has never been done anywhere else in the world. I do not think that people realise the enormity of the gains and the pain we had to go through. Therefore I think, as a standard of judgment, we must be very careful about it, because the anecdotal evidence that we get, whether from the Auditor-General or from members of Parliament, does not help us to deal with that particular benchmarking exercise.

But 1994 was unique for us. What happened in this country has never happened in modern times. What we are trying to do regarding transformation is also unique. I think that this is not an area for partisan politics. It is an area where the campaigning that happened in the first five years has stopped. For instance, I sat next to the previous Minister of Education for five years. I was there during the introduction of the National Education Policy Act, which saw division after division and threats of going to the Constitutional Court. Again, on the South African Schools Act, there was division after division and and threats of going to the Constitutional Court. In fact, we went to the Constitutional Court and it upheld the National Education Policy Act.

We have passed that stage. Now, of course, we enter a more difficult stage. Now that the battle of the mountains has been won, it is the battle of the plains that begins. That is why the issues that have been raised here by Dr Geldenhuys will be discussed when the Bills come up. We will discuss the issue of language. I have already announced that the Council on Higher Education is looking at the whole question of language in higher education.

One of the things that we are going to do is use the money as part of the restructuring of higher education to ensure that African languages come back. It is a shameful thing that there are so few chairs in 36 institutions. How few chairs there are! In Northern Sotho, the only chair, I think - I am open to correction, because all the professors are sitting up there - is at the University of Harare, which is hardly a South African institution. We have no colonialist aspirations over Zimbabwe in any case. We hardly have any chairs. We should have chairs in Zulu in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. It is a national language. [Interjections.] Yes, it is a national language, and I say so. [Laughter.]

Therefore we will use the programme rearrangement to achieve this. Members should remember that we are going to reprogramme higher education. We are not only looking at the mergers, but also at the programmes, on a regional basis, of what is being taught. I will use central money to influence the establishment of new chairs.

It is not a question of central control, it is the establishment of a particular rational basis of doing things in our country. That is my answer to Mr Aucamp’s question, what I was going to do about it! As a person who speaks one language only, I revel in the extraordinary linguistic variety of South Africa. We must give it real content so that there is parity of esteem, however expensive it may be.

In the same way, when we talk about a benchmark, it is our own benchmark. The progress I have spoken about was not progress on a partisan basis. It is a kind of objective reality, and that is what we face. Boy Geldenhuys says: Let us identify those who are guilty and punish them. Well, I think the debate has shown what our inheritance has been. Of course, part of our Truth and Reconciliation Commission approach is not to punish those who created the gutter education and the violence of our education system. It is thanks to the extraordinary generosity of blacks, specifically the African people in our country, that we have not tried to reinstate the kind of practice that took place in this country from 1948 onwards, and I think we should thank them.

As a non-African, I should say, on behalf of the minority, since the issue has been raised several times, that we must mark the extraordinary generosity. That is why I would like to say to Boy that we should not talk about an influx into the Western Cape. These are free men and women coming back home, because they were deported from the Western Cape. The coloured preference policy meant that thousands of women were taken and put in the trains and sent to the Eastern Cape. They are coming home now, under a unified and unitary system. [Applause.]

Gauteng does not complain that they had to find additional moneys for the Portuguese. They do not complain. [Interjections.] It is not for the Western Cape to say that there is an additional charge. If the staff student ratio is 1:25 in this province and 1:40 in the Eastern Cape, they must look at the staff-student ratio and transfer resources. The one thing that we cannot have is the maintenance of privilege under the guise of maintaining standards. That is out of the question in education.

We cannot maintain privilege while saying we must have higher standards. In any event, what we inherited in South Africa in 1994 was possibly one of the best-resourced school systems for 13% of the population. There is no doubt about it. When one physically goes on a walk around South Africa, and I went to Mpumalanga last week, one will see that the best-resourced schools are for that 13% of the population. But they were not the best schools in the world, because they taught with the pedagogics of virtually ``baasskap’’ education. [Interjections.] Mr Aucamp does not like it.

Last week I went to a school with these values! They could not sing the national anthem, the national anthem that unites all of us in its great virtuosity and its inclusiveness. They sang the school song, all 900 of them. One of the most frightening things I experienced was the salute, like this, all 900 of them saluted like this. [Laughter.] It was really a frightening thing, this kind of absolute uniformity and rigidity. What we want is greater openness.

I therefore say - I may not have answered all the points raised - that Mr Ntuli, in particular, who took a very sober view, misunderstood the whole question of the education budget. The education budget did not grow by the percentage that he mentioned. The conditional grants, which are enormous amounts, have added to it.

A growth rate of 15% per year over the MTEF is one of the great victories for the educational lobby. No other areas received a 15% increase in the MTEF and I think we should look carefully at what has happened. In the same way we have stabilised the budget of education, and we have done very well there. We have appointed financial managers in each province. I do not have the time to go into how Boy Geldenhuys misunderstood the whole question of section 21. At the reception we will talk about it. There is a total misunderstanding there, an absolute misunderstanding.

On Yizo Yizo I want to say that I am afraid the party of Mrs Southgate is an antilife party. It is really trying to destroy all the vitality and honesty that is achieved. A survey done by the SABC has shown that the overwhelming majority of young people approve of it. Two percent have said negative copycat behaviour'' and the rest felt, as one young Western Cape learner put it,the things shown are happening, and Yizo Yizo is like a channel for us as to how we should handle things’’.

The fact that there is sexual abuse in the show, means that we now talk about sexual abuse in South Africa. It has always been there, inside the family, in the community and outside. We now talk openly and therefore we can counter it. We want to talk about issues openly so that we can fight against them. In a sense, Yizo Yizo does this. I regret to say that people took a different view about it from mine. Yizo Yizo confronts the reality of South Africa and then says what we should do about it.

This was a very valuable debate, and I mean that very seriously. I will answer all other points that were made by the speakers. May I end by saying that the most important thing is to have hope in education. The most important thing is to hold out the hope of change, and I will end on this, a very poignant, note. [Interjections.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Order, hon Minister.

The MINISTER: Chairperson, may I read this poem?

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Yes, hon Minister.

The MINISTER: It is a poem from the Terezin ghetto, where thousands of Jewish kids were held. A few days later, after they wrote this and drew the pictures, they were put in the concentration camp and incinerated. A young girl - and this is hope - said:

The sun has made a veil of gold So lovely that my body aches. Above, the heavens shriek with blue, Convinced I’ve smiled by some mistake. The world’s abloom and seems to smile. I want to fly but where, how high? If in barbed wire, things can bloom Why couldn’t I? I will not die.

This is the hope we hold out to young people in our higher education in South Africa. [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

  EXPORT CREDIT AND FOREIGN INVESTMENTS REINSURANCE AMENDMENT BILL

                       (Second Reading debate)

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: Mr Chairperson, hon Deputy President, colleagues, hon members, allow me to introduce to the House the Export Credit and Foreign Investments Reinsurance Amendment Bill, which establishes the South African Export Credit Agency, which agency will perform the vital role of promoting capital goods exports, thus increasing South Africa’s ability to become a world player and to increase foreign exchange earnings and employment.

Since 1994 there has been a significant expansion of South African involvement in international project development. The DTI’s portfolio of exposure to capital export projects is growing rapidly. In the two and a half years to July 2000, medium-term and long-term loans underwritten by the department increased from R4,6 billion to R10,6 billion.

