WEDNESDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2002
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                PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
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The House met at 14:03.

The Deputy 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.

             RESUMPTION OF DEBATE ON PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

Mr N P NHLEKO: Madam Speaker, hon members, Comrade President, yesterday I was moved when, in his address to Parliament, reflecting on the question as to why the IFP was in President Mbeki’s Cabinet, the president of the IFP, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, answered his posed question as follows:

Only those who have witnessed the horrors of war may fully appreciate how true reconciliation, which goes deep in the hearts and minds of our people, is more important than any political or policy differentiation which one may wish to highlight to promote a well-functioning democracy.

It is in this context that I am reminded of a personal experience. Sifiso, my younger brother, got killed in this war in 1992. Naturally, at home we reacted bitterly and angrily to this. This was one thing that we felt we could not take lying down. My father, who is the same age as the president of the IFP, cautioned against the anger that was engulfing us. He said:

My boy, sometimes the point is lost in this war between the IFP and the ANC, and that is that no political party gives birth to human life - rather, it is people who form political parties and not the other way round.

He went on to say that the tragedy that befell us demanded that we turn our anger around into an effort to end this war and reconcile our people. This reinforces a call to all of us, as espoused in the ANC’s constitution, to unite our people in the fight against poverty and disease, and in the eradication of the scourge of racism and all other forms of intolerance. It is these kinds of perspectives and experiences that made South Africa unique and made it succeed in its struggle for freedom. The truth is, anywhere else in the world this would have been a recipe for disaster.

Our President, in his address to Parliament on 8 February 2002, took a great stride in the process of uniting our people for a common purpose - freedom. We congratulate the President for his excellent leadership. The current political situation is owing to various milestones in the history of this country. It is owing to the indigenous people, the arrival of European settlers, the subsequent wars for liberation, the birth and banning of liberation movements, and, lastly, the victory of the democratic forces that led to our current democratic dispensation.

Firstly, it is important to realise that we are Africans. One cannot be a European and an African at the same time. Sometimes one wonders if this is the common understanding of every one of us here, gauging by the fact that some of us are quick to disown the country’s setbacks. Since 1994, while listening to speeches made by other political parties in this House, one has wondered whether we are all South Africans and whether we are all talking about one and the same country.

One schoolmate used to tell the following joke. A Mr Jacobson had a game farm. He and other farmers were experiencing severe drought. At this stage of the drought, Jacobson was left with only one elephant on the farm. Farmworkers had been retrenched, with the exception of Joe. Both Jacobson and Joe, for very different reasons, of course, were very fond of this one and only elephant. The drought became worse, and the situation became more and more hopeless. I am told that an elephant can go on for about ten days without a drop of water. On the 15th day this elephant died. By this time, the ground was hard-baked, cracked into rectangular blocks. Jacobson was crying, in mourning. On the other hand, Joe was doing the same thing. The extent and rate of mourning was the same. On the face of it, witnessing this incident, one could easily have concluded that both men had lost something dear and of equal value. However, upon close examination, the reasons were not the same at all. For Jacobson, it was obvious that he had lost his one and only reason for having a farm - the elephant. For Joe, the issue was not only that he was going to lose his job, but the difficult question was - who was going to dig the grave to bury the elephant? [Laughter.]

This story attempts to emphasize the need for all South Africans to act in unity in dealing with the problems that the country is faced with. This would assist us in bridging the gap on the race and class question. That is how we should understand the call by the President. The struggle to eradicate racism is a struggle for humanity. It is the struggle to discover oneself able to build a humane society. It is our duty to create common values and norms in order to create a true sense of nationhood, and thus decrease the incidence of social prejudice among our people.

The ANC has given us a platform through which to achieve this objective - Letsima. It is in the spirit of this approach, a call for unity, as led by the President, that the current political realignments, the ANC-IFP-New NP arrangement, should be understood. This development cannot be interpreted narrowly to mean simply institutional arrangements, for example, governance structures and power. It is a national effort to overcome the common problems of poverty and underdevelopment. It is an effort that has to succeed. It is a call to awaken in us the spirit of collectivism, social duty and love for one another.

In this regard, we acknowledge the immense contributions made by our white compatriots who have identified with this cause for humanity. We also welcome and acknowledge those whites who have come to realise that fighting against racism and identifying with the poor makes them better human beings. They have done this in the face of stigmatisation, prejudice and ostracisation. Through the leadership provided by the President the term ``Afrikaner’’ has for the first time been given its proper meaning and context.

Colonialism and apartheid played a major role in the destruction of our moral values. By their very nature, colonialism and apartheid are destructive and inhuman processes. Their legacy is still with us. The stance taken by the President in calling for moral regeneration, the call for Letsima, must be understood to mean that all patriots must pick up their spears and shields and join us. The fight against racism, child abuse, women abuse and rape is at the centre of the movement for moral regeneration. We cannot accept being afflicted by the scourge of colonialism and apartheid and allow a society that becomes an enemy to itself. The war on this front must be fought with a lot of ingenuity.

Many people have alluded to a well-managed South African economy. Others have welcomed the fact that our economy is growing while at the same time shedding jobs - thus making it an economy characterised by jobless growth.

Before the arrival of European colonisers, our people lived largely on subsistence farming. Seeking to exploit the mineral wealth of our country, the colonisers turned our people into labourers through coercive means, among others, poll tax and wars. Thus for a long time our economy was labour intensive with no intention on the side of the successive oppressive regimes to develop our people and provide them with skills.

With the changing economic world and the need to be competitive in order to grow, our economy is rapidly changing from being a labour-intensive economy to being a skills-based economy. This poses a great challenge to us, particularly because a great majority of our people are uneducated and unskilled, and therefore find themselves in an economic environment that is becoming more and more averse to them.

The Minister of Labour in his speech yesterday dealt with how Government is seized with this issue. Our task is to reinforce these efforts by Government, by making a call to our people in the spirit of Letsima, that learning a skill of whatever nature is a matter of life and death. The day our people are skilled is the day we would have taken a great leap away from poverty. We welcome a number of other initiatives by some segments of the business sector in this regard. They are proudly South African.

In conclusion, a tiger knows what it takes to be a tiger. A bird knows what to be. There is only one kind of living species that does not know what it takes to be, namely humankind. It will always be in search of itself. Along the way, we have stumbled and sometimes stuttered, but we have never stopped in our endeavour to transform our nation.

The President has provided leadership. Our struggle against poverty, disease, racism and xenophobia is about honour and dignity. [Applause.]

UNGQONGQOSHE WEZOLIMO NEZEMIHLABA: Somlomo, Mongameli, Sekela Mongameli, malunga ahloniphekile esishayamthetho, ngiyethemba ukuthi sisonke singamalunga alendlu ehloniphekile sizokwazi ukunika impendulo eqotho embuzweni obuzwe uMongameli enkulumeni yakhe ngoLwesihlanu othi, ngabe konke esikwenzayo singamalunga alendlu njengoNgqongqoshe, amajaji kanye nezisebenzi zikahulumeni kuyasiza yini ukuqeda inhlupheko nokungathuthuki?

Ngizothi qaphu qaphu kancane kuleli thuba engilinikiwe ngichaze ukuthi thina njengoKhongolose okuyithi futhi esiphethe umbuso ngabe yini esiyenzile ukuzama ukulwa nendlala kanye nobuphofu kuleli zwe, ikakhulukazi emakhaya nasezindaweni ezingamadolobha. Siziqhenya ngemiphumela, singakhohlwanga ukuthi umkhankaso usemkhulu walokho okufanele sikulungise, ngesintu bathi, ``akuvelwa kanye kanye kungemadlebe embongolo’’.

Kanjalo nathi emizameni yokuqeda ukuhlupheka angeke sibe namandla okwenza imilingo yokuthinta imiphefumulo yonke ngamunye ngamunye esabhekene nalesi simo. Kodwa kancane kancane siyoze siphumelele. Enkulumeni kaMongameli kweledlule uphinde wagcizelela ukubaluleka kohlelo lokuthuthukisa izindawo zasemakhaya kanye nalezo ezisemadolobheni. Ubekusho lokhu ngoba azi kahle kamhlophe ukuthi lezi zindawo zisabonisa umfanekiso obuhlungu wezinto ezoniwa ngaphambili. Kodwa-ke singekhale manje, okwethu ukuba silungise.

Onyakeni odlule waqoka izindawo eziyi-13 zasemakhaya neziyisishiyagalombili zasemadolobheni okufanele kuqale kuzo uhlelo lwentuthuko.

Wagcizelela ukuthi lo msebenzi kufanele wenziwe ngokubambisana kuyo yonke imikhakha kaHulumeni - komasipala, ezifundazweni, ezindlini zikahulumeni kundlunkulu kanye namaparastatal. Wabuye wagcizelela ukubaluleka kokusebenza ngokungaqhudelani ukuze sonke sinikeze ngokusemandleni ethu entuthukweni yalabo abasantulayo.

Singamalunga kaKhongolose kanye namalunga ale Ndlu yePhalamende sakwamukela lokhu ngezandla ezifudumele. Mhlawumbe okunye okwasenza saba nentokozo ukwazi ukuthi ngisho ngesikhathi izwe lethu lihluthwa ngendluzula, sisuswa kulezo zindawo okwakungezethu ngendabuko, asizange silwele ukuya emadolobheni. Umshikashika wethu kwakungukuzithuthukisa kulezo zindawo esikuzo.

SiwuKhongolose sajabula-ke futhi ngoba iningi lalaba bantu abangabalandeli bethu bahlala emakhaya. Nalabo abahamba baya emadolobheni kwakungenxa yokuntula befuna imisebenzi. Ngingasho nje futhi malunga ahloniphekile, uma sikhumbuzana, ngithi uMongameli uhambe ngqo ngalowo mqulu esasiwubhalile i- Reconstruction and Development lapho nakhona sabalula ngokuthuthukiswa kwamadolobha kanye nezindawo zasemakhaya.

UZizi kanye noHulumeni wakhe abazilahlanga izimfuno zabantu ezazichaziwe kulo mqulu njengoba abanye becabanga. Ingabe yimiphi-ke imiphumela esesiyibonile? Ocwaningweni esilwenzile kule nyanga ephezulu kuyabonakala ukuthi izinhlelo zokuthuthukisa seziqalile. Amaprojekthi abalelwa ku-137 emakhaya kanye nangu-108 asemadolobheni abonisa isithombe nokho esingcono. Ngingabala nje eKgalagadi lapho khona abahlali bathe besakha imigwaqo baphinde babona imboni ebaluleke kakhulu, imboni yezimbuzi. Abanye bangahleka bathi izimbuzi zingaba imboni kanjani. Phela izimbuzi lezi yizona ezingasiza ukwakha iminotho zithathe nolwazi lwabantu basemakhaya ngokwazi kwabo, zenze futhi izimboni zokwakha izicathulo nezigqoko nezikhwama. Ngingabala ngithini? U-Eskom ulethe ugesi, namalungu ale Ndlu afana nobaba u-Kasril, abonile ukuthi amanzi ngabe ayasondela yini eduzane. Ngalezo zindlela siyabonisa ukuthi uma sisebenza ngokubambisana kuningi esingakuzuza.

EFreyistata laphaya kumasipala waseMaloti -a- Phofung esifundeni saseThabo Mofutsanyana siwakhile umtapo wezincwadi sisebenzisana ne-Carnegie Foundation. Lokhu besikwenza ngoba sazi ukuthi imfundo nokuqeqesheka kubalulekile nakubantu basemakhaya.

Endaweni yase-Alexander khona umsebenzi wokwakha kabusha usuqalile. Ngikhuluma nje indawo yase-Jukskei, ukunakekelwa kwemvelo nokuvimba ukuguguleka komhlabathi sekuphelile. Sesiyasibona isithombe sempilo engcono. Izindlu ezibalelwa ku-7000 zizokwakhiwa kulo nyaka ophezulu.

EMdantsane endaweni ebizwa ngokuthi ise-Highway laphaya ematekisini nakhona sisiqedile isikhumulo samatekisi namabhasi, kwabonakala impucuko. Siyaqhubeka-ke nale misebenzi. EKhayelitsha isakhiwo senkantolo yemantshi siyabonakala. Ngingabala ngithini, ngoba miningi le misebenzi eseyenzekile.

Ukuzimisela kwethu ukwakha kabusha leli zwe kwakufanele. Isibopho sethu kwakungukwakha imiphakathi ephilayo, ezimele, engasweli neziqhenyayo ngobuzwe bayo. Siyazi ukuthi imiphakathi yasemakhaya imiphakathi engaphansi kwezindawo zamakhosi. NjengoKhongolose-ke futhi siyakwazi ukubaluleka kokuthi silucacise udaba lokuthi amakhosi azoba naqhaza lini kwezombusazwe.

Ngithanda ukukubeka ngokusobala ukuthi ngokwami ukubona, nozakwethu futhi bangavuma, umsebenzi wokuphothula lolu daba nokho usuhambe ibanga elithe xaxa. Ngikhuluma nje onyakeni odlule laphaya kwaZulu-Natali sasidingida udaba olubalulekile lokuphathwa kwemihlaba. Sasikwenza lokhu sazi ukuthi zikhona izingqinamba.

Uma singabheka nje, ezinye zalezo zingqinamba ngeziphathelene nokubangwa kwemingcele, ukwabiwa kwemihlaba nendlela okufanele leyo mihlaba iphathwe ngayo; ukuthi kufanele ibe namatayitela yini kumbe iphathwe ngokuhlanganyela ngokwezigodi. Lezi ngezinye zezinto okufanele sizidingide ukuze sibone ukuthi ngabe qhaza lini esingalibamba kulokhu.

Akusikho-ke lokho kuphela. Ngawo futhi uNovemba wonyaka owedlule sihlangane namakhosi endabuko, sabheka ukuthi ngabe eminye iminyango kaHulumeni yona ingabona kuyikuphi okufanele kwenziwe ngamakhosi endabuko. Ngokusobala-ke kuyakhombisa ukuthi asisibi kangako isithombe sokulungisa lolu daba. Sizoyibona impumelelo kungekudala.

Le mifanekiso engiyibalile yentuthuko iyizinkomba zokuthi uHulumeni uyazama esebenzisana nemiphakathi nezinhlangano zayo. Kodwa isifundo esisifundile kulo mshikashika ukuthi ukuze sisebenze ngesivinini, kubalulekile ukuthi sithuthukise ikakhulukazi izinga lezisebenzi ezikumasipala, kanti futhi nendlela izisebenzi zikahulumeni ezisebenza ngayo kuzofanele ithi ukuguquka. Akufuneki umuntu athi, mina ngiqashwe umNyango wezaManzi ngakho ngeke ngiyosebenza laphaya kuleya ndawo. Ngezinye zezinto lezi eziyosenza sazi ukuthi uma sisebenza ngokubambisana singaphumelela.

Eminye yemibandela esiyibone ibalulekile ukwazi ukuthi ukumiswa kwezakhiwo ezifana nezingqalasizinda kubaluleke kangakanani ekutheni kube khona impumelelo esimeme. Omunye umzekelo esihamba phezu kwawo owokuthi ngaphandle kokuthi sibe nezimiso zokuthuthukisa nokwakha umnotho, esikwenzayo kuyofana nokwakha ize leze, kanti uma ngabe sizibheka lezi zinto siyobona ukuqhakaza. SiwuKhongolose masincome oNgqongqoshe bakaMongameli ikakhulukazi kohulumeni basekhaya ngokuthi baqale umshikashika wokuthi omasipala bakhe izinhlelo behlanganisa imiphakathi ukubheka ukuthi intuthuko yabo ingahlelwa kanjani, lokhu esikubiza ngokuthi i-Integrated Development Plan (IDP).

Lokhu-ke kuzodinga ukuthi sibe nokubekezela ngoba ngesinye isikhathi ukuthi sithintane nemiphakathi akuzukwenza ukuthi senze izinto ngokushesha njengokuthanda kwethu. Enkulumeni yakhe uphinde wasikhumbuza uMongameli ukuthi masingabi ngamavila, silinde ukwenzelwa ngaso sonke isikhathi kodwa uthe masivuke sizenzele.

Ngikhumbula lapha omunye owayeyilunga lale Ndlu uMaKhuzwayo. Amanye amalungu ahloniphekile ayamazi ukuthi wayesenhlanganweni ye-YWCA ngaleso sikhathi. Babezibiza-ke ngokuthi bayiNhlangano kaZenzele. Engakuthanda isiqubulo sabo esasithi, ``We lift as we climb” [Senyuka sifukula]. Lesi siqubulo siyisikhumbuzo sokuthi uma sidonsa masidonse kanyekanye, uma kukhona owayo masimfukule ngoba phela yilelo nalelo galelo elenziwa yilowo nalowo libalulekile ekwakheni isizwe esisha.

Enkulumeni kaMongameli yangoLwesihlanu uphinde wabalula udaba olubalulekile kanti nayizolo amalungu aleNdlu aluthintile, ukubaluleka nenselelo esisabhekene nayo ngokuntulwa kwemisebenzi, nesifo sengculazi. Ngingasho ngingangabazi ukuthi thina njengenhlangano kaKhongolose sizwile. Sizokhumbula futhi ukuthi ezinye zalezi zinto engizibalile enkulumeni yami ziyizinkomba zokuzama ukuqeda ububha nendlala kanye nokwakha amathuba emisebenzi.

Mhlawumbe kubalulekile futhi kule Ndlu sike sikhumbuzane ukuthi kwakunguye uMongameli lo ngonyaka ka-1997 owakha umbimbi lobumbano phakathi kukaHulumeni, izinhlangano zawo kanye nemiphakathi ekulweni nesifo sengculazi. Okwakubalulekile ukuthi wathi sonke masibambane. Isifo sengculazi lesi akusiwo umsebenzi wezempilo kuphela, kodwa ngumsebenzi obhekene nathi sonke. Kodwa okubalulekile futhi akuphindile enkulumeni yakhe ngoLwesihlanu ukubaluleka kokuqeda ubuphofu kanye nendlala. Sonke singofakazi bokuthi umzimba ongondlekile kahle utholwa nanoma yiziphi izifo kanti umzimba owondlekile amasosha awo ayasiza ukuthi uvikeleke. Ngakho, usikhumbuzile ukuthi uma sibheka lesi simo masingathathi lokho okuzwana nathi, kodwa masibheke konke esikwenzayo ukuthi ngabe kuyosisiza na ukubhekana nalo mshikashika, kusisize yini ekwakheni ikusasa elihle.

Mhlawumbe bakhona abangasiboni isidingo sokuthi lo mshikashika kaVukuzenzele ubaluleke ngani, kwazise phela ukuthi bona bebehleli emanonini, bedla bekhomba ngophakathi lapho abanye bethu bedla imbuya ngothi. Thina-ke esikwaziyo ukuhlupheka, sithi siyithathile inselele. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of Zulu speech follows.)

[The MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE AND LAND AFFAIRS: Madam Speaker, Deputy President, hon members, I hope that we as members of this House can answer the President’s question that he asked on Friday. He asked then if what we are doing here as hon members of this House, as Ministers, judges and public servants, help to alleviate poverty and underdevelopment.

I will briefly mention in this short period of time what we as the ANC-led Government have done to alleviate poverty in this country, especially in the rural and urban areas. We are proud of the results and we also remember that there is big campaign about what needs to be rectified. In the African culture they say: “We do not show up at the same time, like the ears of a donkey”. The same applies to our efforts to alleviate poverty. We do not have the power to perform miracles and touch the soul of everyone else who is facing this situation. However, little by little we will succeed. In his speech last week, the President emphasised the importance of the rural and urban development programme. He said this because he knew very well that these places are still showing a painful picture of things that were messed up in the past. But we cannot cry now, it is up to us to correct them.

Last year he identified 13 rural areas and 8 urban areas where the development plan should begin. He emphasised that all Government sectors, municipalities, provincial government, national Government and parastatals should do this job jointly. He also emphasised the importance of working without competing so that we will provide to the poor as much as we can.

As members of the ANC and members of this House, we accepted that with warm hands. Perhaps what pleased us was the knowledge that even when our country was taken from us by force, when we were removed from our traditional land, we did not fight for going to cities. Our struggle was to improve ourselves in the places where we were living.

As the ANC we are happy, because the majority of our supporters are in the rural areas. Those who went to urban areas did so for job-hunting purposes. As a reminder, hon members, I can say that the President has followed up on what we wrote in the Reconstruction and Development charter, in which we mentioned the development of rural and urban areas.

Zizi and his Government did not ignore the wants of the people as they are explained in the charter, as some people may think. What results have we seen? According to the research conducted last month, it is clear that development programmes have already started. There are about 137 projects in the rural areas and 108 in the urban areas, which shows a better picture. I can mention Kgalagadi, where residents, while they were still building the roads, saw the opportunity for an important industry, a goat firm. Some may laugh and say how can goats be a firm.

Goats are the ones that can help to build wealth and utilise the knowledge of the rural people and build shoe, hat and bag industries. The list is endless. Eskom has brought electricity and hon members in this House, ones like father Kasrils, has ensured that water is brought close to people. In that way we show that a lot can be gained if we work co-operatively.

At the Maloti-a-Phofung municipality in the Thabo Mofutsanyana district in the Free State, we have built a library together with the Carnegie Foundation. We did this because we knew that education and training are important even to the rural people.

In Alexandra the reconstruction programme has started. Today in the Jukskei area the natural conservation work has been completed. We now see the picture of a better life. About 7 000 houses will be built this year.

In Mdantsane, at a place called Highway, we have completed a bus station and a taxi rank. Now there is civilisation. We are continuing with these jobs. In Khayelitsha, the court building is appearing now. The list is endless, because a lot of work has been done. Our determination to rebuild this country is the right thing. Our aim is to build good, and serious communities, ones that have everything and are proud of their nationality. We know that the rural society is a society that is run by amakhosi. As the ANC we are aware of the importance of clarifying the role of amakhosi in politics.

I would like to mention that as far as my colleagues and I are concerned, the work of concluding this issue has gone the extra mile. Last year in KwaZulu-Natal we talked about the important issue, that of managing land. We did this although we were aware that there were problems.

We must look at other issues, like border disputes and land redistribution and the way that land should be managed, determining whether there should be land titles or whether land should be managed jointly by clans. These are some of the things that we should discuss so that we can see what role we can play here.

It is not only that, in November last year we met with traditional leaders. We looked at what other government departments think amakhosi should do. It is clear that what it will take to correct this situation is not that bad. We will witness success soon.

These pictures of progress that I have mentioned are indicators that show that the Government is trying to work with communities and their organisations. But the lesson we learned in this struggle is that in order to deliver speedily, it is important to improve the level of municipality workers, and that the way government employees work needs to be changed. A person should not say I work for the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, therefore I cannot work elsewhere. This is one of the things that make us aware that if we work co-operatively we will succeed.

Another aspect that we saw as an important thing, was to know the importance of establishing infrastructures to ensure greater success. Another line that we follow is that without improvement of conditions and wealth creation, what we are creating will be worthless, but if we look into these things, we will see success. As the ANC we should thank the Ministers, especially the local governments, for starting the process of building structures to unite communities so that we can see how their development can be arranged, something that we call the Integrated Development Plan, IDP.