In the case of guarantees for investments abroad, the increase was even more dramatic, from a mere R38 million to R1,6 billion. This has posed new challenges to our export financing. The level of exposure has risen and the circumstances are more varied than our previous experience. Our role in Africa, as hon members know, has increased quite dramatically. The needs of exporters have also changed. This has caused us as a department, to reassess our export credit insurance structure.

The Export Credit and Foreign Investments Reinsurance Act of 1957 has been in place, with very few amendments, for the past 40 years. In terms of this Act, the Minister of Trade and Industry can enter into an agreement with an insurance company for the purpose of providing reinsurance to that company. This reinsurance is specifically for contracts of insurance in respect of export trade transactions! South Africa has therefore had a relatively long involvement in this area for a developing country.

If one looks at the history of this export credit insurance, one will find that the involvement of governments began in 1918, when the UK wanted to support exports to Russia and created the Export Credit Guarantee Department. Other governments followed, mainly after World War II. Export credit agencies come in many shapes and sizes and are normally modelled on the requirements of the specific country. One would find that in the UK, for instance, it is a full-scale department, while in the USA it is a bank and in Canada it is a parastatal company.

In South Africa a reinsurance agreement exists between the Minister of Trade and Industry and the Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation of Africa Limited. Over the years, this relationship has worked well, as the Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation took commercial risks relating to export transactions for its own account and reinsured political risks with Government. Primarily short-term trade transactions were insured and reinsured. These transactions were required to be repaid within a period of six months.

Over the past decade the appetite of the private-sector insurance market for these risks has increased significantly. In a globalised world, private- sector insurers find it increasingly possible to accurately assess and price political risk over the short term. Other instruments, such as letters of credit issued by the importer’s bank and confirmed by the exporter’s bank, may make insurance unnecessary.

As a result, the reinsurance required from the DTI for short-term political risk is constantly declining in real terms. According to the Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation, the turnover of short-term trade transactions reinsured in 1991 was R9,5 billion. According to our department the figure for the most recent 12-month period was R12,7 billion.

The question is whether the DTI should still be involved in the business of reinsurance for short-term trade transactions. In 1999 we began to study international best practice, and found that several governments have withdrawn, or intend to withdraw, from this business. Leading international experts contracted by the department advised that our involvement in this type of business was indeed no longer necessary.

We requested the CGIC to investigate whether it would be possible to place this reinsurance cover in the private market, and their response was positive. It is for that reason, therefore, that about a year ago, the Minister of Trade and Industry gave notice to the CGIC of his intention to terminate the reinsurance agreement which we had with them, and this termination is effective from 1 July 2001.

We believe that this notice gave the CGIC ample time to find alternative reinsurers, and as far as we could establish this has been successfully achieved. This business can now be considered as privatised. The principal rationale for a Government or its export credit agency’s involvement in export credit is to fill the gap between the requirements of exporters and the willingness of the private-sector insurance market to provide export credit insurance.

Nowhere is this market gap more evident than in the case of medium-term and long-term trade transactions. These involve capital goods and equipment, essentially projects such as the development of mines, the erection of buildings, power stations and building of ships. These types of projects require long-terms finance. Banks and other financiers are often only prepared to provide finance for such projects if governments, through their ECA’s, are prepared to provide some form of export credit finance cover the projects.

As I have indicated, there has been a dramatic change in the export of capital goods and services. In reality no contractor of a capital project will succeed with a tender unless they include finance or extended repayment terms. The CGIC played a role here as well. They would underwrite export credit laws for export projects of a capital nature. The difference between this facility and the short-term reinsurance facility was that the CGIC was unable to accept any portion of the long-term risks. Whereas in the case of short-term reinsurance there was an insurance or reinsurance relationship with the CGIC, the relationship on the project’s side was one in which they acted merely as a commissioned agent, with all the risks being borne by the Department of Trade and Industry.

The irony is that, although the department accepted the full risk on projects, banks and exporters were unable to consider their reinsurance as sovereign cover, because they were issued insurance cover by the CGIC and had no direct recourse to the DTI. As a result, some banks withdrew from the financing of projects, whereas others did not enter the business at all.

In the case of large projects, such as the case of the Mozal 1 aluminium smelter in Mozambique, and the power project in Turkey, the South African banks were not willing to make available finance for the South African participation in this project, unless the DTI and the national Treasury signed off on every page of every policy document issued. This effectively meant that the CGIC had to cede all its reinsurance rights to the lenders.

Whilst the benefits of setting up the ECA are very clear, the challenges are also substantial. Firstly, the nature of the business is changing as more and more projects are handled on a project finance or limited recourse basis. Therefore, an export credit agency needs to be able to analyse complicated project risks which hinge crucially on the cash flow and viability of projects.

I will not bother hon members with the actual contents of the legislation, as I hope the chairperson of the committee, who will be speaking later, will delve into that. However, I can just say, very briefly, that the Bill before us makes provision for the amendment of the Export Credit and Foreign Investments Reinsurance Act of 1957, and provides for other matters connected therewith.

I hope all hon members will support this legislation. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! If hon members find that Mr Momberg is in high spirits, I think it is because he is probably rehearsing his role as Zorba the Greek. [Laughter.]

Mr N S BRUCE: Mr Chairman, this is quite a complicated matter, but it is not one over which I or my party would necessarily care to break a lance. There is, however, an important point of principle, and this debate this afternoon certainly gives me the opportunity to lecture the ANC about one of their own heroes. [Interjections.]

Leon Trotsky was a man who not only knew his own mind. He believed he knew what was best for mankind too. Harmless though this Bill may appear to be, it has the unmistakable imprimatur of this type of reasoning upon it.

Trotsky’s biographer, Isaac Deutscher, described the Russian working class of 1917 as using ``its semiliterate thoughts to embrace the idea of the republic of the philosophers’’. And, indeed, Trotsky was a towering presence among those philosophers, whose wisdom embraced notions of perpetual revolution, provoked through the terrorism which Trotsky advocated and which ultimately Stalin used to do him in.

Trotsky believed he knew what was best for the proletariat and imposed his will through a dictatorship that, not surprisingly, embraced all the evils normally associated with dictatorships. It led to the horrors of Stalin and the tragedies of the Cold War. This Bill is not, of course, of the same magnitude, but it is of similar ilk, and that in itself is worrying.

In the 1920s Trotsky believed history was on his side. He consigned the Mensheviks to the dustheap of history. Eighty years later, events have shown how wrong he was. That is where the Bolsheviks reside. History has changed sides. That should be a lesson to all the dictatorial governments on this continent - dispirited, isolated, hungry and broke as they are. A distrust of governmental processes, along with the implied necessity to impose severe constraints on the exercise of governmental authority, is part of the philosophical heritage of the Anglo-Saxon democracies. Adam Smith, David Hume and the American founding fathers would have considered the central principles of what is today known as public choice, or the economic theory of politics, to be so elementary as scarcely to warrant attention. Indeed, John Stuart Mill wrote:

The very principle of constitutional government requires it to assume that political power will be abused to promote the particular purposes of the holder - such is the natural tendency of things.

Nobel economics laureate James Buchanan argues that the central insight of public choice does not lead to the conclusion that all collective action, all government, is necessarily undesirable, but rather indicates that because people maximise their own utilities, institutions must be designed so that individual behaviour will further the interests of the group.

The challenge is to construct institutions that will channel the self- serving behaviour of participants towards the common good - not, as in the case of the hon Tony Yengeni, towards an appropriately German 4X4. [Laughter.] Accordingly, we must be constantly sceptical about the ability of institutions of government to satisfy the needs of citizens rather than those of government itself. That must be the bell against which new legislation is sounded.

It is for this reason that my party is puzzled by the need to nationalise that part of the Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation’s business that insures the country’s risk for medium-term and long-term development projects and reinsures it with government, as no other reinsurance cover is available. The official explanation is that the CGIC takes too large a commission on this business, that the Department of Trade and Industry does all the work, that its procedures are too slow and its capacity too limited. All of this could easily be changed, but instead of doing that, which we could support, Government wants to create another parastatal.

The real reason, it seems to us, for this recidivism is that Government has another motive, that it wants to take control of what amounts to disguised aid flows to Africa, where most of these reinsurance projects are situated, through the proposed new parastatal. If that is not its explicit purpose, it will certainly be the inevitable outcome. By taking greater control of this reinsurance itself, Government will be able to finance what it believes to be the African Renaissance without directly accounting to Parliament, for it will be done off-budget, through an increasing contingent liability that will inevitably reflect political utility ahead of commercial risk. That is in the nature of these arrangements.

The DP has no objection, in principle, to aid for Africa, but it must be transparent open to debate in Parliament and reflect reasonable commercial risk, into the assessment of which there is more than an advisory business input. It must be subject to appropriate demonstration and be against institutional constraints. The proposed arrangements will mask what amounts to a subsidy provided by South African taxpayers to financiers and construction companies operating in Africa and to other African governments. This reinsurance obligation is not necessarily based on the creditworthiness of the recipients, but on the viability of the projects, which, as no cover is available elsewhere, suggests that they are more than very risky.

There are other reasons for our disquiet. The first is that this nationalisation flies in the face of Government’s privatisation policy, about which investors are increasingly sceptical as its advocacy is not matched by actuality. Secondly, it flies in the face of Government’s policy of dismantling protection in all its forms. Indeed, where this has happened, especially in the fields of agriculture and textiles, the outcome has been salutary as productivity has increased. Is there not a lesson to be learnt in this?

Thirdly, as this type of reinsurance is not available commercially, are not the markets indicating extreme caution? The political reasons for South African taxpayers shouldering this increasing burden must be seen to be justified. Fourthly, if the efficiencies of the CGIC are of concern, Government could open its reinsurance of this type of risk to other privately owned underwriters, thereby encouraging competition and, ultimately, greater efficiencies.

My party would have little difficulty with the reform of the CGIC to achieve the same ends, for we believe that that offers better control, more commercial input and less opportunity for political adventurism, and that it avoids creating an institution that will embrace Trotsky’s fiat rather philosophy of public choice.

We are aware that this Bill will largely replicate the position in Britain, the United States and elsewhere, and that it is OECD-friendly, but it is retrogressive. For that reason, we urge reconsideration of progressive reform rather than a nationalisation process, which would enable us to support it and avoid the policy inconsistencies and, in turn, their disadvantages as I have outlined them to hon members here. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

Dr R H DAVIES: Mr Chairperson, Deputy President and Ministers, I would advise any hon members that want to learn anything about Soviet history to ignore what we have just heard from Mr Bruce. We can organise a political education session afterwards. We are actually here to discuss the Export Credit and Foreign Investments Reinsurance Amendment Bill.

The point about this Bill is that it is about creating a new mechanism to deal more effectively with a particular category of export credit and foreign investment reinsurance that only government can, in fact, handle. We are talking, essentially, about long-term political risk insurance. This, as the Deputy Minister explained, is insurance cover against risks such as expropriation that is provided for projects involving the long-term deployment of capital in neighbouring and foreign countries.

I think that we should understand that contract work on projects in neighbouring countries and countries on our continent and elsewhere is actually an increasingly important economic activity for South African firms and, of course, contributes to infrastructural development in those countries. The Mozal Project, one of the projects insured in this way, resulted in the award of 192 contracts to South African firms, creating and sustaining some 23 000 jobs. I think we should note as well that one of the benefits of the EU-South African Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement is the right to contract for EU-funded projects in African- Caribbean-Pacific (PCP) member countries.

The point is that this long-term political risk insurance is simply not available in the commercial market. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation, which, by the way, is a private monopoly, does not have the resources to provide the cover. Its total market capitalisation is about R250 million versus, for example, a $1,2 billion investment in the Mozal Project. Secondly, the commercial market simply will not take up this risk. It is only available through Government structures.

At the moment what happens is that proposals are submitted by the CGIC to the reinsurance committee in the Department of Trade and Industry. The evidence which we had at the committee stage was that the reinsurance committee, in fact, has to do considerable work itself. It does not simply receive a proposal and rubber-stamp it. It actually has to do its own evaluation, there is considerable negotiation with foreign contractors and it has to do its own investigations. It is not a simple transmission belt. We have heard that the project managers, investors and so on do not want to work through intermediaries, they want what is called a direct cut through to Government on these issues. Our Government is getting a big exposure in this area - something like R12 billion. We heard that there is a fund of R1 billion - and it is growing - meaning that so far this insurance is being managed effectively and that we are not taking losses. But this Bill is not just about saving money by cutting out the CGIC. More importantly, it is about improving Government’s capacity to take decisions about a specific area of insurance and to do this more professionally and more effectively than has been done up to now. The ECA model would require the establishment of a parastatal which would then become a registered insurer and also a registered company under the Companies Act.

I think that the diatribe which we heard from Mr Bruce just now shows that the basic opposition and the objection of the DA to this Bill is ideological. I think that the DA should take off their ideological blinkers and recognise that privatisation is not a universal panacea that can solve all problems.

The weight of the evidence and the argument that was presented to us in the committee was that, in fact, the current system was not the most effective way for government to manage its own risk. It might have been OK when South Africa was isolated and was not participating in this business to any extent, but it is simply no longer adequate at this stage, as the Deputy Minister indicated, when our involvement in these kinds of activities is increasing significantly.

The ECA model was not simply plucked out of the air, it was adopted after extensive consultation and discussion about best international experience and also after contracting expert opinion. The idea, which was not mentioned, but which did come up, that perhaps Government will not be ready to take over this activity on 1 July was countered by evidence which we had suggesting that, in fact, what we are talking about is not a large number of policies, but a relatively small number - some 80 or so - at the moment. Large and important policies are those in which Government has to make a considerable effort in terms of determining its own position. Also, the ECA will open up the international possibilities, we were told, of Government being able to reinsure on international markets some of this risk.

One can only conclude that those who were taking the opposite view are not actually operating on the basis of the evidence, the arguments and the merits of the arguments which members have heard. They are operating, and I think it was absolutely abundantly clear from the last speech, on the basis of some adherence to some simplistic free-market dogma which is now being propounded to us.

There were a few technical amendments introduced at the committee stage. The amending Bill as presented to us did not, in our view, distinguish adequately between the ECA as a body appointed by Government that would register under the Short-term Insurance Act and the possibility of contracting existing registered insurers. We thought that this might create some legal uncertainty and some amendments were introduced which, we hope, will clarify this matter.