This will need patience, because sometimes communicating with communities will not enable us to speed up things the way we want to. In his speech, the President reminded us not to be lazy, and that we should not wait for anyone else to do things for us, we should do things ourselves.

I remember Ms Khuzwayo, who was a member of this House. Some of us know that she was in the YWCA at that time. They called themselves the ``Do it yourself Organisation’’. What I liked was their motto that said: “We lift as we climb”. This motto reminds us that if we pull, we must pull together. If someone falls, we must lift him up, because each and every weight each individual adds is important in building a new country.

In his Friday speech, the President mentioned a very important issue, and yesterday members of this house mentioned the important challenge we are facing in respect of job creation and Aids. I can proudly say that we as the ANC got the message. We will remember that some of the things I mentioned in my speech are the indicators that show how we can alleviate poverty and create employment.

Maybe it is important for us in this House to remember that it was the President in 1997 who formed an alliance among the Government, its organisations and communities in a fight against Aids. Aids is not only a challenge for the Department of Health, but all of us. The other important thing that the President mentioned in his speech on Friday is the importance of fighting poverty and starvation.

We are all the witnesses of the fact that a malnourished body can more easily be affected by diseases than a well nourished one, because the immune system of the latter protects it. Therefore, the President reminded us that we should look at this situation, and take not only what is right for us. In fact, he said we should look at what we are doing and see if it will help in facing the struggle and in building a better future.

Perhaps there are those who do not see a need for the ``Wake up and do it yourself’’ struggle and its importance. They do not see it, because they are living well, while others are living in poverty. We as people who experienced hardship say we have accepted the challenge. [Applause.]]

Miss S RAJBALLY: Madam Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, Ministers and hon members, firstly, the MF would like to take this opportunity to welcome all members to the new year. Hopefully all members are fresh and determined to undertake the year’s challenges in a united effort.

The MF welcomes the President’s state of the nation address, as it was acclaimed nationwide and by all parties, with the exception of a few, especially the DP, who constantly criticise our present Government’s achievements. The MF applauds our achievement of advancing in the eradication of poverty and underdevelopment in our country. We are pleased to note that the pursuit to attain the further breakdown of these will continue on an even larger scale, as evidenced by the two forthcoming summits, namely the summit for African union and the other one for sustainable development, to be held later this year. This will make South Africa an important stakeholder in the reawakening of Africa.

The unsolicited report by the team of academics at the University of Stellenbosch with regard to the Government’s performance during 2001 is certainly impressive. Whilst the MF congratulates all stakeholders who worked hard at attaining this, we would like to encourage by using such good performance as an incentive to inspire ability and to attain even greater performance achievement in the year ahead.

It is most satisfying to acknowledge the advancement in aspects that affect our citizenry’s daily lives, namely the extensive advancement in the delivery of clean and running water, electricity, grid connections, land redistribution, housing and education. The MF holds firm to the President quote that ``governance is not about pushing buttons and things happening instantaneously’’.

We have come a long way and the results we have attained thus far most certainly represents progress from the backlog inherited from the apartheid regime. What is more important to note is that we have not done this alone. It has been a united effort and represents long hours of work by our entire nation, those who have undertaken to work to achieve its new Government’s policies with no reservation as to its diversity. I guess that makes us the rainbow nation that we are known to be.

The MF hereby supports the people’s campaign, Vuk’uzenzele, meaning to arise and act, which is certainly a logical means to attain our aims. We announce our support for the further eradication of poverty and underdevelopment, as Government’s undertaking for the year ahead. We further support all efforts in the Government’s plans for 2002 to ``further develop our greatest resource, our people; initiate additional programmes to improve the quality of life; social equity aimed at achieving high rates of economic growth and development; to improve the efficiency of Government to further strengthen and entrench our system of democratic governance; discharge its current international responsibility; and actively encourage participation and promote the involvement in the peoples’ campaign, Vuk’uzenzele.’’

Once again, the MF supports the people’s campaign Vuk’uzenzele, which means, arise and act, and calls for united effort to carry out the sentiment which this campaign aims at achieving.

The year 2001 has come and gone and 2002 has dawned upon us, with many challenges that we seek to meet and many endeavours that we seek to fulfil.

Siyaya, sizohamba naye uMongameli futhi siyoze sifike ekugcineni. Sizobanceda abantu bakithi eNingizimu Afrika. [Ihlombe.] [We are going there, and we will go with the President until we reach the end. We will help our people in South Africa. [Applause.]]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: Madam Speaker, Comrades President and Deputy President and hon members of the House, the international effort to help in the reconstruction of Afghanistan was one of the matters that the President raised on Friday. Internationalism has been one of the key principles around which the ANC shaped the struggle for the liberation of South Africa.

In its final clause, the Freedom Charter spells out the role of an independent South Africa vis-à-vis world peace, in the following manner, and I quote:

South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation, not war.

This is an ideal which enjoys the support of our nation, united as it is on the question of peace among our people and peace within and among the nations of the world. If there are any opponents of this principle, they will be reckless and misguided mavericks who, fortunately for us, will be no more than a handful.

The question of war and peace was among a number of issues raised in the state of the nation address. The manner in which Comrade President arrived at these matters was well informed. The ANC says in its strategy and tactics document, and I quote:

The liberation of South Africa was both a local expression of a changing world and part of the catalyst to renewed efforts aimed at attaining international consensus on the most urgent questions facing humanity.

Ukuphuhliswa kweAfghanistan, ke ngoko, yenye yemiba engundoqo elizweni lonke. Zikhona nezinye iindawo apho abantu basaxambulisanayo khona, nto leyo ebangela ukuba kubekho abantu abaninzi ababhubhayo. I-ANC ke yona ayizithandi iimfazwe ezigqubayo eAngola nakwiDemocratic Republic of Congo. Asiyithandi nento eyenzeka kumazwe afana neSudan. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)

[The development of Afghanistan is one of the critical issues in the world. There are other parts of the world where strife is still prevalent, something which leads to the death of many people. The ANC does not like the wars which are prevailing in Angola and the DRC. It also does not like what is happening in countries like Sudan.]

We are happy to note that one of the important developments of the Middle East conflict, following the President’s recent initiative, is that the peace movement in that part of the world has been strengthened significantly. May more peace-loving Palestinians and Israelis fully endorse the ideal of an independent Palestine and an Israeli state within secure borders. In this context, allow me to acknowledge the many South Africans who have taken up this matter of abiding peace in the Middle East.

Asiluthandi uxambiliswano olwenzekayo elizweni xa abantu benakho ukuhlala phantsi bathetha-thethane. Njengokuba sekutshiwo amatyeli aliqela kule Ndlu, into efunekayo kukuba abantu bahlangane basebenzise ubuchopho neendlela zobunono zokuthetha-thethana ukuze zonke izinto ezibangela olu xambuliswano ibe zizinto eziya kuthi zilungiswe. Ndikhumbula, ngakumbi, amazwe uQabane uMongameli athethe ngawo ngoLwesihlanu.

Masingalibali ke njengabantu boMzantsi Afrika, ngakumbi abo bangamalungu e- ANC, ukuba zisekhona iindawo apho olu xambuliswano neemfazwe zisagqubayo khona. Masikhumbule ke ngoko nabantu beSahara eseNtshona. Siyavuma ukuba maxa wambi kuyanyanzeleka ukuba kubekho imfazwe xa ilizwe lifuna ukulungisa iindawo apho kusekho uxambuliswano khona. Kodwa ke sithi thina izinto ezinjalo kufuneka zenzeke phantsi kwentonga yeZizwe eziManyeneyo, emva kokuba kuthetha-thethwene kwaboniswana ngendlela eyiyo. Ukuba kusetyenziswa izigalo, oko makuthabathe ixeshana elifutshane. I-ANC ayivumelani namazwe athi aphume ecaleni aqale imfazwe ewodwa. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[We do not like the strife which is taking place in the world when people can sit down and engage one another in a dialogue. As had been said several times in this House, what is necessary is that people should get together, use the brain and skilled ways of dialogue so that everything that causes this strife become matters that are rectified. I remember, particularly, the countries Comrade President referred to.

As Africans, especially those who are members of the ANC, let us not forget that there are still areas where strife and wars are still going on. Let us therefore also remember the people of the Western Sahara. We accept that it is, sometimes, inevitable that war takes place when the world wants to restore order in areas where strife persists. However, we are saying such things should happen under the guidance of the UN, after dialogue and consultation on proper steps for doing so. If there is use of arms let that be for a short duration. The ANC does not agree with countries that step out of line and, on their own, start war.]

The theme of the state of the nation address was poverty. War causes poverty. There are other conditions that do the same, of course, including the perpetuation of the divide between those who have and those who do not have. There are about 50 multinational corporations in the world whose revenues are more than the budgets of two thirds of the world’s states. This reflects the unevenness of economic development in the world, a disparity that spawns poverty. Great numbers of the world’s population live in conditions of underdevelopment, poverty and squalor.

Amaxesha amaninzi uMongameli uye wazithi thaca phambi kwezizwe zehlabathi ezi zinto, apho ebesoloko esitsho ukuba kuyacaca ukuba kukho amazwe apho kugquba indyebo namazwe apho kugquba indlala. Zonke izinto ezifunwa ngabantu zifumaneka ngokuthi ubani ukweliphi na kula macala mabini. Ukuba ubani usuka kula mazwe apho indyebo ingummangaliso khona, izinto ezifana nezindlu zokuhlala, ukutya, imfundo, unyango, zizinto ezifumaneka lula. Apho kugquba indlala zonke ezi zinto azifumaneki. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[The President has, on many occasions, tabled these things before the world nations, where he persistently said that it was clear that there are countries where poverty prevailed, that everything that people needed was available, depending on which one of the two sides one found him or herself. If one came from a country where wealth was amazing, facilities such as houses in which to sleep, food, education and health care were readily available. Where poverty prevails these things are not available.]

It is this question and many others that we need to confront as individual countries and collectively as the free world under the guidance and direction of the United Nations in order to strengthen democracy and create conditions of freedom, peace and justice for all the peoples of the globe.

The world has been listening. There has been contact between the rich nations and the poorer ones by way of partnerships that have developed, principally to help in the fight against poverty in the developing world. These partnerships have opened up for some developing countries the benefits of the process of globalisation. Consequently, space has been created to facilitate entry into the world’s economic markets.

Ngemizamo kaMongameli noogxa bakhe kweli lizwekazi laseAfrika, aliqela amazwe atyebileyo athe athembisa ngokuza kuncedisa kwiinzame zokulwa indlala kumazwe asakhulayo. [Through the efforts of the President and his colleagues on the African continent, a few countries promised to come and help fight poverty in the developing countries.]

It is true that the opportunities that globalisation offers the developing world have not translated into dramatic flows of foreign direct investment into the developing world. No adequate funding has been forthcoming for the strengthening of the local developmental programmes. This has to do with the fact that the partnerships we talk about have not always been equal and mutually beneficial.

At times they have been opportunistic and lopsided. This encourages, rather than obviates, the process in which the rich get richer with the poor slide further into poverty and despair. Poor people, lacking education and skills, remain on the sidelines and continue to suffer the ignominy of further marginalisation.

It is one of South Africa’s responsibilities to help rearrange these relationships so that in the end they become mutually fulfilling. Global trends will have to change so that the wealth of the world services all the people in every corner of the globe.

South Africa must argue at every turn for the economic regeneration of the African continent, using Nepad as a vehicle to achieve this. As leaders of our people, meeting together in this House, let us call on our compatriots united as a people to dedicate their skills, talent and resources to engaging and defeating poverty and want. Let us motivate them to invest both human and material resources for the establishment of basic economic and social infrastructure.

In deciding its own obligations, the ANC-led Government will accelerate its programme of public works infrastructure development. We believe that many of our compatriots will respond positively to this call, given that we are united as a nation behind the noble goal of providing a better life for all our people.

We as South Africa must negotiate our way into all structures of power internationally in order for us to help reshape the world for the benefit especially of the developing countries. World organisations such as the UN and its organs must be restructured to accommodate the full participation of member states from the developing world. Let us be among the champions of world peace, freedom, democracy, justice, human rights and good governance.

Mr C AUCAMP: Madam Speaker, hon President, during Friday’s speech I felt like I was sitting in a boardroom of a big company with the managing director delivering his report, which was cold, clinical and managerial. Perhaps we must accept that this is the style of our Presidency, for it is better than cheap populist rhetoric with much emotion and no substance.

But, leading a country is more than managing it. It is more than statistics. It has to do with perceptions, feelings, with not only the brains, but also the veins. It is not only about party supporters at an ANC rally, but it is about other patriots as well, who are often on the receiving end of transformation and change. They want to hear the head of state saying that there is a future for them and their children and what they hold dear in this country.

Furthermore, it was clear from the President’s address that he was sticking to his agenda, come what may. He would not allow the opposition or the press to determine it. This is something positive to a certain extent. But, the President must remember that newspapers are there to make money and they will not write about matters that are not alive in the public. Opposition parties are also there to get votes and will not campaign about matters that are not on the agenda of the South African constituency.

Ignoring the agenda of opposition parties ipso factor means ignoring the wants, concerns and aspirations of citizens out there in the street and perhaps the investor abroad. Surely this is what happened with regard to the lack of even the slightest rebuke of the tyrannical Mugabe regime. Surely this is what happened in not crossing the Rubicon with regard to HIV/Aids. Other parties have elaborated sufficiently on this matter.

The AEB does acknowledge the positive aspects of the President’s address, such as the call for moral regeneration, the recommitment to an open and free economy, the proposed increase in social pensions and decrease in taxes, the positive performance report by Prof Willie Esterhuyse. May I remind the President that next time he needs a praise-singer or an imbongi, he does not need to go to Stellenbosch. He has one at hand right here in Parliament in the person of the hon leader of the New NP. [Laughter.]

So steun die AEB ook die President se oproep tot vrywillige diens aan die land. Dit is in die styl van Kennedy se ``it is what you can do for your country’’. Die President moet egter onthou dat dit nie net bloot individue is wat vrywillig ‘n land opbou nie. Dit is gemeenskappe en mense in georganiseerde burgerlike groepsverband. Dit is bestuursliggame en inwonersverenigings en aksiegroepe in gemeenskappe.

Hierdie oproep van die President kan slegs slaag indien hierdie instellinge bemagtig word. Dit sal slegs gebeur indien die burgerlike samelewing nie deur Big Brother gedomineer word nie en as die pluraliteit van die samelewing in sy natuurlike verband erken en verdiskonteer word. Die Afrikaner is deel van hierdie pluraliteit.

Hulle wil hulle bydrae maak tot die opbou van hierdie land wat hulle heimat is, hierdie land wat hul vaderland en enigste tuiste is. Hulle wil nie die speelgoed uit die kot uitgooi net omdat die ANC aan die bewind is nie. Hulle wil ook graag die hand van vriendskap wat uitgereik word, aanvaar. Daar gebeur dinge wat dit baie moeilik maak. Ek wil net twee sake noem en vra die President se persoonlike aandag daarvoor.

Op een dag kondig die LUR vir plaaslike bestuur in die Noordelike Provinsie aan dat 14 dorpe se name gaan verander - ‘n totale etnies-kulturele suiwering sonder enige raadpleging hoegenaamd. Die spoor van die wawiel en die ryperd moet ten alle koste uitgewis word. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[In this way the AEB also supports the President’s call for voluntary service to the country. This follows in the style of Kennedy’s ``it is what you can do for your country’’. However, the President should remember that it is not merely individuals who voluntarily uplift a country. It is communities and people in organised civilian groups. It is the corporate bodies and residential associations and action groups in communities.

This call of the President can only succeed if these institutions are empowered. This will only happen if the civil society is not dominated by Big Brother, and if the plurality of society in its natural context is recognised and negotiated. The Afrikaners are part of this plurality.

They would like to make a contribution towards the upliftment of this country which is their birth country, this land which is their fatherland and only home. They would not like to throw their toys out of the cot merely because the ANC is in power. They would also like to accept the hand of friendship which is being extended. There are some things that happen that make this very difficult. I would like to refer to just two matters and request the President’s personal attention in this regard.

In one day the MEC for local government in the Northern Province announced that 14 towns would have a name change - a total ethno-cultural cleansing without any consultation whatsoever. The tracks of the wagon wheel and the horse must be eradicated at all costs.]

I asked the MEC for an interview that very same day and I am still waiting today. So much for transparency! One by one names are changed and cultural cleansing takes its course. The limit is Potgietersrus, now bearing the name of the very man who murdered Potgieter and his family. It is like changing the name of Verwoerdburg to Tsafendas City - so much for nation- building, so much for reaching out, so much for taking our national slogan seriously, ``unity in diversity’’.

Die tweede saak wat ek kortliks wil noem, is die toename in ongegronde, kwaadwillige arrestasies van veral boere wat hulself teen plaasmoordenaars verdedig. Mnr Ben Coe en sy twee seuns is verlede week langs die hospitaalbed van hulle ernstig beseerde moeder in Warmbad in hegtenis geneem, ná ‘n onderonsie met ses gewapende rowers. Sulke gevalle kom al hoe meer voor. Moet ons wag vir ‘n tweede Slagtersnek voordat ons hieraan gaan aandag skenk?

Derduisende Afrikaners is besig en staan gereed om ‘n deurslaggewende rol te speel om van Suid-Afrika ‘n wenland te maak, vir al sy mense. Mooi woorde kan daartoe bydra, mits dit nie geloënstraf word deur die werklikheid van die lewe in Suid-Afrika nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[The second matter which I would briefly like to refer to, is the increase in unfounded, malicious arrests, particularly of several farmers who defended themselves against farm murderers. Last week Mr Ben Coe and his two sons were arrested next to the hospital bed of their seriously injured mother in Warmbaths, following a scuffle with six armed robbers. Such instances are occurring more and more. Must we wait for a second Slagtersnek before we pay attention to this?

Thousands of Afrikaners are in the process of playing and are ready to play a significant role in order to make South Africa a winning country, for all its people. Beautiful words can contribute to this, provided these are not belied by the reality of life in South Africa.]

As they say in isiZulu, ``izandla ziyagezana’’ - [the one hand needs the other to be washed]. [Applause.]

The MINISTER FOR INTELLIGENCE: Madam Speaker, Mr President, Deputy President and members of Parliament, hours after the President had completed his state of the nation address last week on Friday, my office received reports from across the country about the responses of our people to the call the President made for providing voluntary service to the public and the nation.

From the Western Cape alone we received a report that 1 223 people had already volunteered and were already being used by police stations in crime prevention and other related administrative activities at police stations. [Applause.]

At KwaZakhele township in Port Elizabeth, 500 people have already reported as reservists to date. In Moroka we have 550 in Soweto and in Pretoria Central 600. [Applause.]

More reports of this kind are being collected and will be available for the public. Judging by this response, by the end of the month the ranks of the reservists should swell well over the mark of 30 000, as the President predicted on Friday.

The substance of the reports indicates that our people have begun to respond positively and in numbers to the call the President made. This is also indicative of the potential that voluntarism holds for the preservation of national security, peace and stability in this country.

There are touching stories of ordinary citizens who are reporting crime and assisting in its solution, of mothers reporting the criminal activities of their children and handing them over to the police. I would like to say to the President that, as the ANC, we are very pleased and proud of the actions of our people in this regard. In acting in such an unselfish and patriotic manner, they have begun to show that the eradication of crime is first and foremost the responsibility of the community itself.

``Arise and act’’ is how the President captured this spirit that must prevail in our communities in recognising that we ourselves have the responsibility of changing our lives. May I say this to the President: There is something absolutely wonderful about the human spirit, that faced with a challenge, we come together and respond with such solidarity to overcome. There is something so wonderful too about being a South African and being part of this great surge to inexorably shape our destiny despite all the pessimism which we hear from some sectors here.

The ANC has declared this month the month of safety and security. This is intended to mobilise South Africans around the most basic principle of our struggle, a clarion call to all our patriotic men and women to come to the defence of our national institutions, our national sovereignty, the Constitution and our people.

Ours is a clarion call to ordinary South Africans to come together to defend our children, especially the most vulnerable, the girl child. And as the hon Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen so eloquently said yesterday, we have to ensure that every adult in each community would regard each child as their own, so that our children may be protected from whatever harm could injure their innocent lives.

In this context, allow me to provide the House with a bird’s-eye view of a case that shook South Africa because of its brutality and heinousness - the case of baby Tsepang. The social fabric that underpins the story points to the heart of what the President always talks about: the need to eradicate poverty, without which we do not have any hope for renewal. The story of baby Tsepang points to an intricate web of the interconnectedness of poverty and alcohol abuse, an unfortunate coupling so prevalent in certain sections of our society.

Baby Tsepang is 11 months old. Her mother is 16 years old, her grandmother is 32 years old and her great-grandmother is only 62 years old. Tsepang lives in a one-roomed house with 14 other people. The house doubles as a shebeen during the day and the great-grandmother is the proprietor. The sale of cheap alcohol is the main source of income for the household. A couple that shares the house is also known in the area for peddling drugs.

There is a four-year-old in the family of Tsepang who, because of the social circumstances in the home, has the language capacity of a two-year- old, attributable to stunted growth arising from this environment. In this environment the setting was right for the social calamity that descended on all of us South Africans on 26 October 2001, when baby Tsepang was raped and the line which distinguishes us as humans from the animal kingdom became blurred.

On a daily basis, in such brutal ways, we are confronted with this nexus. We must indeed, Mr President, ever so urgently push at the boundaries of poverty.

The case of baby Tsepang illustrates that crimes such as these emanate from a social environment that make policing absolutely impossible. As the President indicated, most crimes happen between Friday and Sunday among people who know each other, many of them under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

What was not said in the President’s speech on Friday, is that most of these cases that do find their way to the police are withdrawn by Tuesday, because of fear of reprisal or because of the economic dependence of the victims on the perpetrator. The unfortunate message that comes out when these cases are withdrawn is that our communities have begun to tolerate crime. They make the perpetrators feel that they are beyond the reach of the law and that they can continue daringly. This results in a very low conviction rate for these social fabric crimes within our criminal justice system.

At present our Government is working round the clock to ensure that our child protection strategies are up and going. These would include the implementation of a child protection register in all the provinces, guidelines on the notification of alleged child abuse cases and the rationalisation of national and provincial structures for child protection.

We as the ANC make a clarion call for every community not only to protect their property, but to ensure that the commodities that are brought into the community are accounted for so that no community perpetuates crimes by buying stolen goods. Every community, we are asking, should make sure that public property such as schools and clinics are protected from being vandalised.

At the centre of the ANC’s campaign is the objective to build a patriot who knows that he or she is responsible to ensure the security of all who live in South Africa.

Topping the list in this regard, are the multiple threats against our economy and prosperity. Hon members know about the recent attack on our currency and about the patriotism that Kevin Wakeford potrayed when he came across information that resulted in the establishment of the Myburgh Commission. We in the intelligence services are forever grateful for this kind of co-operation.

Crime continues to be a problem and a challenge which we are faced with. But there are clear indications that we are winning. My intelligence community tells me this, Minister Tshwete tells me this every day, even Minister Buthelezi tells me this, and I am quite certain that very soon members of the community will be telling me this.