The ANC will definitely be supporting the Bill that will take us forward, we believe, in an important area of economic activity. We unequivocally reject all calls that would in effect bind us to decisions that were taken and practices that were prevalent in 1957. And I hardly need to remind hon members that Strijdom was then prime minister and ``apartheid baasskap’’ was in force. I think that, like many other decisions that were taken at that time, these practices and decisions in this particular area are simply no longer appropriate. [Applause.]

Mr H J BEKKER: Chairperson, I can assure the hon Davies that I will not follow the trend of the hon Bruce. I will probably be somewhere between the two of them.

Trade and Industry must promote the export of South African projects, particularly capital projects, to other countries, and particularly to African countries. I think we have a specific task in this regard.

In the past these projects and loans were underwritten by the Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation, and, in terms of this private company, which indeed occupied a monopolistic position, the total cost per annum was in the region of about R40 million. We had been given the assurance by Trade and Industry that they believed that these costs could be cut by half in future. And, in this particular matter, the IFP would say, yes, we can support that. But we added to this a caveat, and said that we should see what would happen in practice. Should the position be reversed or should the position be that at the end we start paying more, then I do not think there is any problem in going back to the private sector and seeing, at that stage, what the position would be.

The important thing that hon members must bear in mind is that South Africa has emerged from isolation and where we had very limited exports, and particularly export projects of a capital nature, the position has totally turned around. As a result of that, with so much more available, it is only logical that one’s risk factor is spread over a much wider basis. I believe therefore that one’s risk, although one is working with much larger numbers, is at a lower level, because it includes so many more projects.

We will therefore continue to engage with this in a constructive way. Let us also bear in mind that there is a total shift, and together with this risk factor that we are taking on now, there are also those risks that previously would not have been taken up by the CGIC. As such, South Africa is emerging as an export-leading country instead of, as in the old days, merely being an import-replacing country.

With this caveat, and on a conditional basis, let us put this to the test, and see what is going to happen. Should it then be that Mr Bruce’s forecast and doomsday prophecies come true, there would be no problem for us to reverse the position at that particular stage. The IFP will support the Bill. [Applause.]

Mr C T FROLICK: Chairperson and hon members, the Export Credit and Foreign Investments Reinsurance Amendment Bill before us represents, in our opinion, an appropriate course of action regarding Government’s responsibilities in this important area. The Bill provides for the establishment of the Export Credit Agency in the DTI to evaluate export credit and foreign investment risks and to provide export credit and foreign investment insurance cover on behalf of Government.

This function currently resides in the CGIC, which is nothing more than an agent which evaluates long-term project risks. In reality, the CGIC takes no risks on projects itself, while earning huge commissions, and all repayments are passed on to the Government. The CGIC, which is currently running a monopoly in this field, will now be relieved of this duty and will be able to concentrate on its core business, which is of a short-term nature in the local market. It must be noted that the establishment of the ECA is in line with international best practices in this field. For instance, Australia and Britain are also moving in this direction. This is confirmed in the recommendations made by a leading decision- maker in this field, Mr Malcolm Stevens, who was contracted specifically to advise the Department of Trade and Industry on this subject.

As envisaged, the Bill aims to perform the vital role of promoting capital goods exports, thus increasing South Africa’s ability to be a world player and its foreign exchange earnings and employment opportunities. In this process the Government is filling an important gap in the market to ensure a proper management of an ever increasing risk exposure.

The Bill will strengthen the ability of Government to take responsibility for the political risks related to export credit and foreign investments. It will also ensure that decisions in this area are taken more efficiently and cheaply. The five dedicated personnel currently stationed within DTI are actually doing most of the work. We urge the hon the Minister to ensure that the necessary specialist with expert knowledge in this field will be added to the existing staff component.

The CGIC raised various concerns, and we believe that these concerns have been adequately addressed and therefore the UDM will support the Bill.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! For the information of the hon Deputy Minister, the last speaker for today will be Miss S Rajbally and not Mr Aucamp.

Ms C DUDLEY: Chairperson, Deputy Minister and hon members, the ACDP will vote in favour of this Bill as development in Southern Africa is desirable and it is our understanding that this is an important objective of Government in drafting this legislation. However, what we do not understand is why the Government is nationalising what was effectively being run efficiently by the private sector in the form of the CGIC.

It is our view that the appropriate response would be for Government to simply reform and to make extra capacity available to the CGIC, which represents the pooling of the resources of our main banks and insurance companies. As it stands there would be tremendous risks for the South African taxpayer if development in the region were to be handled imprudently and Government were to politicise the decision-making on export credits.

The new agency must therefore function within the norms and standards applied and accepted internationally by the OECD. It is also critical that the board must consist of people who can do the job, as this is a highly specialised field. The ACDP will, however, support the Bill as amended in the portfolio committee.

Miss S RAJBALLY: Chairperson, the MF welcomes the Export Credit and Foreign Investments Reinsurance Amendment Bill, as it empowers the hon the Minister of Trade and Industry to enter into agreements with the Export Credit agency, which in return will provide export credit and foreign investment insurance cover on behalf of the Government, while simultaneously evaluating export credit and foreign investment risks.

The MF agrees that the full-scale agency, together with all its operations, will register a 50% saving on the R40 million being paid annually to the Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation of South Africa as commission.

The commercial risk, however, is short term, spread over many important firms and thus minimised. The political risks are much higher and not reinsured by private insurance facilities. Therefore the Export Credit and Foreign Investments Reinsurance Amendment Bill came into being. The MF supports the Bill. [Time expired.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! I notice that Mr Lee wants to play reserve for the MF.

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: Chairperson, I would like to thank the hon members from the IFP and Mr Bekker for supporting the Bill, and for the constructive manner in which he did so. I promise Mr Frolick that we intend to have the specialist engineers and everyone necessary to assist us with assessing these reinsurance applications. I would also like to say to Ms Dudley that we are not nationalising. Also, it is not correct that the corporation was running effectively. We are informed that the Auditor-General found that it was not running effectively. The international experts have also reported that the level of resources within the CGIC, handling medium-term and long-term cases, was very inadequate. They have pointed out that even if the CGIC were able to work hard-nosed, with due diligence, on a project, it would still not change the position. This is because the same expertise would be required where the project decision-making was taking place.

I would like to deal, lastly, with the comments from Mr Bruce, having, of course, acknowledged the support received from the last speaker, from the MF. I do not know why Mr Bruce thinks that we must disguise any trade with or aid to Africa, because they lie at the very heart of our Millennium Africa Recovery Plan.

Secondly, he is saying that, maybe, this is a disguise. I want to assure him that this export agency is going to be registered as an insurer, subject to company law and insurance law, and subject to the supervision and control by the Financial Services Board. As a public entity, as he should be well know, the ECA will also be subject to the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act. We will report monthly to the Department of Trade and Industry and annually to Parliament. All his fears are, indeed, unfounded.

I thank hon members for supporting this piece of legislation, and for the very reasoned inputs from the other parties that there is no need to oppose this legislation unless, of course, they are just playing party politics and being petty, which could be very unfortunate. I hope the DP has been convinced by these responses! [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

Bill read a second time (Democratic Party and New National Party dissenting).

                    CULTURAL LAWS AMENDMENT BILL

                       (Second Reading debate)

The MINISTER OF ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Chairperson, members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour to be afforded this opportunity of sharing with you the rationale for having worked so hard to effect amendments to the Cultural Institutions Act, the National Heritage Council Act, the Heraldry Act, the Pan South African Language Board Act, the National Archives of South Africa Act, the National Arts Council Act, the National Film and Video Foundation Act and the South African Geographical Names Council Act.