Perceptions about the crime level have conditioned us to respond, unfortunately, in a way that I find inappropriate, because it makes it impossible for us to look beyond the present problem and look at the gains that we have accomplished.

I just want, for a minute, to go beyond our borders and say that we as a country have a great deal to be grateful for. We as a country, are offering a great deal of hope to the people of the continent because we have attained the level of stability that makes it possible for us to have this kind of hope. We have been able to contribute to the normalisation of the lives of the people of Burundi. Our soldiers are out there ensuring, on a daily basis, that the truce holds.

We are a beacon of hope even in far-flung areas like the Middle East, where we had the opportunity to share with the people our own experiences and to create in them the hope that their insurmountable problems can indeed one day come to an end.

With one and a half minutes left, I want to say that the hon Tony Leon came here yesterday brandishing a newspaper that quoted the President as saying: ``I will not let Zim down’’. I do not know what was meant by that. Because indeed we will not let Zimbabwe down. This is exactly what the President has been preaching. As the hon Tony Leon has been criticising the lack of progress by this Government in Zimbabwe, what has his open-mouth policy done in Zimbabwe? Nothing.

I can tell him what this Government has done. This Government has put together a team of high-profile people, ranging from the clergy to judges, and ordinary citizens, to go to Zimbabwe to ensure that indeed the people of Zimbabwe are able to vote and that they are able to have a free and fair election to the extent that it is possible for us to ensure that free and fair election. Hon Leon must note that Africa has no place for cowboy politics. This he must learn and live with.

Hon Tony Leon was probably too young, but the history of where we come from tells us about the value of quiet diplomacy. We are where we are now because the beginnings of our peace and our peace processes had, at their heart, quiet diplomacy.

Rre W J SEREMANE: Mmusakgotla, motlotlegi mopresidente ga mmogo le Motlatsa- mo-Presidente, batlotlegi botlhe ka maemo a a farologaneng, bakaulengwe, bomma le borre, botho ba rona bo re rutile gore matlo go ša mabapi, le fa o na le letlhoo le le kana kang. Re leboga badimo le Modimo ba ba sireleditseng baetapele ba rona go fitlhela gompieno. Moeteledipele wa lekoko-kganetso, Rre Tony Leon le ba losika la gagwe ba gomoditswe ke Mmopi wa rona ka nako ya tlhokofalo ya mme motsadi, Shiela, yo o belegeng Tony le Peter, mogolowe.

Re lebisa boitumelo le ditebogo go Ramasedi ka go pholosa le go sireletsa moPresidente Thabo Mbeki mo mogorogorong wa losho lwa dijanaga. Fa o ka latola o santse o tshela, bagolo ba re o tla tshela nako e telele. Khula ude ukhokhobe, Zizi. (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows).

[Mr W J SEREMANE: Chairperson, hon President and Deputy President, hon members from different portfolios, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, our humanity has taught us that people help each other no matter how much they hate each other. We thank our ancestors and God for having protected our leaders until today. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Tony Leon, and his family have been blessed by God at a time when they lost their mother, Sheila, the mother of Tony and Peter, his elder brother.

We give our thanks to God for saving and protecting President Thabo Mbeki in the face of death in a car accident. If one narrowly escapes death while one is still alive, the elders say that he or she will live for a long time. May you live very long, Sizi]

The overall thematic message of this year’s state of the nation address is African unity, despite the many instances where hatred is spewed by many. African unity brings to the fore related visionary ideals and values such as the African Renaissance and a caring society, the much-spoken-of ubuntu and the adage ``matlo-gosha mabapi’’, meaning that a person is his or her brother’s or sister’s keeper.

Throughout the ages the nations have been inspired to have dreams. Underlying these dreams or visions are responsibilities that have challenged humankind and its leaders intensely. The mere theme itself may throw our memories as far back as the distant past of Greek mythology. Was not Themis the goddess of law and justice? Without law and justice there can never be any sustainable peace, stability and unity or order. Mother Africa, including this country, has to recognise that.

Unity has contradictory tensions of its own which must be faced truthfully without fear or favour. Tensions can be described more or less by two words: estrangement and reconciliation. Reflection and introspection should never be misconstrued as pessimism, lest we stifle free thought and free speech.

The word ``estrangement’’ is normally used to describe any kind of disunity among human beings: war among nations, conflict among classes and personal alienation. It also follows that when the leaders of one nation covet territory held by another nation, or when one class resents the easier life of other classes, demands are, and will be, placed on political leadership.

Briefly, Webster’s dictionary gives reconcile'' as an antonym of estrangement’’. Someone said that ``politics is the art of reconciliation’’. The need for this art always arises from some kind of estrangement. Seemingly all political problems are therefore rooted in situations of estrangement.

We do have our share of problems, as the President has mentioned, and we cannot be deaf, dumb and blind to what happens in our immediate neighbourhood in the southern region of this continent. In Swaziland there is simmering. Zimbabwe has taken the form of a volcano. There are more than rumblings. This volcano is exuding lava and deadly gases that may pervade and engulf us, their very own neighbours! No African country should be allowed to turn the African dream into a nightmare, whether or not they hosted us during our liberation struggle. [Interjections.]

We have debated the issue of robust or vocal diplomacy, and the Government’s somewhat come-softly or quiet diplomacy. The great tragedy in Zimbabwe is that the things that make for peace, namely progress and stability, are thwarted by the total disregard of the things that make our Constitution the guiding light of many free nations, and that is the fundamental and entrenched freedoms, with almost a sacred respect for the rule of law, an unfettered media, respect for the judiciary, and last, but not least, the respect and protection by the state of every citizen’s life and property.

To paraphrase the President’s idiom, free and fair elections are not the outcome of pressing a button. Free and fair elections must take place in a certain conducive condition and climate where each citizen will, uncoerced and unintimidated, exercise their hard-won right to vote. These conditions and climate are not an overnight act. A continuous period of not less than one year is needed to create such a climate, and calling it off a day or two before polling day does not contradict this.

With the limited time I have, I also want to say that despite our fervour to heal and lead this continent, this country is hurting too much, and has a great deal of unfinished business which is crying out for attention right here at home. [Interjections.] A quick shopping list of what should be done needs attention. I refer here to the many returnees from exile, and cadres and combatants, some able-bodied and others not, languishing in the Sowetos, the Lumanyanengs and other remote areas of this country, who are uncared for. Thanks for the special pensions, but these are not fishing rods to enable these people to fish for themselves.

We also should remember the orphans that are stranded on the continent abroad who cannot come home to their motherland, South Africa, and, painfully, the ashes and graves of those who will never touch our shores again for they are departed, unknown and unsung.

A badimo ba se ke ba re furalela. [Let the gods not turn their backs on this country.] [Applause.]

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Madam Speaker, hon members, Comrades President and Deputy President, the hon Mr Tony Leon said to the President: ``Friday’s address to this House left me convinced that we exist in two realities.’’ Yes, we do! Not only now, but also in the past.

Whilst so many brave and heroic South Africans resisted the might of the apartheid state between 1975 and 1977, the realities of Mr Leon’s world can be judged from the hymns of praise heaped by him on the apartheid war machine and the policy of Bantustans. [Interjections.] A revealing article by author Ronald Suresh Roberts in the Financial Mail records Leon’s songs of praise during his stint as a mustard-keen young reporter for the official SADF journal Paratus, while Soweto’s youngsters were being cut down by army and police bullets in their thousands.

Under the headline ``Our Magnificent Air Taxis’’ in June 1976, to describe the illegal invasion of Angola, hon Leon wrote:

On board are 20 SADF personnel eagerly awaiting their arrival at a base near the border, in order to proceed onwards to given destinations. The flight whets their appetite for the adventures that lie ahead.

[Interjections.] Also in 1976, he praised the fact that the parliamentary wives of the NP, United Party and Progressive Reform Party were working together for the war. He mentioned Mrs Andries Treurnicht, whose husband of course soon left the NP because P W Botha was, in his view, too liberal.

On the sham independence of the Transkei, under the headline ``The SADF’s Magnificent Participation’’, he wrote:

When Paramount Chief Kaiser Matanzima, the Transkei’s first Prime Minister, addressed the country from the stadium’s podium, shortly after the ochre, white and green Transkeian flag had been hoisted, eight 25- pounder guns of 142 Battery, 14th Field Regiment, Potchefstroom, had fired the 101-gun salute.

[Interjections.] Presumably, Mr Leon was not around to record the fact that the Ciskei had worse luck: its flagpole ominously broke when it followed Transkei to bogus independence not long after. [Interjections.] The hon Leon continued to underline the spirit in which the SADF had assisted in the birth of the so-called Republic of Transkei. I quote:

Never before has such a new state been born with such goodwill and common purpose. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

The MINISTER: [Interjections.] The hon Leon ends, and I quote:

A Xhosa woman …

No name, not an African woman'', nota black woman’’, but ``a Xhosa woman’’ -

… who had journeyed from Port St Johns to see the freedom celebrations in Umtata summed up the significant SADF involvement thus: ``It was wonderful to see the soldiers, bands and planes. For us it was worthwhile to come this way and observe such a sight.’’

[Interjections.] And I suppose he calls Mr Seremane ``Mr Tswane’’. Yes, Mr Leon, there were two realities then, as there are now: one big, generous and all-embracing, and one very small. [Interjections.]

May I briefly refer to the hon Mr Bantu Holomisa. It is one of the scandalous ironies of our democracy that one who snatched power with the barrel of a gun and, as I understand it, with the help of some very unsavoury characters, now parades in this House as a democrat interested in the wellbeing of our people. A person who made very little endeavour to improve the lives of people in his captive Bantustan has the temerity to stand here and make the most disgraceful, unwarranted, unsubstantiated and vilified attacks on this Government and its President. If I were one of the dwindling number of people in the UDM, I would be ashamed. [Interjections.]

To move to responsibilities closer to my heart, we in the communications field warmly welcome criticism of our performance. We take note when independent quarters, such as academics from Stellenbosch University, quoted by the President in his speech, offer criticism of our effectiveness, suggesting that, and I quote: ``… communication by Government is not always optimum …’’

We do not respond over-defensively, but look at what we are doing, so as to improve the record we are presenting to the nation. By ``we’’ I mean communicators in the Presidency, in the Government Communication and Information System, and Government, departmental and ministerial, communicators across the board. We are wary of relying on spin and soundbites in getting our messages across, and it is no secret that the President dislikes shallowness and promotions tricks. We believe that the democratic cause in South Africa is just and the effort to achieve delivery and nationhood sincere, so we do not have to spin our story like a silkworm spins its silk, often to end up cocooned and trapped inside.

Some countries employ greater spin in their communication efforts, and I say good luck to them. They employ celebrity figures at great cost to give their story maximum impact. But some may well find that they overspin and become obfuscators of the very thing they are trying to pursue, enlightenment. So we have chosen the road of providing the fullest possible information, but in alignment with integrity and sincerity.

Our message is simple and convincing: A free, strong and committed African spirit, working in co-operation with our sisters and brothers for development and progress on the continent. We seek to relay it informatively, and not by stretching fact into fiction.

The state of the nation speech provides an informative mid-term report as we enter the second half of the current administration. The speech shows that we are moving ahead, that delivery of services and goods, especially for the very poor and the ailing, is being steadily achieved.

The GCIS did a detailed analysis of media expectations before the speech, and their comments afterwards. I am very glad to report that the overall response has been favourable. That is encouraging. The speech goes beyond chronicling delivery. It concerns me and you. It exhorts all our people to see themselves as part of the effort to renew our land and cope with new challenges in a changed and more menacing global dispensation.

The hon the President called on people to arise and act. He stressed volunteerism, saying that, and I quote, ``No one, and no one, can do for us what we should do for ourselves.’’ He sought to change a mindset in terms of which the Government is expected, on its own, to right all evils and rise to all challenges. He sought partnership between the people and the Government.

The long-standing slogan of the ANC is ``Amandla Ngawethu’’ - power to the people. That is the golden thread that has given the ANC its raison d’être, its purpose, in South African life, and it is the force which lives on as we move from transition to transformation of our whole country. To be empowered, people need to be informed and inspired. The President has provided inspiration. It is up to the Government and other communicators to provide the information, to give further shape and form to the national will. It is, moreover, up to the people to take decisions about their own lives and to use the available information to empower themselves, to have better lives.

It is no accident that this Presidential call to action comes close on the heels of successful imbizos held in various provinces, most recently in the Eastern Cape. These imbizos accept the important principle that communication is not one-way, from the Government to the people, but two- way, involving people and the Government they elected.

A network of all-purpose, one-stop communication centres, driven by the GCIS, increasingly links the people to the administration of the country. This helps in the general cause of ensuring enlightenment of and passing on of knowledge to the people. That is power to the people.

The Presidency has improved the flow of information with briefings for the media, both domestic and foreign. Right now we are setting up a press corps which will, amongst other things, give sustained access to the words and deeds of the Presidency. We need to give journalists greater access to the corridors of power, and to take them into the confidence of the Government as far as possible, but in ways that leave the independence of both the Government and the media intact.

We are about to legislate for a media development and diversity agency, which will foster diversity and, therefore, growth of the media, particularly in areas that are currently badly served, if at all. This we shall do in partnership with the private sector, which enjoys significant co-involvement in the project and whose problems, such as the rocketing price of paper, we do appreciate and seek to assist with as far as possible.

We wish to help wherever we can in the great national task of bringing knowledge and power to the people - and ensuring their ready access to communication tools so as to be able to do their jobs as citizens in a democracy. Amandla!

HON MEMBERS: Ngawethu! [It’s ours.] [Applause.]

Mr P F SMITH: Madam Speaker, hon President, colleagues, if we are fortunate, debates in this House can be very constructive. They can reflect genuine engagement between persons holding opposing views; they can bring about mutual understanding; and, they can result in a real sharing of ideas and moving forward together. But in respect of the matter I am going to raise yet again today, we are holding what we call an unfortunate debate. It will not be constructive, there will be no engagement; and no meeting of minds and we will not be moving forward together.

Indeed, we have collectively become participants here in a ritual - actors mouthing lines. There is, in fact, an inevitability about it all. We say what we say, and he ignores us. He says what he says and we do not accept it. In reality, we talk past each other, but we are not equally culpable because the truth of the matter is - I would like to say to the President - we are right on this and he is wrong. I say this not because he is failing to do what the IFP wants him to do, but because he is failing to do what he himself has promised to do and is not doing it. [Interjections.]

It would not surprise me one iota if the President does not respond to my inputs today. Perhaps he will, perhaps he will not. Who knows? But it makes no difference because we always talk past each other. The debate serves no useful purpose, in fact, other than to remind the President of the Republic and members of his party, as well the public of this country, that some of us are holding the President accountable to do what he has promised to do: to give effect to the promise he made to the representatives of the Coalition of Traditional Leaders shortly before the December 2000 local government elections, to be a man of his word, to be a man of honour, to be a man of integrity, the statesman we all hope he is.

In the 15 months that have elapsed since the President and the coalition reached the agreement that they did, nothing has happened to give effect to it. I repeat: Nothing has happened to give effect to that agreement reached between the President and the coalition. [Interjections.] The Government has indeed introduced legislation purportedly dealing with the matter. But, in reality, these Bills have been absolutely irrelevant. Indeed, one was so awful that one would hope that those who drafted it would have the courtesy of at least appearing embarrassed when it is presented to us.

Amongst other things, it purported to give traditional authorities the following powers. I quote: the powers to facilitate the gathering of fire wood''; co-ordinate first-fruit ceremonies’’; co-ordinate rainmaking ceremonies''; and co-ordinate the clearing of fields’’. [Laughter.]

During the negotiations preceding the agreement reached between the President and the coalition, it was agreed by both sides - and the department itself was involved - that traditional authorities in fact and in law exercised the same powers - local government powers and functions - as did municipalities.

The draft Bill whose clauses I have just read out was intended, seriously intended, by Government to be accepted by traditional leaders - on behalf of the traditional authorities - as a substitute for the full loss of powers and functions that was about to happen on 5 December. It is an absolute insult, but that is the attitude we are having to contend with.

This legislative - shall we call it - ``drivel’’ reflects the contempt with which Government is dealing with traditional leaders. [Interjections.] This attitude has also been reflected in the paucity of consultation with traditional leaders from the stage at which these negotiations first commenced. It is being reflected in the lack of progress in the Cabinet committee, or subcommittee dealing with the matter, and it is reflected, in constant attempts by Government to ignore the basic tenets of the agreement reached. [Interjections.] If one does not like what I am saying, one can just be quiet. I am just telling hon members the facts. [Laughter.]

In his 29-page address on Friday on the state of the nation, the President found time in one half-sentence to refer to this issue. He said that the system of democratic governance would be strengthened, inter alia, by resolving the issue ``of the place and role of our traditional system of Government’’. [Interjections.] It has been an open secret that yet another Bill - I do not know whether it is the third or the fourth one - is now doing its rounds as a draft. And while it is true that we have not had sight of this Bill and while it is true that one would normally reserve one’s comments until one has had sight of a Bill, I think we have no doubt, based on our experience and based upon the fact that Government is making absolutely no commitment to the constitutional amendment that is required to bring about the changes needed

• that this Bill will not resolve anything at all.

I say this because the IFP, at least, was under the impression that the matter had already been resolved, in that the Government and the President had committed themselves to an agreement which achieved two specific goals. The first of these goals was that all those local government powers and functions that were about to be obliterated on 5 December, would, in fact, be restored. The second objective, which would happen subsequently, was that the powers and functions of traditional authorities would be increased thereafter.

The joint effect of these twin sets of interventions was in fact that the issue would be resolved once and for all. The place and role of the traditional leaders and traditional authorities would be resolved once and for all in our system of government. All that is required in terms of this agreement is in fact to implement the legislation; draft the legislation, table it before the House, and then we have progress.

Now, instead of complying with both the process and the content of this agreement, the President appears to have done little other than to shift the responsibility to others such as the the Deputy Minister, to the Minister for Provincial and Local Government - who is not listening - and also to the Deputy President. He has effectively washed his hands of the matter. One is indeed left with an overwhelming impression of a government doing its utmost to wriggle out of a commitment made. It is of a government wanting to start afresh by rejecting that which it has earlier agreed to. It is of a government, frankly, whose word cannot - in this matter at least

• be trusted. And the reason one gets this impression is that the very person who put his name to the agreement is now seemingly the person who is no longer prepared to implement it.

One gets the impression that the President shares the view of his protégée, the hon the Minister for Provincial and Local Government, that traditional leaders are a nuisance who should be seen and not heard. Why is it, that notwithstanding all the commendable stress in his state of the nation address on the need to redress poverty and underdevelopment, the worse of which of course occurs in the rural areas, not one word was said of the positive role that traditional authorities and traditional leaders can play in respect of improving delivery? It is because they do not count.

The IFP is convinced that traditional authorities can deliver. The IFP is equally convinced that traditional authorities can embody the best of African direct democracy. There are clearly some bad eggs and clearly there is a need to regulate the system within an appropriate statutory framework. To reject the entire system is as irrational as rejecting the entire system of municipal government on the basis that some municipalities do not deliver or some councillors are corrupt. The point is that we, as this Parliament, have spent the past eight years collectively devising a sophisticated, seemingly never-ending legislative framework for local government to deliver, supported by a couple of hundreds of billions of rands in public funds - the Minister of Finance could give the exact figures - in order for local governments to deliver.

The question we should ask ourselves is: What have we done to underpin delivery by traditional authorities? And the answer we should all accept is this: Zilch! Or something very close to approaching zilch. That is why the issue is as we find it today.

In our view the issue has nothing to do with the intrinsic merits of the argument or otherwise. It is ideologically driven, seemingly by the President himself, who holds the view expressed in his address at the ANC’s 90th anniversary, in which he claimed:

Traditional leaders would have to break out of the impulse towards a narrow world of tribal identity and self-fulfilment within this closed world and understand the extraordinary national and international tasks that face every South African patriot.

If that is what the President believes, that is what he believes. No problem, but this should not allow us to justify his refusal to implement an agreement that he reached as the President of the Republic, and not as the president of the ANC, with the coalition of traditional leaders. That promise stands and that promise, incidentally, like another promise entered into by another ANC president before the 1994 elections, remains unfulfilled. Clearly some things have become habitual with ANC presidents.

I am nearly finished, which will make the Minister very happy. By way of conclusion, if the President does respond, he would be doing us all a favour if he could avoid the generalities and answer just one very specific question. The answer to this question will determine whether the IFP is judging him fairly or judging him unfairly. That question is: Has the President instructed or does he intend instructing his Ministers to introduce legislation which will restore the local government powers and functions exercised by traditional authorities and traditional leaders in the period leading up to 5 December? Let me repeat the question: Will the President instruct or has he instructed or does he intend instructing his Ministers to introduce legislation which will restore the local government powers and functions exercised by traditional authorities in the period leading up to the elections of 5 December 2000? [Interjections.] That is the question which we would like him to answer; anything else would be irrelevant. [Applause.]

Mr N M NENE: Madam Speaker, hon President of the Republic of South Africa, and hon members, it is unfortunate, indeed, that the hon member Mr Smith raised the issue that he has raised. In the same speech from which he read only one line, it was said that this matter is one of the matters that are going to be laid to rest during the course of this year.

In the state of the nation address, the President elaborately dealt with a number of issues and challenges facing our country. Key among these was economic development and job creation. When the ANC came into power in 1994, we inherited an economy riddled with serious problems such as the inequitable distribution of wealth, skewed government spending in favour of a section of society and a deliberate neglect of the other.

I do not want to repeat what the President has said, but we cannot ignore the progress that we, as a nation, have made in addressing the social backlogs that we inherited from the apartheid past.

The ANC-led Government’s commitment to achieving higher rates of economic growth and development is premised on the already growing domestic investments. The Ngqurha industrial development zone is but one of those projects that are already under way, as the President mentioned.

Along with this project is a precision stainless steel centre, which is facilitated by one of Germany’s largest industrial centres, Ferrostaal AG. This project is a highly specialised downstream activity that will concentrate on precision cut, especially hardened steel strips and foils. Its products will produce precision materials that are compensators for automotive and industrial use. The investment value of this project is R900 million. The jobs that will be created will be more than 220.

In the Free State, British Aerospace Systems and SAAB are facilitating a gold beneficiation jewellery project. This project involves one of our leading domestic gold producers, Mintek, and will be producing high-value gold products and jewellery for export markets. The investment value of that project is R1 billion and it will create more than 1 000 jobs.

BAE and SAAB are also facilitating another R600 million project, which will support the commercialisation of a locally developed biochemical process to extract protein from soya beans. It is expected that 70% of the production will be exported. The total investment value exceeds R600 million.

In Pietermaritzburg, Thyssen, a large German multinational, is facilitating an investment project which involves the manufacturing of aluminium tubes for application to automotive radiators. This construction is now complete and full production will be commencing within weeks. The investment value is in excess of R22 million.

The export of value-added products is expected to increase significantly during the year as a result of the Industrial Participation Programme. One highly successful export venture is by ABB, the Swiss multinational. This project is again facilitated by BAE and SAAB, and it involves the export of high-value power generation equipment. Already, exports in excess of R500 million have been achieved and are expected to grow to approximately R1 billion per annum.

There are many more, but the magnitude of the problem of unemployment requires that more be done in this respect. Unemployment needs to be fought from all angles.

The Human Resources Development Programme has benefited tens of thousands, and must be intensified in order to achieve sustainable employment and economic growth. The promotion of SMMEs and informal employment is also critical. Agriculture has been identified as a growth sector by Government in the Integrated Rural Development Programme. Big business needs to enter into partnerships with emerging entrepreneurs. The projects in the 13 rural nodes, which the President identified, are already making a difference in our communities. I come from one of those districts where there are such projects, the Umzinyathi Regional Council.

The community-based job creation projects are pushing back the frontiers of poverty and a better life is being realised indeed. These programmes and many more will go a long way in collectively dealing with problems confronting us.

Economic growth still remains a challenge as acknowledged in the address by the President. A 6% growth rate has never been achieved in our economy in the past 20 years that we have records of, but we are always told that this is the only growth that will produce employment. The projected 2% growth rate is only realistic and achievable. We trust that the growth summit will also assist in mobilising all stakeholders to build a better economy for all of us.

In order to push back the frontiers of poverty, social grants will be increased by more than the inflation rate and tax cuts for lower-to-middle- income groups are on the cards. This will result in increased consumption and will stimulate the economy.

My mother in the rural village of Untunjambili phoned me on Friday and told me that since the ANC had taken over her life had not stopped improving.

Ngo-1994 wayehola impesheni ka-R170 emuva kwezinyanga ezimbili. Namuhla uhola u-R570 ngenyanga. Uzizwele ngezakhe-ke ukuthi le mali izokhushulwa ngenani elingaphezulu kokwehla kwamandla emali. Usishayela ihlombe lesi senzo, ulindele ngabomvu ukuthi uNgqongqoshe weziMali uzothini uma esememezela.

Ngokunjalo nodadewethu futhi ohlala endlini yomxhaso kaHulumeni uthi akanakulinda uchatha lo azowuthola emalini yokondla abantwana, i-child support grant, kanti-ke naye ubesababaza ukuthi wake wezwaphi ukuthi uHulumeni angakwakhela indlu njengenduku, bhusende, mahhala. (Translation of Zulu paragraphs follows.)

[In 1994 she earned a pension of R170 after two months. Today she earns R570 per month. She heard with her own ears that this money will be increased at a higher rate than that of inflation. She applauds this action, and she is waiting anxiously to hear what the Minister of Finance will say when he announces the news.

Accordingly, my sister, who stays in a state-funded house, says she will not wait for the increase that she will get from the child support grant. She, too, was surprised that a government could build a house for a person free of charge.] My brother, who is a teacher in Nkandla, also cannot wait for the Budget Speech, which is next week, to hear how much the tax cut is going to be, because he maintains he gets two increments every year, one in the tax cuts and the other which is negotiated with the Public Service and Administration. [Applause.]

In the spirit of Vuk’uzenzele we as members of Parliament are going to ensure that, together with our communities, all eligible beneficiaries of these social grants are registered. Those of us who really come from these previously disadvantaged communities are ourselves beneficiaries of a better life for all, and together with our communities will ensure that the year of the volunteer and reconstruction and development is a resounding success.

The communities are responding very positively to volunteerism, regardless of those that are calling for the opposite. [Applause.]

Mr J J DOWRY: Madam Speaker, Mr President, in a speech in Parliament last year the hon Marthinus van Schalkwyk invited all South Africans to come to the building site of the new South Africa and to help with the building of a united and prosperous nation. He called on South Africans to play a constructive role in taking on the huge challenges that face us in this country and to break down all divides and suspicions.

Vandag is ons op hierdie bouperseel waar ons almal in vennootskap ons moue moet oprol, en moet begin werk om aan al ons mense ‘n beter lewe te besorg. Een van ons onmiddellike uitdagings in hierdie bouproses is om armoede uit te wis. Ons uitdaging is om suksesvolle vennootskappe te vorm binne en buite die politiek om hierdie uitdaging die hoof te bied. Tydens die Nuwe NP se armoedeberaad verlede maand het mnr Masere, ‘n voormalige president van Botswana, weer eens bevestig dat sekere grondbeginsels in plek moet wees om armoede te beveg.

In Suid-Afrika is ons besig om daardie basiese beginsels in plek te kry. Om op die lang termyn armoede en werkloosheid op te los, gaan stabiele en volgehoue ekonomiese groei die belangrikste faktore wees. Dit is daarom ook een van die prioriteite in die ooreenkoms tussen die Nuwe NP en die ANC. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Today we are on this building site, where everybody should roll up their sleeves in partnership and start working to create a better life for all our people. One of our immediate challenges in this process is to alleviate poverty. Our challenge is to form successful partnerships in as well as out of politics to win this challenge. Last month, during the New NP’s poverty summit, Mr Masere, a former president of Botswana, confirmed once again that certain basic principles must be in place before poverty can be alleviated.

In South Africa we are putting those basic principles in place. To find a long-term solution for poverty and unemployment, stable and sustained economic growth will be the most important factors. That is therefore also one of the priorities in the agreement between the New NP and the ANC.]

The New NP and the ANC share a deep commitment to tackling poverty. We understand the burning desire of our people to restore their human dignity, and in our constituencies we share the pain of our people, who day after day cannot find a job, who do not know whether they will still own their homes a month from now or who can never be sure that they will be able to put food on the table. And that was one of the things that concerned me when we formed part of the DA. I never had the sense that the leadership of the DP shared with us the commitment to eradicate poverty, I never got the sense that they had ever experienced poverty or that they really understood the problems and the emotions surrounding the issue. And, yes, every now and then, for media photo opportunities they would try to spend a day in the life of a poor person.

But I could never escape the impression that this was mere spin-doctoring. It very soon became clear that the DA slogan For all the people'' should have readFor some of the people’’. And even today in the Western Cape, where 80% of the voters are coloured and black, the DP only has white members in the Western Cape Parliament. [Interjections.]

When my former colleague Glenn Adams recently passed away, the DP saw it fit to replace the last nonwhite representative in the Western Cape legislature with yet another white representative. [Interjections.] This reminded me of what coloured people and I experienced in the Western Cape when the DP leadership had tried to force Peter Marais out of its party. During that time, somebody appropriately compared it to the emotions they experienced during the removal of the coloured voters from the common voters’ role.

One could not escape from gaining the impression that the DP would in fact like to be an old all-white party. This is being reinforced by the DP’s insistence on sticking to the``fight back’’ style of opposition. Our people out there experience it as being antiblack, destructive and not as something that comes from a party that puts South Africa first.

With its message of fear, the DP is leading its voters into a political wilderness. Last week, the DP distributed a pamphlet in which they compared the New NP leader to Joshua Nkomo. What a strange comparison! If I look at the South African situation evolving, it is rather the DP and, specifically, Tony Leon, who reminds me of the Zimbabwean example. Tony Leon is the Ian Smith of South Africa. He does not want to share responsibility for improving delivery. He fuels fear amongst his voters. He exploits racial polarisation. In short, he has an old South Africa mind- set. As the angry white voice of South Africa, the DP’s leadership just seems to have no confidence in our future and they thrive on pessimism and failure in the country.

In fact, their confidence in the future of their own party is now at such a low level that they even force the councillors to sign commitments to the party and its leader, stating that they will not leave the party before

1. [Interjections.] I have not experienced such arrogance and self- righteousness from any leader of the party under which I have served. The DP leader’s autocratic and abrasive style was one of the major sources of tension in the DA. I remember how embarrassed I felt in the DA caucus every time the leader interrupted or attacked caucus members, showed them the door, or bragged about how he was busy or going to discipline grown-up politicians who differed with his positions of style. [Interjections.] Whereas the New NP’s message is a message of hope, the DP’s is that of fear. [Interjections.] I look forward to the new face in South Africa’s politics where those who inflame fear … [Interjections.]

Mr D H M GIBSON: Madam Speaker, on a point of order: Is the hon member allowed to stand here and tell lies? [Interjections.]

The SPEAKER: Order! Hon member, will you proceed.

Mr J J DOWRY: Those who inflame fear will be exposed for what they are, and those who believe in the country will form new partnerships to make this country work.

As we all return to the building site this year, we will work hard to build a national consensus founded on a true South African patriotism to confront the great challenges facing our country, including poverty, unemployment, homelessness, crime and HIV/Aids. And, in doing this, I look forward to improving the quality of life of all our people, and to freeing the potential of every South African so that we can restore human dignity in our country.

An HON MEMBER: May I raise a point of order? Not now? [Interjections.]

The SPEAKER: Order! Not now. Order, hon members! Before I recognise anybody else, Mr Gibson, I wish to address you. Your question was unparliamentary, because you made the accusation that a member was telling a lie. Would you please withdraw that?

An HON MEMBER: Withdraw it unconditionally!

Mr D H M GIBSON: Madam Speaker, I withdraw the word ``lie’’.

The MINISTER OF WATER AFFAIRS AND FORESTRY: Madam Speaker, hon President, Deputy President and hon members, our President has paid tribute to those who led the negotiation process and to the masses of our people who ultimately are the true midwives of democracy. It is those same groups, whom we all represent here, that must answer the President’s call, Vuk’uzenzele, to build our nonracist and nonsexist democracy.

Despite the whingeing of the chattering strata, we have made massive achievements in the struggle against racism, sexism and poverty. Our country is a triumph. We are held up as a model for the world. They come to our country from Ireland, Israel and Palestine for inspiration.

Ten years ago the doomsayers predicted a race war. Through participation in our democratic process, every member in this House, no matter the discordant chatter of some, stood up and solved the problem for the common good. We are a triumph.

We wrote the most progressive Constitution and Bill of Rights on earth. We formed this Parliament as a free and fair expression of the will of the people. We held successful elections for new local government as well as our second national election. Power passed without pain from one President to another.

Every party in this House agrees that South Africa is a successful working constitutional democracy, and the hon Tony Leon’s sour assertion that the ANC is bent on the obsessive accumulation of power is contradicted by his own presence here, although his fading support suggests that increasingly mature South Africans are growing weary of the sour-faced whingeing. [Interjections.]

As for the hon P F Smith’s bizarre assertions that debate here serves no purpose, one wonders why on earth he has bothered to debate at all. Our traditional leaders are accorded respect and dignity. For his information, a Cabinet committee consisting of none other than Ministers Mufamadi, Maduna, Ngubane and Matthews, has been drafting a Bill which will soon be put before this House. The traditional leaders, having been briefed at their December national meeting, are keenly looking forward to this Bill. I do not know on what planet the hon member lives, because we are a triumph.

We were told that black people could not run a modern economy, and that they would bring financial ruin. Well, our microeconomic fundamentals are held up as a model of a developing economy, the foundation on which jobs, growth and sustainable development will most surely be built.

There has been steady deracialisation of all sectors of society. Where before there were only white men, there are now learned, accomplished black women and men. Amongst them is a former Bantustan general, in an attempted visual gag yesterday produced his hourglass, a good anachronistic symbol of his party.

There are now black women to be found everywhere: Cabinet, Parliament, Government departments and the top offices of corporations. But we agree with others in this debate - Minister Buthelezi and others - that, of course, we are not at the journey’s end. One’s colour and sex at the instant of birth are still the general indicators of whether one will be rich, educated and powerful. The President calls on all South Africans to eliminate racism, sexism and poverty, which is why the doubting Tonys and the hon Seremanes should take note of hon Marthinus van Schalkwyk’s reference to providing hope rather than hopelessness, and his insightful point that had whites shown a more positive attitude in Zimbabwe, there would be less strife there now.

I congratulate him and the hon Dowry on their positive approach. They understand that we must take heed. There are two worlds in our country. There are some who believe that corrective action has gone too far, while, on the other hand, there are many who believe that affirmative action has been slow, that the formerly privileged contrive to hang onto economic power and privilege. Social equity and justice require that remedial action is desirable, and will benefit all in the long run.

The hon Dr Mulder is concerned about geographic name changes, and with him the hon Cassie Aucamp. The Afrikaner people show themselves to be patriotic to South Africa and amongst the white communities, few of them have packed for Perth''. But what about the indigenous African names wiped out by colonial conquest? Are these to be eternally discarded? We need to work together and I would like to say to the hon Mulder that, yes - we need to do so sensitively to help our diverse communities to understand the need and together celebrate changes such as the Limpopo province and Polokwane. How many, after all, miss the nameHendrik Verwoerd Dam’’ with the old flag.

As much as we have achieved, the Government and ANC do not claim to have done all that must be done for the poorest of the poor. But the plan is in place. We say to hon Minister Buthelezi, a thoughtful, sensitive man concerned with eradicating poverty, that there is still much to be done. We accept constructive criticism. We have learnt with him from our mistakes. Rome was not built in a day.

The President emphasised the many concrete steps that have been taken to speed up our effort. We are committed to ending poverty and we will succeed by pulling together. Millions were denied the education, the homes, the clean water, the electricity, the sanitation, the health services, the access to land, the adequate pensions and grants for children, and the schooling which this Government is now giving to millions and millions. And as the President has insisted, no child will be educated under a tree.

In the painful past, the services were determined by racial preference and gender, as was security. Hon members must remember what we all did together to create a new national Defence Force and a new Police Service, which are now the pride of this country. And those who participated, like the hon Douglas Gibson in the Defence Review, which unanimously decided that this national Defence Force should have the weapons to do the job in an unpredictable world, should be ashamed of their backtracking, the way the hon Tertius Delport did yesterday. [Interjections.]

The transformation of the police, I would like to say to the Minister, has been astonishing. They have shown increasing mastery of difficult situations. The explosion of bombs in Cape Town have stopped. The bombers are, largely, in jail. Every party in this House contributed to this transformed South Africa, and we should be proud and we should not whinge and whine. Yes, crime is a major problem, but it is surmountable and I would like to say to Minister Tshwete and the President, the tide is turning.

Finally, I would like to comment on the HIV/Aids controversy, which is raised by the chattering classes as though this is an uncaring Government. The contrary is the case. [Interjections.] Our Government - those hon members must listen with their ears and not their mouths - has always asserted that improving the health of our people can only be done through a comprehensive, multisectoral approach that is not premised on a single disease model, such as buying antiretrovirals for Aids. [Interjections.] We are not excluding that. It is not the silver bullet. [Interjections.] Hon members must listen.

This is because good health relies on determinants social, behavioural, economic and bio-medical. Therefore, to prevent and cure disease, requires intervention in every one of these determinants, the most important of which is poverty. This is what our President and our Minister of Health have been emphasising.

The second and third determinants of ill health are undernutrition and water sanitation. These two go together. Determinants of ill health, such as the use of contaminated water, act directly to cause disease by carrying microbes such as the vibio cholera and indirectly causing repeated infections that weaken the immune system, exacerbating conditions such as Aids.

To combat Aids, therefore, a multisectoral approach is needed, which does not simply concentrate on supplying anti-retrovirals that are neither preventative nor curative. People on my left do not want to understand this. They are claimed to extend life but we do not know what they are doing about the quality of that extended life. Our learned friends here on my left do not want to understand.

We need to take action in respect of the determinants of immune deficiencies such as clean water, sanitation, housing, education, unemployment and so on, which is exactly what this Government is all about. Not only is the multi-sectoral approach likely to be the most effective, it is also the most sustainable in developing countries such as South Africa, where we live, that have limited resources. The approach has the useful effect of aiding economic development rather than simply depleting the drug budget. It overlaps with the Government’s comprehensive multi-sectoral programme against Aids and all other diseases.

I want to congratulate the President on his up to date, businesslike address to our Parliament. We will respond to his call. We are proud to be South African. Come on board! [Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY: Madam Speaker, hon President and hon Deputy President, colleagues, comrades, ladies and gentlemen, the President’s call, in his state of the nation address, was that all South Africans had to ask themselves what they could do for themselves. In the spirit of Vuk’uzenzele, we also need to look at black economic empowerment and affirmative action and posit it within the broader development of all South Africans.

Black economic empowerment and affirmative action must not be seen as anti- white but, rather, as pro-South African. At a funeral of an honoured son of the South African soil, the late Marinus Dalling, the President recalled the words of Mr Dalling that perhaps the time has come to look at empowering all South Africans, both black and white. Having said that, black economic empowerment needs to be the objective of us all only to the extent that in order to redress the inequities of the past, we try to accept and contribute to the upliftment and levelling of the playing fields. But, we should do this only to the extent that we do not also antagonise and drive away that hand of support and friendship that is being extended by the likes of the hon Marthinus van Schalkwyk and his party. In his absence, the hon Van Schalkwyk is a true South African and a core builder of this wonderful country, which has potential, and which the world recognises as a haven of peace and safety for so many of the country’s citizens. To him and his party, black economic empowerment and affirmative action is to say: join us in our endeavour to achieve equity whilst we adopt as our own your constituency, and together we walk the road to a future, undivided, united, black and white.

Ons gaan saamloop. Ons gaan hande vashou. [We are going to walk together. We are going to join hands.] Sizobambana. [We will sustain one another.]

Together we can do it. Black economic empowerment is not about opportunism, it is about Vuk’uzenzele. It is not about a free right for some at the expense of others, but it is about ensuring that those who are willing to stand and act right are being fast-tracked because of the past disparities in attaining equity in South Africa’s economic life.

We all acknowledge and accept that the situation of uneven development in our country is as a result of deliberate policies of the past which were planned and executed purposefully by a regime with clear objectives of subjugation and discrimination.

This Government cannot, therefore, in the face of this reality, stand by idly and hope that redress will come on the wings of inevitability. There has to be a clearly targeted programme to reverse the effects of past practices. Maybe it is worthy to note and acknowledge the black economic empowerment pioneers in Government, and that is the Department of Minerals and Energy, which is already implementing the transformation strategy in mining and in the liquid fuels industry. They have developed guidelines on black economic empowerment. They have a charter focusing on issues of ownership, management, control, access to affordable finance, employment equity, skills development, affirmative procurement, co-operatives and others. I think that their experiences will provide lessons to all of us as we work on the black economic empowerment policy framework.

Black economic empowerment is also about focusing on the worst disadvantaged sector of our population, which is women. We all know the process of development in South Africa has generally marginalised us and deprived us of the opportunity to participate in the economic mainstream, and unless and until we all buy into the programme of Government of ensuring that women begin to take their rightful place in the South African economic life, our country will remain a poor, miserable and hopeless place for most of its citizens.

I do not want to stoop to the level of debates preferred here by the hon Bantu Holomisa. I do not believe that this is the kind of discourse that we as proud South Africans would want to engage in. It is too reminiscent of the Bantustan politics.

Whilst I will not claim any particular or preferential expertise, I am the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry and I somehow think that that qualifies me to support the Minister of Safety and Security’s contention that this hon member is indeed a factory fault. [Laughter.]

We must make no mistake about this Government’s commitment to the genuine and laudable ideals of transformation and fairness. Empowerment goes to the heart of the debate about the fundamental task of transformation. We will do it with legislation if necessary, but we would prefer co-operation and consensus. Whatever route we take, it is for us to ensure that we do it together but, if necessary, to isolate and exclude the prophets of doom and the purveyors of untruths, discordant notes, retrogression, bitterness and losers. I am talking to the opposition party.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the President’s leadership needs our support, not, as these small opposition would lead us believe, to focus on one or two weaknesses, but support for the overall quiet success and growth of the country has achieved, and still is achieving and which the whole world sees and acknowledges, but which somehow eludes the so-called more knowledgeable in our country.

Mr L M GREEN: Madam Speaker, I am of the view that God wants our nation to succeed. Through His grace He has given us a peaceful transition. I remember the time when the EPG visited South Africa before the elections and they gave us no hope for our country, saying they did not believe that there would be a peaceful transition, yet I think in history books now we stand as a nation saluted by the nations of the world for the example which we have set.

In order for our nation to succeed we must pray for the success of this Government. Good government is God’s idea not man’s idea. Any human government will have its strengths and weaknesses and the President in his opening address to Parliament has brought our attention to the successes of this Government, when he said that ``65% of the promises made have either been achieved or accreditably in progress’’. The ACDP commends the President and the Government for the progress made in all the areas mentioned in the opening address.

There is truth in the statement: ``The struggle to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment in our country is fundamental to the achievement of our own national goal to build a caring and people-centred society’’. But I believe that wealth and development are not the only elements needed for a caring society. There must be something more than wealth and development that will cause us to be a caring people. There are many Western nations that are wealthy and well developed, yet they are not necessarily caring societies.

In addition to the eradication of poverty and the promotion of development, we must also promote the spiritual and moral values which has stood the test of time. Allow me to list a spiritual verse which in my view will make of us a better and caring society. The first one is a concern for the common good of others above our own self-interest. Every day we read about the acts of crime in our nation and often the poorest of the poor are the victims of crime.

The Government plays an important role in fighting crime. The promotion of law and order is perhaps the most important function, but Government alone cannot stand the tidal wave of lawlessness and crime. Every MP, family and community must voluntarily contribute to the fight against crime. Secondly, in order to accelerate development we must promote a strong work ethic and become more productive. It is not the function of government to create jobs. However, the Government plays a leading role in creating the conditions to encourage economic development.

We also learnt from the President’s speech that 1,2 million houses have been built or are under construction, and this is a great achievement. The next challenge, especially for the local Government, is to ensure that houses become homes by improving the access to basic services.

In conclusion, I believe that we can become a more caring nation, but we will only succeed in that if we promote and implement the eternal norms and values which have been given to us as a nation by God Himself.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Madam Speaker, in his speech on Friday, the President said:

We are progressing towards the achievement of the historic goal of the eradication of a centuries-old legacy of colonialism, racism and apartheid.

He also made reference to our diverse heritage and the need to build a common identity and nationhood. The equal development of cultures and languages in South Africa is an area that is as challenging as it is sensitive and sometimes emotive. The Freedom Charter clearly declares:

All people shall have the equal right to use their own languages, and to develop their own folk culture and customs. All national groups shall be protected by law against insults to their race and national prideÿ.ÿ.ÿ.

The Bill of Rights gives every citizen the right, and I quote:

… to use the language and to participate in the cultural life of their choice.

Our society consists of a rich tapestry of cultures and languages. However, the reality is that the majority of our people have been made to feel ashamed of their way of life, their music, their traditions and even the way they look - in a nutshell, who they are.

The good thing is that we acknowledge where we come from in the preamble to the Constitution, in which we say we must be united in our diversity. This gives us all the choice to decide where we wish to place ourselves in this tapestry, both as individuals and as communities or groups. It commits us to doing everything possible to free the potential of each person for the ultimate good of the nation we are building. In order for that to happen, every South African must feel positive about their identity. They must derive pride and dignity from the status accorded to what was left to them by their ancestors.