Amendments to the Cultural Laws Amendment Bill include technical amendments to the Heraldry Act to replace obsolete references to the Minister of National Education, the 1961 Constitution, the Senate and the House of Assembly. The Pan South African Language Board Act is amended to effect consequential amendments to the section on the appointment of its board. In the Bill the national archivist’s position as a public servant is regulated and the National Archives Commission is transformed to create a new National Archives Advisory Council. In order to realise their long-term strategies, the National Arts Council’s term of office is extended, and the National Film and Video Foundation is empowered to establish a separate legal entity to invest in film and video projects.

Our rationale is born out of a vision - a vision to transform the cultural, linguistic, archival and heritage landscape of this country in such a way that associated institutions reflect the ideals of a new democratic political dispensation, and a vision that says, whilst museums and other arts, culture and heritage institutions in the past have served the interests of a few citizens of the country, they now reposition themselves so that they serve the entire South African population.

This poses a series of challenges. These include accessibility, the development of new audiences, the development of human resources, implementing affirmative action policy by grooming and appointing a new generation of curators and managers across the colour spectrum, mounting exciting community outreach programmes, introducing acquisition policies that are friendly to indigenous artefacts, integrating living heritage in the form of oral tradition, oral history, indigenous knowledge systems, and many many other important issues.

In an attempt to achieve this vision, the department has embarked upon a transformative programme that witnessed the amalgamation of formerly separate museums into flagship institutions. The establishment of the Northern and Southern flagships is testimony to these amalgamations. The Cultural Laws Second Amendment Bill is, among other things, designed to make provision for the establishment of other flagship institutions, in line with the Government policy of ensuring efficient, effective and economic use of limited resources.

It should be noted that museums have now been listed as public entities, which means that they have to conform to the demands and requirements of the Public Finance Management Act. At present individual museums are not conforming to the Public Finance Management Act, which requires higher standards of financial reporting and internal auditing.

So the department is seeing the flagship model as the pinnacle to the challenges to which I have alluded. Flagships, if carefully planned, will ensure that there is corporate governance within these institutions. This will give the institutions an opportunity to infuse their expertise and creativity in the promotion of arts, culture and heritage. It will ensure that the institutions are able to maximise their assets with regard to human resource development, financial management, marketing and public relations, management research, acquisition and exhibition policies.

The spin-off of these amalgamations will be the savings on administrative costs in order to spend more resources on community outreach programmes, exhibitions and educational programmes. It will also assist our museums to properly align themselves with tourism strategies adopted by the Government and thereby support the national efforts aimed at the creation of jobs.

The Cultural Laws Amendment Bill and the Cultural Laws Second Amendment Bill were therefore born out of a need to ensure that these challenges are met. We have realised that the system of accountability has to be fully entrenched within our associated institutions because they are entrusted with public resources.

In terms of the Arts and Culture budget of this Ministry, over 85% of our budget is transferred to our associated institutions to develop and promote arts, culture and heritage of our country. It is therefore critical that we are able to have a fair amount of control and accountability in the usage of the public funds. It is through business planning that we will be able to ensure that the fiduciary duties and general financial responsibilities of the institutions are aligned with the Public Finance Management Act. Furthermore, these Bills provide an opportunity between associate institutions and the department to jointly plan and evaluate the implementation of Government policy.

Performance management, particularly at the CEO level, forms part of the critical amendments that have been introduced through this Bill. The appointment of boards - groups of people who bring knowledge expertise and skills and people who are regarded as custodians of the arts and cultural heritage - also forms an integral part of these amendments. Such custodianship goes with responsibility that touches on integrity of the institution, the integrity in terms of the management of financial affairs of the institutions and integrity in terms of the constitutional mandate which guarantees cultural rights to all citizens of the country.

These responsibilities cannot be taken lightly because they are at the core of the democratic principles of our country. A board whose operations run counter to such principles and whose interests prove inimical to the bigger interest and vision of the nation cannot be entrusted with such custodianship. As a Ministry we must ensure, and exercise the duty of utmost care to ensure, the reasonable protection of associated institutions.

To conclude, I want to assure hon members and colleagues that the proposed amendments are to the benefit of the public. They are for the better performance of the associated institutions. They are for improved corporate governance and increased productivity in the heritage sector.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! If the Whips of the ANC and the DP would make it possible for the hon Mr Motsitsi and the hon Mr Bruce to be here at a quarter to seven, I will be in a position to give a ruling on a point of order that was raised yesterday. If not, then we will deal with it tomorrow.

Ngaka M W SEROTE: Rre Modulasetilo ke ne ke rata go itsese Ntlo e gore rona ba lekala la Palamente re dirisana ka tsa ngwao, maleme, setso le saense. Re dirisana sentle thata le Tona, Ngaka Ben Ngubane, Motlatsa-Tona, Mme Mabandla le tlhogo ya lekala la tsa ngwao, Ngaka Rob Adam. Se se itumedisa thata ka gonne re itse thata gore re lebanwe ke dilo di le dintsi tse re tshwanetseng go buisana ka tsona go tlisa phetogo, le go tlosa tse di neng di dirilwe ke mmuso wa maloba.

Go tloga kwa ga lowe kgangkgolo ya rona, re le ba lekoko la ANC, e ntse e le gore re buisane, re dumalane ka diphetogo tse di tshwanetseng go diragala mo Aforika Borwa le mo go Aforika ka bophara jwa yona. Tautona, motlotlegi Rre Thabo Mbeki fa a bua ka Millennium Africa Programme, o tshwere motlhala wa kwa ga lowe wa ANC wa gore ke tshwanelo gore re fedise bohumanegi, malwetse mme re tlise pula, nala le dikhumo mo Aforika Borwa.

Rona re le ba lekala la ngwao mo Palamenteng, re le mo komiting e mme re le ba maloko a ANC, re lateletse motlhala o. Re itshwareletse ka motlhala o, gore fa re dira molao mo nageng e, e nne ona o o tla re etelelang pele le go re naya lesedi. Ke ka moo fa re ne re fetisa melao e mebedi e, e e amang tsa bonetetshi, maleme, ngwao, setso, dimiusiamo, go bolokwa ga makwalo, jalojalo, motlhala o ke ona o neng o re thusa go itse gore re ka e dira jang.

Bogolosegolo, melao e re neng re e dira ke tumellano ya rona le Tona le lekala la dingwao gore se se tshwanetseng go diragala mo nageng e ke phetogo. Phetogo e e tla dira gore ba ba leng teng gompieno le bana ba bona ba bone tlhabologo, e nne bona ba ba thsang tlhabologo, gore e re fa re bua ka phetogo, e be e le bona ba ba fetogang go dira phetogo e. Ke ka moo re buileng ka tsa ba ba emetseng baduladitulo ba makala a a farologaneng a Tona a buileng ka ona. Fa re bua ka bona, ka fa letlhakoreng le lengwe re ba fa maatla a gore ba dire eng, mme ka fa go le lengwe re ba fa se ke buileng ka sona fa ke ne ke re ke motlhala o o tshwanetseng go latelwa gore re fetele pele.