A lot of work has been and continues to be done, in spite of problems relating to lack of capacity and resources. The executive, independent institutions and Parliament have played some roles at different levels in this regard. To give effect to aspects of our vision, various pieces of legislation have been passed. Some of them are the following. The Pan-South African Language Board Act provides for the recognition, implementation and furtherance of multilingualism in the Republic of South Africa and the development of previously marginalised languages. The National Arts Council Act represents South Africa’s first democratically formulated policy on arts, culture and heritage. The Cultural Institutions Act provides for the restructuring of the current, declared institutions and helps to rectify aspects of South African history that have been neglected. Then there is the draft Bill currently before Parliament on the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities. This Bill was drafted after a comprehensive consultative process which included political debates in Parliament in the provincial legislatures, public hearings in the provinces, submissions to Government and a number of national consultative conferences.

The draft language policy and plan for South Africa, the product of a protracted consultative process with Government departments, civil society and other role-players, is currently being finalised. It provides for a regulatory framework for the effective management of the use of official languages, to support economic development through the promotion of multilingualism. We must commend PanSALB for some of the strides made in the field of language development and their vision of raising awareness of multilingualism as a resource to foster pride in and respect for all languages.

Recent research into language use, conducted by PanSALB, contradicts the myth that African parents favour their children being schooled in English. Only 12% of people interviewed preferred English as the medium of instruction, whereas 42% thought learners should have the opportunity to learn both their mother tongue and English equally well. Another significant finding is that only 22% of non-English-speaking respondents fully comprehend speeches and statements made in English, with 49% struggling to understand English. IsiZulu, on the other hand, is understood, by about 70% of South Africans. The phasing out of Tshivenda and Sesotho at Thembisa High School because of administrative difficulties attracted an angry response from the parents of the Tshivenda-speaking children.

Esikushoyo ukuthi njengesizwe kufanele senze konke okusemandleni ethu ukuthi amasiko ethu nezilimi zethu zithole ukuthuthukiswa ngokugcwele.

Siphuma esikhathini lapho isiNgisi nesiBhunu bekuyizona izilimi ezisetshenziswayo ngokomthetho wezwe. Yonke into ebhalwa ngumbuso ibhalwa ngesiNgisi nesiBhunu. Izimali zithelwa ekuthuthukiseni lezi zilimi nasekuthuthukiseni amasiko nezimpilo zamaNgisi namaBhunu. Sithi-ke lo mzansi esikuwo awusafani nalowo. Sesihamba ngolunye unyawo manje.

Sonke sinamalungelo okuba siziqhenye ngobuthina bethu nangezimfundiso zawobabamkhulu bethu. Kufuneka futhi sikhulise abantwana bethu ngendlela ezokwenza ukuba nabo babamukele ubuntu babo. Umbuso wethu uzama ngazo zonke izindlela ukuba ukhuthaze abantu bakithi ukuthi sonke, ikakhulu osomabhizinisi, sibambe iqhaza ekuthuthukiseni amasiko akhayo nezilimi zawokhokho bethu. (Translation of Zulu paragraphs follows.)

[What we are saying is that as a nation we should do everything in our power to ensure that our cultures and languages are fully developed.

We come from an era in which only English and Afrikaans were official languages. Everything that the state wrote was in Afrikaans and English. Money was poured into developing these languages, cultures and the lives of English and Afrikaans people. Now we say the present South Africa is unlike the old one. We have changed now.

We all have a right to be proud of what we are and about the tradition of our forefathers. We should bring up our children in a way that will make them accept their humanity. Our Government is trying by all means to encourage our people, that is all of us, especially businesspeople, to participate in developing some aspects of our cultures that will improve our lives, and also the languages of our forefathers.]

The publishing industry is an important indicator of our development as a nation. One of the exciting new opportunities is the publication of African children’s books. The development of a reading culture, expanding the reading market, and the promotion of better access by our ordinary citizens to public libraries are still challenges. In this regard Microsoft’s offer to make software available to schools will go a long way towards helping to address some of these challenges, provided our schools are equipped with computers.

Through the Khoisan poverty alleviation project, the Khoisan community will be able to start marketing their arts and crafts on a better scale than before. It has been agreed that the Khoisan legacy project, launched through the SA Heritage Agency, would be best celebrated through the establishment of a national Khoisan heritage route. The spin-offs include the development of cultural tourism and provision of jobs and opportunities in rural areas. We still have a lot to do in respect of training a critical number of translators and interpreters. Parliament itself continues to experience difficulties related to this matter. The lack of capacity in Government departments affects our legislative work relating to the need for Bills to be translated into at least one other official language. We often experience delays caused by having to wait for translations. Secondly, members of Parliament who do not speak English and Afrikaans are still required to apply for translation and interpretation services 24 hours before mailing their speeches, because Parliament itself still does not have adequate capacity to provide these services at short notice.

Other challenges I would like to touch on are, firstly, that arts, culture and heritage should be better subsidised and maintained, and the business sector must play a bigger role in this respect. Secondly, South Africans, particularly young South Africans, need to develop a plan of action to ensure their cultural survival. We see around us our children becoming more and more Americanised. Thirdly, South Africans must protect themselves against a worldwide tendency to obliterate the cultural identity of various peoples in favour of a subtly imposed culture that does not promote the values of equality, dignity, mutual respect and recognition of all cultures. This we must do by promoting especially the previously suppressed cultures.

In conclusion, I believe that this society has a long way to go towards eradicating the legacy of inequality. We need to continue to talk about what we are doing or not doing right. We need to be honest where there is a lack of progress in the equal development of culture and language so that we can take the necessary steps forward. Let us always try to strike the balance necessitated by the reality within which we have to operate and the ideal situation we want to see in place.

With the little time I still have, I want to remind us of yesterday’s appropriate intervention by Ubaba, Umtwana uMangosuthu Buthelezi, when he pointed out inappropriate behaviour by the hon Leader of the Opposition who, in his view, was talking down to members of the House. I want to suggest that perhaps the hon Smith needs to be told just a little bit about old-fashioned Zulu manners. [Applause.]

Mnr S E OPPERMAN: Mev die Speaker, ek dink, voordat die Nuwe NP ons weer kom vertel wat hulle vir die armes gaan doen, moet hulle vir hierdie mense wat in die Huis nog vir hulleself kan dink, vertel wat hulle aan die armes gedoen het in die meer as 40 jaar wat hulle aan die bewind was. [Applous.]

Mnr Nelson Mandela het sy Rivoniabetoog en sy toespraak die dag met sy vrylating afgesluit met die woorde: ``Vir hierdie ideale wil ek lewe, maar as dit nodig is, is ek bereid om daarvoor te sterwe!’’ Die President se oproep tot morele herlewing is lofwaardig, maar dit kan net slaag as elkeen van ons, sonder om ‘n kompromis aan te gaan, eerbare waardes en beginsels met ons lewens verdedig.

Mense wat kan dink - en ek verneem dis een van die redes waarom mev Madikizela-Mandela nie dikwels by die Parlement opdaag nie, want sy word nie toegelaat om vir haarself te dink nie - het bitter min respek vir iemand wie se beginsels te ruil is vir kontant.

Die leier van die Nuwe NP en Kobus Dowry weet die Marais-saga het gegaan oor meer as net name. Marais het belowe om die mening van Kaapstad se mense te toets. Die een dag het Marais nog ver agtergeloop in die meningspeilings; die volgende dag het hy ver voorgeloop, op ‘n wyse waarop hy die eerbaarheid van die proses geskend het. Mnr Van Schalkwyk beroep hom nou slegs op ‘n hofuitspraak. Daar is honderde moordenaars wat daar buite rondloop nadat hulle op tegniese punte deur howe vrygespreek is. Vir moraliteit is meer as hofuitsprake nodig. Dit vra vir ‘n gewete waarmee jy voor mense en voor God moet saamleef. Die agb Dowry praat van bruinmense. Die bruinmense met wie ek gepraat het, van Kamieskroon tot in die Richtersveld, van Laingsburg tot in Murraysburg, sê hulle kan mnr Van Schalkwyk nie meer vertrou nie, want sy aand- en sy môrepraatjies is nie dieselfde nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr S E OPPERMAN: Madam Speaker, I think that before the New NP come and tell us again what they are going to do for the poor they should tell those people in the House who can still think for themselves what they did to the poor in the more than 40 years that they were in power. [Applause.]

Mr Nelson Mandela ended his Rivonia speech and his speech on his release from prison with the words: ``It is an ideal which I hope to live for, but if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die’’. The President’s call for moral renewal is praiseworthy, but it can only succeed if every single one of us defends honourable values and principles with our lives, without compromising.

People who are able to think - and I hear that is one of the reasons why Mrs Madikizela-Mandela does not often come to Parliament, because she is not allowed to think for herself - have very little respect for someone whose principles can be exchanged for cash.

The leader of the New NP and Kobus Dowry know that the Marais saga was about more than just names. Marais promised to test the opinion of the people of Cape Town. One day Marais was still far behind in the opinion polls; the next day he was far ahead, in a way in which he violated the integrity of the process. Mr Van Schalkwyk now only invokes a court decision. There are hundreds of murderers walking about after they have been acquitted by courts on technical points. More than court decisions is necessary for morality. It requires a conscience with which one can live before people and before God. The hon Dowry speaks about coloureds. The coloureds I have talked to, from Kamieskroon to the Richtersveld, from Laingsburg to Murraysburg, said that they can no longer trust Mr Van Schalkwyk, because his word cannot be trusted.] The SPEAKER: Order! Hon member, would you please take a seat.

Mnr J J DOWRY: Mev die Speaker, ek wil graag weet of die agb lid ‘n vraag sal beantwoord?

Mnr S E OPPERMAN: Mev die Speaker, nee, ek sal nie ‘n vraag beantwoord nie.

Dis ‘n verskriklike aantyging; dis ‘n duur prys om te betaal net om ‘n bywoner-skoothondjie te word. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr J J DOWRY: Madam Speaker, I would like to know whether the hon member will answer a question.

Mr S E OPPERMAN: Madam Speaker, no, I will not answer a question.

It is a terrible accusation; it is a high price to pay just to become a participant lapdog.]

On many occasions over the past years the President and his party have been weighed and found wanting. I will stick to four examples.

A prominent member of the ANC was struck off the roll of practising attorneys by the Pietermariztburg High Court in 1998 because of ``unauthorised withdrawals’’ - what a fine description! - in excess of R500 000 from trust funds. To assist her, she was given an interest-free loan of R232 000 by the ANC. This, while ordinary members of the ANC, the masses, the poorest of the poor, must turn to loan sharks for financial support. [Interjections.] Apart from that, she was hired by an ANC council, probably on instruction from somewhere, for R112 000 per month, which was R82 600 per month more expensive than the lowest bidder.

The former director-general of Home Affairs, who left under a cloud, has now been appointed as a very senior official in South African soccer. The ANC mayor of the Nelson Mandela metropole has been declared mayor of the year in spite of his abuse of discretionary funds. The role of the ethics committee has been sabotaged because of the unwillingness of ANC members to stand up for what is right.

In al hierdie gevalle was daar geen reaksie of repudiëring deur die President of enige leier van die party nie. [In all these instances there was no reaction or repudiation by the President or any leader of the party.]

Is the President serious and is his party serious about moral regeneration? Or is it true that there are only two qualifications needed to become ANC MP: Firstly, one must have the ability to press a button, and secondly, one must have the ability to shout ``blue!’’. I do not fully agree with the notion, because with people like Andrew Feinstein and Pregs Govender there must be some members who take their oversight role seriously. May I repeat: The call for a summit is fine, but unless all of us are willing to practise what we preach this will be an exercise in futility. [Applause.]

Mr I S MFUNDISI: Madam Speaker, hon President and colleagues, on the occasion of his inauguration on 16 June 1999, the President said that our democracy at that time was at the … mahube a naka tsa kgomo [early hours of the morning] … stage, meaning that it was at dawn. Two years and some months since then it should be at the … di tlwaela mafulo [just before noon] … stage. This is the time at which herds roam freely in the grazing to indicate that they have been freed from the confines of the kraal or have shaken off the dew.

Surely the nation must by now have shaken off past ills of dependency and entitlement. People have to work hard and not sit back, feeling that they are owed something because of who they are or what they did for the liberation of the country. The time has come for our people to accept that they should arise and act.

Kuyafuneka ukuthi abantu bavuke bazenzele izinto okufuneka zenziwe. [It is important that people should wake up and do the things that need to be done.]

My party has always shown that volunteerism has no equal in developing the nation. We have imbued our people with the dictum: Re na le rona. [We are together.] If we rely on ourselves we shall prosper. We in the UCDP welcome strides made in providing potable water to some 7 million people and providing electricity grid connections to some 3 million households. We also welcome the envisaged substantial increases in old-age pensions and social grants. However, great resolve and determination have to be shown by Government on the question of resolving the impasse between Government and traditional leaders regarding their role and powers. The continued delay in addressing the matter has a debilitating effect on the traditional leaders. We hope that, if need be, the Constitution will be amended to factor in the powers of amakhosi, as the President himself said in his address in the NCOP on 12 October 2000. To us the acceptance, recognition and empowerment of amakhosi is about respect and being African in the quest for the African Renaissance.

The eradication of poverty will be welcomed by all well-meaning South Africans. We hope that in attempting to improve the quality of life, Government will give a thought to the apparently forsaken communities such as those in Tshepisong, west of Roodepoort. This urban community has the characteristic incommodious, poor-quality houses that are the trademark of houses being built for blacks since 1994. The area has no schools and children have to trudge long distances to and from school in distant Krugersdorp and Dobsonville. With unemployment rife in the area, and with no public transport and the obvious high rate of crime these days, such children are vulnerable to abuse. We appeal to the Government to ensure that integrated development planning takes place. As residential areas are being built, schools should also spring up simultaneously. The situation of residential areas being put up without any schools is also prevalent in the Ga-Rankuwa and Mabopane areas. Surely this matter has to be addressed.

Jobless young people are waiting on the fringes, with some hope that the Umsobomvu fund will come to their aid. The question is: How long should they wait? The chief executive officer of the fund is on record as saying that he is aiming at funding people who wish to train as chartered accountants, that is improving the qualifications of a few while more remain unqualified and unemployed. We hope, in the words of the hon the President, that ``the fund will be spent with the efficiency demanded by the actual needs of society’’.

We welcome the planned moral regeneration summit and hope that all interested folk will be brought on board in good time so that they can contribute meaningfully, and not be tuned in to passive listeners. There is still hope that the decaying moral fibre of our society can be mended. [Time expired.] [Applause.] Mr R K SEPTEMBER: Madam Speaker, hon President, in August/September this year people of the world will honour our country and gather in Johannesburg to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development. We will need to be do everything possible to welcome our international guests, who expect to be in excess of 50 000 people. It is important that as many of our people as possible are requested to volunteer their services to ensure that the summit succeeds. We are faced with the task of alerting our people of what to expect. The organisation is obviously vast and complex, and our responsibilities will be enormous.

Our country’s progress in sustainable development could not have advanced so much without foreign partnerships, which have enabled us to engage in various projects. The New Partnership for African Development acknowledges the desire and the need to eradicate poverty and concentrate on growth and development. It recognises the interdependence on our continent.

We have signed the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. In collaboration with the international community, we have paid serious attention to the problems of desertification. We have paid attention to the problems of illegal trade in flora and fauna; the problems of wetlands and of the ozone layer; and the conservation of migratory animals, to quote but a few of many issues.

Critics have often seen fit to criticise our President for his trips abroad without understanding the sterling role he plays in developing international relations, especially with our African neighbours. Our organisation has a very clear vision of our international responsibilities arising from a great deal of experience. We can lift our heads with pride when we consider the respect our country has achieved as a result of the role of our hon President and our emissaries. A person must be either mean- spirited or naive not to acknowledge our President’s international status and successes.

The appeal of our hon President for volunteers is no empty catch phrase. It is based on the memory of the effectiveness of communities during the dark days of apartheid. Simply put, we need to recognise that on its own, the Government just cannot achieve what is necessary for harnessing the energy and morale of our people. The NGO sector in our society has for long played a significant role in the struggle for change of the lot of our people. This role must be extended to embrace a much wider section of our society.

We are grappling with the challenge of ensuring that our society is transformed in a scientific, modern, and, of course, more equitable way. We now have a government which represents a population of more than 40 million people, and is intent on bringing all our people on board.

The laws required to do this are systematically being put in place. There are a few examples to demonstrate this point. In dealing with the challenge of conducting a sustainable campaign against poverty, we have developed an Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy and the Urban Renewal Programme. South Africa is now co-operating with Germany in the promotion of solar cooking, and today about 70% of South Africans have access to electricity.

Regarding the environment, White Papers were prepared on integrated pollution and waste management. Our Government is now able to give guidance on hazardous waste management and pollutants. A White Paper is also in place on conservation and the sustainable use of biological diversity. There is the National Forestry Action Plan as well as the Marine Living Resources Act.

Awareness of energy efficiency is being planned as part of the school curriculum. Environmental law has been introduced into tertiary education, and we must welcome this attention being paid to the education of our young people. They are the ones who will take the custodianship of our resources into the future.

These are but a few snippets of what we are trying to do, or have already achieved in the arena of environmental development. But implementation is really the name of the game, and, in this regard, we must recognise that whilst we have made significant progress in law on paper and whilst we have also made significant progress in practice, we still have a long, long way to go.

Tourism has tremendous potential as a tool for development and employment, and marked progress has been made in this field. Yet, we have encountered almost total control of the industry by old-order entrepreneurs. Clearly, much needs to be done in order to enable black participants to be engaged in this field. This is not easy, when faced by the old schooltie brigade. One can ask any sportsman about this.

We face similar challenges in the fishing industry. Once almost entirely handled by people of colour, those with greater resources now control the industry. The right of poor people to earn a decent living must be recognised. Indeed, nowhere is the need for personal responsibility and the spirit of volunteerism more necessary than in this industry. Eventually, we are all called upon to protect our reserves of kreef, perlemoen and fish. They cannot just be left to the policemen. [Interjections.]

On another front, there is something wrong when our resources are spent on building islands for privileged suburban roads in privileged suburbs, while, at the same time, the provision of basic road services in poor black townships just four miles away is being totally neglected. Such unwillingness to embrace the spirit of transformation on the ground is demoralising to those whom we need as participants in building our nation. This is happening right here in Cape Town. One cannot justify closure of a waterfront slipway to subsistence fishers, a facility which has been used by them for generations, only to make way for an upmarket development. We have surely had enough of that. There are enough scars on the skyline of the city which bear testimony to the way in which our people have been dispossessed in the past. [Interjections.] Is it too much to ask councillors to volunteer goodwill and to ensure that more resources are used to build facilities in the poorer areas?

It should be clear to us that our legal transformation needs to be secured by the participation of our whole population. Let us move away from the culture of dependency on the hierarchy, waiting for the councillor, an MP or an MPL. We must not wait for Godot, nor must we allow the intentions and efforts of good men and women to be subverted by those who misuse their position of power. Let us, the whole population, do what is necessary for the sustainable development of our environment. [Applause.]

Mrs S V KALYAN: Madam Speaker, the president of a country is elected to serve the best interests of the people. To the man in the street it means putting in place policies that will allow people to live the longest, most productive lives possible.

The simple truth is that President Mbeki’s stand on Aids has fairly or unfairly earned him the reputation of a modern-day Lysenko. He was the Russian pseudo-scientist whose bizarre ideas on crop evolution caused thousands to die of famine. Hundreds of thousands of lives that could have been saved or extended have been lost by the President’s dogged denial of the fact that HIV causes Aids. Few presidents of countries not at war have ever been responsible for such a monstrous legacy. Government’s policy on providing antiretroviral therapy to HIV-positive pregnant mothers and rape survivors denounces and violates the very human right that our Constitution serves and was designed to protect. It is Government’s denial of nevirapine in particular that is actually fuelling the so-called illegal importation of the drug and causing doctors employed by the state to make a conscious choice between professional ethics and state policy. In fact, in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, doctors are victimised, harassed and even suspended for providing life-saving drugs, just because it displeases the President. [Interjections.]

The DA has been accused of politicising the Aids debate. The reality is the other way around. The DA has been vilified and rejected for offering its hand in the so-called partnership against Aids. The President may recall a 75-page correspondence between himself and the Leader of the Opposition about a year ago. It is in this correspondence that the President denounced antiretroviral therapy as ineffective, as a post-exposure prophylactic, as illogical for use, with no scientific basis whatsoever, and felt that its toxicity posed a danger to public health. This very medication which the President labels as illegal and unethical is being advocated by the JMC on the Quality and Status of Women as part of the treatment for rape survivors. The President appears to be the lone ranger facing revolt from within his party, in Parliament and from hospitals and clinics in this epidemic. [Interjections.]

Hundreds of rape survivors at the Sunninghill Clinic are testimony to the internationally proven fact that not one person who was given ART within 72 hours after rape, sero-converted. Every responsible leader in this House and even parliamentary committees are saying that we are at war with the HI- virus and that both behavioural and medical interventions are needed as a matter of urgency.

The only leader in this House who did not mention HIV/Aids was the hon Van Schalkwyk. Instead he chose to tiptoe around this critical life-and-death issue, simply to ingratiate himself with the ANC. It shows to what depths one would go for a Cabinet post. The DA in the Western Cape, under the leadership of Tony Leon, has rolled out 81 HIV treatment sites. The Government, under the leadership of President Mbeki, has rolled out a mere 18 test sites countrywide. Perhaps the President would like to take a lesson from the DA and our monument to life, as opposed to the legacy of death given to the 40 000 babies born positive last year. It costs 86 cents per dose for a baby and R7,67 per adult dose of nevirapine. Instead of wasting money on costly appeals, the President should put his money where his mouth is. Vuk’uzenzele! [Arise and act!]

Break the silence. Admit that the ANC has erred in the handling of the HIV/Aids pandemic. The President’s refusal to say that HIV causes Aids is nothing short of criminal and the cost of lives incalculable. [Interjections.] Instead of offering Band Aid therapy, the President should offer antiretroviral therapy to pregnant positive mothers and their babies.

The MINISTER OF FINANCE: You are a fool, girl. Sit down!

Mr K M ANDREW: Madam Speaker, on a point of order: There were other members too, but certainly the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs would probably claim to be honourable. He started with his animal noises, which I believe is not only unparliamentary, but in absolute contempt of the Chair, given the fact that on a couple of occasions now, the Chair has indicated very forcibly and again in relation to the particular member from the DP, that such behaviour is unbecoming and unparliamentary.

The SPEAKER: Order! Hon Minister, were you making animal noises?

The MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS: Madam Speaker, I have yet to know what an animal noise is. [Interjections.]

The SPEAKER: Order! Hon members, this is a serious matter. I have previously advised you that you are not to mimic any member of this House. Please would you refrain and not do this in future. I will take a serious view. I was listening very, very carefully at the beginning. I am sorry. Now it is obvious that if such noises are emanating from anywhere in the House, I will have to be more vigilant.

Nk B O DLAMINI: Somlomo weNdlu yesishayamthetho, Mongameli ohloniphekileyo waseNingizimu Afrika, Sekela Mongameli, namalungu ePhalamende ahloniphekile, kuyintokozo enkulu kithina malungu e-ANC ukukhuluma ngodaba lokukhululeka kwabantu besifazane, ikakhulukazi ngoba le nhlangano yethu i- ANC kade yakubona kubalulekile ukubandakanya abantu besifazane emzabalazweni wenkululeko yabantu baseNingizimu Afrika.