Ke rata go itsise Tona Ben Ngubane gore ga go tshose gore e re fa re tshwere re dira jaana, re goge le ba bangwe ba ba leng mo lekaleng la rona, re ba betse ditlhogo, mme re ba kuke le fa ba kua ba sa batle go tsamaya le rona. Seo ga se re makatse gonne ga ba itse se re buang ka sona fa re bua ka phetogo. Ba santse ba nagana dilo tsele tsa mo malobeng, ba lebetse gore maloba o fetile. Ka mokgwa o o ntseng jalo, ke tshwanelo gore fa go tshwanetse, re se ke ra tshaba go ba goga. Re a ba goga ka molao o, re ba naya tlhabololo le tlhaloganyo ya gore go iwa kae, go ba lemosa gore kgethololo ke sebe. Kgethololo e e neng ya dirwa ke melao ya bona e re neile mathata go fitlhelela mo ba le bantsi ba bileng ba neela matshelo a bona gore kgethololo e fele. Ba le bantsi ba gaabo rona ba ne ba neelana ka matshelo a bona. Fa go fitlhwa mo demokerasi e palelwang teng, re buisana le batho re re tsela ke e, mme bona ba itira difofu le ditsebetutu, re dire jang? Ke ka moo fa re fetsa mo, go tla nnang le ba ba ganetsanyang le se re buisanang ka sona, se e leng tswelelopele, se se batlang go tlisa diphetogo, se se batlang go fedisa le dikgethololo. Re tla ba goga. Re tla ba tsaya re ba ise naleng, re ba ise maungong, re ba ise kagisong. Se ga se re tlhabise kgala ka gonne, jaaka ke ne ke setse ke buile, mo Mmusong o o eteletsweng pele ke ANC, tsa tlhabololo, nala le kagiso ke tsona di dirileng gore re nne teng mme gape ke tsona di bopileng tlhaloganyo ya rona e e re kaelang gore re tshwanetse re dire ka mokgwa o o rileng go kgontsha batho ba Aforika Borwa le Aforika ka bophara go nna ngatananngwe le lefatshe le pharaletse jaana. Mmogo, re age lefatshe le namile jaana ka nako e ya ``globalisation’’.

Ke itumetse gonne re file baokamedi le ba dikomiti maatla , mme e bile ba dikomiti le ba morafe ba tlaa kopana, ba tlise phetogo e re buang ka yona e. (Translation of Setswana speech follows.)

[Dr M W SEROTE: Chairperson, I would like to tell this House that, as members of Parliament, we work together in matters relating to arts, culture, science and technology. We have a very good working relationship with the Minister, Dr Ben Ngubane, the Deputy Minister, Mrs Mabandla, and the Director-General of the department, Dr Rob Adam. This is a good thing as we know that there are a number of issues that we have to discuss to bring about changes and do away with what the former government did.

As the ANC, we have been saying that we should discuss and agree on the changes that have to be brought about in South Africa and the rest of the African continent. When hon President Thabo Mbeki speaks of the Millennium African Recovery Programme he is in line with the ANC’s policy of eliminating poverty and disease and bringing about peace and creating wealth in South Africa.

As members of the ANC in the Portfolio Committee on Arts, Culture, Science and Technology we have accepted this policy to help us during the law- making processes. That is why, when we passed the two Bills relating to science, languages, culture, tradition, museums, archives, etc, this policy helped us know how to do things.

We agreed with the hon Minister and the department, when passing these Bills, that what we need in this country is change. This change will help improve the lives of citizens of this country. It will make them change their attitude and, therefore, be active in the processes that will bring about change in this country. That is why we mentioned the representatives of the chairpersons of different departments. When we mention them, we help them understand what they are supposed to do, on the one hand, and how they should do it to be successful on the other.

I would like to tell hon Minister Ben Ngubane that it is no surprise that we have to drag, hit and lift up some people in this department, even if they do not want to go with us. The reason is that these people do not know what we mean when we talk about change. They are still thinking about the past. We, therefore, should not be too weary to drag them if need be. We are pulling them with this Bill to show them the right way and making them understand that apartheid is a sin. Apartheid left us with serious problems in the sense that others had to sacrifice their lives for apartheid to die. Many of our people sacrificed their lives. When we reach a point where democracy fails us, trying to show people the right way, whilst they turn a blind eye and deaf ear to what we are trying to tell them, what else should we do? There will always be people who are against what we are discussing here, that is, development which aims at bringing about change and bringing an end to apartheid. We will drag them along. We will give them a better life, good fruit and peace. We will not be ashamed because, as I said, the ANC-led Government, through development, a better life and peace made the ANC what it is today and helped us to enable the people of South Africa and the rest of the African continent to be united with the entire world. We should all build this entire world in this time of globalisation!

I am glad because we have given leaders of committees the authority, and they will work together with community leaders to bring about this change.]

Mr S E OPPERMAN: Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, the Cultural Laws Amendment Bill will amend the Heraldry Act of 1962, The Pan South African Language Board Act of 1995, the National Archives of South Africa Act of 1996, the National Arts Council Act of 1997, the National Film and Video Foundation Act of 1997 and the South African Geographical Names Council Act of 1998. These amendments will have a profound and far-reaching effect on the declared cultural institutions.

Dit is ‘n jammerte dat hierdie instellings in so ‘n laat stadium gekontak is, sonder dat daar genoeg tyd vir behoorlike oorlegpleging was. Dit plaas ‘n vraagteken oor ons verbintenis tot deursigtigheid en behoorlike betrokkenheid deur al die belanghebbendes. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[It is a pity that these institutions ware contacted at such a late stage, without there being enough time for proper consultation. This casts doubt on our commitment to transparency and proper involvement by all stakeholders.]

Five of the 17 institutions did not bother to respond, while the comments of the National Museum in Bloemfontein, the William Humphrey Arts Gallery in Kimberley, the Natal Museum, the Afrikaans Language Museum, the Council for Geoscience, the National English Literary Museum, the South African National Museum of Military History, the South African Cultural History Museum in Cape Town, Iziko Museums of Cape Town, the Voortrekker Museum in Pietermaritzburg, the National Arts Council and the National Archives were simply ignored.

If this is a general trend, then it is clear that we are not serious about consultation, and that we only use terms like transparency and consultation as slogans. Even the flow of information to the portfolio committee was problematic. It is only fair to present information on time so that members can have the opportunity to discuss it in their study groups before portfolio committee meetings.

There was general consensus amongst the institutions that the Minister should not have the legal prerogative to appoint the chairperson. We agree with this democratic viewpoint, because we believe that it is our duty to strengthen what has been called by some ``our fragile democracy’’. How can we entrust responsibilities to people and then not trust them to elect their own chairperson? We see this as a motion of no confidence in the integrity of members of the council. To these unfortunate amendments we can add the relaxation of control over alienation of collections, the creation of flagships without the necessity for proper consultation and the scrapping of the clause that indicates that the national archivist must have relevant professional experience and appropriate archival qualifications. Is this an onslaught against professionalism? The reasons for the new clause stipulating that the national archivist shall manage the National Archives under the direction of the Director-General of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology remain a mystery.

Although we appreciate the fact that some of the amendments will assist certain institutions such as the Pan South African Language Board, we cannot give our general support to all the proposed amendments. [Interjections.]

Mr M F CASSIM: Chairperson, I cannot tell you how much I envy all the hon members who have the opportunity to stand here. I miss this podium so much and I enjoy the opportunity of once again being here.

When the hon Dr Serote says that some people have to be hit on the head, that people have to be pulled together, we from the IFP can say that when the ANC runs, we run along with the ANC, when they leap, we leap with them, when they fly to the stars, we also fly with them to the stars. [Applause.] The cosmos is a big and vast place, we are able to concentrate our glare right out into the cosmos so that we can take our country much further forward than it has ever been. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

I would like each and every member to look at page 9, clause 23, of the Bill which is before Parliament, because what we have done here is something that is most empowering, for the first time I think in the history of South Africa. This is momentous. We make it a statutory requirement for those who serve on the various councils that are in charge of our culture to hand a report to the Minister. In this report they have to set out a business plan and explain how they will deal with innovation, growth and all the many changes that this Parliament has been promoting.

Once the Minister is happy with that, he hands it back to them and tells them to continue. A year later they must then hand a report to the Minister to indicate how far they have actually come in achieving those goals. Fourteen days after the Minister receives that report, it is sent to the portfolio committee and within a period of five months, two members from that cultural council must present themselves before the committee.

Two things will happen there. Firstly, these members will get an opportunity to talk to the portfolio committee, so a direct interface is created. Secondly, and most importantly, all those cherished goals of this democratic Parliament - the need to have gender equity, the need to be able to transform really and substantially - will no longer be just paper values. They become real, because when those members come before the portfolio committee, they will have to answer as to what they did with money given them by this Parliament, and say how far they were able to stretch each and every single rand, what value they brought. Then there were the material questions that were raised by my chairman, Dr Serote, can we conquer poverty, can we increase job opportunities, can we do the things that we have to do to create a better life for all?

These are the issues that will no longer be just dreams. We make it possible for the portfolio committee to become a very important player in these things. My suggestion to all the members of this House is to study this and to see how they can also implement the ground-breaking things that we have done in terms of the legislation for which they are responsible.

In that way we begin to energise Parliament. We make sure that what the people wanted when they elected us to this Parliament, and we made a solemn pledge that we will work in their interest, that we will advance their goals, that we will never rest until we have done everything possible to change the negative legacies of the past, we deliver.

We need to make sure that we cannot leave things to chance and therefore today, when hon members approve of these two Bills that are in front of them, they will be taking the people of South Africa where they deserve to go. I want to congratulate the hon Dr Wally Serote on his leadership, because without his intervention, this would not have happened.

I would like to say to the hon the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology that with these Bills, we will now be able to support him in making sure that this beautiful new development of the era following the 1994 elections will indeed be a jewel of the South African Government. [Applause.]

Mr D G MKONO: Mr Chairperson, hon members, the Cultural Laws Amendment Bill and the Cultural Laws Second Amendment Bill before us aim to achieve a wide range of administrative improvements in relation to arts and cultural governance. As such, we welcome and support these efforts at improving governance, management and administration within the arts and culture sector of society.

As far as the Cultural Laws Amendment Bill is concerned, the following matters are pertinent. The amending Bill provides for the regulation of the dissolution of the council and vacation of office of the council established under the Heraldry Act of 1962. The amendments to the Pan South African Language Board Act of 1995 improve the regulation of the board and address previously unaddressed matters in this regard.

The National Archives of South Africa Act of 1996 is amended so as to facilitate the establishment of the National Archives Advisory Council, replacing the National Archives Commission. This will empower the Minister with suitable opinion on matters affecting the National Archives of South Africa. In addition, the amendments proposed bring a greater degree of good governance to the affairs of the National Archives Advisory Council by prescribing the requirement for a business plan to be submitted to the Minister.

The National Arts Council Act of 1997 is amended in a similar fashion to address issues of governance and membership of the National Arts Council and the executive committee thereof. Furthermore, it also prescribes the requirement for the submission, by the council, of a business plan to the Minister.

The National Film and Video Foundation Act of 1997 is amended in order to establish a separate legal entity, the National Film and Video Foundation, for the purpose of investing in film and video projects. This is a valid attempt at further fostering the local film and video industry. This amendment also addresses the governance of the council in its executive committee and prescribes the submission of a business plan to the Minister.

The South African Geographical Names Council Act of 1998 is amended in order to regulate the payment of council members, the submission of a business plan to the Minister and providing for matters connected therewith.

As far as the Cultural Laws Second Amendment Bill is concerned, the following matters pertain. The Cultural Institutions Act of 1998 is amended so as to further regulate the amalgamation of declared institutions! Furthermore, the business activities of declared institutions …

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order!

Mr D G MKONO: The UDM supports the Bill.

Miss S RAJBALLY: Mr Chairperson, the MF welcomes the Cultural Laws Amendment Bill and the Cultural Laws Second Amendment Bill. We, the MF, commend the Bill for allowing the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology similar powers in respect of the members of any board, commission, council or committee established by the various bodies concerned.

In the post-apartheid South Africa it is remarkable to finally see the merging of various cultures in displaying the diversity of our rainbow nation. This is evident when, in the hosting of many national and international events, our heritage is strongly emphasised in the arts, such as the Suriyalanga Dance Group, in which Indians and blacks portrays choreography of cross-cultural dance movements.

The MF clearly recognises and promotes the culture of all ethnic and racial groups. We are certainly a party that goes all the way to accommodate our colourful but rich cultural heritage. The MF supports the Bill. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mong S L DITHEBE: Modulasetulo, selemong sena, seo Komiti ya Setjhaba ya ANC e se phatlaladitseng jwalo ka selemo sa mongwahakgolo wa Afrika, bakeng sa demokrasi le ntshetsopele, ANC e tshehetsa diphetoho tsena tse tliswang Setshwantshong sena sa Melao wa tsa Setso. ke rata hore ke re, ha ho qeaqeo hore setso se na le kabelo e kgolo ho kopanyeng le ho bopeng setjhaba sa habo rona.

Jwalo ka ha re le batho ba buang maleme a 11, ebile e le maleme a amohetsweng semmuso, ho a hlaka hore re maleme a 11 empa re setjhaba se le seng. Diphetoho tsena tsa Setshwantsho sa Melao ya Setso, di hlahisa monyetla o motle wa hore re tsebe ho neha setjhaba sebaka sa ho phethahatsa ditakatso tsohle tsa ntshetsopele ya botjhaba le setso sa sona.

Molao o mong le o mong, oo re o etsang, Ntate Opperman, re o etsa re o shebisisa le hore na o ka tlisa monyetla wa bophelo bo botle jwang maphelong a batho ba bo rona. Hona re ho etsa hobane nakong e fetileng, batho ba ne ba sena monyetla le ho kena ka hare ho dikomiti tsa Palamente, ekasita le bona baqolotsi ba ditaba. Jwale, sena seo o se bitsang ka hore ke ``fragile democracy’’, ha re tsebe hore na ke eng, hobane ANC e tlisitse diphetoho tsa pula madiboho, ka hare ho ntlo ena.

Matla a setso a bonahetse nakong eo re neng re aparela nqa tsohle tsa lefatshe, ka sehlopha sa rona sa Amandla Cultural Ensemble, ho fehla boitseko kgahlanong le apartheid. Dipina tsa rona tsa tokoloho le mehobelo, nakong eo, di ile tsa aha boitelo ka hare ho rona, hore tshepo e se fele, hore re tla ripitla apartheid.