Abazange abantu besifazane baze babizwe noma bamenywe noma bacelwe ukuthi bazozibandakanya emzabalazweni. Yingoba abantu besifazane babekade beyingxenye yemizabalazo yabantu ezindaweni abahlala kuzo, ezakhiweni zemishoshaphansi, kanti babeyingxenye yombutho wabantu, uMkhonto Wesizwe. Lokhu babekwenza ngokuzimisela okukhulu.

Kuyaqala ngqa emlandweni waseNingizimu Afrika ukuthi kubhekelwe izimfuno zabantu besifazane ngale ndlela. Uma umuntu efuna ukwazi ukuthi uHulumeni uyenzile yini impilo engcono kubantu, angabuza kubantu besifazane. Bazophendula labo abaneqiniso. Lokhu kwenzeke ngezindlela eziningi. Ukutholakala kwezinto ezibalulekile empilweni yabantu njengamanzi, ugesi, amaklinikhi, izindlu, izindlu zokufundela kanye nokutholakala kwemihlaba, zonke lezi zinto yizona ezenza ukuthi omame babone ukuthi uHulumeni uzimisele ukuthi bangenzi imisebenzi engenza ukuthi basheshe babe buthakathaka empilweni, nengenza ukuthi bachithe isikhathi esiningi besekhaya, bagcine bengasayibhekanga intuthuko yabo.

Enye indlela ekhanya bha eyenziwe uHulumeni wethu ukubuyisa isithunzi somama, ukuthi kube nesiqiniseko sokuthi bameleleke ezakhiweni ezithatha izinqumo ngempilo yabo. Uma ubheka nje ePhalamende, kuyaqala ukuthi kube nomama abangaka, ikakhulukazi abamnyama. Ikhebhinethi, oSomlomo bePhalamende, oSihlalo bamaKomiti, uSoswebhu weqembu elibusayo, udlule uye emajajini, amanxusa ezwe laseNingizimu Afrika kanye nezimeya.

UHulumeni we-ANC wenze umehluko ocacile kulokhu. Enye into ebalulekile ukuthi omama abanikwanga imisebenzi ebekuhlale kuthiwa imisebenzi yomama. Awukho omncane, awukho omkhulu, imisebenzi yenziwe yalingana. Sekuyaphuma nasezingqondweni zethu ukuthi uNgqongqoshe wezangaPhandle kufanele kube umuntu wesilisa. Ohlelweni lweNkomfa yoBumbano lwe-Afrika ezoba ngoJulayi kumele uHulumeni wethu enze isiqiniseko sokuthi omama bamelelekile ohleni lohulumeni kanye nasohleni lwezinye izinhlangano. UHulumeni wethu angakuqikelela lokhu ngoba yena uyakuqonda ukubaluleka komama. Ukumeleleka komama kule-nkomfa kubalulekile ngoba ikakhulukazi kuyoxoxwa ngokuthula noxolo, nangokuthi kumele ohulumeni baziphathe kanjani kwezombusazwe. Kumele omama babekhona lapha ngoba yibona nezingane abahlukumezeka kakhulu uma ukuthula kungekho. Yibona futhi ababulawa yindlala, futhi yibona abagcina sebesele bodwa nemindeni uma kuliwa.

Ukumeleleka komama kuzokwenza umehluko ngoba bona angeke bazibandakanye namacebo okubulala nokuhlukunyezwa kwabantu, ukudlwengulwa kwamantombazane nokudayiswa kwamantombazane ukuze athengise ngocansi. Yizo zonke izinto lezi ezenzeka uma ngabe kunesimo sempi.

Ngabe senza iphutha elikhulu uma singabancomi labo mama abasebenza le misebenzi evelele, ngoba noma ngabe yimisebenzi okufanele bayenze lena, kodwa abakwenzile ukuthi bamele bonke omama. Ukuba abawenzi umsebenzi, bonke omama bebezokwahlulelwa ngabo. Lokhu kuyasisiza futhi ekuqinisekiseni ukuthi omama nabo banengqondo. Akukho muntu obatsheleka ingqondo ekuseni aphinde ayithathe ntambama.

Olunye udaba olusasixakile lapha Ningizimy Afrika ukuhlukunyezwa kwabantu besifazane kanye nezingane, ikakhulukazi ezamantombazane. Kunesikhalo esandile kakhulu-ke esikhona lapha emphakathini sokuthi uHulumeni akenzi lutho ukuvikela abantu besifazane. Siyi-ANC siyaphikisana nalokho. Kungani siphikisana nakho na? Yingoba uHulumeni wethu esebenzisana nezinhlangano zabantu besifazane, nguyena ogqugquzele ukuthi abantu besifazane abazithola sebekulesi simo babike emakhaya, emaphoyiseni, kwezenhlalakahle nakwezinye izindawo.

NguHulumeni owenze ukuthi indaba yokudlwengulwa noma yokuhlukunyezwa kwabantu besifazane nezingane ingafihlwa njengoba kade ifihlwa kuqala, uma ikakhulukazi yenziwe izihlobo bekuthiwa indaba yomndeni kodwa sekuphelile lokho.

Abantu besimame nabo baqalile ukushaya ikhwela futhi bayalwisana nalokhu. UHulumeni uphinde washaya umthetho wesigwebo okumele sitholwe ngabantu abadlwengula izingane ezingakakwazi ukuthi zizicabangele zona kahle ngendlela efanelekile. Imiphakathi nayo iphinde yanikwa igunya lokuthi iphikise uma kungukuthi umuntu odlwengulile kufanele athole ibheyili.

Kunezindawo ezikhona ezinye ngezama-NGO ezivulelwe omama abahlukunyeziwe emakhaya. Ngesikhathi ethula inkulumo yakhe uMongameli wethu ucacisile ukuthi amacala amaningi lapha eMzansi Afrika enzeka ngempelasonto. Lokhu kufaka namacala okuhlukunyezwa kwabantu besifazane. Zonke lezi zinto zenzeka phambi kwethu sibhekile kodwa bese sithi siyimiphakathi,`` uHulumeni wenzeni?’’ Yini singazibuzi thina kuqala ukuthi thina senzeni? Kwenziwa yini ukuthi siyimiphakathi kanye nabanikazi bamajoyinti sivumele abantu bangene nezingane emajoyintini, kodwa uHulumeni ebe eshaye umthetho wokuthi akuvumelekile umuntu oneminyaka engaphansi kweyi-18 angene athenge utshwala ejoyintini?

Kubangelwa yini ukuthi thina sisebenzisane nabantu abahlukumeza imiphakathi sibaseke, siseke abantu abadlwengula izingane zethu nodadewethu, sibakhokhele imali yebheyili, uma ikakhulukazi kungabantwana bethu noma abafowethu noma abathandiweyo bethu? Ngabe konke lokhu okubalwe ngenhla kudinga uHulumeni? Kanti thina sizovuka nini sizenzele?

Ukuvikelwa kwemiphakthi kudinga kakhulu ukuthi imiphakathi ibambe iqhaza ekuzivikeleni, iphinde isebenzisane namaphoyisa. Imiphakathi ebambene nengafihli izigebengu ekwaziyo ukuzivikela. Izindlela uHulumeni okufanele ahlanganyele ngazo nezinhlangano zabantu besifazane ukuze bakwazi ukuthi baxoxisane noma basize abanye abanenkinga, ukuthi babafundise ngamalungelo abo nanokuthi umuntu wenze njani uma kungukuthi mhlawumbe uhlukunyezwe ngokocansi.

Okunye okumele uHulumeni akwenze ukuthi afundise nabo abantu besilisa ngamalungelo abantu besifazane, njengokuthi nje umuntu wesimame uma ethi cha'', usuke ethi cha. Usuke engasho ukuthiyebo’’.

Kuyinto ebalulekile ukuthi uMongameli asikhuthaze ukuthi sivuke sizenzele ngoba kukhona isimo esifufusayo sokwenza abantu babe ngokhangezile.

Kukhona asebeguqule ulimi nengqondo yabantu akade bekwazi ukuzenzela zonke izinto, kusukela ekuzivikeleni kuya ekuziphiliseni, ngemfundisoze yokuthi mabahlale phansi balinde lo muntu ozocindezela inkinobho ukuze bathole abakudingayo.

Omama bayazinikela ekusebenzeleni amakomiti emiphakathi njengamakomiti ezempilo, ezokuvikela, ezezikole namanye. Lokhu bakwenza ngokuxhumana noHulumeni. Okubalulekile manje ukuthi sibaqeqeshe ekwenzeni lezi zakhiwo ukuthi zisebenze ngendlela efanelekile. Ikhono nje kuphela okufuneka ukuthi sililolonge ngoba bona sebeqalile bayakwenza lokho.

Uhlelo lwelima ngiyethemba lungena kalula futhi komama, ikakhulukazi komama be-Women’s League ngoba bona uMongameli wabo wokuqala uCharltte Maxeka nguyena owayegqugquzela omama ukuthi bakhe izinhlangano zomasingcwabisane, izitokfela zokudla nemali yesikole, omasakhane, ozenzele nayo yonke le nto. Manje okubalulekile ngoba thina sinawo lo mlando, siyakwazi ukuthi siwenze, kufanele kube yithina esihamba phambili silalele ikhwela elishaywe nguMongameli wethu ukuze sikwazi ukuthi sivuke sizenzele futhi senze ilima lokuthi siguqule izimpilo zabantu zibe ngcono.

Omama yibona ababambe iqhaza elivelele kosomabhizinisi abasafufusa. Labo mama ezikhathini eziningi bazithola besenkingeni ngemininingwane yembolekomali. Iba nezihibe ngoba nababolekisi bezimali abakhona bacishe bafane namabhange. Amabhizinisi abo agcina engakwazi ukusimama kahle. Sikuthatha njengento ebalulekile ukuthi kuzobuyekezwa zonke izakhiwo ezinikwe igunya lokuba zibolekise imali kosomabhizinisi abasafufusa. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of Zulu speech follows.)

[Mrs B O DLAMINI: Madam Speaker, hon President of South Africa, Deputy President, hon members, for us in the ANC it is a great pleasure to talk about women’s freedom, especially because our organisation, the ANC, realised earlier the need to include women in the struggle to liberate South Africa.

Women were not requested or invited to participate in the struggle. This is because women were part of the struggle in the areas in which they lived, in the underground structures. They were also part of the people’s army, uMkhonto weSizwe. They did this with great courage.

It is the first time in South Africa that women’s needs are considered in this way. If one wants to know whether the Government has improved people’s lives, one must ask women. Those who tell the truth will reply. This happened in different ways. The delivery of important things in people’s lives, like water, electricity, clinics, houses, classrooms and land, has made women realise that the Government is determined to protect them from doing the work that will weaken their health, causing them to spend a lot of time at home, and ending up not focusing on their development.

Another clear way made by the Government is to restore the status of women, and to ensure that they are represented in the structures that make decisions about their lives. Looking at Parliament, it is the first time that there are so many women, especially black women. Now women are in Cabinet, the Speaker of Parliament is a woman. They also chair committees. The Whip of the ruling party is a woman. They are judges. They are also ambassadors of South Africa and some are mayors.

The ANC Government has made a clear difference on this issue. Another important thing is that women were not given the jobs that are known as women’s jobs. There is no small or big jobs, all jobs have been made equal. Now minds are changing from always expecting the Minister of Foreign Affairs to be a male.

On the agenda of the coming Conference on African Unity in July, the Government should ensure that women are represented on the Government programme and also on the party programme. Our Government can ensure this, because it understands the importance of women. Female representation in this conference is important, because the discussions will be about peace and how governments should behave in politics. Women should be there, because it is they and children that are heavily victimised if there is no peace. They are the ones who die of hunger and they are left alone if there is war.

Women’s representation is going to be important, because they will not involve themselves in plans for killing, abusing other people, raping girls and selling girls to other countries for prostitution.

We would be making a mistake if we did not applaud those women who perform these important functions, because even though these are the jobs that they should do, the important thing is that they are representing women. If they did not perform their duties well, all women would have been judged on the basis of their failure. This also helps us to show that women also have brains. No one lends them his brain in the morning and takes it back in the afternoon. Another problematic issue for us in South Africa is the raping of women and children, especially female babies. There is a popular outcry in society that the Government is not doing anything to protect women. As the ANC, we reject that. Why are we rejecting it? It is because our Government, together with women’s organisations, have encouraged women who found themselves in this situation to report to families, police, welfare institutions and elsewhere.

It is the Government which has encouraged breaking of the silence about the incidences of rape and abuse. Now it is no longer as secret as it was before, especially if these incidents are committed by a relative, because in the past it was referred to as family matter, and that would be the end of it.

Women have started sounding the whistle and they are fighting this. The Government has passed a law regarding the sentence that should be given to people who rape children who are too young to think for themselves. Communities have also been given the authority to oppose bail if the rapist is granted bail.

There are places, some of whom belong to the NGOs, that are open to women who have been abused. In his state of the nation speech, the President clarified that many cases here in South Africa occurred during weekends. This includes abuse of women. All these things occur in front of us, while our eyes are wide open. But as communities we say: “What has the Government done?” Why do we not ask ourselves what we have done? What makes us as communities and shebeen owners allow people to come to our shebeens with children, while the Government has passed a law that says no person under the age of 18 should be allowed to buy beer in the shebeen?

What makes us co-operate with people who abuse our communities? Why do we support people who rape our children and our sisters? Why do we bail them out, especially if they are our brothers, our children or our loved ones? Do all these things I have mentioned require the Government to resolve them? When are we going to wake up and do things ourselves?

In protecting communities, the communities themselves should play a role in their own protection and they should co-operate with the Police. Communities that protect themselves are those that are united and who do not hide criminals.

The ways in which the Government should team up with women’s organisations to help other people who are in trouble, is to teach those people about their rights and what one should do if she is abused sexually.

Another thing that the Government should do is teach men about women’s rights, like when a woman says no'', she means exactly that. She does not mean,yes’’.

It is important that the President has encouraged us to wake up and do things ourselves, because there is a situation that is raising its ugly head, turning people into beggars.

There are people who have changed the language and the mindset of the people who had been doing all these things themselves. People used to protect themselves by making a living for themselves. But those people have been told to sit down and wait for a person who will press a button, and they will get what they want.

Women are dedicated in working for public committees, like health, defence, school committees and others. They do this by communicating with the Government. The important thing now is to train them to build these structures so that they will work in the right way. It is only the skills that need to be honed, because they are already doing the work.

The culture of cultivating the soil together is that of women, especially those of the Women’s League, because their first president, Charlotte Maxeka encouraged women to establish burial societies and stokvels to raise school fees, and so there came Masakhane, Vuk’uzenzele and many other organisations. What is important to us, because we have this history, is to lead, and heed the whistle sounded by our President, so that we will wake up and do things on our own and work together to change people’s lives.

Women are the ones who play an important role in the small business sector. Most of the time these women find themselves in a problem situation owing to a lack of information about loans. This is a problem, because even the moneylenders that we have end up operating like banks. Their businesses end up undeveloped. We take this as a serious matter, and we call for re- evaluation of all establishments that have been entrusted with the authority of lending money to small business owners. [Applause.]]

Mnr F J VAN DEVENTER: Mevrou die Speaker, agb President, ek wil begin deur te sê dat niemand met die doelwitte wat die President vir Suid-Afrika gestel het, kan verskil nie. Dit is net normaal dat daar, wanneer die President die lede van hierdie Huis sou vra om dit te prioritiseer, baie van ons verskillende aspekte sal beklemtoon of verskillende prioritieite sou hê. Ek het begrip vir die situasie en ek het begrip vir die probleme waarmee die President werk.

Daar is by uitstek twee groepe mense in Suid-Afrika wat met die erfenis van die geskiedenis sit. Aan die een kant is daar die Afrikaner en aan die ander kant is daar, om dit só te identifiseer, die swartmense van Suid- Afrika. Een is die slagoffer van die erfenis van kolonialisme en die ander een is die slagoffer van kolonialisme en apartheid. Daar is sekerlik rede vir albei hierdie groepe om met groot emosie vas te gryp aan hierdie erfenis uit die geskiedenis wat op ons pad gekom het.

Ek wil vanmiddag in groot erns vir hierdie Parlement as die wetgewende liggaam van Suid-Afrika sê dat hoe langer ons ons laat vasvang in emosies wat ons kragte uitput, hoe minder gaan ons tyd hê en hoe minder gaan ons die krag en die vermoë hê om die toekoms van Suid-Afrika aan te raak. Met die waters wat verby is, sal die meule nooit weer maal nie. Dit is ‘n Afrikaanse spreuk wat nie net impliseer dat die water wegloop nie, maar ook dat die krag wat daardie water saam met hom vat, daarmee heen is. Ek wil vanmiddag ‘n beroep doen dat ons die emosies waarmee ons die verlede oproep, opsy sal skuif en met toewyding sal kyk na die toekoms van Suid- Afrika.

Suid-Afrika en Afrika moet dringend ontslae raak van sy selfopgelegde martelaarskap … (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr F J VAN DEVENTER: Madam Speaker, hon President, I want to start by saying that no one can differ with the objectives for South Africa that the President has expounded. It is normal, if the President were to ask the members of this House to prioritise them, that many of us would emphasise different aspects or that we would have different priorities. I understand the situation and I understand the problems the President is dealing with.

There are primarily two groups of people in South Africa who have to bear the legacy of history. On the one hand there is the Afrikaner and on the other there are the black people of South Africa. One is the victim of the legacy of colonialism and the other is the victim of colonialism and apartheid. There are certainly reasons for both these groups with great emotion to react to these legacies from history that have come across our path.

This afternoon I want to say with all seriousness in this Parliament as the legislative body of South Africa that the longer we allow ourselves to be caught up in these emotions that sap our strength, the less time and ability we will have to change the future of South Africa. ``Met die waters wat verby is, sal die meule nooit weer maal nie’’. [The mill will never again be driven by water that has already passed.] This is an Afrikaans proverb that not only implies that water flows away, but also that the power associated with the water is gone. I want to make a plea this afternoon, that we set aside the emotions with which we recall the past and that we look towards the future of South Africa with dedication.

South Africa and Africa must urgently rid itself of its self-imposed martyrdom …]

… as a suffering country and suffering continent, owing to the historic role that other nations played in Africa. Those things belong to the past. Nobody can change history, but we can make a meaningful contribution to a better future.

I want to say to the President that I believe that South Africa is well placed to change not only our country’s image of suffering and struggling, but also of Africa, by emphasising the opportunities vested in our country and continent. It is not a shame to say to the world that we need their help, knowledge, skills and financial resources to unlock these opportunities for the future wellbeing of our people. However, let us put something on the table to negotiate with the world. Nobody and no country in the world will help us to eradicate poverty if we approach them with the attitude that they must give so that we can resolve our problems.

Countries operate and react like people. For example, a few years ago a South African company made shares available on the JSE at half the market price to people from the disadvantaged communities. A person, someone not disadvantaged at all, but who qualified, made a profit of nearly R1 million within six months. When he told me about this I said to him that I believed he was going to donate 10% of his profit to poverty relief projects. His reaction was: ``Are you mad? That is my money. I am not going to give it away!’’ However, he expected other people to make substantial donations to the aforementioned cause. That is unfortunately the psychological make-up of people and nations.

We must prove to the world that we are not a nation in despair. We must prove our willingness to share opportunities in return for development and job creation.

In conclusion, I want to make an appeal, especially to the members of the Cabinet, not to play up prosperity against poverty. Without prosperity one can never eradicate poverty. On the contrary, we must encourage the business world to expand, the rich to invest and the labour organisations to find a balance between the rightful needs of their members on the one hand, whilst, on the other protecting the rights of employers to earn profits on their investments to such an extent that it is profitable to expand to the benefit of all.

Let us become opportunity-driven, with less suffering and less struggling. The image that we are carrying out of this country is very dangerous for the future wellbeing of South Africa.

Niemand in die wêreld sal aanhoudend ‘n helpende hand uitsteek na mense wat hulself beskryf en voorhou as sukkelend, hulpeloos en moedeloos nie. Daar is sóveel geleenthede. Ons het soveel hulpbronne in Suid-Afrika, byvoorbeeld ons menslike hulpbronne, ons grondstowwe en ons basiese goeie wil teenoor mekaar in hierdie land. Kom ons gebruik dit in die belang van Suid-Afrika.

In die Karoo het ons ‘n voëltjie wat daar rondspring, gewoonlik van miskoek tot miskoek. Agb Speaker, as u my die woord sal vergewe, hulle word strontvoëltjies genoem in Karootaal, want hulle spring so van miskoek tot miskoek en maak altyd dieselfde ou geluidjies. Ek wil aan die agb President sê hy moet hom nie te veel steur aan daardie voëltjies hier aan ons linkerkant wat so spring van miskoek tot miskoek nie. Hulle staan in die pad van Suid-Afrika en die goeie toekoms wat vir hierdie land voorlê. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[No one in the world will keep extending a helping hand to people who define and depict themselves as struggling, helpless and hopeless. There are so many opportunities. We have so many resources in South Africa, for example, human resources, our minerals and our basic good will towards one another in this country. Let us use this in the interest of South Africa.

In the Karoo there is a little bird that hops around, usually from cow-pat to cow-pat. Hon Speaker, if you would forgive me for using the word, in the language of the Karoo they are called ``strontvoëltjies’’ [dung birds] because they hop from cow-pat to cow-pat and always make the same chirping noises. I want to tell the hon President that he should not pay too much attention to those little birds here on our left who hop from cow-pat to cow-pat. They are in South Africa’s way and the way of the good future that lies ahead for this country. [Applause.]]

Mr N H MASITHELA: Madam Speaker, in recognising the importance of the youth and the important role they play in society, a great leader of Africa, Reginald Oliver Tambo, said, and I quote:

A country that does not value its youth does not deserve its future.

One thing I know is that under the leadership of the President, South Africa values its youth and deserves its future. But who is the youth? They earn themselves names such as shock troopers of the revolution. I am saying this to illustrate that the concept of youth is not only restricted to age. It also includes a specific level of psychological and physical development. Hence youth is defined as the transition between childhood and adulthood and includes the stages of puberty, adolescence and young adulthood. In this case the representation of youth in the South African population is important to illustrate.

Some 39% of South African society is aged between 14 and 35 years, 25% of the population is under the age of 15, whilst 4% is over the age of 65. Indeed, young people comprise a substantial part of society in South Africa. This illustrates that there has to be major human resource development as there could be a need for an agent of social change, economic development and technological innovation, particularly in South Africa, where a substantial part of our population consists of young people. They are indeed the future.

Youth development, therefore, impacts on the future prospects of our country, both politically and economically. In the main, the character of South African youth has been formed by the urgent need for transformation, and, at the same time, a radical pace in the struggle for progress. The impact of the culmination of the radical plan of action in the early forties, which was championed by, amongst others, young people such as Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, is a classic example. It is also in this vein that the youth has always formed an important part and component of liberation movements and, indeed, strived towards achieving a better life for our people.

In recognising the natural pace of young people in democratic South Africa, the ANC established centres of learning, education and training on foreign soil. The Solomon Mahlangu College is a classic example. This was part of an attempt to ensure that youth education and development was based on self- worth and youth - people who could participate in the democratic South Africa.

In 1994 there was recognition from Government’s point of view, and that of youth organisations, that was characterised by the need to establish policy frameworks and institutions. The reconstruction and development principles which focused on the need for education and training and job creation and enabling young people to realise their full potential, formed the basis of this process.

There are institutions and policy initiatives such as the National Youth Commission, the National Youth Service, the President’s Awards and Youth Empowerment Southern Africa, of which Madam Speaker became chair in 1997. This award has registered remarkable success among an increasing number of young people, particularly among prison inmates, who make sure that they will not go back to prison, because they have acquired skills and can be employed and absorbed by the economy.

The establishment of the Umsobomvu Trust is one of the classic examples of Government putting in more money to ensure that the development of young people is taken care of. On the 90th anniversary of the ANC, the President reflected on the 1955 congress of the People commitment to youth development. As a living document since the middle of the 20th century, the Freedom Charter stated: ``The doors of learning and culture shall be opened.’’

As the President further elaborated, this entailed the fact that the charter teaches our young people to love and honour their culture. Within these conditions, business, individuals and communities in all sectors of our society are becoming more involved in creating jobs, empowering the youth to participate in our economy.

There are practical examples concerning this issue. The South African Youth Chamber of Commerce is involved in a project to develop youth potential and participate in the economy. The Agape Copeland Train is a classic example of an individual business initiative involved in the social upliftment programmes to develop young people.

However, I also need to take this opportunity to appeal to all businesspeople who have yet to heed the call. I want to inform them that young people are not asking for favours or charity, but for partnership. It is important for businesspeople who did not come to participate in this economic development to heed the call that has been made by the President.

Re a tseba Mopresidente hore mmuso o ile wa etsa matsapa a hore batho bohle ba batlang ho theha mesebetsi ba kgone ho etsa jwalo mahaeng a rona, empa borakgwebo ha ba a ka ba tloha ba mametse kopo e entsweng, hobane ba nahana hore ba ke ke ba sebetsa mahaeng. (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)

[Mr President, we know that the Government did try to make it possible for those people who wanted to establish businesses in our homelands to do so, but the businesspeople did not respond positively to the Government’s call, because they thought that they could not work in the former homelands.]

It is a challenge for the ANC and Government in particular to make available some incentives to businesspeople and ensure that all the challenges that we are confronted with are also their responsibility.

I should also take responsibility and state that young people should heed the call of the President. On 8 January the call was made in the spirit of Letsima. Four days later …

… batjha ba mane Mahlatswetsa, Excelsior, ba ka bang 175,ba ile ba kopana ho hlwekisa dikolo tse nne ka hare ho Mahlatswetsa. Hona ho bontsha hore batjha, ha ho eptjwa pitso, ba tla mamela seo baetapele ba buang ka sona. (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)

[… about 175 of the youth of Mahlatswetsa, in Excelsior, came together to clean four schools in the Mahlatswetsa community. This shows that the youth, when a call is made by leaders, respond positively to what the leaders are saying.]

I am raising this, because the challenge facing the Government in respect of this particular matter is that it must create an environment in which it could absorb young volunteers in the same Government institutions. This will ensure, when young people wish to make contributions, that the Government has established mechanisms to that effect. Young people are the first to heed the call and the last to retreat. [Applause.]

Mr M T MASUTHA: Madam Speaker, your Excellencies the President and the Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers and the House at large, in view of the recent celebrations of Umkhonto weSizwe’s 40th anniversary, allow me to commence by dedicating my contribution to this debate not only to the many heroes and heroines both sung and unsung, who laid down their own lives for the attainment of the goals of democracy, liberty, human rights and justice which we are all enjoying today here and elsewhere today, but, also to the many people who became permanently disabled in pursuit of these ideals.

We in the ANC are fully conscious of how costly the attainment of these ideals can be, hence our commitment to peace and to spreading the gospel of the peaceful resolution of disputes rather than resorting to violent confrontation throughout the world. [Applause.]

Disability is one of the most reliable and vivid barometers to measure the extent to which humanity has progressed, retrogressed or simply stagnated. War, violence and the use of force, poverty, disease, starvation and legal safety standards, ignorance, indifference and prejudice all compound the high incidence of the hardship occasioned by disability in the developing world. It is therefore most appropriate that the OAU deemed fit to declare the first decade of the African millennium as the African Decade of Disabled Persons.

Allow me once again to express appreciation for the erudite leadership and statesmanship demonstrated by the President, with the support of his dedicated Cabinet, together with other heads of state in Africa, for translating the vision of an African renaissance into a concrete programme of action in the form of Nepad. [Applause.]

The past two decades have seen the rise of the disability rights movement, which has contributed significantly to the transformation of the global policy on disability. On 3 December 1982, which date has since been declared the International Day of Disabled Persons, the UN General Assembly adopted the world programme of action concerning disabled persons, and at the same time declared 1983 to 1992 as the international Decade of Disabled People, and as a timeframe within which member states were called upon to implement that programme.

Disabled People South Africa, since its inception in 1984, has been at the forefront of the struggle for the rights of disabled people in South Africa. In response to a demand by disabled people to implement the world programme of action, the then apartheid regime declared 1986 the national Year of the Disabled and established an interdepartmental co-ordinating committee on disability, which in 1987 presented a report proposing new policies on disability.

This initiative was rejected by Disabled People South Africa, DPSA, firstly because the apartheid philosophy which underpinned this policy proposal was incongruent with the notion of equalisation of opportunities for the deaf people and their full participation in society, as espoused in the world programme of action. Secondly, it was rejected because the apartheid state continued through its repressive machinery to kill and maim our people, thereby undermining one of the cardinal goals of the world programme of action, namely the prevention of disability.

In 1991 DPSA embarked on an alternative strategy by launching the Disability Rights Charter Campaign, with the support of Lawyers for Human Rights, to conscientise disabled people throughout the country about their rights and to mobilise them in advocating for the inclusion of their rights in the new constitutional dispensation that was then about to unfold.

Allow me at this juncture to pause to echo the sentiments of millions of disabled South Africans out there by expressing our sincere appreciation to his Excellency the President for demonstrating commitment to the advancement of disabled people, by publishing the White Paper on an integrated disability strategy in 1997.

Central to this document, which constitutes official national policy on disability and which is a product of extensive consultation with organisations of and for disabled people, is a paradigm shift from a medical to a social model in the design of national policy on disability. ` The World Health Organisation, in its publication entitled International Classification of Functioning and Disability of July 1999, explains this dialectic as follows:

The medical model views disability as a personal problem directly caused by disease, trauma or other health conditions, which requires medical care provided in the form of individual treatment by professionals.

Management of the disability is aimed at cure or the individual’s adjustment or behaviour changes. Medical care is viewed as the main issue and at the political level, the principal response is that of modifying or reforming health care policy.

The World Health Organisation document proceeds to state:

The social model of disability, on the other hand, sees the issue mainly as a socially created problem and principally as a matter of the full integration of individuals into society. Disability is not an attribute of an individual, but rather a complex collection of conditions, many of which are created by the social environment. Hence the management of the problem requires social action, and it is the collective responsibility of society at large to make the environmental modifications necessary for the full participation of people with disabilities in all areas of social life.

The issue is therefore an attitudinal or ideological one requiring social change which at the political level becomes a question of human rights.

The call, made by the ANC during the celebration of its 90th anniversary earlier this year, of Letsima is a revival of the true African spirit of collective action towards the attainment of a better life for all. This for disabled people must mean an opportunity to be included in all activities in their communities, aimed at the advancement of the society as a whole.

In his state of the nation address last Friday, his Excellency the President called upon the nation to reflect on whether progress was being made in advancing the constitutional rights of disabled people, a question which is the primary focus of my input today. Since 1994 South Africa has made significant progress in advancing the rights of disabled persons, starting with the expressed prohibition of unfair discrimination based on disability contained in the equality clause of the Bill of Rights in the interim constitution, and carried through in the current Constitution.

Building on this foundation, the current Labour Relations Act of 1995, unlike its predecessor, expressly prohibits unfair discrimination on the grounds of disability as an unfair labour practice. The Employment Equity Act of 1998 carries this ideal a step further by, in addition to the introduction of affirmative action, introducing the doctrine of reasonable accommodation into our labour legislation, in terms of which employers have the additional responsibility of taking reasonable measures towards ensuring the full integration and full participation of employees with disabilities in the workplace, unless such employers can demonstrate that taking such measures will result in such employers suffering undue hardship due to practical difficulties or prohibitive costs associated therewith.

More recently, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000, passed by the House, expanded these rights well beyond the employment sphere. However, we need now to take stock of the extent to which all these measures have succeeded in improving of the quality of life and status of disabled persons. Institutions such as the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons, led by Minister Essop Pahad, which plays a pivotal role in co-ordinating and monitoring the implementation the integrated national disability strategy, the Human Rights Commission, the Gender Commission and the parliamentary Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of Children, Youth and Disabled Persons have a crucial role to play in ensuring that these ideals are attained.

I also wish to express appreciation to Parliament for the measures it has taken thus far towards ensuring that it becomes more user-friendly and a welcoming environment to all disabled members of Parliament, staff and the public in general, through the provision of Braille facilities for the visually impaired, sign language interpreters for the deaf, as well as ramps, accessible parking and ablution facilities for the physically disabled. [Applause.]

In addition and in line with the ANC-led Government’s commitment with the goal of creating a better life for all, the resolve by Government to make poverty eradication the first national priority is a significant political commitment for disabled people, for it is true that poverty is a major contributor to the incidence and prevalence of disability and, conversely, that disability aggravates the impact of poverty as it further drains the meagre resources of communities.

Vuk’uzenzele is therefore a call that must be extended to the disabled people as well to ensure that they, too, rise to the occasion and take their rightful place in society. Social grants alone, though a vital cushion against poverty that must be safeguarded, cannot suffice in the fight for the complete eradication of social exclusion and the attainment of a better life for all. [Applause.]

Mrs P DE LILLE: Madam Speaker, hon President and hon Deputy President, there was an unwarranted attack on me yesterday by the Minister of Safety and Security. I want to move today that we change his name to that of Minister of Safety and Security called Steve Kimberley''. Kimberley is famous for the big hole, in Afrikaansdie groot gat’’. [Interjections.] The ANC keeps calling the opposition parties all kinds of names, racists, opportunists and all that. We can do the same. They say in real life two wrongs do not make a right, but in politics they do. The praise-singing that he has been subjected to for the past two days is really getting out of hand. I think the hon President, as the judge, will have a difficult task electing a winner.

The report that the Minister referred to is like that. We are not criticising the President. We are questioning the report. And we cannot accept just one source as being the truth and the Bible. We cannot accept one academic and one report. The 65% rating of Mr Esterhuyse is arrived at only with regard to issues raised in the President’s state of the nation address in 2001. When one wants to judge the President and his performance we must look at all the departments. That report did not refer to the Health department, Education, Welfare or any of them. So, it cannot be a true reflection. The other thing is that Mr Esterhuyse only used press releases and speeches to assess the performance. That is wrong.

In the fight against Aids the people have spoken about mother-to-child transmission. The time has come for us to move on to provide HIV care and treatment and support for the whole family. The families make a community and communities make a society. If society feels that Government cares about its citizens in a meaningful way we will turn the tide against HIV and Aids. We must ensure that we do not lose hope. Do not fight death, but support life, as Archbishop Ndungane of Cape Town said. [Applause.]

Mr A G LYLE: Madam Speaker, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President and hon members, local government transformation finds a well-suited and deserved niche in the rebirth of the African continent, which is aptly referred to by the President as the African Renaissance.

Central to the rebirth of Africa, as the President has stated, is overcoming centuries of poverty, hunger, disease and underdevelopment. This call, therefore, demands that we be the initiators of our own solutions as Africans - this is a salient point for local government to take cognisance of.

For local government to express itself maximally within the African Renaissance programme, it will have to ensure that its programmes are people-driven. The current and forthcoming pieces of local government legislation are not an end in themselves, but a vehicle that provides a conducive environment for the people to take control of their own destiny.

South Africa is one of the few countries in the world where local government has recognised communities as an integral component of municipalities. Communities form an integral part of the development and decision-making processes of local government.

The new system of local government provides very clear guidelines on how communities can actively participate in the day-to-day running of the council, thus taking control of their lives. The Municipal Systems Act of 2000 provides for the active participation of the residents of a municipality in the formulation of a budget and integrated development plans.

The participation of our people in a democratic system of governance gives expression to the resolutions of the historic People’s Congress in Kliptown about four and a half decades ago, namely that ``the people shall govern’’. We want to remind members of the opposition parties, in particular the DA and the PAC, that the ruling party has long resolved that power shall reside with the people. The environment created by the new system of local government facilitates people’s participation in the broader realm of economic and social development. [Interjections.] Just listen! We expect that local government, in its transformation processes, will not only render the basic services that our people so desperately need, but will also facilitate the notion of a developmental local government, thus attracting investors and creating employment and a tax base.

Local government is an unequivocal conduit between Government and the masses. It must become a repository of information and knowledge for its residents, in particular the rural communities. The President talked about the improvement of efficiency in Government. We call upon organised local government to heed this call by intensifying its skills development programme in its political and managerial components so as to further improve on governance and the quality of service delivery.

Through the Seta this sphere of government must embark on a sustained and ambitious drive in skills development. The President, in his statement on 8 January, speaks about people being their own liberators. Indeed, this is an essential element in the transformation of our nation. It is at this point that people become masters of their own fate.

This sphere of government must extricate itself from the mould of being an agent of service delivery only. The role of local government and its efficacy in our democracy rests squarely on the shoulders of the elected representatives. The element of empathy in councillors must be a visible characteristic of their daily interaction with communities. Municipalities and their communities must occupy the frontline in the struggle for the reconstruction and development of our country. It is at this juncture that local government becomes an indispensable factor for a better life for all in the realm of governance.

The ANC has initiated the rendering of voluntary service to the people of South Africa. We want to see local government pursue this noble and rewarding programme by embracing people from all walks of life and political persuasions.

Nepad, as our President has indicated, is to consider specific and implementable development programmes, with the elimination of poverty and underdevelopment on our continent as their central objective. Surely local government must be one of those vehicles in the pursuance of this noble vision.

It is therefore incumbent on this sphere of government to synergise its activities with whatever programmes in which our Government participates in Nepad, so that we as South Africans walk in tandem with the rest of Africa as we endeavour to eradicate the scourge of poverty and other factors inhibiting development. There will be those who stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the progress we have made since 1994, but the facts speak for themselves.

Reasonable progress has been made in the supply of potable water, sanitation, electricity, houses and clinics. As a black citizen of this country who was previously disadvantaged, I need to say that in the humble village where I come from, since 1996 women no longer walk a three- kilometre journey with 25 litres of water on their heads. This Government has given us potable, reticulated water. [Applause.] In the village where I come from, since 1999 women no longer have to cut trees down for firewood. This Government has electrified our village. [Applause.] In the village where I come from a clinic was nonexistent. Today the clinic is within walking distance. [Applause.]

However, local government is still faced with challenges such as the transformation process, which is arduous and time-consuming. New informal settlements and illegal occupations, the capacity of local government and acceleration of provision of water and sanitation, and a pragmatic and visionary local Government in a community will in future reap the fruits of its efforts. [Applause.]

Prof S S RIPINGA: Madam Speaker, His Excellencies the President and the Deputy President, hon members of the National Assembly, we in the ANC and the masses of the people in the country welcome the people’s campaign, Vuk’uzenzele, a clarion call to involve oneself in development in one’s own community and one’s country at large. Development economists agree - these are also unsolicited views, it is their own publication - that, in the development context, people cannot be developed, they develop themselves. They develop themselves by their own full participation - as equals - in the lives of the communities they live in. It is in this context that the President appeals to hon members and our compatriots in the country at large to embrace the people’s campaign, Vuk’uzenzele.

The political transition in South Africa has projected us into the global arena, exposing us to pressures and challenges that require innovative and flexible responses to a rapidly changing global environment. The major challenge would be to integrate successfully into global systems and communities while addressing the local needs and aspirations of our people. In the President’s words:

We have to devote the necessary resources to scientific and technological research and development, including biotechnology. We must encourage innovation and ensure that as many of our people as possible muster modern technologies and integrate them into their social activities, including education, delivery of services and economic activity.

The world is indeed in the throes of a revolution which will change forever the way we live, work, plan, organise our societies and ultimately define ourselves. We shall therefore need to develop our strategic response to globalisation and the building of a better life for our people. The ANC is convinced that a transformed scientific and technological revolution seems to provide an appropriate response to the current situation.

South Africa depends mostly on the export of its raw materials, the income from which has been gradually eroding over the past years not only because of the advent of competing new material and processes but also because our commodities are still in the raw form. Gold is a case in point. We need to add value to our commodities and transform them. And for this we need to apply science and technology. It is here that the ANC sees the urgent need for building and utilising capacities in science and technology in order to have the income to support the economy, so as to build a better life for our people.

Urban and rural communities need to be assisted and encouraged to adopt social and technological innovations which will assist them in decision- making and enhance their ability to make informed choices on environmental sustainability, health care provision, meeting basic needs at community level, reducing the total cost of infrastructure provision, and providing safety and security. South Africa will not be able to realise its growth potential in science and technology without the introduction of clearly defined mechanisms to ensure that the spin-offs of technology advancement do not have a negative impact. Scientific and technological advancement should therefore never be to the detriment of the environment.

Forced migrations to rural areas during the era of apartheid reduced the productive capacity of agricultural land. The ruthless exploitation of forests and land has made the soil less productive. All these things have led to reduced food production. Ensuring food security and sustainable development through the appropriate use of science and technology is very strategic under these circumstances.

The most important area of capacity-building in respect of science and technology is clearly through education. At the core of this is the obligation to provide basic education to all. We in the ANC ensure that girl children are encouraged to choose mathematics, science and technology as subjects. We also need to demystify the teaching and learning of mathematics, science and technology. We shall also ensure that we introduce appropriate curricula, particularly incorporating basic scientific concepts, as early as possible and the development of a culture of science and technology. In order to sustain capacity and promote research and development at the highest level, the Department of Education plans to increase graduate enrolment and outputs, in the masters’ and doctoral levels, in particular; business, commerce, science, engineering and technology.

Science and technology should not reside in the hands of the elite. It must reach down to all levels of society and achieve a balance between individuals and social groups. Analysis of some basic telecom indicators provide stark evidence of how far we have fallen in the communication stage. It also highlights how much still needs to be done before the so- called digital divide+ can be bridged.

We welcome the President’s endeavours to fast-track information technology in our country. For example, the establishment of telecentres and the completion of work on the establishment of an ICT university, and also the donation that we are looking forward to actually to support the Department of Education in its endeavour to provide computer hardware and software in our schools. We have 19 094 schools without computers, that is 70,3%, and all of them are in the most disadvantaged communities.

There is also a growing awareness of the need to develop a system that will ensure the projection of science and technology 10 years beyond laboratories, lecture theatres and research rooms into the broader consciousness of the population.

It needs to reach the people on the ground - the ordinary people. Science and technology, with its immense value to South Africans, cannot be seen in isolation. It should rather be regarded as an interaction between many institutions, organisations, individuals and ideas in the pursuit of a common set of social and economic goals.

Without the establishment and harnessing of a strong science and technology sector, South Africa will not succeed in moving towards equity. This view is strongly supported by the White Paper on Science and Technology, which states that the aggressive promotion of the principle of life-long learning will provide the best opportunity to meet our objectives. Science and technology will play a vital role in the words of the hon the President ``… in pushing back the frontiers of poverty and expanding access to a better life’’. [Applause.]

Mr D M BAKKER: Madam Speaker, so far this debate on the President’s state of the nation address sounds like two different debates, about two different countries, on two different continents.

Hon Minister Buthelezi referred to a half-full glass. In this debate, some opposition members described our country as a half-empty glass containing fear, anger, pessimism and despair. They spent 30 seconds waving the South African flag and the rest of the time trampling all over it. On the other hand, my party wants to be part of a half-full glass, with a clear message of shaping our future, of taking pride in our own, of enthusiasm and of building our country. [Applause.]

The state of the nation address was not the launch of short-term, attention- grabbing schemes, but an assured statement of intent on the Government’s tasks and programme. I would like to compliment the hon President on his confident commitment to sustaining an open economy. This bullish approach is exactly the signal that South Africa needs.

I would like to say to Mr President that his impassioned plea to all South Africans to involve themselves in making this country a better place will achieve the necessary results. Our sense of purpose and loyalty demands that we fix our sights on our common future so as to best to utilise our abilities and to create a winning nation.

Die heel belangrikste van die President se toespraak is die klem wat hy geplaas het op die waardevolste bate van hierdie land, naamlik sy mense. Alhoewel daar nog baie probleme is, en rassisme steeds bestaan, is die gesindheid van ons mense ons belangrikste boublok. Ongelukkig hoor ons nie genoeg van die helde wat onbaatsugtige diens lewer om die lot van mede-Suid- Afrikaners te verlig nie. Dit is jammer dat nie meer van hierdie heldedade en suksesverhale die koerante se voorblaaie en die hoofnuus op televisie haal nie. Baie van ons mense wil met mekaar praat en bou aan ‘n gemeenskaplike patriotisme. Ons land kan alleenlik slaag as ons jongmense weer met ‘n vonkel in die oog entoesiasties oor die toekoms sal wees. Daar is genoeg rede om te glo dat dit haalbaar is. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[What is of paramount importance in the President’s speech is the emphasis he placed on the most valuable asset of this country, its people. Although there are still many problems, and racism still exists, the most important building block still remains the attitudes of our people. Unfortunately we do not hear enough of the heroes who make available their services unselfishly to alleviate the plight of fellow South Africans. It is a shame that not more of these heroic deeds and success stories make the front pages of the newspapers or television’s main news broadcasts. Many of our people want to talk to one another and work towards a common patriotism. Our country can only succeed if our youth can once again, with a twinkle in the eye, be optimistic about the future. There is enough reason to believe that this is attainable.]

Unfortunately, we cannot have a common patriotism if it is only owned by some of our people. Some people, especially in our minority communities, feel alienated or threatened. Too often one hears of people opting for emigration or planning to get their money out of South Africa. If our own people are not confident to invest in our country, how can we expect to attract sustainable foreign investment? We cannot afford to lose professional people. We cannot afford to lose their skills. Our greatest challenge is to get to know our fellow countrymen and to build trust amongst ourselves.

Asian Afrikaner I stand rooted in the African soil. This contains the meaning of my heritage. I have nowhere else to go. I do not want to go anywhere else. My people want to belong and contribute in their own country. [Applause.]

Our children are children of a new South Africa, and they will break new ground. We have the will and the determination to succeed. My vision and commitment, and that of my party, is to cultivate a new society of men and women whose loyalty is, firstly, to the Constitution of this country. We are striving to foster reconciliation and good intercommunity relations to achieve a truly nonracial, nonsexist society so that, together, we can address the legacy of our past and be part of the debate on our future.