Ha eba re ne re ile ra lahla setso sa rona, re ka be re ile ra be re lahlile tokoloho ya rona. Re ka be re se na tokelo ya ho fetisa Melao ena eo Palamente ena e e fetisang kajeno, le e meng ya bohlokwa. Ke rata hore ke re, seo re se entseng ka diphetoho tsena tse tlisitseng Cultural Laws Amendment Bill, le Second Amendment Bill, se ikamahantse le Setshwantsho sena sa Molao, e leng Public Finance Management Act, hobane tsohle tseo re neng re di etsa, re ne re shebile hore re di phaphathe mmoho le Setshwantsho seo sa Molao, re tle re kgone ho fihlela tsohle tse ka hare ho moo.

Ke rata ho re Letona, re a o tshehetsa mona, ebile Setshwantsho sena sa Molao, bohle ba ka hare ho ntlo ena ba lokela hore ba se tshehetse. [Nako e fedile.] [Ditlatse.] (Translation of Sesotho speech follows.)

[Mr S L DITHEBE: Chairperson, this year, which the ANC National Committee announced as the year of the African Century for democracy and development, the ANC supports the Cultural Laws Amendment Bill. I would like to say that there is no doubt that culture has a great influence on uniting and building our nation.

As we are people who speak 11 recognised official languages, it is clear that we have 11 languages but we are one nation. This amending Bill gives us the chance to give the nation the opportunity to achieve its aspirations as regards the development of cultural issues and the culture of the nation.

Every law that we pass, Mr Opperman, we pass after carefully examining how it can bring about an opportunity for a better life for our people. This we do because, in the past, people did not even have a chance to get into the committees of Parliament. Not even the media could. Therefore, we do not know what it is that he calls a ``fragile democracy’’, because the ANC has brought about far-reaching changes in this House.

The strength of the nation was visible when we approached the whole world with our Amandla Cultural Ensemble, to encourage the fight against apartheid. Our freedom songs and dances, at the time, built up the commitment inside us, so as not to lose faith that we would fight and overcome apartheid.

If we had abandoned our culture, then we would have abandoned our freedom. We would not have the right to pass the laws that this Parliament is passing today, and other important ones. I would like to say that what we have done with these changes, which brought about the Cultural Laws Amendment Bill and the Second Amendment Bill, is closely related to the Public Finance Management Act, because everything that we did, we did in accordance with it, so as to achieve all there is in that Bill.

I would like to say to the Minister that we support him here, and everybody in this House has to support this Bill. [Time expired.] [Applause.]]

The MINISTER OF ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Chairperson, I would like to thank all the members and parties who supported this Bill. It is an important development. It is true that it will have a profound effect, but that effect will be for the good of every citizen in this country. That is what we seek with this amendment. The institutions must serve the interests and the needs of all the citizens of this country, and move away from the type of service which was focused on particular groupings, and which did not cater for everybody.

It is not true that we have not consulted. Everybody was consulted, both before we took the Bill to Cabinet and in the portfolio committee at the committee stage. There is no associated institution that did not know about this process. If they had any other additions they wanted to make, they were free to bring them to our department or to the portfolio committee. If they did not do so, it is not because we denied them the chance.

The National Archivist is a highly qualified person. He has South African qualifications and overseas qualifications and experience. We have been very careful in selecting someone for this position, because access to information, ensuring the accountability of Government at all its levels, and also the availability of high-quality research information to the people are crucial as support in the underpinning of our democracy. We now even have a website which enables any researcher anywhere to access our archives.

What we have done in this Bill is to open up the possibility of being an archivist to everyone. We have done away with the old qualifications, which were very inward-looking and left out qualifications from the rest of the world. We are working here with the SA Qualifications Authority to ensure that the qualifications framework is a global one, but of a high and assured quality.

All these fears that have been raised simply reflect the reluctance of some members of this House to move into the new South Africa. We can never go back. We have embarked on a transformation in this country that is all- pervasive, that is organic, that is growing; it is not static. We have had six years during which we gave a lot of autonomy with arms-length management of the arts. What have we seen? There have been a few successes, but, by and large, it has been very retrogressive. People have sat in their councils and not effected transformation.

One should go to the institutions and see how many young black managers there are. It is a pitiful sight. One should see how many people are being trained in these institutions. It is not happening.

We cannot be in dereliction of our duty to the Constitution, to the Government and to the people of this country and simply allow these things to go on unchecked. What we have done is create a new corporate framework to ensure governance, to ensure equity and to ensure effective use of the resources that are entrusted to us and to the institutions. This is a progressive measure that ensures nation-building in the truest sense of the word. [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

Bill read a second time (Democratic Party and New National Party dissenting).

CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ON CULTURAL LAWS SECOND AMENDMENT BILL

Order disposed of without debate.

Report adopted.

                 CULTURAL LAWS SECOND AMENDMENT BILL
                       (Second Reading debate)

Order disposed of without debate.

Bill read a second time.

                    REMARKS MADE BY MR N S BRUCE

                              (Ruling)

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Hon members, I now propose to do two things. Firstly, I am going to make a ruling. Though the members who asked for the ruling are not here, it does not matter, because rulings should be given as soon as possible, and where there is no requirement for a withdrawal, it is appropriate for the ruling to be given.

Order! During Question Time yesterday the hon Mr Montsitsi raised a point of order about references by the hon Mr Bruce to the hon Mr Yengeni. I undertook to study Hansard and then give a ruling on the matter. I have now had the opportunity to do so. Although I regard the remarks as having been made in a lighter vein, members should avoid remarks which, particularly in the light of other issues before Parliament, at least carry an inference that may reflect on the integrity of an hon member.

Hon members will be aware that in the case of the hon Mr Yengeni, the matter of any infringement on his part has not yet been determined. I therefore appeal to members to be more circumspect when addressing the House in respect of this issue.

                 PASSING AWAY OF MRS IRENE MLANGENI

                           (Announcement)

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! I now have a rather sad announcement to make. I need to inform the House that Mrs Irene Mlangeni, wife of Mr Andrew Mlangeni, passed away a short while ago, after a long illness. Hon members here will know that she was the rock on which their family was built when he was jailed for 27 long years after the Rivonia Trial. This House honours her memory, and I would like to request you to stand for a moment as a mark of respect.

The House adjourned at 18:50. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 (1)    The following Bill was introduced by the Minister of Public
     Enterprises in the National Assembly on 24 May 2001 and referred
     to the Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) for classification in terms
     of Joint Rule 160:


     (i)     Alexkor Limited Amendment Bill [B 29 - 2001] (National
          Assembly - sec 75) [Explanatory summary of Bill and prior
          notice of its introduction published in Government Gazette No
          22255 of 4 Mei 2001.]


     The Bill has also been referred to the Portfolio Committee on
     Public Enterprises of the National Assembly.

National Assembly:

1. The Speaker:

 The following paper tabled is now referred to the Portfolio Committee
 on Agriculture and Land Affairs:


 Report of the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights for 2000-2001
 [RP 59-2001].

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 (a)    Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of the
     South African Wool Board for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June
     1999 [RP 38-2001].


 (b)    Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of the
     National Agricultural Marketing Council for 1999-2000 [RP 64-
     2001].

1. The Minister of Education:

 Education in South Africa - Achievements since 1994.

1. The Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry:

 Report and Financial Statements of the Goudveld Water for 1999-2000.