We want to move to a point at which South Africans can talk about each other as none other than South Africans, without the prefix of black or white. [Applause.] For us, South Africa is an African country. Within the African continent, we all have an important role to play in the development of both our country and the continent, and to bring about the much talked about Renaissance.

The New NP will be part of developing a unity of purpose to confront the great challenges of our country, including poverty, unemployment, homelessness, crime and Aids. For these goals we make no excuses. We will be part of a solution. [Applause.]

Mr L ZITA: Madam Speaker, Comrade President and Deputy President, the rapid depreciation of the rand in the last quarter of the year was a reminder to all of us that we are vulnerable in this global economy. September 11 and the global economic decline underscore this point. As a result of the depreciation of the rand, inflation is back. In a year in which there was limited private investment, the challenge of economic management cannot be overemphasised.

It is against this background that last Friday’s midterm report by our President, Comrade Thabo Mbeki, has to be assessed. We have to ask ourselves: To what extent have we identified the fundamental issues facing the country? Has the President mapped out the most appropriate response to the challenges we face? As the ANC, we answer confidently: Yes!

Not only are we up to the task, but we are in partnership with the masses of our people to solve our problems. The President’s address is a report of consolidation of an emerging consensus in our country to eradicate poverty, to build our economy and to develop the most appropriate response to the challenge of globalisation.

Many of us hear the word globalisation. We are aware that it signals a major development in world affairs. It is supposed to affect all of us, whether we are in New York or in my own home village of kwaHoyi. We are presented with this reality as something given, something that we either have to adapt to or die from. What is globalisation really? What should be the response of a people’s government, a people’s movement, to this new reality?

The capitalist system has had always had the tendency to globalise. It has always been about trade and interchange beyond the nation-state. The globalisation we are referring to is the more recent, intensified and unparalleled communication, integration and exchange in the global economy. The actual process of globalisation has been intensifying over the past 25 years. It is a response to the crisis of ungovernability, prompted by a standardising, rigid, controlling, if caring, industrialised capitalism.

It is ironic that the social crisis of ungovernability expressed itself at the height of the post-World War II economic boom, when wealth was genuinely shared in the capitalist centres. It shows that people do not just want to be well fed, they want freedom, they want their autonomy, but, instead of autonomy, all they get is the amorphous globalising market.

The crisis of governance coincided with the crisis of Keynesian economics. For 30 years after World War II, Western governments pursued Keynesian economics, in which the state stimulated the growth of production and demand by fiscal and other measures, redistributing an increasing proportion of work that was produced, creating as many jobs through public expenditure as increased productivty had eliminated in the private sector.

Improvements in productivity and the resulting expansion could no longer be absorbed within the nation state, owing largely to the limits of domestic markets, hence the pressure to globalise. Constraints of rigidity, bureaucratisation and hierarchy caused by reliance on mass production increasingly became obstacles and constraints to companies. The competitive imperative was presented as the panacea to both the problems of the state and the problems of companies.

It is difficult to point out the causal relationship between the microeconomic revolution and the need for increased movement in economic relations. The microeconomic revolution, particularly its information and communication components, appeared as the most appropriate technique for a globalising capitalism. The increased knowledge embodied in technology discourages the role of labour in production, whilst improving efficiency and productivity. It has brought about a major division within working people - a small core of very skilled, relatively stable workers amidst a sea of intermittent, fragile, vulnerable workers and unemployed. This is the situation in the developed world.

It is worse in the developing world. Based on productivity improvements, the computer revolution and the labour-saving methods of production, globalisation has created the biggest volumes of wealth. It has facilitated the opening of markets and has made investments a possibility to the most distant lands. But it remains the most unequal form of economic organisation and has strengthened the power of business in relation to governments and peoples.

This technological transformation has strengthened global financialisation. Because of the computer revolution, it is easy for traders to speculate with national currencies. We live under the dictatorship of financial markets. This is the essential problem that lies behind the depreciation of the rand.

Obviously, we are not opposed to globalisation. We are only critical of the inequities of its present architecture. When we assumed responsibility for government in the country in 1994, we had to win the confidence of both domestic and international business. The apartheid isolation of the economy had meant overprotection and an uncompetitive and weak economic base. To respond to this, we relaxed our tariff regime to encourage competition. Consequently, most companies have been forced to restructure and have subsequently improved their exports. We have innovated our security strategies to strengthen the various sectors. We have established a forum in the motor industry which has transformed an industry in decline into one of the major exporters in the country. We understand the central importance of an intervening and developmental state.

The Industrial Development Corporation continues to be the main catalyst of leadership and investment in the economy. Billions of rands are invested at an implementation stage at Ngqura and other industrial development zones. We have sought to pursue these objectives in an appropriate fiscal and monetary framework. We have consciously sought to reduce inflation as well as to stabilise our fiscal stance. As a result of this, as well as efficiency improvements within our tax collection, we have been able to expand infrastructural spending and spending on the poor. It is in the light of these realities that the President announced the plan to expand the welfare net for old and young, together with a lighter burden of tax, to the working people. The planned growth summit is a nodal point in this direction. Despite these interventions we are still confronted with the problem of unemployment. We have to strengthen our manufacturing base. This is important for job creation, even if jobs will not come in droves. This will give us resources to promote sustainable livelihoods. We need money to catalyse local economic networks. Not all of these networks would necessarily be intended for the market. They could just be about self- support. Alvin Toffler in his seminal book, The Third Wave, 20 years ago pointed to the fact that advanced micro-electronic technologies in the form of alternative energy, biotechnologies and satellites, the increasing use of science in production and their easy access, make them appropriate for rural society. He called this strategy ``Gandhi with satellites’’.

More recently, Frithjof Bergmann of the University of Michigan has, through the Future of Work Institute which works with the unemployed, discovered that through the use of these advanced technologies, 70% of people’s needs can be self-addressed, even in an urban setting.

In this regard, we as the ANC welcome the announcement that the Government intends to build an information and communications technology university. In the same vein, we have to raise questions about the political economy of research in our state research institutions.

We have to work with the private sector on innovation and in product development. But research and innovation should not only be at the service of the powerful and rich. The poor need research and science to solve the concrete life challenges that face them. In the spirit of Vuk’uzenzele and Letsima, we need a mass-based science movement.

Without reducing scientists into extension officers, we need to improve the links between people’s movements, civic organisations, NGOs, religious and women’s organisations as well as scientists as a way of bringing science and technological advancement to all. We welcome and celebrate the call for Letsima. We have always been a movement of the people.

Only a state that encourages mass participation, and intervenes in the economy, has a responsible macroeconomic stance, appreciates the centrality of knowledge and science, and that is committed to the poor can point the way. It is only to such a state, a movement and a society that the future belongs, and to the extent that we are such a movement and society, so does the future belong to us. [Applause.]

Mr D H M GIBSON: Madam Speaker, the critics of the hon the President are wrong. He is correct. He will have no trouble at all with his new alliance partner in the quadripartite alliance. There is one big difference between the hon Tony Leon and the hon the President, and that is that his gravy train is so short. [Interjections.]

He will have no problem with the Nats about policy or ideology. We also had no problems about those matters with them when they were using us as a lifeboat.

I hear that the hon Sakkie Pretorius and the hon Martha Olckers are going to be ambassadors. They served Vorster and P W Botha. They were taught to be loyal to their master. The President should throw them some scraps from his table, and they will wag their tails at him. [Applause.]

The hon Renier Schoeman, who is sitting there, adores cocktail parties. Ensure that he gets invitations and he will smile at him the way he smiled at the Nat government in the worst days of apartheid. He had no moral qualms then, and he will have no moral qualms now. [Interjections.] He will even start talking about counter-revolutionaries if they wants him to. People like that never change. [Interjections.]

As for Mr Van Schalkwyk, he took money from military intelligence to spy on his fellow students in his student days. [Interjections.] We thought he had changed, but I want to tell him that he never changed. [Interjections.] Spying on colleagues, selective quotes, leaking from the caucus, constant briefing off-the-record, disloyalty to his leader, and the use of stolen information all form part of his stock in trade. [Interjections.]

But his tune has changed. Six months ago, he said:

Collective white guilt reminds me of the repulsive practice of force- feeding of geese to enlarge their livers to end up on a plate as exotic foie gras to be enjoyed with a glass of sweet wine.

And now he comes and stands in this House like a fat goose, ready to quack whichever way he is told to. [Applause.] [Laughter.]

Last year, he laughed and criticised Tony Leon for going to Kenya. He said, ``Tony, you don’t get it - the only place that Africa should be discussed is from the comfort of Europe.’’ This year, his tune has changed. He is now urging South Africans to support the President’s policy on Zimbabwe. The difference is that that man does not know the difference between self- regard and self-respect. [Interjections.]

Mr Van Schalkwyk and Mr Marais made many changes to the Nats’ team here, in the NCOP, and in the Western Cape parliament. What sticks out like a sore thumb is that in all those changes - dozens of changes - they could not find it in their hearts to introduce a single black African into Parliament

• not one. They had 35 members in the National Assembly and the NCOP, but not a single black African. I want to tell the hon President that the important people in that party - we found out - are still the P W Botha organisers. He taught them a slogan which read: Slegs blankes. [Whites only.] [Applause.] They have very little remaining support and they are going to have to join the ANC before the election, members know that, we know that and they know that. They are going to have to compete with their loyalists for places on the list and that should be an interesting fight, but I warn them to be careful when it comes to enrolling members. When they join the new African National Congress and they start enrolling members just be careful, we learned that too.

Those hon Nationalists gave South Africa apartheid, that is what they gave us, and one of the worst legacies of apartheid.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Mr F J VAN DEVENTER: Is die agb lid bereid om ‘n vraag te beantwoord oor hulle ledelyste? [Is the hon member prepared to answer a question about their lists of members?]

Mr D H M GIBSON: Ongelukkig nie. [Unfortunately not.]

One of the worst legacies of apartheid is that black South Africans have become used to shocking service and appalling conditions. Instead of standing up for their rights, too many black South Africans are patient and uncomplaining. They tolerate bad treatment that whites would not put up with for one day. [Interjections.] Just listen to me.

The President, together with all of the rest of the people in this House, all of us in this House have to encourage our people to realise that they are free and that they, and not the bureaucrats and not the politicians, are the real bosses of South Africa. We have to get them to go beyond that legacy of apartheid.

I want to give members a few examples. The Gauteng education department used to have 50 000 teachers and 11 000 administrative officials. Now, with more children, there are only 41 000 teachers, but there are 15 000 officials. But the service has not got better, it has got worse.

Come with me to Kanana Primary school in Ivory Park in my area. [Interjections.] The school is desperate for the immediate delivery of 1 080 double desks and 1 200 chairs. These were requisitioned in August last year, but the papers were lost in the department. Can they credit it? Where do our children sit? How do they learn to write with no chairs and no desks?

Come with me to Ebony Park, where we have no electricity, no sewerage, no water. This is in the Johannesburg Metropolitan area, it is not 10km away from where the hon President had his accident the other day. Why have they not been connected up? Can members imagine having 2 000 children and 47 teachers with no lavatory at all for the first week because the the department of education forgot to extend the contract for the 12 chemical toilets. That is what we say to the parents in this country, that they have to put up with it and put up with it, and it is time they stop doing so.

I can take members to 10 other schools in my area and they will find exactly the same situation and it is the job of people like me and those in the opposition to teach the people of South Africa and to help them to recognise that they have rights as citizens, they are free people in this country and they should now stand up and start demanding their rights, which people anywhere are entitled to have. Our people are tired of promises, poetry and nondelivery. And we in the DA will never let up prodding and probing and presenting alternatives until either they improve or they are thrown out by the voters.

Mr A C NEL: Madam Speaker, on a point of order: In the course of his inputs, Mr Gibson made reference to hon members of the House, comparing them to geese and a reference to members wagging their tails. I submit that is unparliamentary and I would request that he withdraw that.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! That is unparliamentary, hon Gibson.

Mr D H M GIBSON: Madam Speaker, was it the words fat goose'' which I should withdraw, or justgoose’’?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! And wagging their tails.

Mr D H M GIBSON: Madam Speaker, oh right, and wagging their tails.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Yes. [Laughter.]

Mr D H M GIBSON: Madam Speaker, I withdraw.

Mr J P CRONIN: Madam Speaker, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President and hon members, I had hoped that the hon Gibson would have summarised the debate from the perspective of the DP in a solid and considered way. What we got was very unseemly, but the key themes that came through from the Leader of the Opposition were unemployment, poverty, and I would add inequality, and growth, but insufficient growth, HIV/Aids, violence, particularly against women and children, crime, and Zimbabwe.

I do not think that there is anyone in this House, least of all on this side of the House, and I suspect everywhere, who is not passionate about these issues, and does not recognise that these are the greatest challenges of our country and of our region.

Some speeches have suggested that we are just recycling old debates over and over again. I do not think so. I tried to listen very carefully to all the speakers, and I think that perceptible in the debate over these last two days is a ground shift in the multiparty democratic dispensation that we are trying to build. It is uneven, it is not happening all at once, it is not necessarily happening in a block from one party or another, but, perceptibly, we saw, over the last two days, a new benchmark in the kind of multiparty democratic institutions that we are trying to build.

There are two fundamental ways of addressing the challenges of our times - Zimbabwe, HIV/Aids, crime, growth, poverty and so forth. The one is broadly in the spirit that the President developed on Friday: These are Government’s programmes. We are doing quite well, we are making progress, but there are many difficulties. We have a 65% success rate, and that is not good enough, but it is not a total failure. In order to succeed, we need to build a broad national consensus. All South Africans need to contribute with their passions, concerns, prejudices, and their fears to building in the spirit of Vuk’uzenzele. Many speakers took up that spirit, not just from the ANC or the New NP, but from a range of other parties, including the DP and other parties. [Laughter.] That is one way of taking up these challenges.

Another way of taking up these challenges is to say, We told you so''; South Africa is on the brink of barbarism’’; and ``We are five minutes to midnight, not just in Zimbabwe, but here in South Africa’’. For some people, time is running out, and as for others, their clocks are permanently stuck on five minutes to midnight.

The good news, I think, if we listen carefully to the debate, and we should be listening carefully to each other, however much we disagree, is that the Vuk’uzenzele campaign is growing and broadening in its diversity, pluralism, outside and even inside this National Assembly. [Applause.]

A hundred and seventeen thousand years ago, a young woman walked down a dune at Langebaan Lagoon and left behind three footprints. These are amongst the oldest identifiable traces of human physiognomy that we have. As the President has reminded us that 77 000 years ago; in the Blombos cave, our great-grandparents carved out a geometric pattern on a small slab of ochre. These days we hear a great deal about globalisation, but long before the current epoch, there was an earlier wave of globalisation. What is exciting is that more and more of the archeological evidence is suggesting that this globalisation began here in Southern Africa. We humans walked down the duneside at Langebaan. We strolled over to Blombos cave, we ambled up through Africa, we crossed into Asia Minor and some of us walked into Europe. Others wandered off into the Middle East and developed great civilisations there. Of course, all of this walking was not in one direction. We went and came back. We went with one language in our mouth and, perhaps, came back with an entirely different one in our mouth. When the climate was appropriate we crossed over the Bering Strait into North and South America, and as we walked, we became Inuits, Aztecs, Mayans and Chinese. Identity is not locked up in origins. It is an open-ended process, and in a country like South Africa, above all, it has to be an open-ended, progressive process. [Applause.]

Seventy-six thousand nine hundred and ninety nine years after our ancestors inscribed the slab of ochre, the DA was launched, and 76 999 years and 11 months after the slab of ochre was inscribed, the two main components of the DA split apart. I am not sure whether this 11-month alliance registered a bleep on the Richter scale of human civilisation. [Laughter.] But, it is related to the topic that I am trying to deal with, and that is of building a national identity. After the DP and New NP split up and the announcement of the intention of the ANC to co-operate, in some form, with the New NP, I was interviewed by a certain radio station. The journalist was being mischievous, because she was interviewing me in my capacity as an SACP member and she asked whether, in the light of the impending co-operation, the New NP was to the left of the DP or not? Well, I do not know. Frankly, I am not very excited by the leftness of the New NP.

But that is not remotely the main point. The most salient thing about the DP is not that it is to the left or to the right of the New NP. The DP is not in the centre or the centre-left or centre-right of South African politics. It is in the west - an entirely imaginary west, of course. [Laughter.] [Applause.] And from this position in the west, the hon Tony Leon has developed a political project that has sought to mobilise, not without some success, minorities in our country on the basis of their fears and prejudices. [Interjections.]

The hon Seremane referred - and I listened carefully to him - to hate speech as being the way in which people speak about each other. He is right to be concerned about this. He should listen to what his leader said, just last week, about the ANC leadership. He said the ANC leadership are powermongers'',arrogant’’, corrupt'', belligerent’’, callous'' andsmug’’, andÿ.ÿ.ÿ. in their shadows'', that is the rest of us, slink an army of sycophants and gold diggers, apologists and toadies.’’ [Interjections.] Is that a tone calculated to encourage mutual respect? Does it help to build our country as a democratic space, as an imbizo in which we debate, disagree by all means, but learn to listen to each other?

The shrillness of the hon Leon’s political project is out of step with the realities of our situation and more and more members here, including in his own party, are telling him that.

At the beginning of the 1990s there were those who proclaimed that history had ended. What was supposed to have been the great organising axis of world history after 1945, east yes, and west, no longer existed, we were told. The world had become the west. However, this mood of triumphalism has steadily waned over the past decade. The supposed single westernised space has turned out to be much more frail, much more unjust and more challenged than our neoliberal ideologues imagined.

Conservative voices are now more and more beginning to rehash old themes about east is east and west is west. In the post-September 11 situation we have been hearing once more about the supposed inexorable clash of civilisations. It was even evoked by some members of Parliament on the opposition benches. They were not alone, I should say. I even heard black journalists on the SABC say: ``We in the west find it very difficult to understand Islam, the Taliban or Afghanistan.’’ We are not in the west. We are in the south. And to say south is to evoke another more relevant axis in contemporary world history: north-south.

When one thinks of the north as the west, and not as the north, one starts to forget about three and a half centuries of colonialism. When one conceptualises the north as Western civilisation, as enlightenment, as free markets and individual rights, then one might be inclined to imagine that apartheid in South Africa was merely the result of the backwardness of some God-forsaken Dutch tribe that had lost its way in the colonies. That is, by the way, how some of them talk about some of the opposition.

Apartheid and its direct antecedents was the way in which the north integrated this part of the world into their global economy - mineral exports and cheap migrant labour reproduced by impoverished native reserves. It was not backwardness that carved out the apartheid dispensation, but the cutting edge of development in the latter half of the 19th century. This is important to understand. We easily forget it. It was vast, new joint stock companies, deep-level mining, finance, capital mobilised on an unprecedented scale, that is what had laid the basis of apartheid. This path to modernisation is what made and makes us part of the south.

To be in the south is not to have been left behind or to have failed to make the walk north from Blombos cave. In the Nepad document and, indeed, in his state of the nation address, Comrade President used a small but very significant concept: underdevelopment. Not undeveloped, not backward, nor barbarous, not uncivilised, but underdevelopment.

Apartheid South Africa was connected to the north. It was not isolated from the world. It was connected to the world, like Alexandra is connected to Sandton. The underdevelopment of the one is the historical condition for the development of the other. It is a relationship of unequal power, but it is a relationship. And that relationship must not be broken, but it has to be transformed. It is in the common struggle to transform this reality that we can and must build a national consensus.

We will all disagree about many things, and we need to disagree in debate and discussion, understanding at least that our feet are planted on the same ground, not in the west, but here in the south. [Applause.]

Debate interrupted.

The House adjourned at 18:21. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 The following changes  have  been  made  to  the  membership  of  Joint
 Committees, viz:


 Constitutional Review:


 Appointed: Ditshetelo, P H K.
 Discharged: Mfundisi, I S.


 Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of Women:


 Appointed: Seeco, M A.

National Assembly:

1. The Speaker:

 The following changes have been made to  the  membership  of  Portfolio
 Committees, viz:


 Agriculture and Land Affairs:


 Appointed: Nefolovhodwe, P.


 Arts, Culture, Science and Technology:


 Appointed: Seeco, M A.


 Finance:


 Appointed: Mfundisi, I S.


 Health:


 Appointed: Nefolovhodwe, P; Seeco, M A.


 Housing:


 Appointed: Seeco, M A.


 Labour:


 Appointed: Mfundisi, I S.


 Public Service and Administration:


 Appointed: Seeco, M A.
 Discharged: Mfundisi, I S.


 Public Works:


 Appointed: Seeco, M A.
 Social Development:


 Appointed: Nefolovhodwe, P (Alt); Seeco, M A.
 Discharged: Mfundisi, I S.


 Sport and Recreation:


 Appointed: Seeco, M A.


 Trade and Industry:


 Appointed: Nefolovhodwe, P.


 Transport:


 Appointed: Seeco, M A.

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 (1)    Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of the
     Pan South African Language Board for 1997-98 [RP 07-2002].


 (2)    Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of the
     Pan South African Language Board for 1998-99 [RP 06-2002].


 (3)    Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of the
     Pan South African Language Board for 1999-2000 [RP 08-2002].

National Assembly:

1. The Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry:

 Written explanation from the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry  in
 terms of section 65(2)(a) of the Public Finance  Management  Act,  1999
 (Act No 1 of 1999), setting out  reasons  why  the  Annual  Report  and
 Financial Statements of the Department of Water  Affairs  and  Forestry
 were not tabled in time:
   Ms F N Ginwala, MP
   Speaker
   National Assembly
   P O Box 15
   CAPE TOWN
   8000


   Madam Speaker


   TABLING OF ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF  THE  DEPARTMENT
   FOR 2000/01


   I am writing in reply to your letter of 19 November 2001 in the above
   regard in which you pointed out that in terms of the  Public  Finance
   Management Act,  1999  (Act  1  of  1999),  the  annual  reports  and
   financial statements of departments  must  be  tabled  in  Parliament
   within six months of the end of the financial year, failing which the
   Minister must in terms of  Section  65(2)(a)  of  the  Act,  table  a
   written explanation in Parliament to give reasons why they  were  not
   tabled.


   As the Annual Report and Financial Statements of  the  Department  of
   Water Affairs and Forestry for the 2000/01 financial year  were  only
   tabled in Parliament  on  12  November  2001,  I  wish  to  offer  my
   apologies for not making the six month deadline. The reason  for  the
   late tabling of the Report and Statements is that there was  a  delay
   resulting from the Auditor-General's  approval  of  the  Department's
   accounts.


   I have taken the matter up with the Director-General:  Water  Affairs
   and Forestry and have instructed him to ensure that the  deadline  is
   complied with in future.


   RONNIE KASRILS MP
   MINISTER OF WATER AFFAIRS AND FORESTRY

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

National Assembly:

1. Report of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture and Land Affairs, dated 12 February 2002:

   The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture and Land Affairs, having considered the application by the National Agricultural Marketing Council for the implementation of statutory measures in the sorghum industry, reports, in terms of section 15 of the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act, 1996, that it has approved the recommendations of the Council.